Tag Archives: Running training

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!

I have a new friend.

Posted on by

1

My new friends name is Chocolate and he is a 6 month old chocolate lab/ golden retriever X. He is super cute and as of 2 weeks ago is my new child. He is also my new running partner which, I am finding quite enjoyable.

Mister Chocolate

However, he is still a puppy and is learning to walk on the leash nicely and not get so distracted. We are only running between 4-5km together right now until he builds up to running further.

10 steps of our runs

  1. Start running
  2. 2 minutes later poop
  3. I have to pick up poop and re-direct route to find garbage can (running with dog poo is hard)
  4. Keep running and he pulls for 500M or so
  5. Stops to pee
  6. Then we run again
  7. After about 1km things settle down and he gets in to the groove (stops pulling)
  8. At about 4km he gets tired -I tell him we are almost home – he speeds up
  9. We arrive home at either 4-5km
  10. If I am not done training I drop him off and keep going – if I am done we drink water together and lay around

It has been quite the enjoyable experience, not so easy to train puppies but rewarding! Right now he is on running lock down because he got neutered for his 6 month birthday so I am running solo until he can run again in 9 days! As consolation he does have a snazzy soft cone that makes him look like a flower.

Mr.Daisy

In other news I was deadly sore from the blackfoot ultra a few weeks ago but am now back in the normal training groove. This Saturday I race the Fast Trax Ultra 30km the race course is BRUTAL 3 – 10km loops. Lots and lots of ups. Minor positive I have run portions of this course many times over because it is the ACAC Edmonton cross country track so it won’t be a surprise. It might have been better if it were a surprise so I wouldn’t know going in to it how hard it will be.

Then the Tuesday after the race I am off to Vegas where it will be HAWT HAWT HAWT and I will tan,run,tan,gamble,tan,snooze.

HAWT

Blackfoot Ultra

Posted on by

0

This past weekend I ran in the Blackfoot Ultra 25km trail race! It was an amazing race put on by amazing people and kick ass volunteers! The distances were 100km 50 miles (80 km), 50km, and 25km. I most defiantly opted for the 25km and I am very happy for that decision; Josie ran the 25km too!

It was a great day about 20 degrees and the perfect mix of heat/breeze/shade. I was really hoping for a solid race but about 5km in my stomach decided to go on strike and gave me hell for the next 20km. So in the end it took me just over 3 hours not 2:45 which, is what I was hoping for. Josie passed me at one point and was like “what is wrong with you” and I barely replied because I wanted to die. After the race when Josie and I were chatting he said he could instantly tell that something was wrong. This generally is a good thing so if I were to be SUPER slow he might have known I was probs dead in the trees . I took in water, and shot-blocks during the race and heed at the aid stations. Must say I missed my NUUN! #1 thing I love about shot-blocks is that they do not further upset my stomach!

This race awarded me a few fun souvenirs;

  1. An awesome hoody
  2. Dilly bars
  3. Diet cola
  4. 2 huge chaffing areas on my back from my “fly away scapula’s” thanks camelbak!
  5. Satisfaction

This is the elevation map! Lots of ups. Personally I like downs.

Blackfoot Ultra Elevation Map

Here is a fun phot Joise snapped of me dying on my way in from the BFU!

Done and Done

 

Also in other news, a few weeks ago I ran the 5 Peaks Terwillegar sport. Fun, hard, and hills as per usual! And not just back to training I am swimming at least once a week and biking at least twice along with normal running!

Next Race : Fast Trax Ultra 30km

 

Another year of Wednesday night races in the bag

Posted on by

0

Yesterday marked the final race of the Spring Frank Mcnamara Wednesday night race series. There are 5 races in the series; personally I think the spring series runs are supAr fun. This is my third year racing them and every year seems to get better. This year I beat all my times by a minimum of a minute I also came in 8th in my age category, usually out of 20 plus girls. I’m super pumped about all of that considering my goal was top 10 each race. How we say success. The only pit fall of the series was at the last race my stomach was acting up pretty bad and by pretty bad I mean I was constipated (gross I know). So I took an Aleve to subside the pain? It helped a bit…ish. Now to rectify this little hiccup I am drinking smooth exit tea – YEAH that’s the real name; what if the exit isn’t smooth hmm? It tastes like weird camomile tea. Awesome, we will see how that pans out; even the package it comes in looks all weird organic medicine-y.

Training has been going really well; last week I was in Jasper with work and I got in some great training (in my favorite place super shocker I know). I didn’t take any photos which, was totally my fault but I did hill intervals at Old Fort Point with the sheeps and ran with the elks almost everyday. It’s May so they are out in full force. My interval day I did up Pyramid lake road they were 9 – 3 minute intervals w/ 1 min walk 1min jog. This is my little fancy chart thing from the run to spice this post up.

Interval training day. Woot.

I did a few two-a-days; they are hard but I noticed a difference in my performance when I did an am run before a Wednesday night race. I felt really strong and ready to go. Now that we are in May I have started back training in the pool and on my awesome possum bike because Tri season will start for me in August. I sport my swim cap and one piece bathing suit – I am sexy and I know it. Then I go back to work looking like a drowned rat because I swim on my lunch break once per week. Sew tutes. Back to running training; I have started running more in my 5 fingers so like once a week instead of once every 2 or 3 or 5 weeks. I truly love them but usually just wear them on hiking, adventures, and in the gym. It has been a nice change they are so comfs. (comfy if you didn’t catch my personal abbreviation).

This Saturday will be the first 5 Peaks race of the year! Party on! Can’t wait hopefully I race it much better than last year because I got the shit kicked out of me. No lie but I still had fun because they are that awesome. Then I am gone to Ontario for work for Cystic Fibrosis Canada Shinerama! My people! Then the weekend after that is the Blackfoot Ultra, I will be doing the 25km baby ultra. See there is my training schedule and motivation notes. Nerd nerd nerd nerd. Also the  picture will not rotate you can do some neck stretches to look at it if you wish.

 

The picture will not rotate I do not know why.

That is all.

 

For now.

 

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

Garmins 1 Year Anniversary

Posted on by

0

Today was my Garmins (Garmys) 1st Anniversary. It has been a fantastic year; that addictive watch and I have faced a lot. Investing $175.00 on my visa when I was a poor student was worth it..now that I am all grown up and work full time and such.

In the last year that watch and I have adventured in 3 countries, many provinces, through mountains, on beaches, and here at home. Classic classic.

See on a mountain. Sulpher skyline to be exact.

 

Here is the report from the last year of Garmin runs, this includes everything except 30 or so treadmill runs last winter when its was minus 7905739025 and 905739 feet of snow!

Just my Garmy Stats.

I am very fortunate that running brings a lot of happy in to my life even when sometimes it doesn’t seem fun. I also love to nerd out to my Garmin I think it is just the coolest invention ever. Besides grape flavored nuun tabs my new love in the electrolyte drink department. IT MAKES WATER TASTE LIKE GRAPE POP! Invest.

In honor of Garmins 1st birthday we went on a SOLID interval run fueled strictly by chocolate because it is Easter after all. Did you know Ferraro Roche makes FULL chocolate bunnies. Invest. Todays workout was 30 x 1 minute intervals with 30 sec walk 30 sec jog recovery. My splits were awesome regardless of knee pain! I wanted to put my behemoth chart of my splits here but it is giant and looks stupid. So a quick summary 80% of my intervals were sub 5 min km; the slowest I ever got was 5:15 km. Overall 9.3km. It was a great run and I am very pleased. Runners high all over here.

In bigger news I am washing my running clothing that has not seen a washing machine for awhile….a long while… and the Frank McNamara Wednesday night races start this week. I went and pre-ran the course with Josie yesterday to see how the trails are and they are MUDDY. It should be a fun run this will be my 3rd time racing it!

And that is all. For now.

 

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!