TRAINER SET-UP ADVENTURES......

We suck at this!!!!!!!!!

We are not able to remove my chain to clean it, even though I know where the master thingy is.

My Dad replaced the tire with an old one but we can't inflate the tube because he pierced it.


GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Nothing is working, this bike thing is so freakin' complicated!

Running = pair of shoes, good bra and go!!!

My bad mood was set after a horrendous interview process, the bike issues did not help. I'm off to Ste-Luce-Sur-Mer at my brother's. I'm sure seeing my niece will cheer me up.

Have a good week-end everyone!

INTENSITY...

I miss the intensity that running has. I miss running as fast as you can and stopping out of breath. I miss coming back from a long run in the cold with ice on my hat. I miss training for marathons. I miss the runner's high.

I've been doing a lot of cross training but it does nothing for me. I am becoming faster in the pool but still don't feel like it is a big deal. I bought a new kick ass bike and I am often thinking about accidents and deaths while riding it... LOL Fast bike = crashes in my head.

I've been doing my best to be PATIENT, and be CONTENT that I don't have cancer or another illness. But somedays it is just not making me feel any better.

I've got a plan... not sure it will work but I am going to do it anyway. Santa came early this year and I just received the Christmas gift from my folks.

The plan is to find a marathon training plan that has runs in minutes. And to follow this plan but on the bike. I am hoping that an increase in training volume will help me fight the runner's blues and lose some weight ( which I desperately need to!) What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

PS. send some good vibes my way tomorrow afternoon, I have an interview for a chemist position at the City of Montreal!

ETA: Strength training is kicking my ass. I took Laurel's advice to just stick with it... I did it Sunday and yesterday and I AM SORE. I'd love to get ideas of what others do, so I can alternate exercices. This is what I did:

3 sets of 20 reps 1 min in between sets

1. Squats
2. Standing bent-arm lat with elastic band
3. Step-up
4. Calf raises
5. Push-ups
6. Seated Row
7. Squats with elastic band
8. Abdominal with twist
9. Bicep curl with elastic band
10. Outer thigh exercise with elastic band
11. Inner thigh exercise with elastic band
    

GREY CUP IN MONTREAL!

And I predict my favorite team will win too!! ;-) If you're not Canadian than you have no idea what I am talking about! The CFL is the same as the NFL but A LOT smaller. The Grey Cup is our Super Bowl.

GO! ALS! GO!

The =( and the =)


=(

No running for another 2 months...... ='(

well I can try 10-15 mins once a week near the end of the 2 months to see how i feel... f'ing hell!!!

It can take 6-9 months to get a bone scan appointment and since I don't have insurance I can't go to a private clinic as it would cost 600$+ ...

STUPID FOOT!


=)

The doctor thinks it is healing properly and just needs time.

She doesn't think the bone scan will reveal anything.

So yeah good and bad but I still can't run.

So, I am going to invest in a bike trainer sooner than later. My little stationnary bike is a pain in the ass, I cannot control much of the resistance on it anymore. It starts to makes a screeching noise after 1h even without putting resistance. Sucks ass!

Oh well, keep on trucking eh?

Have a good week-end!

PS. May the wind be at your back tomorrow Laurel! I will be rooting for you at the Philly marathon (and hopefully track you too!)

ANOTHER ONE WITH THE PHOTO TAGGING GAME....

What can I say, I'm a follower.... =)

The game is to go to the fourth folder on your computer and pick the fourth picture. Here's mine:

The folder it is coming from has 12 pictures with each month's name as the title for a Christmas gift I am preparing for my Dad.... so hopefully he's not reading this post and has no clue I am giving him a personalised calendar for Christmas LOL

This picture is for February with my brother Yannik and his GF holding some of my favorites stuffed animals (the weird looking duckies... which I have a small collection BTW...). Anyway, this picture was taken at Easter 2005 when my family came to Windsor for a quick visit. It was pretty crowded in my small 1BR apartment but we had a lot of fun. And we like to take silly pics like that =)

I hope that the people who haven't played yet will!

Have a good week-end everybody!

p-s I went to the pool and the cute Guy was there again, pushed me to my best time for 1.25K swim in 27 mins!! =) Thanks cute Guy!

LIFE WITHOUT RUNNING....

I'm repeating myself but I MISS RUNNING!!!!!! A WHOLE F'ING LOT!!!!

So, it has been a month since I got my 2nd cortisone injection. The radiologist told me that I could start running after a month of down time but my foot does not feel fine =( At all..... and instead of pushing through the pain (like I used to do...) I will wait to run and go see the doctor at the clinic AGAIN.

I will do it tomorrow as I had to wait for my fellowship documents to be sent. The radiologist who did my cortisone injection has supposedly sent a reference to "my doctor" (no really my Dr. but the emergency on staff person) saying I need a bone scan. I also want to be directed to a orthopedist or some other specialist of the foot (but not a podiatrist) since they are not considered regular doctors in our health systems. Anyway, not running sucks and I hate it.

I've been doing REAL good with my cross training sticking to the schedule but I just find million of reasons not to do the strenght training. Not sure why I dislike it that much... but it is painfully hard to get motivated on Sundays.... so I missed last 2 Sundays LOL

Date Duration Distance Type Where
Nov-18 00:24:00 1.00 Swim Piscine Roussin Swim
Nov-17 00:27:34 10.00 Bike Stationary Bike
Nov-14 01:07:01 25.26 Bike Long ride to Parc Pointe-aux-
Nov-13 00:30:00 1.15 Swim Piscine Roussin Swim
Nov-12 00:28:18 10.25 Bike Last ride with Bijou outside... =(
Nov-11 00:24:00 1.00 Swim Piscine Roussin Swim
Nov-8 00:23:36 10.00 Bike Stationary Bike

Oh well, I'm happy to get exercice on regular basis anyway. I also didn't train today but I think I am coming down with something so this is my reason ;-)

Have a good week everyone!!

CALL ME FELLOW!!!

Forget that job interview... it wasn'T a job that interested me..... BUT BUT

I GOT A FELLOWSHIP AT ENVIRONMENT CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!

I are moving to Ottawa in 2009!!!

The start date will be February or April.

I'm super excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

FYI Fellowship = a job that is paid a lot less than a real job ;-) But it is my first step in the government and I will take it!!

I swear I will do a training report soon, I've been a good girl... following my schedule ;-)

WISH ME LUCK!

I have a JOB INTERVIEW TOMORROW MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I've also got some interest from 2 other parties... things are moving in the right direction for me... finally =)

Hopefully, it goes as well as for this woman.... LOL

Rule 1: no cleavage showing...

I'M LOVING THE INDIAN SUMMER!!!

This is my new training plan (since running is out of the schedule still):
Mon/Wed/Fri = Bike days (between 30 mins and 1h)
Tues/Thur = Swim days
Sunday = Strength training

It's been totally gorgeous here for the past 3 days! I had to take advantage of it, so I took Bijou out of her hibernation for a ride today, 31 miles in 2h23. A little slower than last August (2h18) but the wind was a killer coming back. I was planning to do 1h but the weather was so awesome that I kept going for just 1 more mile LOL

Yesterday, I went to the pool and did 2K in 47 mins. My fastest time so far... that cute guy I was chasing definitely motivated me ;-) On Sunday, I did some strenght training... which was the first time in about 6 months LOL I'm on my way to recovery folks! I just need to be patient and not miss running too much (which I do... so much...)

On another note, my Dad and I were watching the US election night yesterday and we were so happy that Obama won so easily (I thought it would be much closer!). I cried a little, I am not black or anything but it gives me hope for the future. That racism will be over someday, maybe I am naive... but anyone can dream.... right?

Have a good running week everybody! Run for me!

HALLOWEEN!

Rocky was a total hit with the kids yesterday! Most of the little kids were more interested in him than candy LOL And we were giving good stuff not crappy halloween candy! ;-) I decided at the last minute to dress as a witch, no big make-up or nothing but Rocky and I were matching.

We had decorated and I brought the laptop outside to have some 'hauted house' type music. We had like 100 mini chocolate bars and 60 rocktets necklase. WE WERE READY. Well my Dad, Rocky and I were outside from 6-8 PM and we only had 20 kids come to our house =( IT WAS A LONG AND BORING WAIT! And I obviously ate way too much candy while waiting for the kids...

As far as training I am back full force, except for the running part. Here's last week in review:

Tuesday -Swim: 1K in 25 mins

Thursday -Swim: 1.1.5K in 36 mins

Saturday -Bike: 20K in 46 mins

NON RUNNING CHRONICLE....

Ok, so only 20 days until I can run again. Every time I see my Dad leaving for a run, my heart ache... ;-) But I am so proud of him that I forget about my own pain =) I totally slacked off on the bike and the swim so tomorrow I am going back to the pool!

Foot is going relatively well... no more throbbing pain and I can walk barefoot again without agonising pain... seems like things are going well but it doesn't feel 'normal' like the other foot. So, I am cautiously optimistic as I don't want to be disappointed all over again, like las time.

Saturday was my birthday and I'm starting to freak out about being almost 30 (28 to be exact). I know this is silliness and totally irrational!! But I feel like an old fart! My Dad was my age when he had me... and I am the baby of the family. I am far away from having a family of my own (if ever) guess I gotta find myself a MAN first LOL In the meantime Rocky is my Baby!! LOL

I found him a super cute costume for Halloween, he's totally hating every minute of it but it makes me laugh. And I'm sure the kids will like it when we give candies out on Friday.

It was great to be back in Windsor, it is only when you have left that you realise how much you miss the people there. My ex-boss is just the best, we worked really well on our last article when I was there. So it will be submitted to a very good journal soon! =)

Now, this is the part I was dreading writing about because I am still very disappointed about the outcome of this. In my last post, I wrote about a job possibility at Environment Canada in Burlington and having a professor I know trying to put a good word for me. Well, he did but he was told that the interviews had already been conducted.... so yeah I wasn't short listed. I am more than disappointed, I just don't know when this will happen for me. =( And I thought knowing the person would have gotten me an interview at least... ='( The professor told me I was sooooooooooo close to getting the interview.... so yeah it sucks ass. Still trying to digest this rejection. I know that in the order of things, it wasn't meant to be but I am still totally bummed out about it.

BACK IN THE HOOD!!

I am back in Windsor for a week and it feels like I have never left. Everything is still the same, my old 'Boss', the people at the Institute where I worked, the waterfront and the city in general. I really missed my old Boss! I was so happy to see him and work on this last thing with him. He's one of my favorite people in the world =)

One good news, is that there is another professor at my Institute that likes me a lot. I was looking at one of his old scientific articles and told him I'd like to read it. I said: "you co-wrote this article with Mister So-and-so, do you know him well?". Well, it turns out this is the guy I've been in contact with for the job at Environment Canada in Burlington that I REALLY WANT. He told me that Mister So-and-so is his old Ph.D. advisor! He talks to him OFTEN and will give him a call to tell him how awesome-greatest-researcher I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOO! How freakin great is this!!??!! I was so happy, my career goal is to be a big researcher in the government and this is my chance! I really hope it gets me an interview at least =) What a great trip so far!!

My best friend, Flashy, is running her first half-marathon tomorrow. I am so disappointed I can't run it with her =( I really wanted to be there for her but I am being reasonable with my foot now and going to let it rest for a full month. I didn't even bring my running gear so I wouldn't be temted to do it! I am pretty excited about cheering her and brought my cowbell, I'll be making some noise!

We went to pick-up our race kits for the Detroit half tomorrow. Altough I am not running, I did actually pay for race registration and I got my shirt. Not sure I will actually end up wearing it since I will not have run the race...

I got a great shirt for myself and something for my 2 year old niece. How cute is that?

Have a good week-end everybody!

INJURY UPDATE & GROSSEST PICTURE

I had my 2nd cortisone injection yesterday. The radiologist ended up teaching me that heel spur and platar fasciitis are the same issue. I thought they were different. So, he could only inject the cortisone at the same place where they had done it last time.... The pain I have is near the edge of the heel so I was kinda depressed when he told me he couldn't inject there...

He basically told me, there was 2 injection spots on the foot and he could only reproduce what happened last time. And he was not very confident it was going to solve my problem and I should do a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instead... I ended up :'( very frustrated by the doctor who told me I ONLY had PF and not heel spur... It's hard to know who to believe... And I was not sure if I should proceed with the injection or just wait for another test...

After a brief talk to my Dad, I decided to go for it and hope for the best but still asked to be referred in NMR... 1 month with NO running... ouch and then BASE BUILDING just like BeachRunner for awhile... That also means no stupid stunt (Detroit half and Miami marathon are way too close).

Ok, so last week was Marcy's first marathon and I sent her this e-card. I was really hoping she wouldn't go there. ;-)

Looks like someone else did!!! LMAO This is so GROSS!! So, would you have ended the race or hide in the bushes?????

I'M FEELING THE LOVE (aka I'VE BEEN TAGGED)

Two wonderful chickas: Leana and Michelle have given me an "I Heart Your Blog" award! Thanks Girls!

This honor also comes with another responsibility: to post another six random facts about myself and "tag" another six bloggers with some blogging love. I've done this a couple times now.... not sure what new I can share but I'll try.

1- I'm a couch potato wannabe athlete. As soon as I am injured or when one big race has passed by, I am totally happy to be just watching tv and not training at all. It takes a lot to get out of this 'inertia' mode LOL

2- I am totally obssessed with Runninmania.com, it's a running forum I joined on February 15th 2007 just after I broken up with the last boyfriend and it has been my daily drug since then!

3- I L-O-V-E to dress my dog... any circumstances, all sorts of outfits... here's a few. People think I am totally insane but he is like my Baby... and he TOTALLY hates it!! LMAO

4- I am a francophone and I am really sensitive to mistake I made in English. I am fluent in English (obviously I did my Ph.D. thesis in English!) but I never pronunce the 'h' in words that start with h (house, home, hyper etc.) But if you correct my English you go to my black list and I'm going to kick your ass LOL

5- My brother has been my best friend since I was 12 and he was 16 year old.

6- I'm a serious scientific but I love to kid around in the lab once in awhile... here's the 'smoking walleye' and the 'drunk at the beamline' pics...

Here's some people who I think haven't been tagged yet and might want to play along:

Brian

Cindy

Lumpfish

Ann

Jonathan

Ken

ETA: I forgot to tell you guys that I am getting a 2nd cortisone injection tomorrow at the RIGHT place this time... sigh it is going to be painful...

That's it for me! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL THE CANADIANS!! =)

STUPID TECHNO...

I knew I would struggle to update my blog layout. I should have kept the old boring one!!!

I cannot find where blogger said it 'copied' my old template....

So I can't access all the modification I had made previously on the right side.... and that would means typing all my race results and finding the e-mail addresses etc. The same for the people I follow... GRR this sucks

ETA: Figured it out.... Only took me 15-20 mins LOL

TECHNO?

Me not so much.... It took me awhile to switch to the new blogger version and now there are these "Follower" thing.... what the heck is that?

If you follow me and I follow you, who are we following? Who will be our Guru?!

Anyway, I've been pretty busy in the last few days on a low intensity training schedule anyway... nothing very exciting except my Dad's fastest mile ever today 11:55 min/mile during fartlek =)

Wed: 20K bike @ 51 mins
Thur: 1K swim @ 25 mins
Fri: 5K with Dad @ 41 mins
Sat: 25K bike @ 67 mins
Sun: REST
Mon: 3.5K Fartlek with Dad & Rocky (Dad's first time!)

I've also turned into Rachel Rae... or the equivalent of a cooking machine!
I made a few delicious recipes:
Pasta with lobster, wild mushrooms and cream
Butternut squash soup and with roasted red pepper puree
Spicy dill pickes

And some of the weirdest taste ever too... can't always win!!
Carribean pumpkin and black bean soup
Spiced Pumpkin soup

So yeah that's about what's going im my non exciting life!

RUM RUNNERS RELAY REPORT

Nova Scotia has to be the best place on earth!! I love it there and the relays they organise are just the most awesome way to spend a Saturday =)

Hurricane Kyle was kind enough to wait until Sunday with his strong wind and rain so we had an almost rain free day on Saturday. My leg was at 8:55 AM and about 11.4K long.

My foot had been bothering me lately so the goal was nice and slow but the pressure of coming in last really motivated me! I started running and soon found 'my shadow' this woman was following me so close that I could feel her breathe in my neck!! In this first picture you can not even see her behind me!!

I thought she was going to pass me at the beginning since she was so close but she didn't. As the racewent by, I started to distance myself from her. My main goal was to not let her pass me at anytime!!

Then at the half point, I gave her a little wave and said goodbye for good! At that point I was about 200-300 m in front of her and would keep this lead until the end.

A big thanks to my favorite Haligonian, Lisa, for running part of the last half of the leg with me. She kept talking to me to keep my mind off the pain of all the rolling hills and a blister that had started on my right foot. In the end, she mut have run close to 3K with me and I really needed it, she got me through a big hill right and we just kept on trucking. My foot was killing me at that point.

My leg ended with a slow incline to the finish line and I kept repeating to myself: "Are you f'ing kidding me?! I was pissed LOL But I finished and didn't let that woman pass me =)

This was a very hilly race for me! I never run hills as it is totally flat around Montreal. The green line is elevation and the scale goes from 100-500 ft! I usually have profile with a 30-50 ft. scale LOL

Finished the 11.4 K in 1:16:39 (10:49 min/mile) according to my garmin but the official time is actually 4 mins faster than my finish time (1:12:47) since I didn't make the mat and got a 5 mins penalty on the last person who made the mat's time...

Overall, I'm very happy with this race and I had a great time cheering my team 'Runningmania.com' during the day. Here's a group pic with 2/3 of the team!

Other NRR good news, I got a post-doc offer while I was in Halifax at Université de Montréal. I also applied to a research position at Environment Canada and I actually know the person who is hiring and he told me I had great chance to get an intervieew! YAY! So things are starting to move for me. Send some positive vibes please!

Ok... google reader tell me there are 67 new posts? You guys wrote a whole lot while I was gone! Will try to catch up tonight and tomorrow! =)

BUSY MONDAY

Giving a week rest to my foot seems to have done some good. I was able to run 1h with my Dad this morning. It was his first time going farther than 5K!! I told him we could just do one 10 mins interval more than he usual does and we ended up with 1h!! He was pretty happy I pushed him to go further and we ended up doing 7.12K.

My hair had barely time to dry from the morning shower when I met my friend, Marika, and we went to the Olympic pool to swim. We did 2K!!! She's the one who helped me with my technique a few weeks ago. Going with her really pushed me to go faster and I finished the 2K in 50 mins! She did pass me 4 times... but with her background as a swimmer I'm just happy she didn't pass me more often lol

I'm limping a little right now but not as bad as last Monday after my double racing week-end!

Have a good running week everybody

PAY BACK IS A BIT*CH

I went shopping with my Dad today, found him a pair of fall running pants and a long sleeve tech shirt =) We walked for a few hours and now I'm getting some sharp pain in my foot every 20-30 secs. It is intense and driving me totally crazy. I tried heat.. didn'T work. Tried ice didn't work either... sigh... I will run Rum Runners but I SWEAR ON MY BLOG that is my last 'stupid stunt'... for awhile which means no Detroit half unfortunately =(

WAKE-UP CALL

About how bad is the medical system in Quebec (I don't want to generalize by saying Canada but I think so too)

I went to the clinic this morning to get my foot checked. It is still constantly hurting, and I had to start taking ibuprofene everyday now. I knew the double header this week-end was not my most fantastic idea but it was what I wanted to do. And with lots of ibuprofene I enjoyed both races.

Right now, I AM SO ANGRY. They screwed up my case at the clinic and *forgot* to follow up some results from my radiography in April!!!

THEY KNOW SINCE APRIL THAT I HAVE A HEEL SPUR.

WTF YOU PEOPLE!!

DO YOUR JOB!

I AM SO FREAKIN MAD.

All summer, I did the best I could to deal with this "unknown" pain in my foot and they knew since way back what I had.... The podiatrist thought it was neuromas so I researched neuromas... seemed to make sense went on board with it. But I knew he wasn't a doctor and wanted to get this checkd before I have a 2nd cortisone injection (apointment made for October 14th).

Having a hard time dealing with this right now.

I AM MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!