Good morning......

Last week was hard getting back into the swing of things after Arizona, partially missing the great weather and clear blue sky's surrounded by mountains and to some extent feeling jetlagged. This week I felt a lot better and believe I have the charge back in training. I have to come to realize that I really enjoy the level of activity and how it makes you feel both physically and mentally fit. The mornings roll around early typically at 5 am....gosh it's getting to a point now where my internal clock has me bouncing out of bed without the radio. How sick is that!!! I can't say I have always been a morning person and I'm sure my mother would vouch for that and the many times she called me to get up for school and had to drag me out of bed. I love the morning workouts, it's like a my cup of coffee and gets me off to a good start and then it is out of the way. The training can be at various times for some people and there is no rule that you have to do it in the morning, more my preference.

The beaches is a great place for the early morning vibe! There are always people out and about either going to work, walking their dog, or running/cycling themselves in the early hours of the day. There is so much enjoyment in putting on my runners and heading out to the solitude of my own thoughts. The time allows me to mull over ideas and think about some of the things I need to do, or sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to my thoughts at all. This is the fun part and like I had said in a previous post there are always interesting individuals. People watching can be very entertaining and fellow runners usually have good etiquette and say good morning, wave, or at least grunt as you go by. I would like to mention one fellow "beacher" in particular who remains nameless at this point and may be someone you are familiar with if you live down there. There is a man that walks the boardwalk who brings joy to others by greeting people in a very friendly manner "gooooood mornnning" as if he were singing it. Upon your response he then says "have a wonderful day my dear"! The cheer and happiness that comes out of him is contagious and I always look forward to seeing him on my run. This is someone who does a random act of kindness for no self gain....what a wonderful thing!

I also have a deep appreciation for our swim coach Ayesha who carefully plans our workouts based on different individual skills. The hour and a half session always builds on technique and endurance. However, sometimes painful I think I can speak for most in saying she has a true passion for coaching and setting others up for success.

There are bumps along any road you travel and instead of getting dragged down with the depth of it try and look on the brighter side of things. This morning on my long run the sun came up and began to shine. There was calmness along Lake Ontario at Ashbridge's Bay, a glow along the city sky line, and my little man singing good morning along the boardwalk. There was a slight rubbing of my shoe on the right arch of my foot which made me think that I may be getting a blister. Quickly I tuned it out as I enjoyed the other aspects of my run. Much to my surprise I later realized in the shower that I had my very first blood blister and it is in the shape of a heart!

I dedicate this post to all the special people who have and are supporting and helping me as I achieve my goals, no matter how big or small, it means the world to me.

Arizona

Last week I was in Tucson, Arizona training and boy did I learn a lot! Firstly, what a beautiful place surrounded by mountains with 80+ temperatures and not a cloud in the sky! The famous saying each morning was "oh look, another perfect day". Thanks to Mark and Judy we were able to take in the many spectacular sites on our bikes and gain strength in training. Each morning we set off on an amazing cycling route and quickly learnt that there was no "faffing" about. It was an educational week full of slang words and do's/don't according to cyclist...do you know what squeeb means???

I have to admit the first couples days were particularly frustrating for me getting out on the open road with my new bike and learning the ropes of the gears. It always sucks being the last trailing behind, really puts your ego in check...I realized that I needed to focus on myself and how this sport is both mental and physical in more ways than I had imagined! I read this article in Triathlon Canada that perfectly described and put the sport into perspective: "Training for the triathlon sport requires working through a veritable maze as you try to condition yourself for three sports, choose equipment and deal with the unexpected challenges of racing against a thousand competitors in an unpredictable environment. Triathlon is a sport filled with dramatic ups and downs, curveballs, injuries and moments of pure and positive energy." by Lucy Smith

The challenging climbs and long rides were amazing each day as we cycled through reservation areas and national parks. The first day was Gate's Pass where we cycled for 4 hours and had the exciting thrill of seeing a live rattlesnake on the road, Judy seemed less than thrilled. I wanted to stop and take a picture while she zoomed off at super speed alerting any others in site to keep pedaling. During one of our other rides we had pulled off to the side of the road to use "nature's bathroom" behind some cactus' and much to our surprise were scolded by a ranger who threatened to charge us with indecent exposure. Who said cycling was not daring and adventurous? I, myself gave everyone the privilege of seeing me fall of my bike not once but twice over the course of the week. The "EPIC" first fall ever, took place at a stop light (Thornedale Avenue) where I lost my balance and bounced off the pavement during rush hour with plenty of spectators. Initially I quickly recovered out of embarrassment and later admired my war wounds of bruises where my bike bounce off my knee and I had scraped elbow, overall not so bad. The second fall was a couple days later when I attempted to turn my bike around due to wild dogs up ahead, or so I was told...the heat really does make some people hallucinate. This time I did not get off as easy and received more bruises on top of my bruises, missing skin off the palm of my hand, and road rash on the opposite elbow. Now I'm trying to play the sympathy card!

Some of our rides involved driving out to a starting point in our luxurious bus of a minivan we rented that easily fit our bikes in the back. At any given point we were guaranteed to hear the most popular songs of Tucson repeated over and over again on the radio by artists Lady Ga Ga singing Bad Romance or Lady Annabellum....it's one o'clock in the morning, and some tiresome song "I'm gonna break break your heart". These songs were heard at least 3 times over the course of each day despite the fact that we were in the vehicle for short periods of time....and we still have them stuck in our heads!

Our two big climbs were on Mount Lemmon and Kitt's Peak with a constant incline winding around the mountain. There were certain miles that really stuck out as being more taxing from the next as I slowly trudged up in my lowest gear. The view was breathtaking with stretches of open land that seemed to extend as far as the eye could see with nothing else in sight but valleys and nature. Lemmon is a 24 mile climb and I made it to about mile 9, then wind and speed traveled going down made me want to continue climbing up instead of down....wow! Kitt's peak was later in the week and I was determined to make it to the top of the 12.5 mile steep incline, it took 2 hours and I made it...so pumped!

The weeks main focus was cycling as I'm sure you can tell by now and we managed to squeeze in some running and swimming as well. Overall, 19 hours of cycling, 3 hours of running and 3 hours of swimming. We enjoyed several meals during the day and what appeared to happen was if we were not training or sleeping there was lots of food involved. By the end of each meal we were strategically planning what we would eat next....priceless! There were lots of laughs, a few shopping trips and a brilliant massage to work out the knots at Spa One.

Sorry

Sorry I have not been updating recently as life has been chaotic and busy. Not to mention the crazy shenanigans of the cyber world where you make a post and it disappears. All that hard work can vanish in the blink of an eye. Any who, I have it sorted now and looking forward to giving more posts.