Good luck Sista K

K's competing tomorrow in the Toyama swim meet. Go go go!!!

Swam on Friday - 1hour, lots of tech work, flip turns and sculling. Glad it's not me in the water tomorrow!

good luck K!
xox

quick dip

1000m just to stretch out

i like to ride my bicycle

22km -to work and back

Kurobe Road Race

What not to do before a 10k run:

-stop training two weeks before the race

-spend a long weekend in Canada the week before the race (returning 3 days before...)

-bike 10k the morning of the race.


What to do during the race:

-have fun!!!


thanks for the pic K!
xox

perfect riding weather

A summery day today. I hopped on my bike this morning despite being a little stiff from yesterday. I road to Ishida Elemetary School, then back to Nyuzen, did a few errands and cruised home.

32km on the bike today. Not bad.

Kanazawa Relay Marathon

Another one to add to the list...

This year there were 11 of us so we only had to run 2 laps (1.9km each). We lucked out on the weather and we had a great time watching all the other teams in their wacky costumes.

Fun -as always.

Swim -barely

A rainy windy day - I hopped in the pool - did my 1200m warm up, gabbed with Sista K and went home!

Commute

Rode to work and back today - 30km, not bad.

Sunday swim

800RIM warm up
800kick - alt free/breast and free/fly
3x 200pull/100IM
100 cool down

3000m - yay

dejavu

Biked, swam and biked again today -with a hangover! Go me!

Thanks for the nudge K xox.

bike swim bike

K and I rode to the pool, swam for 30 min the biked home.

Felt grrrrrrrreat!

random activities

spent the day at the beach, so i walked to the grocery store for goodies (30min).

played frisbee

Swimming in the sun

I love it when I get a chance to swim in the sun. The pool in Kurobe is like the pool in Grand Cache; big windows with a view of the mountains. OK the view isn't quite as good as GC, but it's still fun to swim with sun beams in the water.

3000m today.

800RIM
400KICK

4x 200pull/100IM/100kick

200 cool down

Saturday swim

K and I went for a Sat swim this morning.

another 2000m

felt good - especially the fly.

we tried the walking lane for a bit, it's good resistance training, but unless there's some good music playing it's pretty boring, I'd rather my head was under water....

A real swim

got 2000m in today -yahoo, I'm excited to get this show back on the road!!

I hope this gets easier...

I biked to work today. 16km one way. the morning bike wasn't so bad, but the return trip was tough. Took me about 35 minutes to get there, 45 to get home.

Yesterday I ran for 30 minutes.


Gettin' in a groove (I hope).

Wii ---------

Went bowling, entered a homerun derby and played 9 holes of golf - all on a Sunday afternoon!

I went to a friend's house and her family has
Wii. I am not a video game player, but I could def have fun with one of these...

home home on the range

I think I'm going to try to make the driving range a weekly thing - I said that about climbing too but I'm still giving that and my rib another month.

Jake and I hit around 100 balls on Thursday.

I got up Friday and ran for about 25 minutes before school -should have biked to work, it was the first nice day in ages (actually felt like spring) but I had a meeting in the afternoon and couldn't be bothered to change my clothes 3 times.

It's Sunday afternoon, no goals yet for the week, but the Kanazawa relay marathon is only 3 weeks away and I should really get down to work.

short swim short run

it's better than nothing

swam for 30 min last night, didn't even think about the rib.

ran this morning - feel like a smoker....

Kanazawa relay race is the 13 of May

Kurobe road race is on the 27th...

Slowly but surely healing

The rib is about 90% healed and it's time to get serious again. The weather is slowly warming up and I've got to get back on my bike and back in the pool.

I've swum a couple of times in the past week, nothing hard, only 30 minutes. It's about all I can do before the discomfort sets in.

I went to the driving range on Sunday and hit about 200 balls. The first 100 without a tee and it sucked. I was hitting maybe 20%. One the tee I got into a groove and was hitting them hard and straight. I need to go more often.

Still wary about the climbing wall. I think I will give that another full month.

The bike will hopefully be a regular mode of transport to school after this first week of self introductions is finished and I don't have to lug books and stuff around with me all the time.

I still do daily bungy cord work for arms shoulders and legs, i'm not building, just toning for now.

Will try to make regular posts again soon.

A Weeks Worth

Sunday Feb 25: Snowboarding

Monday Feb 26: Bike ride to school = 20km

Wednesday Feb 28: Walk to the grocery store = 30min

Thursday March 1: Drinking and eating.

Saturday March 3: Snowboarding

Sunday March 4: Walk to the grocery store = 30 min
Bike ride = 30km

another walk to the vid store

the nights here have been clear and warm lately, i plugged in my iPod and walked to Geo to return my dvds last night.

total walking time: 30min

Let's Enjoying H2O

Swam on Sat - 1400m

Boarded on Sunday - played in the board park all day. It was so foggy you couldn't see the jumps until you were right in front of them. Crazy. When we tried to actually ride the hill it was surreal. The visibility was so poor that we couldn't see each other if we were more that a few meters apart. Sometimes you couldn't tell if you were moving up or down the mountain.

Oh yeah, and my bouldering book came in the mail today!

Dang

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.

I've snowboarded every weekend but last. Last weekend was a sorry attempt at snowshoeing -hard to do when there's no snow!

I've decided that if I want to rent videos I have to WALK to the video store which is 15 minutes one way on foot. I've done it twice so far.

I've also gone to the climbing gym once this month and have finally been able to wear my new climbing shoes. I've decided to take this new sport slowly and really gain technique before going crazy. So tonight I only worked on 'counterbalance'. I'm going to need a lot more leg strength for this sport!

swimmy swim swim

I went to the pool again last night. I was expecting crowded lanes since I went during swim club hours, but it was pleasantly empty!

1200 warm up and other swimmy things.

Snowboarding is Exercise -right??

IT'S THE MOST FUN YOU COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE

Went boarding again on Saturday, the snow was great, the people I boarded with were fabulous.

I'm a happy happy girl.

Thursday, January 25

Another short trip to the pool.

1200m. But at least I went!

I have some resolutions for the year - I hope to post them soon.

Dusting off the cobwebs

Went for a swim last night. First time in 2 months.

swam 1600m

I felt like a smoker, wheezing and gasping.

It's not really adding up

I went to a mini meet today, and comparing my times to last year, I'd hardly say things are adding up...

Last year: 50Fly 40:40
This year: 50Fly 39.88 (at least I broke 40)

Last year:25Back 22:50
This year:25Back 22:78

I swim 100IM for the first time (I think) my time was: 1:31.01

I joined K and Kylie for this 2 hour event, and we had a blast. A lot of my students were there as part of the swim team they participate in.

I need to work on starts -oh, and also training...ha!

Sexy janai yo!!

While swimming tonight a guy got in my lane (which already had another person in it) and started swimming. Not a big deal, it was a bit busy tonight, but he wasn't of the same speed at all and there were only 2 people in the lane he moved over from.

I didn't think much of it, other than I noticed he was wearing a pretty tight speedo when he walked on deck (and it didn't suit him). Well, I did think much of it when he paused under water at the end of the lane and blatantly stared at my midsection before pushing off the wall (with his head still facing me...)

ugh.

He only go one chance though, then I made sure I was turned the other way when he got to the wall the next time.

I moved into the next lane as soon as possible. At one point I had stopped at the other end where he was also stopped and in front of all the swim club kids, he leaned over the lane rope and yelled "Sexy, ne! Sugoi!"

Oh brother. Give me a break.

anyway: 2200m tonight.

Vampires

While listening to a CBC radio program (my new addiction) on vampires I managed 30 min of bungy cord activity.

No aerobic work today, and my shoulder is not happy about yesterday's swim...oh well.
I have a wedding to attend in a month, gotta look good in a kimono. It's my new motivation.

Saturday night action

My life is dull.

Warm up: 800RIM 800IMkick -no board

4x100 alt pull and scull

10x100 @ 2:00

400 cool down


3400m

Another Day at the Driving Range

I bought a set of used clubs today and spent part of the afternoon swinging at golf balls in Toyama city.

Fun stuff.

p.s. you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find lefthanded clubs in this country!!!

In the Saddle once again

Went for the first ride in AGES today. Couldn't resist the sunshine and this beautiful, mild November weather that we're having here.

40km up, down and around Nyuzen, Funami and Asahi.

No bears...whew. I started up the road towards Fuami Castle, but then came across a bear warning sign...I didn't chance it.

A Wee Dip

Went for a short swim last night.

Just did my regular warm up -which I'm thinking of changing to get myself out of this funk.

800 broken RIM
400 kick

floated around for the rest of the night doing drill work and trying not to think about my shoulder.

Well. Hello there...

It's been way too long since my last post. Gomen.

I haven't been doing much, but at least I haven't been doing nothing...

I've been to the pool a couple of times...

OK, that's it.

I come home from work, thoroughly exhausted. But now I know it's not from work. It's from not working out!

Back to the basics. Back to regular cardio activities. Back to normal.

That's the goal for November.

Ganbarimas.

Healing...

After the swim with Sista K 2 Sundays ago, I finally feel like I'm on the mend. The pain actually subsided and there are moments when I'm not thinking about my shoulder! I even went for another short swim last Thursday. Other than that, I've rarely ridden my bike in the last week and even though I ran a relay marathon on the weekend, I didn't once go out for a run before the event. Good grief, how did my motivation get swept away so easily? Were my sights too high??

The Nyuzen run is a month away and I haven't signed up yet...I'm not sure I really want to run it. What's happening?

I'm still doing a bungy cord routine every morning, but the yoga has fallen by the wayside. I thought writing out my goals here would motivate me, but I'm in a bit of a slump. I hate to use 'being busy' as an excuse, but it's true, there aren't enough hours in the day. I thought riding my bike would solve that, but I find myself with too much to haul back and forth on my bike. I need my car. It's sad really since the weather has been so amazing.

Well, no promises, but I'm going to try to get back on track in the next week. Wish me luck.

Week's worth

Well, I haven't had a whole lot of cardio this week, but I've manange to get a bungee workout in each morning.

I rode my bike on Wednesday to Maezawa (8km via route 8, 10km on the way home via the mountain route), but most of the week has been pretty rainy -or else I've had to pack a ton of things to school, which I couldn't carry on my bike.

The shoulder is in a constant state of pain now -alseep or awake, mobile or resting, I can feel it. Sometimes it's right on top of the shoulder, but most of the time it's deep down under the shoulder blade.

I decided to try swimming tonight -the first time in forever!!. It felt good to be in the water. The shoulder held up through the warm up but I had to do kick without a board. I tried some scull, then just floated around for a bit. Finished with some 50s of fly/back (felt OK) and then a few underwater swims. Definitely nothing special. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. Damn, I miss the pool.

Thanks for swim K!!

I chickened out.

I was supposed to go to get my shoulder checked out this afternoon...but I didn't.
Another week of pain. I'm going to try swimming tomorrow I think. I'm hoping the severe pain I'm feeling today is just muscle soreness from the driving range yesterday. It has to be, I haven't done anything else!!

For those of you thinking that throwing a frisbee around was probably not good for my shoulder...I throw right handed - haha!!

Weekend Activities

This weekend I went camping up in the mountains. By camping, I mean we slept in tents, the rest wasn't really roughing it. We had a refrigerator at our disposal and all the other amenities, but none the less, I got to spend a majority of my time outdoors. On Saturday we played ultimate frisbee for about an hour. The teams were fairly even for talent, but I have to say the other team did have a slight height advantage...we lost 10-8.

Yesterday, after gorging on yakisoba and then soaking in the onsen we headed back to Toyama city. I met up with a friend and we went to the driving range for the afternoon. I miss golfing -even though I didn't do it that often at home I still had my own set of clubs and could go out the the driving range or shoot 18 holes whenever I wanted. Here, the golf courses are pretty limited and very expensive. I've been invited to play next month some time by some teachers that I work with, so now I've got a new focus! The thing is, I don't have my own clubs here, and I'm a lefty. We checked out a used equipment shop last night, but they only had a limited number of left handed sets -apparently it's really rare here to hit left. The cheapest set was around $170. I don't know if it's worth it. I've got to keep looking I guess.

TGIF

a.m.

Bungee cord work out



Bike to Chuo - 16km

Yoga

a.m.

Got up and click on the lastest yoga download I had -blech. It was a lot of arching poses for the back, I didn't like it at all. I guess I'm still really nervous about my herniated disc, I should find out if yoga is helpful or harmful for it.

20minutes worth, then I quit -plus the instructor was really annoying.

Bike to Maezawa

a.m.

bungee cord workout - abs, bis, tris, delts x 2



bike to and from Maezawa Elementary School 15km

Sporadic at best

I spent two days travelling this weekend and yesterday was a recovery day...

Today I rode my bike to all 3 of my schools. I went to Mikkaichi in the morning and walked around Kurobe for 3 hours with a group of students. The school had divided the students according to their neighborhoods and sent them out (with a teacher) to find and document dangerous areas where children could potentially get hurt or approached by strangers on their way to and from school. It was a warm cloudy day and I really enjoyed spending time with the students.

I then biked to Chuo in the afternoon and taught two classes and then biked to Maezawa after work to drop off a book before heading home.


25km in total today, not bad.

Hat Trick

a.m.

Bungee cord arm workout
-bis tris delts pecs



p.m.

Commute to Chou Elementary School: 13km

Same Same

a.m.

30 minutes YOGA for hikers and runners



Commute #3

18km

a.m.

30minutes YOGA for Mountaineering


Commute #2 -Maezawa

20km

Hiking

Hakusan 2702m

Just a stroll up a mountain and then back down.

Took a whole day -go figure.

Two Days before the HIke

a.m.

40 minutes of YOGA FOR MOUNTAINEERS

my first bike commute

a.m.
bis and tris -hardly worth noting.
3x15 at 3kg.


I biked to work for the first time since I started working in Kurobe. I only had one school today, so I didn't have to worry about changing in and out of my bike clothes...

It's exactly 8km to Mikkaichi Elementary School, so in total I biked 16km today. It took me 25min to get there this morning via Rte 8 (which is the bane of my existance, but the fastest, most direct route - I might have to invest in a mask though). It took only 20 minutes on the way home, I was cruising at a nice 28.8km/hr until some idiot turned in front of me and I almost landed on my head again.

Say it with me now,

I HATE ROUTE 8!!!

Note the lack of aerobics...

a.m.

30 min YOGA

TGIF

Woke up at 6:00 WITHOUT my alarm today - didn't need it since a cicada decided he'd serenade me instead...urg.

I got up at 6:50, was yoga-ing it up by 6:15! Did 30minutes worth.

This afternoon -after teaching 4 classes K and I went for a 35km bike ride up to Unazuki town. A great day, cloudy, but still pretty warm -the roadside temp was 27 degrees Celcius at 6:00!!

I turned over 800km on my odometer. Not a great feat, but it's something!

Wednesday's Weights

rolled out of bed, folded up the futon and had time for a quick bis tris and abs set.

no aerobic workout today

Tuesday

I started downloading iPod yoga workouts and I did my first one this morning. Well, I did half of it, they're an hour long and I didn't get up until 6:30...It was pretty good, helped me wake up, warm up and focus a bit. I' have terrible flexibility in my legs, it's true, I can't touch my toes. I'm workin' on it.

Before work: 30min YOGA



Afterwork I hit the pool:

Warm up: 800RIM 400Kick

2x 4x100 alt pull and kick 5sec RIB

cool down

Floating, Floundering, Failing

What I failed to mention in the last post is that I got slightly inebriated on Saturday night and am still suffering the consequences of too many glasses of wine...so today there was NO YOGA in the morning, but my arm got a workout...

a.m. workout:
5x1 hit of the snooze button @5:00


p.m. workout:
warm up 800RIM 400Kick
floated around, did fly drills with one of the masters swimmers -OK, she did the drill, I kicked and watched.
floated some more -had a lane to mysef, can you tell?
got tired of being tired so I got out.

still crippled on my left side. i'm trying to work up the courage to see the chiropractor again...

if I had to rate today's energy levels -I woke up at about a 3, got up to about a 6 during my first elementary school lesson, and am now hovering at 3 again.

Weekend Workouts

Saturday

Weights:
bis and tris 15x3 @3kg
delts 9x3 @3kg
upright rows 9x3 @3kg

abs: reverse curls x100


Sunday

Bike to the beach @35km/h return (in the wind) at 22km/h.

Yogarific -not really

Couldn't move my head to the left again this morning. But I got up anyway and did what I could. Today's the first day of school for me and I needed the meditative part of yoga more than anything else.

By this afternoon I had slightly more movement and felt like I needed to stretch out my body - the best place for me to do that is the pool. I went and did the first 600 of my 800RIM warm up, then did 2 25s fly and 50 kick and I was basically done. So I worked on my T-line (a balance theory I learned during my tech III course years ago). I basically did as an excuse to stay in the water longer and to make people curious, but it IS a good technique to practice once in a while.

So now I'm sitting in my apartment with an ice pack strapped to my shoulder. Yay...

Done for the day and it's not even 6:00!

While I was warming up for weights this morning (jumping around doing goofy aerobics moves in front of the mirror) I managed to aggravate my shoulder/neck again. This is becoming a nucance and a pain in the neck -haha...not funny.

I definitely have a rotator cuff issue, but it's more bearable than this spasm I get in my neck which limits my head movements to less than a 60degree rotation to the left and doesn't allow me to tip my head back or forward. It really stinkin' hurts. It's all the muscles that support the head, but only on the left side. I'm worried that being around little kids all day is going to put added stress on it as they love to hang off of the teacher. We'll see.

In the mean time, I managed to get 2 sets of bis and tris done as well as delts but I had to be creative, any position where I had to hold up my head, i.e. not sitting straight up, was a big no no.

My aerobic set today consisted of 10k to the beach at 30km/h and 10km back at 20km/h.

a sleepy single

I slept in, did a half assed job of yoga today but managed to find some yoga podcasts that i'm going to try on Friday!

I didn't do much else today except sleep.

So for what it's worth:

Warm up: 10minutes aerobics

20 minutes yoga

On another note, I started icing my shoulder, I'm going to see if that helps cut down recovery time after hard workouts. I REALLY have to solve this issue, and fast.

Second Double

WEIGHTS:
Warm up 10minutes
3x12 bis, tris, delts (p/a/l)
3x30 abs
total time:30minutes


SWIM:
Warm up: 800RIM 400 kick
2x400 swim @ 10:00 - sprint the last 25 of each 100
4x100 IM @ 2:30 - decending times were 2:00, 1:50, 1:40 and 1:35!!!! Yahoo. Felt good.
100active rest
4x100 IM @ 2:30 - 1&2 long and strong, 3drill, 4 kick NB.
100 cool down

total: 3000m

First Double

a.m. YOGA - 20 minutes

p.m. SWIM - Warm up 800RIM 400kick
8x100 pull first 4 on 2:00 last 4 on 2:30 (stroke drills)

Doin' Doubles

I'm crankin' up the intensity...I'm going to attempt double days.

What I mean is I want to do something in the morning and something in the evening.

I've decided to alternate yoga and weights in the a.m. and my save my aerobic fun for the evenings.

So M/W/F is Yoga. T/TH/S is weight training.

I'll post more of my new scheme as get more specific with mileage and weights.


Next three goals: 1)Climbing Hakusan (3rd Holiest Mtn in Japan) -September.
2)Namerikawa Road Race (10km) - October
3)Toyama Ekiden (relay marathon) - October

a week of nothing

Sporadic at best, that seems to be my workout routine at the moment...

If you read my regular blog you know that I've been in the company of others 24/7 since last monday -not a moment of it has been doing physical exercise. I feel blah, but more than that, I feel GRUMPY. I've got to get into a routine. I need to set goals, I need to reach goals.

This is driving me nuts.

38km in the saddle

Rode a total of 38km today. I biked to Ishida beach for a bbq which is about 12km from where I live. I managed to keep a pace above 25km/h most of the way, but it was HOT today.

After the bbq I rode up to the 100yen shop near Rt8 and then back down to Ikuji to watch my friend dance at a local festival -that was about 16km total.

And then it was a 10km bike ride back to my apartment -in the dark!

Giddy up.

FINALLY

I haven't stepped on the scale in months...but sometime this morning I decided that I should check my weight.
I've been stuck at 54kg FOREVER so I was pleasantly surprised (considering the amount of eating out and BBQs I've attended this summer) that I've lost 2.4kg!

Yay.

2.6kg to go.

I'm spent!

10km bike to the pool

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

3x400 pull/stroke/pull on 10:00 my HR for the pull was around 140, 160 for full stroke.

Bike back: 12km (took Rte 2) fixed my cadence detector, giddy up!!



I need to start stretching more...

20km

And the tire stayed on. That must be a good sign. I did forget to put the valve cap back on, but had brought a spare tube and used the one from it when I realized it. I rode to the beach and back without any issues. I think I'm over sensitive now though, as every bump feels monstrous and I wince when I go over any amout of gravel...

I do have one concern -but this arose before the flat. Sometimes I get a 'floating' feeling in the back end of my bike, what is that? Is it normal? Does it mean I don't have enough air in my tire?

Anyway, success today! Yay for me!

Wish me luck...

i'm about to attempt my first tire change....

weights

3x15 bis, tris, delts (a,p,l) @ 3kg


40 sqats
abs

swimming with idiots

it sounds a bit harsh, but COME ON PEOPLE!!!!

Give me a break, you see people swimming butterfly and you get in the same lane and start doggy paddling???

You see someone coming in to the wall at full speed and you stand on the blue line so they can't do flip turns???

You see someone comig in to the wall at full speed and you push off at the same time they do a flip turn???

ARGH!! COMMON SENSE. THAT'S ALL IT TAKES.


^$%!@# !!$#$!%!~ !&#%@$$

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

one big set: 5x 200pull 100IM on :30rib

300 cool down

still grumpy...

I miss aerobics classes

I used to do aerobics classes at home quite regularly. The Leisure Centre in Grande Prairie had some great intructors who used to really motivate me.

I've seen some aerobics classes here, but they just don't seem to be of the same intensity as at home.

Soooo, this morning I put on my dance mix tunes and did my own routine. I would really like a step but have no place to put it in my shoe box-sized apartment. So I made do with what I had.

I also inherited Amy's weight set and have vowed to start using them regularly. Today I started. When I get a template figured out I 'll start posting here.

for the time being:

5kg
3x15 bis
3x15 tris
3x15 delts (anterior)
3x15 delts (lateral)


2x20 hamstrings
2x20 squats (no weight)

Short swim

Warm up 800RIM 400kick

6x100 E alt pull (@2:00)&kk(@3:00)

8x25 on 1:00 breath every 5, 6, 7 etc.

2km

No, there's no typo in the title...

I got 1km on my bike today...and then I got a flat!! Or as they say here a "punk-u".


!$#@%$^^%$ It took me a better part of an hour to convince myself to bike all the way to the beach today, so when I finally got on my bike only to have to turn around again - well, needless to say, I was ticked.

So, I drove to the beach instead, with visions of a swim at the pool after -but the water was so nice today, I just swam around in the sea for an hour instead. It always helps to have onlookers to get me to swim better...today there were lots of boys on the beach so I had no problem swimming hard.

I would start at the beach and swim out doing my stroke count for a 25. I started with fly and did about 6 reps of each in IM order and then breast stroke back to the beach. Then I just floated and sculled around for the remainder of the time.

I'm sure it'll help me somewhere down the road when I choose a triathlon with an openwater swim, right??

All day at the baseball diamond.

Too bad it wasn't me playing. I miss baseball/softball/slowpitch...

The Nyuzen High School students had two games today, I had the day off and went and watched both. We lost both games...

This made me late for the pool, so I only had time for my warm up and a few 100s pull.

1500m total.

bike to the beach

K called me this afternoon and invited me to our new favorite spot on the sea.

I biked in my flip flops, but still managed 25-30km/h.
Round trip, it's about 10km??

Not a workout by any means, but it gave the legs some much needed movement after last night's Tatemon fiasco -3 hours of pulling a 2 ton float...I deserved the day off today. Oh, and the pool's closed on Wednesdays!

Mid day swim - how lovely

I didn't have to work this morning, so I went to the pool before my afternoon schedule started.

Warm up: 800 RIM 400Kick
4x400 alt IM and Epull -yes, full stroke 400IM. It kicked my butt, but got my heart rate above 150 -something that I have not had happen in a while (for shame).
200 cool down

holy cow, when was the last time I swam 3000m????

There was a tall guy in the next lane over doing some distance free sets. Other than a bad left arm cross over he was a pretty strong swimmer so I tried challenging him during my pull. He didn't like it when I passed him on my first lap but couldn't catch me at the walls with his open turns! Ha. I love it.

Takaoka swim

I went swimming in Takaoka today.
I was chatting with my friend Daiji on msn and he asked me what my plans were for the evening. I told him I was thinking of going to Takaoka to say goodbye to one of the leaving JETs but I wanted to swim, so I wasn't sure...

He and I rarely get to see each other because we live about a 90min drive from each other and he doesn't have a car. But we both love swimming and joke about the idea that we should swim together. So today we did!

I drove to Takaoka and picked him up and he brought me to an amazing facility! Besides the shiney, spiffy gym it had an 8 lane 25m pool and outdoor dive tank and an outdoor 50m pool!!! I was so excited to swim long course for once -and outside (it was over 36 degrees today). BUT, alas, it was not to be. Swim club was in and they had all the lanes. We had to settle for the short course pool. I got in before Daiji and started my warm up in the only lane with one other swimmer. He looked pretty fast (at least he was young...)and at first he didn't seem to thrilled that I had chosen his lane, but once he realized that I was keeping up to him, he was a bit more polite about the whole thing.

We didn't have a whole lot of time since we did have Dave's farewell dinner to attend. But I managed to get my warm up in at least and a few 50s on the side.

So in total about 1500m. Just wish it had been LC and outdoors...maybe I'll make the trek again. I think that was the pool we would have competed in last month had K and I not gone to Hokkaido. Zannen.

sea me swimming

swam in the sea today, probably a good hour or so in total.

did some actual swimming - maybe 500m worth

and lots of treading...

also taught a little girl how to blow bubbles -maybe I CAN teach swimming in Japan...

bike-swim-bike

biked to the pool (10km) took me just over 20 minutes

Swim:

warm up 800RIM 400Kick
3x 200pull/100IM on 30srib
10x25 on 1:00 breath every 4,5,6etc.

200cool down

biked home


20km on the bike
2550m in the pool

Next Event - Namerikawa Road Race

I got the form in the mail this week. I did this race 2 years ago, I can't remember why I didn't do it last year...

Anyway, do I continue with the 10km or do I bump up to 21?? It's in Oct. I'm not sure I've done enough running or will do enough running for the 21 yet. Maybe I'll wait until next spring and try it in Kurobe...

Hm.

Damn it's HOT

It hit 34 degrees Celcius today. I spent all day in formal clothes for my second day of orientation for my new job...I HAD to get into the pool!!!


Warm up 800RIM 400Kick
4x100 25scull/75E
4x100 kick
cool down


need to get back into a training routine. need something to train for...

Post travel swim

We sat on the ferry reading all day and then drove for 3 hours from Niigata to get home. After unloading everything from the car, I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to go for a swim.

Got to the pool around 8:15, did my regular warm up of 1600m and got out. Felt great!

Back from Hokkaido

Did do as much as I had anticipated on the trip. We only (shamefully) took the bikes off once to ride oround Rishiri Island right before leaving Amy in Wakkanai for her BEE ride. The ride around the the island was just under 60km and it took us the good part of an afternoon to do it. We started off in a nasty head wind on the north side of the coast on a bike trail that lead us to a flock of gulls straight out of a bad Hitchcock scene...there were birds flapping everywhere, except for the dead ones that littered the path. Amy rode over one that was already injured, Kirsten was in front getting the worst of it I'm sure. It was a little hairy to say the least. Not long after we got out of that little nightmare the pathway ended and we had to ride the main road around the rest of the island. Not that that was a bad thing, plenty of shoulder room for us. We took frequent breaks after big hills, watched some surfers, stopped at a volcano with a lake which had been taken over by tourist booths selling flowered flavored soft ice-cream and took pictures of a temple gate near the end of the trip. It was a sunny day, pretty warm and we were all worn out by the end of it.

We did manage a day of canyoning and white water rafting on the second day of the trip. Lots of fun. But when K and I tried to to a hike on our last day, we were foiled at every turn. Seems all the hiking trails have been closed due to typhoon damage. We sat in an outdoor onsen right on a lake instead...

Riding in Hokkaido

Well, as long as the bikes stay on the roof rack...

Sista K, Amy and I are Hokkaido bound. Amy starts her ride accross Japan on the 29th and we're all going up together so K and I can see her off. We are hoping to get a few good rides in, the main one being on an island off the north tip of Hokkaido just before Amy leaves.

I haven't been on my bike since the triathlon. The main reason is because we've had non-stop rain all week. I've been taking my car to school since I've been emptying out my desk all week.

I probably won't post this week, but will try to keep track of our mileage. We'll also be doing some rafting and hiking as long as the weather holds up!!!

swimming in the sun

The pool in Kurobe, where I swim, is an 8 lane 25 meter pool surrounded by windows on 3 sides.
I usually swim in the late afternoon or evenings so there isn't much sunlight left by the time I get there. Besides, Toyama prefecture is a cloudy, rainy prefecture so there isn't much sunlight in general. But yesterday the sun was shining brightly when I got in the water at 5:00. The pool becomes a different world when this happens. The water is bright blue, and you can see clearly to the other end. It kind of feels like swimming in an outdoor pool. I love it.

My first swimming memories are from the outdoor pool at home in Grande Prairie. We used to go down to Bear Creek Park (now Muskoseepee Park) and swim there in the summer. The season's short in GP so the pool usually opens the long weekend in May is closed by September. I vaguely remember taking swimming lessons there, but what I do remember clearly is swimming with my Dad. The pool is L shaped with the short part of the L being the shallow end. I clearly remember him teaching my how to glide off the wall. I know I wasn't very big at the time because my younger brother wasn't with us (if he had been big enough I know he would have been there because he's part fish and it was extremely difficult to keep him away from water), it was only me and my dad. I remember the smells of the chlorine mixed in with the summer smells of trees and grass. Over and over again we pushed off the wall in the summer sun. It's a simple memory, but one of my favorites.


Warm up: 700RIM (only 100fly) 400kick
200 scull/swim
400 kick no board alt 100fly/100breast
200 swim

my left shoulder and my left ankle were not feeling up to par today. oh well, the sun was great.

the aftermath

not that bad really, but the chaffing is driving me crazy!!!



"the" blister



My number on my flabby arm.



















The following pictures are lunch!!!!

stiff and sore, what a great feeling

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

4x200 IM alt full stroke and kick on 3:30 focus on long strokes and turns

400pull long and strong

200 dolphin kick, breath every 6 kicks

Was feeling anti-social today, so I got out early -blah.


Right calf is totally cramped up, I've been trying to stretch it all day. I need to get back into a stretching routine, I'm lazy.

Back to normal...

I needed to stretch out today, I could feel the muscles stiffening. It's a holiday today and raining which means to pool was cho-crowded (very).

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

8x50 scull/drill
200kick
4x100 pull
200 kick

Race Day!!

I DID IT!!

It's over and done with. The stress of it all, washed away in the hot bath I enjoyed Sunday night.

Like I said, 5:00 a.m. comes early. Sunday was no exception. I had prepped everything the night before in hopes of not disturbing Omi too much when I got up. Well, that was blown right out of the water (water being a key word in this adventure...) when I couldn't find me car keys...seriously.

I HAD LOCKED THEM IN MY CAR.

My first thought was, "This is a sign. First your bike inexplicably breaks, it's pouring rain, and now you've locked your keys in you car for the first time in forever (first time in Japan for sure). Maybe you're not meant to race."

I had left one window open about 1cm...

So my second thought was, "Quit being a baby, unlock your damn car and get going."

Omi is my hero. He got a coat hanger and some pliers, and I was on my way in less than 10 minutes.

It was 5:30 a.m. the race started at 9:00. I had to register AGAIN at 6:00 and catch the bike course bus AGAIN at 6:30. I managed to get there in time. I got my number written on my arm (#18) -something I was looking forward to. I've always loved that look -big black numbers scrawled on the athletes...

While waiting for the bus a super friendly lady started talking to me. It was her first time too. We started the conversation in Japanese, but she soon revealed that she spoke English as well -yay for me!!! We rode the bus together and tried to figure everything out -where to put our bikes and other equipment, when to go to the pool, etc.

At 8:30 the opening ceremonies started, everyone huddled under umbrellas while the dignitaries were protectd under open tents. Yes, it was still pouring rain. Sometimes it eased into a drizzle, but for the most part it was full on rain. They announced that they would decide 10 minutes before the race whether it would go ahead or not...

It went ahead. I had my new suit on, I had been packing my cap and goggles with me most of the morning, my running shoes and other gear were in my back pack, under a plastic bag, in a basket beside my bike. I was ready.

We headed to the pool where we lined up in order by the number on our arms. The lifeguard spotted my earrings and told me I had to take them out. Yeah, right. I told him I couldn't (which is true for one of them) and he said that I'd have to tape them!! What?!? Are you kidding me? I showed my displeasure and annoyance and he trotted off to get tape. In the mean time I put my cap on and pulled it down over my ears, covering my earrings. When he came back he realized that my solution was better, I gave him a polite bow and we both went away happy.

The swim was 750m. I had to start in one lane, swim to the other end, and then go under the lane rope into the next lane, swim down, go under the rope, swim down, go under. 6 laps in all, then I had to get out, walk back to the first lane, get in and repeat this 5 times. Each time you go out, someone was standing with arm bands that you had to wear for the rest of the swim. This was to keep track of how many laps everyone did, of course. The thing is, they were big and unless I pulled them right up to my shoulder, they'd slip down my arm. I remember seeing quite a few floating on the bottom of the pool as I swam. Not the best idea. It was fun fighting and clawing my way through the lanes. I loved passing all the 'big boys' without any problem. It got a little nuts at the end of the lanes when everyone was fighting to get under and push off at the same time. I held my own quite nicely!

I was one of the first people out of the pool. I got out, jogged to my bike and told myself to take it easy, be thorough...everything was wet and slippery. I had to get my mole skin on and then my socks and shoes. More people started coming out and were on their bikes before I had my shoes tied! Oh well. As they say here, "My pace".

Ok, the swim was a breeze. I hadn't let myself think about the bike too much (to preserve energy mainly), but now it was here and I was on a bike that I no longer trusted and what could I do but pedal!!

What can I say? It was hard. On the first hill I was passed by nearly everyone. I didn't let it bother me, I just got to the top, took a rest on the first descent and kept my mind on the road. The downhill was scary in the rain. Very slick, I think I wore out my breaks. But of course, I inevitably reached the halfway point, turned around and started the last 10km. Like I said, pretty much everyone had passed me by this time - I was just pleased that I had finished without crashing!!

From the bike to the run all I had to do was take of my helmet basically. The first lap felt pretty good, I knew the blister tape wasn't really sticking at this point, it was saturated with water, but
I couldn't feel any rubbing yet. The second lap came surprisingly quick and I was still upright and keeping a good pace. The 3rd lap was tough, half way and I started cramping a bit. I decided to slow down for some water and then just told myselft that I had to be patient and finish this lap before thinking about the last. Also, my suit had started rubbing at the neck line and it was stinging quite a bit. The last lap was tough. I was spent. But I kept my pace, enjoyed the cheering as I came into the finishing area and absorbed the idea that I had completed my first tri. It was a very good feeling.

After the race the woman I had met came and congratulated me. We went back to the pool together, I took a nice long shower and then enjoyed the free food -fresh vegetable stew and rice balls. All of this in the pouring rain of course. I hadn't been dry since 6:00 a.m.

My official time was 2 hours 28 seconds. So close to breakng 2 hours! Next time I'll definitely wear a watch and keep track of my times. I didn't do it for any part of the race.

Lessons learned: Quit panicking!!! and Patience -finish one thing before thinking about the next.

Loved it. Will definitely do it again!

Thanks to everyone who sent me good luck messages on my keitai that morning! You totally helped me get through my day!

Saturday

I brought my bike into Sports Depot on Saturday. The regular bike fixer-dude wasn't in so they had someone else playng around with it while I waited and shopped around. I found a new swim suit that I thought I could probably wear without having to put on a bra for the run (damn, I hate my breasts!) and I picked up a new hat to run in, an spare pair of goggles and a new swim cap (basically I was trying to make myself feel better with new toys). I also finally bought a bike stand -something I totally should of had from the start, it holds the back end of the bike up so you can play around with the gears and stuff.

The staff finally came over and told me that it was going to take more time so I could leave and they'd call me when it was ready. I went over to Favore (a shopping mall across the street) to get blister band-aids and have some lunch. It calmed me down to be in the crowd. I ate a whole wheat ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, read a book Kirsten had lent to me and just tried to forget about what I'd be doing the next day.

The bike guy called me around 2 and said that it was going to be a while longer (not a good sign) so I decided I'd got to Yastuo and get the registration part over with.

I managed to find the place with minor back tracking.

After I registered I had time for a swim before the bus tour. The 6 lane pool in Yatsuo is pretty shallow but a nice little community pool -and they had a HOT TUB!!!

I did my regular warm up, a little bit of kick and some sculling. Everything felt good.

THEN I TOOK THE BIKE TOUR!!!!

The registration information indcated that there were some steep hills on the course. They failed to mention that it was ALL HILLS!!!! From the very first turn out of the transition zone you're climbing!

The bus never left 2nd gear, if that's any indication...


I was trying to stay calm- talking to myself "it's not that bad, just take it easy, go at you're own pace, use your gears (oh yeah, your gears are screwed at the moment....), ok, stay calm".... but this woman in the back of the bus kept freaking out. Everytime we turned a corner she yammered about how tight it was, at each hill she moaned about how steep it was and every descent she practically screamed at how dangerous it was going to be if it was raining. It was non-stop the whole time. I felt like getting up and telling her how inconsiderate she was being, especially for people who were doing this for the first time yadda yadda yadda. But, I'm slowly turning Japanese, and so like everyone else around me I endured her contemptable behavior without a peep. Oh, and I don't speak Japanese that well... Even the tour guide didn't say anything, although it looked like he was ready to throttle her at one point.

I got off the bus feeling slightly defeated and the race was still a day away.

I went back to Sports Depot, picked up my bike (which I still wasn't convinced was 100%) and headed to my friend, Omi's place to hopefully get some R&R before bed.

Omi cooked me a nice big pasta dinner, we watched some TV and I then I reluctantly got ready for bed..

5:00 a.m. comes quickly, no matter what time you go to sleep....

Pre race panic

OK, now I'm panicking...

I tried to fix my bike after work today. I managed to make it stop making noises...in one gear. I also managed to jamb the other two gears. I took it to the local bike shop but they were clueless, so after tinkering with it all they did was make in noisy again. So now, one day before the race, I have to take it into Toyama city first thing in the morning and see if they can fix it at the place where I bought it. ARGH!!!

I'm not going to cry unless I hear the words "we can't fix it today" -which will be in Japanese....

cross you fingers, say your prayers, do a dance -what ever you think will help me get through this tomorrow.

So no training today. Hopefully I'll have a spare hour to get in a pool in Toyama tomorrow since I won't be coming back to Nyuzen until after the race on Sunday. After I drop my bike off (hopefully) I have to pick up spare goggles and blister goodies and then go and register in Yatsuo. I can also take a tour of the bike course by bus tomorrow, so I might get that done as well, then go pick ulp my bike and head to my friend's place in Toyama to crash for the night.

Toyama is closer to Yatsuo by about an hour. And since I have to be there at 6:00a.m. I figured I'd better get as close as possible.

OK, I'll stop rambling and go to bed. I'm stressed. Can you tell????

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

I rode my bike to school today and for the VERY FIRST TIME something is wrong. Part of the gear mechanism is rubbing up against the chain. Seriously, why now???

I haven't ridden my bike for the past two days, everything was fine. The only thing I can think of is while trying to mount my bike yesterday on my roof rack I could have bent something or done something to make this happen. ARGH!!!

Not panicking yet.........

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

6x150m free on 15sec RIB

100kick
200 alt scull/free by 25
100kick
200 kick alt ez/hard by 25

8x100IM on 2:30

200 cool down

3550m

3 days away

I got my triathlon info in the mail yesterday. Amazing how much more stress is added when all the info comes in kanji!!

Maybe I should have researched this more thouroughly first -I thought I was going to get it easy by having a pool swim, but of course, how silly of me to assume...

So it looks like they're going to take out the lane ropes in the 6 lane, 25m pool and we have to zig zag 150m 5 times. That means we have to get out of the pool after every 150 and go back to the start...this sounds like something I used to do to my swimmers -we called them gorilla sets...damn you Karma!


After the swim is the bike, of course. 20km, not too hard -except they didnt' send me a map of the course. Just a map of where the course is. Looks like if I want to try out the course I have to do it before Friday (tomorrow) or if I want to just check it out I can do that Sat as well....FYI Yatsuo is just over an hour from my apartment. Ick. I still don't know what to do with the bike yet -where I have to put it or when... still deciphering the info sheet.


After the 20km bike is the 5km run. Run = someting I haven't done in a long time....
As far as I can tell it's another loop-run up one side of the river cross a bridge and go down the other side -which I have to complete 4 times.

So like I said, the biggest stress right now is figuring out the bike portion -where to store it, and where to go once I'm on it!!!


Ahhhh, what have I done to myself? And no one to hold my hand.

5 up 5 down

Went for a 10km hike with Sista K and Johnny P this weekend. Hot and humid but a great 4 hours.

The only problem is, this is what I've to work with for the triathlon on Sunday...

Here's the right:





















Here's the left:

Friday -wow, I made it

Spent the day traveling across the prefecture today. Got out of work early for once and was able to get to the pool before the Colare farewell dinner.

Did my regular warm up and some drills. Sound familiar??

Thursday squeeze

Jumped in the pool after racing back from the leavers ceremony in Toyama on Thursday.

Did my warm up and some drills.

Shoulder feels BLAH, it's like it knows something is coming.....

I did it

I signed up for a Triathlon...

It's next weekend!!!!!!!

OK, it's a BABY triathlon, but I already feel sick to my stomach about it.

750m swim (shouldn't be a prob, except I never swim that distante without a pull buoy -my legs are anchors)

21km bike -have done longer rides already, but...

5 km run -if I half to walk, I guess I will....


eep, I'm so nervous.



The worst part is that there isn't anyone doing it with me. K is gone that weekend!

I'm going to try to get a practise run in sometime this week.

Tuesday training

I SHOULD have ridden my bike to the pool -but I needed the car to pick up the free weights from Amy (that's my excuse)

Warm up: 800RIM 400Kick

4x 200E pull @4:00 (hold under 3:15)/ 100IM @3:00 (hold 1:45)

300 cool down

2700m

saturday bust

k and I rode to yamanokoshi (a place we know up in the mountains).

I'm lazy with reading my odometer lately but it's a few clicks, mostly uphill, and on this day it was directly into the wind (no matter what direction we were cycling!).

We then headed down to Kurobe river for what we thought was going to be an afternoon of frisbee, but the turn out sucked and we folded and headed to an onsen instead.

I guess we still managed around 25km on our bikes, but I really feel like we need a longer ride soon.

I guess I'll have to wait for K to get her bike back........



love ya Sista, take it easy!

xox