Indian night!

Today was my first day of unemployment. I slept in until 9:30 then decided it would be a good idea to be productive. In the morning, I wrote a bunch of progress reports and did some admin/attendance-related paperwork. I really really wanted to go for a bike ride, but I've decided that there will be no non-Gazelles bike rides until these reports are finished. At present, I have 32 or so left to do and it's basically crunch time. After lunch, I had to go back to CRA to pick up some books I had lent a student. When I got home, I finally caved in to the beautiful weather and decided to go for a run (I was planning on going anyways, right?). It was my interval run, 8km with 3x1km speed repeats. One of the features of my Garmin is that you can program intervals like this and it will alert at the appropriate time/distance and it will tell you what speed you should be going and if you're going too fast/too slow. It worked beautifully! I went out Grande-Anse and back because it's straight and flat, but man was it hot. I finished in under 50min, which I was satisfied with. When Chris got home, we went over to the gym for a quick workout in the weight room.
For dinner, I made chicken madras with paneer, basmati rice and raita. Chicken madras is a spicy, chicken, tomato "stew". Raita is a cooling "paste" made from Greek yogurt, with cucumber, mint and cilantro. It helps take away the burning heat of the spicy food. The paneer, a soft, cheese-like substance, is a major pain in the butt to make. I used 1% milk so it wouldn't be as fattening. To make it, you boil the milk (3L) then add 1 cup of lemon juice and stir until it starts to coagulate. Then you strain it in cheesecloth to remove the liquid and I usually refrigerate it with a weight on it to help it solidify. Straining it is always a battle and I couldn't get all the liquid out, so it was pretty soft even after a few hours in the fridge. It didn't really matter since I stirred it into the chicken madras anyways (where it promptly disintegrated). All in all, everything turned out delicious and remarkably low-calorie.

New cookbooks!

This morning, I went over to the gym for attempt #2 on my 10km run. I decided to try something different this time and I didn't eat anything before running, but I did make up some Gatorade in my water bottle. It seemed to work alright; I didn't have any cramps like I usually do and I finished my 10km in 59:49. Because I woke up late today, doing a morning run AND an afternoon run wasn't really an option, so I'll do my speed run tomorrow instead.
After an afternoon of doing errands and writing progress reports, I started preparing dinner. As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to try some recipes from my new cookbooks - Lentil Feta Salad and Peasant Soup. They both took a fair bit of work and it was the first time I'd made anything with lentils, but overall I'm happy with how they turned out. The only problem I ran into was roasting the almonds for the salad; you have to watch them extremely carefully because they're fine, they're fine, then they're burnt - there didn't seem to be any in-between. On the menu for tomorrow night is Chicken Madras with Paneer and Raita. I'm really excited for some spicy food!

Long run.

Yesterday (Friday) was my longest run to date - 19km. It's the longest run I have on my plan and after this week, I'll be tapering into my race on the 12th. I went to La Baie in the afternoon and parked at the beginning of the waterfront trail. The first third (6-7km) went great - I had lots of energy, my pace was great. After about 45min of running, I started to overheat. According to the forecast, it was supposed to be cool (10-11 degrees) with the distinct possibility of rain. So I wore a long-sleeved shirt and crop pants. Stupid me. The sun came out and the temperature rose to 16 or 18 instead and I started to roast. I ended up taking off my shirt (scandal!) and running in just my sports bra. Now, I'm normally pretty shy about stuff like that, but that's how hot it was - I just didn't care. Plus, between my mid-rise pants, my hydration belt, plus the shirt I had tied around my waist, you couldn't see any extra skin anyways. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of my problems. About half-way through, I got really light-headed and I stopped for a while to lie down on a park bench. Then I had some serious stomach problems and thankfully there was a public restroom nearby. And of course, all this happens when I'm at the farthest distance from my car. It did, however, force me to continue running if I ever wanted to go home. My total running time was 2:04, which is a great time as far as I'm concerned, but real time (including my breaks), it was 2:23. Not so great. I think it'll be a little better in the race, since it's actually a race and stopping isn't really an option, plus Chris' parents will be there and I don't want to embarrass myself. I think I need to find a way to get more calories in during my run. I mixed up some Gatorade to put in my water bottles this time, which helped, but they're still pretty small. I hope they have Gatorade at the race....
When I finally made it home Friday afternoon, I barely had time to shower before we had to go to the surf and turf dinner on base. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. The actual steak wasn't very good, but all the sides (rice, potatoes, buns, salad) filled me up anyways, plus they had donuts for dessert. I had several rum-and-cokes over the course of the night because they were so good! Chris said the bartender made them with spiced rum instead, so I may have to go buy some this weekend. After dinner, there was a DJ, who was TERRIBLE. He had the worst selection of music and he cut off songs mid-way through. I'm glad so many of my friends were there - that's really what made it fun. It's been awhile since I've gone dancing. We were among the first of our group to leave (around 11 or so) because I was supposed to have Gazelles in the morning. Key word here -supposed to. When I got home, there was an email from my group leader, cancelling the ride to St-Ambroise because they were calling for heavy rain (90% chance of 30mm) plus possible thunderstorms. I wasn't too disappointed, though this does mean I haven't biked all week.
Today was filled with lots of cleaning - dishes, vacuuming, laundry, the usual. Even though my legs were killing me from yesterday's run, I decided to go to the gym to do my 10km. Less than 5min in, I got a wicked cramp in my side. I stopped, tried to stretch it out, but nothing seemed to help. It was unbearable, so I decided not to force it and just went home. That means that I'll have to do a 10km run in the morning and my speed intervals in the afternoon tomorrow.
We also did our meal planning for the week. I got my new cookbooks this week, so I'm excited to try some new recipes. On the menu for tomorrow, we have Lentil Feta Salad with Peasant Soup. Some of the recipes call for ingredients that are a little difficult to find. For example, fennel (for Cod Fennel Stew). We checked at 3 stores in La Baie - Maxi, IGA and the Marche d'Ami, with no luck. After the movie tonight, we went to the IGA in Chicoutimi, where we finally found some fennel. I also found some quinoa, which I will incorporate into some recipes next week. I'm also waiting for my Indian cookbook to arrive - I really want to make some butter chicken and chicken vindaloo and tandoori chicken. And vegetable curries, too.

Stupid headache.

So, my training for this week has been completely derailed. Ever since I got home from work Tuesday, I have not been feeling well. My head has been aching and no amount of sleep seems to be working. I haven't gone running since Monday; now, I have no choice - I have to do my 3 runs for the week Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Which means, tomorrow will be my long run (19km), Saturday (after Gazelles, mind you) will be my 10km and Sunday will be my speed run (8km), for a total of 37km in 3 days. Hopefully, the weather will hold up and I won't have to run in the rain.
Today was my last day of work at the tax centre, so it's full steam ahead with the progress reports. Even though I'm finished my contract, I still get to get up early tomorrow for a class with one of my private students. After that, in the afternoon it'll be my long run and in the evening, there's a surf and turf dinner on base.
Other than that, nothing much to report. We finally got Chris' surgery date (July 6), so I was able to register for some of my summer races. I also joined Triathlon Quebec, which will save me a fair bit of money in race fees. Presently, I am registered for:
- Tour de Lac Brome (20km race)
- Quebec City Staircase Challenge (11km)
- Triathlon du Saguenay (Olympic duathlon - 10km run-40km bike-5km run)
- Triathlon du Quebec (sprint triathlon - 750m swim-20km bike-5km run)
- Montreal Esprit Triathlon (sprint triathlon)
There are a few others I'm considering, but it'll depend on what we decide to do for the summer.

Last week of work!

This is my last week of work at the tax centre. For the last classes, I'm giving my groups the choice between watching a movie or playing games, plus I'm baking them treats. For today's groups, I made them 2 dozen chocolate chip muffins and for tomorrow, I made a double batch of brownies. I haven't decided what I'm going to make for Thursday yet. The security guards at the tax centre love me - I give them all the extra treats. It's also a good, stress-free way to finish the session, especially as I'm killing myself writing progress reports. I have 10 more to write for my Tuesday groups (really only 6.5, as 3 of the students were never/hardly ever there, and the other one had some serious attendance issues too).
Yesterday, we had a BBQ with some friends who moved out of the region last week. They came back to visit for the long weekend and it was really nice to visit with everyone. Unfortunately, I was rather tired because in the morning, before we went, I had my run to do. I did another Fartlek run, 8km with 3x5min speed intervals. I was quite happy with my final time (~48min) and I finished with an arm workout, but I was pooped at the end.
Tonight was supposed to be my Gazelles ride, but when I came from work, I was exhausted. I don't know why, but I did not sleep well last night. I think I saw every hour go by. And when I don't sleep, I usually end up with a headache. Sure as shoot, that's what happened. I tried taking a nap when I got home, but I didn't feel any better. So, I decided to stay home tonight. I knew it was going to be a difficult ride, quite cool with ~40km/h winds and 50km/h gusts, and with a headache, it just wasn't worth it. Instead, we (almost) finished watching I, Claudius and took the dogs for a walk. We also watched the season finale of Glee and it was surprisingly dull and predictable - I'm a little disappointed.
A big highlight of the day was the mail. Not only did I get our federal income tax returns (yay, money!), but I got two new cookbooks. After I'm done work, my plan is to spend a lot more time experimenting with new recipes, so I bought a new low-calorie cookbook as well as a vegetarian cookbook. I was looking through the vegetarian one tonight and I'm quite excited to try some of the recipes. As well, I'm looking to find a good Indian cookbook - any recommendations would be appreciated.

Busy weekend

Saturday morning, I had my ride with Les Gazelles. We finally got our uniforms and they look awesome! I ordered a short-sleeved jersey and bike shorts (mandatory), and I also got a jacket, plus they gave us all gloves for free. The bike shorts are extremely comfortable and I love the material; all in all, they look pretty sharp, especially when we're in a group. For this ride, we went out to Bec Scie and back. A few kilometres in, one of the girls in my peloton got a flat tire. Between the five of us, we tried to fix it ourselves but it seemed hopeless. Thankfully, at that moment, two guys came riding by and asked if we needed any help (which of course we did), and they were able to fix her tire for us. It was extremely generous of them and we managed to scrounge up $5 between us as a sort-of tip. Once we got going again, the ride was pretty easy. The biggest obstacle, it seemed, was the quality of the road out to Bec Scie. It was mostly flat, except for the big hill coming out of La Baie. I've done this hill a number of times before and though long, it's not too bad. One of the girls broke her chain on the hill; she had her cell and called her boyfriend or son or someone to come pick her up, so we were 4 most of the way home. Once we conquered the big hill, we basically flew back to Chicoutimi; we were averaging 30km/h with minimal effort. At the end of the ride, I talked to the group leader about maybe trying the 28km/h group. For me, I can handle the speed of the 28 group, but they do longer distances than the 26 group and I'm a little concerned about that. Anyways, she suggested trying the 28 group on a Tuesday night, when they do shorter distances than on the weekends, so I think that's what I'll do.
After my ride, I was supposed to go pick Chris up after his football game, but when I arrived at the field, there was no one there. I went up to the school; still, no one there. Back to the field - no one. I asked some people who were working nearby what time the game had ended and they said around 11 (it was now about 12). After a few phone calls and driving around aimlessly, I came to the conclusion that he must have started walking home (which, as it turns out, he had). However, when I first arrived in La Baie, I couldn't take my usual route to the field because one of the roads was blocked by a stuck railroad crossing; as a result, I missed Chris, who was walking the way we normally drive. I ended up meeting up with him almost halfway home, after he had walked up the huge hill out of of La Baie. Looking back, I had probably passed him on my bike too, on our way back to Chicoutimi. Anyways, he was extremely thankful that I found him, as it was quite hot out and he was tired.
Saturday night, there was a May 2-4 party at one of our friend's houses. They're moving shortly and they have to finish all their open alcohol before they move. They found some recipes that incorporated the various alcohols they had left, so there were some pretty interesting drink combos that resulted. There were about 15 people there and I think we did a good job helping them out, though there is still some alcohol left.
It was pretty late when we got home, around 3am or so, and Chris had to be up for an away game for the La Baie football team. I dropped him off around 9:30 and I contemplated going back to bed afterwards, but I decided to be productive instead. I cleaned for a bit, then I went on a bike ride with a friend of ride. We rode for an hour and a half and covered almost 40km. The ride out was great; we went through Laterriere and out towards the park, but on the way back, we were hit with a huge headwind that slowed our progress to a crawl. It was a good ride and we were back by 1pm, so there was still lots of time to get stuff done. I cleaned, did a couple loads of laundry (which dried on the line really fast because of the wind) and wrote some progress reports. I ended up falling asleep for a couple hours while writing, but at least I finished another class set and got started on another. After that, I went to pick up Chris from his game and we pretty much went to bed right after.

18km run: CHECK

Tonight was my long run for the week (18km). The plan was the same as last week; Chris had his football practice in La Baie so I decided to do my run there. I almost bailed and did my run at the gym because we had a spontaneous thunderstorm late this afternoon. We were hit by the torrential downpour in Chicoutimi and drove through blinding rain all the way home. Unfortunately, I had put a load of laundry on the line and I was expecting my clothes to be strewn all over the backyard. In fact, the storm hadn't reached the base yet, so I ran out and brought the clothes in as fast as humanly possible. It was just starting to rain, so I was really lucky. I still had to toss them in the dryer for a bit, but it could have been much worse.
Anyways, despite the rain, I decided to go for my run and it ended up being quite hot and sunny in La Baie. I struggled a bit with the temperature; for the first half of the run, I was wearing just a tank top with my jacket tied around my waist. After that, as the sun started to go down, I kept going back and forth between wearing and not wearing the jacket. Chris was able to extra-tighten the lids on the water bottles on my hydration belt, so they didn't leak all over me this time. All in all, it was a good run; I mostly ran around the waterfront, out to Mont Belu and back to the port, and my final time was 1:58:47. On this run, my average speed was 9.1km/h, compared to 8.9 for my 17km run last week. When I got, I was feeling a little dizzy and nauseous, but once I got something to eat and drink, I felt much better. Next week, my long run is 19km, then it's a taper week, then it's the race. It's getting close!
Tomorrow morning, I have my Gazelles outing. This week, we're meeting at Costco and biking out to Bec Scie in La Baie (~50km). Apparently, the uniforms have arrived, so I'm excited to get my pink kit. We also have the May 2-4 party tomorrow night, which promises to be a blast.

Tour du Silence

It's been a busy few days, mostly dominated by progress reports.
After work on Monday, I went to the gym to do a quick run (8km) before I went to see one of my students (private class). Tuesday was a long day; 3 classes during the day then Les Gazelles at night. For this ride, we went out to the Parc des Laurentides and we climbed the first few hills. Some of the ladies decided to turn back a bit sooner because they had to be back for a certain time, so I decided to join them. I hadn't slept well the night before and as a result, I was really tired and I found the ride more difficult than usual. Plus, Chris was waiting for me at Walmart (after his football practice) and I still had a few progress reports to write. I finished the last one around 11pm, then I spent an hour or so editing them before I sent them off.
Tonight was another outing with Les Gazelles but it was a special event, Le Tour du Silence. It's a group ride that takes place all over the world at the same time to honour cyclists who have died on the road. Les Gazelles took responsibility for organizing it this year, so I went early to help with registration. Chris had two practices tonight, which meant he needed the car all evening, so I biked to the meeting spot. I helped register people and I gave out bracelets to all the participants. The ride was open to everyone, including kids, so it was a fairly slow pace. We biked a total of 18km, out towards the park and back. There were literally hundreds of participants and the police directed traffic through the intersections for us. It was quite an impressive sight. Afterwards, I biked home. Because of the pace differences between when I was biking alone and the group ride, it was a perfect opportunity to experiment with the Lap feature on my Garmin. This way, I can look at data from the 3 different parts of the ride separately.
Tomorrow is going to be an easy day in preparation for my long run on Friday night. There's also a May 2-4 party this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it!

118....wahooo!!!!

This morning was my one chance all week to sleep in. Monday-Thursday I had work, Friday I had the car appointment at 8 and Saturday I had my Gazelles sortie, so I was really looking forward to this morning. Of course, my body decided that I needed to be awake early for some reason. I tried to stay in bed as long as I could, but I ended up getting up at 9. As a result, I was surprising productive today. I had a load of laundry out on the line by 10, and then Chris and I went to the gym.
My run today was an 8km Fartlek run, plus I wanted to do some weights after, so I decided not to run outside (even though the weather was pretty nice). Plus, they're doing some kind of health promotion/raise support for the troops in Italy at the gym; apparently, it would take ~78 000 minutes to walk to Italy, so they wanted everyone on the base to pitch in and record their physical activity for the week to meet that goal. I have been training mostly outside this week, so I didn't have a chance to add in my minutes; over the last 7 days, I contributed about 900min and Chris had just over 1000 with all his football practices.
A Fartlek run is basically a fancy way of saying speed intervals. I did a 1km warmup, then 5 intervals of 3min at a significantly faster pace, with a ~.75km recovery in between, and a cool-down for a total of 8km. After my run, I went down to the weight room and did an arm workout (bench press, biceps curls, military press, shrugs, and lateral raises). When I got home, I weighed myself and I'm down to 118lbs! It must have been that bike ride yesterday. And this was all before 12!
We spent the afternoon doing errands, then we took the dogs for a walk. In order to tire them out, we had them do a lap of the neighbourhood pulling some tires first. That way, they don't pull as much later in the walk. Then I spent the afternoon writing progress reports! At least it was nice enough that I could work outside. I'm proud to say that I finished the reports for 2 of my Wednesday groups before we went to the movie. Plus, with the one I wrote when we got home, I only have 8 more to do before Wednesday!
The movie at the theatre this week was Limitless. It wasn't too bad - the basic premise of the movie is that a guy starts taking some pills that make him insanely smart and the movie is about the problems he encounters. There were some painfully obvious flaws in the plot, but at least it was something vaguely original.
And it's back to work tomorrow morning. I have only 7 more teaching days and I must say, I'm very excited. This week, I have my usual Monday, Tuesday and Thursday classes, but since my Wednesday classes are finished, in that gap I'm teaching my Monday groups again (because of holidays, there are more Monday classes left than other days). After I'm done teaching in a couple weeks (and writing progress reports), it looks like I'll be off (aka unemployed) for the summer. At least it'll give me more time to focus on my training.

Valinouet

This morning, the Gazelles outing was to Valinouet, a local ski hill. I drove out past St-Honoré (about 30min away) and we parked at the beginning of the road that leads up the mountain. It was a straight out-and-back route, 25km each direction. Of course, going up was much more difficult than coming down. I was quite impressed with my hill-climbing abilities. According to my Garmin, we climbed a total of 519m. At the top of one of the hills, one of the ladies told me that I was "une bête avec les cuisses de tabernouches" (roughly translated: a beast with thighs from hell) because I was the first one to the top of each hill. It took about 1:10 to climb the mountain, but only 45min to descend, just to give you an idea. The last hill, just before the peak, was very steep; I was climbing very slowly and I kept slowing down and slowing down until finally my bike just stopped and tipped over. I didn't have time to get my feet out of my pedals, so I fell and fell hard. Thankfully, my ego was bruised more than anything; I had to extract some pieces of gravel out of my hand, but that was it. The biggest problem I had today was with my equipment. As I previously mentioned, I had bought shoe covers to protect my feet from the wind and rain. Today, it was quite cool with the chance of rain, so I decided to wear them. About 6km in, my right shoe cover became unzipped and it got caught in my chain, which of course ripped it to shreds. I had to stop and take it off because it was destroyed. It did provide one benefit, however: I got to compare how my feet felt with and without the covers. As it turns out, there was little noticeable difference by the end of the ride. So, either I need to buy better ones or else they really don't make a difference. I'm going to try taking them back to the store to get my money back or at least a replacement set. The second problem was my gloves. At the top of the hill, I noticed that there was a rip along the seams. Seeing as I bought them only yesterday, I'm certainly going to take them back and get new ones. Gear problems aside, it was a good ride, not too cold, and the descent was super fun. I maxed out at ~60km/h, which was awesome but also a little scary, especially given the quality of the road.
When I got home, I was starving and sore. According to my Garmin, I burned 1258 calories over the course of the 2 hour ride. Immediately after I showered and ate, I decided to take a nap. Chris was gone all afternoon and evening with his football stuff, so I spent the day alternating between cleaning and writing progress reports. It's sad to say, but I think I prefer doing dishes to writing evaluations. I have completed 16 of the 29 that I need to complete before Wednesday and I'll probably spend most of tomorrow working on them too.

I love my Garmin!!!

So, my Garmin arrived on Wednesday, but unfortunately it needed to charge for 3 hours, so I didn't get a chance to take it out. For those of you who don't know, a Garmin 305 Forerunner is a GPS-enabled sports watch designed for running, etc. It tracks your distance, speed, time, calories burned, heart rate, etc. Not only that, but you can set alerts to let you know if you're going too fast or too slow (based on the targeted speed you entered), if your heartrate is too high/low, you can set distance alerts (ie. every km) and more. It also tracks your route, so if you get lost, you can select "Return to Start" and it will direct you back along your route. There is software that you put on your computer and you can upload all the data into the program. Plus, I can upload all the data to the website I use for my triathlon training. Basically, for an information nerd like me, this is heaven.
On Wednesday then, while my Garmin was charging, I went for a run with Mika, our husky/border collie. I had 6km to do, so I had to guess about how long to run for. (Now, with the Garmin, it would keep track for me and all I would have to do is check my watch.) As it turns out, we went for a little more than 6km in a reasonable time, so I was happy. It was also my first outdoor run of the year. The weather has been nice for a couple weeks, but I really don't enjoy running outside here because there's nowhere to go. The neighbourhood and the base are only so big. As well, I got to try out some of my new lululemon gear, which rocked. I must say, I look pretty good in my purple tank top. Mika was pretty good on the run; as always, she was a bit too excited at the beginning, which meant that she pulled a lot. But, once she got the initial excitement out, she was really good. I looped the leash around my waist, to keep my hands/arms free, and she pulled just enough to keep the leash taut, but not so much that she was actually pulling me. She was tired, but extremely happy when we got home.
Thursday night, Chris has football practice in La Baie for a couple hours, so I decided to take the opportunity to do my long run for the week. I had 17km to do, so of course I brought my Garmin. I ran all along the waterfront path, from one end to the other. That got me to about 9-10km, so I looped around by the grocery store and headed back in the direction of the football field (La Baie is only so big). Unfortunately, I still had about 5-6km to go by the time I was close to the field, so I started going up and down the streets, one block at a time. If you look at the route plotted out in Google Maps, it's pretty funny. By this point, though, it was starting to get pretty cold and I was getting quite tired. I had a hydration belt with me, but the bottles were leaking so badly at the beginning of my run that I had to dump them because they were soaking my back and butt and I was freezing. Unfortunately, I later regretted that decision, as 17km without water is quite unpleasant. I did sneak into the local theatre and steal some water from their bathroom, which helped, but not enough. Overall, not including stopped time (ie. at traffic lights), it took about 1:54. I'm happy with that, but I know I need to stop stopping, because during the race, the timer doesn't stop just because you do.
This morning, I woke up in a fair bit of pain as the result of my run the previous night. I had to take the car into the garage early this morning because the engine temperature gauge wasn't working properly. The shuttle service drove me home, where I took a nap and then cleaned for several hours. One of my tasks was cleaning up the mess that Mika's bean bag chair made outside. This bean bag chair sits outside, beside the dog house, and Mika absolutely loves it. She will lie there for hours, suntanning, sleeping, checking on her turf. Unfortunately, there was a hole in it, so all the little beanies started flying around because of the wind. It looks like we fertilized the lawn or something. Anyways, it was quite a mess and some of them got onto the neighbour's yard, so I went out there with the vacuum and vacuumed them up. I filled two canisters with beanies (and dirt and rocks) before it started to rain, so it looks much better but I'll have to do some more this weekend. Finally, after 7 or so hours at the garage, they finally called to tell me the car was ready. Thankfully, all the work was covered under warranty so we didn't have to pay a cent.
Finally, we had our Taureaux dinner tonight at St-Hubert. It was a big success - all the players and some of their parents came out. Chris and I sat at one of the tables with all the kids and their parents sat at the other. Oh man, these kids can be a handful, especially some of them. They particularly enjoy mocking my French pronunciation (all in good fun) and they pretty much spent the whole dinner laughing at me for some reason or another - I was their entertainment for the evening. 5 of the kids will be coming back next year, since they're only in grade 5 now, so that's a start on our team for 2012. Some of the kids made us a card, which was really nice, and it was kind of sad to say good-bye. All the parents thanked us for our hard work and they seemed really happy with their kids' progress. So we'll have to wait and see about next year.
Tomorrow morning is my next outing with Les Gazelles. We're meeting near Valinouet and our ride takes around/up the mountain, so there will be lots of climbing. Hopefully, my legs will be less sore tomorrow. I also hope the rain holds off and that it'll be warmer than the 10 degrees they're forecasting. After that, the rest of my weekend will likely be spent cleaning and writing progress reports. Yay!

Half-way there...

Now that my Tuesday classes are finished, I'm half-way done my work-week. It was a busy day and it's still not finished, unfortunately.
As soon as I got home from work, I had to drive Chris to practice in town. I stopped at Loblaws to get the things I needed to make cupcakes for my classes tomorrow. Because of holidays and sick days, it worked out that my Wednesday classes finish 2 weeks before the others and I've got some special activities planned for them. So I flew home from the grocery store, made 2 batches of cupcakes while getting ready for Les Gazelles. I somehow managed to get everything done in time and I even found time to eat something.
When I got there, however, I discovered that my bike computer wasn't working. Some guy tried to help me fix it, but he ended up making it worse because he moved the sensor on the rear wheel. I ended up figuring out for myself what was wrong and I re-installed it in the correct place - yay for me! The route we went on tonight had a few steep hills. I must admit, I was a little worried that I would be a complete wimp in comparison to the other ladies, but I actually surprised myself. In fact, I made it to the top of the three hills first and had to wait for the others, and I was hardly tired. It was a little frustrating towards the end of the ride, because one of the girls was really tired and our pace slowed significantly. Normally, I wouldn't mind, but it was really cold when the sun started to set, plus the wind was strong, and all I wanted to do was go home.
When I got home, I immediately set to making my 3rd batch of cupcakes. Then, I made dinner - boneless buffalo wings, dipped in Frank's Hot Sauce and coated with Fibre One breading. A lot of work, but definitely worth it (and low-calorie, too). I also prepared a Jeopardy-style quiz game for my morning class and managed to squeeze in tonight's episode of Glee while we ate. It's now 11:30 and I still need to make icing for the cupcakes, so that's what I'm off to do.

Good run tonight

A couple things to report.
First, I called the recruiting office this morning to see if any jobs have opened up. The guy called me back this afternoon and unfortunately, nothing has changed. However, he did put me on the call list for Logistics, Intelligence and Air Traffic Controller, so hopefully that will help. I'm also going to call back every month or so, just in case. I really hope something opens up soon!
Tonight I went over to the gym for a run. Because I did so well on my last speed run, I thought I'd up the ante on this one too. I made it my goal to do my 10km in under an hour; in fact, I did it in 59:49. My knee hardly bothered me at all and I wasn't nearly as tired as I thought I would be. I'm also extremely excited for the packages that will be arriving this week. Today, I received the running socks and Shot Blocks I ordered from MEC. Tomorrow, I should receive the sports bra and tank top I ordered from lululemon. And later this week, I'm expecting my Garmin 305 to arrive. Now, I've wanted to buy this GPS watch for a while; it tracks your location, so it gives extremely precise distances and speeds, plus it measures your heartrate and a million other things. It's basically made for information freaks like me. Chris finally agreed so I ordered it before he could change his mind. (I will say, however, it was on sale for over 50% off.) I have a 17km run coming up this weekend, so I hope it arrives in time.
I'm also in the process of organizing a final dinner for Les Taureaux this weekend. So far, most of the kids and their parents have confirmed, so I think it'll be a good time. Sad, but good.

Weekend Update

Saturday:
So, as it turns out, there was no Gazelles outing for my group. The 26km/h group coordinator sent out an email late Friday night, saying that she had received replies from a dozen or so people who weren't interested in going. We could still go, if we wanted, but we would have to join with the 28km/h group. I wasn't confident enough to do that, plus the prospect of sleeping in was extremely tempting, so I decided to stay home, warm and dry in my bed. We didn't really get a lot accomplished during the day. I did a bunch of errands and made some fudge for the party I went to Saturday night. Speaking of the party, I'm not going to go into details, since my grandmother reads this, but let's just say it was interesting. My outfit turned out great and I had a really good time. I didn't get home until 3am, but it was worth it. I can't wait to see pictures.
Sunday:
Since I got home so late Saturday night, I was in no mood to go to the 10km race in Chicoutimi that I had planned to go to. In fact, I didn't do anything all day Sunday, as I was not at my best. I pretty much just stayed on the couch most of the day. I finally braved the outdoors in the late afternoon when we decided to go to Chez Paulo's for dinner. We had pizza (very good, thanks for the recommendation, Nancy) and some poutine. Basically, hangover food. After that, we went straight to the movie theatre to watch Suckerpunch. Terrible, terrible movie. It was actually laugh-out-loud ridiculous. Basically, scantily-clad girls with guns doing ridiculously impossible things. If you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your time.
That was basically my weekend. No working out whatsoever, with lots of partying and junk food. Not exactly the best way to spend a weekend. But I'm scheduled for a 10km run tonight, so hopefully that'll make up for some damage.

Excited for the weekend

This morning, I didn't have any classes, so that meant I got to sleep in. I must have been tired because I slept until 11:30 and didn't even notice. Mika slept on the bed with me and she was extremely comfy. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that I had my spinning class at 12, so I ended up missing it. I'm not terribly disappointed - I went last week and I wasn't very impressed with the instructor. I'd been taking a spin class at the CEGEP Thursday nights since January, with an awesome instructor, Martin. That class finished just before Easter and they were offering a spring session of 4 weeks. Unfortunately, I couldn't continue with Martin's class because of Taureaux practices on Thursday nights, so I switched to Fridays at lunch. Like I said, I'm not too happy with the new instructor, so when I sign up in the fall, I will make sure to take Martin's class again. Plus, you have to pay an arm and a leg to park at the CEGEP during the day, whereas at night it's free.
So, instead of going to spinning class, I cleaned for a few hours. I tackled the mountain of dishes that had accumulated all week, plus I did some laundry and vacuumed. There's still plenty to be done, but the house looks much better.
I dropped Chris off for his football game around 3, then I decided to go shopping. My first stop was UltraViolet, where I bought a waterproof shell and some shoe covers (to block the wind and keep the rain out). Not cheap, but I think it's worth it to invest in good gear. It's not like I'm going to grow out of it or anything. I tried the shoe covers when I got home and they look ridiculous, so they had better keep my feet perfectly dry. After that, I went to the SAQ and bought some provisions for the party tomorrow. Next, it was Loblaws and finally Sports Experts. There, I bought some cycling tights - like cycling pants, but without the chamois (butt padding). This way, when I get my Les Gazelles shorts, I can wear them over top of the tights if it's cold, without having 2 chamois. Plus, they make my legs look fantastic. I stopped in at Reitmans, because I have a $25 gift certificate, but nothing seemed to call my name; I guess I'll wait for another day.
This evening, I went to the gym for a speed interval run. The total distance was 6km, with 2 intervals of 1km each at an increased speed. After the 1st km (warm-up), I took a 30sec break to stretch out my knee, as it was bothering me. The last 5km I completed in under 30 minutes, which for me is a first. Now, I know that sounds like nothing to most people, but I am not a fast runner by any means. I'm much better at endurance events. I've been working on my speed for the last few months and at this point, I think it's my knee that's holding me back. At my next triathlon, I hope to do the run portion in under 30min - that would be a huge accomplishment for me.
Now I'm waiting to hear from Chris, so I can go pick him up from his game. They likely won't be back in town until after 12am, so it'll be a late night for me. I'm supposed to have Les Gazelles in the morning (the scheduled ride is from Jonquiere to Alma and back), but I got an email from one of the group coordinators about possibly cancelling it. We've been under a rainfall warning all week and there's supposed to be heavy rain all morning tomorrow. I'm waiting to hear the final word on whether it's a go, but I'll be ok either way. It'll be nice to sleep in and stay warm, but on the other hand, I did just buy a bunch of rain gear, so I'd like to try it out. We'll see what happens.
I am presently watching All the Pretty Horses and it sucks. Just saying.

Happy weekend!

Today was my last day of work for the week. Normally, I have a class Friday morning, but this week my student cancelled because of another appointment. My Thursday classes at the Tax Centre are awesome. I have 2, one at 10 and the other at 1, and they're both advanced grammar classes (advanced I and advanced II). I love teaching grammar, especially at this level, and the students in these classes are so full of energy. It's a great way to end the week.
Today's workout was an 11km run. It was a good run, my knee hardly bothered me at all, but I did feel rather faint at the end. I've done a few runs at this distance before, so I decided to up the speed on this one, so that may have contributed to my light-headedness. For Christmas, I got these really awesome running socks from Chris' parents. I love them - they're double layered, so there's no rubbing or blistering. I love them so much that I decided to order some more from MEC and while browsing the site, I saw that they have Clif Shot Blocks. I tried these last year, since my stomach is really sensitive to food while training, and since they're really soft and gelatinous, they didn't cause any problems. They're difficult to find here, as there's no dedicated running store, so I decided to order some. They should arrive next week and I'll try them with my next long run.
Tomorrow, Chris is gone all evening. Even though Les Taureaux are finished, Chris also volunteers with the high school team in Chicoutimi and they have a game tomorrow night somewhere. I'm planning to spend my evening doing a bit of shopping (biking stuff), cleaning (blah) and watching girly movies. This weekend is shaping up to be busy: Saturday is my next outing with Les Gazelles, Saturday night is a party at my friend's house, and Sunday morning there's a 10km race at UQAC. I figure I'll treat the race as a training run, just to shake things up a bit. I also need to start training for the Quebec City Staircase Challenge, which is coming up at the end of June.

And the saga continues...

So we finally got official word on the fate of Les Taureaux. After 2 months of trying to solve the problem of not having enough players, the team has folded. Apparently, none of the players from La Baie were willing to switch, and as a result, our team can no longer continue. Our players, if they choose, can go play for the teams in Chicoutimi. This whole situation has been stressing me and Chris out for the past few weeks, in addition to pissing us off greatly. It's really frustrating to me the way everything turned out: the president of the league, who is also the coach of the Chicoutimi teams, did basically nothing to help us out, despite the obvious flaw in the organization of the league. It's difficult to relate all the details without boring you to tears, but suffice to say, I have come to the conclusion that he is either lazy, selfish or malicious, since this situation benefits no one except him. I'm inclined to say the first, because it requires the least effort on his part, but who knows. Chicoutimi will be the recipient of several excellent players, which they will no doubt benefit from, and our less talented players will likely become minimum play players, despite all their hard work and effort. And that's if the Chicoutimi teams are willing to take the team to incorporate these new players into their system before the first game on Sunday. I suspect our players will be rather low on the depth chart and will see minimal playing time. However, we did stay to watch the La Baie practice tonight, and I must say, even our kids noticed how inefficiently their time was wasted and how disorganized everyone was. And our two most"challenged" players looked fantastic against their disorganized mess. Hopefully, this all works out for the kids, but it's certainly left a sour taste in our mouths. We'll see how Chris deals with this outcome, since there is now a huge void in his life.
Tonight was also my second ride with Les Gazelles. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold and it was not pleasant to ride in. Over the weekend, I bought some gloves to keep my hands warm during spring rides. I didn't want to spend $45 for "cycling" gloves and since it's no longer winter, it's difficult to find regular gloves, so I ended up settling on baseball gloves (like the kind you wear at bat). Big mistake. They did absolutely nothing to keep my hands warm or dry. My feet were also completely frozen by the end of the ride, as my bike shoes are not at all waterproof. I did put some toewarmers in them, but the effect was not noticeable. On Saturday, I noticed that people had fancy shoe covers to help block the wind, etc. On Saturday, I thought they were stupid. Now, I think they're genius and I will likely invest in a basic model shortly. I'm also going to look into a good cycling jacket to wear during the rain, since I don't have anything that keeps the water out. We did the same route as we did on Saturday (from Costco out to the first hill in the park and back), but we only did one lap, as everyone was frozen and soaked by the end. My bike computer was not working because of the rain, but I estimated that it took about an hour to do ~24km. When I came home, Chris laughed at me because I was completely covered in mud, head to toe. I'm glad I wenttonight; I considered not going, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I think if I invest in some appropriate gear, rain riding might not be so bad. I'm looking forward to our Saturday ride, especially since we should have our Gazelles gear then!

Monday, Monday

Today was another busy Monday. I'm fortunate, though, because my first class is at 10 so I actually got to sleep in more this morning than I did all weekend. My morning class is always great. They're an Intermediate II conversation class and it doesn't take much effort to get them to talk. My afternoon class, however, is a different story. It's an Advanced II conversation class and it's like pulling teeth to get them to say anything. I usually give them some open-ended statements or questions and unfortunately, they tend to give minimalist answers and refuse to expand on them. Today, things got off to a slow start, as usual. But, after one of my students made a few risque but amusing comments, the conversation really started to take off, but unfortunately not in time. Just as things really started to get interesting, it was 3:00 and class was over. Hopefully, we'll be able to pick up where we left off next week. I've been working on my progress reports over lunch for the last few weeks and it's slow-going. I've discovered it takes about 45min to write one, so 45min x 80 students = a lot of work.
This evening, we also had Taureaux practice. We only had 5 of 9 players present, so our practice plan went completely out the window. There were a lot of issues from yesterday's game that we wanted to address, but there weren't enough people to do it. We did a lot of tackling and pass drills, but we weren't able to practice any team offence or defense. Tomorrow night is the practice in La Baie and hopefully we'll find out what's going on soon.

After practice, we hit the gym. I had a 5km hill run to do (4 hill repeats of 50sec each). I was actually supposed to do this run back at the end of March, but I had to skip it for some reason (my knee, perhaps?). Anyways, it went well for the most part, but my knee started acting up again during the last km. After I got off the treadmill, I could barely walk, but I did manage to stretch it out. Just as my knee started to feel better, my back started spasming (previous injury). Walking out of the gym, I was a mess, but once in the shower, everything seemed to relax. In addition to my running, I'm also doing some weight training and I'm actively trying to lose weight. I've been religiously counting calories and tracking my weight and body composition - I'll keep you posted on all that too. To date, I've lost over 10 pounds since January and I'm aiming to lose at least 5 more. As of today, I'm down to 121.6.

Presently, we're watching election coverage, even though we should probably get to bed. I know many people will disagree with me, but I'm happy that the Conservatives are winning. My decision on who to vote for came down to one issue: the F-35 jets. Living on one of Canada's two fighter bases and having a husband who's hoping to become a fighter pilot one day, it's made me acutely aware of the need for safer, more reliable (read: newer) planes. I researched all the party platforms and the Conservatives seemed to be the only ones who supported the purchase of the jets, so they got my vote. Now we'll just have to see if they follow through on it.

Inaugural post

Good evening all,
I figured it's about time I found a way to keep everyone posted on my adventures here in the Saguenay. You'll get to hear about my triathlon training, my dogs, teaching, football coaching, knitting, crocheting, cooking - pretty much everything.
I'll get started with the events from this past weekend, since it's been pretty much non-stop excitement around here.

Currently, I'm training for a half-marathon in June and I just finished my 11th week of my plan. The long run for this week was 16km, which I completed on Friday night. This was the longest distance I'd ever run and while not spectacularly fast, I finished within my expected time. My left knee, which has been plaguing me for the last few weeks, was remarkably cooperative and it only bothered me for a couple kms in the middle.

Saturday morning was my first ride with Les Gazelles, a women's-only cycling club in the area. We had a seminar on Thursday night about drafting and the protocol for riding in a group. It was very interesting, but I was quite stressed about remembering all the signals and communicating in French with the other members. We left the Costco parking lot at 9am Saturday morning and I was in the 26km/h group. We had 6 ladies in our peleton and we biked down Blvd Talbot towards the park and we turned around just before the 1st big hill in the park. We did that loop twice and I was surprised how easy it was to communicate and chat with them in French. Our total distance was about 47.5km and it took around 2 hours. Not a great time, especially considering the flat terrain, but it was the first ride of the season, so no complaints. It was also my first ride with my new clip shoes and pedals. I had practised with them in spin class, but it's a very different story on a moving bike. Thankfully, I didn't embarrass myself too much. Between the run Friday night and the bike Saturday morning, I was quite tired by Saturday night.

Sunday morning was the jamboree for the football team coached by my husband and myself. The team, Les Taureaux, is presently made up of 9 players (grade 5-6) from a school in Laterriere. I say presently because we're experiencing a bit of drama regarding the team. In this league, there are some modifications to the rules to accomodate the younger players; in particular, we play with only 9 players on the field per side instead of the American 11 or Canadian 12. Which is good, since we only have 9 players. However, to field a team, we're supposed to have 14. Now, there are 5 teams in the league, one from Chicoutimi-Nord, 2 from Chicoutimi, 1 from La Baie and us. To make a long story short, all of these teams draw from several schools, whereas we have 1 very small school from which to recruit players (84 grade 5s and 6s). Needless to say, it's much more difficult for us to get players. For the past few weeks, ideas have been batted back and forth about playing with only 9 or getting players from other teams or trying to get more players, but by this morning a decision had to be made. Today was the jamboree, where we played a pre-season scrimmage against another team. We were allowed to play today with only 9 and we did remarkably well (lost 24-18, but the last TD was scored in the last 7 seconds). However, the league president has now told us that we have 3 basic options. 1) La Baie gives us some players (and we're having a joint practice Tuesday to see if any players are willing to switch), though it's possible they might choose not to, 2) have a La Baie team and a La Baie/Laterriere team, where we would practise alternately in La Baie and Laterriere and share coaching, or 3) fold the team and those players who are interested in continuing can join the Chicoutimi team. We won't know anything until Tuesday, but I'll keep you posted. Right now, we're analyzing the film from the game so we can make some improvements at practice tomorrow.

Lastly, one of our dogs, Kona, is having some bladder issues. Kona, in case you don't know, is our 2nd dog (we got her last January). She's a Husky/Newfoundland cross, 85lbs, and about a year and a half old. She is the nicest dog you will ever meet and she is full of love (and willing to share). However, she is having incontinence issues. Basically what happens is that when Kona relaxes (ie. in a deep sleep), everything relaxes and she pees herself without even realizing it, and we can't really get mad at her for it. We talked to the vet about this and apparently, it is not uncommon for a female dog to experience this sort of issue after she has been fixed. His suggestion was hormone replacement therapy, which involves her taking a pill once a week. (As expensive as it may sound, we were surprised to discover that the pills only cost about $1 each, which pales in comparison to the amount of paper towels we buy.) We give her her pill Sunday evenings, but lately she's been having more accidents come Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We talked to the vet clinic about maybe increasing her dose to 2 times/week, but we're waiting to hear back from the vet. In the mean time, we have to be a little bit more careful where we walk.

Anyways, that's it for today. It was a beautiful weekend, fantastic weather and I got to use my clothesline for the first time this year. Back to work tomorrow though. Speaking of which, only 4 more weeks left at the Tax Centre, a million progress reports to write, and then I will (hopefully) be free for the summer!