JF and I bought a house!

JF and I have been saving and planning to buy our first house for about 2 years. We decided that we would start to get serious about it this January. Our plan was to get pre-approval on a mortgage from different banks and then visit houses and eventually, make an offer on a house. Well, things went much faster than we anticipated and we made an offer on the 5th house we visited, on our 2nd day of intensive visits.

The past 2 weeks feel like they lasted 2 months. One day, we were visiting houses, the day after we were making an offer, and then waiting to hear back from the sellers, and finally accepting their counter-offer. All the while, we were having appointments with banks to discuss mortgages, finding a trustworthy house inspector and notary. It was all worth it, because on Monday, January 22nd, we became future home owners!!!

Of course, this proved to be quite challenging for our training and eating habits, but we didn't do too bad. This week, I got back into running and I ran about 12K (3 runs). Pretty good for someone who was off from running for almost one full month! I'm back to doing 10:1s. Some are easier than others, but I think that the more I "force" myself to complete the 10 minutes of running, the easier they will become.

I haven't gone back to the pool yet to try on my "new eyes", but it's in the books for next week.

My eyes are pretty much stable... I can't say that I saw much improvement this week. Yesterday, I received a bottle of eye drops in the mail. The eye doctor I saw 2 weeks ago had forgotten to give me stronger drops to put into my right eye 4 times a day. D'oh! I was pretty anxious about it, afraid this would ruin my recovery, but the nurse I spoke to said not to worry and that if I took the drops diligently for the next 2 weeks, I would be OK. I may call them back on Monday and ask for another follow-up appointment, just to make sure the damage isn't too bad...

Day 29 after PRK... my astigmatism is gone!

Today is Day 29 after my laser eye surgery and I noticed for the first time that my astigmatism is almost all gone!!! When I try hard to notice it, I can still see a little bit of astigmatism (my computer keyboard looks twisted), but in general, I don't notice it any more!!! :-)

Last Monday, on Day 25, it was raining and I got rain in my eyes. What a wonderful feeling!

Today, I went for my one month follow-up appointment and was very happy because I was told that my capacity to see details has increased a lot and that I could stop using the steroid drops in my right eye and reduce the drops regimen to 2 times a day for the next 2 weeks for my left eye.
I really hate those drops, they give me an awful taste in my mouth.

Back at the gym!

Day 23 after my laser eye surgery. My vision has improved a lot this week. It is still very blurry, but I have moments (seconds) where I see clearly! I still get headaches before my eyes need to work so hard, but I'm expecting the headaches will leave once I get rid of my cold and my vision improves.

Today, I went back to the gym, after more than 3 weeks of absence. Needless to say, it was very tough. I was expecting to have lost a lot of strenght during this time off, but I didn't. I can still do the same exercises, but they feel more difficult. I biked for 20 minutes and it went well, but then I almost fainted at the end of my strenght training. I decided to call it a day and went home to rest. Tomorrow, I'm going for a run! :-)


JF and I got pre-approved for a mortgage today. We're starting serious house hunting in the coming weeks!

Day 18 after PRK... I can focus!

Today is Day 18 after my laser eye surgery and I had a pleasant surprise while taking a shower: my ability to focus is back! When I put shampoo in my hand, I could see my hand clearly and the shower wall was a blur behind my hand. Woohoo!

I find that my recovery takes forever, which is normal for PRK surgeries according to the optometrist I saw last Thursday. Sometimes, I wonder why I chose to have PRK or laser eye surgery at all because I get so frustrated at not seeing much improvement day after day. Today was a very small thing, but it gave me hope that things will improve. Really. It's not just the optometrist trying to reassure me.

And when this long recovery is over, I know I'll be happy I was patient and kept my eye on the prize...

2006… The year of new beginnings

I started the year of 2006 unsatisfied with my life. I loved JF and the cats very much, I had a good job, but I was missing a social life. I decided to let go of some old friendships and to look for new ones. I knew this would require me to step out of my comfort zone, but I also knew I had to do it or something would always be missing. Making new friends was my resolution for 2006.

There are a lot of things that happened which I didn’t anticipate. Some were pleasant surprises: many new friendships, a new job, my laser eye surgery and new training goals. Others were less pleasant: the cancellation of the program I worked for and the uncertainty and frustration it brought, the multiple injuries and the necessity to reconsider my goals for 2006. Overall, 2006 was a good year where I decided what kind of life I wanted to live, with whom I wanted to share it and what goals I wanted to pursue.

2006 was the year of patience and work, and I hope that 2007 will bring some of the results of this hard work. My resolution for 2007 is to work at being more patient and I know this is going to be a big challenge, but I’m ready for it.

I wish you all a wonderful year, a healthy one where you will find happiness in the smallest things of life.

It's 9:27... My PRK Experience

This Fall, I made the decision of getting laser eye surgery, after trying on contact lenses without success. One day when I went to the optometrist to be told that the contacts that I had were my best option to go swimming, I was so discouraged that I knew I had to choose to either let go of my dream of learning to swim or get laser eye surgery. I thought about it a lot before I made an appointment with the Focus Eye Centre Clinic in Ottawa.

I had my PRK surgery on December 15th, 2006. I was very nerveous and it seemed that the Valium didn't help at all. The procedure gave me a lot of anxiety, but I did it. When I was done, the nurse asked me to look at the clock on the wall, and I could tell it was 9:27! Before surgery, all I saw was a big white round object on the wall and 10 minutes later, I could tell what time it was! :-)

2 weeks later, my eyes are healing alright, although my vision is far from perfect and I still have a way to go before I get to 20/20 vision. During my recovery, I had to learn to be patient and to deal with boreness. I listened to audiobooks, and to so much music that my iPod doesn't appeal to me anymore.

Longest run of 2006

Today, I ran the longest I've run in 2006: about 5.3km. I was able to do 3 times 10:2s and I even had some fuel left to sprint for 5 minutes at the end of my run.

I feel like I've finally come out of my plateau. I'm improving quickly and it feels so good! As always, I'm sore all over and I have shin/ankle pain. Come January, I'll get some customized orthotics made, which should solve the problem!

10K training, here I come!

I'm capable of more than I think

The first time my friend Christian told me I should register for a Half-Marathon for the Fall of 2006, I bursted laughing in his face. To me, this was the most ridiculous idea. Back then, I was plagued with severe shin splints and could hardly run 3K doing 3&1s. I remember coming back home and sharing Christian's joke with my boyfriend, not making fun of Christian, but making fun of his idea that I was capable of running a Half-Marathon.

Every time I spoke to Christian, he would always tease me that I really should register for a Half-Marathon. He told me that I was capable of much more than what I thought. Eventually, his optimism stuck with me and I started wondering...

Last Tuesday, after a terrible day at work, I decided to go running on the Treadmill at the gym. I had no goal at all, and I decided to run by feel. I was feeling good, and I thought "I wonder if I could run for 10 minutes straight?" I slowed down and I did it. Then, I thought "I wonder if I could do this another time?" and I did it. Finally, I thought "I wonder if I can sprint for 3 minutes?" and I did it. It felt so good!!! Last time I had run 10 minutes in a row was on January 9th, 2006. All Summer, the longest I ran was 6 minutes.

On Sunday, I went back to the gym to run on the Treadmill. This time, I ran 3 times 10 minutes!!! I felt so proud, as if I finally was a runner again. It has been over a year since I was able to run 3 times 10&1s.

Christian was right: I am capable of much more than I think.

Coming clean...

This week has been a very bad training week. Life happened and I had no energy or motivation to go out and train when I was supposed to. I cut myself some slack and only went to the gym on Wednesday to bike away my frustration regarding my work.

It was the first time that I wasn't motivated to go to the pool. I just couldn't bring myself to face more challenges and failures, so I went to the gym instead where I could "easily" pedal for 25 minutes.

I felt mentally fragile this week and I couldn't bring myself to train as much as I know I should. I asked myself why did I have to train when I just didn't feel like it and I had no answer to this question... I'm not training for anything right now, a little down time won't hurt me. In fact, I find that I have less aches and pains when I give myself a full recovery week. I still feel guilty about missing a few training sessions, but I guess I can live with it. As long as I get back to it next week, I'll be fine, or so I hope!

Update on my Triathlon Training

It's been a while since I updated my blog, so here is the latest on my triathlon training.

Swimming

After a few swimming lessons, I can finally swim. Not gracefully and not as I should technically swim, but I can float and I'm not afraid of drowning in the pool anymore. I still lack coordination to be able to do the legs, arms and breathing correctly at the same time, but I'm working on it. I'm very enthusiastic about my swimming and haven't missed one of my weekly sessions at the pool. I can't wait to get laser eye surgery and see my quality of life improve on the days I go to the pool. Without my glasses, I have no fun; with my contact lenses, I'm dizzy and have nausea.

Biking

I haven't been doing much biking lately. I've been on the stationery bike at the gym to warm up before my strenght training, but not more than 10 minutes at a time. I'm working on strenghtening my quads, hip flexors and lower back right now, which should help me when I seriously get back on the bike. I'm planning to attend my first ever spinning classes very soon.

Running

I'm trying to run 3 times a week, and keep the runs between 3K and 5K every time, which is challenging lately because my calves are still bothering me. They tighten up and they cramp, or they're tired from the strenght training and want to give way from under me. When the body collaborates, often times the mind doesn't. I'm still enjoying running, but I currently find myself in an unpleasant cul-de-sac situation. I don't feel like I'm improving at all, but then again, my focus right now is more on my swimming, strenght training and avoiding injuries.

Attitude

I'm very excited about my triathlon training and I'm enjoying every bit of it!

Rattle Me Bones

The result:

5K ran in 38:16 (not a PB, but a PB in chip-timed races!)

Lessons learned:

• Today, I understood what « Plan the race, race the plan » meant
• I left my ego at home and ran 3:1s, because I felt it was my best option, given the tightness of my legs. This paid off in a PB for this year!
• Worrying about the weather forecast does no good – we runners have good karma and we should believe in it more!

Inspiration:

• At one point, I started thinking about the banner Msdesigner1 made for NCM, and the one phrase I remembered from it was “Remember when you couldn’t?”. This brought tears to my eyes. It’s OK to cry during a race!
• When I was becoming a wimp and felt like I couldn’t go on, I wondered which Maniac would never give up and thought about Kiza for inspiration
• It was great to see Brian pacing Stephanie for her first race!
• In the song “Reason to Believe” by Dashboard Confessional, it says “I have reason to believe that i have victories to taste, I can feel them on my teeth, upon my lips and in my chest, I can roll them on my tongue, they are more subtle than defeat, I feel the tension in my lungs and every move is filled by my resolve to breathe” – sang that part out loud

Being thankful:

• Never underestimate the power of a positive attitude: thanking volunteers and people who cheered on me raised my spirits during my race
• I said a grateful prayer when all of a sudden, there was a ray of sun to heat my face and the wind was at my back to give me more power

Love and friendship:

• It’s great when your other half enjoys running as much as you do. It makes for lively conversations in the car on the way back home!
• Apparently, some people have sent me good vibes during my race. I felt it and they definitely made all the difference!
  
• For the first time, I felt like I really belonged to the running community, and to Running Mania. Thank you Maniacs for being my friends and supporting me in my endeavours!

Today wasn't supposed to be a great day, but I made it one and I'm very happy about it! :D

Self-doubts...

It had to happen: in the past week, I've been feeling pretty down about my training. In my swimming, I can't seem to be able to breathe on the side while swimming. I get dizzy because I do it too fast and I'm still not 100% comfortable in the water, so my neck and shoulders are stiff when I'm trying to coordinate everything. After my lesson this week, I've been beating myself up a lot, wondering why was I putting myself into another situation where I would fail. By talking to a few people on Running Mania, I realized that I wasn't the only one who had problems with side breathing and it made me feel just a little bit better. A friend has given me an exercise to try and I've watched the Total Immersion DVD and am gonna go to the pool tomorrow night and try these. I think the clever short-term goal is that I become more comfortable in the water. Period. Nothing else for now. And maybe work on that demanding character of mine! ;-)

On top of that, I got more foot/ankle/shin pain, which prevented me from running for a week. I've seen a new RMT about this and he helped me loosen up the shoulders, neck and legs. His techniques are weird, but they work! I also bought a Stick and i've been using it a lot in the past few days. This morning, I went for a 4K run, which ended up being a 5K run. I was very happy that the run was almost painless and although it was very tough on my respiratory system, it was a great run. At the end of my run, I put on "Amazing Grace" by Dropkick Murphys and sprinted for 2 minutes at 6:24/K!!! I couldn't stop smiling, it felt absolutely wonderful!!!

So, my days are filled with ups and downs, and a resolve to keep going that is unfortunately spoiled with self-doubt. I put all my objectives aside to focus on the moment and enjoy each and every bit of training happiness, like this morning.

Run for the Cure 2006: The Glory Outlasts the Rain!

Yesterday was my 2nd time running the Run for the Cure in Ottawa. I didn't sleep well for 3 nights in a row, my stomach was upset and I looked like that before we left for the run yesterday morning:



I ran RFTC with a friend of mine who just started running this Summer. It was her first race ever. She's doing the LTR program by herself and is up to 4&1s now. We did 5&1s during the first half of the race, which made us both very happy! It's been a long time since I did 3 5&1s in a row. For the most part of the race, it didn't rain. But closer to the finish, we got rained on...

I had mental issues during my run. I got cramps in my calves and hamstring and I was so afraid of getting injured that I couldn't suck it up and keep running. I took more frequent walk breaks during the second half of the run (we did 2:30 to 3:00&1s). I even had to walk for a few seconds about 100m to the finish line, just long enough to tell myself to suck it up and finish. :?

Ran into a puddle and crossed the finish line in 37:58.

Got home and took two "After" pictures:



455 huge THANK YOUs to my sponsors!

My first swimming lesson!

On Tuesday night was my first swimming lesson. I was very nervous and didn't know what to expect at all. Well, I was very pleased with what I got!!!

My friend seems to know exactly what he is doing, and he sure knows a lot about swimming and the mistakes everybody makes when they learn. He said my arms were strong! (thank you personal trainer for designing me great programs!)

We didn't do any arm work tonight though. We focused on the legs and breathing. I was using a kick board, so I wasn't scared of drowning and I could concentrate on my legs. It took me some time to be able to move my legs in an acceptable way, but I did it. The breathing was more difficult. I took too much air in and I couldn't get a right rythm of breathing in and out. I practiced for a while and finally got it, but when I tried to do it while swimming with the kick board, it didn't work...

My friend left, but I decided to practice a little bit more. And I was able to do almost 2 complete lenghts of the pool while breathing corectly!!! I think the last time that I was as proud was when I was able to run for 3 minutes for the first time!!! It was a great feeling! I couldn't wait to tell my friend the day after that I was able to do that, but he saw me on his way out. When he left, it didn't look like I would be able that night, but I was!

Walking back home, I realized that it's now official: I'm a triathlete in training!

29...

It's my birthday today! :-)

I'm 29, my last year before I turn 30. Most of the time, I don't really mind getting older, because I look back at all that I have accomplished in the past years and I expect that I'll be accomplishing even more great things in my 30s. However, this morning, I woke up with a little bit of anxiety, thinking that this year was my last year in my 20s and that I would soon be considered "a real adult". I should be happy that I'm soon going to be out of what I call "the troubled times" and into what I call "the shining years" and I'm sure I'll be happy in time.

In the meantime, here is a list of all I plan to do before I turn 30:

- Run my first 10K
- Learn to swim
- Do my first triathlon (Try-a-tri)
- Improve my eating habits
- Buy my first house (with JF!)
- Get a new job

Cheers to my last year as a 20-something!

BRAVO JF!!!

Aujourd'hui, JF a couru le demi-marathon au Festival de la Santé à Montréal et il a atteint avec brio l'objectif qu'il s'était fixé: terminer en moins de 2 heures. Il a traversé la ligne d'arrivée en 1:57:34!!! Durant toute la course, il a eu un grand sourire dans le visage et il semble avoir énormément apprécié son expérience.

Bravo JF! Tu es l'exemple parfait qu'avec un peu (beaucoup) de travail et de discipline (beaucoup de discipline), on peut atteindre nos objectifs! Je suis très fière de toi! :-)

Félicitations à Eric qui a terminé son propre demi-marathon en 1:57:57! C'est un résultat incroyable, compte tenu de l'été occupé qu'Eric vient de vivre avec la naissance de son premier enfant. Bravo Eric!

I think I can do this!

This morning, I went to cheer on the Canadian Triathlon participants. I got a chance to look at people's transitions, clothes and gear. It was a great idea to go down there this morning and take a look. I particularly enjoyed watching the try-a-tri participants during their swim. It doesn't look easy, but I think I can do this! :-)

Congratulations to Andre and Bob, who finished a Sprint Duathlon this morning and to Andy, who is in the process of completing his first Iron distance Duathlon as I type!

They cannot all be good runs...

Today was one of those days when you should stay home and sleep all day. I think I'm coming down with a cold, or my allergies are out of control. I've been feeling tired all day, I can't stop sneezing, I'm too cold, I'm too hot... I don't feel good! I decided not to go to the gym this morning and to skip my run.

After having run errands, JF asked if I wanted to go to a nearby park with our bikes and then, I could go for my run from there. I thought it was a good idea and that it could help my immune system fight the cold, and so we went. Today, I was supposed to increase my running intervals to 3 minutes, and I did so for the first half of my run. I wasn't doing so good, mostly because I had shin pain (again!). About 2/3 into my run, I had stitches everywhere I can have them. I really wasn't feeling good, so I decided to walk until the stitches would go and then run one last interval. The stitches never went!!! So I walked the last third of my run. The bike ride home was difficult, but fortunately, it wasn't very long. I think i'll consider this workout my second brick!

A Perfect Run!

Today, I was getting discouraged again because I feel so tight in my quadricep tendon and I thought to myself: "Am I ever going to feel good, without injuries or nagging discomforts?". I was getting negative about my capacity to run, and thought that it would be impossible for me to ever do a triathlon when I'm always injured...

I went to the gym and for my run anyway, and I had a great 3K run! I felt super good, physically and mentally, I was fast, my cardio was good, it was perfect! I felt like dancing and I almost did, but there were too many people on the bike path and I looked weird enough already with that big smile on my face that I didn't want to raise suspicion! ;-)

My calves and hamstrings were pretty tight when I finished, and my quadricep tendon started to bug me again the minute I stopped running, but I felt great!

Now, if all my runs were like that, it would be heaven!

My running is improving!

Tonight, I uploaded the data I had on my heart rate monitor watch. I hadn't uploaded the data since my July 2nd run, so I had quite a few workouts to enter into my Excel spreadsheet.

I was delighted to see that my speed has improved a lot lately. I decided to go back to doing 2 minutes intervals, which may help me be a little speedier. I find that when I run faster, my form is better and I have less pain overall. I'm gonna try to keep that speed while increasing the lenght of my intervals. I hope that I can get to 10 minutes intervals sometime this Fall.

My last workout (yesterday) was very good. It was tough, but I stuck to the plan of running 2:1s, which made me very proud. That inner critic in my head shut up and I didn't have to fight the urge to take early walk breaks - I just did what I had to do! Turns out that all my 2 minutes intervals were done at speeds between 6:17/K to 7:00/K. For someone who ran 8:00/K to 8:30/K a year ago, I feel like I've come a long way! All this work at the gym paid off. I think I may have a 5K PB ahead of me for this Fall...

I had a brick workout on the book for today, but it was pouring rain all day and I decided to clean up the appartment instead. It was a good workout, although not as intense as a brick workout!