Holy humidity!

I'm watching the Tour de France as I'm typing this. The riders are on stage 14 of the tour. There are 2,235 miles of riding, numerous crashes, and one overall winner. The scenery is absolutely spectacular. Makes me want to go riding in France. A funny commercial just came on - a Specialized commercial where Alberto Contador ticks off the hills he climbs. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with Alberto Contador, he is the Spaniard who is one of the greatest climbers in the tour, but Andy Schleck is giving him a run for his money, because Andy is the overall leader. Right now the riders are travelling at 35 miles per hour, yes 35 MILES per hour. Yikes! I'm ecstatic when I'm riding 35 kilometres per hour. Sheesh!

This blog entry is letting you in on what I did this week in terms of training, now that I am approaching the big day, which of course is Ironman on August 29. I start tapering soon, so that means I am getting close to peaking. My rest days lately have been on Mondays, so this week's training started on Tuesday. I LOVE rest days. Those are the days I get to do what I don't usually have time to do.

Then Tuesday came. All day I was checking the hourly forecast on The Weather Network. I don't know why I even bother because more often than not, they are wrong. Meteorology must be the only occupation where you can be wrong more than 70% of the time and still have a job. 5:00, 6:00 - forecast rain. Oh great! What am I going to do now. Ironman is only 47 days away, but I'm not counting - I can't afford to miss any workouts at this stage of the game. I know... I'll stop by my parents' house and pick up my other bike and wind trainer and set up in my living room, put on a good movie and spin my legs off. After directing the fan towards me, I started my workout. Riding my bike indoors is not quite the same as being on the wide open road, but it'll do when Mother Nature doesn't co-operate.

Wednesday came and wouldn't you know it; more RAIN - on and off all day. By the time I drove home after work, the sun was shining, but just when I got home, the deluge started. Since running isn't as time consuming as riding, I waited it out until the rain subsided, and it did just long enough to get my 45 minute workout in. My workout was 8 minutes very hard, then 6, then 4, then 2; all with half the time spent recovering from the hard part, meaning 8 minutes hard, 4 minutes easy; 6 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy, etc. I like speed workouts, but holy humidity; I was sweating more than usual. I finished just in time for the rain to start again, but this time there was lightning. Rain is one thing, but lightning, now that's an entirely different story.

Thursday brought hill repeats on the bike and I wanted to do them in the river valley area so I took my bike to work. After work the sky looked ugly so I thought I was going to have to forego a workout, but by the time I got to Westmount the sky was somewhat clear so I parked my car, took out my bike and rode down Groat Road and started my hour and a half bike ride, which was to include 8-10 hill repeats on various hills. I rode up Emily Murphy twice, Groat Hill, Victoria Park Hill, Keillor Hill, 103 Street, 107 Street, Fortway Hill and finally up Groat Road back to Westmount. If you want a good workout, try riding up 103 Street. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Every Thursday for at least the next three weeks will include hills with at least 2 additional hills each time.

Friday was another run day. I had a 25 minute run at half marathon pace plus 10 seconds, but first I wanted to see the movie "Inception". It was a complex movie, but the special effects were great. One advantage of going to a movie by myself is that there are always seats available. Couples are looking for double seats and I just bypass them and go for the single seat. It pays to be single, in more than one way. After the movie was over I did my run. It was nice and cool and didn't seem as humid.

Saturdays are always my long ride. I had a five hour ride and started from my place and rode east and ended up at Highway 44. When I got to Yellowhead Trail I saw a sign that said "local traffic only" - Hmmm...I wonder where it leads. I chose to be adventurous and follow the unknown road. With all the riding I do, I find places I didn't know exist. The road led to Highway 60 to Devon. Oh, I guess I'm going to Devon. The road was closed to traffic because CN was replacing the tracks. Being on a bike though, I was able to ride the road, so I had the road all to myself. Hmmm.. I didn't know I'd be cyclocrossing today. When I got to the train tracks I had to carry my bike across. Blog interruption - the Tour de France riders are going up a 7% grade to Port de pailkeres. The coverage from the air is fantastic. The riders are going around switchbacks and it looks so cool when the peloton moves together. Not only that - they are travelling at 20 kph on a 7% incline. Another funny commercial was just on TV. Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck were competing... who could climb hills faster and eat more. It was a commercial for Specialized. Oooh, oooh, Lance Armstrong is pulling up to the lead pack.

Back to the life of everyday mortal, Ellen Ainsley. I ended up about 45 minutes southwest of Devon before turning around. I had a cross-head wind and when I got to the turn-off towards the River Cree Resort and Casino, I decided that a tail wind would be nice. It was nice until I ended up on Whitemud Drive. Whaat! I don't want to ride on Whitemud. I made a quick decision to ride on Anthony Henday because that leads directly to my condo. Well, it was scary. I don't think it would be as bad if there wasn't so much construction, but some of the lanes were really narrow, not meant for a bike and a car. My advice for you - don't ride on Anthony Henday Drive.

My workout for the day was not over yet. I then had a 45 minute run immediately following my ride. Transition runs get the legs used to running after riding.

Sunday has arrived. Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day because I need a rest. This morning I had a 2.5 hour run and then later this afternoon, I have a half hour run to complete the day. OMG, they are on a 10.5% incline now.

They're on another climb now - 1.9 km to go. Alberto Contador attacks and Andy Schleck is always on his wheel to counter-attack. It's so exciting now. Who will win the stage? Christophe Riblon from France takes the stage. Andy Schleck is still the overall winner though. Yippee.

That's it for my commentary of the Tour de France. Til next time, Ellen.

Great White North Half Marathon

My run was spectacular. I know it's not cool to brag - nobody likes a bragger - but the reason I started this blog is to let all of you know what I'm up to.

On Sunday I was on a team in the Great White North Half Ironman triathlon. I hadn't planned on doing the triathlon, but my physiotherapist told me about someone who can't run because of an injury and he needed a runner to complete the race, so I jumped at the chance to run a half marathon. I thought it would be a good training opportunity to run at race pace for two hours. I wasn't sure how the run would go because my legs were still sore from my track workout on Wednesday. My legs always take a long time to recover after a hard workout. I stopped to stretch a few times, and every time I looked at my watch, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was ahead of pace. My finishing time was 1:56:14, a personal best. The last time I ran a half marathon that fast was in 2005 at the World Masters Games in Edmonton and that time was 1:56:23 - nine seconds slower. My average heart rate was 155 and my maximum was 174. What's that well known saying about fine wine? It improves with age or something like that?

Psychologically, the most difficult part of the run is at about the 18 km mark, when the first part of the run has to be completed again. When I got to that point, I knew my time would be sub-two hours. I dug deep and ran fast for the last kilometre, and finished strong. When I crossed the finish line, a volunteer escorted me to the post-race food. He said "Ellen, did you see your time? You had a great race". "I wish I could do it that fast", I said. "I just did the run, but I did have a great run". I had a few pretzels, cookies and a banana, but the best part was the strawberry daiquiri, non-alcoholic of course, that is on hand at the finish line every year.

I would like to think that I could do the marathon at Ironman Canada in four hours, but it doesn't quite work that way. Twenty one additional km is a long ways to go, especially following a 180 km bike ride. If I ran Ironman as fast as I ran this race, I would blow up. I am looking forward to Ironman in August though. My training has been going well and hopefully my race will go well too. It's difficult to predict how I will perform because there are so many variables - wind, nutrition, possibilty of flat tires, old injuries rearing their ugly head - and the unwritten rule is to expect the unexpected. No matter how good my nutrition is, gastrointestinal problems are always a possibility, and it always occurs on the bike when you don't realize it's happening, then suddenly the run doesn't go quite as well as you thought it might. That's what happened in Oliver and I don't want that to happen again. One of my upcoming big rides is 185 km and that will be a good opportunity to try the same nutrition I will use at Ironman.

Eight weeks to go until the big day - Ironman. Some big weeks of training are ahead of me. I'll keep you posted if I can muster up enough energy to type.