Who said hard couldn't be easy?

Today was one of the last days of hard training for Boise.




Waking up to that training day, I had to put aside flashes of my pushing through that one last week. Flashes of that little screw on the garage door that I concentrated on to push through the burn on the tired, three hour trainer interval session. There were also flashes of my kleenex box, still handy at that point, memories of having to push harder than usual to satisfy my greedy watch on the run off the bike..I pushed hard that day not really feeling if it would make me faster and stronger or if it would have the opposite effect of my still weak body.

Well today I had my answer, it was not a mistake to hang on and push through that last week. It is now starting to pay off!


Of course, I needed some good positive energy today. I started by giving myself a day off at school. I needed to visualise a great day of pure training. Just as I was starting to get pumped, my buddy Linsey popped up on skype! (remember, she is also doing the race!). She was excited, talking about last year's race...we realized we had similar trainings today and decided we were going to both nail it! Just like in Hawaii!! Loved it when Linsey dropped -On the trainer, just pretend you are racing me!- That was just the motivation I needed to get my nice sunny day going.
And so, I attacked the day, positivity changes everything. The fact that it was cold outside, turned into an advantage...I took my trainer out for the day.



The sun was also out for me. The only down point is that the mosquitoes too seemed to not mind the cold today and did you know they were lactic acid magnets (no really! This is a scientific fact that I did observe it today).
Oh and...instead of concentrating on the garage screw to better push through the pain...I was concentrating on the tip of the branch of a pine tree. (which is....better??), haha.
I had a great ride. The watts were back up and I was feeling great. Purolator even dropped off my favorite Pearl Izumi racers right in front of my setup! I greeted them with a wave from my bike. The lady smiled and waved back, her eyes said she was wondering why I hadn't noticed that I was going nowhere with my bike stuck on a metal cage on a bright and sunny day.
Off the trainer with a smile, then! I get to my favorite trail and run, run, run....the legs are going strong again, I could run like that for ever...I keep on telling myself how I was going to make that my half marathon speed for Boise.
After that, it wasn't enough for my greedy coach and I, so I conquered the lake. Last week, my toes had told me that it might have been life threatening to dive in, especially with a cold this bothering me. But this time. I was going in no matter what! It couldn't be colder than it was going to be in Boise after all! (You understand this last statement if you have done the race!)
So I had my first Quebec lake swim today with my new Blueseventy wetsuit which I LOVEDDD! It obviously could not save me from freezing my toes, but it was well worth it.








Oh, this is my new friend from around the lake! It is a falabella! (The horse version of a Chihuahua!) They are the smallest horses in the world and I had never seen one of those before!
I rewarded myself with a hot shower to end the day...there was no getting me out of that shower.
WHEN DO WE RACE!!!!?????C'MON!!!