Training Update

Had a great training weekend starting with Friday's swim: 3300m total with my main set of a 1500m TT (1:36/100m!!).

I've joined up with the Bicycles Plus Cycling Club so that I have a group to ride with on Saturday mornings. Including the ride to and from my house, the ride totalled just under 75km. My longest ride ever! Everyone was so friendly and I had a really great time. I'm looking forward to riding with the group.

I have another long(ish) ride planned for tomorrow night and then I start on my 10k run plan on Tuesday to sharpen up my run for next month's Oly distance tri.

Atlantic Regional Championships RR

Parlee Beach Atlantic Regional Championships
Shediac, New Brunswick
August 21, 2005
750m swim/22.5km bike/5k run

The week leading up to the race, I was definitely nervous; but it was a tempered anxiety: on the one hand, I was racing against people I had never raced before and had no idea how I would do, but on the other, there were no expectations going in. Also, this would be my first ocean swim, which to be honest, terrified me.

My roommates and I had decided that we were going to get t-shirts printed with "Team Yellow" on the front (name due to an inside joke started over 8 months ago with my roommate Isabelle) to take with us to the race. We placed the order early in the week and picked them up on Friday. Saturday morning we had a lovely brunch with the gang, had our "t-shirt ceremony," packed up the truck, and we were on our way to New Brunswick. I'd never been before, so this was a new experience for me.



[The gang before we left for New Brunswick: Scott, Adrian, Me, Nadine and Issy]

We stayed over night at a motel right near Parlee Beach. Saturday night I packed it in about 9pm, while my friends hit up the town. My dreams were filled with sharks and jellyfish.

As is standard fare in the Maritimes, it was raining on race morning when we awoke at 6am. I was a bundle of nerves. Thankfully the rain subsided before the start, but the sun never did quite manage to show its face. I picked up my race kit and headed out to the transition area. The Olympic distance athletes were due to start at 8:30, and the Sprint athletes at 9:30. After setting up transition, I went to watch the start of the Olympic distance race. The swim was a triangle, with the Oly athletes completing two laps before heading to transition. For the Sprint, we only had one lap, for a total of 750 meters.



[The water certainly *looked* cold.]

Swim (750m): 11:48 (1:35/100m)



Standing and waiting for the start, I attempted to calm my nerves and focus on the task at hand. My strategy, stick to the side closest to the buoys to avoid getting crushed, and take the corners tight. The water was incredibly shallow, and even though I dolphin dived into swimming depth, many people were still running along through the water as I swam beside them. I thought I had made a huge mistake because the people who were running rather than swimming seemed to be gaining on me, but I managed to skirt around them once I hit the first buoy. The swim was nice and solid, augmented by the buoyancy of the salty ocean. It was also a PR by two minutes for an open water swim! I was 10th out of the water out of about 90 people. Wooo!

T1:

Transition was smooth - the wetsuit came off no problem. I threw on my sunglasses (like I needed them), and my helmet and shoes, grabbed my bike and was off onto the bike course.

Bike+T1 (22.6km): 46:26 (29.2 km/hr)

The bike was a looped course, with the Sprint athletes completing three loops before heading back into the park. The back half of the course was INCREDIBLY windy, and a series of false flats (slight incline), and some short, shallow climbs. The back half of the course was a total riot, as it was a gradual descent down the highway for a good couple of kilometers, with the wind at our backs. Sooo much fun!!! I settled into a rhythm by the time I hit the end of the first loop, and hammered the whole way. My friends were there to support me on the bike course, and it was always such a nice surprise to see them and hear them cheering me on.

T2:

Nothing too exciting to report. Again another fairly smooth transition: I was in and out in under a minute.

Run+T2 (5k): 26:14 (5:15min/km)

The run. Oh...the run. I have taken a serious hit in mileage in running this month because I've been trying to focus on my cycling and swimming (which are paying off, but running has suffered because of it). In fact, before this race, I'd run all of 16 kilometers for the whole of August. I know...I know...
It was a brutally slow first 2.5 km - I was probably running about 6 minute kilometers, which is BRUTAL. Once we hit the turnaround in the park I managed to find my legs and make really good progress on the way home, picking it up to about 4:45min/km for the rest of the way back. But a 26 minute 5k? Moral of story: MORE RUN MILEAGE.



Crossing the finish line was the most amazing feeling. I won my age group! I'm really excited, too, because they had set up the age groups in 10 year increments, so I was competing against females from 20-29 instead of 20-24.

My total time was 1:24:27 - two minutes slower than Nationals, but the bike and run courses were a bit longer, so in terms of splits, I was quicker. Well, except for the run.

The award ceremony was at the ampitheatre where we'd picked up our race kit. My most exciting moment was learning of my 2nd place finish overall! There were 39 women racing, so I'm pretty stoked. The girl who won, Sarah, was incredible. One of the nicest triathletes I've met, too. We had a good chat before the race had started. Congrats on your win, Sarah! Also a huge congratulations to my friend Mark, who finished 2nd overall after narrowly missing first in a blazing sprint to the finish line.



Final results:
1st out of 13 in my age group
2nd out of 39 overall female



Thank you to my wonderful friends who made the trip down for the race to help out and cheer me on. It means so much to have the support of people whom you care so deeply about. You guys are the greatest!!! We had so much fun, and team yellow was a strong force to be reckoned with.

The drive home was long, and we were incredibly worn out. But as we crossed back over the Nova Scotia border, I was tired but extremely content. It was a very successful weekend, and I am just so happy. These are the moments that make all of the hard training completely worth it.



Cliff Notes:

Total Time: 1:24:27
1st (out of 13) Place AG 20-29
2nd (out of 39) Place overall female

Swim (750m): 11:48 (1:35/100m)
Bike+T1 (22.6km): 46:26 (29.2 km/hr)
Run+T2 (5k): 26:14 (5:15min/km)

Full results: HERE

Good weekend!

Suffice to say, I had an amazing weekend! Race report to follow shortly!

Happy Hump Day

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.
- Colin Powell

Well, it's wednesday. The middle of the week means the middle of my race taper. I had a simply amazing swim workout this morning. It was really tough. Roughly 3k including a tough interval kick set and a 600m fartlek. Phew.

I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend. Training has been really solid lately, so we'll see how the rest of the week shapes up.

Hope everyone's training is going well!

Inspiration

With Parlee Beach Regionals a week away, I feel focused and determined. Some high mileage (for me!) on the bike this week has instilled within me more confidence. I am really looking forward to the race. This will be my last sprint distance focused race. I'm already keyed up and definitely want to race my best.

Reading Wil's blog, I got an inspiration. So..what does inspire me?

First and foremost, people's ability to overcome even the most overwhelming obstacles inspires me. The ability to pick yourself up when you fall and keep going from where you left off. That inspires me. Ambition (in any shape or form) inspires me. The smell of the sea sends chills through me, the light sound of the rain in the morning, the feeling of being one with nature, the whir whir whir of the bike wheels and the pounding of my heart...all of these things inspire me.

Children's innocence reminds me of humanity's potential. A simple smile from a stranger, or a friend can do more to inspire than a concrete feat.

But what inspires me the most? Passion: in all its multivalent manifestations. The world is full of beauty and passion, but sometimes in the monotony of our quotidian realities we let these moments of inspiration pass us by.

Dictionary.com states that "Passion" denotes a "powerful, intense emotion. Passion is a deep, overwhelming emotion: “There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy” (Richard Brinsley Sheridan). The term may signify sexual desire or anger: “He flew into a violent passion and abused me mercilessly” (H.G. Wells). Fervor is great warmth and intensity of feeling: “The union of the mathematician with the poet, fervor with measure, passion with correctness, this surely is the ideal” (William James). Fire is burning passion: “In our youth our hearts were touched with fire” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.). Zeal is strong, enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance: “Laurie [resolved], with a glow of philanthropic zeal, to found and endow an institution for... women with artistic tendencies” (Louisa May Alcott). Ardor is fiery intensity of feeling: “the furious ardor of my zeal repressed” (Charles Churchill)."

Passion, Fervor, Intensity, Fire, Zeal, Ardor

These are the things that continue to inspire me. Passion can be something as simple as savouring the taste of a fresh summer peach, or as intense as the determination to get to the top of your sport, or something as complex as sexuality. Passion is the root of "compassion," which itself is "rooted" in humanity. Everywhere around you there is inspiration, and love, and passion. They are what makes us feel alive; they are what make us human.

Positive Outlook

"The ability to be totally unstoppable is always within you. All you have
to do is picture the last time you were and how you felt."

The week's workouts:
Monday:
AM(swim): 3500 short course meters - intervals
PM(bike): 53km ride with superman - my longest ever!

Tuesday:
AM(run): Track workout total 7km - main set 6x400m at 4min/km pace + speed drills

Today's Workouts:

AM (bike): 35km recovery ride to flush out the legs
PM (swim): 3000 short course meters - endurance workout

~
Got to put it in perspective
Got to see your objective
Isn't it what you expected
From something so long neglected
Be calm, be brave
Got to keep yourself alive
~

Pushing myself to my limits, feeling the blood pumping through my veins - these are the things that remind me that I am alive. Training has been going so well since I got back from my trip. It's as if something has just clicked. I'm finally feeling a bit more comfortable on my bike, and my swimming is improving every day. Even though it feels as though the life around me is falling to pieces, I have solid ground on which to stand, in the form of the simply amazing people in my life. Those who can pick me up when I feel down, and make me smile when smiling is the furthest thing from my mind. Look around you and see who those people are in your life. Don't ever take them for granted. They are the ones who can make you feel unstoppable!

~
I've got a positive outlook
Won't get stuck
Drowning in my surroundings
Never give in never give up
Don't let them scare you no
matter what
Where are you putting your
energy?
~

Vive le France

Firstly, sorry it's taken so long to post this. I'm finally over my jet lag and back into the swing of things in Halifax, so much so that it almost feels like I never left.

Well, what can I say...The Tour, le tour, the tour! Amazing. Paris is a magnificent city. We were staying with a friend just outside the city, which was a nice change of pace from the hectic lifestyle of the parisiens. Saturday night we stayed in Paris in a nice little hotel, to ensure that we would make it to the Champs in time to get a good spot to watch.

We arrived around 1pm. Just to be on the Champs Elysees with 500,000 other people, amidst the swell and excitement engendered by the world's biggest cycling competition, was an absolute dream. Here I am in front of the Arc de Triomphe, decked out in my tour souvenir kit, and ecstatic!



As we were looking for a place stand, I noticed a large group of people with matching cycling jerseys. Not being shy, I marched right over and introduced myself! They were from Garstang, just outside of Lancaster, and had made the road trip down to watch. They were a riot! And had been sitting guarding their precious vantage point since 9am that morning and had had more than enough wine to dull the boredom.



We waited for almost 4 1/2 hours to see the cyclists come in. But when they approached, my heart began to beat fast, and I could taste the excitement in the air. The peleton was all together for the first lap around the Champs.



As the laps progressed, things got a bit more spread out. It was a blast to watch the "voiture balai" follow closely behind the last rider - he looked like he'd had a nasty fall earlier in the day, his leg was badly bruised and it looked like he might have been bleeding too. Pictures were hard to take because the riders were going so fast! But here are a couple of snapshots:





With the six laps complete, we heard the announcement that Vino had won the stage (way to go!), and wandered down to pick up a few more souvenirs and watch the teams in their final lap. Simply incredible.

The French take their cycling very seriously. I've never seen so many people get so excited over a bike race! An awe inspiring site. And it seemed as though every nation was represented, on the Champs that day; so many languages melded and twisted into the universal language of sport. I will remember my trip to watch the end of the Tour for the rest of my life.

Carpe Diem

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.