This week's training tales

Now I am really caught up in my sweet obsession. Every day feels like a mission and there is not much time for anything else than training, recovering and eating these days. I’m loving it.

RUNNING

On my right, the -friend- that helped me get the best out of myself on burning legs. From what people were screaming, his name was Simon. It looks like Simon had alot of friends. I think I know why.

It all started to get serious on the day of the –wake up call-. The day Lance decided to wake up the animal in me by adding a tired 8km race to my training week. It acted as my first interval session of the year. (OUCH!)

I LOVE VICTORIA, here I was in January,waiting for the gun in shorts and a race jersey , breathing in some fresh air, feeling the pack await the signal, all of that energy that is just waiting to be released. Then it all begun and my burning legs, heart and lungs took me threw a avalanche of emotions. I remembered what makes me love running.

-The rythm: Lucy Smith was telling me about the importance of it after the race.

There is something very addictive in the fast rythm of a race. The unleaching of a train of bouncy legs and heads. The sond of all those soles pounding the pavement, the heavy breathing all around you. It is all whispering the beat that you have to hold in order to keep up. As the effort becomes harder, the rythm becomes that thin rope that ties you to the person you are chasing. When the body starts fading, it is the rythm that can keep you going, you just focus on those legs in front of you and try to step it up. And as the ribbon approaches, you just have one thing on your mind: put a little more force into each kick and hang on to that fast rythm. You have gradualy been pulled into a wonderful semi-conscious state.

-The emotion: It ‘s all so obvious when someone speaks about a race. It’s all about -Hanging on- , --working with-, -chasing-, -passing-, -fading-, -building-, believing, thinking, trying, wanting....raw emotion.

-The challenge: How, in a race, uncertainty can change into opportunity and bring you all the way to success or satisfaction.

-Confidence building: And the one thing that is sure to help you come from uncertainty to satisfaction is YOU taking control of your destiny for a short while.

Each person on a start line has the possibility to achieve satisfaction. Even if the body is not generous on a given day, the mind can always be. And you can always look for the satisfaction to have been a warrior. To have been stronger than you had ever imagined you could be, mentally.

Great moments on today's run.

Swimming

The golden fifty

So my three buddies in the swim group this morning laughed at the thought I might lose my goggles on the middle 50 dive of a series of ...quite a few....

A moment of distraction and...the signal was given...terrible start for all three of us, enough to make me laugh up bubbles on my way up to the first stroke.

Refocus, move those arms girl!

After having given those first few strokes, –the men- catch me, there are two guys on my left and one on my right. The tsunami catches me..and I am surfing their wave, I am not kidding. In an instant, My tired arms are beating the water effortlessly....I have never felt such a draft effect. (If you have ever been body surfing, you know the precise moment i’m talking about!) These guys –picked me up- on that waves and I just rode it baby!!...for about 25m...then I lost it and was a mortal again, fighting under water to make sure I wouldn’t lose that advantage and mess everything up in the final meters. My times were getting worst and worst with fatigue but on that one, I went 3 seconds faster than expected. The golden thought of the golden fifty? I have been using it alot these days: -PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY- (then at the race last time, Lucy and I saw also this other version on a runner’s jersey: -BARF IS WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY) guess I will not need to use the second one as often..well, I hope not...right Lance?

Bike

Hours and hours on my bike...hills and hills. Climbs up the observatory (also called the center of the Universe).

Wonderful solo rides with lots of time to meditate and be strong. I have my favourite routes and I just enjoy challenging them over and over again. I also like to take out the double latte gels at the end of long rides and feel the rewarding caffeine boost (much needed in the last hour, most of the time). I love these gels! One or two and my legs are going strong!
oh! And I'm not bonking as I was had once or twice just a few weeks ago. Fitness is coming back and it also seems like the squats I have been doing at the gym have been helping!!! YES! !!! We shall see!

And while I am absorbed in my world of -swim, bike and run and if you are done, do more of that-, other parts of me are exploring the world.

I let Sean and Ariane intertain me on that one. The other day, I was sitting in my living room and I picked up my blackberry, finding a message from my sister, open an attachment to ....see her sitting on a Camel with her husband in the desert. Hmm....some of use are living quite an adventure out there. Sean and Ariane are on a wonderful trip that started in Dubai.

Ariane and Sean on Camel!!!

And speaking of trips, MOM IS COMING TO VISIT IN VICTORIA NEXT WEEK AND SHE IS BRINGING LUCAS! This should be fun. I guess that means I will be on the Sofa bed! HA!

Day 8

Now that I have just posted a week-old blog, I figure I should complete it with notes on the most recent activities in Victoria...
UGH!!! I have not been good at reporting on my blog. I must tell you, however, that one of my resolutions is to update more regularly!
The day of the 31st started out pretty smoothly....then there was a crescendo of activities... that took us into the ocean in front of the -Mouse Pad on the beach- (the official name of my home/epic training lab).
I thank Denise, Curtis, Jen, Hillerie and John , coach Lance and his wife Lucy for this delicious crescendo.
No Denise invited me over to a -Lobster-champagne evening on the 31st which I agreed to without much difficulty. Champagne...yes...there was lots of that...yes...what is the expression...too much of a good thing? I guess that I didn't realize that as I was observing Denise and Hillerie put on the lobster show before tossing them into the boiling water, I was sipping on more Champagne...

Thank fully, resolutions kicked in at midnight and I switched to water...I saved myself from trouble right there. Well not completely I guess. I woke up suddenly the next morning remembering Lance's proposition to join for the Jan first pace run around the lake (that race in which you have to complete a lap and arrive as close as you can to 11 am.)
- a good opportunity for a tempo run-, had said Lance (even though there was no training on my plan that day!!HAHA, LOVE IT!).
On the first, I jumped out of bed with a very unclear idea of where I had to go for that race. Determined that too much Champagne and too little sleep because of actions last year, would not take the fun out of the first day of this one.
I drove to the lake, was late and at the wrong parking, no idea where they started or which direction they had gone around the lake. Long story short, chose a direction and ended up running much too long, I was running for them but little did I know they were BEHIND ME, running in the same direction. I realized that and turned back, still running all out, to finally find Lucy running pretty fast towards me. I figured, why not go with her and keep on running!! Saddly, when she came by, I ran with her for a bit. A bit I say...the champagne was pumping threw my veins and I felt slightly sick after a few minutes.



So much for the lake run. Next plan was a quick transition and get to the ocean for a frozen bath!
We drove with Denise only to find out there was nothing going on there...but when we girls have an idea...we have to go for it.
We ended up driving back to my place to run into the ocean. We had the emotions we had been looking for....OUUUUU that was cold. Leaves you with a wonderful feeling though once you are out of there! I WAS AWAKE FOR SURE NOW!



Since then, the hard work has begun.
This is a view that inspires me every time I do a trainer session in the living room, pushing hard on my own, looking out the window.
Is there anything more inspiring than that. I focus on the waves, the line of mountains, have my great music playing. Perfect focus, mind at the right place for sure.

I am focusing on getting some good trainings in and working hard.

Training is starting to get just a little more challenging, we have stepped it up. I have sent Lance all of my -athlete resolutions-. We are going to have fun this year!

Oh and...bike mechanics and maintenance are still on my mind.
I hope you are all feeling inspired, heading into this new year. I hope you have many dreams and that this year s the opportunity for you to make them happen.
Cheers everyone.
Magali.