Category Archives: Edmonton

Winter training

Posted on by

0

I haven’t posted for quite some time since race season wrapped up. Over the last 4 months I have been working on rest, and rebuilding to gear up for 2013 race season. I have cut my mileage down and starting to build a solid base for my half ironman this summer!

My training schedule right now is….

Monday – Bike 30-60 minutes
Tuesday – Swim 2 or 2.5 km and Run 4-8Km
Wednesday – Bike 30-60 minutes
Thursday – Swim 2 or 2.5Km and Run 5-8Km
Friday – Bike 60 minutes and Run 5-6Km
Saturday – REST DAY!
Sunday – Bike 90 minutes and run 7-15Km

I have set some parameters around my run training the minimum I am running 4Km and maximum 15Km until march 1st. Then March 1st my heavy training schedule starts to start building for half iron and a few ultras I am doing this year.

Set 2013 race schedule

April

  • Wed night races

May

  • 5 Peaks terwillegar
  • Blackfoot Ultra
  • Wed night races

June

  • No races just traininggggggg

July

  • Sinister 7
  • Sylvan lake half ironman

August

  • 5 Peaks chickacoo
  • MAYBE Edmonton marathon

September

  • Coaching starts for OOKs
  • 5 peaks Devon

Well that’s it that’s all for now. It has been pretty chilly here and super slippery so lots of my longer runs have been moved on to the deadmill. Party rock. NAWT.

Little pups feet and mine going for a winter zoom

Mine and little pups feet going for a winter zoom

Just bike training away

Just bike training away – sweating bullets

2012 race season is a wrap

Posted on by

0

Well it’s officially over; with one exception of a charity turkey trot at the end of October.
I haven’t posted for a long time; life just got so busy so fast. Last thing I posed about was Sinister 7 – an amazing race.

For the month of August I only raced 5 peaks Chickacoo. This is one of my favorite of the 5 peaks series; this year not so much because I had bronchitis. In pure Teagan style I told Jesse I wasn’t going to race and would just come support him; as we are driving down the little road in to the park I said fuck it. I can’t let you race and me sit there. SO I ate an Aleve, Tylenol day cold and sinus and used tigerbalm as Vicks on my neck to help me breathe. This concoction of drugs made my race a bit wonky noodles I thought my head was going to explode pounding down some of the hills but I finished dead lungs and all!

There I am dying at the top of the huge hill.

 

September started along with the Wednesday night series my personal fav. I couldn’t race the whole season this year due to a compressed disc in my back. Some days are good days and some are bad days so that went along with racing. My back acted up for all of September and in to October when I was supposed to run the Grizzly Ultra 50K. Looking back I shouldn’t have tried to race at all but I am stubborn and have a hard time taking no for an answer.

So October came and we headed down to Canmore to race; I was ready to go had a bunch of Aleve in my hydration pack and said its go time. Deep down I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish it my back just couldn’t take 50K of trail pounding. I started the race and felt good my first 10K were stellar I was right on pace for my projected 6 hour finish and things were good to go. Then at about 11k things started to fall apart I felt my low back start to swell and my knee seize from pinched nerves. I started to walk the hills and had an internal mind fight about if I should continue or not. I realized I just couldn’t put my body in the position of further pain. I decided to take it easy for the last 3K in and enjoy myself. I came through transition and went to our gear tent to grab some race food and my poles. I knew I shouldn’t keep going but I started to head out on leg two – as I started to head out I stopped and turned around and came back in. Probably one of the smartest and hardest decisions I have ever made I HATE to quit. I went to our gear tent dropped my pack, and poles and realized I had to turn over my timing chip and pull. That was hard to say out-loud that I couldn’t go any further because I was hurt. All in all it was a great experience and a well run race. It taught me a lesson or two also.

Grizzly Ultra 50K

After Grizzly I came back and finished off the Wednesday night races; I usually was in the top 10 in my age category which isn’t too bad for being hurt. Now racing season is over it is time to reset and ease off the distance for a while and keep up the solid and effective workouts. I am spending more time on my road bike and in the pool. Next year I will be doing Ironman Calgary 70.3 on top of my usual trail and ultra races! Pretty dang pumped.
Well that is all for now!

The summer post sin 7

Posted on by

0

After Sinister 7 this year my body gave me a giant F you. My legs were tired and I felt completely depleted; the week post Sin I ran 40km when I should have been resting this also did not help my cause. So I decided not to sign up for Merriot Duathlon (where I wanted to get top 3 to apply for Tri Canada POO) and not to sign up for the St.Albert Tri and not to do the Edmonton half marathon. I really wanted to do the St.Albert Tri and the Merriot Duathlon this year because I have been putting lots of km on my road bike and in the pool since Sin ruined my legs and I mixed up my training. Two years ago when I did the St.Albert Tri-a-tri I got second so I really wanted to come back and push hard in the Sprint – however there is always next year and the year after that! Next year I will for sure I am going to race a Duathlon qualifier.

For the last few weeks I have been running 30km/week and a minimum of 30-50km on my bike! I even had a 35km road bike business meeting; it was awesome minus the fact I couldn’t clip out fast enough at one spot and ate poo during a meeting so embarrassing. On the long weekends Jesse and I always go to Jasper so of course we were there August long! We hiked/ran Whistlers with Chocolate his first big hike and did all the normal stuff. I got a few good runs in while we were there and our puppy thinks camping in the bomb diggity because the tent is a giant snooze pillow and he thinks deer should be his best friend.

Snoozing in the tent.

On our hike. Someone is more interested in the birds.

So pretty. Whistlers.

Things are finally back to normal this weekend we are going to the cabin, next weekend we race 5 Peaks Chickacoo one of our favorites minus Devon which is the BEST ONE EVER; and then we will be back in Jasper for September long with our best friends and their new puppy. Him and Chocolate are becoming the best of friends.

Then from there we are back to September, which for me is the busiest time of my life; because I work in a post secondary and I start coaching cross country again. I have tailored my training to cross country specific now, last week was my first week back training specific XC and it was awesome. My fastest 5km time was 24 minutes so I am very pleased and my 30×1 w/ 1 intervals went really well. I will be training XC specific with a mix of ultra training thrown in there (Sunday LONG runs) because on October long I will be soloing the Grizzly Ultra 50km with Jesse and our best friends will be there to cheer us on and help with our pup. Love them AND we get to have a big thanksgiving together.

Anyways back to zooming; MY FAVORITE race series of all time starts in a few weeks the Frank McNamara Wednesday night races – fall races are much harder than spring but they are awesome because all the post secondary teams run them so there its lots of people and I get to run with my team! This will be my 5th year of Franks races between all the members in my family including Josie we have a bizillon franks shirts!

I was looking in to doing Canada Pentiction Ironman next year but it is just too much money right now because we want to buy a house and on top of our normal warm holidays registration alone for the full iron = one week in Mexico; so I am thinking of doing Canada Calgary Half Ironman and my dad and I are doing the 175km Tour de’l Alberta 175km together because he road bikes also!

That is all for now and remember to eat healthy because;

hahahaha too funny I had too!

Thankapalooza Thursday

Posted on by

0

Well it is Thursday again. Even though I think a few Thursdays slipped away with out me posting why my life is so wonderful for the rest of the world to read!

  • My family is freaking awesome even though they are all total crazies. Rather than explaining them I shall just post photos as evidence. Luff you all and you are welcome for me sharing these photos with the world. I can not find any funny photos of my parents so I can just say they are the coolest people in the world. Ever.

  • I have been racing the spring Wednesday night cross country races. I have been beating my times from last year by a lot. Great success. Training is paying off.
  • I am going back to Vegas in June. I am so so so so so excited we are staying at the MGM signature and it is so fancy and so much nicer than where I stayed last time. I am going to get my serious tan on and shop.

Oh HAI Vegas.

In other news

Life is pretty dandy. My job is amazing and the weather is finally stabilizing in poo hole Edmonton. I have been training 30km plus a week. Last week had a bit of well A) a really shitty week and B) my body felt decrepit. Everything was sore all the time and I did not even want to move. So I only ran 20km and took three days off. I had a minor heart attack because I wasn’t making mileage and thought I was going to get fat and die. WELL none of those things happened and that taught me a very important lesson. Take time to rest and listen to your body. 3 years ago I tore my right quad really badly. I was out quite awhile, arguably I came back from training too soon but it all worked out. That was the crappiest thing ever because I couldn’t run at all. So last week I just kept telling myself, rest or injury? Obviously rest was the best thing for me this week I am back in full swing and my training times are banging fast. This week of training looks like this,

  • MONDAY 5km TUESDAY 5km WEDNESDAY 4.5 xc race THURSDAY lift FRIDAY 8km SATURDAY 5.4 xc race prerun SUNDAY 10km 30×1 w/1 intervals = 37.9 km

Well that is all for now

BYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYE

10 Thank You Thursdays

Posted on by

3

Thank you and Thursday sound fancy together so I thought I would make a quick list of things I am thankful for. I’m even going to use numbered bullets and photos.

  1. The fact that kilometers are superior to miles for two reasons. km = Canadian and km’s sound way more impressive than miles. “I ran 13.1 miles today, oh really I ran 21.1km” Sounds so much better.
  2. The Nest had an ice cream special on today and I ate it at 10:30 in the morning. I now feel extremely sick regardless of taking lactose pills. But that is okay because it was DELISH. I will also never learn.

    Nomnomnom chocolate and roasted coconut.

  3. The cool new shirt I just bought. I luffs it. Shameless self photo via computer in my office.
    Yes, I took this photo in my office with my computer
  4. The beautiful weather in my less than beautiful city. Its finally in the double digits sometimes which, is very nice 10 and 12 degrees you make me smile!

    12! Like the tropics!

  5. That running has been going pretty good lately. My stomach has been acting up really bad but I have still made it through all my runs and they are all in the sunshine. I even am starting to take my gloves off and hill training twice a week! Holla!

    3km of hills after a 7km run.

  6. I just got a new keyboard because my other one broke while writing this post. The cap locks did not want to turn off and I don’t think people want to READ THIS ALL THE TIME. It feels like typing on magical clouds with spurts of rainbows and kittens running around. I am sure this will up more productivity 5%. Thank you work for the new keyboard.
  7. My big fat tax return. Thank you to my mothers fancy tax program and data input skills for getting me this haha. I doubled my “I might have enough money for a down payment for a house when I am 80″ savings account by depositing my cheque. My tax return was huge and went in to haus One day it will happen.
  8. This magical cheque also means I have a bit of money I am going to go shopping with. Oh Hai Lululemon.
  9. The Wednesday night cross country race series starts soon and they are my favorite races of all time besides Sinister. Just simply amazing and fun. To top that off Mountian Equipment Co-Op in Edmonton is having a race April 15th. I love MEC and races that cost $10.
  10. Finally, I am thankful for Old Spice Game Day deodorant, yes it is mens but it smells SO GOOD. I will not lie to you I, sometimes smell my armpits during the day it smells that good. It is also superior at masking post running/fitness sweat if you don’t want to shower. Story of my life.

    INVEST.

    That is all for now. I am really excited for summer. I downloaded an oceans sound app to help me daydream about my cabin and summer things. Pathetic I know.

Summer I am coming for you. So tanned and happy haha.

Five Fun Facts

Posted on by

0

Fun fact # 1  I made soup. Thats right folks I am the opposite of domestic and I made delicious and healthy vegetable soup. For me this was a HUGE feat. I will also continue to make soup because it is actually really easy.

My creation.

Fun fact # 2 It is starting to get nice out. The other day I ran and it was PLUS 12! I almost fell over with joy because I did not have to wear 32947590576349 layers of clothing. Success.

Fun fact # 3 I have been going to Jasper every two weeks. Lots of fun snowboarding and lots of fun training. MARMOT HAS SO MUCH SNOW = SO MUCH LOVES.

Onsie for the win.

Fun fact # 4 My hip pain is gone but has manifested in to left knee pain. To top off this lovely turn of events I slammed my knee into the wall yesterday. Winning.

Fun fact # 5 Tim Horton’s cups LIE. You DO NOT have a 1 in 6 chance of winning something because I am 0 in over 12.

LIARS

 

In other news I have been crazay busy at my place of employment; training has been going okay minus the fact my body hasn’t been cooperating to the level I would like it too. I am currently only run training 5 times a week and weight training 3. My runs have been kinda wonky noodles lately with my pacing. Some days are great and I am running in the 5:15/km pace band no problem and others I have been struggling to stay at 5:30/km. Josie (aka manfriend) and I have been training together a bit and he said my gait is messed. I am overcompensating on my left side; we ran on Sunday and he said it is starting to get better but I can definitely feel the difference in my training. So I am continuing to work on correction of my gait and get my knee pain to subside.

For the month of March I am only running 30-35km/week to recover and getting ready to up my mileage I am trying to run every km solid and maximize this time of training. aka trying to minimize junk miles. I have been neglecting my yoga practice and I need to slap my self in the face to go more. Yoga is good for me and it HELPS

My training weeks look like this;

Monday – Run off Lift on
Tuesday – Run 5km
Wednesday – Run 5km
Thursday – 8km
Friday – 6km hill intervals Lift on
Saturday Run off Lift on
Sunday 6-10km

As for races I am gearing up for the Spring Franks XC series and then the next big races are 5 Peaks Terwillieger (8mm hardcore trail) the Blackfoot Ultra (25km trail).

Life and the Edmonton Hypo Half

Posted on by

1

Life has been CRAZY lately! But really positive crazy; and I love crazy lezbehonest.

Quick catch up of training.

Training has been going extremely well with one hiccup that has been raining on my parade a bit as of late. I have been hitting my weekly mileage goal (30-40k) or surpassing it; since it is March soon I will be adding hill training and regular intervals back in to my schedule to start building up for trail racing season. I have built a solid base as part of my winter training schedule so I can put a big ass check mark beside that. Had a great 10km trail run in Jasper last week; the run was actually brutal and my legs were like rocks from snowboarding the day before but it was good none the less. The hiccup I have been fighting has been my hip; a few (2) weeks ago my hip started to hurt when I was training like it popped out, but like a true stubborn athlete I just fought through the pain and have not stopped training. Then it has started to get a bit worse and sometime I hobble around like a strange cave creature, and to add insult to injury I ate shit on a training run last week on that hip. Karma I tell you. So this past week of mileage was in the big old pooper because I took some time off to try and heal it and to taper for the Hypothermic Half in Edmonton.

Now for the Hypo Half

Honestly there is nothing I enjoyed about this race. It was really expensive. It had snowed over 20cm in the last day before this race which, was well crappy. The course wasn’t plowed at all and the mushy slurpee-oatmeal like snow was really hard on my hip. I wore compression socks, 2 pairs of pants, base layer, base tank, lulu zip up, XC dry fit, and a wind breaker along with hand and head coverings, I felt like the Michelin man. I did something that I have only done 2 times before in my life and that was quit a race. The first two races I dropped from were because I was going to poop my pants and well we all know what that looks like when runners do. If you don’t Youtube it. I started the race knowing I shouldn’t be running on my hip so to “cure” this I took two Aleve (the best pain reliever in the WORLD EVER) But despite that I could start to feel that weird muscle burning you feel when you know you’re hurt at about 4km. I dropped at 10km managed that out in 55 minutes which, is a good time but my body was not having any of it and I did NOT want to risk getting hurt further at a stupid “fun” race. I do not regret dropping it is hard because I am competitive but I know its for the better. As half marathons go I think I will stick with the real Edmo half, the Victoria half, or just major events in general..much much better.

AND Now

Back to normal training and life things. I bought new Inov 8′s (Terraflys) and loving them. I have a serious running shoe addiction but that’s okay these are a great minimalistic trail shoes. I have also been lifting like normal, focusing on major muscle groups and hip stabilization. I saw the movie Act of Valor LOVED IT.

Week of Training

Monday – 5km
Tuesday 5km
Wednesday – Off
Thursday 8km
Friday 6km
Saturday – Off
Sunday 8km

Next week we do hill intervals..oh babay.

I also saw this photo and it is SO SO SO TRUE for runners and made me laugh! Check it!

Story of my life..Totally addicted to my garmin

Storm Snowshoe Race #1

Posted on by

0

On Sunday the 8th I competed in my first ever snowshoe running race. The race was the first ever snowshoe running race held in Edmonton; pretty dang cool! The race was 4km and put on by the lovely 5 Peaks Northern Alberta organizers; and we all know they know how to execute a race perfectly..they are so awesome. Part of the deal is that you could rent snowshoes for $10…good deal.

Now 4km easy easy… 21 minutes no big deal…..NAWT this sport is HARD….and on top of it all I had one hell of a time with my snowshoes.

This is how my race went down…Jesse and I parked at the Royal Glenora stairs and ran over to Kinsmen field for a warm up, then we arrived and got situated with our snowshoes. Good. Then at 11 am the race started and I was feeling ready to roll Jesse and I paced out together and at about 700M my snowshoe flew off. Bad. I stopped and put that bitch on as tight as I could..so I thought. For the next 3.3 kms my left snowshoe fell off every 4 feet; I kid you not. Bad. I wanted to quit but I didn’t because I do not like quitters. Good. I eventually finished the race. Good. In a slow time. Bad. Got a free drink and some homemade soup. Good!

A less than enthused Teagan; I beat her by the way. Small redemption.

Jesse looking refreshed..haha

Jesse got second in his age category and I didn’t come in last even with my serious technical difficulties. After the race a few people came up to me and commended me on my efforts as they witnessed my run away snowshoe. That was really nice because I wanted to break that snowshoe in half.

Next step, purchase my own snowshoes that fit me perfectly; I think and hope this will make snowshoe racing much more enjoyable! They are on sale now everywhere so I am going to snag a pair so I can throw down like Bobby Flay in the next race! BOOM.

As for my running training still consistently running 30-40km/ week my body feels great the weather has been beautiful so things are good!

I am looking forward to the Hypothermic Half Marathon on Feb 12th and HOPING for nice weather!

Finally this is a great picture and Jesse and I are both in it!

Such an awesome photo!

Dating The Dreadmill

Posted on by

1

Dreadmill; “A large usually black item with buttons and flashy lights that allows one to run indoors stationary. This machine is like running in to a brick wall over and over at a variety of speeds.” Some people like to call this machine a “treadmill.”

*Can be used as a verb, dreadmilling and or dreadmilled.

-Teagan G.

So this winter we have been very fortunate with awesome weather. I have been running outside all winter except once or twice where I was crunched for time so I dreadmilled at work. Now the weather is about to poop its own pants on our city and get very, very cold. Check it out;

My running outside rule is go until it goes below -18 to -20 depending on the day. Since this week is going to be frigid as sin I will have to start dating the dreadmill. We have a hate/hate relationship; the only mild like I have for it is that I am running. In my mind artificially. So starting tomorrow we are going to go on our first date at 7:45 am and subsequently during the week until Sunday where I have an 8km snow or trail race depending on the snow conditions.

  • Our first date will be an 8km run
  • Second date will be intrv 20×1 w/1min
  • Third date will be 5km
  • Fourth date will be 5km
  • Fifth date will be intrv 15×2 w/1min
  • 6th date will be a no go I need rest from this beast.
  • 7th I am going to break up with Mr.Dreadmill, until of course its minus 30 again, then I’ll take him back.

After this week the weather is suppose to get normal again thank Buddha! Last week was amazing too; went on a fun filled fam jam run Saturday that was pretty fun! ALSO the 3 of us are half our Sinister 7 team so that is also pretty neat!

Pre-fam jam run!

Anyone else hate the dreadmill?

HAULING OATS the whole way home

Posted on by

0

This weekend was suppose to be the fat/half ass 25km and the first Storm XC snowshoe race. I was signed up for both and competed in none. I didn’t run the fat ass because I was dead tired from my week of training and being in Jasper. The snow shoe race got cancelled because we have NO SNOW!

I spent the last week in Jasper for work; I was also there the week before and was home for 48 hours before going back. HOWEVER I will never complain about that since that town is actually like my second home. The weather at home and in Jasper has been super wonky lately. Temperatures are abnormally high which, is creating rain instead of snow then at night that turns in to ice and all the roads and side walks have turned in to skating rinks. In Jasper last week I could really only run outside twice because I had to run in the morning due to work and almost died 29038539 times on the ice. So the rest of the days I just went to the gym there and ran on the dreadmill and worked out at the same time, rather than splitting it up!

But in bigger news my team went ice climbing the day after we got there, which was almost going to be a bust because it has been so warm Maligne canyon has melted out. So we went to tangle falls which, is about an hour out the parkway almost at the ice fields. The highway was shit and the weather was having seizures but it was super fun! I have been climbing my whole life (mostly rock) so I really love going out!

Just climbing away!

On belay!

-

The team!

Lately I have fallen in love with Hall and Oats all over again. Until two weeks ago I thought the actually name was HAULING OATS however it is not. I have been listening to them all the time and sometimes for whole runs and workouts when I take my ipod. On the way to Jasper two weeks ago I went on a crazy Hall and Oats download (ask Jesse he had to put up with it) and have been rocking out since. Just last week I am running in on a skating rink in the rain at 6 am rocking out and singing hauling oats as I attempt to run and not die up Jasper bench trails. I also think the term HAULING OATS can be used for things that move fast; like me running.

So I now haul oats all over the place.
It’s pay day soon; thank jesus Lululemon stuff has been on sale lately
I will be doing my level 2 of my running coaching
I’ll be in Jasper in 2 or 3 weeks to ride and adventure
The Hypothermic half and Birke are soon! If the Birke will even go?!
OH and the second which, will be the first snowshoe race of the year!