last day of summer...

so, today is labour day. ahhhh, labour day. For a student, it normally means that business is about to get started. And, i am a lucky girl today, for I have had an amazing day.

the last couple weeks have been incredibly filled with stuff, but also incredibly relaxing. it has kinda gotten the fall rolling in a slow, controlled manner, that makes me feel ready for the craziness that is going to happen.

today, I woke up at 5am to get down to the olympic bassin for rowing practice. As you may, or may not know, I am a coach for "the first francophone rowing team in north america." Funny, cause I am an anglophone. but, I love it. The rowers at Universite de Montreal are fun, and are happy to be there. And I am happy to coach. Here is a photo of some of the girls, holding up their coach, from last fall.

went from there, to toi, moi et cafe for a little breakfast with a friend of mine who was in my nursing program. breakfast is, by far, my favourite meal of the day. and, i *love* eating it out. I love having it as a potluck, more, though. so, a little breakfast sharing, a little coffee, and then straight back down to Parc Jean Drapeau for a recovery swim.

and, here is the funny thing... I have gotten used to my mondays being my rest day. my day where i have no workout. Apparently, a few weeks ago, Coach decided it would be better if my rest days are now swim days. So, yep, it is short (not more than 30 mins), but my rest days now include a workout :) So, i bixi biked it over the big ass bridge, and made it to the beautiful 50m outdoor pool at the Aquatic Complex. It is closing soon, and that makes me terribly sad, because over this summer, I have only ever swam in an outdoor pool. and, as a competitive swimmer as a kid, I only swam in an outdoor pool. it makes my heart happy. But, apparently, today at the pool was ironman day. There were I-dot bags scattered everywhere, and I ended up doing my recovery work out in a lane with the 40+ mens age group. lovely. ha!

then... i popped out, and slept in the sun, on the deck, like a cat on the concrete.

i came home, and had skyped it up with edmonton for 1.5 hrs. and, that makes me happy, as well.

last night, i could hardly sleep. I had an evening workout, which I knew was going to take a lot of effort to doing. And... not going to lie, was in a bit of a negative attitude going out to start. probably due to the fact that on saturday I had a HTFU "3hr" bike ride. It ended up being 3hrs 45 mins. I got head winds, tail winds, good pavement, sun, torrential down pour, concrete ending into gravel fields, lots of stop and go with lights, detours due to construction, a HRM that didn't work and only about 1-1:30 hr of 3.5 being a decent steady pace....

then, yesterday happened. the wind was blowing, but, BABY, IT WAS AMAZING. despite the amount of bugs on the bike, i got back home after my run portion of the brick, and felt STOKED for Syracuse 70.3. and, i couldn't sleep because my HR was still up there... not sure if it was due to the late workout, or the fact that i nailed it. that with a workout like that, i can see that things are coming together... I have had 2 heavy weeks. it has been nice, since I haven't really started school. but, the weekends have been heavy. I remember looking last week, and thinking: damn. saturday 3hr ride (fine...). sunday: what!?!? another 3hr ride, followed by a run?!?! BOTH!?

I am certainly feeling like i will be ready to taper. can i stay up past 10pm? nope. do i feel like eating everything in sight? yep. can i think of anything else these days? nope. do my legs feel like they have a bit of fatigue in them, all the time? yep.

anyway...

nice to have a holiday day. here are some other random points from what is going on in my life. you know. in case you care.

• first day of class last friday. Glad to be there. Not glad to not have some of my friends not there. Glad to be meeting the Nurse-entry M.Sc Students.
• there might be a pretty big thing happening for me in school this fall. and it is exciting. but, i am not going to say what it is yet, just in case it doesn't work out. but, it involves my passions.
• wanted to race in a local sprint tri on this coming saturday. too bad it is sold out.
• i hate how expensive text books are.
• i like the fall. it always surprises me that i like is so. but it is pretty. and it smells good.
• god is doing something pretty crazy in my life these days. i feel him moving and shaking and developing me. can't quite explain it. but, that is god for you. you can't explain it, or him, or the things that happen due to him.
• i have read two books in the last 3 weeks. A very serious book, and a not so serious book. Don't judge on the not so serious book. it made me laugh. out loud. more than once.
• loving living where I am living. Thanks to google street view, you can see an old picture below. the door of the left is mine. It is nice to live with people who don't think it is strange if you go into your room to start heading for bed at 9:45. cause they are too. It is nice to speak french (and english!) regularly. it is nice to have a fresh market nearby, and a all day breakfast spot called "le vieux velo" and the metro.

i hope that you are having a GREAT long weekend. despite it almost being done...