Mont Tremblant 70.3 Race Recap: Pre-Amble + Swim

We had originally planned on heading to Tremblant on the Friday but a few weeks ago G thought it would be better if we left on Thursday so we booked an extra night at the Tour des Voyageurs where we had booked the rest of our stay.  That actually worked out really well as we got into Tremblant by about 5:30 which gave us time to check in and pick up our race kits.  Picking up our kit on Thursday meant that we avoided the complete insanity that we saw on the Friday and Saturday.  The line up to get race kits was ridiculous both days, probably due to a few things 1) the fact that there was a sprint and olympic race on the Saturday and the fact that they increased the number of people racing the 70.3.  We looked at the numbers in comparison to last year and last year there was just under 2500 people that finished and this year there was almost 2900.  That's HUGE.

As usual, the check in process was smooth and efficient and the volunteers were amazing.  So friendly and enthusiastic.  This years swag ended up coming in very handy.  It was a small over the shoulder pack which I ended up using pretty much every day.  The race t-shirt was kinda gross and was actually too big for me, even though I ordered a small.  I think they do that on purpose so you go and buy Ironman branded race stuff, ha ha.   We went for dinner and a beer at La Diable and then went and met up with Irina, Zin and Louis at La Forge.  We were sitting on the patio and the bugs were brutal and the temperature really started to drop so we called it a night and headed back to the condo.

Friday was overcast and rained on and off for most of the day.  We lazed around in the morning while it rained and as soon as we saw a break in the weather, we walked over to the swim start and went for short swim to test the water.  It was chilly but once you got used to it, it was lovely.   We swam about 600m and packed it in.   It was looking like it was going to rain again.

After the swim we went back to our condo and got ourselves sorted to head down to do some shopping at the Ironman Village.   I have gotten to the point where I don’t feel I need anymore Ironman branded race gear, I’m happy with whatever swag we’re given in our race kits.  That being said, IF the race shirt design is really cool or I really like the colours, I’ll buy it.  The stuff at Tremblant wasn’t bad but I didn’t love it.   I was happy to see a bunch of Women for Tri stuff there so I ended up buying the trucker hat I had been eyeing on the IM website.  I had also wanted to try Roka goggles and there were a TON of them there so I ended up buying a pair.  I liked them so much I wore them on race day (I did a short swim the day bfore to test them out and I loved them so much I opted to wear them).  We wandered around the rest of the booths that were set up and G scored a sweet pair of Zoot Solanas for $70.  There were a ton of Zoot shoes on sale probably because Zoot has stopped making every model except for the Solana and the Ali’i.  So there were deals to be had for sure. 

We hit up Le Shak for lunch and I got a message from a fellow instagrammer / blogger that she was heading into the Village.  I have been following Nathalie on Instagram for a while (and just started reading her blog a couple of months ago) and we had said we should try to meet up.    So G and I wandered over to the Grand Café for a post lunch cappuccino and she met us there.  What a lovely woman.    I felt immediately comfortable with her.  It’s funny when you meet online people for the first time, sometimes it’s just awkward.  You feel like you know a lot about the person but then when you meet them, they seem different than what you see on social media.  Nathalie was exactly the same as her social media voice.   We chatted for quite some time about where things are at for her in terms of her health.   She wanted to talk to me about the potential of working together once things get sorted out with her health.  I hope that I we get that opportunity.  

We parted ways and then G and I went back to the condo and started organizing our race bags.  This was a new thing for this year.   We had done a couple of races where you had bags for each leg of the race and while it keeps things organized, it was a bit of a pain in the ass having to rummage through each one in transition.   We made up all our race day bottles, lounged around and then went out to dinner. 

Saturday

I slept like a log on Friday night.  I don’t think I got out of bed until 7:30 on Saturday morning.  I could hear the  sprint and Olympic distance races happening.    G and I made breakfast, had some coffee and generally lazed about for a couple of hours.  I had wanted to do another swim to test out my new goggles but we couldn’t get into the water until after 11 am so we opted to take the bikes out for one last spin to make sure everything was a-ok.   We rode up Montee Ryan and turned right at the roundabout  and made our way into the old village of Tremblant.   There’s a bike / coffee shop there that does excellent cappuccinos so we stopped to have a coffee on the deck.   We ran into Irina and another FMCT athlete, Mellen.  We chit chatted a bit and then I went out on the patio to sit in the sun.    After our little pit stop we rode back into Tremblant, took the bikes back up to the room, threw on our running shoes and did a 2km run off the bike.   My legs felt good.   4:45-4:50/km pace felt comfortable.  That’s exactly what I was hoping for.    When we got back in, I grabbed all my swim stuff and we booked it down to the beach.  I had to be at the 70.3 sign for 1:30 for the Toronto Triathlon Club picture   I did a quick swim, which totally sucked and put me in a foul mood.  It was choppy and I swam really slowly, even though I felt like I was swimming well.  On the plus side, the new goggles were awesome.   I put the bad swim out of my head and we hustled back to the condo so I could change and run downstairs to join the group.   My swimming had been bothering me as of late, I felt like I was struggling in open water and I was swimming so much slower than I normally would.  I was trying not to let it bother me too much.  There was nothing I could do about it at this point except give it my best.

I met the TTC group and we got our shot done.  It was nice to meet a few more club members and see some familiar faces (hi Brenda, Nancy, Clare & Andy!).    

We ended up winning first place in the Division 1 Tri Club points!  woohoo!

I went back to the condo and G and I got our bikes and brought them down to check them in.   With that done, we were off to the 4:00 pm athlete briefing.  We met up with our friend Deanne and her friend Barb.  It had to be the fastest athlete briefing ever because it was going to POUR.   

We found out that we only had to use the transition bags to bring our gear into transition.   They wanted to avoid having big bags and boxes etc around bikes.  We were allowed to have a mat or towel by our bike with our stuff on it.   WHEW.  With that done, all that was left was a nice dinner at Coco Pazzo and hopefully a good night’s sleep, then it was GO time.   In retrospect, I would have saved dinner at Coco Pazzo for post race.  It was a great meal and one that definitely warranted a glass or two of wine.  Next time, ha ha. 

I was actually pretty tired so I went to bed at 9:30 and fell asleep right away.   I woke up at 1:44 am to go to the washroom and that was it.  I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning.  I couldn’t turn my brain off.  I’ve finally figured out that the stressful part of racing for me is race morning and remembering all the things and making sure I leave myself enough time to get to the start to warm up.  Once I’m down at the start, I’m good.  There is sense of calm that comes over me.  It’s like my brain says ok, you’ve got everything, now it’s time to get down to business. 

The Swim

Despite getting up really early, G and I still had to hustle down to the swim start.  I felt a bit rushed and freaked out a bit about the possibility of not getting a warm up in.  They were singing the National Anthem which meant that the pros were going to start right after.  I was wedging my wetsuit on in the parking lot while G was in the porta potty line.  I ran into Irina, Zin. Mellen and Louis and wished them good luck.  G finished up and we ran over to the last pick up truck and tossed our swim bags in there.  We made our way down to the beach and had to shove our way through all the spectators.  The beach was packed.  This year they had decided to try a rolling start vs. wave starts so there were signs all along the beach where you needed to seed yourself according to your expected swim time.  It was a bit chaotic.   G and I made our way through the crowd.  I wanted to get into the water so I kissed him good bye and gave him a hug and we wished each other good luck.   I went into the water and got acclimatized.  I swam out a few hundred meters did some pick ups, breast stroked a bit, swam some more and then turned around and made my way back.  I ran into my friends Linda and Lois and we swam back into shore together.   As I stood up, I heard my name and turned to see Jody, another friend I’ve met through social media and whom I’d see regularly at MSC races.  I gave her a hug and we wished each other good luck.  I turned to give Linda a hug and high five and I gave Lois a big hug and wished her luck.   Her and I were both injured last year so we sat on the sidelines together and cried at the start.  Not this year.  Both of us were grinning from ear to ear. 

I scuttled off to try and find out where I should seed myself.  I wove my way through the dense crowd on the beach.  It seemed so much bigger than last year, especially when you were looking at it from the water.   My plan was to seed myself with the 32-35 minute group, towards the back.  Well, there was one problem with that, I had no idea where the back of that group was.  So I pushed through a few people along the shore until I could see the 32-35 minute sign, I then stopped and asked a couple of people around me what they were planning on swimming.  One person said 36 minutes, someone else said 35 minutes so I thought ok, I’ll just stay here.    The next thing I knew I was being funnelled into a smaller chute and we were making our way to the edge of the water.  We stood under and arch and there were three openings that looked like subway turnstiles.   There were two volunteers with long flags that were letting people through.  Before I knew it I was standing there waiting for the flag do be raised.  1-2-3.  Go.

The two athletes with me took off into the water.  I waded in and started my watch.  Once the water got up to my waist I started swimming.   I gotta say, the start was very civilized.  Yes, there were people around me but not once did I feel like I was caught in pack or boxed in with slower swimmers.  I got into a good rhythm right away.  I was remarkably calm which made me smile.   Of course I had a Rush song going through my head – I had the chorus of Roll the Bones on repeat  .  Those of you that follow me on Strava were probably wondering WTF I meant with my post titles.  Those were the lyrics I had on repeat throughout the swim and the bike.  “We go out in the world and take our chances, fate is just the weight of circumstances, that’s the way that lady luck dances…”  I can honestly say that was probably one of the best swims I have ever had in a race.  There was ZERO panic.  None.  I was relaxed, my breathing was regular, there was no gasping, nothing.  I was really surprised when I started catching people.  I can only assume that people didn’t really seed them selves all that well.  Realistically I probably should have seeded myself a little further up, but, I never felt like I got held up by anyone slower.  It would have been nice to have some fast feet to follow though.  My watch buzzed signalling 500m and it seemed be really fast.   I wanted to look but that would have meant stopping.  So I kept motoring on.  I didn’t sight much because we basically swam up inbetween a row of boats.   I would sight every so often to see how far the red turn buoy was.  As I got closer to that buoy, I could feel the chop in the water increase.  I’m not sure what was going on there but I was getting smacked in the face every time I tried to see where I was going.  I slowed down a bit here to get my bearings.  I got around the buoy and got back into my rhythm.  I was staying a bit far out from the buoys.  There were a few other folks that were out with me, the majority of people were sticking closer to the buoys.  My watch buzzed again and I couldn’t believe I was already at 1000m.   I came up on a guy that was breast stroking and as I passed him he decided to start swimming.    He swam right up beside me and got right in my bubble.  He then started swimming at me.  I don’t think he had any idea that I was even there.  I stopped, popped my head up and waited for him to pass then I went around him and settled back into my groove.  I felt like I was swimming really well.  I felt strong and I felt in control.  I’d feel the occasional twinge in my right calf but nothing major.  My last long open water swim at Barrelman, my right calf cramped so hard I had to stop swimming.   I could feel that starting to happen when I swam at the quarry the week before so I was a bit worried that would happen again.  I stopped kicking with my right leg for a bit and that seemed to help.     My watch buzzed again to signal 1500m.  Only 400m left.  I started working a bit harder.  My right calf started to get crampy.   I stopped kicking and just started pulling to try to hold off the cramp.  I could see the shore and hear the announcer.     I started kicking again and my calf cramped.  Not super hard but enough that it hurt and I couldn’t kick with that leg.   I could see the water was getting shallower.   I was so close.  I could see people starting to stand up.  I felt that the water was still too deep so I kept swimming until my hand almost touched the bottom.  I stood up but it was still a bit too deep so I did a dolphin dive and that caused my right calf to really cramp.  I stood up and started to unzip my wetsuit.  I glanced down at my Garmin as I touched the shore and I saw 34 minutes and change – YESSSS!!!!  I got the wetsuit off my arms as I came out of the water and luckily got the first two wetsuit strippers.   They yanked it right off me and I grabbed it and ran.   I sprinted by so many people on my way into transition.   The hard part was over and now the fun was going to begin.

Official swim time:  34:56  1:48/100m - squeaked in just under my goal time of 35:00 minutes!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the bike and possibly the run.  We'll see how long winded I get!

Thanks for reading!  

~ Coach PK 

That's A Wrap!

I suppose I could have titled this post the Season That Never Was, but that would be looking at this race season in a negative light.  I'm trying to stay away from that mindset and look at the good things that came from this season.

Yes, I got injured and didn't compete in my A-race.  Yes, that sucked big time.  There were tears.   But, after that race day came and went, I focused on what I could do and that was swim and ride my bike.  I spent a lot of time in the saddle this summer.  I worked on my swim stroke.  And I worked on fixing all the little things that contributed to my injury in the first place.  I'm not 100% sure that everything is fixed but I'm definitely feeling and moving better.  

I went back to Dr. Galea last week to go over the results of my MRI.  I finally got an injury diagnosis and it told me what I suspected all along:   "Mild tendinosis at the origins of the hamstrings bilaterally.  Low grade partial tear of the posterior fibres of the semimembranosus tendon origin from the left ischium"

Essentially, I tore my hamstring tendon at the insertion point.   It was small tear but it was painful.  There is some scar tissue kicking around in there still so that will have to be worked out because I still feel like there is some restriction of movement through the gait cycle.  I also still feel some pressure in and around my glut / upper hamstring.  So it looks like I'm going to be working on strengthening my hamstrings for the next little while.  The good news is that Dr. Galea thinks that this is all fixable via gait retraining.  He said that my left glut either doesn't fire or fires late (previous gait analysis has shown that it fires late).  Right now it's not even firing and that's probably due to the injury.  He's recommended that I go see a physio by the name of Laura McIntyre at The Urban Athlete so that's where I'm off to tonight.

I am hoping that I come out of this stronger and more aware of my body and how it functions.  

On to the really positive things!  

Despite not running, I still managed to get a couple of races in.  And because of all the riding I had been doing, I actually set a new 20 minute power record on the bike at the Ontario Women's Triathlon.  That really surprised me.  I went from 221 watts to 233 watts.  I still can't believe that.  Once I got injured, I stopped training with power and I just rode.  Paolina always told me not to be a slave to the numbers.  I figured I wasn't training for anything anymore so I didn't need to pay attention to the data.  It paid off.

This past weekend, I did the swim leg of The Barrelman Half Ironman with my two friends David B and David L.  Or the Double D's.  Our team name was Phaedra and her Spectacular Double D's.  Yup.  We went there.  The guys thought it was really funny.  I was a bit upset at first (I had suggested PK vs. my actual name) but, I couldn't deny it was pretty hilarious.    

If you've been reading this blog for the last few years, you know that open water swimming is not my favourite and that it gives me a fair bit of anxiety.  I have slowly been getting better at dealing with said anxiety.  I know I could have said "No" when David asked me if I wanted to be the swimmer but I thought 1) it's a chance to race 2) I get to spend the day with a couple of my favourite people and 3) it's only the swim, not the entire race.  I figured I'd be fine.

Leading up to the race, I was ok but the day before I could feel the nerves setting in.  I didn't sleep well the night before.  Race morning there was a fair bit of griping.  I was nervous.  I hadn't swam more than 1800m in open water in my wetsuit this year and that was with stops.  This would be 2km straight.  Although I could have stopped if I wanted but it's a race.  I don't like to stop.

I knew a ton of people that were going to be racing so race morning was very social which really helped to alleviate my anxiety.   There was so much chatting and hugging and laughing that I could feel my nerves easing.  David B got all set up in T1 and I started getting myself sorted.   I wedged myself into my wetsuit gave the Double D's hugs and made my way into the water to do a good warm up.  My wave went at 9:05 and I was in the water by 8:45.

Me and my spectacular Double D's.

I swam to the other side of the canal and then back to the middle.  Off to the other side, back to the middle.  I floated for a bit, swam over to the edge, got out to fix my wetsuit and went back in.  Everything felt fine.  My wetsuit was comfortable.  My goggles were snug.  I was ready.  I tread water, listened to the National anthem and smiled.  I felt relaxed.  There were some nerves but not the anxiety that I normally felt.  The pros went off to a loud cheer from the crowd.  Then wave two went off.  My wave was up next.  I fell to the back and off to the side a bit.  No need for me to be up at the front in the fray.  The horn went off, I hit start on my Garmin and let the crowd go.  A few seconds later I started slowly swimming and caught my first pair of feet.  I navigated my way towards the shoreline of the canal away from the pack.  I figured I'd be better off out here for the first little while.  I may not get the benefit of the draft but at least I could get into a good rhythm.

There weren't too many buoys along the course so instead of playing the count your strokes between buoys game to keep my brain occupied, I just counted strokes, period.  I focused on making sure I exhaled as soon as I put my face in the water so there was no panicky breathing.  I swam at a very comfortable pace for the first little while.  Not pushing it but not too slow either.  I had had a massage on the Thursday night before the race and David had really worked at freeing up my T-spine and getting a bit more mobility through my ribs and shoulders.  I felt really good.  I actually felt like I could breathe better as well.   I chugged along comfortably.  I came up to the 250m mark sign on the embankment and had one small moment of "holy shit I'm only at 250m???" .  I quickly dismissed that thought and started counting strokes again.

I hit the 500m mark and thought ok, I'm 1/4 of the way through and knew that I would be coming up to the first green buoy soon so I started sighting properly.  I didn't bother for the first bit as I just used the riverbank as a guide.  I started to swim in towards the buoy and surprisingly didn't get caught up in much of a crowd.  WOOHOO!

As I swam towards the other turnaround buoy, I remember thinking to myself that I was feeling really warm.  And I was hungry.  The water was 24 degrees, which is pretty toasty for a full wetsuit.  I lamented the fact that I probably should have drank my entire bottle of Roctane before I got in the water.  Oh well.  I got around the second big green buoy without incident and thought "Woohoo, I'm halfway done!"

Shortly after I passed that buoy, I kicked a bit hard to pass someone and my right calf cramped.  Shit. I stopped kicking with that leg and just used my arms and my left leg for a bit until the cramp subsided.   I picked up the pace again.  I had gotten into a really good rhythm and was now working a bit harder.  I could see the 500m sign on the embankment and thought "Awesome only 500m to go!"  I felt like I was swimming really well.  I had caught a bunch of people from the wave in front of me.  Just after I passed the 500m mark my right calf cramped again so I went back to the one-legged kick. It eventually went away and I went back to kicking normally.  I could see the final green buoy coming up so I started to swim harder.  As I came up to the finally buoy my left calf cramped so hard it stopped me in my tracks.  I felt like someone kicked me really hard in the calf.  I stopped swimming and yelled OUCH.  I couldn't point my foot.  It hurt way too much.  Even when it was flexed up, it hurt.  I reached down to massage it and that hurt.  I was almost in tears it hurt so much.  I kept saying ouch, oh fuck, ouch ouch ouch.   I was so close to being done and I was swimming so well.  I was pissed.  I tried moving forward but my calf spasmed some more.  That resulted in a very loud FUCK. A swimmer stopped and asked if I was ok and I said no.  She asked if I wanted her to flag someone down and I said yes.  She waved and I think she got the attention of someone on a paddle board.  I tread water for a bit more and then put my face in the water and just used my arms.  My entire left leg was hurting at this point.  Eventually I tried kicking with my right foot.  That helped.  The cramp started to subside enough that I could kick but my calf still really hurt.  I swam as hard as I could to the swim exit.  As soon as my hands started grabbing gravel, I stood up.  I hobbled out of the water and started pulling off my wetsuit.  I was boiling hot.  I ran by David L and my friend Jen and David was yelling that I didn't have to get my wetsuit off.  I was so hot, I just wanted to get out of if.  I ran into T1 and found David B.  I yanked the chip off my ankle, passed it to him and he was off.   I hobbled out of transition to find the other David.  My calf was sore for the rest of the day and it's STILL sore today.  At least I'm almost walking normally now.

I hit stop on my watch as soon as I got out of the water.  Even with my stop for cramping I managed to swim 36:23 for 2km.  Not a PR by any stretch but pretty darn good given that I haven't focused on any real speed work in the pool.   The best part?  Not one single moment of panic.  I felt in control the entire time.  I'd call that a race day win and it's something I'm going to make sure I remember going into next year's race season.  I feel like maybe, just maybe, I've conquered the swim anxiety  demons that have plagued me for the last few years.

With my portion of the race done, I was able to chill out and spend the rest of the afternoon cheering people on and socializing.  I couldn't think of a better way to end my season.  In the car on the drive home, I was thinking about all the fantastic people I've met because of this crazy sport.   As I said on Instagram the other day, I feel pretty darn lucky.

Now it's "maintenance mode" time.   Time to really focus on fixing all the little things before I start to get back into the swing of things in January.   Next year there is another huge group of us heading to Tremblant do to the 70.3 and then myself, G, Irina and Zin have signed up to do Lake Placid 70.3  Yup, two half Ironmans in the span of 2.5 months.  If that isn't motivation for me to get better, I don't know what is.

Winding Down

Here we are, heading into the final week of 2015.   I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Ours was the usual bit of crazy.  I also came down with a cold on Christmas Eve so that really sucked.  I'm just getting over it now.   I had big workout plans for Boxing Day but thought it would be better to take that extra day of rest.  I also had a big feast to prepare for so I lounged around in my pjs for a bit in the morning and then tackled cleaning up the dining room and getting things ready for the Kennedy - Rodrigues family invasion.   I managed to squeeze in my physio work and then buckled down in the kitchen to prep some things to freeze for lunches and then get started on dinner.

I still had a pretty good week of workouts, especially now that I'm back running.  Sure it's not more than 3-4km at a time but it's better than nothing.  And, I got to run in shorts on Christmas Eve.  It was 15 degrees and sunny.  Christmas Day we drove to my parents with the top down on the Eos.  Hello El Nino.  The weather is changing a bit now but it's still warmer than it usually is this time of year.  I think my time in shorts is probably done, ha ha.

It was a pretty busy week with my last couple of days of work, G's birthday and then Christmas and Boxing Day.  I didn't make it to the pool during the week at all.  We were out late on Tuesday for G's birthday dinner.  We went to Canoe.  What an experience that was!  Great food and a spectacular view.  So amazing.

The view from Canoe - the 54th Floor of the TD Tower.

Of course I slept in the next day.  Splitting a bottle of wine will do that to me, ha ha. I did make it to hot yoga though.  And I got in a wee run.  Christmas Eve a bunch of us went to WattsUp and did a 75 minute ride inside, even though it was spectacular out.  After the ride 2 of my friends ran / walked with me.  WattsUp is really close to my house so we ran down to the water and they turned around and went back up and I headed east through Samuel Smith Park towards home.   It felt like spring out it was so warm.  And then I got sick, ha ha.  Oh well.

Anyway, this is how this past week rolled out:

Monday:  Skipped swimming but ran 3.17km and then did a 40 minute easy ride on the trainer in the p.m.
Tuesday:  3.28km run, 40 minute strength session
Wednesday:  75 minute hot yoga class, 4.47km run
Thursday:  75 minute ride, 4.07km run

Friday:  OFF - CHRISTMAS!!!!
Saturday:  OFF
Sunday:  2200m swim, 60 minute hot yoga class, 4.4km run.

Total time:  7h 56 minutes.  Gradually building back up to my usual 9 hours.

Despite my knee nonsense, I ended up signing up for yet ANOTHER race in 2015.  We're off to Florida for a training camp in March and this race is at the START of the training camp.  I'm pretty excited because I'll get to meet Kelli Wright and Allison Reed, two ladies I follow on Instagram (and I read Kelli's blog regularly). Team Wattie Ink is holding a training camp that weekend and a bunch of them will be racing so we will all get to meet.  SO MUCH FUN!  It will be my first Olympic distance race in over 10 years, which should be interesting.   It will definitely test my limits.  I'll have to work at pacing myself vs. going all out like I would in a sprint.

How was your Christmas?  Did you travel or stay close to home?  Did you get anything exciting?  G got me a Macbook Air that is super fast and super light.  I also got a lot of interesting beer, ha ha.

August Already!

Ok.  Will somebody PLEASE but the brakes on summer??  I can't believe it's August already!!!  I guess that's what happens when you jam pack your weekends with races, training, trips and visits with family and friends. 

Last week was a REALLY short week for us.  We didn't get back from Newfoundland until Wednesday mid afternoon so I only had two days of work last week, which was lovely.  I didn't come back to chaos which was also really lovely.   I like being able to ease back into the swing of things versus being punched in the face with busy as soon as I step through the door.  

Despite being away, I still managed to do some kind of workout almost every day, in addition to walking EVERYWHERE.  I think we must have walked anywhere between 4-6km a day, depending on what we were doing.  There was a pretty decent gym at the hotel so I got in a few good weight workouts as wel.  What we did miss was swimming and biking.  The Atlantic Ocean was a balmy 8 degrees so people weren't flocking to the beach to go swimming, ha ha.  And we didn't want to lug our bikes with us on this trip so that was out.  But we made up for it when we got back.

Monday:  40 minute gym workout + walking around St. John's

Tuesday:  11km run with G + a walk half way up Signal Hill and around St. John's

Wednesday:  OFF (travel day!)

Thursday:  Back in the saddle to ride with Morning Glory.  That was ugly.  40km done. 

Friday:  Back in the pool after 10 days off.  Not as ugly as I thought.  The pool supervisor showed up half an hour late so I only got in 1500m before I had to get out.  Better than nothing especially since I was racing the next day.

Saturday:  Bracebridge Sprint Tri - 750m swim, 20.9km bike, 5km run.  Race report to come!  Photo courtesy of Christa Davidson. 

Sunday:  15km recovery run.  I finally felt good!  I'm almost back to 100% I think.  The last 1.5km was tough as my knees started to hurt and my sciatica started to flare a little bit but that is progress. Considering that's my longest run since Muskoka, I'll happily take it.

Total time:  6h 14 minutes.  Training Stress Score:  405 - which means I had a fairly intense week.  This is something I'm going to start elaborating on / including in more of my weekly recaps. 


Don't forget, tomorrow is Tri Talk Tuesday and we're talking Triathlon Favourites!  I can't WAIT to see what everyone posts about tomorrow!

How was your week?  Do you try to stay active on vacation?

Spring Is Around the Corner!

First off, I want to say Thank You to everyone for your condolences regarding my Aunt.  I really appreciate it.  It was a tough week, that's for sure.

Secondly, Oh HELLO MARCH.  I can't believe it's here already.  I ran my first race of the season yesterday (recap to come) and tomorrow is my birthday.   Yup.  44 here I come.  Top end of my age bracket this year.  FUN!  Now that March is here, spring is literally just around the corner!  The temperatures have even started to rise.  Yesterday was a balmy -7 at the start of the race. 

Speaking of March, tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month so that means Tri Talk Tuesday is back.  Tomorrow we're talking about the swim and how to improve it so if the swim is where you struggle, you're not going to want to miss it!

This wasn't a crazy busy weekend so I'm not really sure where the time went.  We went out with some friends on Friday night and then had a lazy Saturday morning.  I picked up my race kit from my friend David and then dragged my butt to the gym to go for a swim since I hadn't been almost all week.  I got in 2500m, mostly with fins to try and stretch out my super sore calves.  It kind of helped but I think I really hammered the crap out of them on Thursday.  I've started going to the Runner's Academy to continue working on my knee issues.  The focus now is on retraining my gait.  There will probably be a pretty massive post on this at some point soon.  Anyway, Saturday afternoon just seemed to fly by and then Saturday evening we went over to a friends place to hang out for bit.  They have a huge rink in their backyard so G brought his skates and joined in a game of 3 on 3.  It was fun to watch. 

Yesterday most of my day was spent traveling to and from the race as it was out in Burlington and I stuck around after the 5km to cheer on my friends and athletes that were running the half.  When I got home, I still had a ton of energy so I got on the bike for an easy spin.  Well, really it was more so I could watch Vikings, ha ha.  Anyway, this is how my week went down.

Monday:  2500m swim in the a.m.  Pilates in the p.m.  That was such a great workout.  Elyse took my MRI results to her mentor for some recommendations on the best things to do and my next few sessions with her are going to be all about rotation.  I said she was going to turn me into a whirling dervish and we had a good laugh about that. 

Tuesday:  50 minutes of strength & mobility work + 20 minutes on the treadmill.

Wednesday:  60 minute trainer ride at 70.3 race pace.  THAT was awesome. 

Thursday:  60 minutes of strength & mobility work in the a.m., 35 minute ride in the p.m.

Friday:  OFF

Saturday: 2500m swim

Sunday:  2km warm up, 5km race, 45 minute easy spin on the trainer.

Total time:  7h 27 minutes

Because it's my birthday week, I get a free class at Moksha Yoga so I'm going to make a point of getting to that, hopefully on Saturday.  I really need to stretch out my legs.  Especially now that I've been told to start increasing my run mileage.  YEAH!  That was the best news I had all last week.  So of course, I automatically start thinking about what races I want to do, ha ha.  I don't think I'll be ready for an early May half marathon but we'll see.  I have two athletes running the Mississauga full and one running the half so I was going to be there anyway....we'll see how things go. 

How was your week of workouts?  Did you race this weekend?

Boston 2014: Why I'm Going Back

Yesterday I was surfing facebook when a friend request appeared.  I clicked on it and didn't recognize the woman at all.  I went to her profile, looked around and saw she was from Boston.

Ok.

A few minutes later a message pops up and it's from her.  Her name is Barb Hudson and she lives in the Cleveland Circle area.  She comes out almost every year to take pictures of the race.  She sent me a note saying that she had taken a picture of me and that I was welcome to tag myself in it.   I accepted her friend request and went looking for the album.

Sure enough I went through all the pics and there I was.  Up close and personal.  And still smiling.   Sort of. 

I was amazed that someone had actually taken the time to go through all their pictures, find out the name of each runner and then reach out to them to let them know there was a picture of them from the race.

This is how our conversation unfolded:

I'm going back because of people like Barb.  Folks like her make Boston the race that it is.   I consider it an honor to have these people cheering for us crazy runners.  I'm sure that most people would agree, the spectators make the race.

To Barb and all the other spectators that will be lining the streets next year, I look forward to coming back and celebrating with you.   As Barb so aptly puts it:

She's right.  Goodness WILL prevail.  Of that I am certain.

What's Your Motivation?

When I started running 13 years ago, it was still considered somewhat of a "fringe" sport in most circles.  There weren't a ton of road races or marathons to choose from in Ontario.  There were a few "big" ones (and by big, I mean well publicized).  Around the Bay was a big one as was the Toronto International Marathon (which is now the Good Life Marathon) and the Waterfront Marathon (which is now The Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon).   It used to be that you could decide last minute to enter one of these races as they hardly sold out.  How that has changed.  The running industry has grown exponentially over the last 20 years and shows no real signs of stopping.  This growth has meant that more and more people are testing themselves at races.  This in turn means that more and more races are filling up quicker.  It's not unheard of for some of the more popular races to sell out months before the actual event.  The Chilly Half Marathon, Around the Bay and The Toronto Women's Half are popular ones.  Coincidentally they are 3 of the races that I'd like to do next year.

It's crazy to think that my racing year hasn't even ended yet and I'm already thinking about what races I'm going to do next year so I can get my registrations in early.   I do see this as a positive thing though.  To me it means that more and more people are stepping up to the plate and making the choice to lead a healthy lifestyle.   They are following a plan and sticking with it to the end.  That is no small feat.  It takes dedication and perseverance.   The sense of accomplishment one feels after completing a marathon, or any race that you've put the training in for, is something you will always have.

For me, the accomplishment is only part of the picture.  I enjoy the process of training as much as the result.  I am always learning and to me that is a big part of the process.  A race is where you put your knowledge to the test, along with your endurance, stamina & guts.  You put what you've learned into practice.  That's what keeps me motivated, that's what keeps me coming back to the start line.

What's your motivation?

Good Things Come in Threes

And since I consider 3 to be my lucky number, mainly because I was born on the 3rd day of the 3rd month, I thought that getting a bib number with 333 on it might just be a sign of good things to come.

I spent the latter half of this week kicking myself for registering for this race.  It was one week after I ran the T.O. Women's Half and I thought it might just be too much for me to handle.  Once again, the Specter of Self Doubt nagged at me all day Friday and Saturday.  My friend Linnea, who always manages to look at the positive side things said to me "Who cares, do what you can, go out burn some calories and get a tan."   Perfect advice.  

I had taken it relatively easy all week.  No weight workouts and just short intense runs (2 to be exact) a couple of short bike rides and a couple of swims.  All total I don't think I worked out more than a total of 4 hours.  Which for me is not a lot.  Normally I'm up around the 8 hour mark for a week.  But I figured my body needed the rest.  It didn't help that this week was also quite busy at work and that I either worked late or was out late every night this week.  For a creature of habit, this was not ideal.  But, there was nothing I could do about any of it.  I took it very easy on Saturday and kept off my feet for most of the afternoon. 

We got to the race site with 40 minutes to spare so I went out and did a short warm up run (8 minutes) and then waited in line for the loo.  I had a bit of time after to do another 2 minutes of pick ups.  My legs didn't feel great, but they didn't feel horrible either.   The temperature had risen to about 18 degrees at 7:30 am which meant that this was going to be a hot one.  Oh well, nothing I could do about that either. 

I said goodbye to Gary and wove my way up into the crowd to get as close to the start line as possible.  Which was a little challenging given that they narrowed it down with gates so it created a bit of a bottleneck.  Oh well.  As I stood there waiting, I felt a sense of calm wash over me.  This race didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  It wasn't my A race.  It was a training race.  I wanted to see what I could do on tired legs.  Just how much I'd hurt and how I'd deal with that when that time came.

The gun went off and I shuffled my way through the starting gate.  There was a 5km that started at the same time as the 15km so it was a bit hairy for the first few km.  Of course, I flew out of the gate and started running 4:15 km's.  Ummm....yikes.  That hurt and I was gasping for air.  I finally managed to slow myself down and settle into some kind of rhythm by the 3km mark.  I felt crappy though.  Really really crappy.  I toyed with the idea of turning off at the 5km turn off but opted not to.  That would defeat the purpose of this race.


Just before 4km in I had my first bit of Roctane.  I had brought 2 with me and wasn't sure if I'd use both.  The way my legs were feeling at that point, I wish I had brought 3.  But alas.  I was going to have to make do with that I had.  Somewhere around the 7km mark, I actually started to feel good.  I had been trading spaces with another woman for about 2km.  I'd pass her a bit and then she'd surge ahead.  I'd catch her again and then she'd surge ahead again.  I wasn't going to play that game so I tucked in behind her as we climbed one of the many rollers on this course and stuck behind her until we hit the 8km mark.  I started to pick it up a bit here as I was feeling really good. 

It was at this point that I saw the first place woman heading back.  She had a HUGE lead.  I also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see where I was in the pack.  Eventually I saw the second place woman.  Then the 3rd.  The 4th, 5th and 6th all ran by in a small pack and then I saw the 7th who was not too far ahead of me.  SWEET!  I was in 8th place.  I had no idea how close any of the other women were but I figured I'd catch a glimpse of them at the turnaround.  Sure enough, the woman I had dropped was there but she had fallen back a fair bit.  I noticed a few other ladies but no one really seemed to be gaining.  YEAH.

Until I hit the 10km mark and this little Asian woman passed me like I was standing still.  Holy smokes.  I'm not sure were she came from but I didn't have an answer for her.  At this point my legs were starting to scream at me.  I had slowed down a fair bit as well.  I had one Roctane left.  I decided to down the entire thing.  I figured worst case scenario I had 25 minutes left (if I slowed down to 5 minute kms).  I seriously thought about that.  I thought about stopping and walking.  I thought about giving up.  But...giving up is not my style.  I finish what I start.  I just had to suck it up and give 'er.

At 11km the course started to climb a bit and I struggled to keep going.  I shortened my stride a bit and pushed my shoulders back and lifted my head to look "up" the road.  This seemed to help somewhat.  I made it to 12km and grabbed some gatorade at the aid station.  Only 3 more km.  Less than 15 minutes.  Run through the pain.   Stay in the top 10.  Stay in the top 10.  That was my mantra. 

Just past 13km, the course goes uphill again.  I pushed hard going uphill.  I could feel that last big surge of adrenaline building in me.  If my legs had lungs, they would have been howling in pain.  They felt numb.  I was huffing and puffing.  I got to the top of that hill and turned the corner, knowing that I was on the road that went down to the finish line.  I could see the woman that passed me earlier up ahead.  I pushed a little harder.  I was spent.   I got close to her but ran out of real estate.   Oh well.  At least I was still in the top 10!

I found Gary and we wandered into the school to get some food, stretch and check the results.  I have a tough time guessing anyone's age just by looking at them but several of the women in the lead pack looked young.  The rest of them were probably around my age or older at least.   Turns out that only 3 of the women in the lead pack were younger than me.  The rest were my age or older.  Talk about a tough field.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when Gary told me I was third in my age group!  333 race bib and a third place finish.  SWEET!  Gary went back and looked at the results again to see where the first, second and third overall women's finishers were and because one of them was in my age group, I got bumped up to second place as the race policy was that they didn't duplicate categories.  So since this woman got second overall, that took her out of first place in my age group and bumped the second place female up to first and me into second.  WOOOHOO!  My second podium of the season.  And on tired legs to boot.

Maybe there is something to all this racing after all.....

Me with my second place finisher's plaque.

Cute finisher's medal.

Stay tuned for next week's Woodstock Tri race report.  Or the Big Kennedy Showdown as I'm calling it.  Who will have the better run split?  Me or G?

Expect The Unexpected - Toronto Women's Half Race Report

As a producer I live by this.  I don't normally take it account into my personal life though.  I suppose I probably should given the way things have been happening as of late.

This past weekend I ran The Toronto Women's Half.  I have never run a race that was just geared towards women.  I have to say that race director Cory Freedman is definitely on to something.  From the wonderfully designed race t-shirt (shout out to my talented friend Natalie Serkin for that), the amazing swag bag, the fantastic Fireman Aid station and the awesome finishers medal, Cory has managed to create a wonderful event that really is geared to a womans sensibility.  I have to say this is the first finishers medal that I've been able to wear the day AFTER the race and not feel like a geek for wearing it!  I can see why the race sells out early.  This was only the 3rd year and I think it was sold out by February.  There are 2 other races in the series, a 10km in August and an 8km in October, both of which I plan on doing.   The vibe of the race is incredibly laid back.  Lots of really good energy.  Even amongst the fast ladies at the front.   As we lined up in the starting corral, I noticed a lot of chatting and laughing.  I don't ever really recall seeing that at larger mixed gender races. It was a nice way to start a tough 21.1km journey.

The race course is a challenging one.  They had to make a few last minute adjustments to construction on Pottery Road so I'm not sure if those changes made it even tougher or easier.  There were false flats and a couple of nasty climbs, especially the one at about 18km coming back over the bridge at Don Mills.  That was just plain EVIL.  The race took place on the bike path through Sunnybrook and Taylor Creek Park.  I'm not generally a fan of racing on paths but this was really nice.  It was almost like trail running without the trail because there were trees everywhere.  There were some points where it seemed pretty desolate (i.e no one around cheering) but the same could be said for any smaller road race.  The volunteers were amazing as were the race marshalls and the random spectators that dotted the bike paths. 

I was incredibly nervous leading up to this race.  Mainly due to the fact that I felt like I hadn't really trained enough.  Which was absolutely ridiculous but even after all my years of running, I have yet to be able to really quell this completely illogical fear no matter how much I have trained.  My training was somewhat spotty but I did a few over distance runs during this round of training as well as a whole lot of racing in a 2 month period (8km, a 10 miler and a 10km).  So realistically I was well equipped to run 21.1km.  My goal was to go sub 1:45.  I figured I had that in me at least.  I ran a 1:47 at the Chilly Half in March on less training and in crappy conditions.  I figured shaving 2 minutes off shouldn't be an issue as long as I tapered well and rested up before the race.  Well, I think I nailed one of those 2 things.  The taper went very well.  The resting up before the race, not so much.  I spent the Saturday before the race running around the city.  I made sure I packed some food with me but realistically it wasn't enough.  By the time I finally got home and sat down, it was about 4:30 pm and I could have eaten a horse.  Instead I had a burger and then another burger patty, both with cheese, and a salad.  Probably not the best pre-race food but it was quick and easy.  I slept surprisingly well and got up early.  We made it to the park in plenty of time.  I did a short warm up jog (in restrospect this should have been MUCH longer than the 500m I ran) and then stood in line for the porta potty.  I wandered around the race site with hubby, saw a couple of friends and tried to relax.  I eventually made my way into the starting corral and saw a few other Team RF athletes from the Newmarket store.  Chatted with them for a bit and then got ready to race.  I got up towards the front, behind the really fast looking ladies, as I figured it would be nice to have the space.  I figured I'd get passed by some faster women but hopefully not a lot.

The gun went off and I took off.  Far too fast of course.  5 minutes in and I felt awful.  It took me about 4km to calm down.  I ended up running with a couple of other women for about 2km or so and that helped slow me down.  At points were were running 3 abreast and I kinda felt like we were Charlies Angels.  There was a blonde, a brunette with shorter hair and then me.  Not really Kate, Farrah and Jacklyn but whatever.  We kept up a relatively decent pace (about 4:50-4:55's) and I thought ok, if this is all I've got today then so be it, it will still get me to the finish line under 1:45.   I did feel at times like I was struggling and I was a bit concerned that I was going to start to slow down as the km's ticked by.  Especially when I hit a false flat and my pace slowed to 5:00-5:05 km's and my heart rate spiked.  That didn't help the negativity that was starting to creep in.  What did help temporarily banish those thoughts were the random cheers of "WOOHOO" echoing through the trees that I'd hear every so often.   I couldn't help but smile.  There were points along the path where runners would be passing each other, one group on their way out and one group on their way back and there was a lot of cheering, woo-hooing and shouts of "you go girl".  It was pretty amazing.  I found myself smiling a lot, cheering women on, calling them by name (thank goodness for personalized race bibs!).  This in turn seemed to affect my pace.  My step became lighter and I felt like I was being pushed along by the amazing energy that was making it's way along that trail.  I eventually pulled away from my Charlies Angels pals and settled into my own pace.  I hit the Fireman's Aid station and was quite pleased with what I saw.  No one was shirtless, at least not yet, but they were a fine looking bunch of men, that's for sure. 
The aid stations seemed to be well placed, although the only ones I really used were the Firefighter one (twice, ha) and the one at the 14km mark (with the crazy wig wearing folks).  The rest of the time I relied on my own supply of water and GU Brew.  I had my fueling strategy pretty much down pat and never really experienced any sort of drop in energy which was great.  Thank goodness for Roctane.  That stuff really is liquid gold.  I finally settled into a decent groove at about the 10km mark, which I went through in 47:36.  I actually felt like I had stopped hurting and that I was running well.  Note to self, next time I need to do a solid warm up as it shouldn't take me 10km to feel "good".  This feeling continued right through to about the 18km mark when I hit the back end of the Don Mills bridge.  Oh good GOD.  It HURT going up that hill.  There was another little hill after you descended from that one that also hurt.  It was like my legs hardly had time to recover the from the nasty uphill before they had to go up again.  The lactic acid build up in my legs hurt.  I had managed to hold it off until 18km so I was pretty pleased about that at least.  I had definitely picked up the pace a bit because I was slowly reeling in 2 women that had passed me earlier.  At 19km they had a chocolate aid station.  I wasn't going to grab anything here but there was a little girl about 4 years old who was so excited to be handing out chocolate bars that I had to stop and grab one just because she was so adorable.  I didn't really have any place to put it so I hung on to it.  Just after I passed that aid station I came up on woman number one who had passed me earlier.  She had stopped and was bending over.  As I ran up I asked if she was ok and she looked at me and I thought she nodded slightly so I kept going.  A little further up the path, there was another woman who was having trouble as well.  She was running and then stopped to walk as I passed her.  Just before the 20km mark, I saw a bike marshall riding towards me.  It took me a minute to realize it was my friend Tara Norton.  She had ridden out to see where I was at.  She turned around and rode me in, blowing her whistle.  SWEET - I had my own bike marshall!!  People were trying to figure out who this chick was (me), since the winners had crossed the finish line already.  My own husband didn't even know.  He thought that maybe Tara was bringing in the Masters Leader and then he realized it was me.  He was pretty surprised.  As was I to be honest. I had been doing mental calculations from about the 16km mark based on running 5 min km's (knowing that I would be faster than that) and I figured I'd be coming in around 1:43 or just under.   Once I hit the 19km mark I knew that I was going to be way faster than 1:43.  I ran that last km as hard as I could.  It hurt like hell.  As it should I suppose.  As I approached the finish line I saw 1:41:31.  My official time was 1:41:37.  

Holy Crap.  I was beside myself.   That was a new PB for me by 2 whole minutes!   I certainly didn't think I had that in me going into this race.  My goal of a 1:40 half marathon at 40 is DEFINITELY within reach.  Gary thinks that I should set myself a "hard goal" for my A-race (something like a 1:35) and see what I can do.  We shall see.  I do know one thing for sure.  1:40 will be going DOWN come October.  Of that I am absolutely certain.

Final results:  5th of out 227 women (my age group was the largest so I am quite pleased) and 22nd overall.

I'll take it.

Next up:  The Bread and Honey 15km this weekend.