Last Weekend of the Season

Well the season is almost over - one more week until my final race. I thought I would share my last weekend of training (and the last hard workouts before taper begins).

Saturday

The workout: 2hr bike + 15min run (5min RP, 10min steady)

I had set my alarm for 6:30 with the intention to leave my house by 7:30 and start biking at 8. The plan was to drive out to Bragg Creek and do a 75ish km loop around Millarville and Priddis. Good plan - not so good at the execution. I ended up staying in bed until 7:30 playing Kwazy Cupcakes, which I’m officially addicted to thanks to Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I finally got up and made myself some oatmeal for breakfast.

I used to hate oatmeal but early last year I managed to come up with a recipe that makes it actually taste good: 3/4 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup oats, 1 banana, 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa. Cook for 5min, place in bowl and add a scoop of crunchy peanut butter and 3 peanut butter balls (oats, honey, peanut butter, dark chocolate covered mangos, flaxseed, walnuts). I’m slightly obsessed with this breakfast. There are days when the only thing getting me through morning swim are knowing that I have this breakfast to look forward to. There are also (non swimming) days when I wake up at 5am without my alarm because I’m so excited about breakfast time.

I finally left my house around 8:30 and pulled into Bragg Creek at 8:50. Todays fuel? A bottle with water and a packet of lemon lime Q plus 3 peanut butter balls.

The route: Park in the big parking lot behind the gas stations. Head south on highway 22, turn left onto highway 66, make a quick right onto 762, turn left onto 549, left onto 22, left to stay on 22, right to stay onto 22 (where 22 becomes 66) and back to the parking lot.

I headed out on highway 22. The first part of this ride is rough - you start with a climb up towards the high school and my legs were not warmed up yet. I huffed and puffed my way to the top, feeling pretty stiff. By the time I got to my first turn (left onto 66) my legs were finally awake and I was ready to crush it. I turned left and then made a quick right onto 762, maybe 100m later. The best part about this stretch of road is that it is currently undergoing construction so there are hardly any cars. Unfortunately, there are two sections of gravel that have yet to be paved. I hate riding my TT over gravel. The first was uphill and slightly wet :( but more dirt than gravel. The second was dry but the gravel was a lot thicker - ended up sliding a couple times to the amusement of the construction workers. I was having a little too much fun on this stretch of road. I had a good playlist going and the scenery was pretty sweet. There are a ton of trees and rolly hills on either side of the road.

There aren’t really any shoulders but I’ve rarely seen more than a handful of cars on the entire stretch. There are some good short climbs throughout to make things interesting. The last climb up to the 549 intersection is the worst. Today my legs were feeling strong and I had a good playlist. Whenever I ride solo I tend to sing out loud (and rap lol) I’m pretty talented (haha not at all - I tend to attract really weird looks).

I turned left onto 549, heading towards Millarville. Highway 549 is super fun. The road is in great shape and it has a small but decent shoulder. Plus its slightly downhill and I always end up with a tailwind so I fly. Much too soon I arrived at the highway 22 intersection.

Highway 22 is a nice road with a HUGE shoulder. This stretch is rolly with no significant climbs. I was able to stay aero for the entire stretch except for one hill. Unfortunately it’s also the most boring part of this loop. The scenery is mostly just farmland and there are always a ton of cars.

I made my way to the highway 22/22x intersection, which is horrible. I had to make a left hand turn and traffic was brutal. I waited for what felt like 50 cars to pass until l was able to turn safely.

I decided at this point to have my snack/bathroom break in Priddis - the turn in being about 1km ahead. Priddis is a ridiculously cute community. It also has a bit of a reputation for not being too fond of cyclists - I’ve read several online posts where citizens have not been too kind about the cyclists that like to frequent their roads. I found a picnic table and ate my snack. As I was eating, a small group of riders were heading out from a road that I had yet to explore. I knew that my loop was definitely going to exceed the planned 2hr ride and I didn’t need to add to it, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to see where it led to. Of course as soon as I rounded the bend I was greeted with a climb - but there were a lot of pretty trees ahead so I continued on. I ended up biking an extra 5km before I decided to turn around. But first I decided it was time to pee. Bathroom breaks during rides suck when your a girl. Reason number one: bib shorts. You pretty much have to get naked. Reason number two: big trees to hide behind on highways are super hard to find and most of them are behind fences that I am too small/awkward to jump over. So I usually end up practically naked in full view on the side of the road hoping no cars/people drive by at that moment. I managed to not flash anyone and it was time to get back on my bike.

I left Priddis, turning back onto highway 22. This section is tough - there are some gnarly climbs with only one descent. The road is in good shape but it always seems to have a lot of cars. The hills actually didn’t feel too bad today and I managed to put out some good watts. Of course as soon as I was feeling pretty good about myself an elderly gentlemen zoomed past me :(

I made my way to the highway 66/22 intersection and turned right to stay on 22. I biked back to my car, but my bike away and grabbed my runners. I ended up biking 82 km (2:40).

I decided to run down Balsam Avenue and then turn left after the bridge and do an out and back. I love running on straight stretches of roads. Back in the day I used to do the majority of my long runs on the C&E trail (a long stretch of flat road to the west of Red Deer that took you through all the fancy acreages). I enjoy running on the trails in Calgary but something about long stretches of secondary highways get me really pumped (weird I know). The plan was to do the first 5min at goal race pace and then cruise for the next 10min. I started out sitting right around my goal of 4:00min/km (current race pace is 4:15/km). After the bridge I noticed my pace was starting to creep up to the 4:20s. Not good. I was putting in way to much effort to get it back into the teens (later I would realize that I had been running up a false flat but current me was pretty freaked out by the effort being put in). I finished up the 5min with a 4:18/km average pace (boo), ran straight for a couple more minutes then turned around. I ended up averaging 4:30/km with little effort for the 10min.

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Sunday

The workout: Open water swim with my tri club + 90min run (30min easy 30min moderate 20min strong 10min easy)

I had to work Sunday morning so I wasn’t able to get my run in before swim practice started. I was a little worried about this as the forecast was predicting a super hot afternoon/evening and I struggle with running in the heat. But lets not get ahead of ourselves - first off was the swim.

Normally we do our group open water swims at different private lakes throughout the city. We switched things up today and decided to test out swimming in the Elbow River. Swimming against the current = zero movement with a lot of effort. There were some locals out and about enjoying the sun who probably thought we looked pretty silly trying to swim up current. The water was pretty shallow but we managed to find a couple of deeper spots. It was definitely a pretty cool experience but I think I prefer actually moving towards a destination when swimming. I decided not to wear my wetsuit - partly because I didn’t want it to get ripped on the rocks, partly because I wanted to work on my tan - ok mostly for the tan. Unfortunately the water was pretty cold and I ended up with a pretty bad chill afterwards (might have blasted the heat in my car despite it being 30+ degrees outside).

After swimming, I headed home to quickly change and grab a snack. I grabbed a pack of peanut butter balls and decided to eat one before and save the rest for after (motivation to finish). Like the weather forecast predicted, It was hot. I decided to park at the Shouldice Pool and when I arrived at 6:30 it was still 31 degrees outside. I was planning to be done by 8:00 and it was predicted to only drop down to 27 degrees by then. Too hot for this Canadian. Normally I’m able to convince my mom to join me for all of my solo run workouts. Not today :( I checked to see if Miss Sadie wanted to come but was greeted with this lazy creature on my bed..It was going to be a solo suffer fest.

I decided to head east along the trail bordering the river from Shouldice towards downtown. Pros of this trail? It’s relatively flat. Cons? It's always so busy. Do I have a problem with people using the trail? No. Do I have a problem with people hogging the trail and refusing to move over? Yes, yes I do. Seriously though, you do not have to walk 6 people across and then give me a dirty look when I try to go around you. Mini rant over.

First up? 30min easy. I tend to always feel really good at the beginning of my long runs and go out way too hard. I kept reminding myself to keep it super easy - I wanted to prolong overheating as long as possible. The first 30min ended up flying by. I finished with an average of 5:12/km pace.

The second 30min started just as I was going under the Crowchild bridge. At this point I was starting to get a super dry mouth and was ridiculously sweaty. The heat was getting to me. Passing all of the people who were out for their leisurely strolls with slushies and ice cream was just cruel. I decided to turn around 15min into this portion of the run. I had been running with a headwind up until this point. Turning around meant I had a nice little push but also meant I lost my only cooling mechanism. My legs were feeling pretty good and my pace was solid but my skin was soo hot (I’m probably going to mention the heat at least 10 more times).

Warning - the next little bit of this recap is going to get slightly personal. With about 5min left I started to notice a weird sensation in the underboob area. I had decided to wear my shock absorber sports bra with some nike shorts. Normally I always wear my under armour sports bra for longer runs but decided to switch things up. I couldn’t remember why I never wore my shock absorber for long runs. Well I at this point I quickly remembered that after 60min of running this bra chafes - really really bad. I was already too far into the run to do anything but just suffer through it. I could tell with each passing minute that I was acquiring some seriously rough chafing - showering was not going to be fun. Anyways - back to the run. I finished up this 30min section back at the Crowchild bridge (nailed the pacing) with an average of 4:58/km.

I attempted to hype myself up for the 20min and started off feeling pretty good. I decided not to look at my pace during this section and just go based on feel - the heat was starting to affect my legs. Better to go based on feel and know the effort was good than be constantly staring at my pace and being disappointed/trying to kill myself to go faster. I felt pretty good at the start. This did not last long. I checked my watch thinking at least 10min must have gone by - nope, definitely only 4min. It was going to be a long 20min. I kept at it, trying to maintain a constant speed. Ten minutes in, I started to get super cranky. My music was too loud but also not loud enough at the same time. My skin was so hot and my mouth was disgustingly dry. I ended up picking out random trees ahead of me to run towards. The 20min finally ended - with an average of 4:29/km. Nowhere near my race pace but I was content with the effort. I jogged back to my car where I managed to down 2 500mL water bottles in about 20 seconds.

As predicted, showering was not fun. I am currently rocking some pretty nasty looking scars. I ate a big bowl of chicken and pasta, had some hot water with lemon and honey (I’m basically an 80 year old trapped in the body of a 23 year old) and went to bed early. Unfortunately I made a rookie mistake and decided not to have a bedtime snack (clearly I was still delirious from the run). I ended up waking up at midnight and had to make myself a snack. Rookie mistake #2 - not making a big enough snack. I ended up waking up at 6am literally starving and had to make myself more food. I seriously worry for my waistline if I were to ever retire from this sport.

I leave Friday for Vancouver where I’ll be racing in the standard distance Sept 4. My dad and I are making a road trip out of it so that should be interesting. Stay tuned for a recap of my final race of the season!

Songs that got me through this weekend:

Axwell Ingrosso - dreamer

Axwell Ingrosso - more than you know

The Royal Foundry - never have time

Queens of the Stone Age - the way you used to do

The Weekend - reminder

Post Malone - congratulations

Arkells - knocking on the door

Macklemore - glorious

Avicii - without you

The xx - dare you

Mono Mind - save me a place

Kendrick Lamar - humble