Still Out There

Technically, still inside I guess. I have not run in over 2 months. Shortly after my last post, the back got way worse. To the point where anything was a struggle. Sitting hurt, standing hurt, sleeping was interupted. I really wasn't able to do anything and was in a lot of pain. I started back at physio. First going three times a week (including some at home weekend visits - thank you!), then twice a week, then once a week, and now I'm at once every 10 - 14 days or so. But still not running.

In the past month I have been able to incorporate the trainer, at a moderate effort, some swimming (really recently), and some hiking. The first few attempts weren't great, but its getting better.

I am hoping that I will be able to try a run/walk this week. I was expecting to try last week, but then after some travel to San Francisco for work and having to walk down 30 flights of stairs for a fire drill at work, I had a bit of a setback. It seems to be moving in the right direction again though.

Now that I feel like I am at a point where I can "train" I am actually allowing myself to have thoughts about next season. We'll see how I feel after my first "running" attempt. I don't know if my back will ever feel perfect again, but I would like it to be manageable.

The winter sport season is almost here in Vancouver and I'd really like to be skiing before too long so for that and for the prospect of running again I will continue to diligently do my rehab/strengthening exercises every day!

IMC Weekend

Last weekend we headed up to Penticton for Ironman Canada to volunteer and cheer on friends. We left work at 3. Traffic was awful getting out of Vancouver. Almost 2.5 hours to Chiliwack! Once we were past the worst of it, Graeme totally laid on the gas and we made up some time. We checked into our motel and then headed to Theo's, which is one of my favourite Greek restaurants I have been to, and where we go every time we are in Penticton. We had the amazing seafood salad, I had calamari and Graeme had souvlaki. And we had a great bottle of BC wine.

Saturday morning we got up early, had breakfast and went to meet people for the group ride. I managed to ride 1:20, turning around at the top of Maclean Creek. I probably could have gone further, but I didn't want to push it. It was my first ride in almost a month and my back is still not 100%, though it is getting better. It was a windy day and coming back into town on my own was tough.

After the group finished riding the course, a bunch of us went for lunch on Lakeshore and then walked over to the expo and wandered for a while. The Hammer truck was out with samples, and I tried the melon Heed and actually really liked it. I will try using that next summer.

Sunday we literally rolled out of bed and headed down to the start line. We managed to make our way around the fencing and through the crowds to the get to the far side of the swim course, where we stood in the water and cheered our friends in. We then went for breakfast with a group of friends before heading up to Yellow Lake to volunteer.

It had been nice and sunny in town and I wore running shorts and a tank to volunteer, though I did grab a hoody. Of course the weather changed dramatically. It POURED at Yellow Lake. We were all soaked. And then the wind picked up for the descent back to town, causing many shivering athletes. I felt so bad for them. Seriously the day is hard enough!

After our volunteer shift we headed back into town (which took an hour due to traffic), changed and headed out on our bikes. We rode the entire run course, cheering people on. I was on the bike for 2 hours and although it wasn't perfect, I was able to do it. The headwind heading back into town did hurt though.

We then headed back to near the finish line and cheered again. Everyone we know did so well! I don't think I saw anyone do anything but smile all day long.You are all amazing.

Monday morning we were up early again. Graeme rode and I went and ran on the KVR which is one of my favourite runs in the world. We then packed up, had brunch at the coffee house before going wine tasting in Naramata. We bought about a dozen bottles from 3 wineries before droveing back to Vancouver. I always have a great time when we go to Penticton.

Summer Vacation - Saltspring Island

Following Lake Cowichan we headed straight to Saltspring Island. The ferry terminal at Crofton was only about 45 mins away. There is something about Saltspring, that as soon as I am on my way, I can immediately relax. Plus, this time I was already relaxed from being at the lake for two days!

We had a couple days to ourselves before being joined by some friends on Tuesday, and then even more friends on Friday for the weekend, bringing the weekend total to 11 people! This allowed for total downtime, then a bit more activity, before a bit of chaos (but fun) for a few days!

Sunday and Monday were the two hottest days we have ever spent on Saltspring. Even the ocean didn't feel too bad (and it is way colder there than Vancouver!). The weather was good the entire week, and between Friday evening and Tuesday evening, I was able to eat every meal outside. That is one of my favourite things about summer.

When on Saltspring we eat and drink like Kings and Queens. I like to think that calories don't count there. Of course not everything we are eating is unhealthy, but the volume makes up for that! Still, there is not too much to complain about fresh pasta with corn pesto (not cooked with bacon, but added at the end for the boys - SO GOOD), moules frites, fresh halibut, fresh salmon (caught that day), and fresh crab (caught by Graeme). Plus lots of salad, bread, and bakery pies. And homemade Baileys ice cream in the ice cream maker which was brought along for the ride. Oh and don't forget the chips, and eggs benny (with salmon and crab and avocado), patisserie treats, lunch pizza and beer and wine!

Yes, it is a culinary feast.

While my back wasn't allowing any riding I did manage to get some running in to try and keep things in balance (ha!) and we swam in the lake almost every day (though I was unable to swim for too long, at least I was in there).

Really the main things accomplished were reading, eating and general relaxing. Which is never a bad thing!

Summer Vacation - Part 1

We hadn't planned on a summer vacation, but after being asked for the 100th time what we were doing for vacation plans, I decided I wanted one. We had already planned to take a few days off, so we added to it and made it into 9 days straight.

The first weekend we headed to Lake Cowichan, hosted by Karen and her family. There were 15 of us total, and we enjoyed the HOT sun, lake and most of all the general relaxing. Plus, the meteor shower was still visible on Friday evening and we were treated to a great show, lying on the dock. It's amazing to think how far away the meteors are. One of them was so bright it was like a strike of lightening and lit up the entire lake!

How could you not relax here??

My Back

Well, so far August has not gone how I had hoped in the training department. I have a bad back - 45 degree S-curve scoliosis and 2 degenerating discs (L3 & L4). Scoliosis diagnosed at 13 and the discs in my mid 20s. I have been going to physio on and off since I was 13.

I would say in general I have been lucky the last few years with the amount of pain I have had to deal with. My teenage years and through my mid 20s were worse.

Interestingly enough, since I started running, I have had way less back issues. Without any scientific proof, I believe this is because my core muscles have strengthed since starting to run. I have also noticed that when I have been injured (not back related) and unable to run, my back seems to get worse.

The last few years, having found Moveo and the ART (active release therapy) practitioners, any time my back has acted up, it has only taken a session to have it calm down. Releasing of my psoas muscles has given relief to the tension and pulling in my back.

Unfortunately this has not been the case this time. I have had a number of ART sessions, massage, and other "work". And it is getting better. But its very slow. I was barely able to stand and sleeping was difficult in the beginning, but now I am back to running. Riding however, seems to be aggravating. It's only 2.5 weeks to Whistler Gran Fondo, and I have not been on my bike (for an actual ride) since the beginning of the month. I guess I will see how the next few weeks go.

At least I can run now, if not for as long as I was able to a month ago.

STP - Day 2

Sunday we were up by 5:30am, had breakfast and were on the road by 6:45am. Again, the sun was not out. In fact it was misting on top of being cold! Knowing that the sun was likely not coming out any time soon, I added more layers which was a big help.

Sunday we stayed together as a group the entire time, with a well functioning paceline. We all wanted coffee, which was supposed to be at the first rest stop, but was not. We then saw a little coffee shack and stopped there, where the only other flat tire(s) of the ride happened. So one before we headed off, and two when we were already stopped.







We stopped again for lunch, but headed straight through most of the stops, knowing Portland wasn't that far off. Coming into the city, the crowds were building back up again. It was a fun ride the last few kms, even if there were a lot of stoplights, as everyone was excited to get there. We rolled in around 1ish, 135kms and 4:29 of ride time later. The beer in the beer garden tasted really good!

Once it was check in time, we headed over to our hotel, where I think everyone had a quick nap, before heading out for dinner. We had planned to go to Deschutes brew pub, but the wait was 1.5 hours and none of us could wait that long to eat. Instead we ended up at Rogue Brew Pub. The beer was really good, and the food just ok. Still it was a great evening. We didn't get back to the hotel until 11:45! A late night for a long day.

STP - Day 1

Traffic was bad on Friday afternoon and by the time we got into Seattle it was a lot later then we had planned. Graeme had slashed his tire the night before and needed to get a new one. I knew the sponsoring bike store was open 24 hours before the rideand we passed it on our way to UW. After dropping off our stuff, we still needed to find some dinner. We got to bed later then we wanted and the dorm beds left a lot to be desired. I would not do that again! The only good part is they were really close to the start line.

I really didn't sleep much and the 4:45 alarm came very early. Up, stuffed half a bagel and pb down (it wasn't toasted and was hard to swallow), then headed down to the start. We met up with everyone else from the group, dropped our bags off at the truck for our rest stop and after Graeme changing his tire, and then a flat, we were rolling at 5:50am.

The first hour and a bit out of Seattle was very congested. The route goes past a couple lakes along the Seattle Marathon course. You really had to watch the riders as it was obvious not everyone was a good rider. We made our way through the packs and eventually the bikes thinned out a bit. We decided to stop at the first rest top for a bathroom break as none of us had wanted to wait in line at the start line. The volunteers at this stop were the best of the weekend. All wearing matching tuxedo shirts and high energy. I had some food here, and felt way more awake.

We didn't stay too long and started rolling again and it was COLD. We picked up the pace as we were all trying not to freeze. Where was the sunshine that had been forecasted for the entire weekend?? The route is a combination of main roads, side streets, and then leading up to the halfway point in Centralia, a long bike path. After the first rest stop our group split up, with Graeme and I, and another couple from the tri club, joining up with a few random guys and getting a good paceline going. I was a little worried with the speed and wondering how I would hold up all day, but it was good.

By the time we got to the bike path, it was down to the four of us. The path is too narrow to do a real paceline, but we still were passing people, cautiously, as we had seen a number of crashes. That is one of the most interesting parts. The entire time you are passing really slow people. How did they get that far in front of us??

We got into Centralia and had lunch there. That is the midpoint and where most people stay over night. After regrouping and eating lunch, we headed out again, as we had another 40km to do. Well, it turned out to be more, as there was a detour which was not noted! The place where we were staying is actually slightly off the STP route, and it's not marked. At all. As 2 of the girls had stayed there last year, we knew where to go. Until the detour happened. We found our way around it, but it added another 10km or so onto the ride.

The sun had started to come out at Centralia and the afternoon was really nice. Because the place we were staying is not on the actual route, the last section of Saturday was mostly open roads with hardly any other cyclists. We got in to Toledo around 3:30pm - the first to arrive at the school. 207 kms done, in 7:19 of ride time.

The afternoon was about relaxing and waiting for the spaghetti dinner, which was at 5. After eating, we headed down to the local pub for a few drinks which was quite the experience. After a couple drinks, Graeme and I headed back for some rest. Unfortunately, sleeping on the classroom floor was not much better than the dorm room, and once again, I didn't get much sleep!