Monday, May 15, 2017

Don't Quit

Well it's been 1 week since the BMO Vancouver Marathon. It's taken me the whole week to reflect on what happened and to move forward. What I thought I was most ready for turned out to be one of my worst nightmares.

I started my saturday morning feeling excited and ready to race. My coach, running partner L and I all met at my house to do 1 last easy effort run before L and I headed out to catch the ferry.


The weather was fabulous. We were so excited. 
We got to Vancouver checked in to hotel and headed down to the expo to have a little fun.


Spent some money, wandered around and headed back to the hotel to put our feet up. 


After some rest we went out for pasta dinner. We had all of our kids with us so we hit up the Gastown Old Spaghetti Factory. I stuck with my usual veg lasagne. Sticking to my usual plan.
We walked back to hotel for an early night. I wished L a good night sleep and planned to meet her in the lobby at 7am.

After a restless night I woke up around 6am. Stuck to my usual routine of Stocked oats and coffee and took a banana with me to eat 30 minutes before the race. Again sticking to my usual plan.
I always get nervous so I spent a lot of time at the port-a-potty. I knew I was doomed with no turning back when I pulled up my pants and my transit card fell down the hole. 
No turning back now!

L and I had plenty of time to get ourselves ready and to the start line. We were in separate corals so I dropped her off at hers and continued on to mine. I got put in the sub 4 hours which is exactly where I should be. All of my training was bang on. There was no reason I couldn't hit a sub 4.

The gun went off and I started off nice and easy. First km was a 5:40 min/km. Exactly what I had discussed with my coach. Ease in to things. That's exactly what I did. I eased in to my 5:15-5:20 pace by the second and third km. I felt pretty good but I did feel like my legs seemed a little heavy for having a once proper taper. I kept going. 
I saw L on our out and back. We were both on track. She looked great! She claims I too looked great. We gave big smiles and waves.
When I was 40 minutes in I decided to take a swig of my Gu. That's when things felt a little off. My stomach was not happy with my Gu. Again, nothing new. These are the same flavour of Gu that I have been training and racing with for the past 2 years. 
After I hit the 10km mark I thought I would try some of my mint Run Gum. It's got caffeine in it and always seems to perk things up for me. Again, I just wasn't feeling it. 
After I hit the 20km mark I really started to feel off. My stomach was not happy, my legs felt like lead. There is no way I should be feeling this way before the halfway mark. Something was off. 
Luckily I saw a port-a-potty up ahead before I really got sick.


I ducked in unsure of what end bad things were going to happen. My stomach revolted and I threw up in a discussing poop filled port-a-potty. 
At this point L more then likely passed me because we never saw each other again. I decided to keep running but I had to significantly slow my pace. I ran another few kilometres and threw up again. I decided to try and walk for a bit. 
I finally aw my husband and kids around 26km. I threw all of my stuff at them. Gu, salts, Run Gum. None of it was helping and I couldn't bare to carry anything. At that point I was so sick. Should I have pulled the plug then and there? Probably, but I didn't. My mind said don't quit.
I trudged along crying and suffering. My lovely friend Ellen (she sold me her amazing P2) caught up to me and saw how wrecked I was. She was so kind to comfort me and see if there was anything she could do for me. I told her not to worry and that she needed to keep going.
The rest of the race consisted of my walking a lot. I tried to run when I could but my stomach bubbled up and then I would throw up. I did 22km solely on water. It was the only thing I could stomach. 
I have not a single photo of me running the marathon which is probably for the best. I'm sure I looked like something from a zombie apocalypse. 
Even though I have done Iron Distance, this race broke me down like nothing else ever has. Usually if I'm fatigued or not feeling well simply walking gets me to the finish line. That day the simple act of walking hurt me so badly it made me cry out in pain. 
You never know your true strength until you put your body to the test. 
I managed to run the last 3 kilometres. One of my Soas team mates was out cheering on that last stretch and I was so weak I couldn't even acknowledge her. 
Don't Quit.
I tried to push myself the last stretch collapsing at the finish to one of the medical volunteers and again throwing up. He tried to take me to the medical tent but I said I was fine. I really wasn't fine. 
Luckily my husband was right there and got me out of there. I just wanted to go home and go to bed.


But, I finished. 

It took me a few days before I started to come around. I suffered from involuntary muscle spasms for 3 days. After lots of Nuun I finally was able to shake those. My immune system was weekend as well. As I sit here and reflect I take another dose of Advil for my sore throat. 
So what happened? Food poisoning? Caught the flu at the wrong possible moment? I really don't know. 
Now that I've had a chance to reflect on everything I look back to see what I would do differently. Would I have pulled the plug before it got so bad? I don't know. I just don't quit. 




Thursday, May 4, 2017

Where have I been?

Well it seems quite some time ago since I last posted. I thought I better check in and let people know where I have been. This winter I had to make a big life decision. I was offered a really great job opportunity, one that does not come around too often. It would give me consistency, work close to home, long term employment and good money. I felt I wasn't quite ready to take on full time work although over the last few years with my 2 jobs I was working close to full time most weeks. It just wasn't consistent. I knew it was going to be a big change because I would no longer have control of my own hours. My days will be longer and it would mean way less time spent with my family. That alone was the hardest to give up. 
However, I want other things for myself and my family. This job was going to help us with that.
So January 1st I started my transition to full time. The only problem is I still held on to my other 2 jobs. So to say we (as in me and my family) it is such an understatement. 


I'm happy that I took on this new job but it has not been easy. I know many others share this same path. We have had bumps along the way and it is making training a lot more difficult. The stress of changing jobs and having to relearn how to do things takes its toll. Luckily I have a pretty awesome coach who has gotten to know me well and spotted right away that work stress was taking its toll on me. He pulled back the training for me despite my stubbornness. 

Now that I have finally balanced life, family, work and training things are starting to look up. 

This year I am representing some pretty amazing teams and companies. 

This will be my 3rd year on the wonderful Team Soas. I have met and gotten to know so many fabulous strong women from this team. They continue to inspire me every day.
Stephanie the owner treats us like gold. Check out our team gear:
This is my 2nd year on Team Nuun. I have been using their stuff for years and cannot do a swim workout without it. Again great team members and always honoured to be a part of it.


This will be my 1st year with Base Performance. The main reason I applied to this team is because their Base Salt saves me in every single hot race I have done. I even shared at Calgary 70.3 last year. Again another fantastic group of like minded athletes. 


This is only half my gear there's more on the way! If you want to try out any of their products let me know and I will share the goodies. Especially the salt.

Last but not least this was my most exciting surprise. Blade Carbon Wheels invited me to join them for the first time this year. I am thrilled to be on this team because first and foremost they are Canadian. I love supporting my country in any way I can. 
These guys make amazing wheels. I can't wait to race on my new wheel set this year.
You should check them out HERE: http://www.bladecarbonwheels.com
and for a little discount plug in: ANDREAMAC

So what are my racing plans for the rest of the year? 
This weekend I am during my first stand alone marathon. I'll be racing in the BMO Vancouver Marathon. I have no idea what to expect since I've never done a marathon without swimming or biking first. I hope to run a strong race but more over be at the finish line for my amazing friend Leslie who embarked on this journey with me to also complete her first marathon.

We treasure our weekly Sunday long runs together supporting each other in tough times. It's amazing how therapeutic the training becomes.

After that I have Coeur D'Alene 70.3 end of June.
Whistler 70.3 end of July.
ITU Worlds Long Distance and aquathlon end of August. 

I'm not going to lie, I do worry about getting enough training in to get me where I want to be but that awesome coach has my back and I know he will do what it takes to take me as far as I can go without throwing me off the deep end.