Crossfit Til I Died

I went to a Crossfit Bootcamp on Sunday morning. Our local lululemon offers a free fitness class every weekend so that you can try out different classes and instructors without joining a gym/studio, which I think is pretty cool. I tried REALLY hard to dislike lulu when I first moved here because I could not fathom spending so much $$$ on workout clothes. I still kinda think that their clothes are overpriced, but lulu has won me over as a business because the individual stores near me really work hard to be part of the overall fitness community. I still get a little teary when I think about the huge group of very loud lulu employees cheering for the runners in downtown Calgary during the marathon. It was definitely one of my favorite moments of that race.

Anyway, I've been trying to mix up my workouts a little bit for the winter because I burned myself out on running and biking to the point where I don't want to do them outside...let alone on the treadmill or trainer during the 6 months of winter here. I had never done a bootcamp before, AND I found a friend who was willing to go with me, so off to lulu I went on Sunday.

I should have known when the instructor said that this was a particularly tough workout that it was going to hurt. But, I convinced myself it wouldn't be that bad because we were using smaller weights than they use in the Crossfit gym. Plus, the total workout was only 18 minutes long, and that included 3 whole minutes of rest. No problem, right? Wrong. Oh so wrong.

The workout was a 6 minute circuit x 3. By the middle of the second set, I was dying. Literally dying. By the third set, the only thing that kept me going was the fact that it was the last set. When the workout ended, I really felt like I was going to throw up. The only other times I have felt like that were after running 18 miles for the first time and during a particularly tough set of bike intervals after eating too close to the start of the workout. Crossfit had me there in a mere 18 minutes. Ridiculously intense.

Today is Tuesday, and I am still sore and limping around from the DOMS. Ouch.

I don't think I will be joining a Crossfit bootcamp any time soon. High intensity interval training has never really been my thing, but if it's yours, Crossfit is worth a try.

Another winner

I was skeptical that this would turn out the way that all the online reviews suggested it would, but it was like some kind of magic happened in the oven.

Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale
1 T olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350F. Wash kale leaves well. Remove the stems and tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Toss the leaves with the olive oil in a large bowl. Spread coated kale pieces over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in oven for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges of the leaves start to brown. Allow to cool.

The recipe I followed said that the kale chips are best if eaten relatively soon after being made. I didn't try to store them, but I can see where they might get soggy if you tried to.

These were surprisingly similar to potato chips, and actually very tasty. I would caution that you do not need to add as much salt as you might think, as I added too much on my first try. You can always add more to taste later. Oh, and don't leave these guys unattended in the oven, for obvious reasons.

(Mock) Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I am trying to get back on the eating right and exercising bandwagon after the past 2 or 3 months of backslide in to consumption of processed and comfort food in staggering quantities. I had my reasons, but I can't live that type of lifestyle long term if I don't want my weight to balloon out of control (which I don't). The good news is that my recent indulgences have only tipped the scale about 2 lbs in the upward direction. The bad news is that I never did lose the 5 lbs that I typically shed during the summer months. (Yes, I have a summer weight and a winter weight while living here. I am not ashamed. Also, who doesn't lose any weight while training for a marathon? This girl.) So, right now, I sit at about 7 lbs above what I consider my optimal weight. It doesn't sound like much, but it is around 5% of my body weight.

I am always looking for healthy, but tasty, recipes. I found a winner for my breakfast smoothie this morning. The recipe is modified from one I found on the Lululemon blog. I am a huge fan of anything pumpkin pie inspired, so I loved it. E thought that it tasted a little like eggnog, which he liked. I served it alongside a sweet potato and red bell pepper egg white omelet. The whole breakfast came in at around 350 calories each, including our coffee.

(Mock) Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1 cup cooked pumpkin or squash (this is where mine was mock, I used roasted acorn squash)
1 cup milk (we use 1% lactose free milk)
1 scoop of vanilla-flavored whey protein (we buy it from Costco)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
5-6 ice cubes

Blend the pumpkin/squash, milk, whey protein, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice well in the blender. Drop in the ice cubes one by one with the blender on the highest setting. Blend until smooth and frothy.

Total calorie count for the recipe is around 300, and it makes A LOT. We split it into two generous servings.

As an aside, I often use squash in place of pumpkin in recipes. I have found that butternut works better than acorn (more flavorful), but that any kind of squash is better than the kind of pumpkins the stores sell for jack-o-lanterns. Since I have to make a special trip to have any chance of finding a cooking pumpkin (and probably pay a premium for it) and I find that squashes are smaller and easier to work with than pumpkins anyway, I usually just opt for squash. You really can't tell the difference.

My Blog Sucks Lately

I was looking through some of my older posts on this blog the other day, and I decided that I have gotten much too lazy about posting pictures to go along with my words. Most of the reason for this is that blogger is SO slow uploading photos that I can't bear to wait for it. I should, though, because it really adds a lot to posts. So, here are a few of my favorite pictures that haven't made it on here before, mostly because I'm too lazy to ever write up trip reports. Let's be honest, half the time I'm too lazy to even write regular posts either.

Unhappy white-faced capuchin at Monteverde
(One of my favorites from our trip to Costa Rica)

Me finishing the Calgary Marathon

Finishing a Jasper-Banff-Canmore bike tour
(with the best group of people imaginable)

Grizzly bear in Jasper National Park

Ruling the Roost

E is in the midst of two weeks of field work, which means that Niki and I are home alone. Every time that I'm here for any length of time by myself, I realize that I really depend on E for motivation to do ANYTHING. I spent the weekend watching crappy TV shows, reading crappy novels, and eating crappy food. I was supposed to work today, but I didn't have to, and I decided to do some shopping that I should have done on the weekend instead. (In my defense, I HATE going anywhere in Saskatoon on the weekend. Saturdays are crazy busy and Sunday business hours are limited in the best cases.) Anyway, there was no work done today. There's always tomorrow, right?

I also did some cooking this afternoon so that I can avoid that whole crappy eating thing. I made fresh salsa (YUM!) and a yam-peanut-ginger-pineapple soup. I always forget just how much E eats until I make a giant pot of something, eat my dinner, and realize that I didn't even put a dent in the giant pot of something. So, I will basically be eating yam-peanut soup for the next few days. I am thinking about trying to freeze some, but I'm not sure if I have the freezer space right now.

The weather has been so beautiful here this fall. I feel guilty that I haven't been getting outside to take advantage of it, but I have just been feeling burnt out on biking and running lately. I ran a 10K last weekend in Banff on very little training. The race was fine, but every training run up until then was basically torture. I haven't been on a bike, except to commute to work, since we went to Canmore mountain biking about a month ago. I don't even remember the last time I was on my road bike. Truthfully, I just haven't been myself lately, and it's really starting to bum me out.

Obviously, I need to get out of this funk!

Sarah Michelle Gellar

I wish I didn't, but I just love TV. Well, everything except reality TV. I was actually glad when programming started going the way of all reality all the time. There are just fewer shows on now that I really want to watch.

Way back in the day, I was a Buffy fan. I didn't watch the series from the beginning because we never had cable TV when I lived at home. However, the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer coincided with my first year living in the dorms. The group of girls that lived on my floor all watched, so we had a ritual of getting together in someone's room for every new episode. It was difficult for me to make friends when I went away to school, but Buffy gave me a reason to spend time with some people and build friendships. Buffy is a great show, and it's become one of my favorites of all time, probably in part due to nostalgia for my undergrad days.

Sarah Michelle Gellar has been in a few movies, etc. since she played Buffy, but movies just are not the same as TV. So, I was really excited when I found out that she was going to have a new drama on TV this year. I've watched 3 episodes of "Ringer" so far, and I have to admit that I am pretty much hooked. It's definitely not as great as Buffy was, but it's just bad enough to be good. And SMG has not aged AT ALL in the past 10 years. The show is currently playing in a great time slot to be one of my favorite shows - 9PM on Friday nights. I typically don't like to go out on Fridays because I am exhausted from working/stressing all week. I like to sit at home, make some popcorn, drink some sparkling wine (my new favorite!), and watch mindless TV. I did so last night and it was awesome.

Untitled

I think that almost everyone who reads this blog knows that life has not been kind to me recently. Without giving away personal details that I'm not sure I want out there on the internet, I will just say that the past few weeks have been painful and very emotional. Since this was something that I wanted to keep private, the suffering has unfortunately also had to be private. I won't minimize the support that I have received from family and friends because I truly appreciate every call and message that I received, but I will say that I'm disappointed that some of the people that I love the most in this world didn't even bother to check to see if I was okay. Is it really so hard to send an e-mail to ask how I am?

Fortunately, life has returned mostly to normal quite quickly. There are still some nights that I just want to throw a massive pity party, but I do my best to minimize actually giving in to the impulse to feel sorry for myself. I keep trying to remember that there are a whole lot of people in this world that have it way worse than I do. I have a lot to be thankful for, and the bad things really aren't so bad in the grand scheme of things at all.

The Sherpa is Complete

Whew! I just put the finishing touches on my touring bike. E and I installed the fenders, and I put the cleats on my new touring sandals. It also happens to be 30C here today, so I was sweating the whole time we were working on the bike. These things always seem to take longer than they should too...

All told, this bike was a lot more expensive than I was thinking it was going to be. In addition to the bike, I bought front and back panniers (rather, E bought me panniers for Xmas), front and back Tubus racks, a handlebar bag, a new saddle, a new stem, SPD pedals and sandals, and fenders. I still have to buy a frame pump, spare tire, and spare tubes before we leave on tour in a couple of weeks. $$$$$$$

I will admit that the bike is pretty sweet looking, though.

Pictures to come soon.

Where I've Been

I have been enjoying the Canadian summer while it lasts - lots of trips, Relay for Life, soccer, biking, and work are keeping me busy and exhausted. But happy.

Here are my last 3 weekends in 3 pictures:

E and S setting up in T1 for their Half Ironman Triathlon in Calgary
(June 18, 2011)

Toxicology Centre group at the SETAC Prairies meeting in Winnipeg
(June 24, 2011)

Niki and I canoeing on a portaging trip in PA National Park
(July 2 & 3, 2011)

I am actually looking forward to a laid back weekend at home this weekend!

Calgary Marathon 2011

It took me two weeks to work myself up to writing this post. The marathon wasn't a terrible experience or anything, but it takes a while to assimilate and reflect.

E and I left for Calgary early on Saturday, May 28th. It's a 6+ hour drive from here, so we spent most of the day in the car. I tried to stick to a relatively decent diet high in carbohydrates, but the food choices along the road to Calgary from here leave something to be desired. I ended up with coffee and a muffin for breakfast, some pretzels for a snack, and a McDonald's junior chicken sandwich with a few fries for lunch.

We made it to Calgary without incident, picked up my race packet at the expo, and checked into our hotel by about 5PM. The hotel was near a bunch of chain restaurants, so we decided to walk to Chili's for dinner. I had pasta with blackened chicken for dinner. I'm pretty sure the sauce was some artery clogging concoction, but Chili's is not exactly known for its health food. At least it was high in carbohydrates.

I managed to get a good night's sleep even in the hotel. Since the race start was a 7AM, the alarm went off at 5. There was no parking near the race site, so we drove to a commuter lot and took the C train to the race start. Temperatures were in the single digits, so I was really glad that E was there so I could wear extra clothes to ditch when the race started.

Between the marathon, half marathon, 10K, and 5K races, there were close to 9,000 people racing. About 4,000 of us lined up for the start of the full and half marathons. With so many people, it took me close to 6 minutes to cross the start line.

The first few kilometers of the race ran along the access roads to the Calgary Zoo. Because we were on the road, we couldn't see into the many of the exhibits (the road runs behind the exhibits), but there was one rather large bird making a godawful noise at one point. I got passed somewhere around here by a guy that was attempting to run the full completely barefoot! (As an aside, he finished a few minutes before me, and E said he looked like he was in terrible pain after 26.2 miles.)

After leaving the zoo, the course headed toward the downtown area. There were tons of people cheering around there, which was really nice. We crossed the Bow River after about 10K, and the half marathoners made the turn to head back for the finish at about 12K. I was drinking so much that I had to pee at the 13K aid station. After I got back on the road, I had to run up the one big hill on the relatively flat Calgary course. It wasn't really too bad since it was only 100m of elevation gain over 1.5kms. As I crested the hill at around 15K, I saw the two men leading the marathon heading back towards the finish (they were at 32K).

The next 25K or so ran through various neighborhoods in the northwest part of Calgary. Honestly, the course was not all that interesting through here. My split at the half-marathon mark was 2:29ish (2:24ish corrected for start lag). I was feeling really good at this point. I had lots of energy because I was having no problems drinking gatorade at every aid station and eating gels every 45 minutes to an hour.

At around the 32K mark, I was starting to feel it in my legs. I was very close to running back down the big hill, which I thought would give my legs a break. I. have. never. been. so. wrong. in. my. life. I am a flatlander. I do not run hills on a regular basis. In fact, we don't even have a hill that would compare to the one in Calgary anywhere near Saskatoon. As such, that hill trashed my quads and IT bands. By the time I made it to the bottom, I was having a hard time convincing myself that my poor abused legs would make it the last 8K to the finish.

So, I struggled. I walked through aid stations. I ran the rest of the time, but at a VERY slow pace. The kilometers crawled by. The high temperature for the day was only 14-15C, but I started to get a little warm because the start was cool enough that I needed to wear tights and long sleeves. Overall, I was pretty miserable between 32 and 42K (20-26 miles). At the half marathon mark, I was pretty sure that I could finish in under 5 hours. I started to doubt I was going to make it.

After far too long, I rounded the last corner and the race finish came into view. I gave the last 200m my best effort, and crossed the finish line in 4 hours 57 minutes and change. E was waiting for me at the finish with a beautiful bouquet of flowers (they are still alive right now!).

For as terrible as I felt the last 10K, it was a good race. The first 32K were great. I finished. In under 5 hours. At this point, I'm not sure if it's something that I want to do again. If I were to run another, I think I would train at longer distances to avoid falling apart in the last 10K (my max distance was around 33K before the race).

I sort of expected to feel this big sense of accomplishment when I finished a marathon. That didn't happen. It wound up being just another epic adventure to check off the bucket list. And I'm okay with that.

(By the way, I am still nursing 4 black and blue toenails. I am hoping that they don't fall off!)

Tapering

I could swear that I just posted a blog update, but here I am posting almost a month after my last entry. I guess it could have something to do with the fact that I was beating myself into the ground until last Thursday or so. Or not.

I finished the heavy mileage weeks in my marathon training schedule without major problems. I finally figured out a system that kept my feet mostly happy (new socks and a lot of bag balm). I ran 20 miles without incident. I did have some stomach issues at about 18.5 miles where I thought I was going to puke on the side of the trail, but I was able to walk it off and finish the run. I have been having a few minor problems with my IT band, but that really isn't anything new and is sort of my own fault since I've been slacking on cross training, my PT exercises, and core work. I'm hoping that the reduced mileage I'm now running along with lots of stretching/IT band work/core work/massage will make my left leg happy and ready to run 26.2 miles. We shall see on May 29th.

In other news, my touring bike came in about a week and half ago. It wasn't supposed to come until this week, so I was pretty surprised to get the call to pick it up. I've ridden it a few times, but I still don't have the fit dialed in. I think it needs a new stem and I KNOW it needs a new saddle. I'm also looking at racks and such. I will definitely post pics when she's up and running!

I've also been cross stitching in the evenings. I'm doing a Little Mermaid pillowcase for my niece for her birthday. Let's just say that it's taking WAY more time to finish that I was thinking it would. I did some x-stitch when I was younger, and I had forgotten how much I like it. I'm thinking of doing some quilt panels (either x-stitch or embroidery) and making a quilt for a winter project.

But, I really don't want to think about winter since spring/summer has finally arrived in Saskatoon!

Taco Bell Training Plan

E and I got home from a 3 day car trip on Friday. We drove to and from the Duluth, MN area so that we could trade his Ford Escort (aka White Stallion) for the Pontiac Vibe (aka Zippy) that he recently bought from his parents. It was a good as a trip with 30 hours of driving in 3 days can be! As is often the case with long car trips, I ate a lot and much of it was not very good for me.

Wednesday: Eat granola. Run 8 miles. Eat bagel and cream cheese. Work. Eat tortellini with pesto sauce for lunch. Eat some dark chocolate with hazelnuts for dessert. Go home early. Pack car. Eat some grapes and a pear. Ride in car for a couple hours. Snack on pistachios and veggies with hummus. Eat Big Mac and fries at McDonalds. Ride in car some more. Eat a granola bar. Sleep.

Thursday: Eat ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Have coffee with cream. Ride in car some more. Snack on veggies and hummus and pistachios. Stop in Chippewa National Forest and run 5 miles. Eat a turkey, cheese and veggie wrap. Ride some more. Eat a bunch of Cool Ranch Doritos (this is the start of the downward nutritional spiral). Get to campsite. Set up tent. Ride to truck stop restaurant. Eat a salad w/dressing, a big bunch of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a country fried steak. Sleep on Thermarest that I failed to inflate.

Friday: Eat a granola bar and banana for breakfast. Pack up camp. Ride in car. Snack on Doritos and cheese ball. Stop at McDonalds for lunch. Eat a $1 McChicken, fries, and a latte. Ride some more. Eat Taco Bell Crunchwrap. Drive new car. Eat leftover cheesy bean and rice burrito from Taco Bell. Drive some more. Wimp out 1 hour before home. Sleep.

After getting home late Friday night, I slept in Saturday morning and then ate a normal pre-long run breakfast. I was not feeling confident about running 17 miles after the past couple of weeks of lackluster and painful training. But, I sucked it up and went anyway - and I was pleasantly surprised. I ran the full distance in a fast-for-me time, but more importantly, my body felt good the entire time. I wasn't so beat down at the end that I didn't feel like I could run another step.

I'm pretty sure my over-nourished state really helped me out! Good thing that there is a Taco Bell in Calgary for pre-marathon fueling. (I think I am kidding about eating Taco Bell the day before a big race, but I do love Taco Bell.)

Today Used to be a Good Day

Have you ever had one of those days where you were convinced it couldn't possibly be Monday because things were going so much better than they ever do on a Monday? Today was that day for me.

I was super-productive at work today. I'm only a few more lab days away from having all the data I need for my first manuscript collected. The results are interesting, and I'm actually excited about writing this stuff up! If that wasn't enough to make the day a good one, I found out that I won a scholarship that will cover half of my stipend for next year. While I would probably get paid one way or another without it, this just means that I have the SECURITY of knowing that at least part of my pay can't be spent by the crazy post-doc that likes to run our lab into the hole on a regular basis.

Then I got home and decided to bail on my run. My feet do still hurt, but I probably could have done at least a short run to keep my old lady hips loosened up. I had to bail on a run last week too (legitimately, because I REALLY overdid it on the run last weekend and then proceeded to also overdo it on the bike the following day). Basically, I feel like blowing off my Monday run is becoming a habit that I need to break!

While I was skipping my run, I found out that one of my uncles has to have a triple bypass later this week. I'm really close with my family, and he isn't that old, so it's been tough news to swallow. Today used to be a good day. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Training for a marathon kills your productivity

I guess it's time for my monthly blog update. Oy.

We finally got our crap together enough to get our waterproof camera to the photoshop, so I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on a post (including some snorkeling photos!) about our Costa Rica trip soon. Don't hold your breath that it's going to be this week, though, because we'll probably be spending our Easter break driving across country to pick up the car that E bought from his parents.

I finished up my teaching duties for the semester/year this week. I'm pretty excited because that should be it for teaching during my grad program. I'm finally to the point where I can focus ONLY on my own research and hopefully finish this beast up before the end of 2011.

As of today, it's 6 weeks until the Calgary Marathon. My training is still going alright, but I'm having major reservations at the moment about adding mileage and actually going the distance on race day. My long run yesterday was 16 miles, and I honestly don't think my feet and legs can handle another 10.2 miles on top of that! Plus, the training schedule I chose maxes out at a 20 mile long run - leaving the last 10K of the marathon as an unknown come race day. To be honest, my biggest problem at this point is my wimpy feet. I have always been prone to blisters, and I come home with new ones after every long run. The blisters make anything past the half-marathon distance painful and basically not enjoyable. This week, one of my mutated pinky toes blistered on the bottom, which caused my stride to change and led to a BLOOD BLISTER on the ball of my foot. Honestly, for all the problems that my baby toes give me, I would probably just be better off if I could amputate the darn things. Oh the joy of endurance running!

Still Alive

I'm still alive. Still suffering through the Saskatchewan winter. Keeping up with my marathon training.

Mostly, I haven't blogged in forever because I spent a week in Costa Rica earlier this month. E and I ended up with a pretty nice tax refund courtesy of our tuition credits, so we booked a last-minute trip to an all-inclusive resort on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Costa Rica was nothing less than paradise. Luckily for you blog readers, I kept a journal while I was there so that I can still write about our escapades there in detail later.

For now, I just wanted to make sure the few people that actually read this page know that I intend on updating it sometime!

My newest favorite thing

Vodka tonic. With lime.

I'm not sure why these things are so delicious. I really love them though. I love them so much that I rode my bike for an hour on the trainer today just so that I could drink a couple of vodka tonics tonight. I guess that exercising specifically to drink probably isn't the most healthy way to go about things, but whatever it takes, right?

I'm going to go enjoy my drinks right now.

The first of my favorite things

I am not what you would call a girly-girl. I don't do my hair or makeup on a regular basis. For this reason, I have little skill in styling hair or applying makeup.

Enter the first of my favorite things: my CHI straightening iron.

The CHI works magic. My hair is naturally fairly straight, but left to its own devices, it flips at the ends and is prone to fly-aways. In about 2 minutes with the CHI, it lays flat and looks shiny and healthy. The effect is even better if I really get my act together and use the fancy hair products I got with the iron for Christmas.

I probably never would have splurged on a high-end ceramic iron for myself, so I'm thankful that my mom did! Even though I only use it a few times per month, I would definitely replace it were I to break it tomorrow.

Love my CHI.

Skiing with My Besties

I went skiing at Eb's Trails with my friends S and E yesterday. Eb's is a trail system maintained by the Saskatoon Nordic Ski Club. It's located about 50 minutes away from the city in a beautiful Provincial Forest area. We had a great time - good company, gorgeous weather. In fact, the weather was so nice that trail conditions were pretty crappy. I refuse to complain about nice weather here, though!

All in all, we skied about 7 miles in about 2 hours. It was pretty slow due to the sticky snow, but who's counting anyway?

I also just finished up the first 'official' week of marathon training. Only 15 to go! Feeling good so far.

Around and around and around we go

We had super weather here from Sunday through Friday morning. I skied! I ran outside! I enjoyed my bike commutes! Unsurprisingly, things took a turn for the worse for the weekend. -40 wind chills type turn for the worse. Since that is just too flaking cold to be outside for any period of time, I had to go to the gym today for my run.

I hate the gym. Especially running at the gym. Let me break this down. I can't run more than about 30 minutes on the treadmill without getting vertigo. Thus, I mostly avoid using the treadmill for safety reasons. The only other option for actual running at my gym is the indoor track. The 200m indoor track. Running on the track is better than freezing to death, but that's just about the only positive thing I can say about it.

So, I went to the gym today. I ran around in 200m circles for an hour. I sort of wanted to shoot myself. But I did it.

I'm hoping the weather forecast holds, because I should be able to run outside again later this week.

Winter Wonderland

I did lots of x-country skiing this weekend!

Saturday, E and I went to Little Red River Park in Prince Albert. It was so stinking cold that we didn't take any pictures, but I included a couple below that were taken on previous trips to Little Red. It's an absolutely gorgeous park with something like 50km of groomed x-country trails. We ended up staying there most of the day and skiing a total of 10.8 miles. We had fun even though the temperatures barely topped 0F!



Sunday, I stuck around town and skied at one of the city's golf courses with my friend S for her birthday. We did 4.9 miles before the previous day's ski caught up with me. It didn't help that the weather made a spectacular turn-around overnight Saturday so that it was 37F by 11AM Sunday. The temperature was warm enough to make the snow sticky. And me really sweaty. Sweaty enough that I got blisters on the tops of my toes from my socks rubbing!

All in all, it was a great weekend of skiing. I'm looking forward to getting some more time in on my skis before the season ends, especially since the weather seems like it might be decent in the near future.

I also decided to add an 'event' to my schedule. I'm doing a for fun winter triathlon at Little Red on February 6. The 'triathlon' consists of 4K of trail running, 8K of mountain biking, and 7K of x-country skiing. I think the short distances really fit well with where I'm at in my training right now, and it should be a fun way to spend a day!

You can never have too many bikes, right?

I put a deposit down on a new touring bike this week. After lots of research, I decided to go with a Rocky Mountain Sherpa. As far as complete touring bikes go, there isn't really a whole lot of choice, but I made sure I looked at each and every one that I could feasibly buy in Saskatoon. I went with the Sherpa for a variety of reasons. When I first started looking, I had already decided that the tourer was going to be steel-framed since my aluminum road bike buzzes and drives me batty after about 3 hours. Not only is the Sherpa steel, it's also a better quality and lighter steel than that used for some of the other popular touring models (i.e. Surly LHT, Jamis Aurora, Trek 520). The Sherpa also has slightly better components and wheels than the other tourers. As such, the Sherpa is quite a bit more expensive than a LHT or an Aurora or a Trek 520.

I think all the touring bikes (with the exception of the aluminum ones, not a fan) I looked at were good bikes that I would have been happy with. So, the actual deciding factor in my decision was the bike shop where I would be buying said bike. IMO, the hands-down best shop in Saskatoon is Bruce's Cycle Works, and they just happen to be a Rocky Mountain dealer. Decision made.

I love BCW. Everyone that works there knows who I am, what kinds of bikes I ride, and that I'm a crazy, dedicated winter bike commuter. The guys there have fixed a bike that a different shop broke, helped me through a frame warranty, converted my hardtail to a winter bike (Frankendale!), and helped me deal with some nasty saddle issues. They also offer free lifetime adjustments of brakes and derailleurs on any bike purchased there, so my bike always shifts well. The shop just happens to be located about 4 blocks from my house, so it's also super-convenient and walk or ride-able.

BCW is definitely one of the things I will miss the most when I move away from Saskatoon!

We have to stop meeting like this

Maybe I should have made a New Year's resolution to blog more. Sigh.

I am sitting here trying to recover from yet another dental procedure. The last 2 wisdom teeth came out today. I would like to say that it was no problem, easy-peasy, but it was not. For some reason, the teeth on the right side of my mouth are super embedded or something. It took a lot of drilling and pulling to get those suckers out. Much worse than last time. The local anesthetic has yet to wear off, so I have no idea if this time is going to be more painful than the last. At least I have my Percocet. Plus, I have no more wisdom teeth, so I won't have to do this again.

Christmas was good. I have been planning to write a post on 'My Favorite Things' (a la Oprah), and that list will actually include a couple of my Christmas presents. So, I won't go into much detail about my gifts other than to say Santa was good to me this year. Outside of some minor family drama (with both my family and E's family, but different dramas altogether), it was a pretty typical visit back to the mitten for me. The last day I was home it was in the 40s and raining! I probably won't see those temperatures again for a few months.

I returned to SK just before the New Year and promptly got sick. I did not go out for New Year's Eve. In fact, E had to wake me up at midnight to tell me it was 2011. Lame, I know.

I didn't make any resolutions this year since I don't ever. I find that January is a great time to evaluate what's going on in your life and make necessary changes, though. Since I already signed up for the Calgary Marathon (May 29, 2011), it was pretty clear to me that I need to start increasing my running mileage steadily. Since I gained 5 pounds between American Thanksgiving and New Year's, I also decided that I need to start tracking calories a little closer. In reality, this shouldn't be too hard since I know that most of the weight I gained came from all the JUNK I ate over Christmas, and there is no candy, cookies or cake in my house ever. I just don't buy the stuff. Because I will eat it. Strange how that works, right?

Happy New Year everyone! May it be peaceful and prosperous.