Kath's space

I'm done. I'm out. After years of looking at the service charges on my BMO account and being outraged, I'm finally switching to PC. Im still dreading the actual switching of all the automatic stuff that's been set up with BMO for years now, but really for the $30+ bucks a month I'll be paid back for my time in no time. There's my rant :)

Not much going on. Jaime's last couple of ringette practices have been much better. She is listening and trying which is just about all I can ask. Both girls are doing fantastic with swimming. Jaime adores Sparks. Mom is looking forward to the Christmas break from all the activities :) Lately out weekends have been quieter which at least seems to give us a bit of a chance to regroup. I suspect this weekend will be the last quiet one in a while though!

I'm lacking motivation in my training right now....and I'm trying to figure out why 6 work-outs per week is making me feel like a failure. It's a long, long time until tri season gears up so I need to find a middle ground where I'm maintaining fitness, but not burning out before June.

Christmas shopping is almost done. I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow...then comes the wrapping. I'd like to have everything done this weekend so we can relax and enjoy the season. I'm really looking forward to catching up with friends and family, all of whom we seem to have seen far to little of over the last year.

It may seem early to be writing a year-end wrap up, but the focus of this post is going to be my races this year and I have officially raced my last race of the season! Probably.

January 1, 2008 – Resolution run (Kitchener). I didn’t actually register for this one ‘cause I didn’t commit soon enough to get the jacket, so why pay the cash? I showed up and ran with friends who were supposed to be doing the 10K. It had snowed A LOT overnight and they were forced to change the route to follow semi-plowed streets. We slugged through the snow for the first 5K loop and then called it quits.

February 17, 2008 – Re-Frigee-8er (Waterloo) Ed and I signed up for this 8K race together and got a sitter for the kids. When we woke up the morning of the run, the whole world was a giant sheet of ice and it was still raining. Being the fools we are, we went and ran anyway. There were bodies falling all over the place as people slipped and slid all over the course. We both had Yak Trax on our shoes so we were better off than most, but it was still VERY slippery. And the rain…cold, cold rain. I got a chill that I couldn’t shake for hours afterwards. The good news is both Ed and I placed 3rd in our categories. 51:47 was an approximately 7 minute PB (personal best) over my only other 8K race.

February 24, 2008 Grimsby Half Marathon (Grimsby) – My first half! My friend Cindy offered to go along with me for moral support and at the last minute I found out another acquaintance was registered as well. Erin didn’t feel like she had trained enough to run the race, but offered to run with my for 13-15K and then drop out. Poor Erin ended up walk/running the whole thing ‘cause there were no support vehicles or drop out spots! My goal going in was just to finish. I was hoping for anything under 2:30. I finished in 2:23:35.

March 15, 2008 Slainte Pub Run (Hamilton). I had done this one in 2007 and it was fun! 5K, mostly down hill, finishing in a pub, free beer including in registration..what’s not to love?? It was also home to my 5K PB (31:18) which I had hoped to smoke this year. Ed and I signed up and woke up to a crazy amount to snow that was falling harder and harder by the minute. We stayed home :(

March 30, 2008 Around the Bay Road Race (Hamilton) This is the oldest road race continuously held on the same course. It started 2 years before the Boston Marathon (1894ish) so the shirts say “Older than Boston” on them lol. The course starts and ends at COPPs coliseum and loops around Hamilton harbour (30K total). Cindy and I did it as a relay so it was only 15 K each. The race itself has a lot of fun elements to it (the grim reaper, the “little person” blaring we will rock you, the homeowners in the one section who set up their own aid stations). It was a fun race and I’d definitely like to do it again. Cindy and I compared our Garmins afterwards and our 15K times were within a minute of each other 1:38ish. 3:20:40 finish once you factor in transitioning the chip.

April 12, 2008 Endurace 5K (Waterloo) – Went in hoping to log my first sub 30 minute 5K. Finished 29:35 Yay! April 19, 2008 Endurace 8K (Waterloo) – Hoped to stay under a 6 min/km pace and therefore finish under 48 minutes. The hill towards the end got to me and I finished 49:18. Still a PB and around 9 minutes fasted than on the same course last year.

May 11, 2008 Forest City Road Races 10K (London) – Again hoping to maintain that sub 6 min/K pace (ie under 1 hour for 10K). Again the damn hills at the end got to me. I was on pace (48 min) at 8K, but then finished 1:00:59. Still a PB. My only other 10K time was 1:08:xx.

June 12, 2008 Try a Tri (Kitchener). My triathlon training group held a mini try a tri. 500m swim, 10K bike and 2.5 K run. Finished in 54:15. It was good practice to go through the transitions, but hard to get a feel for a real triathlon. We swam in the pool, not open water and each had our own lane and the bike course was through city streets (ie we had to stop for traffic). It was fun and a good experience anyway.

July 19, 2008 Kincardine Women’s triathlon. My first “real” tri. Kincardine offers one distance only – 350m swim, 12 K bike, 3 K run. The swim completely freaked me out. I thought I was mentally prepared, but am now pretty sure you can’t prepare for that experience. Not only can you not touch the bottom or grab the sides when you’re in open water like you can in the pool but it’s also much harder to stay in a straight line (no black lines painted on the bottom of the lake! The most difficult part though was all those people. I’d bring my arm down to try to swim a stroke and I’m hit someone, other arm, hit someone. Know what happens when you don’t actually pull your arms through the water? You sink. I spent the entire 11 ish minutes (which felt like eternity btw) swearing I’d never do it again. The rest of the event was much more fun. Finishing time 1:00:29

August sometime J (Kitchener) – my tri group did their mini triathlon again. Same course, same details. I don’t remember my exact finishing time, but it was around 3 minutes faster. It’s nice to see training paying off.

September 6, 2008 – Wasaga Beach Triathlon. First sprint distance (750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run). Second open water swim. This one went much, much better J I did manage to swim WAY off course (they sent a kayak after me!), but towards the end felt like I was getting the hang of sighting. I also did better at finding my own little patch of water to swim in so that I didn’t feel like I was constantly batting people around me. The bike was nice and flat expect for one hill around the turnaround. I have become much, much more comfortable on my bike as the season progressed and the ride felt good. Had a little chuckle to myself as I passed a 50 km/h sign doing 52 J The run was nice and flat as well, but it had section where we had to traverse deep sand. Cruel! I walked. I was just WAY to hard to run through that stuff. Finished feeling good, but like I could have pushed a bit harder 1:45:35. Definitely need to work on my transitions for next season.

October 4, 2008 Run for the Toad 25K (Paris) I signed up for this race in February ‘cause I’d heard what a great race it was (and it sells out early). Well organized, good swag, good food. The problem? I’d been focused on triathlon over the summer and had only twice run more than 10K…and even then neither was over 15. The race consisted of 2 12.5K loops of a very hilly course. Hilly enough that they say you should compare you time to a 30 K run. Yikes. Cindy and I started out doing 5 and 1s so that we wouldn’t burn out. I was actually enjoying myself. The trail was beautiful and there were lots of friendly people. Then at 9.5ish K I pulled my calf muscle. I stopped and tried stretching it out. No good. I seriously considered stopping after the first 12.5K loop, but couldn’t bring myself to quit. I sent Cindy off on her own so I wouldn’t slow her down and committed my self to running when I could and walking/hobbling the rest of the way. It was a long day, and I was pretty sore by the end, but very happy I finished what I started….and my 3:39:00 finishing time should give me an easy goal to beat next year as long as I’m healthy. Oh, and maybe train for it as well!

October 19, 2008 Oktoberfest 10K (Waterloo) I rested, iced, compressed and elevated for a week after the Toad, then managed one short run before this race so I really had no idea what to expect. It’s a mostly downhill course so if I started out and things felt OK, I was hoping to break that 1 hour mark I had missed in May. I started out, things felt good. I managed to bank a bit of time in the first half which came in handy during the final 3 K. I really struggle with mentally staying in the game and my head kept telling me to give up. I managed to hang on and finished in 59:42.

October 26, 2008 Niagara Falls Half Marathon I signed up for this one thinking that I would have done the training for the Toad so I might as well ride it out for one more race. Not only had I not done the training prior to these races, but I had run exactly twice (other than races) in October. Not good. I decided just to go and finish it. The course was flat so at least that wasn’t an issue. It was BORING though. The Toad, on the trails, seemed to go by so much quicker. In Niagara we ran 18.5K before we went around a bend (woo hoo!). Other than that it was same old, same old. Really struggled mentally between the lack of variety in the course, the huge gusts of wind, and the dead iPod (damn iPod!). The finish right at the falls was pretty cool though. Finished in 2:23:23. 12 seconds faster than Grimsby with no training. I make no sense.

And that’s it. I’m wrapping up the season. Time to stay home for a rest.

Snowy last week, sunny and 20 this week. Odd. I'm not going to complain though. I'm loving the sunshine. If only it could last into the weekend. Halloween was fun. Happily it was a nice day as well so we didn't have to bundle up the kids. Mom and dad came up for dinner as has been the tradition. We squeezed cake and presents for Ed in between dinner and trick or treating. Mom and dad got him an introductory flight from the Waterloo-Wellington flight Centre...you actually get to fly the plane. He's pretty excited. The girls got enough candy to last until next year. I'm going to have to start sneaking some of it off to work to pawn off on the co-workers :)

Jaime started swimming lessons on Saturday and she did fantastic. She listened well and participated, but still won't put her head completely under water. Later we all went to watch her Ringette practice. She is doing pretty well, but still gets VERY bummed out when she falls on her bum. It usually leads to a 5 minute melt down. Hopefully she'll move out of this phase soon. She's pretty proud of some of the things she is learning. Monday Megan had her first swimming lesson in the pool without me. She started off shaking her head and saying no.....eventually I figured out she was just mad and wanted to walk down the ramp. She wasn't actually upset at the prospect of leaving me. The instructor walked down the ramp into the pool with her and all was fine after that. I'm not sure whether the swimming tired her out or what, but by bedtime she was a complete bear. She kicked and screamed and wouldn't settle. We took away her toys and her books and still she wouldn't listen. Eventually (an hour later), I just turned off all the lights except the night light in her room and walked away. When Ed went to check on her a few minutes later, she was asleep sitting up on the stairs. He picked her up to move her and she started screaming again. So we left again. 15 minutes later she was asleep on the stairs again (at least lying down this time!). I left her there for another 15 to make sure she was really asleep and then moved her to bed. She was all sunshine and light this morning. "Do you remember what happened last night?" "No mommy" Arggh.

Megan "Daddy? Why does Mommy call you Ed?"

Seriously, snow? That stayed around all day? Way to early for this crap! At least Halloween is still looking pretty warm..it would be nice not to have to wear jackets and snow pants!!!

So Niagara went all right. What sounded like a great idea going in (straight, flat course), turned out bad (straight, flat course!!). I mean really, we ran 18.5 K before we got to run around a bend (woo hoo!). Not much to distract the brain from thinking why the heck am I going this? In the end I finished something silly like 20s faster than Grimsby...which is really more than I should have expected considering I didn't train for it at all.

Megs did really well at her swimming lesson again this week. About half the time the parents stepped back and let the kids and instuctors interact. She got a bit weepy on the way home at the prospect of me not getting in the pool next week so we'll have to see how that goes. In other Megan news, the sitter says she has been having lots of accidents during the day so we're supposed to start sending pull ups again. I'm very confused by the comment though since she hasn't once come home in her back up outfit. Ed passed on the message so maybe I'll have to have a chat with Chris. Jaime and her Sparks went on a "field trip" across the street to the seniors home tonight. The wore their Halloween costumes, had their regular meeting and sang songs for the seniors. We picked her up there and it looked like everyone was having fun. The seniors provided punch and cookies which is about all it takes to bribe a 5 year old :) While jaime was at Sparks, Ed and I ran with RR, with Megan in the stroller. She was not impressed. The wind was REALLY cold heading out so we turned back a bit early. I'm not sure whether we're going to keep up with this plan if she's already wimping out on us :)

So this is what the schedule looks like:

Monday - Jaime power skating, Megan swimming, Ed hockey (every other week)

Tuesday - Nothing!!

Wednesday - Jaime Sparks, Ed and Kath run (with Megan in the jogging stroller)

Thursday - Kath swim

Friday - Ed run and hockey

Saturday - Jaime swim and ringette

Sunday- Ed or Kath run, Jaime ringette (if she didn't have it Saturday)

and of course that's just group activities...not including the second swim, second or third run or biking I'm trying to squeeze in every week. Oh, and work :) Things have been going pretty smoothly so far, but I fear burn out by Christmas!! I guess if we need to take a day off and have a break from all the activities, it not going to be a big deal. This month has been especially challenging because I'm running races 3 out of the 4 weekends. Run for the toad was on the 4th (25K trail race), 10K Oktoberfest race last weekend and Niagara Falls half marathon tomorrow. I plan on taking a bit of a break from the distances after tomorrow. I'm not sure why I do them...I spend most of the time leading up to them dreading it :) I bought myself a Cycleops Fluid trainer for my bike this week so I'm looking forward to getting on that.

Jaime is loving Sparks. She had her regular meeting this week on Wednesday and then a sleep over last night. I have to pick her up in about an hour. I hope it went well! She also did really well at her last ringette practice. She had one melt down, but was able to regain composure and skate again afterwards, so that is definitely progress. She has another practice today after I leave for Niagara so I'm hoping that one goes smoothly as well. This is Megan's first time in swimming lessons and on the first night I discovered the downfall of that...every time she had been to the pool previously, she was able to run around and play with toys and basically do whatever she wanted. She had very little interest in listening to the instructors. Last week however, she was fabulous. She did everything she was asked and went to the instructors to practice without complaint. I'm very happy about that because next week the parents are only in the water half the time. I'm hoping to find time (good luck Kath!) to take the girls to a family swim once a week just to have fun. They both love the water so much.

OMG! Can't believe I forgot to mention this!! Megan is potty trained!!! We started her off in big girl underwear last Saturday. There have been a couple of accidents, but for the most part she is doing fantastic. She is still in diapers overnight and I think moving away from that will more about training Ed and I, than training Megan. We need to stop letting her have drinks at night if she is going to stand a fighting chance :) I'm so happy to finally be practically diaper free!!