Speed Trials

I had some leftover yarn in a rich turquoise colour, and I wanted to use it up on something fun, and that I’d actually wear (as oppose to the dishcloths I’ve become a bit obsessed with…).

I dug out all of my knitting books, and flipped through them until I fell upon Stitch’N'Bitch Nation‘s Cabled Newsboy Cap. I had flagged this project when I first got the book (years ago) and I knew it was time to get’er done. I’ve never done cables before, but they seem pretty easy to me, so I gave it a go.

I was so excited to start on this project, so you can imagine my disappointment when I cast my stitches on my circular needle and realized my smallest length was 24″ – and this project called for a 16″ needle. Crap!

After a quick jaunt to the local big box craft store, I was ready to get crack-a-lackin’:

new wares…

I bought bamboo needles, because they are my favourite. And they look so pretty!!  Last night I completed the 1″ rim around the base of the hat:

The pattern called for 16″ (6.5mm) circular needles AND (6.5mm) double-pointed needles, which I thought was a little redundant. I just bought the dpn’s and called it a day. So after finishing the rim, I switched to the larger needles:

So far it’s going really well, though I have NO CLUE what the final size will be. My little brain has certainly not grasped the concept of gauge, or how to calculate for yarn substitutes. Sigh. In the meantime, cables are super fun, and they have lived up to all of my expectations…

Hopefully you’ll get a view of the finished product in the next couple of days.

So, remember when I put out a call to all of you asking if I should sign up for a sprint triathlon? Thanks to everyone who gave me some advice (either on the blog or in real life) and even though I had an overwhelmingly larger number of people telling me to “just DO IT!!!” I’ve decided… not to.

Ahem.

My reason? Well… I’ve had something else on my mind lately. Another goal has been percolating around in my head, and I know that if I don’t go with what I want to do in my heart, I’ll end up being miserable for the next 8 weeks. And nobody (least of all me, or Angelo) wants that.

So the first thing I have to do is confess something to you all – and this is difficult for me to fess up to… Remember this picture:

Yeah. Well, it was sixth or seventh in a series of pictures that Angelo took after my run. This particular picture was taken after he told me to “suck in that belly!”. This is what I ACTUALLY look like:

So as you can see, that belly area has a little more ‘push’ than I would like.   And even though I’ve been really good at doing crunches and other abs exercises as part of my strength training, the muscles are somewhat hidden by a little layer of ‘softness’.

But while I was training for my race, I didn’t want to try to limit my calorie intake or anything like that, because I wanted all the energy I needed to train as well as I could.

Well, now that the 5k training is over, and now that I’ve got some time before 10k training begins, it seems like the perfect time to shrink that waistline! So I’m going to pay particular attention to the snacks and treats I indulge in for the next six weeks, and I’ve decided to do the 30-day Shred by Jillian Michaels. I know that I’d tried it once before with no success (I tend to prefer more positive feedback from video instructors, as opposed to her tough love approach) but I feel that now I’m in the right head-space to get over Jillian’s do-or-die attitude and get what I need out of the workout. I’ve seen this workout work for so many people, and at ~20min a day, I think I can actually fit it into my morning routine. So… Here is my updated training schedule for the next 6 weeks:

Some notes on the plan:

• I gave myself weekends off, as I will still be doing a long run on the weekends.
• I removed all of my weight training workouts during this period. That’s because, while I’m hoping to see big results in my waist, the 30-day Shred is a full-body workout, so I figure it’s covering my weight training needs.
• Wednesdays will be my intense workout days. With tempo runs and intervals, this is my high-octane day.  It fits with my natural rhythms, as I’m usually more tired in the beginning and end of the work week.

I will do before, halfway, and after measurements. Look for my before measurements in the next post. What, you want pictures too?? Hmmm… Maybe.

Check out this event on facebook

This weekend, Angelo is throwing his last alleycat (for a while). It’s something that’s been on his mind for months, and it’s a race that’s been in him to give for a long time. It’s the Apocalypse Now Redux Alleycat – longer, better, with tons of added footage and deleted scenes, it’s a second release to the race he put on in 2006.

Angelo put together a lot of alleycats over the years, and he is known for his fun, challenging, and intricate races. They’re always good, not too long, and they require brains AND speed to win, so the fastest racer isn’t necessarily always the victor. There’s no big secret as to why Angelo’s races are always so good – he just gets what alleycats are supposed to be; he understands what makes them fun; and he’s not afraid to put in some hours to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

This is the kind of planning that goes into an alleycat:

A lot of sitting at a computer and looking at maps.

But don’t be fooled, Google Maps can only get you so far. Angelo has biked the race (more than once) and knows the best way to do it to win it.  And the course itself is only PART of it: there are spoke cards and posters to create, prizes to get from sponsors, flyers to distribute, volunteers to wrangle, and an after party to coordinate in order to make an alleycat a success.

Angelo could WRITE this article!!!

As for me, I’ve learned long ago that I can’t compete in alleycats, I just get too stressed and I don’t bike very fast. I’m much better at manning a checkpoint.  It allows me to be connected to the race, and I LOVE being there to see the racers mid-race, sweating, gasping for air, trying to figure out what position they’re in. It’s such a fun part of the race.

Besides, this alleycat holds a special place in my heart, too – Angelo and I first hooked up on the weekend of the first Apocalypse Now alleycat, back in 2006. The whole weekend was a whirlwind for me, I was thrown into a world of bike messengers that I had never seen before, and I loved it. I loved the sense of belonging. I loved Angelo’s apartment with his bike room, maps of Mexico and Guatemala on the walls, and cranks on the kitchen cabinets.  I loved how dozens of people had come out to volunteer their time so that the racers could race. I loved the after party and the awards ceremony, where not only the winners walked away with prizes, but DFL too! And I loved staying up all night partying with great people.

I didn’t know it yet, but it was my first time stepping into the community I’d later become a part of, and my first weekend with the man I’m going to marry.

Hiya. Missed my recap of this weekend’s Hintonburg 5k Centennial? Read it here.

You can’t fake this level of fun:

yeah, I raised the roof for the photographer. It was that kind of a run!! I also smiled the ENTIRE length of the race. (even during my sprint to the finish)…

Martin’s photos turned out really well:

He has such a good running stance. No wonder he can run for hours at a time and not feel any (localized) pain!

Note: All above photos by inmysights.ca, official photographers for the race.

Congratulations to everyone who raced, and thanks again to the Hintonburg Community Association, inmysights.ca for the great photos, and all the volunteers who made it the funnest race I’ve ever run.

Today I ran my first race since October 2009. And it felt great!  Today also proved that planning makes perfect: I had a solid training plan, a realistic goal, and trust in my abilities and hard work.  It all paid off in full, as I came in a at 24:11, a whole 49 seconds under my goal.

Though I did have a slight hiccup in my plan – yesterday I made a last minute decision to join some friends at Bluesfest to see The Hold Steady. I even had a beer, and spent 45 minutes jumping up and down like a lunatic in the crowd. The show was great, and I’m glad I went, but I was worried it might hinder my performance on race day.

I was a good girl though, and went home straight after the show, and ate a nice stabilizing dinner (albeit a bit light) of toast and spinach pesto. I also drank lots of water, and did a bit of stretching before hitting the hay.

I also laid out all of my gear for the race, and made some Overnight Oats for the morning…

Shorts, shirt, knee sleeve, heart rate monitor and belt, socks. All laid out in my newly revamped closet.

I woke up pretty early this morning (5:20am to be exact) because the cat was HUNGRY and he let me know it.  That boy has been such a meower since Ange has been away. He misses the male presence in the house!! I checked the weather and found that the temperature was a beautiful 23*C with dropping humidity and a light breeze. The running gods totally came through to make the weather perfect for this race!

I made myself a coffee, and pulled the oats out of the fridge, only to discover:

TOTAL OVERNIGHT OATS FAIL! I ran out of almond milk and so added water, and I had no banana so I put in some applesauce, and the result came out FAR too watery. The taste was okay (oh cinnamon, how you can save almost anything) but the texture was awful.

I opted for more toast instead. Peanut butter and chocolate chip:

MMMMM…

By 7:45, I was ready to go, and walked over to my mom’s house, where I was to meet my running partner and mentor, my brother Martin. We talked shop for a little bit, drank some more water, made our last bathroom stops, and headed out to the race at around 8:30am.

5k race shwag. I love it when they get the accents right!

My mom came out to cheer us on, and we took a few minutes to take some pictures.

The tall family. I may seem tall at 5’11, but I always feel like a shrimp next to my big brother (he’s 6’4)

Nic was super supportive, and even talked about walking a 5k race next year…

The race started at 9am.  There were some pretty fast runners in the pack, so Martin and I lined up somewhere within the third row of racers. When the buzzer went off, I dashed ahead, and Martin and I got immediately separated. I knew the kind of positioning I wanted, and I so I sprinted a bit at the very start to get ahead of a few people.  I’m still developing my skills in this department, but I’m not too shy to squeeze my way (safely) around racers at the start. If there’s space for half a person, I’ll find my way through. (I thank my Roller Derby training for this skill, as we had to train to step over legs and through tight spots ON SKATES in derby).

There were km markers in this race, which was nice because I got to mark my pace (something I wasn’t planning on doing). Here were my times for the first three kms:

Km 1: 4:55
Km 2: 9:50
Km 3: 14:40

When I saw that time, I knew I had it in the bag – all I had to do was maintain. I reached the turn around spot at Bayview (see map) and checked in with myself: all systems were a go (lungs, legs, knee, back, neck), and I felt strong! I saw Martin coming up behind me at the turnaround point, and we high-fived as we passed each other. Definitely the best moment of the race!

The other thing that kept me going strong were the amazing volunteers! They all cheered us on and gave us great encouraging words. Thanks volunteers – you made the run SO MUCH FUN! I had nothing but smiles and thumbs up for all of them.

My sprint to the finish felt strong and powerful for the first time ever! Usually sprints make me want to puke, and they don’t last long at all, but this time I tucked in deep, pumped my arms, and ran hard all the way past the finish line. I don’t know my official time yet, but I stopped the Suunto at 24:11.

Martin, who had a loose goal time of 20min, made the common mistake of holding off TOO much in the first half of the race. He sprinted in the last 2 kms to make up for it, but in the end, he came in about 30 sec after I did.

All in all, it was a great race, and I’m so proud of myself for running a race that is befitting of the effort in training that I put in over the last 12 weeks!

Yes, I trained for this 5k for 12 weeks! I don’t even care if it seems like overkill, it made me feel fantastic to finish this race feeling so strong and with NO KNEE PAIN whatsoever!

Once Martin and I caught our breath, we headed out for a well-deserved breakfast. And now, I’m off to rest up at the cottage on this beautiful Sunday afternoon!