Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Time To Update!

Wow, it is Tuesday already. We had a super weekend, we seem to be developing quite the training crew up here- we are becoming the Boulder of Northern Alberta! Friday I missed my swim but got a TON of crap done and it felt great to go into the weekend with loose ends tied. D came home Friday night, we had a nice dinner and he did a bike ride while I took H-dog out. Then we had some wine and relaxed together, it was awesome. 

Saturday morning we were up to meet the crew for a run. We missed the memo that they were meeting a half hour earlier to get in some additional miles, so we were surprised to see so many of them already frosted up. It was -22, and I was expecting to be the only girl there, but there were a whole pile of guys and gals braving the temps. We did 11.1km in about 53mins, once again I started at a good pace and started to fall apart by the last km. It will get better, I know.  We had a long coffee and visit with everyone and then headed to the farmer's market to get some goodies. The rest of the day was pretty chill, and then we had a nice dinner with Ross and Sonya. It was great to have friends over to celebrate our first year in GP. It is hard to believe we have been here a year, and we took some time to look back at our first year and realized we have really accomplished a huge amount in the time we've been here. We are also really enjoying being a part of a great athletic community with some fun and strong athletes. 

Sunday we were up early again to hit the pool. There were quite a few of the crew there and I had a fantastic swim. I am really surprised at how much I am becoming a morning person. Really? Me??? I know. I am loving having 2 workouts done by noon. During the week I can get a class taught, a client trained and 2 of my workouts done before noon. I am usually in bed by 8:30, but that is ok. 

After the swim we came back to our house for a tough 90min session on the bikes. I worked really hard and it felt amazing. My bike fitness is the one area I feel real progress this year. I am looking forward to hitting the open road to test this out. 

Monday was a rest day and I had only 2 clients in the morning which left me the afternoon off. I had plenty of computer work to do but I spent most of the day just reading and drinking starbucks. I also put together a fantastic dinner of Pita Pizzas. Yummmmmy. Here is a shot of them ready to go in the oven. I used whole wheat pitas, pizza sauce, Yves vegetarian pepperoni, spinach, mushrooms, olives, red, orange and yellow peppers and some cheese. 
Harley kept careful watch in his favorite spot (at my feet)
And here they are ready to eat! 
Harley thought they looked good too :-) 
Yes he is wearing a running shirt. 
Yes I am a dork that dresses her dog. 
But look at the smile it brought to hubby's face as he was greeted at the door after work :-)

6 comments:

Deb said...

I totally agree on the morning person thing...I'm not really one either but I do like having my workouts done before noon and having the rest of the day for anything and everything else! Your dog is awesome...I dress mine too sometimes lol :) Have a great day!

NJ said...

Those pizza pitas look yummy! Thanks for another meal idea. By this point in winter, I'm pretty tired of the cold weather food. This will be a wonderful healthy addition to the menu!

Darin Hunter said...

I like the shirt on Harley babe and coming home to both of you is the highlight of my day. Hope Sonya doesn't see that you forgot her name. See you Friday!

Amber Dawn said...

hahahaha...thanks babe. I was so tired when I wrote this I was cross eyed. I fixed her name now, so shhh...

Deb- Do you run with any groups in Calgary? We used to run with the trailtrash crew who are a great train running gang full of crazy ultra marathoners (but not intimidating). If you want I could hook you up with them and then be jealous as I read about your sweet trail runs all summer :-)

Natalie- the pizzas are very yummy- and a great break from the crock pot meals that seem to sustain us all winter :-)

Julie said...

AWWWWW!! You are so awesome! :) :) It sounds like you have a great group of people up there to train with. Who'd a thunk it, eh? :) :)

Nice job on those pita pizzas too -- YUM!!!

Deb said...

Hey there! Nope, I haven't been running with any trail running groups....yet! I have a couple of road races coming up but once they're done with i'm hitting the trails big time!

My friend Nancy put me in touch with Alan Lam (know him?) and I guess he runs ultras and trains with a group...thinking maybe you're talking about the same group?!Anyway, he's going to hook me up with them. I'm very excited as I was worried that all summer i'd have to train in the mountains by myself...and well, i'm terrified of bears!!!

Haha, I don't think you'd need to be jealous...sounds like you're getting some sweet runs in...Jasper? That's awesome, i've never even been there!