One foot in front of the other

That's how I'm focussing on walking today! ha!
If you would have asked me 3 weeks ago "Do you think you are in great shape?" I would have said "I think I'm in 'good' shape, not great shape." And I honestly would have believed that! Now...ask me what kind of shape I'm in!!!

You would think that after a season consisting of a marathon, triathlons (including a 1/2 ironman), 1/2 marathons, and duathlons, and frequent trips to the gym to lift and work with a personal trainer, one would be in "good" shape. Yeah...you'd have thunk it!

Let me tell you, that until you do lifting like I've been doing, or running like I've been doing - fitness will remain at a 'moderate' level in perception. I now have a new outlook on 'fit'. (Sorry Thom - this may mean more time at the gym upon my return...I'll never want to lose this because it's painful to get it back!) Luckily, I'm not the only one that is sore --- many of the other gals were a bit sore last night too as we embarked on our "hill run". So, we modified a bit. Instead of sprinting up the hills, we...well, we sprinted the whole damn thing! Ok, not like we were doing on Sunday morning, but really, we ran a course of what I was told is about 12 - 13 kilometers (yes, yes...conversion for you English Unit folks: about 7.5 - 8 miles)in an hour. Ok - so that's about an 8:00/mile pace if we ran 7.5 miles, about 7:30 if we ran 8 miles. It was on all different types of terrain - we started off road for the first 20 minutes through mud, rocks, tree roots, dirt...you name it, we probably stepped on it - and perhaps some dog poo (I know some of you thought that!). That was a bit of up and down - nothing too terrible. Then we spent the next 40 minutes on pavement, going up gradual, long hills, and up more gradual hills...maybe down a little, but back up....and keeping a 7:30 pace. I managed to keep up with the first 3 runners in front of me - that made me feel pretty good. There were quite a few behind me, but inside my head, I kept telling myself "there are still those 3 in front of you!". We got back to the locker room and stretched a bit, and then it was a night.

Today, (tuesday), we had the day off. I got up at a 'normal' time - 7:30 (sleeping in a house with twin 2 year olds - you don't sleep much past 6:00!), and then started the work day... I had to make sure to get up once in a while to walk around so my legs wouldn't seize up on me. They hurt like the dickens - and what's this? Tomorrow at 6:00 - "POWER"?? then skating at 7:00?? oh my - I hope my legs are back to normal by tomorrow morning! (Power is a lot of plyometric work where we will do lots of jumps, side to side lunges, etc. Lots of leg work!) I will survive...what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Friday morning, we are leaving for the tournament - 8:00 AM "mini busses" roll out and we are off to a tournament where we hope to be competing in the championships on Sunday night. I don't know how much ice time I'll get - being the "newbie", but I'm excited to see "ice" bandy played indoors! I'll be sure to take some pictures and post those!

Besides the bandy - I've seen a lot of different fashion as I sit at the desk in my room and work during the day. There is a day care down the road where moms/dads/nannies can go and socialize with their babies. There always seems to be someone walking down the road pushing a stroller, riding a bike, or just taking their pooch for a walk. Golashes are big here (the weather is rainy this time of the year), and tight/skinny jeans. No one ever looks shabby when they are out and about - in fact, there is no way I'd survive wearing some of the shoes they wear walking. All about fashion! I haven't had much of a chance to get out and see much more just because when it's daylight, I'm logged into work, and then at night, I stay logged into work...or go to practice. I hope that when I move to the apartment near downtown, I'll get to see much more.

But, I guess I'll just have to wait until then.

For now - it is 11:00 PM here and I'm going to call into a work call, then take a nap and do it all again tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have a bit more mobility tomorrow! I know my pain is minimal in comparison to mom's at this point - by the way - for those of you who are reading this and know the family - she is doing very well! She's a fighter --- taking it one day at a time... as I take it one foot in front of the other.