Tag Archives: fit mom

Mar14

London Training…and everything else

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I had the best intentions to try to do an update on training every week or too. But, of course, it sure isn’t as easy to find the time to do that compared to when I first started this blog in 2014. I was very dedicated in updating this page with my Dopey Challenge updates, my races, my fundraising in memory of my dad….I really wish I could add 5 more hours in each of my days and maybe, just maybe, I’d then have enough time to do this every week.

This isn’t complaining. Life is great right now. But holy shit, everything just piled on at the same time it feels…guess that’s how it always happens. So I have this training happening, which I want to note is going GREAT. Honestly, not sarcastically. I have stuck to my coach’s training plans pretty dead-on since we began just before January 1st, 2025. It has been going awesome. I am nailing the paces and the distances. It has been great to be feeling so great while doing this. This is huge, as when I did my last full marathon in 2022 I was not in the same shape. I am feeling like my old self, and pretty damn proud of doing this while 40 years old.

My coach hard at work making training plans and multitasking

I have only had some pain in my hamstring, and this is a bit frustrating. I noticed it back in November, actually, its always just been kind of ‘there.’ I have had massage done, I have foam-rolled, stretched, etc…but it is always just lingering. I am just crossing my fingers that it doesn’t progress to anything that leans towards the injury realm.

Tomorrow, I bribed our son to go to the weekly Park Run 5km in preparation for the annual Moonlight Run, which is the following weekend. Andy will be running the 6km at Moonlight with dad, while I attempt to race balls-to-the-wall in the 10km and see what my old self has in me. The bribe for doing the free 5km tomorrow is that Andy gets to choose where we go to dinner. He chose Original Joes, which we aren’t mad about. At least he didn’t pick Boston Pizza. If he doesn’t finish Park Run, however, I need to follow through and cancel the reservation and maybe I’ll just be sludge and get Taco Bell for myself for dinner. I do plan to do a nice little recap after this race weekend comes, as I always have. If you search Moonlight Run on my page, you will find TONS of posts. I really love this local evet because it always seems to be the kickoff to the race year.

Dan has been getting into his own training schedule too, with a focus on the Red Deer Half this May (already registered for) and toying with the idea of a fall full marathon (TBD). My workouts for London take precedent, but we have been balancing with him also running 3 times a week. Along with Andy’s basketball, swim, indoor soccer (season just finished, phew), hosting a Japanese exchange student, having parent council duties as Treasurer, trying to help out with Lethbridge Trail Alliance, work turbulence and uncertainties, day-to-day life, making meals that aren’t absolute shit, and trying to just balance life….we are busy.

Going on the runs take a lot of time out of each week. When I had a ‘high mileage week’ recently, I logged around 44miles and had tons of hours of workouts completed. Tracey, my coach and one of my closest friends, uses this great program Training Peaks where she uploads the workouts onto the program, then they get loaded to my watch…then my results get put back on the program. You et it. It’s great. Below are some visuals that I can see in the training plans. You definitely have to plan ahead, schedule wise, when trying to do this type of training along with all the other things in your daily life.

Training Peaks Data

At almost halfway through March, I know the rest of the month will probably fly by. When April hits, that when shit gets real. The Marathon Month. Like, holy shit…I get to go to Europe with my best friend for a week and get to run the largest marathon in the world. My 5th Abbott World Major. Wow. This doesn’t really feel real yet, but I know as the countdown keeps ticking away, the more excited and amped up I am going to get. Until then, I am too busy with everything else to think too much about it!

Thumbs Up…so far!
Jul17

Running on the edge of Canada

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I moved to Canada in December 2008. I started working as a substitute teacher in January 2009, landing my first 1-year contract for the 2009-2010 school year. I was teaching 4 grade 9 math classes and a grade 10 class. It was a new curriculum year for Math 9, and we had a new textbook. As I worked through my notes in the text, when I got to the Chapter 6 on Linear Relations there was a section on interpreting graphs. There is an example problem, that at the time, meant nothing to me. Here it is:

I’ve been teaching math 9 on and off since 2009, and this example comes up when we talk about extrapolation and interpolation. Even though I’ve always been keen on maps, I never took the time to look where the hell this actually was in relation to the rest of Canada. Fast forward 10 years from my first time teaching Math 9 and I am actually going to Queen Charlotte Islands.

Note where Lethbridge is in the bottom right of Alberta. Head due west towards Vancouver, then follow up the coast and you’ll see Queen Charlotte Islands. We are basically almost going to be in Alaska.

My husband’s friend David and his wife Heidi moved out to Queen Charlotte about a year and a half ago. Dan met David when they took late French-Immersion during Elementary through High School in Red Deer, Alberta. David and Heidi eventually moved out to Vancouver Island, then Vancouver, and now have left the big city to live a more simple life. So we decided to make our family summer vacation to be flying out to Queen Charlotte!….and doing a race of course!

Flying out there isn’t an easy task. I was able to use my Air Miles to get our flights covered (just paid $100 each for taxes) and Andy still flies free since he is under 2 years old. We will be leaving Lethbridge and flying to Calgary. Then Calgary to Vancouver. And lastly, Vancouver to Sandspit. Once we land in Sandspit, we have a shuttle arranged that takes us about 20 minutes to the ferry. We get on the ferry, ride it for 20-25 minutes, and then will be dropped off at David & Heidi’s doorstep. It’ll be a full travel day for sure.

Since I am always looking for unique races to participate in, when I found out that the Totem to Totem Marathon occurs in July in Haida Gwaii I knew we had to come out during that time. It is a relatively small race, however, it is still a Boston qualifier. It appears the race began in 2010 (that’s the earliest results they have on their site) and there were 5 full marathoners, 12 half marathoners, and 12 who ran the 10km. Last year, there are results for 14 marathoners, 28 half marathoners and 128 runners who did the 10km. Considering the remote location, the growth in this race (particularly in the 10km) is great to see.

The race appears to be an out and back. No course map is provided on the website. But I think it is paved and pretty much along the water the whole way. I really will be running “on the edge” of Canada so to speak. I have no clue if there will be a bike pacing the lead runner. I have no clue how many spectators there will be. I am preparing myself to be mentally challenged because with so few marathon runners (I count 21 registered marathoners on the confirmation page through Running Room) we will all get spaced out pretty quickly. I am going ot be running my own race.

What do I hope for? Well, in a perfect world I nail that 3:30.00 I was going for back in Berlin this September and qualify again for Boston. But, I honestly feel like this is the least prepared I’ve been for a marathon in years…..

Yes, I have been running. I have been racing. But my training just hasn’t been “right” since being back at work. I’ve been dragging, having back pain, legs hurt. I have been meeting with my doctor, getting chiro done, going for massages. I haven’t ran longer than 15 miles straight all of 2019. So everything after mile 16 is going to be hella interesting.

I just need to trust myself in knowing that I’ve done this before. This isn’t my first rodeo. This will actually be my 15th full marathon! And the last time I ran a marathon in British Columbia I ran my best time ever. Sea level and cool temperatures are a good thing for me! I’m doing a race on an ISLAND!! How cool is that?!?! Either way, I am very much looking forward to not only this race, but the experience of exploring and learning about Haida Gwaii, because I honestly know NOTHING about the history of the area or the area itself. I can’t wait to right this race and trip report!

Jun3

May Days

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Having a kid puts a damper on being up-to-date on my blog posts.  So, since I did three races in May (a trifecta!  5km, 10km and a half marathon) and haven’t written about any of them, I am going to do a post on all three.  This may become a new way of doing things…!?!

3rd Annual Lakeview Superhero Run 5km

I have actually done this race all three years and this was my fastest one yet!  This race is always a Wednesday evening, and the past two years it was hectic getting there because I would have been working during the day.  This year it was even worse because I was trying to deal with stuff at home with Andy before Dan came back from work and  then I had to rush over to the race start.  After parking I got to the start area with less than 10 minutes before the beginning of the race.  Close call.

The weather had been gross all day long and thankfully it cleared up in the evening.  While I would not have minded some rain while running, this is a 2km and 5km race geared towards children and I know they would have been miserable had it been raining.  The 5km runners started first, and the 2km would begin shortly after.  It’s a quick loop from Lakeview School down the green strip towards Bullys, then around the east end of Henderson Lake and back.  I don’t know my splits, because in the rush around the house before heading here I realized my watch wasn’t charged.  Rookie mistake.  But I do know that I finished in a time of 21:57!  I am super proud of this as last year I ran a 25:57(albeit I was 15 weeks pregnant or so) but back in 2016 I ran a 22:16…I beat that!  This sub 22 time that I ran was my goal for my July race in Wisconsin, so now my goal for that 5km will be to beat this time!

20th Anniversary of Woody’s RV World Half Marathon in Red Deer

Dan and I often go and do this race because his family lives in Red Deer.  This would be my 6th time running this half marathon. More notably this would be Dan’s first full marathon!

The weather was the best I’ve ever experienced for this race.  The race starts and finishes right near Dan’s old high school.  I had originally made a lofty goal of running a 1:40 for this race.  When I started, I had some trouble with my legs.  They just felt heavy.  I really thought that I would be able to shake that feeling after a mile or so, but the heaviness and tightness persisted.  I ended up getting pretty frustrated at the 10km mark, but after I hit 9 miles I had a second wind so to speak.  My last four miles were very consistent and back to where they should have been all along.  Here are my splits:

7:26, 7:45, 7:46, 7:48, 7:50, 8:12, 7:54, 7:45, 8:09, 7:51, 7:50, 7:52, 7:53

My final time was a 1:42.28.  So, not in the 1:40 range like I was hoping but still pretty good.  I hope to get down into that 1:40 range or lower by the Lethbridge Police Half this fall.

6th Annual Fort Mcleod Willow Creek Wilderness Walk & Run 10km

The weekend after Red Deer was this little trail race.  My friend Angela and I headed out to Fort Mcleod in the morning.  She would be doing the 5km while I ran the 10km.  While it was advertised as a “Wilderness Walk & Run” I guess I didn’t really take into consideration that this would be a trail race, and not on paved paths.  Surprise surprise!

I would say about 90% of the route was either on gravel, pebbles, mud, dirt, or grass.  I was the leader of the 10km for the first two or three miles, which was col, but very mentally challenging.  With no lead bicyclist, I was starting to lose focus and drive to stay at my normal 10km pace.  My feet just kept sinking into the stones and I felt my pace getting slower and slower.

One guy did pass me and he stayed ahead of me for the duration of the event.  But having him in front of me helped me push a little more and get back on track.  Given the terrain of the race (and my loss of focus) my splits were all over the place.  (6:43, 7:36, 7:53, 8:05, 7:57, 7:46)  I was happy to see myself get my last mile back down a bit.  In hindsight, I probably went out too fast and had I known what the terrain would be like maybe I would have been a little less ambitious to begin.  My final time was 47:48, which was good enough for 2nd overall and 1st place female.  I got a sweet handmade ceramic mug as my prize!

So that was May!  It is already the first weekend in June, and originally I thought I only had one event this month.  But yesterday I joined a relay team for a local trail race last minute.  So who knows what else I’ll decide to do last minute….