I lived....



-OneRepublic

Well, I've taken the jump,  Team Bobkat has 4 week completed out of an 8 week base training program. April 27 will be the official start of being embedded in the triathlon world and tackling the insurmountable goal, 140.6 miles this August. 

Fear the fall?
Now, why would anybody or any body's body fear swimming 3.8k, biking 180k, running 42.2 k, back to back, in that order, to be completed in under 17 hours, where anything, absolutely anything is possible.

Anything?! Riiiiiigggght...

This doesn't included the endless hours and hours of sweating, drinking more fluids than the Great Lakes hold, testing & re-testing my heart rate threshold wondering if this will be the moment I will have a heart attack or stroke, & my sports bra becoming thee enemy. To all the ladies, you know what I am talking about, maneuvering yourself out of a sweaty wet bra without breaking an arm. A sweaty sports bra can be like being in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) where taking a sports bra off can be a mix of martial arts. And of course, let's not forget Murphy's Law of Cycling-there will be a headwind in both directions. Always. And these are some of the things that I will be enduring over the next few months, of course, all self inflicted, so that, I will be all to be able to hear the words,  "You are an Ironman" 

My biggest fear is having to eating gels. 

So what's new with me? 

The chlorine is now my choice of perfume. My saddle has turned into my sofa. There seems to be endless sea laundry. Reading and TV time is slowly becoming nap time. Oreo Ice Cream is my new best friend (love at first taste). Team Bobkat has a new team member, Netflix. And this week, I got snail mail from Tri Mac Squared, Sarah.

The road to Ironman begins with a training schedule & a buddy system. Sticking to a plan can turn out to be the most challenging part. My support team during this training is going to be important. Team Bobkat, Bobby, Tri Mac Squared, Sarah, Flatout Jim & Coach Keith have been keeping me faithful so far. So in advance,  thank you for being apart of this life journey, complaining with me, comparing various aches & pains, laughing with me, pushing me when times get tough & helping me to be honest and sticking with the plan. 

If you are happy and you know it, ride your bike...

Training has been lots of repetitive leg spinning. So far, the long bikes have been three, 2 hour bikes and one, 3 hour bikes plus many bricks. Yep, you read that right, three hours of spinning on a turbo trainer, in one spot, a party of three, Bobby, Netflix and me. 

My running is coming....slowly. No knee pain (yet) and a little shin pain that is because I am in good hands. The people at ProActive Physio, Topsail Roas Massage Therapy and Core Insight are all helping me towards crossing the finish line in all original body part. And with their help, maybe, I will have my original knees in my golden years. 

TRAINING

At 5:15 am, one of the three, 2 hour rides, happen this morning, team Bobkat, were bright-eyed (red eyed) and bushy tailed (bed head) sitting on the "sofa" with side-kick Neflix & fuel- orange, cheese, crackers, 2 bottles of G2 and a pool of sweat, and apparently, no one ever drowned in sweat, I almost beg to differ. The first 60 mins, during the endurance rides feel like what death row might feel like-60 mins of spinning easy but in reality I find it more mentally changeling, like watching a pot of water boil. 

What a great way to start a Friday morning, only thing is by 9am, I was wanting a kat nap. 5pm yet? 

The Plan-"So for every day that you're on this earth, for every minute that you have, the whole idea is doing nothing less than exactly what you feel you're supposed to do and squeezing every last drop out of life every day, regardless of the difficulties or trials that you face."  -Ryan Tedder

This Sunday is another 3hr spin with 3x (10 mins @ Tempo' / 3 x 3 mins E3 (threshold) with 3 mins recovery). Start after 60 mins @ E1 10 mins E1 recovery between efforts. & 40min brick.  Let the chafing begin.

I hope that you spend your days, but they all add up
And when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup
Oh, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain
But until my moment comes, I'll say...

I, I did it all
-kat 

 

#throwbackthursday

This is a #TBT to my first Newfoundland triathlon (Carbonear 2012). Derek convinced me to do it...I'm pretty sure that's how I fell into triathlons - I remember swimming and biking with them and getting talked into it, and then I was hooked. This was a week before the wedding  - I was scared the permanent marker wouldn't come off my arms in time, lol. This is a picture of Kat and I coming out of the water (and Kristy is there too!)...we didn't even know each other then! Kat came in first overall for the females...she's so fast :) Exactly a year before we "officially" met later in 2013. 

I hope some of Kat's fierce-ness will rub off on me ;)

Not having a clue what I was getting myself info

The Carbonear Triathlon is one of my favourite events (even with the pot holes) - the volunteers are so sweet, the pond is decently warm and the social gathering afterwards at the awards ceremony is always fun! And they feed you :-)

- Sarah

First session in Calgary

I got on the bike for the first time since getting to Calgary on Tuesday night...I'm so happy I decided to send one of my bikes (and my trainer) on the plane instead of putting both of them on the moving truck. We still have no idea when our belongings will arrive on the truck! It could be a while I think. 

So to ease myself back into training I did the following workout...it's definitely one of my favourites! 

10 min warm up
10 mins @ HR 135
2 mins easier
8 mins @ HR 145
2 mins easier
6 mins @ HR 155
2 mins easier
4 mins @ HR 165
2 mins easier
2 mins @ HR 171
10 min warm down

I had a little helper during the workout :-) 

It's actually warm enough to be biking outside right now (today it is 11 degrees) but I haven't quite worked out where the best place to go is, there is so much traffic! Perhaps on the weekend :-)

- Sarah

The Kat is back...

The weekend!!!! Happy Dance!! 

Woohoo! 

It has been a successful week of training. The first part of the week was hard. It took me a few days to adjust to spring daylight savings. Seriously people, day light savings should happen on a Friday afternoon, just saying. This is how I felt this week...

In fact, I had to put a sticky note over the clock on my computer screen at work so I wouldn't be looking at the time.  :P

As for training, Tuesday, I never got to swim with Flatout Jim, hopefully next Tuesday, I promise Jim, I will not back out. Tuesday evening was a battle with the TT, Tuesday Technology issues. Nothing worse than getting on the bike and your Garmin not working, absolutely, nothing worse, Sarah would completely understand my frustration.  Ahh. My Garmin didn't want to work at the time I wanted to bike....grr. It didn't even want to reset. But after 25 minutes my Garmin cooperated with me. Yay! Happy girl...

The turbo wo was 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 minutes, at threshold power/ HR & recovery is equal to work interval. The last four minutes was hard(er). When we hit the last 3 minute block, Bob said to me,"wait a second, we never did the 2nd  4min  block", I was happy to inform him that we did do the 2nd 4 min blocks, lucky guy for zoning out! I, on the other hand, not so lucky, I remember the 2nd 4 min block and was wishing it to be over :P

Wednesday's was a 55 min easy run including hills. My pre snack before my run was my Aunt Lois's homemade "Date Orange Tea buns, these tea buns are soo yummy and if you like dates, you will love these yummy tea buns, the recipe is not up on her blog yet but soon to be, you can check out more of  my Aunt's recipes at Stuffed at the Gills, and if you are interested in vegetarian recipes, aunt Lois's got some yummy recipes, some recipes I grew up eating and some new ones. Anyhow,  aunt Lois's tea buns was a good way to start off my morning. 

The run was suppose to be hilly which is not a problem in St. John's, this city is built on a hill! -14C and little to no wind! It is rare to have no wind in St. John's, rare.

This is us at 5:55 am. It was a perfect morning, so nice to see the sunrise! The morning was cold and the fresh air was my "cup of joe". 

The first part of my run, my legs were a little "heavy" from the night before spin and I am still recovering from training with the Beast this last summer/fall. 

The Beast made me in to a better runner and showed me how to push myself when I wanted to quit, the Beast motivated me on every run. And if anyone knows the Beast, she is not a quitter. I just received an email from The Beast, she wants to start another run training in the spring, I'm hoping to join in IF my shins will let me....

Thursday's was time back in the saddle. The wo was a conditioning workout, increasing the heart every 4 minutes. 

Minutes %HR

10 70

4 72

4 74

4 76

4 78

4 80

4 82

4 84

4 86

4 88

4 90

10 cool down, selecting the necessary gearing to achieve above heart rate above whilst maintaining 90 cadence give or take. This work out was awesome, hard but awesome. 

Friday-we were suppose to swim but it never happen for me but Bob managed fit in a swim wo. We did run easy for 30 minutes holding an average heart rate of 75%. And 30 minutes  circuit weight resistance. Friday evening was a treat, Chinese food :) yummy! Crispy tofu, my favourite!

So overall, I am very pleased with my base training, 6 weeks until Ironman training. Feels so good to be back. 

Missing Sarah and our morning wo :( 

                                                                          -k@

Monday Monday

Daylight savings happen this weekend. By time Monday rolled around that one hour of sleep was well missed....

On Monday, in a text to Bobby, I asked what was for supper. Bobby replied with 

Ha. No way of getting out of the base training now. Team bobkat, Bobby is not letting me give in and he is keeping me on track. 

This winter, team bobkat and trimacsquared have been swimming at the Mews Centre, organized by Angry Dalty and coached by the incredible Nadine Rockwood. One word sums up the session with Coach Nadine, awesome. 

Swimming isn't exactly a natural activity for humans and therefore, there are many bad habits swimmers develop so having swim coach Nadine, is so good. She has been able to see these bad habits and trying to fix them. She has been helping us find the most efficient and technical way to battle the water elements to "faster" swimming.  I love it when she "picks" on me.

 I haven't done a lot of swimming this winter, just one, maybe two session a week if that. My other swim session is with Flatout Jim on Tuesday's. Both Jim and I have kind of fallen of the Tuesday swim wagon this winter but we are slowly getting back into it. So even though I've done little swimming this winter, I still feel  I've improved greatly just with coach Nadine's help. 

Mistake #1. Swimming Flat. 

Monday's session was about "rolling". We focused on rotation and body roll in freestyle swimming. The drills made me aware of hip rotation & shoulder rotation or lack of...but by the end of all the drills and incorporating it into swimming, I felt a big improvement. 

Mistake #2: Lower my legs more in the water 

Most people have trouble getting their legs up but I need to focus on getting my legs down. And let me tell you, it isn't easy as one might think!! But swim coach Nadine promises me it will make me swim faster. Im holding her to this promise ;) 

Mistake #3: trying to put on spandex pants after a swimming session, is near impossible! 

                              No joke.

We ended the day with a little run. Bobby ran outside and me, well, I'm done with winter, I want warm weather and sunshine so instead I went for a run in "Kona" aka furnace room on the treadmill. What can I say, I'm a dreamer ;) 

The best part of my day was a phone call from Trimacsquared, Sarah. It was so nice to hear her voice. 

A quote Sarah sent me, surround yourself with dreamers and doers, believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself. 

                     -k@

Back to my old stomping grounds

So I have not quite made it all the way to Calgary yet - I'm at home in Cape Breton to spend some time with my family until March 17th (a week from today). I'm trying to keep up a little bit of training while I'm here, but I'm still worried that I'm going to lose my bike fitness being without it until next week. My bike feels so far away! I know Kat is going to ask each day what I'm doing so I must keep on it ;)

Sunday: Short 30 min run in a LOT of snow. People often think Newfoundland Winters are much worse than Nova Scotia's, but not so this year! Although the temperature is hovering around a balmy 0 degrees at the moment, there is a ton of snow down...which makes me wish I had my skis. I know you are all aware I would choose to do just about anything over running :-) 

Monday: 45 minute swim at the pool in Port Hawkesbury. It was so strange to be back there! I spent most evenings after school there for swim team practice, and every weekend for work as a teenager. It's also where Brock and I met when I was 16 at Nationals for lifeguarding. So nostalgic - everything about the pool was the same, except for the fact that it is now running a salt water system instead of chlorine! Kat and I might be the only people in the world who love chlorine. 

I intended to do some kind of speed work session but I abandoned that plan when I arrived and remembered that they don't put lanes in for lane swim, lol. It was super wavy and choppy  especially with swim lessons happening in one corner which meant kids were jumping in and out of the pool. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just mimicked an open water swim! Good training :-) 

So I ended up doing 2000m as:
500 wu
100 kick
5 x 100 build
100 kick
200 drill/swim
100 kick
4 x 100 descending stroke count 
100 kick

I'm still getting used to the Garmin to track my swimming, and it drives me crazy that it doesn't register and count kick sets! Patrick has given me some good tips but I still think I'm not doing it right - I just keep pressing lap every time I start/stop and hope for the best. 

I'm trying to get Kat to come visit here; I know she'd love it! Some day we will bike the Cabot Trail ;)

- Sarah 

Getting back into the saddle is hard...

 

Choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything 140.6

Sunday, was the most laziest day ever! It was a day for naps, movies, long drives, and food. 

As the evening was approaching, Bobby says, "WE still have to do a long(er) bike!" 

Ah, Biking. Biking wasn't on my mind...yes, it was on the plan. It looked good in theory but I barely wanted to move my body, let a lone spin on a turbo trainer for 90 plus minutes.

Procrastination :intransitive verb-to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done -Werriam-Webster.com 

At 9pm, yes, 9pm. We climbed on to our saddles and this was my first time biking at 9 pm. 

 

It's not about having time. It's about making time. 

Thanks to team Bobkat, Bobby and Trimacsquared, Sarah for keeping me honest. 

"Your toughest competitor is the voices in your head."

Happy Monday 

-Kat

I'm not going outside until the temperature is above my age...

So, this blog, trimacsquared, was created to keep Sarah and I in touch with each other's lives. We are going to update this blog on an ongoing basis with our day-to-day activities. So over the months and years we will be able to share ours thoughts, our passions and life adventures with each other on our blog. We are now Bloggers. 

Day 2: without Sarah. I keep telling myself, it is better for Sarah to be with her husband, right?! Brock, you are one lucky man...oh, I miss you too B! 

Sarah and I met at a triathlon event in Carbonear, Newfoundland & since then we've become fast friends. 

We love swimming, biking and running. We, tri chics, also have a passion for weight resistance training, finding, sharing & trying crazy "healthy" recipes, and we love to shop. Sarah is the more fashion sense girl out of the two of us; she always knows the latest and greatest styles. I'm lucky to have my hair combed and a bra on and if I have a bra on, it is a sports bra. 
We are both training for a triathlon. I am training for my first Ironman, Ironman Mont Tremblant (Aug) and Sarah qualified for the ITU triathlon grand final in Chicago (Sept), the Olympic-distance races for age-group athletes http://chicago.triathlon.org 

Sarah has been doing an awesome job with her off bike season training, getting coached by the one and only Coach Mick. I, on the other hand, have been enjoying "off"-season too much. 

My boyfriend, Bobby, the  love of my life, signed up for the race before me. He is doing both 70.3 IMMT (June)  and the full IMMT (as if one race wasn't enough?!) Bobby would tell me almost every day, that if I was on the fence about doing an IM race, this is the race and to get off the fence, whip out my credit card, and sign up. 

 So, in November, I signed up for my first IM. I clicked "payment" & close laptop and curled up in a ball and wanted to throw up...

Triathlon team Bobkat was born. 

I'm nervous, to say the least. 

Normally, when triathletes sign up for an event like this, they jump right into training with lots of excitement. A few of Bobby's friends who are also going to compete at the same IM, are already bricking off the bike. Me? I went on a cruise.: D I stopped swimming and running and bike every few days. I literally went into "off season". But all good things have come to an end.

IMMT is suppose to be challenging, spectacular and apparently it's worth doing again, we shall see. 

 This week, I've/we started an 8 week base program before I/we start the Official Team bobkat IM training plan. 
Today's wo, was running.

 It was beautiful in St. John's but even though it is March and sunny. Spring is no where near. -14 c with a windchill index of -25c...

Treadmill it is....

The treadmill, has  been in "off season" too, hiding away in the furnace room. Bobby wasn't home to move the treadmill out of the furnace room, so, instead I pretended I was in Hawaii. Kona training...

                     

The wo for today: WU: 15 - 20 mins progressive
MS: 3 x (2mins, with 90s recovery / 1 min, with 1 min recovery / 30s, with 30s recovery) CD: 10 mins Efforts are at about 5k race pace. The last 3rd block was hard. But the good news is the kat is back & loving it. 
Missing Sarah. 
-Kat

x

Goodbyes are hard

I am beyond sad that I will no longer be able to swim, bike, run, or gym with Kat in person (my mornings will never be the same! Who will talk to me and tell me stories for hours on the treadmill or try my crazy recipes made in the Vitamix??) But she has assured me that this blog will be a great way to keep track of what we are doing whilst we are on opposite sides of the country :) 

We had a little going away party so below are just a few pictures of the evening...thank you guys for coming! 

<3

I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends and I miss you all very much! I can't wait to come back to swim in Healy's, bike on Marine Drive, and run around the three ponds with you all - maybe even Trepassey?? Don't take my name off the list yet s.v.p.! 

Amanda has always appreciated (deeply) my taste in iPhone cases :)

I look forward to sharing future training and adventures in Calgary on the blog :)

- Sarah