Hey guys,
I know it has been a long time coming to write my race report...our computer was broken so thus no race report. I am also so very behind in blogland.
Where to begin....
Pre Race
I woke up race morning feeling okay. I choked down my breakfast; I always have a hard time eating race morning. Got all of my stuff, had a shower and we were out the door. Once I got to the race site I had the race dread feeling...but not like last year. I can not believe how different your second Ironman is compared to the first. You don't have the same unknown excited nervous anxious feeling. It was just the same old race nerves.
I got my bike all set up, to the porta potti, dry clothes bag drop off, body marking was done the day before...so all I had left to do was a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, and a 42 km run. No worries right?
Swim.
I saw Chad and Susi's parents (who are a great cheering squad) on my way out to the swim. The swim started off of the pier so into the water and I did the same as last year at IMC - lined myself up with the buoys. In water swim starts are not nearly as exciting as standing on the beach because yoiu have no idea what is going on until you are swimming.
This was such an easy swim. It was not very rough at all - the same craziness at the turns though. We swam with the buoys on the left in a counterclockwise direction in a big rectangle. We were against the current until the first buoy, but the water was soooo nice a calm you could hardly tell (especially with the waves leading up to the race).
After the second buoy it was smooth sailing because we were with the current. The water was sooooo crystal clear, I saw fish, starfish, and got stung by four jellyfish. The swim was really uneventful....I was sight seeing the bottom of the ocean the entire time. There was some guy who was drafting off of me the entire time who kept touching my feet which got pretty annoying after an hour or so.
T1
Transition went pretty smoothly. Except running on the gravel hurt the feet and the door to the womens tent were proped open a bit and there were tons of people wandering around outside - they maybe got a bit of a show. I wore a swimsuit in the water and changed into my shorts and jersey.
Bike - 3 laps
I think this is the hardest bike ride I have ever done. I had so much stuff going on I will try to remember it all.
My legs were tired and feeling dead right away. I was trying to spin them out to get them moving but they weren't having it. This happend to me at Sylvan this year too...not too sure what that is about. There was a crazy head/crosswind on the southside of the island which was like nothing I have ever experienced. This will keep you honest let me tell ya. I just couldn't get comfortable in aero and I must have been hitting a nerve because I was getting numbness down my leg. I think this was do to the wind, I must have been sitting funny because as soon as I turned out of the wind it stopped.
After about 50 km I was beginning to feel good and I put the hammer down for awhile. I was making some head way into having the race I wanted when I got a flat at about 100km. There was no cloud cover yet so I was sweating it out in the sun while I changed my tire. This was the turning point in the race for me in a couple of ways.
Once I got back onto my bike I resumed my nutrition plan and intensity right away. Live and learn...do not do this...especially in the heat when it is harder to eat anyway. About 20 min after getting back on the bike my stomach started acting up. I was also mad about all of the time I lost changing my tire. I think the only reason I was so stuck on this was because I wasn't feeling so good and once you get into negative thought spiral it is hard to get out.
A three lap course is so hard mentally! I didn't think it would be but holly crap it was aweful. The wind had gotten worse which I didn't think was possible and my GI problems just continued to get worse. I was so very excited to get back into town and hang up my bike.
T2
Transition welcomed wobbly legs for me and I could really feel the humidity. I changed, hit the porta potti and was out the door.
Run
This is what everyone warned me about of flat courses. They use the same muscle groups on the bike and the run - no hills to break it up. Normally when I get off the bike I am ready to rock...not so much. I had a hard time regulating my breathing and finding my legs - they were tired already - uh-oh was all I could think. Even so I kept running and my stomach kept hurting and the negative/positive thoughts were rambling around in my head. I kept flipping back and forth from "it will be okay...you had a rough bike...your legs will come around...this race goal is not out of reach for you" and "if my legs hurt this much within the first 5 km what and I going to feel like for the last half of the marathon." Around and around I went for the first lap of the run.
3/4 of the way through the first lap my legs started feeling better but my stomach still was not. I was able to run and maintain an okay pace but it was not happy. I started trying everything I knew to get rid of an upset stomach; the problem was that they didn't have the same stuff at each aid station. Crackers, water, pop...I tried it all.
The second lap was my best on the run. I had managed my GI problems enough to run with it and my legs were not hurting as bad and Greg told me to try and catch him. So I did. At about 1/4 of the way into the third lap I realized I wasn't going to get my goal time and gave up a bit. I was taking more and more walk breaks and my GI problems were getting worse. I was having sharp pains across my abdomen and mentally I was having a tough time. I did the run walk run thing for awhile until I could come up with a new game plan.
It had been a battle since km 100 on the bike so I was happy just finishing the race but I could not allow myself to enter into the 15 hour mark. I may have been close but I suffered my way to the finish line.
What a day.
This race tested me in every way possible. I learned so much about Ironman from this race - Ironman Canada was a piece of cake next to this one. It will take me a long time to willingly sign up for a flat course again. It was physically and mentally tough - I like the hills, they break up the race so much espescially for the bike. I am happy I did it for all of these reasons - that is why Ironman is such a great accomplishment. You can have the perfect training season, but there are sooooo many variables that can make up your day. I am not done with Ironman...there will be more of them for me just not next year :)
The part of this race that I didn't mention in my report was the people out there cheering you on. Going through town on the bike was awesome - it was like mainstreet IMC 3 times but in spanish. So fun and the people there were so great. I have so many pics that we took of the trip - you will have to make a coffee date with me to see most of those because we took over 400 pics and hardly any of those were of the race. I still have to order my official photos also - but they got some good ones.
That is all I remember for now.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Race Ready!
Holla!
So we have had an interesting trip so far. On Wednesday we were up at 3:30 am and off to the airport by 4:30am. Got there, got checked in, through security, waiting by our gait and my name gets called to return to security.
INSTANT PANIC! So I go back and had to watch on a little screen while they looked through my bag. \i have all of my race stuff in there so I was worried. Alas they found my CO2 cartriges that I thought I had hidden so well. If Greg tells you you can get them through...he lies. SO got that taken care of, go meet up with the group and 5 min later my name gets called again. BLAH! This time I had to go to the agents desk. Turns out the security people don't talk to the agent desk...and they called me about the same thing. Again get back with the group and my name gets called a third time. By now I have had about 3 hours of sleep and I was getting really cranky. They needed my address for some reason, so after that I made it onto the plane and safely to Dallas.
The rest of the trip went pretty good until we got to Mexico and then it was a shit show again....well a little bit anyway. The cab drivers are crazies! We made it to playa del carmen through mant many back roads; if we had to drive ourselves there I don't think we would have made it. So we get to this road and the guy tells us that we are at the ferry terminal and to get out. There was no water anywhere...just stone buidlings and a crap load of people. \you can hire these guys on bikes to carry your luggage to the ferry...they started loading our stuff up and took off towards this mysterious "ferry." We finally found water and a boat and two of us had to go with the luggage and the others went to stand in line. Keep in mind that to learn this there were hundreds of people around who only spoke spanish and just pointed to us to tell us where to go. I was a little afraid of loosing my bike!
Once on the ferry I learned that this is the roughest ferry ever and for the first time in my life got seasick. It was terrible. Thank goodness for Susie's mom Kate for having gravol. I am sure that kept me from heaving all over people! We got to Cozumel...got to the condo and then went for groceries. Again....store closing and trying to read spanish labels to buy food! Blah. We had also been up for almost 20 hours by this point.
Other than the first day it has been pretty easy going. Everybody is super friendly. I even bartered for a necklace! Yeah me.
tomorrow is race day and I am not nervous yet. This will change once I get to the race site.
Now for all of you Ironman newbies following the race it is:
Swin 3.8 km
Bike 180 km
Run 42 km
we have 17 hours to complete it. My number is 59 and you can search at www.ironmanlive.com and I will hopefully update my blog in the next couple of days!
Until then...
Adios
So we have had an interesting trip so far. On Wednesday we were up at 3:30 am and off to the airport by 4:30am. Got there, got checked in, through security, waiting by our gait and my name gets called to return to security.
INSTANT PANIC! So I go back and had to watch on a little screen while they looked through my bag. \i have all of my race stuff in there so I was worried. Alas they found my CO2 cartriges that I thought I had hidden so well. If Greg tells you you can get them through...he lies. SO got that taken care of, go meet up with the group and 5 min later my name gets called again. BLAH! This time I had to go to the agents desk. Turns out the security people don't talk to the agent desk...and they called me about the same thing. Again get back with the group and my name gets called a third time. By now I have had about 3 hours of sleep and I was getting really cranky. They needed my address for some reason, so after that I made it onto the plane and safely to Dallas.
The rest of the trip went pretty good until we got to Mexico and then it was a shit show again....well a little bit anyway. The cab drivers are crazies! We made it to playa del carmen through mant many back roads; if we had to drive ourselves there I don't think we would have made it. So we get to this road and the guy tells us that we are at the ferry terminal and to get out. There was no water anywhere...just stone buidlings and a crap load of people. \you can hire these guys on bikes to carry your luggage to the ferry...they started loading our stuff up and took off towards this mysterious "ferry." We finally found water and a boat and two of us had to go with the luggage and the others went to stand in line. Keep in mind that to learn this there were hundreds of people around who only spoke spanish and just pointed to us to tell us where to go. I was a little afraid of loosing my bike!
Once on the ferry I learned that this is the roughest ferry ever and for the first time in my life got seasick. It was terrible. Thank goodness for Susie's mom Kate for having gravol. I am sure that kept me from heaving all over people! We got to Cozumel...got to the condo and then went for groceries. Again....store closing and trying to read spanish labels to buy food! Blah. We had also been up for almost 20 hours by this point.
Other than the first day it has been pretty easy going. Everybody is super friendly. I even bartered for a necklace! Yeah me.
tomorrow is race day and I am not nervous yet. This will change once I get to the race site.
Now for all of you Ironman newbies following the race it is:
Swin 3.8 km
Bike 180 km
Run 42 km
we have 17 hours to complete it. My number is 59 and you can search at www.ironmanlive.com and I will hopefully update my blog in the next couple of days!
Until then...
Adios
Monday, November 23, 2009
Lots to get ready for!
Hey!
Thanks for the words of encouragement - it helps so much knowing everyone is at home cheering me on!
Almost ready to go. I think everytime I have everything done something else comes up, this Ironman stuff is a lot of work. Now all I need to do is get on the plane!
I am ready to get to the race site so that I feel like I am doing a race. Even with all of the training I don't have the same Ironman buzz. Maybe it is because it is my second one or maybe because it is November and I haven't been biking outside?? I am not too sure, but nothing fixes that more than being at Ironman village!
Next time you hear from me it will be from sunny Mexico!
Thanks for the words of encouragement - it helps so much knowing everyone is at home cheering me on!
Almost ready to go. I think everytime I have everything done something else comes up, this Ironman stuff is a lot of work. Now all I need to do is get on the plane!
I am ready to get to the race site so that I feel like I am doing a race. Even with all of the training I don't have the same Ironman buzz. Maybe it is because it is my second one or maybe because it is November and I haven't been biking outside?? I am not too sure, but nothing fixes that more than being at Ironman village!
Next time you hear from me it will be from sunny Mexico!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Feeling the taper blues
Hey!
I was so excited for taper to roll around and my volume of training to decrease. It has and I feel like crap. Gotta love it. I am tired, I am achey and tight, and I can't wait to get this thing done. I was feeling good after swimming last night and that only lasted until I woke up this morning!
I am very happy that I have only one more pool swim left to go. I promised Greg and Darryl I wouldn't skip out this weekend and I think they are going to hold me to it. Soon my swimming will consist of floating in the ocean looking at colorful critters!
This weekend will be a busy one; we will be packing and doing the last minute errands for the trip. Only 10 more days until race day and 6 until we leave! Yay!
I was so excited for taper to roll around and my volume of training to decrease. It has and I feel like crap. Gotta love it. I am tired, I am achey and tight, and I can't wait to get this thing done. I was feeling good after swimming last night and that only lasted until I woke up this morning!
I am very happy that I have only one more pool swim left to go. I promised Greg and Darryl I wouldn't skip out this weekend and I think they are going to hold me to it. Soon my swimming will consist of floating in the ocean looking at colorful critters!
This weekend will be a busy one; we will be packing and doing the last minute errands for the trip. Only 10 more days until race day and 6 until we leave! Yay!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Race day plan for number 68
I am currently working on my race day plan for the big day. 18 days to go.
Training wise I am feeling ready and wanting to get this done; now I have to focus on the other parts of the trip!
Darren graciously is letting me borrow his bike box to use! Yay...one thing taken care of. Now I still need to get new tires, top up all of my nutrition, bike tune up, bathing suits, etc, etc, etc.
The list continues to grow daily!
Thats about it for me:)
Happy Remembrance day
Training wise I am feeling ready and wanting to get this done; now I have to focus on the other parts of the trip!
Darren graciously is letting me borrow his bike box to use! Yay...one thing taken care of. Now I still need to get new tires, top up all of my nutrition, bike tune up, bathing suits, etc, etc, etc.
The list continues to grow daily!
Thats about it for me:)
Happy Remembrance day
Sunday, October 25, 2009
35 more days
Hey!
That's right 35 more days until Ironman...thank god! I remember this feeling last year. You are coming to the end of training...about a month left and can't wait to get this race done!
This was my last crazy build weekend. I don't care what anyone says 6 hours on the trainer is a long time. My butt has held up well, some of you will think I am crazy when I tell you that I didn't wear bike or tri shorts for this...just a good old pair of capri's! It was way better than when I wore tri shorts. I found I wasn't as sore the next day. Anyway 6 hour ride and 45 min run makes a very tired me!
Today I did another brick. I had the best intentions of going to Katie's class but I could not drag my very tired body out of bed at 7am. My legs were not very happy either. They felt okay for the first hour, but hour number 2 I was getting pretty tired. I suffered through and then went for a very slow 30 min run.
5 weeks till race
4 weeks till leave
2 weeks till taper
Happy Training!
That's right 35 more days until Ironman...thank god! I remember this feeling last year. You are coming to the end of training...about a month left and can't wait to get this race done!
This was my last crazy build weekend. I don't care what anyone says 6 hours on the trainer is a long time. My butt has held up well, some of you will think I am crazy when I tell you that I didn't wear bike or tri shorts for this...just a good old pair of capri's! It was way better than when I wore tri shorts. I found I wasn't as sore the next day. Anyway 6 hour ride and 45 min run makes a very tired me!
Today I did another brick. I had the best intentions of going to Katie's class but I could not drag my very tired body out of bed at 7am. My legs were not very happy either. They felt okay for the first hour, but hour number 2 I was getting pretty tired. I suffered through and then went for a very slow 30 min run.
5 weeks till race
4 weeks till leave
2 weeks till taper
Happy Training!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Bizzzzzie Bee
Hey,
It has been a month since I last visited my dear old blog so I figured I should update and let you folks know what has been going on.
Here are the basics:
I get up
I eat
I go to work - I eat and do moderate exercise most days
I eat
I go home
I eat
I train
I eat
On really awesome days I get to nap but that has only happened a few times
I sometimes train again
I eat
I sleep.
So there you have it - I work, train, eat, sleep with some slivers of normalness in there like meeting a friend for coffee, going out for dinner...but its not very often. No one said training for Ironman was easy!!!
In all honestly I am feeling pretty good and training for Cozumel is going well. I was really hoping for a nice October but it snowed and my ass got stuck to my bike sitting on the trainer. Oh well!
5 hours on the trainer is not very fun as I found out a couple of weeks ago...this weekend it another big one 5-6 on the bike followed by a run on Saturday and Greg doesn't want to disclose Sunday yet...but it will be biking and probably running...maybe even some swimming thrown in there somewhere. At least bike class has started up so that helps to have a group to ride with 2 days per week. I may join Katie's bike group on Sunday morning - I may need the motivation to sit on my bike after Saturday :)
39 more days!
It has been a month since I last visited my dear old blog so I figured I should update and let you folks know what has been going on.
Here are the basics:
I get up
I eat
I go to work - I eat and do moderate exercise most days
I eat
I go home
I eat
I train
I eat
On really awesome days I get to nap but that has only happened a few times
I sometimes train again
I eat
I sleep.
So there you have it - I work, train, eat, sleep with some slivers of normalness in there like meeting a friend for coffee, going out for dinner...but its not very often. No one said training for Ironman was easy!!!
In all honestly I am feeling pretty good and training for Cozumel is going well. I was really hoping for a nice October but it snowed and my ass got stuck to my bike sitting on the trainer. Oh well!
5 hours on the trainer is not very fun as I found out a couple of weeks ago...this weekend it another big one 5-6 on the bike followed by a run on Saturday and Greg doesn't want to disclose Sunday yet...but it will be biking and probably running...maybe even some swimming thrown in there somewhere. At least bike class has started up so that helps to have a group to ride with 2 days per week. I may join Katie's bike group on Sunday morning - I may need the motivation to sit on my bike after Saturday :)
39 more days!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
We bought a new car
Hey guys!Yep thats right we finally did it and it is niiiiice. We now have a roof rack and we will be going back to the dealership to get a bike rack on the top. It is so much fun to drive!
Still training tons. Last week was really tough to get all of the training sessions in between getting stuff ready for the car and I had training all week at work. Not a problem back on track and getting everything in!
Monday I did hill repeats with rexy at the dog park. I don't think she likes them either because by like number 3 she is right behind or beside me and always keeps going straight at the bottom:)
On Tuesday I was over at edworthy doing hill repeats and I was flying back down the hill when a bug flew in my shirt. I thought it was a fly so I wasn' t too worried until it stung me! I have never been stung by a wasp but man the hurts. So there I was biking downhill trying to get a wasp out of my shirt that had just stung my boob. I ended up squishing it and waiting until I got to the bottom to remove it. ouch.
Wednesday I went for a swim and even though the water was freezing I king of enjoyed it. Then again I wasn't doing 25's or 50's so I am always more prone to like swimming when that isn't in the mix.
Thursday was rainy and windy and a little on the cool side so I biked on the trainer. There were some longer tempo intervals in there. I also did some weights...legs...hamstings hurt.
Friday I was lazy and took rexy for a walk and then planted my ass on the couch. Man was I tuckered out.
Saturday was a 3 hour ride...except that I got caught up running errands and didn' t get home until it was too late to bike outside. Onto the trainer for me, it was the longest 3 hours ever. Next week I will be doing a 4-5 hour ride and it will be outside!
Saturday was a 3 hour ride...except that I got caught up running errands and didn' t get home until it was too late to bike outside. Onto the trainer for me, it was the longest 3 hours ever. Next week I will be doing a 4-5 hour ride and it will be outside!
Today I have a run and swim and weights on the agenda. I had better get to it.
Happy training and happy recovery!
Oh yeah, there was a weim walk yesterday - 20 weims in the park it was awesome!
Rexy and Duke (her brother) playing, oblivious to everything around them
A few of the weims
Duke (brother), Rexy, Addison (sister)Monday, August 31, 2009
Another week done!
Hey guys,
So here's the training scoop:
Tuesday I biked all by my lonesome, but it felt great to be out there. I went out at around 7:00pm and it was just starting to cool off for the day. I am happy to report they are re-paving elbow drive so it was a much smoother ride than normal. This is the first time I made it to the end...which is Fish Creek Park...who knew?
I was also at the YMCA for work that day and squeezed in some easy leg weights with a lot of stretching, followed by rolling out the good ol IT bands. That always hurts like hell.
By Wednesday my IBS battle I had been having since the weekend got the best of me and I barely got off the couch to take Rexy out. I went to bed early, drank copious amounts of peppermint tea and I was feeling pretty good come Thursday morning.
Thursday was a busy one for me. I went hiking with 2 groups throughout the day at work. I told Chad I would walk Rexy for him since he didn't get home until late (3:45 am to be exact) from the ACDC concert up in Edmonton. By the time I got home from that it was 7:30. I took a quick rest...ate some grub and then hopped on the trainer. Thats right first trainer ride of the year for me. It wasn't bad except that I feel like I am incredibly out of shape! Blah! 95 minutes later I was happy to get off of the bike.
Friday I was gearing up to go for my run with Rexy and when I came through the door Chad was home. Weird I know. It turns out he cancelled some of his clients so we could hang out since I never get to see him anymore. I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up! Come to think of it he said we could do what ever I wanted I should have made him come for the run with me!
Saturday I went for my first actual long ride since the end of July! The head wind was just a givener to me all of the way out to Turner Valley. I was so very happy to turn around. I was aiming for 3:30-4:00 hours...but that wind was a little stronger than I thought so I ended up doing 3:20 hours. Good enough for this gal. I re-read my program a few times in search of the brick workout....it wasn't there so you didn't have to tell me twice!
Sunday I went for a longish run, 75 minutes. It is hard to believe that a month and a half ago I was doing intervals during a 90 min run. I felt okay throughout...my body is not very happy with me. I am sure this will go away in the next week or so but I feel like I took 2 months off not a couple of weeks!
Yes Greg I did get my butt into the pool yesterday. I didn't feel half bad until the last 400m set and I could tell my arms/body had had enough.
Today was another run...hills again. This time went much better than last week, I was a little sluggish at the start but I was getting going by the half way point and feeling pretty good.
Congrats to everyone who competed in Ironman Canada yesterday! You all rock! Especially you Darryl ;)
So here's the training scoop:
Tuesday I biked all by my lonesome, but it felt great to be out there. I went out at around 7:00pm and it was just starting to cool off for the day. I am happy to report they are re-paving elbow drive so it was a much smoother ride than normal. This is the first time I made it to the end...which is Fish Creek Park...who knew?
I was also at the YMCA for work that day and squeezed in some easy leg weights with a lot of stretching, followed by rolling out the good ol IT bands. That always hurts like hell.
By Wednesday my IBS battle I had been having since the weekend got the best of me and I barely got off the couch to take Rexy out. I went to bed early, drank copious amounts of peppermint tea and I was feeling pretty good come Thursday morning.
Thursday was a busy one for me. I went hiking with 2 groups throughout the day at work. I told Chad I would walk Rexy for him since he didn't get home until late (3:45 am to be exact) from the ACDC concert up in Edmonton. By the time I got home from that it was 7:30. I took a quick rest...ate some grub and then hopped on the trainer. Thats right first trainer ride of the year for me. It wasn't bad except that I feel like I am incredibly out of shape! Blah! 95 minutes later I was happy to get off of the bike.
Friday I was gearing up to go for my run with Rexy and when I came through the door Chad was home. Weird I know. It turns out he cancelled some of his clients so we could hang out since I never get to see him anymore. I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up! Come to think of it he said we could do what ever I wanted I should have made him come for the run with me!
Saturday I went for my first actual long ride since the end of July! The head wind was just a givener to me all of the way out to Turner Valley. I was so very happy to turn around. I was aiming for 3:30-4:00 hours...but that wind was a little stronger than I thought so I ended up doing 3:20 hours. Good enough for this gal. I re-read my program a few times in search of the brick workout....it wasn't there so you didn't have to tell me twice!
Sunday I went for a longish run, 75 minutes. It is hard to believe that a month and a half ago I was doing intervals during a 90 min run. I felt okay throughout...my body is not very happy with me. I am sure this will go away in the next week or so but I feel like I took 2 months off not a couple of weeks!
Yes Greg I did get my butt into the pool yesterday. I didn't feel half bad until the last 400m set and I could tell my arms/body had had enough.
Today was another run...hills again. This time went much better than last week, I was a little sluggish at the start but I was getting going by the half way point and feeling pretty good.
Congrats to everyone who competed in Ironman Canada yesterday! You all rock! Especially you Darryl ;)
Monday, August 24, 2009
Back at it...
I am finally gearing up for Ironman Cozumel.
Last week I was back with the group for a 95 min ride...in the wind of course! Ahhhh....felt like I never left, other than the burning in my legs that started after about 75 min!
I did a long run on the weekend and Greg managed to get me back in the pool for a swim. I also did a little Yoga on the weekend so I am slowly getting back into the groove of training!
Today was a hill repeat run which got the best of me. Man it was hard. I was so happy when I was on the 6th one because the pain would soon be ending!
Stay tuned more swimming, biking, and running to come!
Last week I was back with the group for a 95 min ride...in the wind of course! Ahhhh....felt like I never left, other than the burning in my legs that started after about 75 min!
I did a long run on the weekend and Greg managed to get me back in the pool for a swim. I also did a little Yoga on the weekend so I am slowly getting back into the groove of training!
Today was a hill repeat run which got the best of me. Man it was hard. I was so happy when I was on the 6th one because the pain would soon be ending!
Stay tuned more swimming, biking, and running to come!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Changes
Hey guys!
I have been away from blogging for a couple of weeks now and it has been busy! I will start with Sylvan Lake Half Ironman.
We got up bright and early on Sunday morning (July 26th). The forecast said sunny and 24...not so much. While we were on the way up all we could see was lightning and dark glumey clouds. As we rolled into transition they announced that they were going to delay the race in hopes of keeping the race a triathlon. So I had tons of time to get ready and wait.
They ended up changing the swim course and making it 2 loops. If you have ever been to Sylvan you will know that it is very shallow for a long way out. So for the start of the swim we were swimming into the waves (which is never fun even if they are small ones) and running half of the way out! The turn at the first buoy was pretty rough but after that it was smooth sailing until we headed back into shore. We were up and running through knee high water again...which is actually very hard. Second loop went better than the first and as I ran by Greg into transition I heard him say better than boise...yesssss.
Transition went smoothly and I was out on the bike course in no time. The first 45 km of the bike my legs felt like they were cased in cement or something. I was getting frustrated as people continued to fly by me. Once we hit the out and back I was starting to feel a bit better and by 60 km I hit the rollars and never looked back. I would pick someone in front of me and catch them and kept doing that until I got back into town.
The run was awesome. I felt the best on the run than I had all day. The sun had come out and it was starting to get hot. It was a different run course this year; two loops with tons of little out and backs. I thought that they were going to have HEED out on the course but I found out right before the race that it was going to be Gatorade. I hate Gatorade with a passion. So I decided to have one drink of Gatorade and dilute it with water every 3-4 aid stations. This is not a lot of calories or electrolytes but it did the trick and I didn't feel sick at all on the run.
Here are the overall results:
Swim - 36:32
Bike - 3:33
Run - 2:04
Total - 6:14
My transitions are included in the bike time so it looks a little slower than Boise - my bike in Boise was 3:26. I thought I had a bike PR but it doesn't look that way!
On Monday I started my new job with Prospect. There is a lot to learn but I think that I will really enjoy working here. They seem to be a great team trying to get clients out in the community more by doing outdoor activities and exercise! Everyone has been great to me so far. I have been super tired though...whoa...learning a new position sure uses more brain power than I am used to.
Last weekend Chad did his 70.3 and it was a crazy busy weekend running around for that. It was a little disorganised in some parts so it made a lot more work for us! He had a great day and finished his first half! Now we just need to convince him to do another one! Chad also got a new job working at the Kirby Center so on Monday we went shopping for the day because he had to buy some dress clothes. He hates shopping so I dragged him around the mall and made him try stuff on!
I have been doing some light training, not a lot of biking lately due to the crappy weather. I am okay with that because Lucy and I will be spending a lot of time together at the end of the month as I gear up for Ironman Cozumel! Oh and Greg booked our trip and I have the time off so we are good to go!
I do have pictures from the races that I will post. Happy Training!
I have been away from blogging for a couple of weeks now and it has been busy! I will start with Sylvan Lake Half Ironman.
We got up bright and early on Sunday morning (July 26th). The forecast said sunny and 24...not so much. While we were on the way up all we could see was lightning and dark glumey clouds. As we rolled into transition they announced that they were going to delay the race in hopes of keeping the race a triathlon. So I had tons of time to get ready and wait.
They ended up changing the swim course and making it 2 loops. If you have ever been to Sylvan you will know that it is very shallow for a long way out. So for the start of the swim we were swimming into the waves (which is never fun even if they are small ones) and running half of the way out! The turn at the first buoy was pretty rough but after that it was smooth sailing until we headed back into shore. We were up and running through knee high water again...which is actually very hard. Second loop went better than the first and as I ran by Greg into transition I heard him say better than boise...yesssss.
Transition went smoothly and I was out on the bike course in no time. The first 45 km of the bike my legs felt like they were cased in cement or something. I was getting frustrated as people continued to fly by me. Once we hit the out and back I was starting to feel a bit better and by 60 km I hit the rollars and never looked back. I would pick someone in front of me and catch them and kept doing that until I got back into town.
The run was awesome. I felt the best on the run than I had all day. The sun had come out and it was starting to get hot. It was a different run course this year; two loops with tons of little out and backs. I thought that they were going to have HEED out on the course but I found out right before the race that it was going to be Gatorade. I hate Gatorade with a passion. So I decided to have one drink of Gatorade and dilute it with water every 3-4 aid stations. This is not a lot of calories or electrolytes but it did the trick and I didn't feel sick at all on the run.
Here are the overall results:
Swim - 36:32
Bike - 3:33
Run - 2:04
Total - 6:14
My transitions are included in the bike time so it looks a little slower than Boise - my bike in Boise was 3:26. I thought I had a bike PR but it doesn't look that way!
On Monday I started my new job with Prospect. There is a lot to learn but I think that I will really enjoy working here. They seem to be a great team trying to get clients out in the community more by doing outdoor activities and exercise! Everyone has been great to me so far. I have been super tired though...whoa...learning a new position sure uses more brain power than I am used to.
Last weekend Chad did his 70.3 and it was a crazy busy weekend running around for that. It was a little disorganised in some parts so it made a lot more work for us! He had a great day and finished his first half! Now we just need to convince him to do another one! Chad also got a new job working at the Kirby Center so on Monday we went shopping for the day because he had to buy some dress clothes. He hates shopping so I dragged him around the mall and made him try stuff on!
I have been doing some light training, not a lot of biking lately due to the crappy weather. I am okay with that because Lucy and I will be spending a lot of time together at the end of the month as I gear up for Ironman Cozumel! Oh and Greg booked our trip and I have the time off so we are good to go!
I do have pictures from the races that I will post. Happy Training!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Backseat Training
It has been a crazy couple of weeks. My car getting broken into, my hours got cut back at work, interviews for a new job, and lastly getting the new job. Whew! This is waaaay more stress than I am used to...kind of puts the stupid little things I stress over into perspective.
Having said that I did get all of my cards replaced...they are in the mail. I did not get any of my stuff replaced yet, that will take time:) Chad arranged for his client Gerry to fix the lock on my car last Thursday....THANK YOU GERRY! YOU ARE AWESOME!
I am super excited about my new job. I know it will be a challenge but I am up for it. I have been looking for awhile now...things were going from bad to worse at my current job and my wonderful boyfriend Chad pointed me in the direction of this one.
SO
I am going to be developing outdoor programs for people who have disabilities. If a client comes in and they want to go skiing they can head up to COP and an instructor up there will be educated on how to teach them. I am going to be the person educating the instructors how to teach people with disabilities to do outdoor activities. Make sense??? I know it is confusing...but I will be developing community outreach programs. I love the outdoors and everything activity has to offer, I like to teach and work with people, and I am an organisational freak....perfect! I start on Monday! Soooo excited.
The downside is that I have to leave my clients at SFL. That is the sole reason why I stayed there so long, I will miss them a lot! When the work environment you are in goes in the crapper...it is time for change and change is good!
ALSO...look what I got...
There was a client at work who is a bit of a quilter and after ironman I asked her if she would make me a quilt out of my race shirts! I love it. A big THANK YOU TO GWEN! I love it I love it I love it.
Oh right...and then there was training. I missed my bikes last week. This is probably the first time I have missed bike group (other than being away or deathly ill of course) since I started with Greg last march! Holla! My legs hated me when I was biking on Saturday...they told me so the entire time...its okay I deserved it.
Running is good, swimming is good (finally!) and that's about it. I am racing sylvan this weekend. There are a lot of thoughts rambling around inside my head about this one....Greg we may need to have a race day chat...I'm scared. More on that in another post though.
That's it for tonight...I am off to bed...I hope you understood my rambling!
Happy Training!
Having said that I did get all of my cards replaced...they are in the mail. I did not get any of my stuff replaced yet, that will take time:) Chad arranged for his client Gerry to fix the lock on my car last Thursday....THANK YOU GERRY! YOU ARE AWESOME!
I am super excited about my new job. I know it will be a challenge but I am up for it. I have been looking for awhile now...things were going from bad to worse at my current job and my wonderful boyfriend Chad pointed me in the direction of this one.
SO
I am going to be developing outdoor programs for people who have disabilities. If a client comes in and they want to go skiing they can head up to COP and an instructor up there will be educated on how to teach them. I am going to be the person educating the instructors how to teach people with disabilities to do outdoor activities. Make sense??? I know it is confusing...but I will be developing community outreach programs. I love the outdoors and everything activity has to offer, I like to teach and work with people, and I am an organisational freak....perfect! I start on Monday! Soooo excited.
The downside is that I have to leave my clients at SFL. That is the sole reason why I stayed there so long, I will miss them a lot! When the work environment you are in goes in the crapper...it is time for change and change is good!
ALSO...look what I got...
There was a client at work who is a bit of a quilter and after ironman I asked her if she would make me a quilt out of my race shirts! I love it. A big THANK YOU TO GWEN! I love it I love it I love it. Oh right...and then there was training. I missed my bikes last week. This is probably the first time I have missed bike group (other than being away or deathly ill of course) since I started with Greg last march! Holla! My legs hated me when I was biking on Saturday...they told me so the entire time...its okay I deserved it.
Running is good, swimming is good (finally!) and that's about it. I am racing sylvan this weekend. There are a lot of thoughts rambling around inside my head about this one....Greg we may need to have a race day chat...I'm scared. More on that in another post though.
That's it for tonight...I am off to bed...I hope you understood my rambling!
Happy Training!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Raining Cats and Dogs
Hey gang!
I really really need to post more than once a week. There is too much to remember otherwise! Here it goes...
Monday
I had really tired legs from my hilly and hot run in medicine hat on Sunday, so I set out to do a recovery run with Rexy at the dog park. This way she could go and snoop while I hobbled around! My legs were tired so tired that after 30 mins I just decided to stop because I wasn't having any fun at all. Normally it gets better as you run...not this time it started out okay and got worse!
Tuesday
I headed up to the church and it was about 6:15 when I got there. I got everything together and waited for everybody else to show up....no one came! I figured I had missed an email or something, I called up Greg, got a workout and I was off on my own to do some big gear, lower cadence intervals. I didn't ride with the group last year on Tuesday's so I don't know where a lot of the roads are in this area but I knew I would need more time than just out to cochrane and back so I turned on Lochend??? road and did another little out and back. There was a pretty good head wind going out (what else is new....seriously) but I was able to ride home at a comfortable pace. I liked the over gear training, it was something different so that was good. I tend to dread "pace work" nights! I am getting better at training at certain race paces but there is a lot of room for improvement! I guess I should look at the bright side...at least I can ride at different paces now rather than just trying to survive!
Wednesday
I went for a run for about 50 min with 20 min of tempo in there. I am in need of figuring out what "tempo" means cuz I tend to just run faster and faster and then I can barely hold on for the whole time...I don't think this is what I am supposed to be doing! Oops..live and learn hey!
Wednesday night was group swim and we did some longer distance stuff. I have been working on the "catch" of my stroke for what feels like forever now and it is finally almost a habit. This has been plaguing me for awhile so I was pretty happy with how the swim went....even though I did it all pull!
Thursday
Hill night! I like hill night. The weather was crappy so we went to do hill repeats at Edworthy park. When I got there I saw Darryl right away...we got ready and headed out to meet Greg. This was only my second time doing repeats at Edworthy...they are still hard! It starts out not so bad but as you get up to the top it gets a lot steeper and it hurts!! I did 12 all together...I was done after 11 but Darryl convinced me to do another one for a cool down. Only triathletes ride up and down hills and call them warm up and cool down...and make it harder in between. I am definitely stronger at climbing, not so much at bike handling! I was too busy paying attention to what everyone else was doing...turned on gravel and ended up on the road. Does it count as a crash if you were going less than 5 km/hr?? Anyway my leg now has a little road rash and bruising on it!
Once we finished up with the hills we went back to our cars, I opened up my truck and all of my stuff was gone. I couldn't believe it! They had taken everything...my purse (which I normally don't have with me when I am biking), my clothes, my bike bag, and I had just bought $70.00 in bars, gels, and chomps at Tri-it, all gone I was soooo pissed. They broke the lock on my car too and did some damage to the body. Darryl checked and some of his stuff was missing too. Ironically I am more mad about my bike bag, nutrition, and clothes. My credit cards etc are all easily replaceable but they took all of my stuff that is now probably sitting in a dumpster somewhere. I am still more than a little bitter about this...
Friday night we went out to Medicine Hat for the weekend. A HUGE thank you to Becky, Dave and the boys for being such great hosts to us over the last couple of weekends! The feed us and we steal Logan's bed all of the time! I really appreciate you guys being so supportive...even if you think we are crazy for biking and training so much!
Saturday
I headed out from Becky and Dave's and headed out on Hwy 41. There was one hell of a head/crosswind which made me hurt thats for sure. Greg had given me some upper zone 2 work to do for a couple of hours as well as 1/2 IM pace for the last hour. It was windy, hilly, and hot...gotta love it! When I got back I went out for a quick transition run for 25 min.
Sunday
My plan was to get up at about 9 to go for my run...that didn't happen. I ended up sleeping longer than I intended and I learned my lesson running in 29 degree heat the weekend before. So I put my run off until I got home. I also had 2 beer on Saturday night, it has been about 2-3 years since I had a beer so I had a wee bit of a headache on Sunday.
Once we got home I was tired and headachey and didn't want to run. I dug deep deep deep into the motivation pool and headed out the door. I could feel my bike ride in my legs and they were not happy. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it took me a good 25 min to feel okay but once I got home I felt like I could keep running if I wanted to!
Today I have an easy recovery run and swim (that I missed last night...sorry Darryl we suck when it comes to planning sometimes :) Hopefully this rain cooperates and lets up a little, I don't think my rain jacket stands a chance it this downpour!
Until next time...happy training guys!
I really really need to post more than once a week. There is too much to remember otherwise! Here it goes...
Monday
I had really tired legs from my hilly and hot run in medicine hat on Sunday, so I set out to do a recovery run with Rexy at the dog park. This way she could go and snoop while I hobbled around! My legs were tired so tired that after 30 mins I just decided to stop because I wasn't having any fun at all. Normally it gets better as you run...not this time it started out okay and got worse!
Tuesday
I headed up to the church and it was about 6:15 when I got there. I got everything together and waited for everybody else to show up....no one came! I figured I had missed an email or something, I called up Greg, got a workout and I was off on my own to do some big gear, lower cadence intervals. I didn't ride with the group last year on Tuesday's so I don't know where a lot of the roads are in this area but I knew I would need more time than just out to cochrane and back so I turned on Lochend??? road and did another little out and back. There was a pretty good head wind going out (what else is new....seriously) but I was able to ride home at a comfortable pace. I liked the over gear training, it was something different so that was good. I tend to dread "pace work" nights! I am getting better at training at certain race paces but there is a lot of room for improvement! I guess I should look at the bright side...at least I can ride at different paces now rather than just trying to survive!
Wednesday
I went for a run for about 50 min with 20 min of tempo in there. I am in need of figuring out what "tempo" means cuz I tend to just run faster and faster and then I can barely hold on for the whole time...I don't think this is what I am supposed to be doing! Oops..live and learn hey!
Wednesday night was group swim and we did some longer distance stuff. I have been working on the "catch" of my stroke for what feels like forever now and it is finally almost a habit. This has been plaguing me for awhile so I was pretty happy with how the swim went....even though I did it all pull!
Thursday
Hill night! I like hill night. The weather was crappy so we went to do hill repeats at Edworthy park. When I got there I saw Darryl right away...we got ready and headed out to meet Greg. This was only my second time doing repeats at Edworthy...they are still hard! It starts out not so bad but as you get up to the top it gets a lot steeper and it hurts!! I did 12 all together...I was done after 11 but Darryl convinced me to do another one for a cool down. Only triathletes ride up and down hills and call them warm up and cool down...and make it harder in between. I am definitely stronger at climbing, not so much at bike handling! I was too busy paying attention to what everyone else was doing...turned on gravel and ended up on the road. Does it count as a crash if you were going less than 5 km/hr?? Anyway my leg now has a little road rash and bruising on it!
Once we finished up with the hills we went back to our cars, I opened up my truck and all of my stuff was gone. I couldn't believe it! They had taken everything...my purse (which I normally don't have with me when I am biking), my clothes, my bike bag, and I had just bought $70.00 in bars, gels, and chomps at Tri-it, all gone I was soooo pissed. They broke the lock on my car too and did some damage to the body. Darryl checked and some of his stuff was missing too. Ironically I am more mad about my bike bag, nutrition, and clothes. My credit cards etc are all easily replaceable but they took all of my stuff that is now probably sitting in a dumpster somewhere. I am still more than a little bitter about this...
Friday night we went out to Medicine Hat for the weekend. A HUGE thank you to Becky, Dave and the boys for being such great hosts to us over the last couple of weekends! The feed us and we steal Logan's bed all of the time! I really appreciate you guys being so supportive...even if you think we are crazy for biking and training so much!
Saturday
I headed out from Becky and Dave's and headed out on Hwy 41. There was one hell of a head/crosswind which made me hurt thats for sure. Greg had given me some upper zone 2 work to do for a couple of hours as well as 1/2 IM pace for the last hour. It was windy, hilly, and hot...gotta love it! When I got back I went out for a quick transition run for 25 min.
Sunday
My plan was to get up at about 9 to go for my run...that didn't happen. I ended up sleeping longer than I intended and I learned my lesson running in 29 degree heat the weekend before. So I put my run off until I got home. I also had 2 beer on Saturday night, it has been about 2-3 years since I had a beer so I had a wee bit of a headache on Sunday.
Once we got home I was tired and headachey and didn't want to run. I dug deep deep deep into the motivation pool and headed out the door. I could feel my bike ride in my legs and they were not happy. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it took me a good 25 min to feel okay but once I got home I felt like I could keep running if I wanted to!
Today I have an easy recovery run and swim (that I missed last night...sorry Darryl we suck when it comes to planning sometimes :) Hopefully this rain cooperates and lets up a little, I don't think my rain jacket stands a chance it this downpour!
Until next time...happy training guys!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Home at Last!!!
Hey Friends!
Holidays are over until November...it is kind of bittersweet. Nice to be home to get back into a routine but kinda sucks that I won't be going anywhere until Cozumel. My mission now is to hunker down and get focused on this thing called Ironman!
Training while we were gone for Chad's ride was hit and miss, I did get some riding and running in though! After being the support vehicle for him for three days I now have even more appreciation for the volunteers and spectators...it is a long day! I think that racing is easier than this! It was fun though and it went by pretty fast and I only got a little bit of a sunburn.
I think that Rexy is the happiest to be home, she more so than us loves routine! Bringing her to Boise was a good idea because she is so good in the truck now; she just curls up and goes to sleep!
Here are some highlights of the trip:
- Chad is not good at pacing himself....this lead to a very fast 90 km on the first day and a very slow day 2!
- Everyone in Saskatchewan waves to you; even if you are sitting on a cooler on the side of the road (more like a ditch in Saskatchewan though) reading a magazine!
- Chad's Grandma is the cutest...watch out when she figures out your favorite foods, every time you turn around she will be there with some for you!
- It is stinking hot in Medicine Hat, there is no aerobic zone 2 when running there.
- I had to re-read my bike workout 3 times to make sure I was actually supposed to be in Zone 4! That was a tough one.
- People have nothing better to do in Brooks than drive around and around and around. I saw the same vehicles 3-4 times while biking. Also there was a lot of road kill on the road there...not pleasant....maybe they should drive around a little less and more animals will live???
- when you eat copious amounts of raw veggies for 5 days your tummy doesn't like it...or at least mine doesn't!
- Lastly Chad did an amazing thing for a great cause! He may not be ready to get on a bike again for awhile though!
Until next time.....Happy Training!
Holidays are over until November...it is kind of bittersweet. Nice to be home to get back into a routine but kinda sucks that I won't be going anywhere until Cozumel. My mission now is to hunker down and get focused on this thing called Ironman!
Training while we were gone for Chad's ride was hit and miss, I did get some riding and running in though! After being the support vehicle for him for three days I now have even more appreciation for the volunteers and spectators...it is a long day! I think that racing is easier than this! It was fun though and it went by pretty fast and I only got a little bit of a sunburn.
I think that Rexy is the happiest to be home, she more so than us loves routine! Bringing her to Boise was a good idea because she is so good in the truck now; she just curls up and goes to sleep!
Here are some highlights of the trip:
- Chad is not good at pacing himself....this lead to a very fast 90 km on the first day and a very slow day 2!
- Everyone in Saskatchewan waves to you; even if you are sitting on a cooler on the side of the road (more like a ditch in Saskatchewan though) reading a magazine!
- Chad's Grandma is the cutest...watch out when she figures out your favorite foods, every time you turn around she will be there with some for you!
- It is stinking hot in Medicine Hat, there is no aerobic zone 2 when running there.
- I had to re-read my bike workout 3 times to make sure I was actually supposed to be in Zone 4! That was a tough one.
- People have nothing better to do in Brooks than drive around and around and around. I saw the same vehicles 3-4 times while biking. Also there was a lot of road kill on the road there...not pleasant....maybe they should drive around a little less and more animals will live???
- when you eat copious amounts of raw veggies for 5 days your tummy doesn't like it...or at least mine doesn't!
- Lastly Chad did an amazing thing for a great cause! He may not be ready to get on a bike again for awhile though!
Until next time.....Happy Training!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thinking back....
Hey guys,
So on Thursday we braved the wind and headed out to Cochrane to do hill repeats. Seriously when is this wind going to slow down a little bit??? My legs were DEAD by the time we got there and I even stole a draft from Greg and Mark on the way out.
What was cool was that I tried to do 1 gear harder for repeats and was able to do it. Don't get me wrong I was slower, but you don't get stronger unless you make it harder on yourself....right Greg??? I was so happy I was able to do 3 repeats in a harder gear which reminded me of where I started last summer...
The first time I had ever done hill repeats was in June last year (yes I know 5 years of triathlon and only started last year, scary isn't it!). It was pouring rain and I was on the phone with Greg going "you seriously want me to ride up and down a hill in this?" His answer was "yes."
So I got lost going to Edworthy Park which is 2 mins from where I work (if you know me and my sense of direction this will make sense). Once I finally made it there I warmed up and started up the hill. I was in my easiest gear and barely moving....not kidding...I wasn't about to break any climbing records anytime soon. After a couple of repeats Greg was riding beside me telling me about climbing technique. Every time I would look over at what he was telling me to do my entire bike would sway...I am lucky I didn't fall over...I was going slow enough to. AND I could not talk...not even able to form words trying to haul my ass up this hill. All I could do was nod to let him know that I was listening and somewhat understanding what he was saying! After about 6 of these we stopped at the top and I almost fell over! Greg caught me the nice guy that he is and then told me to do more! Ha!
When I think back to everything I have learned over the last couple of years I am surprised that I even finished a triathlon before then!! Needless to say my ability to climb hills has gotten a lot better in 1 year!
Saturday I slept in, what a beautiful thing sleep is and then I went out to do a 3 hour ride (which was supposed to be 4 but due to the sleeping in got changed to three :) It was still windy but compared to what I rode in over the last week I guess you could have called it a light breeze. The ride was uneventful, I did miss a good section on my back of sunscreen and needless to say I have a wee bit of a painful burn!
Sunday was one of those days where nothing quite worked out. My plan was to get up and run before we went out to Sylvan to do an open water swim. Then Chad said he wanted to swim early so he could ride later. No problem, I was going to run while he rode. Well, neither of these things happened. We didn't get out to Sylvan until 3:30pm...which was fine lots of time left in the day to swim and run right? Wrong. When we got to Sylvan there were GIANT white caps. It made my swim in Boise look like peanuts! My mouth dropped open and I looked at Chad and promptly told him there was no way I was getting in that water! We sat and waited for about 45 min for the wind to die down when Chad said screw it I am going in. I stood at the end of the lake...FREEZING...humming and hawing (sp?) about whether or not I should do this. Chad went so he could experience what swimming in rough conditions were like....me not so much. Maybe I am still scarred from the boise race but I wasn't going to spend 15 mins getting into my wetsuit to go for a 15 mins survival swim and not be able to work on my stroke. Probably should have got into the water...ah well you win some you lose some!
We headed back to Crossfield for a family BBQ. I still somehow thought I was going to run at like 9pm after everyone went home. I should have known better with the chatters in Chad's family!!! I finally said screw it, had a glass of wine and probably ate more than I should have (all good things of course!) and enjoyed visiting with everyone! We don't get to see everyone at once very often and it was great to catch up.
On a total side note, being lactose intolerant sure helps with the desert thing, I would have been in there like a dirty shirt having an ice cream treat...but I can't do it anymore and so it was berries and grapes for me! Don't get me wrong this is a good thing since ice cream doesn't help my training any....but this didn't stop me from staring at Chad's buster bar from DQ!
Today it is an easy run and bike. Chad and I are going for a spin tonight around the reservoir; something I have never done...weird I know.
In more important news than my rambling about training; we are leaving on Wednesday for Chad's Prostate cancer research ride! I will be doing a lot of driving and waiting Wednesday thru Friday as I am driving the support vehicle! I will update you from the road!
Happy Training
So on Thursday we braved the wind and headed out to Cochrane to do hill repeats. Seriously when is this wind going to slow down a little bit??? My legs were DEAD by the time we got there and I even stole a draft from Greg and Mark on the way out.
What was cool was that I tried to do 1 gear harder for repeats and was able to do it. Don't get me wrong I was slower, but you don't get stronger unless you make it harder on yourself....right Greg??? I was so happy I was able to do 3 repeats in a harder gear which reminded me of where I started last summer...
The first time I had ever done hill repeats was in June last year (yes I know 5 years of triathlon and only started last year, scary isn't it!). It was pouring rain and I was on the phone with Greg going "you seriously want me to ride up and down a hill in this?" His answer was "yes."
So I got lost going to Edworthy Park which is 2 mins from where I work (if you know me and my sense of direction this will make sense). Once I finally made it there I warmed up and started up the hill. I was in my easiest gear and barely moving....not kidding...I wasn't about to break any climbing records anytime soon. After a couple of repeats Greg was riding beside me telling me about climbing technique. Every time I would look over at what he was telling me to do my entire bike would sway...I am lucky I didn't fall over...I was going slow enough to. AND I could not talk...not even able to form words trying to haul my ass up this hill. All I could do was nod to let him know that I was listening and somewhat understanding what he was saying! After about 6 of these we stopped at the top and I almost fell over! Greg caught me the nice guy that he is and then told me to do more! Ha!
When I think back to everything I have learned over the last couple of years I am surprised that I even finished a triathlon before then!! Needless to say my ability to climb hills has gotten a lot better in 1 year!
Saturday I slept in, what a beautiful thing sleep is and then I went out to do a 3 hour ride (which was supposed to be 4 but due to the sleeping in got changed to three :) It was still windy but compared to what I rode in over the last week I guess you could have called it a light breeze. The ride was uneventful, I did miss a good section on my back of sunscreen and needless to say I have a wee bit of a painful burn!
Sunday was one of those days where nothing quite worked out. My plan was to get up and run before we went out to Sylvan to do an open water swim. Then Chad said he wanted to swim early so he could ride later. No problem, I was going to run while he rode. Well, neither of these things happened. We didn't get out to Sylvan until 3:30pm...which was fine lots of time left in the day to swim and run right? Wrong. When we got to Sylvan there were GIANT white caps. It made my swim in Boise look like peanuts! My mouth dropped open and I looked at Chad and promptly told him there was no way I was getting in that water! We sat and waited for about 45 min for the wind to die down when Chad said screw it I am going in. I stood at the end of the lake...FREEZING...humming and hawing (sp?) about whether or not I should do this. Chad went so he could experience what swimming in rough conditions were like....me not so much. Maybe I am still scarred from the boise race but I wasn't going to spend 15 mins getting into my wetsuit to go for a 15 mins survival swim and not be able to work on my stroke. Probably should have got into the water...ah well you win some you lose some!
We headed back to Crossfield for a family BBQ. I still somehow thought I was going to run at like 9pm after everyone went home. I should have known better with the chatters in Chad's family!!! I finally said screw it, had a glass of wine and probably ate more than I should have (all good things of course!) and enjoyed visiting with everyone! We don't get to see everyone at once very often and it was great to catch up.
On a total side note, being lactose intolerant sure helps with the desert thing, I would have been in there like a dirty shirt having an ice cream treat...but I can't do it anymore and so it was berries and grapes for me! Don't get me wrong this is a good thing since ice cream doesn't help my training any....but this didn't stop me from staring at Chad's buster bar from DQ!
Today it is an easy run and bike. Chad and I are going for a spin tonight around the reservoir; something I have never done...weird I know.
In more important news than my rambling about training; we are leaving on Wednesday for Chad's Prostate cancer research ride! I will be doing a lot of driving and waiting Wednesday thru Friday as I am driving the support vehicle! I will update you from the road!
Happy Training
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Lovin the sunshine!!!
Hey guys,
Just a quick update for ya! Things training wise have been okay. I was talking to Greg last night that my legs feel okay since my race but I just don't have "that extra gear to kick it up a notch when I need to" back yet. He said we will make some changes to the plan and "change things up a bit!" I could be in for some doozey workouts in the while!
Monday I went for an easy 30 min jog...nothing exciting...just running.
Tuesday I went to meet the group and I was a bit early...no one was there yet...not emails went out...so I headed out on my own! It was soooooo windy AND I forgot my sunglasses; my eyes were so dried out I was having trouble blinking! NOTE TO SELF....ALWAYS remember the sunglasses!
Yesterday I went or another easy run right before swimming; actually Chad had a brilliant idea and told me to run to the pool! What a good idea...I should have thought of it!!!! The swim Greg picked apart our strokes a bit and gave us stuff to work on. We were all pretty chatty after not swimming together for a few weeks! Grego it's great to have you back :)
Today is hill night! I hope to see Susi's smiling face out there on the hills with us tonight!! I love hills so I hope my legs are feeling snappy!
Until the weekend...Happy Training!
Just a quick update for ya! Things training wise have been okay. I was talking to Greg last night that my legs feel okay since my race but I just don't have "that extra gear to kick it up a notch when I need to" back yet. He said we will make some changes to the plan and "change things up a bit!" I could be in for some doozey workouts in the while!
Monday I went for an easy 30 min jog...nothing exciting...just running.
Tuesday I went to meet the group and I was a bit early...no one was there yet...not emails went out...so I headed out on my own! It was soooooo windy AND I forgot my sunglasses; my eyes were so dried out I was having trouble blinking! NOTE TO SELF....ALWAYS remember the sunglasses!
Yesterday I went or another easy run right before swimming; actually Chad had a brilliant idea and told me to run to the pool! What a good idea...I should have thought of it!!!! The swim Greg picked apart our strokes a bit and gave us stuff to work on. We were all pretty chatty after not swimming together for a few weeks! Grego it's great to have you back :)
Today is hill night! I hope to see Susi's smiling face out there on the hills with us tonight!! I love hills so I hope my legs are feeling snappy!
Until the weekend...Happy Training!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Recovered
Hey gang!
I feel like I have been MIA from actually blogging lately! People had there pics and RR up before I did and they did their races a week after mine! My excuse is that I was on holidays and even after we got back I was still on holiday mode for the rest of last week!
Not too much new and exciting on the training front. My recovery from the race has gone well, even though I was painfully sore for about 3 days after the race...and it was everywhere; back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, calfs, abs...you name it!
I have been doing a lot of walking (I walk Rexy for 60-90 min almost everyday) and there have been a few triathlon related workouts in there too!
This weekend I went and biked the 22x and cowboy trail while the Chinook Half was finishing up. I was looking for people I knew but I was too far away to recognise anyone. I absolutely love this bike ride; I did it a lot last year in prep for IMC so it was interesting to be out there and see some improvements. I can't say I was super fast now on my training rides BUT what I did notice was my ability to power my way up some of the smaller hills. I KNOW last year I would have been in the small ring to climb up some of these and this year I was able to stay in the big ring and hammer my way up! Keep in mind these aren't huge hill by any means but I see progress and that's what counts!!!!
Other than that I did head to the pool by myself on Friday! This doesn't happen often, but I didn't bike on Thursday and figured I should get off my ass and do something! It was short and sweet but I felt like I was getting my swimming mojo back!
Tonight is bike group again, the forecast is for thunderstorms but I think I will head out and see what its like at the end of town. The weather changes so quickly here, you never know what you are going to get!
Happy Training everyone!
I feel like I have been MIA from actually blogging lately! People had there pics and RR up before I did and they did their races a week after mine! My excuse is that I was on holidays and even after we got back I was still on holiday mode for the rest of last week!
Not too much new and exciting on the training front. My recovery from the race has gone well, even though I was painfully sore for about 3 days after the race...and it was everywhere; back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, calfs, abs...you name it!
I have been doing a lot of walking (I walk Rexy for 60-90 min almost everyday) and there have been a few triathlon related workouts in there too!
This weekend I went and biked the 22x and cowboy trail while the Chinook Half was finishing up. I was looking for people I knew but I was too far away to recognise anyone. I absolutely love this bike ride; I did it a lot last year in prep for IMC so it was interesting to be out there and see some improvements. I can't say I was super fast now on my training rides BUT what I did notice was my ability to power my way up some of the smaller hills. I KNOW last year I would have been in the small ring to climb up some of these and this year I was able to stay in the big ring and hammer my way up! Keep in mind these aren't huge hill by any means but I see progress and that's what counts!!!!
Other than that I did head to the pool by myself on Friday! This doesn't happen often, but I didn't bike on Thursday and figured I should get off my ass and do something! It was short and sweet but I felt like I was getting my swimming mojo back!
Tonight is bike group again, the forecast is for thunderstorms but I think I will head out and see what its like at the end of town. The weather changes so quickly here, you never know what you are going to get!
Happy Training everyone!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Race Pics
It has been over a week and I finally have the race pics up. Our camera died after the swim so we have to get the photos from Tom and Darl for the rest of the race! The last 2 photos are courtesy of ASI photography!
Apparently Rexy really like watching the people go by on the bikes! And as you can see from the picture below watching triathlons is tough work!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Boise 70.3 Race Report
Whew!
It has been a busy couple of days. Chad and I got back late Tuesday night and I have been on the run trying to unpack and get organised from the trip! Here's how the race went down:
Race Morning:
This was a weird one. Since the race didn't start until 2pm I had a lot of time...or so you would think but I still ended running around like crazy. We were staying outside of Boise so we had to make to 30 min trek into downtown into T2 to drop off my bike to run bag. Then we had to go back out of town to T1 and the reservoir for the swim.
There was limited parking so we parked at the bottom and had about a mile hike up to T1. From this point until the end of the swim everything that could go wrong did. They wouldn't let us put pumps into our morning clothes bags (they were bringing them to the finish for us) so they said they would have a lot of pumps on site. Yeah right. There were 2 people pumping up bike tires for 2000 athletes. Hmmmm. So I stood in line for 45 min waiting to get my bike tires pumped.
My water bottle cage had broken before the race so I stole Chad's to put on my bike....only that it didn't fit. The tech guys looked at me like I was an idiot girl who couldn't manage to put on a cage. Then he tried....guess what...it didn't fit. Did I mention this was all 15 min before I had to get out of transition! I hadn't set up my transition yet either. He got it filed down and put on and then I was rushing around trying to get ready. I had a few minutes to relax and watch the pros start and then it was a rush around again to get into my wetsuit and get down to the start.
Swim
This was by far the worst swim I have ever had. The wind had picked up and the waves were getting bigger and bigger! I swallowed so much water that I was burping it up! Gross. I also had a hard time sighting...the turning buoy's were supposed to be red but something must have happened and when I got to the second turn there was no red buoy. Needless to say I got a little off course trying to find that damn buoy. You could see the other ones for the way back so people were getting confused on where the turn was! It was chaotic! I was soooo happy get out of the water and I burped my way up to transition. My time was 45:50 which is my SLOWEST time ever!
Bike
It took me awhile to shake off my bad attitude about my swim. To put it bluntly I was pissed. I took a deep breath and after about 10-15 min of stewing about it I let it go.
The bike was wet...soaking wet. Overall though I felt I had a good bike. I did my nutrition well, I was more than hydrated from all of the water swallowed on the swim! At times it was raining so hard they had volunteers out with air horns telling people to slow down for certain parts of the course. There were a few bad wipe outs and people were brought back in ambulances; everyone was okay though!
There were some curvy roads which made the course fun and technical. I felt good the entire time and was actually passing people! This never used to happen :)
The only time I was asking myself why I do this was between 70-80 km. I was tired of being wet and starting to get cold. I zoned out for a bit during this long stretch of headwind with a false flat going up! I had to pee sooo bad and I just couldn't make myself go, so I made a potty transition plan. I was going to rack my bike throw all of my gear in my bag, take my shoes and socks and put them on while I was standing in line for the porta potty! It worked like a charm!
Run
When I got to the run I was so happy to be off of my bike and getting splashed slightly less! I had my garmin on and so I was able to pace myself to stay between 6 and 6:30 min/km. This worked well as I wanted to let it rip but could look down and slow myself down.
The first loop went off with out a hitch. At every aid station I would eat 1 sharkie and chase it with water. The second loop came around and Chad (who had to run hard to catch up to me) said I could get under 6:30 if I do the second loop in 60 min. I took the bait and was staying under 6 min/km. This is what lead the the death like feeling that came over me with the last 2 miles. I couldn't eat or drink anything and it was all I had not to throw up. I made it across the finish line in 6:32. Only 2 min off and I would have had it...I still blame my swim! The guy who caught me thought I was going to faint or throw up on him I am sure. I had NOTHING left.
I was so sick for the rest of the night. It would come in waves of hunger and nausea. I have never pushed myself like that in a race. Ironman is a different challenge; it is all about going for a long time and not stopping, this was racing the clock and it hurt.
If you would have asked me if I was excited for my next half my answer would have been no. Now I am curious about Sylvan...we will see what happens!
It has been a busy couple of days. Chad and I got back late Tuesday night and I have been on the run trying to unpack and get organised from the trip! Here's how the race went down:
Race Morning:
This was a weird one. Since the race didn't start until 2pm I had a lot of time...or so you would think but I still ended running around like crazy. We were staying outside of Boise so we had to make to 30 min trek into downtown into T2 to drop off my bike to run bag. Then we had to go back out of town to T1 and the reservoir for the swim.
There was limited parking so we parked at the bottom and had about a mile hike up to T1. From this point until the end of the swim everything that could go wrong did. They wouldn't let us put pumps into our morning clothes bags (they were bringing them to the finish for us) so they said they would have a lot of pumps on site. Yeah right. There were 2 people pumping up bike tires for 2000 athletes. Hmmmm. So I stood in line for 45 min waiting to get my bike tires pumped.
My water bottle cage had broken before the race so I stole Chad's to put on my bike....only that it didn't fit. The tech guys looked at me like I was an idiot girl who couldn't manage to put on a cage. Then he tried....guess what...it didn't fit. Did I mention this was all 15 min before I had to get out of transition! I hadn't set up my transition yet either. He got it filed down and put on and then I was rushing around trying to get ready. I had a few minutes to relax and watch the pros start and then it was a rush around again to get into my wetsuit and get down to the start.
Swim
This was by far the worst swim I have ever had. The wind had picked up and the waves were getting bigger and bigger! I swallowed so much water that I was burping it up! Gross. I also had a hard time sighting...the turning buoy's were supposed to be red but something must have happened and when I got to the second turn there was no red buoy. Needless to say I got a little off course trying to find that damn buoy. You could see the other ones for the way back so people were getting confused on where the turn was! It was chaotic! I was soooo happy get out of the water and I burped my way up to transition. My time was 45:50 which is my SLOWEST time ever!
Bike
It took me awhile to shake off my bad attitude about my swim. To put it bluntly I was pissed. I took a deep breath and after about 10-15 min of stewing about it I let it go.
The bike was wet...soaking wet. Overall though I felt I had a good bike. I did my nutrition well, I was more than hydrated from all of the water swallowed on the swim! At times it was raining so hard they had volunteers out with air horns telling people to slow down for certain parts of the course. There were a few bad wipe outs and people were brought back in ambulances; everyone was okay though!
There were some curvy roads which made the course fun and technical. I felt good the entire time and was actually passing people! This never used to happen :)
The only time I was asking myself why I do this was between 70-80 km. I was tired of being wet and starting to get cold. I zoned out for a bit during this long stretch of headwind with a false flat going up! I had to pee sooo bad and I just couldn't make myself go, so I made a potty transition plan. I was going to rack my bike throw all of my gear in my bag, take my shoes and socks and put them on while I was standing in line for the porta potty! It worked like a charm!
Run
When I got to the run I was so happy to be off of my bike and getting splashed slightly less! I had my garmin on and so I was able to pace myself to stay between 6 and 6:30 min/km. This worked well as I wanted to let it rip but could look down and slow myself down.
The first loop went off with out a hitch. At every aid station I would eat 1 sharkie and chase it with water. The second loop came around and Chad (who had to run hard to catch up to me) said I could get under 6:30 if I do the second loop in 60 min. I took the bait and was staying under 6 min/km. This is what lead the the death like feeling that came over me with the last 2 miles. I couldn't eat or drink anything and it was all I had not to throw up. I made it across the finish line in 6:32. Only 2 min off and I would have had it...I still blame my swim! The guy who caught me thought I was going to faint or throw up on him I am sure. I had NOTHING left.
I was so sick for the rest of the night. It would come in waves of hunger and nausea. I have never pushed myself like that in a race. Ironman is a different challenge; it is all about going for a long time and not stopping, this was racing the clock and it hurt.
If you would have asked me if I was excited for my next half my answer would have been no. Now I am curious about Sylvan...we will see what happens!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Quick Race Update
Hey Guys,
I will give you a quick update and write the full race report (with pics of course) when we get home!
The swim was aweful. There was a flood warning for all of southern Idaho yesterday...great. The swim was rough and sooooo wavey I had a hard time getting anywhere; this was probably the worst swim I have ever had! I came in around 50 min which is about 10 min slower for me!
The bike it poored rain the entire time. I was soaked. I felt pretty good; there was only one part between 70 and 80 km when I zoned out and wasn' t thinking about racing...I just wanted off my bike. I think my bike time was around 3:30...so faster than last year!
On the run I felt great for the first 15-16 km...then I went down hill. By the last couple of km I wanted to die...it hurt. I wanted to push the pace...I did...and I paid for it!
In the end I finished around 6:30 - 6:32 I think. The times aren't posted yet, but like I said I will get a more detailed report up later! Until then I am still on holidays:):):)
I will give you a quick update and write the full race report (with pics of course) when we get home!
The swim was aweful. There was a flood warning for all of southern Idaho yesterday...great. The swim was rough and sooooo wavey I had a hard time getting anywhere; this was probably the worst swim I have ever had! I came in around 50 min which is about 10 min slower for me!
The bike it poored rain the entire time. I was soaked. I felt pretty good; there was only one part between 70 and 80 km when I zoned out and wasn' t thinking about racing...I just wanted off my bike. I think my bike time was around 3:30...so faster than last year!
On the run I felt great for the first 15-16 km...then I went down hill. By the last couple of km I wanted to die...it hurt. I wanted to push the pace...I did...and I paid for it!
In the end I finished around 6:30 - 6:32 I think. The times aren't posted yet, but like I said I will get a more detailed report up later! Until then I am still on holidays:):):)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Howdy Y'all
Hey Guys,
Here is a quick update for you! we made it to Yellowstone on Tuesday after what seems like FOREVER!! Every mile seemed to stretch farther and farther. On the way down we did stop at Montana State University and snapped a few pics. We both find it interesting to look around at all of the different University's; on this trip we have 4 planned!
Yesterday we went to old faithful and drove through a bit of Yellowstone. Old faithful was pretty neat but it was rainy and cold while we were there so we spent most of the time letting people pet Rexy. Turns out when you have a giant grey dog that has a ridiculous amount of energy it draws some attention!
Once we got back into town we went back to the campsite so I could get a short run in. Once all was said and done we went for food and to the IMAX. Eating here is always interesting. In Yellowstone there are tons of pizza places and BBQ's...thats about it. Needless to say with all of my digestive issues it has been interesting. People sure look at you weird when you don't want cheese on anything! The IMAX movie pretty much sucked and we both think that it was at least 20 years old. A little outdated don't you think?
Today we drove from Yellowstone to Mountainhome where we will be until after the race. Tomorrow is race prep day and more universities to tour!
Here are some pics....
Here is a quick update for you! we made it to Yellowstone on Tuesday after what seems like FOREVER!! Every mile seemed to stretch farther and farther. On the way down we did stop at Montana State University and snapped a few pics. We both find it interesting to look around at all of the different University's; on this trip we have 4 planned!
Yesterday we went to old faithful and drove through a bit of Yellowstone. Old faithful was pretty neat but it was rainy and cold while we were there so we spent most of the time letting people pet Rexy. Turns out when you have a giant grey dog that has a ridiculous amount of energy it draws some attention!
Once we got back into town we went back to the campsite so I could get a short run in. Once all was said and done we went for food and to the IMAX. Eating here is always interesting. In Yellowstone there are tons of pizza places and BBQ's...thats about it. Needless to say with all of my digestive issues it has been interesting. People sure look at you weird when you don't want cheese on anything! The IMAX movie pretty much sucked and we both think that it was at least 20 years old. A little outdated don't you think?
Today we drove from Yellowstone to Mountainhome where we will be until after the race. Tomorrow is race prep day and more universities to tour!
Here are some pics....
We have more pics from today but I am both too tired and too lazy to upload them right now. I have to get up early and get my training in tomorrow! I will try and update before the race!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Bring on Boise
I sooo super duper really really excited to be leaving tonight on holidays. The best thing about our holidays, they always include a race in there somewhere!! But first before I get too ahead of myself here's how the weekend went.
Saturday morning I was up at 7:50...yes I know my mornings get earlier and earlier on the weekends! I have my own personal giant grey alarm clock that always wakes me up between 7 and 8 am! Chad of course hears nothing....
Once I took Rexy out I ate and then laid back down on the couch to wait for my food to digest a bit. Then I was out the door for my run. I am not normally running by 9am on a Saturday but it was kind of nice. It took me awhile to get warmed up as I was still feeling a little sleepy (it takes me around 2 hours to wake up:). Once I got going I noticed that the only other people out on the trails this early are other runners...people who look like they are running for a purpose and training for something. It was a nice change from the bikers, walkers, random people yelling and floating down the river, people having family picnics, the random runners who sound like they are going to have a heart attack...seriously slow down a little and you will still be running and able to breathe! Anyway I had a good run, feeling good leading up to my race and it was nice to have it done early in the day.
Once I got home we got everything together and went out to Vulcan for the Tinman Triathlon. This was Chad's first sprint distance and I was excited for him...perhaps even more than he was. We got there and it was raining pretty good. Chad really didn't want to do the race. He went and checked in and to go and set up for transition and next thing I know he is beside me telling me he didn't want to do it. I know how he felt...I go through this all of the time...I get so nervous that I just don't want to do it! I told him in the nicest possible way to suck it up and get in the pool. I don't think he was very happy with that but he did it:) Tough love honey, tough love. You would do the same thing to me so I didn't feel bad. For my first half he had to pretty much push me into Sylvan Lake...I wanted to stay crying under the tree but he wouldn't let me:)
His race went great! He looked so strong for the whole thing! We were both happy to get into the truck and warm up at the end though...my feet were so wet and cold I think it would have been easier to race. Being a spectator is hard work!
Yesterday I rode on the trainer. I found it hard to stay focused on what I was doing so every once in awhile I had to watch my numbers so maintained some kind of intensity! Swimming last night was good. We did some 100's....getting race ready! I had a hard time staying focused at swimming too, I think I just had so much to do before we left I had a hard time paying attention to my workouts!
I am feeling ready to race and I am excited to see if I can push it a little bit this year now that I can actually bike and run at different paces rather than just trying to finish! My goal as always is to PB; my times for the Desert Half last year are:
Swim: 39:32
Bike: 3:42
Run: 2:28
Total: 6:56
This was on a crazy hilly course though and by the time I got to the run I was just trying to finish! If I could get 6:45 I would be happy, this course looks hilly too so I'll have to get my climbing legs ready! I'll try to keep you updated!!
Happy Training!
Saturday morning I was up at 7:50...yes I know my mornings get earlier and earlier on the weekends! I have my own personal giant grey alarm clock that always wakes me up between 7 and 8 am! Chad of course hears nothing....
Once I took Rexy out I ate and then laid back down on the couch to wait for my food to digest a bit. Then I was out the door for my run. I am not normally running by 9am on a Saturday but it was kind of nice. It took me awhile to get warmed up as I was still feeling a little sleepy (it takes me around 2 hours to wake up:). Once I got going I noticed that the only other people out on the trails this early are other runners...people who look like they are running for a purpose and training for something. It was a nice change from the bikers, walkers, random people yelling and floating down the river, people having family picnics, the random runners who sound like they are going to have a heart attack...seriously slow down a little and you will still be running and able to breathe! Anyway I had a good run, feeling good leading up to my race and it was nice to have it done early in the day.
Once I got home we got everything together and went out to Vulcan for the Tinman Triathlon. This was Chad's first sprint distance and I was excited for him...perhaps even more than he was. We got there and it was raining pretty good. Chad really didn't want to do the race. He went and checked in and to go and set up for transition and next thing I know he is beside me telling me he didn't want to do it. I know how he felt...I go through this all of the time...I get so nervous that I just don't want to do it! I told him in the nicest possible way to suck it up and get in the pool. I don't think he was very happy with that but he did it:) Tough love honey, tough love. You would do the same thing to me so I didn't feel bad. For my first half he had to pretty much push me into Sylvan Lake...I wanted to stay crying under the tree but he wouldn't let me:)
His race went great! He looked so strong for the whole thing! We were both happy to get into the truck and warm up at the end though...my feet were so wet and cold I think it would have been easier to race. Being a spectator is hard work!
Yesterday I rode on the trainer. I found it hard to stay focused on what I was doing so every once in awhile I had to watch my numbers so maintained some kind of intensity! Swimming last night was good. We did some 100's....getting race ready! I had a hard time staying focused at swimming too, I think I just had so much to do before we left I had a hard time paying attention to my workouts!
I am feeling ready to race and I am excited to see if I can push it a little bit this year now that I can actually bike and run at different paces rather than just trying to finish! My goal as always is to PB; my times for the Desert Half last year are:
Swim: 39:32
Bike: 3:42
Run: 2:28
Total: 6:56
This was on a crazy hilly course though and by the time I got to the run I was just trying to finish! If I could get 6:45 I would be happy, this course looks hilly too so I'll have to get my climbing legs ready! I'll try to keep you updated!!
Happy Training!
Friday, June 5, 2009
OMG my legs hurrrrrt today!
Hey all,
This has been a good week of training and my body can feel it. Monday I went for an easy run and it was just that - easy. Then I went for a massage and my back is one very very tight mess, and if you can believe it worse than my legs. More specifically the lower traps....which is what I am always complaining about when I am climbing.
Tuesday I was off work early so I went biking earlier than the group ride. Now that we have a little monster in our lives if I can get home earlier the better it is for Rexy! I tried to do some intervals, I have a hard time doing them in the wind. I did my best and pushed through. It was a quick one 80 mins, just out to Cochrane and back.
Wednesday I had a awesome run. When I have intervals I run certain routes and this time I made it farther than I ever had before...on a training run:):):) I was doing half pace intervals too, so not even 10km race pace! I was pretty pumped to see the progress. I am slowly developing these legs for running! It was soooo hot outside and very little wind, it doesn't get much better than that. I almost wish I was biking...that doesn't happen often with the wind!
Wednesday night our fearless leader was back and although we did our best to convince him that we should visit and chat because we need to catch up...he didn't go for it and tried to push us into the pool. I was having a pretty good swim; we did some 200's, 100's, then the 50's came and I died. I did get a wicked cramp in my calf trying to keep up to the guys on the 50's and my leg is still sore today!
Yesterday is what really gave my legs the wonderful ache that has now set in. Showed up to biking and my riding partners were Greg, Darryl, Trevor, and Chris. Crap. Four of the fastest guys in our group and me! Greg and Trevor took it easy and let me draft...and by them taking it easy means I was pedaling my legs off trying to stay on their wheels. They pulled me along out to Cochrane...nice guys! I got 2 1/2 hills in and didn't even get soaked. I had to hammer down on the way back as well....but made it and now my legs have been a little achy since then. I can feel the tiredness in them. I better soak it up for race day!
Now i get to start tapering for the Boise 70.3 for next week! Yay! We are leaving Monday night so I am very excited to go on a little holiday. It looks like I will be riding the trainer this weekend though, lots of cold rain in the forecast.
Have a great weekend and happy training!
This has been a good week of training and my body can feel it. Monday I went for an easy run and it was just that - easy. Then I went for a massage and my back is one very very tight mess, and if you can believe it worse than my legs. More specifically the lower traps....which is what I am always complaining about when I am climbing.
Tuesday I was off work early so I went biking earlier than the group ride. Now that we have a little monster in our lives if I can get home earlier the better it is for Rexy! I tried to do some intervals, I have a hard time doing them in the wind. I did my best and pushed through. It was a quick one 80 mins, just out to Cochrane and back.
Wednesday I had a awesome run. When I have intervals I run certain routes and this time I made it farther than I ever had before...on a training run:):):) I was doing half pace intervals too, so not even 10km race pace! I was pretty pumped to see the progress. I am slowly developing these legs for running! It was soooo hot outside and very little wind, it doesn't get much better than that. I almost wish I was biking...that doesn't happen often with the wind!
Wednesday night our fearless leader was back and although we did our best to convince him that we should visit and chat because we need to catch up...he didn't go for it and tried to push us into the pool. I was having a pretty good swim; we did some 200's, 100's, then the 50's came and I died. I did get a wicked cramp in my calf trying to keep up to the guys on the 50's and my leg is still sore today!
Yesterday is what really gave my legs the wonderful ache that has now set in. Showed up to biking and my riding partners were Greg, Darryl, Trevor, and Chris. Crap. Four of the fastest guys in our group and me! Greg and Trevor took it easy and let me draft...and by them taking it easy means I was pedaling my legs off trying to stay on their wheels. They pulled me along out to Cochrane...nice guys! I got 2 1/2 hills in and didn't even get soaked. I had to hammer down on the way back as well....but made it and now my legs have been a little achy since then. I can feel the tiredness in them. I better soak it up for race day!
Now i get to start tapering for the Boise 70.3 for next week! Yay! We are leaving Monday night so I am very excited to go on a little holiday. It looks like I will be riding the trainer this weekend though, lots of cold rain in the forecast.
Have a great weekend and happy training!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Here it is....
Hi guys!
Sorry it took so long for the recipe, but better late than never!!!
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup multigrain flour
1/4 cup of oatmeal
1/4 cup kamut flakes
2-3 tbsp Agave nectar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 egg whites - beaten until fluffy
4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup soy or skim milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup carob chips (optional but I highly recommend it)
1 cup frozen cranberries (optional)
1. Pre heat oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 x 5 inch pan with cooking spray and dust with flour.
2. In large bowl combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Then pour bananas, milk, and vanilla into large bowl.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just blended. Fold in egg whites, then add carob chips and cranberries. Pour into pan and bake for 55 min.
YUMMMMMMM
Training has been going well. On Thursday we went out and did a couple repeats of the cochrane hill and I can see the improvement from last year. I still get dropped...but not nearly as quickly and I can still see people!
This weekend was a busy one. We were up on Saturday morning to go and meet Darryl for a long ride. We met at his house and left from there. Chad said we were biking to Langdon...what he didn't tell me is that we had to ride on Glenmore trail out of the city. Needless to say I almost crapped my pants a couple of times leaving the city. I swear I could have reached out and touched a semi that went by us!! That made riding through downtown seem easy...they are all cars down town and the fastest they go is 50 km/hr not giant trucks that don't like cyclists!
Once we got out of the city it was much better, but I messed up on my nutrition and wasn't having the greatest ride. I couldn't get comfortable on the bike for some reason. Its funny how I can go from having an awesome ride on Thursday to a crappy one on Saturday. On our way back into town I decided to ride in traffic rather than stick to the shoulder...the cars could go around! And they did! Back to the truck for a run which was supposed to be a harder effort...funnily enough I felt better on that quick transition run than I did on the bike!
We went home walked Rexy and then went to a BBQ at Allan and Karen's house and got to visit Baby Alison...who is soooo cute! I was pretty wiped after biking and fell asleep sitting up on there couch! Its a good thing they know we are triathletes and sometimes that happens!
Sunday morning I was awake at 5:30 am! Chad was doing the HSBC half marathon. Man that's early when you are not racing! Ha ha...I now know what Chad goes through on race morning with me! Although I think he is waaaaay crankier :) I went and dropped him off at the train and then went back to bed for about 30 min. At 7 I was up again and out the door to watch Chad run by the house.
Managing Rexy on 17th was interesting with 7000 people going by and not to mention all of the food and garbage all over from Saturday night! She had a bit of a buffet to choose from...lots of pizza. Not too much of it got down thank goodness...I was able to catch her most times!
Once Chad went by (who stopped by they way...I still get made fun of for stopping on the run during ironman!) we started walking down to the finish. I think I underestimated how far it was...it took forever to get there! I just made to the finish in time to see Chad go by. He had a great race finishing 1:44:10 and his goal was under 1:45!! Not too shabby for someone who NEVER runs!! He needs to learn how to train for 3 sports at once not one...rookie mistake!
Once we made the long walk home I decided to get my run out of the way. I had been on my feet for 3.5 hours, but I just wanted to get it over with so I could have the rest of the day to relax! Out the door I went and I actually felt pretty good for the most part! By the time I got home I was pooped but that is to be expected! With a shower and a nap I was feeling better...and was able to be lazy until swimming.
Last night at swimming Darryl and I were the only ones there so we decided to do 200's. I am really trying to get my catch down pat so I made sure to stay focused and work on my pull. We both did 200 swim 200 pull alternating, but I busted out the flippers and paddles to mix things up a bit! Chad came for hot tub time to loosen up his legs!
Today I have a couple of recovery workouts - an easy run and bike. I do have a massage booked for this afternoon...I am about 3 months overdue!!! It will be nice to get things loosened up before my race in a couple weeks!
Happy Training everyone!
Sorry it took so long for the recipe, but better late than never!!!
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup multigrain flour
1/4 cup of oatmeal
1/4 cup kamut flakes
2-3 tbsp Agave nectar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 egg whites - beaten until fluffy
4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup soy or skim milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup carob chips (optional but I highly recommend it)
1 cup frozen cranberries (optional)
1. Pre heat oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 x 5 inch pan with cooking spray and dust with flour.
2. In large bowl combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Then pour bananas, milk, and vanilla into large bowl.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just blended. Fold in egg whites, then add carob chips and cranberries. Pour into pan and bake for 55 min.
YUMMMMMMM
Training has been going well. On Thursday we went out and did a couple repeats of the cochrane hill and I can see the improvement from last year. I still get dropped...but not nearly as quickly and I can still see people!
This weekend was a busy one. We were up on Saturday morning to go and meet Darryl for a long ride. We met at his house and left from there. Chad said we were biking to Langdon...what he didn't tell me is that we had to ride on Glenmore trail out of the city. Needless to say I almost crapped my pants a couple of times leaving the city. I swear I could have reached out and touched a semi that went by us!! That made riding through downtown seem easy...they are all cars down town and the fastest they go is 50 km/hr not giant trucks that don't like cyclists!
Once we got out of the city it was much better, but I messed up on my nutrition and wasn't having the greatest ride. I couldn't get comfortable on the bike for some reason. Its funny how I can go from having an awesome ride on Thursday to a crappy one on Saturday. On our way back into town I decided to ride in traffic rather than stick to the shoulder...the cars could go around! And they did! Back to the truck for a run which was supposed to be a harder effort...funnily enough I felt better on that quick transition run than I did on the bike!
We went home walked Rexy and then went to a BBQ at Allan and Karen's house and got to visit Baby Alison...who is soooo cute! I was pretty wiped after biking and fell asleep sitting up on there couch! Its a good thing they know we are triathletes and sometimes that happens!
Sunday morning I was awake at 5:30 am! Chad was doing the HSBC half marathon. Man that's early when you are not racing! Ha ha...I now know what Chad goes through on race morning with me! Although I think he is waaaaay crankier :) I went and dropped him off at the train and then went back to bed for about 30 min. At 7 I was up again and out the door to watch Chad run by the house.
Managing Rexy on 17th was interesting with 7000 people going by and not to mention all of the food and garbage all over from Saturday night! She had a bit of a buffet to choose from...lots of pizza. Not too much of it got down thank goodness...I was able to catch her most times!
Once Chad went by (who stopped by they way...I still get made fun of for stopping on the run during ironman!) we started walking down to the finish. I think I underestimated how far it was...it took forever to get there! I just made to the finish in time to see Chad go by. He had a great race finishing 1:44:10 and his goal was under 1:45!! Not too shabby for someone who NEVER runs!! He needs to learn how to train for 3 sports at once not one...rookie mistake!
Once we made the long walk home I decided to get my run out of the way. I had been on my feet for 3.5 hours, but I just wanted to get it over with so I could have the rest of the day to relax! Out the door I went and I actually felt pretty good for the most part! By the time I got home I was pooped but that is to be expected! With a shower and a nap I was feeling better...and was able to be lazy until swimming.
Last night at swimming Darryl and I were the only ones there so we decided to do 200's. I am really trying to get my catch down pat so I made sure to stay focused and work on my pull. We both did 200 swim 200 pull alternating, but I busted out the flippers and paddles to mix things up a bit! Chad came for hot tub time to loosen up his legs!
Today I have a couple of recovery workouts - an easy run and bike. I do have a massage booked for this afternoon...I am about 3 months overdue!!! It will be nice to get things loosened up before my race in a couple weeks!
Happy Training everyone!
Monday, May 25, 2009
To boost my immune system....
Hey,
So I am on a mission to boost my immune system and get (and stay) healthy. I cooked, chopped, baked like crazy on Monday night. For those of you who know me know that I am a health nut...or as Chad would say "I eat weird food"
Multi vitamins, omega 3's, vit D, green tea leaves, anti-oxidant drink and some weird drops that my naturopath gave me - they taste like CRAP
Ancient Grain (millet, quinoa, kamut flakes) and Veggie soup
whole grain pasta with sauce loaded with spinach and asparagus - 2 of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat
Berries - are crazy good for you
More veggies - everyone needs to eat more veggies :)
Banana Bread - this is the healthiest recipe ever, egg whites, spelt flour, no sugar (agave nectar instead), carob chips, cranberries! I will post the recipe later!
Moving on....
I went for my run on Monday and although I was still coughing it felt sooooo good to be out there. Last night we went for a group ride (about 75 min I think) and tried to do some pace intervals, which was hard in the crazy wind! I am still on the mend...as long as I don't get worse I am going full steam ahead back into training!
Here are some pics of Rexy since I haven't posted any in awhile. She has hit her teenage years - oh what fun! The last one is of her in her new house...she chewed her way out of her other one! Then we had to wedge her up against the wall until we could go and get her a new one; she figured out how to push it away a from the wall and climb out! We woke up early that day by her jumping into bed with us! Chad was yelling "why did you let her out" all the while I was asleep beside him yelling back "I didn't!" Ha ha ha she makes our life interesting....and busy!
Happy Training!
Pictures from Legend Camp
Chad and I at the top of Anarchist
Me procrastinating by taking pictures!
Susi, Chad, and Greg - Day 1 at the Husky in OsoyoosEveryone is still smiling
Chad and I at the out and back day 1
Kellie and Susi at the out and back - Day 1
This is the Mountain Goat I saw at the bottom of Yellow Lake
The picturesque Green Mountain Road
Day 1 before the ride...little did we know what we were getting into!
Chad and I at the out and back day 1
Kellie and Susi at the out and back - Day 1
This is the Mountain Goat I saw at the bottom of Yellow Lake
The picturesque Green Mountain Road
Day 1 before the ride...little did we know what we were getting into!
I am alive...
Hey Bloggers,
I know it has been forever since I have updated, but between training camp, being away, and mostly being sick there just hasn't been any time. I am back and promise to update you!
So I guess it all starts with the sickness. The week leading up to the splash pedal and gasp I was starting to get a cold. After the race I took it easy trying to recover so that I could go out to training camp and just giver. Well I just steadily got worse all the way along. It was in my chest and I was hacking up my lungs on a regular basis.
This did not stop me from hammering away at training camp (more on that later). Which in turn made me even more sick. Then I went to Vancouver to visit with my family...my dad had his surgery on the 14th, all is well and he is recovering nicely! Once I came home I was on strict orders by Greg to take it easy until I am better.
Well I am STILL coughing and fatigued, but I am going to go for an easy run today and test the waters. In relation to how I was I am much better and I think I may be rid of this thing. It turns out I was a little contagious and now Darryl and Chad are both sick and Lisa is on her way. I am soooo sorry guys, I hope you bounce back fast!
Here is what went down at training camp in Penticton:
We left Thursday after work (around 6:30) headed to Penticton. I was down and out for the night by 10:00. Darryl was not too far behind me and Chad was on his own to drive the rest of the way. The nighthawk that he is didn't have a hard time with this! We got to Penticton around 1:30 local time and couldn't remember the name of the hotel. With a quick call into Greg we soon found our way! Then it was straight to bed because we had a full day of biking ahead of us!
Camp Day 1
We were up early enough to get ourselves together and organised to ride. We were doing the course in reverse (which is about 160km), so our jerseys were stuffed with food and gels...well mine was anyway :):):) We also had to raid Greg's food since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, what are coaches for hey!
We stayed as a group through town and out onto Green Mountain Road (GMR). Although we were told to take it easy everyone was off right away. I stayed back...trying to breathe...took my inhaler and waited to feel some what "normal." After about an hour my chest started to loosen up a bit and I was able to breathe a bit. The descent from GMR is soooo fun and you can just giver.
We met up again at the Big Bear and once everyone got there we were off to tackle the rollers and the back of Richter pass. These were still challenging but nearly as bad as I remember. I snotted and hacked my way up and was soooo happy to see the Husky in Osoyoos. After a quick break we were back out on the road and my legs were feeling all of the climbs I had just done. The way back into Penticton Susi and I rode together...we would take little breaks and chat and then get down to business and bike. I got a flat outside of Oliver and was able to change it with relative ease. To be honest I was kind of glad because the break was nice!
We stopped again (very briefly) at Tickleberrys and met up with Chad and Dusty. The way back into Penticton was along Skaha lake (the run course for IMC). It is so pretty along there...and bumpy I might add!
I was more than happy to get back to the hotel, and then somehow they convinced me to go for a run. It was a quick one, only 10 mins I think but with my wheeziness that was good enough for this gal. Then it was into the freezing okanagan lake to ice the legs. Within a couple of minutes I was good and numb. Susi braved the water with me...Chad put a toe in and said no way!
Camp Day 2
We went out to Oliver to go for a swim. It was CCCCCOLD. I had to talk myself into getting in the water. I wanted to swim with Chad though because it was his first open water swim. Open water swimming is sooo different than swimming in a pool. Especially when you throw a wetsuit and lots of people in the mix. We started out okay, Susi was giving Chad sighting tips. He wanted to take a break so we went back into shore and then I swam out a bit and he swam to me. That way it was easier for him to sight and stay on track.
Once we got out of the freezing lake we headed out to Osoyoos to climb anarchist. This is a 20 km climb with some pretty good grades. I love the challenge of climbing so I was actually looking forward to it. I started time from the moment I had to gear down...I don't think I even made it past the fruit stands at the bottom before I had to do that! I got into my groove and climbed my way up. I did see a mink and a snake...which I still think was alive although no one else believes me that it was! I find the hardest part is when I am close to the top and around every corner I am looking for the top and it isn't there! It took me 1 hour 19 min to get up to the top. Then it was the zoom zoom down. By the time I got to the husky my back was on FIRE!! Yes my back...sounds weird but when you climb like that you use a lot of core and back...so mine was hurting.
The way back I was a hurting unit and was sooooo happy to be off of the bike. Chad and I went for a quick run...I was smart today and took my inhaler about 30 min before I got on the bike so I was still a little wheezy while running but not nearly as bad as the day before!
Camp Day 3
This was a doozy of a day for me. I felt awful. I got up, got ready and headed out at about 7:30 to get a head start on the guys. I lost part of the group right away...they decided to go down main street instead and I didn't know:) So I went to usual way and led a couple of other people who didn't know the course out to Maclean Creek Road. Once I got going it wasn't too bad, not great, not awful. I tucked into aero at OK falls and stuck to my plan all of the way out to Osoyoos. By the time I reached the Husky I was hurtin, but the hills were coming and I like to climb so that was my saving grace.
Up Richter and onto the first couple rollers is when Greg and a couple of the other guys caught me. I was happy I made it that far, I was sure they would have me by the Husky! Darryl came by a hill or two after that! The rollers went good considering, I did go into Keremeos for a quick water break and then it was back to Yellow lake. I think the 20ish km of gradual climb leading up to Yellow Lake it worse than the climb itself or at least I find it harder!
At the top of yellow lake I had a little pity party. For some reason I figured that even though I was sick, killed my legs with the 2 previous days, it being early in the season I should have seen more improvement. My frustration with being sick 4 times since January finally got the best of me and I was not a happy camper. I kept on trucking...I was cranky but I wasn't about to pull over and call it quits. So I sucked it up and kept on going. When I got back to the hotel I wanted to crawl under a rock. Instead I went and iced my legs, had a shower, took a couple of advil and layed down until the pounding stopped! An hour or two later I was feeling a little more human and was able to go out an visit a bit. I have not felt that awful in a long time....I think Ironman was easier than that! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right???
I have not trained since then, so I am itching to get going again because I have the Boise 70.3 coming up in a few weeks! I do get to watch Chad race for the next 2 weekends as well, watching races always motivates me!
I think I have paid my sick dues for the year so hopefully I can move forward to a healthy summer and season!
I am sooooo behind in blog reading as well so my plan is to catch up and see how everyone's training is going!
Happy Training everyone!
I know it has been forever since I have updated, but between training camp, being away, and mostly being sick there just hasn't been any time. I am back and promise to update you!
So I guess it all starts with the sickness. The week leading up to the splash pedal and gasp I was starting to get a cold. After the race I took it easy trying to recover so that I could go out to training camp and just giver. Well I just steadily got worse all the way along. It was in my chest and I was hacking up my lungs on a regular basis.
This did not stop me from hammering away at training camp (more on that later). Which in turn made me even more sick. Then I went to Vancouver to visit with my family...my dad had his surgery on the 14th, all is well and he is recovering nicely! Once I came home I was on strict orders by Greg to take it easy until I am better.
Well I am STILL coughing and fatigued, but I am going to go for an easy run today and test the waters. In relation to how I was I am much better and I think I may be rid of this thing. It turns out I was a little contagious and now Darryl and Chad are both sick and Lisa is on her way. I am soooo sorry guys, I hope you bounce back fast!
Here is what went down at training camp in Penticton:
We left Thursday after work (around 6:30) headed to Penticton. I was down and out for the night by 10:00. Darryl was not too far behind me and Chad was on his own to drive the rest of the way. The nighthawk that he is didn't have a hard time with this! We got to Penticton around 1:30 local time and couldn't remember the name of the hotel. With a quick call into Greg we soon found our way! Then it was straight to bed because we had a full day of biking ahead of us!
Camp Day 1
We were up early enough to get ourselves together and organised to ride. We were doing the course in reverse (which is about 160km), so our jerseys were stuffed with food and gels...well mine was anyway :):):) We also had to raid Greg's food since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, what are coaches for hey!
We stayed as a group through town and out onto Green Mountain Road (GMR). Although we were told to take it easy everyone was off right away. I stayed back...trying to breathe...took my inhaler and waited to feel some what "normal." After about an hour my chest started to loosen up a bit and I was able to breathe a bit. The descent from GMR is soooo fun and you can just giver.
We met up again at the Big Bear and once everyone got there we were off to tackle the rollers and the back of Richter pass. These were still challenging but nearly as bad as I remember. I snotted and hacked my way up and was soooo happy to see the Husky in Osoyoos. After a quick break we were back out on the road and my legs were feeling all of the climbs I had just done. The way back into Penticton Susi and I rode together...we would take little breaks and chat and then get down to business and bike. I got a flat outside of Oliver and was able to change it with relative ease. To be honest I was kind of glad because the break was nice!
We stopped again (very briefly) at Tickleberrys and met up with Chad and Dusty. The way back into Penticton was along Skaha lake (the run course for IMC). It is so pretty along there...and bumpy I might add!
I was more than happy to get back to the hotel, and then somehow they convinced me to go for a run. It was a quick one, only 10 mins I think but with my wheeziness that was good enough for this gal. Then it was into the freezing okanagan lake to ice the legs. Within a couple of minutes I was good and numb. Susi braved the water with me...Chad put a toe in and said no way!
Camp Day 2
We went out to Oliver to go for a swim. It was CCCCCOLD. I had to talk myself into getting in the water. I wanted to swim with Chad though because it was his first open water swim. Open water swimming is sooo different than swimming in a pool. Especially when you throw a wetsuit and lots of people in the mix. We started out okay, Susi was giving Chad sighting tips. He wanted to take a break so we went back into shore and then I swam out a bit and he swam to me. That way it was easier for him to sight and stay on track.
Once we got out of the freezing lake we headed out to Osoyoos to climb anarchist. This is a 20 km climb with some pretty good grades. I love the challenge of climbing so I was actually looking forward to it. I started time from the moment I had to gear down...I don't think I even made it past the fruit stands at the bottom before I had to do that! I got into my groove and climbed my way up. I did see a mink and a snake...which I still think was alive although no one else believes me that it was! I find the hardest part is when I am close to the top and around every corner I am looking for the top and it isn't there! It took me 1 hour 19 min to get up to the top. Then it was the zoom zoom down. By the time I got to the husky my back was on FIRE!! Yes my back...sounds weird but when you climb like that you use a lot of core and back...so mine was hurting.
The way back I was a hurting unit and was sooooo happy to be off of the bike. Chad and I went for a quick run...I was smart today and took my inhaler about 30 min before I got on the bike so I was still a little wheezy while running but not nearly as bad as the day before!
Camp Day 3
This was a doozy of a day for me. I felt awful. I got up, got ready and headed out at about 7:30 to get a head start on the guys. I lost part of the group right away...they decided to go down main street instead and I didn't know:) So I went to usual way and led a couple of other people who didn't know the course out to Maclean Creek Road. Once I got going it wasn't too bad, not great, not awful. I tucked into aero at OK falls and stuck to my plan all of the way out to Osoyoos. By the time I reached the Husky I was hurtin, but the hills were coming and I like to climb so that was my saving grace.
Up Richter and onto the first couple rollers is when Greg and a couple of the other guys caught me. I was happy I made it that far, I was sure they would have me by the Husky! Darryl came by a hill or two after that! The rollers went good considering, I did go into Keremeos for a quick water break and then it was back to Yellow lake. I think the 20ish km of gradual climb leading up to Yellow Lake it worse than the climb itself or at least I find it harder!
At the top of yellow lake I had a little pity party. For some reason I figured that even though I was sick, killed my legs with the 2 previous days, it being early in the season I should have seen more improvement. My frustration with being sick 4 times since January finally got the best of me and I was not a happy camper. I kept on trucking...I was cranky but I wasn't about to pull over and call it quits. So I sucked it up and kept on going. When I got back to the hotel I wanted to crawl under a rock. Instead I went and iced my legs, had a shower, took a couple of advil and layed down until the pounding stopped! An hour or two later I was feeling a little more human and was able to go out an visit a bit. I have not felt that awful in a long time....I think Ironman was easier than that! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right???
I have not trained since then, so I am itching to get going again because I have the Boise 70.3 coming up in a few weeks! I do get to watch Chad race for the next 2 weekends as well, watching races always motivates me!
I think I have paid my sick dues for the year so hopefully I can move forward to a healthy summer and season!
I am sooooo behind in blog reading as well so my plan is to catch up and see how everyone's training is going!
Happy Training everyone!
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