Monday, July 15, 2013

Crunch time

Eeeeeekkkkkk! Less then 2 weeks until...
I just got big news yesterday while at my other race. Due to the flooding in Alberta in June they have changed our swim location and bike route. Normally I might freak out a bit because changes this close to a race can be scary but I'm going to be honest...
I was dreading the swim in Ghost Dam. Seriously, it is one cold body of water. When I lived in Calgary the only way you went into Ghost was with a dry suit. Did you catch that? Yup, I said DRY suit. Now we will be swimming in the lovely temperatures of Mackenzie Lake. I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it's a manmade lake. Then we ride out 22X to Bragg Creek then back into Calgary. I'm a little bummed about the bike distance being shortened to 86km because I feel like my cycling is on fire right now. I am averaging 30km/hour consistently. My running on the other hand is not so good. Enough about that later.
So as I mentioned I had a race yesterday. So how do you prep for your last race before the big one?
That's right. You go out dancing. FYI, I probably should have rested a bit more but hey I had loads of fun!!!

My little poopsy pie just wanted to dance in my arms.

Big sis couldn't get enough dancing.

The fabulous live band. These guys are awesome! I can't remember the name of the band but they played some great music.

and what's a party without a little Frisbee???

The night ended a little earlier then planed due to the little one having a minor meltdown. Okay that was an understatement. I think hubby was ready to feed her to the wolves after this. I was just happy to spend time with a lovely friend.

So Sunday morning up bright and early. Picked up my lovely friend "PT" for hard core personal trainer. Got to race site for 7am. Got to set up with my bestie and fav training partner "S"
As we were setting up she looks at me and says"um, I think I forgot my timing chip". Seriously? Luckily it happened to be at the bottom of her basket. Phew!
Team Berg set up. I should have taken another picture when our other lovely friend and team Berg member joined us. We cleaned up the joint!
Myself and "PT" ready to roll. Actually we were just waiting in line for the porta potties.


And, some other lovely ladies. Seriously this is my favourite race because all of us do it together. It's super low key lots of fun and I get to be on the course with all of my good buddies.

Normally I don't like posting pictures of me running because, well, they are BAD!!!  However this is the only race photo I have of yesterday so...
I'll be honest. I was not feeling well. I had to duck into the bushes a few times to um, well, you know. I am so collapsed.  Worst part about this photos is my coaches wife took it so he of course see's everything I'm doing wrong. Now I need to remember to stay tall. Another lesson learned.

Anyways, I placed second in my age group and my knee didn't completely give out. I would say this all ended well. 

My lovely friend "R" and I compared ugly feet and most bandaged.
We were quite the pair.

Best part of the day? The family came to cheer me on. Big sis even made a sign.

So now I start my taper for my first 70.3 Ironman. I am still super nervous but I definitely feel more at ease about the course changes. Now it's time to just enjoy the ride.
  

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Counting down

How do you get motivation to train when the weather is hot and all you want to do is be lazy at the lake or beach?
The girls and I have been soaking up the sun every chance that we get. The weather has been fabulous. I should be training hard since we are coming up to my 2 week mark right before my big race.
I'm going to be honest, I am totally freaking out. Why? I don't know for sure. My coach says I've done the training, my friends and training partners have the confidence that I am on track but yet I am nervous like you wouldn't believe. I get twitchy just thinking about it. I just found out that the water temperature in Ghost Dam (where the swim will be) is a nippy 13*. Yikes!!!!! That freaks me out a bit since I've been training in water that's 16-18*. I'm also nervous about my knee. Having a torn meniscus is not fun and I have more then a few people thinking I am beyond crazy racing with one. I worry that it is going to completely give out on the run portion. Yes I could walk but remember this is a half marathon I'm running after riding 95km. If I have to walk 10km back that's going to take me forever.

I am so honoured to have people working with me to get me as healthy and injury free as possible. I actually feel like a pro athlete. I had an awesome professional bike fit yesterday by the great Steve Lund that I'm going to test out today. Saturday I am going in for my special treatment by the awesome Rob Pearce.  My bike guy Berg Bikes has checked and checked again that my bike is in tip top shape and will get me through the race in a good position. My awesome coach has been more then patient with me reassuring that I am going to be just fine. 
All of these people have great faith in me and have totally helped me get to this point. I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am for their support. Seriously they really do make me feel like I'm a pro!

This past week I had some big workouts to accomplish and thankfully I had some awesome friends to help me survive them.
My lovely, amazing and crazy hard core cyclist buddy after we did a great brick workout. There are smiles so it couldn't have been that bad. I'm still trying to convince her to join the crazy world of triathlon.
My big ride this week was an 80km that turned into at least 85km thanks to me not turning my Garmin back on after this...
Yup, a flat! The crazy thing was, my husband told my riding buddies right before we left for our ride to make me stop halfway through our ride to make me change my rear wheel because I haven't done it yet on the new bike. How ironic that I got a flat. Needless to say I sent him a text that wasn't very kind ; ) 
So my buddies sat on the side of the road heckling me while I changed the wheel all by myself. 
14 minutes later (I know that needs work) I finally get everything back together. 
Off we go to ride in the most beautiful part of the world. With the greatest of friends.


There you have it. I'm now gearing down for my 2 weeks of tapering. I have a race this weekend that I am treating as a training day. Looking forward to seeing lots of great friends out on the course and just having some fun. No pressure!!!!!
I'll be back for one more post for a race recap and then we are off to Calgary to prep me for the big one!
  

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The heat is on

Happy belated Canada day!!! 

We had a gorgeously hot Canada day and celebrated with the family. 
I got up bright and early and did a nice swim followed by a bike ride that didn't turn out the way we had hoped. The swim was lovely and warm, we treated it as a brick workout, ran out of the water, stripped our wetsuits off then got ready to ride the route of an upcoming race. We decided to make sure we were properly protected from the sun. Thank goodness "S" brought sunscreen because I completely forgot mine.
By the looks of it you would think she slathered me rather well...

Apparently she missed a spot. OUCH!!!!!
Anyways, off onto the bike. We have done this upcoming triathlon a few times but the bike course has changed and "S" and I aren't familiar with the area. I printed a map to guide us and you would have thought that would help. Unfortunately we totally missed our turn around. We were supposed to only do 30km but it turned into more like a 40km by the time we were done. We never did find our turn around spot. We brought along a new riding buddy and I'm pretty sure she thought we were nuts. She fits right in. I think she has joined our team awesome!

After I got cleaned up from my hot sweaty bike ride I headed off with the family to join in on some Canada Day festivities.
What a great day!

What else did I do last week?
"S" and I did an open water swim at 9pm. It was getting dark by the time we got out of the water but it was so worth the swim.
I also had to be creative and do my bike training indoors due to husband being away at meetings and no babysitter.
Someone fell and hurt her foot and needed a lot of love.

Once I gave her some love she was soooooo happy.
I also had a great run the other day. I've been seeing "my guy" since the knee has been a big problem for me. He manipulates it and it gives me enough relief that I can run on it. It still hurts but its not excruciating. So after my appointment with him I went out for a run to test the waters. I did an easy 5k and my first split was a 4:10/km. I have never ran a split that fast in my life!!!! If only I could maintain that pace. Yesterday I did a crazy 5km run 3 times. One 5km first thing in the morning, 1 right smack in the middle of  a super hot day and my last one was after the kids went to bed thinking it might have cooled off a bit. It was not any cooler. I have to say the last run of the day was super tough. I was tired, I was hot and all I wanted to do was relax. But I did it and that is all that matters!
Speaking of running. See Jane Run Seattle race is coming up fast. SJR race series is absolutely fabulous. Not only do you get to race with fabulous women but you also get a lovely finishers medal, champagne and chocolate!!!!
If you are close to Seattle I really think you should give this race a try. Details are HERE.

Enjoy this super nice weather, I'm off to the beach!