I say relatively because well...I survived. I had a test in my class on Thursday and I have been way behind from the start of this entire unit. That probably had something to do with the fact that we started this unit before we did the unit test from last unit. So you can guess where my priorities were...yep, on studying for the test. So I started everything late. I should have done homework over the weekend, but I was spending time with friends(and a 3 year old) and I had 2 races, so that went right out the window. I got back into the city and had like 4 sections to catch-up on. I was not in a good place because I was upset with myself for leaving things to the last minute. So I had to make a choice. I am not a professional triathlete. While this is important to me, it is not my job. It doesn't pay my bills, it will not define my planned future. I would like to do well in triathlon, but I NEED to get good grades. So the decision was to skip swimming practice so I would have extra time to study. I ended-up not writing the test until Thursday anyways...which of course meant that I also skipped swimming for more study time on Wednesday. Ugh. After all that studying, I don't even feel like I did well at all.
At least I ran well this week! I put in 7k on Wednesday. I am still running in my Ride 5's which give me the hot spots when running anything over around 5k. I raced in them this weekend but wore double layer socks and they felt great. I wonder if it's just my sock choice causing all the problems. I had talked to the guy in the Running Room about this and he said that while different socks can help, there is an underlying issue with the way the shoe fits me. So I bodyglided the crap out of my feet where the hotspots were and put my regular running socks on and went for my run. I had a really good run! I really enjoyed myself and mostly ignored my metrics. When I came home I had hotnspots that I was concerned were going to blister but apparently I'm good! Today is going to be another 7k. I had originally planned to swim and the run after work. The plan was to test out my new shoes on a treadmill, but all the gyms were closed by the time I finished my shift. It's really not a bad thing, I do prefer running outside anyways.
It was a great run. I didn't have to dodge tons of people like I do in daylight. I didn't look at my Garmin once. I just wanted to run easy. I was not concerned about keeping my heart rate low, I was concentrating on good running form instead and whatever happens happens. Interestingly enough, my heard rate avg was 168 and my pace was 5:08/km. I usually try to keep it below 160 and my pace ends-up being in the 5:30-5:45/km range. Also, running that slow tends to suck. I really enjoy the speed i was running at yesterday and have decided that is how I want to run from now on. I was at a pace where I was able to sing along out loud with my music with no problems being out of breath. The run ended with no major hot spots that I could feel but I did notice small blisters when I got out of the shower. I really like the 7k route that I have rocking and it makes me really excited to get into longer distance runs so I can check-out more stuff. I want to run in High Park more, and I want to get down to the waterfront a bit as well. I have a little 10k route that I ran a few times this summer that takes me right to the bottom of the park and along the lake shore. That was a great run...with a bit of a downside that it's uphill the entire way home hahahaha. Well, hills make you stronger right? But my run last night was awesome, I hit my stride(literally) and just went out there and had fun. I have been playing around with running with an MP3 player instead of my phone. I find that the armband gets annoying, so i wanted another solution. I checked eBay a while back and found a few "mp3 players" the ones with a display were $4 and without were $2. So I bought one of each. They don't have built-in storage, but they take micro sd cards. I have a few micro sd cards floating around, so I splurged and spent another $5 and got a few 4GB cards just to be safe. They are pretty much just plug and play. Load-up the card, charge the player, stick the card in and roll out. I was pretty happy with my purchases...except yesterday at almost the exact midpoint of my run, the battery died. Ah, maybe that's why these are so cheap. I wish I had thought of that sooner. Then again, it's only $10 so if it turns-out these things are crap, no biggie. I think I want to fully charge one when I am doing a few hour homework session one day and see exactly how long they last. Maybe it turned on in my gym bag and drained it's battery, but it appears to only have held a charge for 50 minutes. This however was the model with a display. Maybe that's the downfall, it has to constantly keep it lit. This time I'm going to charge it for a few hours then put it through its paces.
So I usually work all day on Saturdays which hurts my soul a little bit. I booked off this Saturday for a family reunion/get together thing, but it was cancelled due to a few people double booking themselves, so it turned into dinner with a few family members at a pub at 6:30. That meant that I have the morning off! Yay, I get to go for a ride...wait, it will be cold! Luckily I put an order through to Chain Reaction a few days ago for a bunch of colder weather stuff. A few technical long sleeve shirts for running, a pair of bib knickers, a pair of tights and a long sleeve jersey. I was really excited for it as well, and was hoping it would arrive in time for my Saturday ride. I arrived home from work yesterday to see that they tried to deliver it, but nobody was home, so they had sent it to the post office that's around the corner and I could pick it up after 4pm. this was great news, I could go pick it up tomorrow before my ride! My weekend was saved. I went to the post office today to get it and they said it wasn't there...despite the fact that Canada Post said it would be. I am so frustrated right now! Why does Canada Post have to suck so much? Ugh. Now I'm so bothered by this fact that I don't even want to ride anymore...but I should. I did a spin on Thursday after school, 10 minute warm-up and I had planned to do a 20k TT then a cooldown, but man oh man, I was having issues maintaining my speed, so I did 15 minutes hard(less than half of the planned ride) then called it. I hadn't slept much and my body was pretty mangled, so I let my body win. I also realized how much fitness I had lost from being off the bike for so long, and it freaks me out. A few months ago I would be able to do that no problem, but that was on real roads, not on a trainer, it's very different, but it makes me realize how much more work I have to do on the bike. Now I'm stuck. I want to ride, I don't have anything long sleeve to ride in. I need pockets on my jersey if I'm going to be riding far. I don't want to get out there and realize that I am freezing either. Maybe I'll just HTFU and get out there. Hmm, maybe a quick ride to Wheels of Bloor and see if they have any arm warmers, and if not, I'll head over to MEC and see what they have. I'll ride in short sleeves and leg warmers and bring a packable jacket. Alright, that sounds like a decent plan, now all I need to do is put it into action! Oh yeah, I am supposed to swim today...well, ride, food, swim, family dinner and go!
Until next time,
The Inconsistent Triathlete
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