Trying for a Tri

Are you ready for a long post?? Don’t worry, I’ll just stick to the good stuff

Started the morning off just a little before 7 am. Enough time for a small breakfast and coffee before I was scheduled to start the 5k at 8:30. I went for something light, yet filling.

Some almond butter and half a sliced banana on ezekiel toast. I also grabbed a date on my way out the door for an extra sugar boost

It was an absolutely miserable day weather wise today. It was especially cold and drizzly down by the waterfront. You guys may have noticed I’m not a very good cold-weather runner, but it was bearable once I got going.

All the 5k-ers getting ready to start (I’m in there somewhere!)

Aaaaand we’re off!!

 
(I can’t get over those people wearing nothing in the cold, I was all bundled up!)

The route was on a couple closed downtown streets that we had to loop around twice. Flat and easy. Kind of fun to run in the middle of the road too I thought I was running faster than I actually was because I was going by my heart rate (Nike + still not properly calibrated). But I think part of that may have been due to all my excitement!!!

My goal was to finish in 30 minutes or less, and I finished in 29:26!! (unofficial time)

As soon as I came around that back corner, I saw the clocks at 29:00 and I sprinted to get to the finish line in under 30 minutes. Phew!! In retrospect, I could have done it a lot faster and still been fine. It was a good learning experience for me, I realized I can push myself a lot harder and not keel over.

My mom snapped a photo of me right after, unable to talk from my mini-sprint.

 
Smiling after my very first race!! Woohoo!!! The first of many to come

I definitely had my highest heart rate stats yet:

Max HR: 179 (91%)
Avg HR: 163 (83%)

Unfortunately, after running today, my hip situation has gotten much worse. Both my hips are in severe pain and I’m having issues walking. I’m going to try to figure out what’s causing the hip pain, but in the meantime, I’m going to be laying off the running for the next two weeks. Give them time to properly heal. Means I’ll just be doing a lot more biking and swimming, which I desperately need to do more of anyways. 5k is the longest distance I’ll be racing for the rest of the summer, so as long as I can maintain that I’ll be good to go

I had to rush home after this and get some quick food in me before grad rehearsal. I mixed up a big refreshing glass of PVL Cran’ Raspberry Cocktail. This is definitely my favourite flavour so far, tastes just like Kool-Aid!

 
And one of those Eat Natural bars that I’ve seen pop up on a few blogs. They’re from the UK, but the Bulk Barn carries them. I had a macadamia, brazil nut and apricot flavour.

It was pretty gooey with huge hunks of nuts.

Ingredients are good, nutritionals are decent.

I don’t think I’ll buy this particular flavour again, but it was edible enough that I’d try some others. This one had a weird sweetness to it. I don’t know if it was the syrup or honey, or maybe there was too much of both, just weird.

Everything after this was a bit of a rushed blur, so I’ll just skip to the next important part… my university graduation!!!!! It was supposed to be held outside in our beautiful campus courtyard. But mother nature had other plans. Apparently she wanted us to graduate inside a concrete building that often houses horse shows. I could have sworn it still smelled faintly of manure.

The ceremony was loooong. I brought my purse with me so I could snack on a Larabar and have some water during the ceremony. People were telling me I should have left my purse, but I could see their jealous looks as I snacked at the 2.5 hour mark as their tummies were rumbling

Me and my mom right afterwards They held our diplomas hostage until we dropped off our gowns…

Ugh, the stupid weather totally ruined the nice straight ‘do I was going for. On the plus side, I managed to get the hair dye stains off my nose.

We had made reservations at a swanky restaurant in town, but the ceremony went too long and we missed them. So me, Chris, my mom and Mark hit up The Snooty Fox, a British-style pub.

I ordered the Thai chicken salad.

Sorry for the craptacular photo. It’s always super dark in there and my flash sucks. I had to pick off the pineapple slices because it’s one of those foods I can’t digest (in fact, my stomach will reject it immediately upon consumption). I didn’t bother with the salad dressing because the chicken was covered in a Thai peanut sauce. It was a nice treat, but still a little overkill. 

My mom ordered the lamb stew and I tried a bit of the broth for kicks (I technically don’t eat red meat. That is, if lamb actually is a red meat…) I didn’t care for it, but I never really liked meat-y stews growing up anyways.

So that’s it!! A jam-packed day! Chris is actually snoring next to me right now. Poor guy came right off a night shift to come see me graduate! I’m tucking in early. I’m thinking an early morning swim is in order before work tomorrow. Hopefully my hip pain will ease up a little by morning too.

Now if you don’t mind, I have to go change my Facebook network to “Alumni”

Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you got to enjoy your weekend!!