Triathlon Training Blog and Studyblr 🏊🚴🏃🧑‍🎓

31 | 🇨🇦 | 🏳️‍🌈 | Grad Student | Just me and my teal running shoes against the world 🏃

[tealshoes]

Well that was...an experience.

My mom tried to change the light switch in the gym to a dimmer switch yesterday and the emergency flashlight plugged into the outlet below it started burning and smoking from the inside. So we have an electrician on call but in the meantime the gym breaker is off.

I've had the most miserable PMS symptoms for the past couple days and I needed (genuinely needed) to do a run to work out all of this energy. Last night was a thunderstorm warning so outside wasn't an option, so I ran an extension cord from the laundry room to plug in the treadmill and ran by flashlight. Not ideal, and my music glitched out at the end so I just called it. But it felt good, calmed me down, and I slept like a baby last night.

Now I just have to survive my day of back to back meetings 🫠

[tealshoes]

Made it down to Pelee Island last weekend, saw lots of birds (including these cormorants), and got lots of steps in.

I'm in the band of wildfire smoke that's been the worst in the country so other than a half day in the office I've been at home with the windows closed. It's so bad you can see the haze in the air and the sun is dim and orange.

Still in a weird mental place and lowkey disliking my life. Started planning a trip to Norway after finally (finally!) tracking down where my great great grandmother was born - I knew she was Norwegian but had no idea where in the country she was from. Now I have her mother's family traced back to the 16th century! Been spending a lot of time looking at fjords on google maps. I think a week on the Norwegian Sea might fix me.

The scale has also been reflecting my emotional eating habits but a few days of actually eating a normal amount of food including vegetables and I'm sitting back around 135. Not ideal and I know I still have like 10 to lose but calorie counting in the summer sucks and I really don't want to. I refuse to deprive myself of s'mores and a fruity glass of wine in the pool during the split second of summer Canada gets in the year.

[tealshoes]

The heatwave passed!

Finally cool enough to get out for an evening walk and saw a pair of red tailed hawks. We sometimes do a lap of the cemetery since it's quiet and shady and definitely picked the right night. Seeing hawks glide between headstones was super cool.

Still had some energy when we got home and I hauled myself onto the treadmill for a chill run. Didn't have a plan when I got on and just vibed to my music for 20 minutes.

Typed a big dumb rant about my crush and the party we went to this past weekend but it's neither here nor there for this blog and I don't know if I'm anxious or looking forward to trivia tomorrow. Long story short it was kind of a trainwreck but he had my back in a ridiculous argument that a friend's drunk partner forced on me.

Still in a weird mental place rn too but a little sunshine and exercise helps 🤸

[helnight]

small things we should appreciate more

the chirping of birds in the early morning

the way the sun shines through the trees

nature after it just rained

constantly learning new things every day

libraries, bookshops, bakeries and coffeeshops

[tealshoes]

Same, bro

Other than biking to work for my one day in the office this week activity has been non-existent. This heatwave is kicking ass and summer humidity here never drops below 60% unless it's immediately after an afternoon thunderstorm. Oh and we've had a tornado warning weekly for the past month.

Got in the backyard pool for a casual float for Canada Day and I've been living off fruit, ice cream, s'mores, and bbq. Off work for the rest of the week and just chilling out. Was supposed to go for a group ride tonight but not in this ridiculous heat.

Work has been making me super anxious with all the stupid ego nonsense going on. Very happy not to be there this week.

Still in a weird headspace and feeling kinda directionless too. Finished a couple books and started listening to the Worlds Beyond Number podcast again. I listened to the children's story and the first 2 episodes a few years ago - audiobooks and podcasts are weird for my brain so I fall off them a lot situationally. But I'm in deep now, this story is so lovely it's almost making me miss playing D&D.

[tealshoes]

My film photos from Europe came in and I love how warm they turned out.

Life has been a lot lately. Work has been stressing the hell out of me because of weird management issues that have resulted in me getting inadvertently thrown under the bus repeatedly. Daydreaming about packing it all up and moving to Montreal.

Biked about 50k this week between work commutes and trivia. Tempted to get on the treadmill tonight just to get a run in. I'd love to go for a swim but the pool doesn't open back up until next week.

Feeling kind of down in general and don't have motivation for much right now. Blegh

[miseducatedmelanicmuse]

[ryebreadgf]

[tealshoes]

Quick question: do you have a trisuit or are you gonna get one?

I have a pair of trishorts but I don't love the idea of a one-piece trisuit (have to take the whole thing off to go to the toilet).

I've been looking at 2XU's tri bra and then just wearing a bike jersey on top for the bike and run.

What are you thinking?

[glowcowboy]

i love small joys so much!!!! yes i love my coffee in my favorite mug!!! i love the sun spilling in the window!!! i love the wind on my face!!! i love my blanket over my lap!!! i love the clouds in the sky!!!! i am seeking joy in every moment!!!!

[tealshoes]

Back to the bike commute and my stats are trending up 🤸

Took the road bike this morning and my average moving speed is over 20k/h with a zone 3 heart rate! I've been holding back on actually signing up for the fall triathlon because I know I'm not the fastest cyclist and I'm self-conscious about being able to complete a sprint tri in less than 2 hours. The one I have in mind I apparently read the schedule wrong because I thought the awards started 2.5 hours after the swim start (which is done in 4 minute waves) and the thought of still running to the finish after awards had started filled me the worst kind of dread. But I'm an idiot and they're actually 3.5 hours after swim start. That I think I can do haha

I ran cross country back in elementary school and my last race I vividly remember the girls starting first and then the boys like 10 minutes after and getting passed by the boys was the sharpest feeling of embarrassment that I was in tears by the time I finished and never did it again.

Anyway, on a positive note, I've been wearing my bike jerseys to commute since it's been 100% humidity and stupid hot this week and they're fitting really well if not a little loose, which is a cool feeling. Oh! And one of the people I ran next to for a while during Sunday's 5k followed me on Strava so now we're mutuals and she keeps giving me kudos for my commute rides which feels very funny since it's basically just been for my own training record up until now.

And I dropped my class this semester and the program admin never emailed me back about permission to switch courses so I'm out my tuition for the semester and I have to take another class in the fall to finally be done which sucks. But on the brightside I don't have to worry about school for the summer and can focus on training and getting my courses organized for teaching in the fall. Mixed emotions there but ah well.

[9710144]

@ resetnyc

[tealshoes]

30:11! 🤸

12 seconds off my goal but I'm jazzed that I could roll up to the start line having just spent 2 weeks on vacation, with minimal training over the past 6-8 months, and took over 2 minutes off last year's time. Oh and I came in 419/1355, and 170/765 women!

It felt just as hard as it did last year and that hill in the 3rd km is a form of physical and psychological torture that I think might contravene the Geneva convention 😂 I did record my fastest km at 5:29 though, which is super cool (yeah I started too fast lol). I still had a little gas in the tank to finish at a good run and passed a half dozen people in the final stretch - last year I struggled across the finish line. I also got to size down in the race t-shirt from M to S!

The muscles in my hips and legs are very tight and angry so I need to actually work on stretching, flexibility, and strength training more consistently. But today I rest haha

[motivatedaily]

[tealshoes]

Easy taper run to get back in the game 🤸

Played some cyberpunk after work and had full intentions of doing a run, then decided I'd run tomorrow, then finished a side gig and hauled my ass onto the treadmill lol

Despite all the walking I did on vacation I never really got my heart rate up into actual cardio so the run felt really good. Might try another short one tomorrow or Saturday.

Oh yeah! I added up the step total and it worked out to 171,591 steps over 14 days, about 114km.

[tealshoes]

Also weighed back in this morning too now that I'm back in my regular eating patterns and I'm basically exactly where I was before vacation. All the walking balanced out the half pints, macarons, and side of fries to every meal for 2 weeks lol

I stopped tracking food a long while before vacation and weight loss has dropped way down on my list of priorities, but I feel good that I can intuitively balance my eating to activity.

It also means that I'm going into my 5k this weekend 10lbs lighter than I did last year, so that's pretty cool.

[tealshoes]

Easy taper run to get back in the game 🤸

Played some cyberpunk after work and had full intentions of doing a run, then decided I'd run tomorrow, then finished a side gig and hauled my ass onto the treadmill lol

Despite all the walking I did on vacation I never really got my heart rate up into actual cardio so the run felt really good. Might try another short one tomorrow or Saturday.

Oh yeah! I added up the step total and it worked out to 171,591 steps over 14 days, about 114km.

[tealshoes]

Antwerp and Amsterdam were a blast, though I caught a cold in Paris and have been feeling gross since I got home on Monday.

Going to try to get a run in tonight since I have my 5k on Sunday and haven't run in weeks. So we'll see what happens 🤷

My school semester is a mess and the course I'm taking started a week late and is so disorganized I have no idea what is due when (despite there being like 2 things due every week from now until August) including a 30% final exam and a 20-30 page paper worth 10% which is actually bullshit, so I'm trying to get into another course. Fingers crossed I can salvage this semester so it doesn't tank my overall GPA. Literally my last semester and it's all gone to hell 🫠

Work didn't blow up while I was off so that's something, and I'm working from home this week while trying to get rid of the cold.