A week of new adventures and some long term goals

So just a few short weeks ago, I was adamantly insisting that I would never trail run, and how my bike riding was going nowhere fast.

My, how things have changed.

I decided to start running trails at least once a week until I don't hate them anymore.  I can't say that trails have suddenly become my new BFF, but I am enjoying the scenery (most of it only a 5-10 minute drive from home), I haven't fallen or broken anything..yet, and I have been eaten alive by mosquitoes a couple of times but I noticed both times I was wearing the same outfit, so maybe mosquitoes are particularly attracted to my red CEP sleeves and striped ivivva skirt.

Last Monday, I ran in Bronte Creek as the sun was rising.  My legs were feeling peppy and I was thrilled that the run was going so well.  I took a path that ended within sight of my car parked across the street, but there was a chain link fence that I followed for a bit.  It looked like the fence ended, so I waded through waist deep grasses only to find..more fence!  I ended up with scratches all over my legs and a bite on my finger and a run that was about 1K longer than anticipated.

Then on Wednesday, I got really brave and mapped out a route through the RBG.  

It was beautiful, but the weather was humidity soup. I quickly sweated off all the Off I had put on, I got lost and when I stopped to consult Google Maps, I promptly got attacked by mosquito swarms from hell. 

On the biking front, Emma explained gears to me in a way that my dense self could finally comprehend and I achieved my first distance PB of the week on Friday when Beth and I rode 12.7K but I failed twice to make it up a hill. (more on this later).

Saturday, Irina and Zin arranged a group bike ride.  I was totally freaked that I would be in over my head, but Zin rode with me for the first 12K.  Right away, there was a big hill heading up to Guelph Line, I shifted gears and Z yelled, "OTHER WAY!" Explains why I couldn't make it up the hill on Friday, eh? :)

I originally planned to ride 15-20K, but I felt fantastic so kept going a bit more and ended up with a giant bike distance PB of 23.83K! I forgot to restart my Garmin at one point so I think the actual distance was closer to 24. I realized that my rides weren't slow due to me being a shitty cyclist, but rather just half-assing the effort. Suddenly speeds of 15K/h+ felt easy after Zin gave me some tips on pedalling. 

Standing out in a sea of black shorts and fancy bikes. (photo by Irina)

Finally, on Sunday I was going to do my long run with Nicole, but she cancelled.  Greg and I scrambled up a sitter for Bryden, and ambitiously planned a 15K bike/10K run brick that got cut short after the sitter informed us that we had exactly 2 hours from drop off.  Since the bike was mainly through city streets, I didn't get a chance to pick up speed like I did on Saturday.  But I did get up the nerve to ride in the bike lane all the way downtown!  On the way back, I tried again to take one hand off the handlebars to wipe a drop of sweat that was tickling my nose and promptly went flying off my bike, face planting on the (side) street.  Greg informs me that I flew through the air very gracefully.

I find that now that I am getting the hang of the bike, I am enjoying it A LOT and now I totally understand Greg's disgust when we were dating 10 years ago, I tried to convince him that Spinning was the Most Fun Exercise Ever.

*deep breath*

So here's my long term goals:

Get a better bike for my next birthday and a duathlon in 2015.  Start to learn to swim in 2015.  Triathlon - which once seemed like an impossible dream - before my 40th birthday (June 2018).