Ottawa Race Weekend 5k Recap: It's almost midnight and I can't think of a post title

In my family, there's not much I can feel like an expert about.  I'm the younger one, which means my sister usually did everything first.  So when I got the opportunity to run a 5k with her and her boys, I jumped at the chance.  It was fun for me to be the leader for once.

Ahem, sorry about that.  Little Sister Syndrome popping up momentarily.

I flew to Ottawa a week in advance.  I helped GymSis navigate the race expo and packet pickup and tried to help calm her nerves.  To be clear, she is in great shape; I mean, she works very hard at the gym (hence the name).  She's like Jillian Michaels, minus the shouting at people part.  Nonetheless, she may have been a touch anxious, despite what she said.

Pre-race jitters.  We've all been there.

Being the resident expert, I gave everyone very clear and important race day instructions, like "Pin your race bib to the front of your shirt" and  "Move to the side of the course if you need to stop" and the most important piece of advice:  "You can't wear your race shirt on race day!"

Not to mention, it's super bad luck.  I wore my race shirt to my first tri.

Ottawa Race Weekend, if you've never been, is a big huge deal.  In addition to the 5k, they have a family 2k, a 10k, a children's 1k to finish a cumulative year-long marathon, a half-marathon, and a full marathon.  I absolutely love the fact that my hometown has grown into such a great racing community.

But of course, big events like this come at a cost.  Namely:

SwimmerBro and I sat around looking at maps and getting advice from the wisdom of Facebook friends who had been there before.

Once race day came, all our plans were set:  SwimmerNephew and I would run together, GymSis and WaterPoloNephew (formerly ChatterNephew) would run together, and SwimmerBro would be the official race photog.

Because of our amazing planning skills, we got to the race venue with plenty of time to get the lay of the land, watch the family 2k, and take pictures.

It was cold.

And windy.

After chatting with some of the family's closest friends who were also doing the race, it was time to start!  So, we shuffled off with the thousands of other people around us.  And amidst all those people, I saw my friends Jen and Dwayne!

Jen started a team to raise money for diabetes research and was doing her first 5k.  Woohoo!

Since SwimmerNephew has been swimming since before he could walk, he has a lot of strength in his upper body.

Which he used to run.

It was impressive watching him use his shoulders to get his legs moving.

He was essentially swimming a 5k.

I had told him that if he wanted to go around slower people to let me know first, so we could stay together.  I wanted him to point out where he wanted to go.  As a lifelong competitor, he clearly did not want to leave any opening well...open.

He took almost every single opportunity, and it was awesome!

The course was beautiful and it was lined with spectators.  I decided to take some mid-run pictures.

Once the finish line was in sight, SwimmerNephew took off in a full sprint, like every true runner over the age of 20 wishes they could.

I was so proud of him; he ran the entire time and finished at a 9:40 minute per mile pace!

After a successful finish, we walked over to our meeting spot and waited for GymSis and WaterPoloNephew.  They were right on our heels, with big smiles!!

I was incredibly proud of everyone and I hope we can do this race together again!

It was unbelievably crowded, but we finally managed to find SwimmerBro and head home.

He was a fantastic athletic race supporter.

The next day I got a text from my sister, saying that I was right about "this dumb running thing".
Looks like soon I might have to change her name to RunnerSis.

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UPCOMING POSTS:  DILETTANTE TRIATHLON AND SEE JANE RUN RACE RECAPS, MARATHON TRAINING (Did you guys know I'm training for a marathon?)

What Has Two Thumbs and Is Ready to Swim?

That's SwimmerNephew.  

Me?  Not so much.

But, I have a triathlon coming up in June so I gotta get back on the horse.

So, I finally went swimming for the first time since August.  I felt a little trepidation about my stamina, knowing that running is one thing, but swimming is a whole 'nother beast.

I got to the pool and sat on the edge of the grandma lane.

I slid into the 82.5 degree water and joined a lady who was alternating a hybrid breast stroke/doggie paddle with water walking.

I started out nice and easy, unsure of how my back and shoulder would perform post PT.  I felt pretty good after the first 50 yards.  I even swam in a pretty straight line.  I rested for a minute or so, and then did another lap.  By the end of it my heart was pounding.

Who knew your goggles could pound in unison with your heart?

At that point I decided it would be a good idea to work on "technical" stuff.  I slunk out of the pool and grabbed a buoy and a kick board.

I started out with the buoy because historically that had been easier for me.

Don't even ask.  I don't know how.

Then it got a little worse.

I wasn't even using my feet.

After that, I decided to work on my kicking. It was painfully slow.

I'm pretty sure at one point I was moving backwards.

By that time an actual swimmer was in my lane and I decided to take my cue from her.  She was doing single arm work.

She did not look like that.

I think it was a good first time back, as it helped me sort out a few things. Mostly, it helped me sort out that from now on, I'll stick to front crawl.


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UPCOMING POSTS:  RACE RECAP, GUEST POSTING, MORE RUNNING

Masters of the Swim Universe

Back in August, while I was visiting my family, GymSis suggested I drop in on SwimmerBro's and SwimmerNephew's Masters Swim group.  She emailed the head coach and he graciously said TriGuy and I could give it a whirl.

While driving to practice, SwimmerNephew asked if I knew what IM was.  I sure did!

Oh no, that's not what he was talking about.

I may not have known what the letters stood for (still don't), but I did know what the terminology meant. It meant you had to do all 4 strokes.  Hey, I watched the Olympics!  He then asked me what order you do the strokes in.  Hmm, I might have fallen asleep during the Olympics IM races.

Once we got to the pool, I pulled TriGuy aside and conveyed to him my true feelings about this swim practice.

To start with, I did not understand what was written on the board.

I skipped anything that started in 'butter' and ended in 'fly'. (Just kidding. All the people in the know just say "fly".)

I immediately hopped into the super-slow lane while the coach went over the warm-up board. It consisted of roughly 1000 laps.  I was 1000% certain I would not be doing the 'main' drill work.

As she quickly reviewed the warm-up, here is what I heard:

I waited for her to come over and explain to me at a 4-year-old level in layman's terms what we were doing.  It was 100 metres breast stroke (which I prayed no one was watching me do), followed by 5x50 metres of 'free'...apparently not 'free choice' (floating, anyone?) but freestyle.

It was followed by 5x50 'fly'.

I just went ahead and skipped that one altogether.

Then we did arms only with a buoy between our legs.  This was a first for TriGuy, who was swimming in the lane next to me.  He took to it like a...well, like a fish to water.

And thus ended the WARM-UP.

The main workout started with butterfly kick on our backs for 25 metres, followed by vertical butterfly kicks, followed by 75 metres of long free stroke.  Repeat x4.

I patiently waited for my modifications.

The coach (bless her heart) did some quick calculations and devised my own personal workout: freestyle kick on my back for 25 metres, followed by 5 bobs, followed by 75 metres of freestyle.  Repeat x4.

We were swimming in an outdoor pool, so knowing how well I do with swimming in a straight line, I tried to lift my head--otter-like--while I swam on my back, to make sure I wasn't too off-track.

It didn't help much.  This may seem familiar to you.

I dutifully bobbed at the end of the pool, and somehow came up with a noseful of water, which then dripped into my throat and led to a coughing fit.

I totally fit right in.

It was shortly after this that TriGuy, SwimmerBro, and SwimmerNephew looked over from their Speedy McSpeedster lane and shouted:

I gave them a big ol' thumbs up.

After 3 (not 4) reps, the coach came back and offered more modifications, telling me to skip the reverse IM 200 altogether.  No problemo, I hadn't noticed it anyway.  Then she asked:

...of fury? No?  Then no.

She explained it and said it would give me a good sense of where I was in the water.

Apparently "all over the place" is where I am.

Then she had me do a one-arm-at-a-time-stroke-with-the-flutter-kick-board.

Nailed it!

The coach did suggest remembering to use my core to keep my feet from dragging, because I was basically swimming uphill and that created a lot more work.  And I was supposed to swim downhill this year. 

At the end of all this, I had a warm down of 50 free (50 metres of front crawl) at any pace I wanted.  The coach gave me some parting encouragement:

Bless her kind, teenage heart.

I have to say that despite my difficulties, I really did like the idea of this group.  I usually take a lot of breaks during my swim because I'm doing the same thing over and over.  Not only did I swim the furthest I ever have in the shortest amount of time, it showed me some different things to do that I am sure will only help build my triathlon swimming skills (once my PT helps me fix my shoulder).

Now, I just have to find out if my local group will be as understanding as the guys' group when I explain my situation.

UPCOMING POSTS:  HOW I TORTURE MYSELF, RACE RECAP, WHAT I'M DOING AT PT AGAIN, AND MUSIC WHILE RUNNING(a post about earphones that I promise will be fun!)

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