Vacation + hip injury = blah

Well, I'm not doing too good on my daily workouts on this vacation - if you know me this shouldn't be a surprise! Every time I come down here I say I'm going to be good and keep my work outs up but vacation gets the better of me! Couple that with tons of food, Eatting out and drinking .... Well there it goes.

I've done one swim workout, multiple core workouts, stretching of course and my lame attempt to run on Christmas Day. So I'm committing to the pool for the rest of my vacation. I am tring to come to terms that the marathon in February is NOT my goal for the year and if I don't make it to the start line then no big deal... With 8 weeks to go I still hold onto that little hope.

With a week left of vacation, it's time to step it up and hit the pool, increase my core work and get my eating on track! Wish me luck because I'm going to need it!

Waiting to heal

Today is the second full day of our Christmas vacation and it's already been wonderful. I've already connected with 2 dear friends and last night was chauffeured downtown for dinner via the river! Yesterday, in keeping with my fitness goals, I swam 40 minutes (with a pull bouy) planked for 5 and completed 50pushups. My upper body is happily sore today!

Sadly, I'm still waiting for my hip flexor to heal. It's getting there I am sure of that. When I wake in the morning it's not too sore but after a little walking the pain is back. It's just a bit of a dull pain now so I'm optimistic that I am healing. But I'm so afraid of being injured and missing my first goal of the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon (that is get to the start line), not to mention my fear of this becoming reoccurring or chronic with my Ironman looming in 10 months.

I want to run so badly. I have my new Paris pink lulu lemon running shorts here. 2 boxes of raspberry hammer gels I ordered online. My new stash of Onza and vials of nuun ... All sitting on my desk, staring at me, beckonning to me. Yet today I remained sidelined. Today, I will again rest and ice and anti-inflammatory medicate. I told myself - 2 days after the pain is gone. Then I can run. I was hoping it would be Christmas day but we are 2 days out and the pain is still there.

So I will wait. And swim. And plank. And push up.

Christmas Vacation in Florida (how to avoid the effect of 100 beers)

Yeah - it's that time of year when I get to run away from the approaching winter here in Canada and spend a couple weeks basking in the the warmth of my home-town of Stuart Florida.

evening in the backyard

I can't tell you how much I love spending this time of year in my home town seeing old friends, boating, swimming and family traditions.  Unfortunately it also includes many libations and no gym!  And with my hip injury, it's looking like my running will be curtailed a bit as well.  So, to combat what my husband says is 100 beers, I've decided to make some commitments, make them known to the small world one or two people that might read this blog and hopefully keep me honest to combat the effects of 100 beers in 2 weeks!

1. 5 minutes of plank a day
2. 50 push-ups a day
3. at least 30 mins of swimming, at least every other day (a total of at least 7 pool workouts and if warm enough one ocean swim)
4. a 16 mile long run and a 20 mile long run (IF my hip recovers)

I'm not sure how much blogging I will be doing but I will keep myself honest with twitter updates!  Here's to a very Merry Christmas, perhaps with 100 beers but no extra pounds!

Sore hip = sad me

On Saturday, DECEMBER 17 - we stole another beautiful day of sunshine and warm temps!  Hubby and I went for a nice 16 mile (26k) run together.  I was going great, I was enjoying the sunshine and the pace was ok for me - much better than the weekend before where I felt like I was being held back.  I was really enjoying my long run with the hubby.  Then, at about mile 12 - OUCH - what is that - a pain in my left hip.  I slowed a bit, changed my gait, my stride, but each time my foot hit the ground there a was a pain in my hip.

The last 4 miles of the run SUCKED.  I sucked it up and ran it the best I could, but here I am, 2 days later and in 2 hours I will be on my therapist's table for an emergency 1/2 hour massage to see what the heck is going on in this hip.  It seems to be living somewhere on top of the hip joint.  This morning, while still lying in bed I was quite optimistic because the pain seemed to be gone.  When I first got up, it was feeling pretty good ... and then about 10 minutes out of bed and BAM ... every step with my left foot produces an annoying, painful sensation in my hip that seems to radiate in all directions.

I leave for our Christmas Holiday on Wednesday with dreams of hot weather runs in Florida.  But right now I'm quite sad, feeling side-lined by this injury.  I don't get injured.  So I'm hoping and praying my therapist will fix me right up tonight and in a few days I'll be blogging about my run to the beach and back!

Welland Half-Iron or Syracuse 70.3 - that is the question!

I have a bit of a choice on my hands and I don't know what to choose!  My first key race this year is my first Half-Iron distance.  I have always thought it would be at Multisport Canada Welland - it's an hour away, it's a flat course and it's where I did my very first tri (just a short try-a-tri) last year!

However, on the SAME DAY is the Ironman70.3 Syracuse - and like a girl I met at the gym said - it's nice to go with "The Brand", the big race, the big ta-da!  Syracuse is a 4 hour drive (not a big deal), a for sure hotel stay (though we would be staying a night in Welland as well), but at LEAST twice the cost to register, monies going to a big corporation instead of supporting my local triathlon organization.

So the decision is out there - Welland or Syracuse!  Local and small or out of town and big? A decision I think have to make soon!  Any help would be appreciated!

Tannenbaum 10k

This morning was a local 10k race to support our local Community Centre 55 Christmas hamper program.  Due to past popularity (it always sells out) it doubled in size from 200 - 400 runners this year (and it sold out early!).  It is a great race so if you are local you should put it on your list for next year! Tannenbaum10k!

This race is notorious for poor weather - snow, rain, wind, freezing temps - you name it.  But this morning we were blessed with mild temps (6*c, 43*f) and light winds with rain in the forecast.

isn't this a great shot!

We got hit by a few drops and I'm sure the spectators were a little on the chilly side but all in all it was perfect running weather for DECEMBER 4th!

Griffin, Barry and Me  showing off the bling (and the lake)

I had 2 goals in my mind - since I have never run an official 10k except on the back end of swimming 1500m and biking 40k,  (which I ran in 54:40) I figured a sub-50 10k would be nice to run.  And then there is always the competition with the hubby who ran a 48:59 10k last year.  Happy to say I hit my sub-50 with a 49:22, and will also say I'm happy hubby still holds the Richards' Family 10k record and I can blame it on 23 seconds - what is it about 23 seconds this year?

pretty cute eh girls?

This race was extra special because Griffin, my soon to be 13 year old stepson ran his very first road race!  I am so proud of him.  Before the race I asked him what his goal time was and he said 1:15!  I told him straight up that I thought he would go sub 1 hour and I'm so proud to say he finish in 56:41!  So very very proud of him!

Calli Anna with Hamper the Reindeer

This was also a special race becuase my daughter was able to come watch her big brother, dad and mom race.  I love to have the kids at the races and see how much fun it is.  I didn't descover the thrill of runnign until recently and I would love for my daughter to be runnign this race with me in 5 years! Thanks Grandma and Janet for being our babysitters and photographers!



Again, this is such a special race for us - the start/finish line is 1.5k from our house and the route is my number 1 training route.  The folks who put on the race are wonderful and the volunteers are amazing. It was great to contribute to the Hamper Program.  I hope to make this race a tradition in our family!  Kudos to the Toronto Beaches Runners Club for a fabulous event!