Oscar came to visit me last night...

Hey everyone!

So normally I am the one in our relationship to get grumpy when I am tired.....last night it wasn't me! Chad aka Oscar came out of the garbage can once I got home from swimming....whoa. I think he needs a holiday and hopefully we will leave the garbage can at home :)

ANYWHO....I am sort of mostly over my little training fiasco from the weekend. Lets see, Monday I went swimming. It was good, long sets, which I LOVE. I can put myself onto auto pilot when I do long sets and just swim. It was a busy night at the pool, I ran into Darryl, a guy from the gym, my massage therapist, and a couple of the talisman regulars were all there. Talk about a pool party!

Tuesday I did nothing....which I am allowed to do. Chad and I met a friend....Melissa.... for "ribs" (which are gross by the way, I had a salad:). We hadn't seen her in awhile so it was nice to catch up.

Yesterday I went for a run in the afternoon. There was some tempo pace work toward the end of the run. It took me a bit to find where that pace was...my body was wondering what the change of pace was all about.....tempo hmmmm haven't experienced that in awhile! We worked it out and I hoofed it back up the hill to work!

Last night was a swim again. My stomach was bothering me a lot in the last couple of days. I did the I'm not going to swim, yes I am going to swim, no I shouldn't because I feel crappy game for awhile. I could not let myself miss 2 workouts in 4 days...so off to the pool I went. I was supposed to do a million sets of 50m. To be honest I didn't feel like working that hard so I did 3x500m and some kick. I did feel smooth in the water again though!

Tonight I get to take on the Cochrane hill again, which is always fun! I feel not to bad today, but we'll see what my legs bring tonight!

Have a great weekend everyone.

The training drama continues

Hey Bloggers,

Well well well it has been an interesting weekend, I will start with the group ride on Thursday. Initially on Thursday I was supposed to be off work early because I had no clients booked in. Someone called booked in for 5pm, no biggie. Normally I go home during the day and get all of my biking stuff together so I can leave right after work to meet the group. I did not do this today because I had more than enough time to go home after work, get my gear and drive to the northwest......wrongo! My client was majorly late AND I had told her I had to leave by 5:30pm. So I waited and waited 5:30 rolls around and she still wasn't there, she did call and I ended up re booking her for another day. I was in full "hurry" mode by this time because I didn't think I was going to make it. Just one of the challenges of having a job that relies on other people's schedules.

I made it out there on time and headed off with everyone out to Cochrane. My legs and I were having yet another disagreement on the way out to the hill. We finally reached an understanding by the second hill repeat! Greg had said to do 4-5 hills, so I was game to get as many in as I could before everyone headed back. A bunch of the group decided to go back after 2, I saw Darryl on his way down for number 3.....I knew if he saw me coming back down the hill I could rope him into doing a fourth :) I was right, he took the bait and he managed to get Andrea down the hill again for another one! I knew he would be coming up behind me so I dug in and tried to hold him off, it was no contest really, he's an awesome hill climber but it gave me a little motivation to push harder on the last one than I otherwise would have. Thanks guys!

On Friday I had an easy day, all I had to do was swim. The talisman center was having a swim meet and so it was closed, but I lucked out and Foothills pool was having lane swim from 4pm-6pm on Friday (this never happens). I went there right after work and got my training session out of the way so I could relax for the rest of the night. This pool was soooooo warm compared to Talisman. The only time I am not cold at Talisman is when I am givener through the water, on those long sets I can feel the cold air sometimes when I bring my arms out of the water! ANYWAY, it took me awhile to warm up but once I got going it was smooth sailing. I swam for a full 60 min, which I hardly ever do....if I have the option of swimming 45-50 min that's what I do. What a slacker.

Saturday I was up yet again at 6:00am (as per usual lately!) to go to Sylvan lake. I have done this race for the last couple of years and Lisa was racing so I decided to go up there and watch. One of my girlfriends (Janelle) came with me and this was her first time ever watching a triathlon and she had never been to Sylvan Lake. We got there just as the first swimmers were coming in. After the swim was done Janelle hung out on the beach and I went for a run on the run course. I went for about 90 min, I wanted to go longer but I needed to get off of the course before the bike course was done! With all of the people in the way I don't think me on the trail would have made a big difference. I practised taking in food while I was running to see how my stomach would react and I was fine! I have come a long way with being able to take in food while running.

Lisa had a great race, first long course in awhile! She had a hard run but toughed it out and got a new PR! That's awesome!!!!

Sunday is where my training drama began. I had to do a long ride, so the plan was to go out to highwood pass. I was really tired and wanted to have a bit of a sleep in and relax in the morning. We should have made a plan because by the time we got moving it was early afternoon. I was up at around 10 am and got everything together but it still didn't work out too well.

We decided to change plans and go out to Crossfield and ride so that after we were done we could visit with the family. In typical Alberta fashion the weather was crazy. We waited out one storm and it got really nice so onto the bike we went and rode out to Madden. We were about 10 km in when there were more really really black gloomy clouds coming towards us. We decided to risk it and continue on the way. We turned around in Madden and had to giver back to Crossfield, we were racing against the storm coming our way. On the way back something went wrong with Chads bike. We stopped and tried to figure out what was wrong, his gears weren't working. The wind was getting really bad....getting blown off the bike bad so Chad rode the rest of the way back using 1 gear! We were almost back when his gear shifter fell apart. We were looking around for it when it started to rain. We went and got the truck and drove around in the rain looking for his bike parts! Somehow we found them after about 20 minutes of searching.

The original plan was to go out to Beisicker once we got back but good ol' mother nature wasn't cooperating. Which totally sucked because neither of us were ready to be done riding. I hadn't done nearly enough of my workout I was supposed to which sends me into freak out mode. Chad was trying to reason with me by saying one workout in 8 months of training wasn't going to make or break ironman. He is probably right, but for my piece of mind I want to know that when I toe the line I have done EVERYTHING I was supposed to to make the day a success. I am still dwelling on it a little bit, but I am working on it.

This is the hard part of triathlon, dealing with all of the unexpected challenges it throws at you. It isn't the actual training, while time consuming and tough sometimes the real challenge is the unexpected and being able to overcome what doesn't go according to plan. I have had 2 tires blow up on me this year, been caught in 2 severe storms, the added stress it puts on work, family and not to mention personal relationships. I get told all of the time how lucky I am that everyone is so supportive of me, more particularly how supportive Chad is. They can't believe he rides for 5-6 hours with me and he isn't doing it! So thanks to everyone for being behind me....even when I am grumpy and tired and sometimes a little sweaty and smelly :) Time to move onto a new week of training.

I am really excited I have some family coming into town this weekend!! I am sooo excited to see you guys!

I've been a little tired...

Sunday morning we were up really early again, this time it was because I was getting used to it though! There was a race in Penticton that morning so we went and watched the race and went for a swim once they were out of the water.

I didn't hike my wetsuit up high enough and my shoulders were burning for the first little bit of the swim. I got it into the right spots after stopping and filling it with water a few times! It is always creepy swimming through the weeds in a lake. I know I know it is a lake and there are living things in there, but it doesn't make it any less creepy while you are staring straight down into the weeds. Hmmmm, maybe Ogopogo was down there watching us swim by:) I also saw a few fish swimming around they couldn't be bothered with us swimming by though.

After the swim I went back to the hotel, showered up, packed up and hit the road. I had an awful drive home. There was an accident in sicamous, so traffic was bumper to bumper the entire drive home! I was sooooo tired, I am really sensitive to caffeine and I had 2 coffees on the trip back just so I could keep my eyes open. I don't think it would have been so bad if it hadn't of been so busy.

I was really tired on Monday and Tuesday, so tired that I fall asleep with all the lights on and 4 hours later when Chad comes to bed he has to turn everything off! I haven't been sore at all, just feeling like sleeping! Yesterday and today have been much better. Yesterday I went for a 75 min run and for a swim in the evening. I left my swim cap at home and Chad (who is the best boyfriend ever) came to the talisman and brought me a swim cap.

Tonight I have the group ride and we are going up and down the Cochrane hill a million times! I may be exaggerating a little, but it seems like a lot. This weekend I am going up to Sylvan to watch the half ironman and hang out up there on the beach! It should be fun!

The Big Day...IMC bike couse!

Hey Everyone!

Today was the big IMC bike course day. We were up yet again super early in the morning, and I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous about this bike ride for a couple of reasons. The first being that this was my test to see how race day was going to play out, the second was that I have never ridden that far on a bike EVER before, and lastly my ass and nether regions were beginning to hate me!

We got started down Channel road in Penticton and then made our way to the east side of Skaha lake. My legs were a little tired, not to mention I am not much of a morning person so I took my time warming up. Everyone took off and I just kept an easy spin going waiting for my body to realise that I have to bike whether I wan't to or not!

We turned off the Skaha lake road onto Maclean Creek road, my legs still weren't quite ready to do this when I rounded a corner and there was a hill that went straight up. Well, maybe not straight up I am exaggerating a bit, but it felt like it was straight up. After this rough little climb we were winding through this little country road for a bit. We came back out at the highway and we all met up again.

The next part of the course was the easy part. We came out of Maclean Creek at OK Falls and then turned to head toward Oliver and Osoyoos. This part is a gradual down hill, so it was nice to get down into aero and giver. I found it really easy to get nurtiton in along this part of the course as well as keep my heart rate exactly where it shoud be.

We all (Verna, Jenna, and myself) gathered up again at the Husky, filled up and then headed up Richter Pass. I was wondering how my legs would feel after climbing anarchist and it wasn't too bad at all. There are 7 rollers past Richter Pass and those sucked. I had a hard time getting in enough food, it is a constant up, down, up, down. At one point I was trying to eat part of a bar flying down a hill! At least I didn't crash!!! I found it difficult to get into a rythm because you are constantly changing gears. I finally made it through there and we hit the flats out to the out and back by Cawston. This is where I messed up my nutrition, I should have had something to eat and by the time we got to the Big Bear Fruit stand (at the bottom of yellow lake) I was starting to bank a bit. I got some food in me and I started to feel a lot better!

The Yellow Lake climb is shorter than Richter pass and I think it is steeper. The most challenging part is that you climb this after you have ridden 140ish km already. We made it up without any problems and then it was smooth sailing all of the way back into town. Greg had come looking for us and we met up with him just as we came back into Penticton. All and all it was a great day. Being on the course is going to help me in so many ways on race day. I will have my nutrition plan in place and will be ready to go come Aug 24th. Having the peace of mind knowing I CAN do this now! Here is a pic of my bike at the top of yellow lake.

I have included a map of the bike course so you can see what I am talking about. We did everything but the out and back section by Cawston.

Anarchist!

Hey Bloggers, here is day 2 in Penticton!


We were up at the crack of dawn, and I mean the crack, 5:45 AM in the MORNING to be exact. Luckily in anticipation of hating getting up I got most of my gear in order the night before. We all met around 7:00 am, loaded the bikes and we drove out to Oliver.


We parked at Tuc El Nuit lake (where the Oliver Triathlon is held) got organised and left to ride out to Osoyoos. The ride out was pretty uneventful except for the snakes on the side of the road, gross. We had a nice tail wind on the way out, it was about 20 km out to the Husky in Osoyoos which apparently is the water filling station for triathletes. We all met up again and headed over to the giant mountain named Anarchist we were going to ride up.

I was excited about the ride, I recently discovered I love to climb so I was ready for the challenge and started to make my way up the mountain. I started at an easy pace, just trying to get into a groove. I stopped about half way up to take a picture (see below), have some food and chatted with a few bikers (of the motor variety). Naturally they thought we were crazy biking up this giant hill!

It was at around the 12 km mark where I was beginning to get tired of climbing. I wasn't sure where the top was so the last 3 km seemed to take forever, finally I saw the guys coming down and I knew I had to be close! At last I made it to the top and it felt awesome. This is a pic at the top with the Eagle statue which was our turn around point.

The way down was tons of fun, we were catching up to the vehicles that had to slow down to make the switch back turns! The wind was blowing pretty hard so there were a few crosswinds as we made our way down the mountain. This is a pic of everyone outside the Husky after the climb!

We were into the head wind on the way back so we all rode together. I have never really ridden in a paceline before, and I did not take my eyes off the wheel in front of me. The last thing I wanted to do was crash by not paying attention. At first Mark was riding behind me, turns out I don't block a lot of wind! I let him go in front of me and it was smooth sailing. For those of you who don't know Mark, he is about 6"5' so it was a smooth ride back for me once we switched places! This was the fastest 20 km I have ever ridden with a strong head wind that is for sure!

When we got back to the vehicles a few of us went for a little jog, trying to get those legs moving and test them out after a hard ride. As soon as I got back to the lake I went straight into the lake, I was BOILING! It was sooo hot out and the lake was really warm but it did help cool me off a bit. We loaded the bikes back into the truck and went back to Penticton.

Once we got back I did some running around, I needed more water, food, and electrolyte drink. When I got back to the hotel a couple of the guys were going for a swim so I tagged along, but I just stayed on the beach and relaxed while they went for a dip!

That night I was so so so so so very tired and I was in bed by around 9:00pm. Early night for me, but the next day was a big one, we were doing the Ironman bike course so I needed my sleep!

Arrived in Penticton

Hey!

Wednesday night I left from work and drove to Golden. The entire way I felt like I was forgetting something.....I was.....Chad was at home! It was a little weird because we always go out to the okanogan together, I did have complete control over the music which was a nice change:) The road was really quite and I made it there in no time at all, in hindsight I could have made it to revelstoke easily. Once I got there I set up camp, ate dinner, and went to bed. It was sooooooo cold that night I FROZE. I still got up at 6:00 am to get on the road even with such little sleep!

Once I got into Penticton I stopped off at a fruit stand first thing! I drove around for a bit until I found the hotel, I called Chad to rub it in that I was in Penticton and he wasn't! At the motel the lady at the front desk new who I was before I even said a thing! Greg had everything set up for me once I got there. He left me a map with my ride on it so I dumped all of my stuff into the room, got onto my bike and headed out on the road! This is a pic of me and the handle bars of my bike, I tried to get the whole thing in but my arms are too short!

So first I made it through all of the traffic, I am getting used to riding in the city! I was looking for a certain road to turn onto....of course I missed it and I had to back track and I finally was where I needed to be.

I was on Green Mountain Road and it was a nice small little highway until I saw all of the signs...."no trespassing, Penticton Indian Reserve, blah blah blah." These signs were posted every 1/2 a km or so. I was beginning to think I was going the wrong way, and then I saw some other people out there riding as well. This little road is very scenic, quiet, and closed in. The first 15km or so are a slow and gradual climb. I ran into Greg and Trevor when they were on there way back to the hotel. Big Sigh of relief here, I was in fact on the right road! After chatting for a bit I continued on my way up the road.

The way down was a lot of fun!!! It was fast with a lot of turns in the road all of the way down. It was nice and shaded in there as well so it took the heat away for a bit. Once I came out I intersected with the 3A highway and started the climb up Yellow Lake right away (part of the IMC course). I made it to the top and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The way down from yellow lake was a little scary, there are no shoulders on the road so I was with the traffic descending the giant ass hill! I made it to the bottom in one piece and did the easy ride back into Penticton. Day 1 finished, about 77 km I think it was and 3.5 hours of riding (including stops :).

When I got back I met my roomie for the next few days and decided to go down and hit the lake, I was feeling a little over heated! Once I was done at the beach I showered up and got some grub. That night Greg talked with us about race day planning, which helps a lot! I have to change my race plan a bit for Ironman, so that's something to work on for the next while!

I was a hurting unit by the end of the day. I had a headache that way getting worse and worse, and my IBS was acting up. I was more than ready to hit the hay. We were going to climb Anarchist the next day and I had to be ready to go by 7am! Yikes!

To Penticton!

Hey!

I am all packed, everything is in my car, so I am ready to roll. I am heading out right after work today, driving part way and I will drive the rest in the wee morning hours tomorrow. Once I get to Penticton I will be hopping on my bike right away and getting my workout done. Part of me is a little weary since I have never done anything like this before, but it will be fun and I am sure I will learn a lot!

I am now thoroughly convinced that Greg is running an experiment on me! I think he wants to see if I will eventually grow gills if he makes me swim all of the time :) I guess it could be worse, it could be swimming every day instead of every second day. Funnily enough once I get my butt to the pool I am having good workouts (Sunday was the only exception....see previous post!). I am feeling confident and comfortable on the swim!

My girlfriend and I decided to order new bathing suits from Victoria Secret online....and they came yesterday!! So I hoping I will get a chance to wear it while I am there, it may have to be under my wetsuit but hey it is all good!

My week of training has been good. I biked on Monday, there were severe thunderstorm warnings so I chickened out and biked on the trainer. I decided not to test mother nature because last time I was stuck in a hail storm...not fun.

Last night I swam but I guess I have already covered that! Today I am going for a run from work in the afternoon. Hmmmm, other than that not much is going on. I will let you know how training camp was when I get back. Have a great weekend everyone!

Since the race...

Hey,

Well since the race last weekend it has been a low key recovery week for this gal. Tuesday I did a easy spin on the bike to get the legs moving and to get rid of the soreness! Wednesday I did an easy swim, which felt really good!

Thursday night was group night. I was feeling pretty crappy all day and at around 4 pm the hail and thunder and lightening started! Yikers! I decided to check my email before going to meet everyone, by this time it was raining really hard....I guess at least the hail stopped! Surely Greg won't get us out in this right???? Well I was sure happy to see that I had a bunch of emails from everyone about not going out riding! Whew! I was fully prepared to go but not looking forward to it :) I went home instead and I had every intention of getting on the trainer later that night. Yeah....that didn't happen! Oh well I wasn't feeling the greatest so I watched to tour instead.

Friday I went for yet another swim, I am starting to feel rather fish like lately. I had a couple sets of 10 x 50m to do. I have a hard time with 50 m because I can't seem to go as fast as I think I should be going (if that makes sense). I did a swim workshop once and the coach said that I have really good technique but my arm turn over in the water is really slow. Hmmmm, this got me thinking. So on the 50's I focused on increasing my arm turnover...and it worked! I was about 3 seconds faster on each one. By the end of the workout which was all 50's with some 100's...my arms felt like they weighed 100 pounds by the end....but I was a little faster!

On Saturday Chad ditched out (hee hee) to go mountain biking. I was on my own for the first time in awhile. First off stupid me was too lazy to dig out the sunscreen from the camping stuff. I thought I would be okay for only a couple of hours out in the sun. I was wrong about that and now my shoulders are a pretty shade of pink, my bad. Anyway, I went along the 22x out to Bragg Creek. I am not too sure why so many people ride on this highway because the pavement sucks. Maybe it gets better past Bragg Creek, I didn't ride that far but between the gravel, trucks, and potholes I thought I was going to die. OK I might be a little melodramatic here, but I have had better places to bike before. I did learn where elbow falls are though.

Alright, so the bike was going okay but my legs were not so happy with the couple of big climbs along the way. I was definitely tired by the time I was done and happy to get off of the bike. I loaded my bike back into my car and went to put on my running shoes and alas I had no socks. I decided to still go for a little jog, but I only lasted about 10 min before I could feel my shoes rubbing...no blisters though!

Yesterday I went for a 40 min run, it felt good to be running again! I love running because all I need are my shoes and I can run from my front door! I decided not to go hiking with Chad. My original plan was to get up at 6:30 am to get my run in, go for the group hike with everyone, come home and go swimming. After a late dinner at the Keg on Saturday night and a glass of wine later (I am a light weight) we decided it would be best for me not to go. I wasn't so much the exercise as having a long day and I am a princess when it comes to needing a certain amount of sleep!

Onto another topic; I am a little ditzy from time to time and I forgot that the Talisman Center closes at 10 not 11pm on Sundays...so I didn't get my entire swim in last night but part of it. I had just eaten dinner and I thought I had at least and 1.5 hours to digest my meal...wrongo! With a push from Chad I went to the pool and got it done but it wasn't pretty. I felt like my belly was dragging along the bottom of the pool, I had to do pull because otherwise I would have been swimming in my dinner. Oh the things I do to myself!

Tonight I am going for a ride, it is supposed to be raining again so I may just have to bike on the trainer. But more excitingly I am going to Penticton on Thursday for a training camp with Greg and crew! This is going to be a challenging weekend I am sure! The organisational freak that I am I will start packing tonight and making lists of things to bring. I only have one pair of "bike" shorts all of my others are tri shorts so I may steal a pair of Chads....can girls wear guys cycling shorts hmmmm????? I am leaving on Wednesday night straight from work to drive half way so I better get packin'.

I hope everyone had a great weekend of training and good job to all those who raced the previous weekend!!!!

A New PR!!!!

Hey!

That's right everyone I finished in under 7 hours, yeeeee hawwwww! Officially 6:56:something! I am sorry for the delay on the race report (hee hee Darryl), I had a hell of a time with these pictures. Here's how it went...

We got up nice n early Friday morning and headed out on the open road. The drive was nice as always...except for the yelling at people who won't drive the speed limit!




Once we got to Osoyoos we stopped by the package pickup right away and I was all checked in. Number 307....that's a lucky one. Once we found our campground and got organised we headed to the beach to check it out and relax a bit (see pics). After dinner that night (where I had the BEST BURGER and salad EVER...yummm) we went and drove Richter Pass so I could mentally prepare myself. I think we should have drove a little further....more on that later.

Saturday I was up around 8 am. I hopped on my bike a little later and did a tour de Osoyoos. I quickly learned that there is nothing but hills around there! When thirty minutes on the bike was done I went for a little jaunt

along the run course. I was feeling pretty good about the race, I am getting much better with my pre-race anxiety. Normally this would be freak out time for me but I was calm, cool and collected.

Chad and I decided to head into Penticton for the day and went to the bike barn, saltys for dinner, peach city runners etc. On our way back to the camp we decided to stop by and visit Iona and her friend Jamie for a bit.

Race morning. I wasn't nervous until I finished setting up transition. I stayed on my own and relaxed as much as possible. I was in the second heat so I got into the water (which was sooooo nice and warm) and warmed up a bit.

The swim was really good. This was the calmest swim start I have ever been in. No bumping, pushing, shoving. I got into my groove right away. The second lap came around and I kept forgetting to pick up the pace. I would focus on it for a bit and then before I knew it I would be back in my comfortable pace. I need to focus a little more I think because my swim could have been better. I was the same pace as I was last year.

Transition went very smoothly. I was outta there quickly and onto the bike. The climb started right away and I just kept chugging along. Before I knew it I was passing people climbing up Richter!! I couldn't believe it. A lot of them passed me on the way down since they outweighed me by a few pounds! I felt really good, kept with my nutrition plan. Once we got over Richter and started on the rollers the wind was howlin'. Strong headwind all the way out to Cawston. There was a little flat stretch on the way back where we had a tail wind and we could fly! And then came the rollers.....again. I was feeling okay until the last roller before going back up the other side of richter. Damn hills. And to top it off.....the wind changed directions! So I had yet another head wind climbing. Grrrrrr.

Into transition I went. I think I was a little excited because I was taking off my race belt, realised what I was doing, put it back on, went to leave.....where do I go???? I am not too sure why I all of the sudden forgot my brain, but I found my way out onto the run course! I was feeling awesome and I had to keep telling myself to slow down. Apparently I didn't listen because all was good until the last 4-5 km and then it started to really hurt! Note to self....pacing. I am normally really good at pacing myself so I am not too sure what happened here but I learned my lesson. I tried to keep as cool as I could, lots of water, sponges, ice in the bra (thanks Lisa it really helped!). Again my heart rate was a little higher than I thought it would be, but not too bad. The last couple of km's with those little hills was really hard, but I wouldn't let myself stop pushing.

I am happy with how I did and I am curious how I would do on a different course??? Hmmmm, the brain is turning. It was a giant training day in the heat on the IMC bike course which is why I went out there in the first place. Everything was accomplished!

I was sore the next day, sitting in the truck didn't help I am sure! I am feeling better now, still a little residual soreness but nothing too bad. The count down to IMC is on!!!!

Oh, Chad and I take tons and tons of pics. So there is a lot to look at....and this is not even half of them :)

Pre race thoughts

Hey all,

Tonight I headed out to Cochrane with the group... no hills for me because I am racing on Sunday!

If you would have asked me yesterday how I thought my race was going to go, I would have hummed and hawed and said I was nervous and yaddie yaddie yadda. I got to thinking last night and I always tell my clients to be positive and believe in themselves. So today I would have answered, I am going to go out there and leave it all out on the course. I am training more efficiently than I ever have before (thanks Greg!), so I am going to go out there and giver....while keeping my heart rate where it should be of course :)

We are leaving tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. This again is not a pretty picture, but I started packing this afternoon so everything should go smoothly in the wee hours.

My plan for the swim is to take it easy for the first lap and pick up the pace a bit for the second lap. I am not too worried about the swim, I just hate the beginning!

On the bike my major goal will be to stay hydrated. I do not do well in heat and it is supposed to be a scorcher on Sunday (who's idea was it to race in the desert anyway???). Water will be my friend. My main focus will be on Richter Pass, I have never done an 11 km climb before. That is why I am doing it for the first time on Sunday rather than on Ironman day. After that we hit the rollers and then come back again...what fun!

The run will be a matter of survival in the heat. I have been training a lot more on hot days this year, purposely running in the middle of the day when it is the hottest! If I can keep my heart rate down I know I will be fine. I have been feeling amazing on my brick workouts lately so I should be good to go. On the first lap I am going to see how I am doing and re-evaluate as I start the second. If I am feeling really good I may give it a little extra push towards the end and finish strong.

I have a few other people out there with me this weekend which will be awesome to see some familiar faces out on the course. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

I made history!

Hello Bloggers,


I know it has been a long time since my last post...I have been busy! So much so I can't really remember too much from last week. I know on Wednesday I did a long run, I had a break in the afternoon from work so I took off for a couple of hours and got my workout in. Thursday I went riding with the group and there was FREEZING COLD WIND. Climbing up the hill kept me warm enough but the ride back was not fun.


Friday I think I went for a run and Chad and I drove up to Edmonton. My grandparents live up there and this was going to be the last chance to visit them before Ironman so we figured we should go. We arrived very late Friday night; I turn into a pumpkin at midnight, so by 2 am I was a hurting unit.


The next day I slept in a bit, and got some visiting in. Once Chad was up we headed out for a bike. We didn't really know where we were going, we saw some cyclists up ahead and followed them. Well at some point we were supposed to turn south to hit another highway...we missed the turn. We were on a back country road somewhere and could only go north...so that's where we went. We ended up on Highway 16, we rode out to Mundare and back again. It was a little boring BUT we rode 140km.....that's the longest I have EVER ridden!!! Whoot whoot! My butt was very very tender in the days to follow. When we got back I went for a quick 20 min run and felt not too bad. I think I was just happy to be vertical.


That night we ate dinner and man was I hungry. After that we sat around for a bit, I made sure I had an ice bath and then we slept. Poor Chad, he was a little tuckered out. He had slept for 14 hours that night! I don't think he is a fan of the 5 hour bike rides!


Sunday I was able to get a swim in before we headed to Pigeon Lake to visit my aunt and uncle who were camping out there. Chad was having too much fun playing with my cousin and his friends so we didn't leave until 11:30pm. Another 2:00 am trip for us!

Monday I managed to roll myself out of bed and my legs still didn't feel as though they belonged to my body. After procrastinating for awhile I headed out to do a 3 hour bike. I was about 2 hours in and I could see the very large looming dark clouds ahead of me and coming in my direction. I was saved in the nick of time my a family who didn't want to see me get pummeled.

That night I was soooo tired and our apartment was like 110 degrees and needless to say the heat won out and I didn't sleep a whole lot. We were up bright and early Tuesday morning to go hiking, Chad is bringing a bunch of his clients out to Banff in a couple of weeks so he wanted to check it out first. My legs were a little jello-ie all day and by the time we got home I crashed and burned.

Tonight I am going for a run and a swim. I am feeling good today so I should be in good shape by the time Sunday comes around!