Patience, Passion, Persistence

"In most fields, achievement is linked more to sustained process management than innate talent or ability."

Congratulations to Shelley, Kurt and Shelly, Tara, John, Tania and Sheldon for successfully completing Ironman Coeur D'Alene! Way to go everyone!

I'm just about to head out to the pool for my last swim workout with my coach before I leave to head back to London. The race is now only 6 days away! It's been pouring in Halifax for almost 3 days straight. It's just as well my bike has already been shipped, because I think I would be more sad if it were sitting here in my apartment and I couldn't ride it because of the rain.

Today I'll swim and then later this afternoon I plan to go for an easy run, just 30 minutes or so with some stride work.

I'm pretty much packed and ready to go now. It's amazing how much stuff I have to take with me! Normally I am a very light packer, but because I have to take all of my race gear, I have to take two bags!

The race nerves are present but currently manageable. I think I'll start to get more keyed up as race day approaches. The countdown begins...

Just over a week to go...

Nationals are just over a week away. To say I'm not nervous would be lying. I've started tapering, and already I'm going stir crazy from lack of exercise. I feel like I could bounce off the walls. Today was my last hard workout before the race. Intervals at the track. I feel primed. So here I sit, with nothing left to do but rest, keep hydrated and fed, rest some more, do some light training and get prepped for the big race. Yikes!

Cycling Haiku

Enjoy wind and sun
Feel the power of your legs
Joy found on a bike

Du It Like Bryan Race Report

Last night, a certain someone reminded me that I haven't yet written a race report for our team effort at the Du It Like Bryan Off-Road Duathlon last Sunday. My apologies. Here is the report; better late than never.

The race was created in honour of nova scotia sport legend Bryan Scallion. It is held in Wentworth, which I think is one of the prettiest parts of this magnificent province. The race was comprised of a 20km mountain bike sandwiched between two 4km off-road runs. Rob and I decided to race as a team. I would do the runs, and he would do the mountain bike portion. Seemed like fun!

On Saturday night, we drove up to Elmsdale to stay with some friends. I had packed us some oatmeal for our pre-race breakfast. When Sunday morning rolled around and it was time for breakfast I made the oatmeal just as I always do. It was absolutely horrid. No taste at all, virtually inedible. Ugh. What a disaster. Thankfully we were able to procure some breakfast before we left for the race. It was about an hour drive to Wentworth from where we were staying, and the whole way up in the car I was feeling dreadfully ill. My stomach was roiling and I had some serious nausea. I didn't know how I was going to run! twice! But I sucked it up and tried to drink some Accelerade to calm down my stomach.

Once we arrived, we said "Hi" to all of the usual suspects (there is such a subculture of endurance athletes here, you get to know everyone really well). Different people deal with race stress differently. There was some crazy pre-race secret handshake madness going on between Randy and Enid:



Soon enough it was time for the start of the run, and we all lined up.



I positioned myself somewhere in the middle. Given my recent run performances, and how awful I felt, I wasn't expecting too much of my run. Mark, the race organizer did the countdown and we were off.



The first run hurt. I mean, really hurt. I felt like I was going to lose my breakfast all over the course (yummy!). The terrain was rather exciting, including some epic mud puddles (muddles), and a river crossing. The river was rather high - it came up to my mid-thigh! The first run was over before I knew it (my official first run time was 22 minutes), and I was back into transition to high-five Rob and send him off on the bike. He was off in a flash, and I had about an hour to sit around a wait. I sat in the car and drank some water and hoped my stomach would settle. In less than an hour, the first rider came screaming into transition. I knew that I wouldn't have to wait very long after that, so I went to stand in transition to wait. Rob was the third or fourth rider into transition (SO FAST!!!) and it was time to head back out on the second run. Rob's lightning fast bike split (54:52) vaulted us into 2nd place heading into the run.

This time I felt better. My legs were actually moving under me and I could get some semblance of a rhythm going. Ewan Scallion (Bryan's son) went flying by me at about 2 1/2km and disappeared off into the distance. At that point I knew that as long as I could hold off the other runers, we had locked up third, thanks to Rob's amazing bike time. The river crossing was only about 500 metres from the finish line, so once I managed to wade my way though, I knew I could do it. I picked up the pace as best as I could and held on. My second run ended up being faster than the first at 21:43. Still not a great run time, but at least my stomach felt a little better.

After the run, many were celebrating! :) I was just happy that the run was over!



The race was beautifully organized. There was lots of swag, some great post-race food, and awesome prizes. Rob and I each scored a camelback water bottle and a 6-pack of Gu for our third place finish in the team competition. Very nice. All in all it was a great weekend. Team #1 had an excellent showing, and I think we were both pretty pleased with the result. The race was a lot of fun, provided many reasons to smile, and was inevitably a good way to remind myself how much I need to start running! :)

More Bricks

Only a few weeks until Brampton now. I'm starting to have race anxiety dreams already. It's a long way out yet to be having those kinds of dreams. Somehow, I need to convince myself that it is just another race. But it's so hard to do with 'A' races. I love the pressure, thrive under it, really. I guess having these dreams so early means that I really care about doing well at this race, which I do.

Today's brick workout was short but intense.

3 x 4km bike, 800m run at race intensity. The workout felt good and I felt pretty strong. The bike course I did has some fun short-but-steep hills, and the run was done on a track. I'll gradually increase these bricks as the summer progresses.

Happy training!

Navy Trident Pictures

Here are some pics from last week's race.

Nervous before the swim.

Off onto the bike. It was cold outside!

The run turnaround. The girl behind me won the overall.

Another run pic.

Sprinting to the finish. Taya almost caught me!

All done. Tired but happy.

M.E.A.G.A.N

Thanks to http://cyborg.namedecoder.com/.

Did I mention that I'm a nerd?

Trail Blazing

Last night I went out with the Halifax Trail Shop running group for a trail run at Fight Trail. I had an absolute blast! Running on trails is such a different sport than road running. It's a highly anaerobic, lung busting kind of run. Sort of like a combination between pylometrics and very short interval power bursts. Over rocks, across wooden bridges, through mud and dodging roots all over the the place. I haven't had that much fun training in a long time. The group of people were absolutely welcoming and friendly. I learned terms like "soaker," and how to properly attack and climb granite slabs of rock. I definitely felt all of the lateral movement in my legs this morning.

This morning's swim workout was what I would consider a breakthrough workout. Coach had me do a broken 1500m swim to gauge my progress.

15x100m on 1:45. The goal was to get approximately 15 seconds rest per 100, and to match the first and last set. I can happily report that I met those goals.

Splits:
1:28, 1:30, 1:31, 1:32, 1:32, 1:32, 1:31, 1:30, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30, 1:28

Total for 1500m: 22:28

How's that for consistency? I was really happy with this workout. For the first time, I felt like I was locking into proper technique while keeping my speed up. So that's two very solid workouts in two days. I feel good.

Navy Trident Sprint Triathlon

Navy Trident Sprint Triathlon
June 4, 2006
750m swim, 20km Bike, 5km run

Total Time: 1:17:21
750m swim: 12:50 (1:43/100m)
20km bike: 38:45 (31 km/hr)
5km run: 25:48 (5:10/km)

2nd out of 14 Age Group 20-29
2nd out of 47 Overall Women
21st out of 102 Overall

The Navy Tri was the first race I ever competed in here in Halifax. It would also be my first race of the season this year. The first race is always a beast that must be conquered. Especially in a sport like triathlon, with so many variables (3 sports, 2 transitions); it can be easy to forget the little things over the course of a winter. All week before the race, I had been having dreams that I had forgotten how to swim, and that I couldn’t find my way out of transition, that my bike broke under me. Thankfully none of these dreams came to fruition.

On Saturday afternoon, the race director sent us an email with our swim heats. The 12 heats were seeded by swim times, from slowest to fastest. I was surprised (terrified!?) to discover that I was in the second last heat. The final heat was the group of guys including Tyrone Clarke and Karim Schliewinsky, and MacGregor Grant, some of the fastest athletes in the province. So I knew that I would have my work cut out for me. I had visions of being left behind in the pool many long minutes after everyone else had finished.

My boyfriend was supposed to race this weekend as well at a road race, but the weather forecasts were so nasty that he thought the better of it. I’m sad he didn’t get to race, but I was really excited that it meant he could come to my race!! It really means a lot to have the people there that you care most about.

Speaking of the weather: I remember telling someone a few weeks ago that the rain doesn’t stay away just because it’s race day. It couldn’t have been truer than yesterday. It poured all day Saturday. Sunday morning before left for the race, it was 11 degrees and windy. By the time I had stashed my bike and gear in transition, the wind and cold were joined by some very heavy rain. I decided not to take my bike out for a warm-up ride because the conditions were so nasty that I didn’t want to be outside until I absolutely had to.

At 11 we were called on deck for our pre-race briefing. We were only given 2 minutes warm-up for the swim, which I felt really wasn’t enough for me to actually “warm up,” so that was unfortunate for me, but not the end of the world. The lane counter was to put a kickboard in the lane at 50m to go. We were sent off at 11:15. Throughout the whole swim, I just felt as though I couldn’t find a strong rhythm. Chalk it up to being in a different pool, or a lack of warmup, I just never hit my groove. Somewhere along the way, I lost count of my laps, and I waited for a kickboard at the end of the lane that I didn’t ever see. So as I flip turned for what I figured what must be the final lap, I felt a piece of foam bounce off my head (Thanks to Tyrone, who was in the next heat, who took the time to alert me that I should stop and get out of the pool). So after swimming a couple extra metres, I finally made it out of the pool and out to transition. Thankfully I was only a couple of seconds behind the lead girls. 750m swim: 12:50 (1:43/100m). It certainly wasn’t my most stellar swim performance, but it was solid enough to keep me in the running.

The bike course is runway flat (literally, as it is the Navy Base Airplane Runway). Great if it’s a sunny day. Not so great when the wind is whipping off the flats and threatening to throw you off your bike. The course was 3 laps and shaped like an upside-down coat hanger. It was a torrential downpour by the time I got out onto the bike course. The headwinds were so strong that I at some points I was going into the wind downhill at 19km/hr. Thankfully the headwind section was fairly short. The crosswinds on the angled portions of the course were nasty, and a few times I really did think I was going to get blown off the course. There was a nice tailwind section though, at which point I threw my bike into the big ring and hammered to make up time. It was a “put your head down and just go” kind of bike course. A massive fight against the elements. 20km bike: 38:45 (31 km/hr).

In T2, I couldn’t even feel my hands to get my helmet off and put on my running shoes. I probably wasted a good 30 seconds in my attempt to get my shoes on my feet. My hands were like icicles. Out of T2 and onto the run.

Ah…the run. This is a bike focus year for me, and my run has, shall we say…suffered? I have to keep telling myself that next year is the year I will get my run back on track. The goal this year is to just keep my run fitness at an average level without losing too much speed. Those weeks of high mileage on the bike and all of 15km of running sure showed yesterday. The run was a nice loop around the residential section of the base. One gradual climb on the front half and all downhill on the back. Anne (the eventual winner of the race), snuck by me just after the first lap, and despite my efforts, she got a bit of a gap, and that was it. I could see her just up ahead of me for the whole run, but couldn’t close in. My legs just wouldn’t go. Taya (the girl who finished third), snuck up behind me at the end of the run and was breathing down my neck for the last 100m. My bf was yelling at me to go faster, and somehow I managed to cross the line in front, a mere 1 second ahead. I finished the run in 25:48 (5:10/km), *slow*, but that’s life.

Because of the nature of the race being split into heats, I had no idea where I was in terms of placing. I knew Anne was ahead of me in my heat, but didn’t know about everyone else. So I was pleasantly surprised with my 2nd place AG, 2nd place overall finish. I was just under 20 seconds behind Anne, and given that I really didn’t feel like I was on my game, I was surprised I finished so well. It was a tough day out there for everyone, I think. Even Tyrone Clarke, the overall winner, who posted an 18 min run split (and 38km/hr on the bike) went over an hour for the sprint. He would have shattered an hour in different conditions.

All in all, it was a fairly solid first race, with a few minor glitches. A definite confidence booster for the season.

Thanks everyone for reading my rather long report. Also, Thanks to my sponsors, Sugoi, Cyclesmith, and Rudy Project. And last, but not least, thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for braving the rain and wind and cold to be there for me from start to finish.

Off to the Race...

Wish me luck!

First race in two days!

Well, my first Tri of the season is two days from today. I haven't been sleeping all that well lately, but I imagine that's just nerves. Yesterday was my last big workout before the race: a 3100m swim followed by a 48km ride. Tonight I might do an easy run, and then tomorrow I'll take the day off (I wanted to swim but it looks like the pool is closed for the weekend *sigh*). I am really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

The race is the Navy Trident Triathlon. It's a sprint: 750 metre swim, 20km bike, and a 5km run. The swim is a pool swim, since there is no way the water is warm enough here to race yet. If I recall correctly from last year, it's a 25m pool. The bike course is really fun -- 3 loops of the Navy Base Airplane Runway system. Very flat and fast. The run is also a couple of loops of the navy residential area. One slight hill.

This will be the first triathlon in which I race in Team Sugoi colours. I sure hope I do them proud! But most importantly, I am just hoping for a solid race. My focus for this race will be keeping up my high cadence on the bike, and smooth transitions.