TRAINING, RACING, AND EATING ENOUGH CALORIES

Long Run to Burlington, ON Pier 

It's been a busy couple of months since the Niagara Barrelman 70.3. I've been juggling new job responsibilities with family and kids' commitments, taking care of the home and training for my first Ironman Triathlon.  

This Triathlon season we are working on my weaknesses (bike and run), and maintaining my strength, swimming.  It's been a struggle for me running 75-95km per week with the kilometres continuing to climb.  We are working on building power in my legs; to help with this I've added a strength training routine into the schedule 3X per week, provided to me by my husband, to be triathlon specific.  It's difficult for me to really see where I sit with training and if I'm improving when I feel tired from this new training schedule and keeping up with life commitments.  I'm one of those athletes that likes to race all year long.  I believe it's important for confidence, seeing if  bench marks are being hit, and most importantly, learning how to race. So I asked for some early races. 

Road To Hope: Last 6 km of the
21.1km was side by side with
this awesome girl.

My coach  listened to me, just as I listen to him, and we have done two races so far this fall training block.  Not triathlons, it's way to cold for this fair weather girl to swim in some Ontario lake after September. A running race and a swimming time trial are what has kept this girl happy and motivated.  Let me tell you why with two quick race recaps.

The Road to Hope Half Marathon is a fairly flat and good run course.  I haven't run an official Half-marathon, outside a triathlon, since I was 27 years old, and even then I only ran one and it wasn't fast.  My teammates from Tri-Hart were with me so that helped keep my nerves to a minimum.  We hadn't rested for the race, we had only taken one day off training, and we were going to do a long ride after the race!  The event started, I looked at my watch, and was running a little quick 3:45/km pace.  I wasn't so sure I'd be able to keep that up for more than 10km so I dropped it down a little.  For the entire race there was a young woman running with me.  Either she was in front or I was.  It was great!  We pushed each other through the entire race, ending up holding an average of 4:01/km pace, both beating our original goal times.  The race was also not 21.1km.  The consensus on all the Garmins coming over the line was 21.43km, that made our times seem that much better!  I ran a 1:24 half-marathon, placing 1st in my age category and 4th overall woman, in a running race!!!! There wasn't even a swim involved.  All those kilometres are really starting to pay off.

First 100m of the 1500m free time trial.
 I ended up winning the heat.

The second race was a swim race.  A 1500m swim time trial at the club I train with, The Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club in Hamilton, ON.  It was at the end of the week, with a 23km run on the Friday and a 10km run and a bike workout on the Saturday before the Sunday race.  I averaged 1:14 per 100m pace, as my coach had said I would, and finished with 18:21.  Not bad for November and the increase in running and cycling I've been doing.  It  also feels as though I'm re-learning how to swim due to the new muscle mass I've been adding to my legs.  It's not so easy to keep the legs near the surface of the water anymore.  

First Dive off the block in 8 months!

Overall I'm super excited that all the work and juggling that I do each day is starting to really show up in my races! Now to deal with the other side effect of the Ironman training, weight loss. My current struggle is trying to eat enough calories to keep the weight on.  After the Road to Hope I dropped 4 pounds, after sitting in the same weight range for the last 2 years, that was a bit of a shocker.  I thought it was water loss, however it seems to be permanent.  So for now I'm working on filling my face with enough food to maintain this new number.  The Holiday Season should help with that.

Every day, in this sport, I'm provided with a new learning   about what I'm capable of handling,  and at the age of 41 I'm still figuring out where my athletic ceiling is.  

Barrelman 70.3 - End of my first Triathlon Season

Age Group Winners, Barrelman Triathlon, 2015 (4th from the right)

This has been an interesting year for me, as one year ago I raced my first triathlon at Guelph Lake 2 and just 3 weeks later tried the Barrelman 2014.  Since then I have competed at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh, Guelph Lake 1, Niagara Triathlon, Ironman 70.3 World Championships, and now just 3 weeks post Worlds I'm finishing the season where I started, Barrelman 2015.

 The Niagara Falls Barrelman, hosted by Multisport Canada, was a well run event and great season finisher.  The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and the swim venue was incredible! My coach didn't really want me to race, as we have a tough year of training starting for Ironman Mont Tremblant, however, I couldn't resist.  After taking a full week off after World Championships, I promised to train straight through the Barrelman, if I could race it.   Here is a quick report on the race:

The Swim:

Swim Wave 2-Start.
I'm the swimmer in the very front on the Dock side.

  My wave started 1 minute behind the pros.  As you can see, they are no longer in sight during the start of our wave.  I took a position on the dock side of the Welland International Flatwater Centre, not cause it was an advantage, but because I had been saying hello to my brother, my niece Chantelle, nephew Curtis, and my friend Kathy.  I slid into the water, 1 min and 30  seconds before the start of my wave, spraining my toe on the way in (you will know that I'm a bit clumsy if you've read my other blogs).   I found my spot at the front of the line and when the horn went, so did I.   

Running up the stairs into T1. You
can still see Alex VanderLinden's
Foot prints in front of me.

One of my goals was to see how many pros I could catch in the wave in front of me, the other to have the fastest swim.  The swim is the one area I know I can do well, so I figured, why not.  During the first 500m I was able to catch a couple of the slower swimming pros.  I then was getting a bit discouraged as I couldn't see the next group of pros ahead of me.  By the time I reached the second Green Buoy to turn on the way back, I found them.  There was a small group of pros swimming together so I swam up behind them and drafted for a few seconds before putting on a burst to pass the group.  It is much different swimming through the experienced pros then swimming through an age group wave. When the pros are passed, they know exactly how to move in to get the draft making it difficult to pull away.   Once I finally moved out and away from the pro pack, I saw one pro left ahead!.  I put my head down, however Alex VanderLinden, had too much of a lead.  Although I closed it, I couldn't catch him, and he left the water 7 seconds before me.  My main goal was reached, I had the overall fastest swim time of the day.

Exiting the water at the Welland International Flatwater Centre

The Bike:

The bike is still a challenge for me.  I started riding last summer and at that time spent much of the ride falling while clipping out of the pedals, I was afraid to start and stop the bike.  During the 2014 Barrelman, I ran out of T1 with my bike shoes on.  This year, I progressed to putting them on while riding. 

Exit of the Transition 1

The bike course is relatively flat.  However in what seems to Barrelman style, the wind  was a force to contend with.  It also could be because it's September in Ontario and we all know that the wind comes with the starting of Autumn. Nonetheless, the first 25km was great.  Thought to myself, I'm going to be just fine, the wind isn't so bad today.  Then I turned a corner and for the rest of the race, it didn't matter how many corners and in which direction I turned, the wind was always there.  I'm not sure how that is possible, however it was.  Ask any of the racers from the day and they will confirm the presence of the endless head and cross winds.  My Coach had said use this race as an experiment, if you feel good go, if you feel bad back off, just have fun.  So as I didn't find the wind that fun, I backed off and did some easier spinning for some of the ride.  I knew I had a run to do, and after what happened on the run in Austria, I wasn't sure how this one would go. 

The Run:

Turns out, the spinning on the bike worked.  I had my fastest half marathon run ever! 1:34.58.  The run course was interesting and beautiful, as you can see we all race passed Niagara Falls, twice!.  The course was also changed to add a few more gradual uphill climbs and a down the stairs decline at the Casino.  During parts of the run, the spray coming from the falls was a very welcome cool down.  The course was well marked and the volunteers were doing their best to keep the tourists off the course.  They did a great job!

Running passed Niagara Falls, first loop.

Thank you Multisport Canada for putting together this race in Niagara.  It is a great venue and the changes to the swim and run course made this race even better than last year.  

Thank you to my sponsors, Xterra Wetsuits, Vorgee Canada, Magnus Personnel, Rudy Project, County Cycle, Middlesex Swimming, for taking a shot on an unknown, and supporting me through this inaugural year in triathlon.  Looking forward to kicking some butt next year with your continued support.

Thank you to my family for putting up with me going to practice early morning and late at night.  My teammates for their support and waiting for me when I was unable to clip in the pedals and picking me up when I fell on the ground, literally.  

Thank you to Coach Lee for helping take this swimmer and working to transition her into a triathlete!

Looking forward to seeing what comes in this next season.  Working towards making Kona 2016.

Climb Every Mountain - IM70.3 World Champs

Ironman 70.3 World Championships,
Zell-Am See, Austia

One week ago, I had the privilege of travelling to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, Austria, to compete in the most gruelling race I have ever done, Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  

Transition out of the
swim.

THE SWIM was in a lake surrounded by the Alps.  The locals claim, that the water is so clean, you could dip your cup in and drink straight from the lake.  They aren't kidding!  The water was gorgeous and it wasn't even cold.  Although I was hoping for a non-wetsuit swim (I needed every advantage possible) the race ended up wetsuit legal.  My wave began 1 hour and 1 min after the first wave set out.  It was an in-water start and there was some pushing on the start line by some of the women attempting to better position themselves for a straighter line through the buoys.   The cannon, yes a cannon!, went off and I took off like a shot.  Before long I was passing through multiple waves that had left in front of me.  My pink cap cutting through the white, black, and gold.  As I had hoped, I finished first in my age category in the swim.

 I figured this was the only place I would finish in first, as the bike course was intimidating!

THE BIKE was 90.1km.  The first 20 km was fantastic.  Not too hilly with a nice steady decline allowing for some good speed and false security over the difficulty of the course.  At 20km a steady incline began, and in a kilometre or so after that a sign came into view that said 13km.  "How could that be?" I said to myself, I'd gone much further than 13km!  When I was a little closer to the sign the rest of the wording came into view.....13km to the Summit.  Yes, that's right, continuous climbing finishing off with a 2km stretch at a 14% grade!   Nothing like riding my bike up the mountain at 9.8km/hr for the last 2km.  The climb was so tough that there were many riders that got off their bike and walked up to the Summit!  After making it to the top, the next 2 km were just as tough only going down the mountain.  The grade was 15% with 2km of hairpin switchbacks.  There were actually crash mats set up against the guard rails on the turns, just in case someone lost control; at least this would keep them from going over the mountain.  The rest of the ride was up and down through quaint towns, along side a crystal clean river, and through beautiful country side.  It really was like riding through a living postcard.  I was 7th place on the ride.  It was incredibly taxing on me.  But as one of my friends laughed afterwards, it wasn't bad for someone who couldn't even ride the bike last summer.

THE RUN was a debacle for me. Thank goodness for the aid stations.  At 4km I wanted to stop and walk.  It was really hot, 33 degrees Celcius, and my quads were burning from the bike.  I decided to make a deal with myself, as we did spend a pretty penny to bring the family to Europe so I could do a race. I needed to finish it, so I said to myself, "just make it to the aid stations, walk them, and run in between".  That is exactly what I did.  It was the slowest walk ever.  I swear I sampled every drink and food offering at each station before running again.  I literally walked from the beginning to the end of each station.  Women would pass me through the station and I would pass them back in between.  For a few days after the event I said to myself and husband, If I'd only toughed it out and not walked the aid stations I would have made the podium! Instead I placed 6th, one spot from the stage. If I look at this objectively, 6th is really good.  I was also the fastest North American in my age category, and 11 fastest North American age grouper overall.  For my second Ironman event ever, that's not too bad.

All in all, it was an amazing experience.  I learnt so much about racing, myself, and that I could finish a bike course like that! I met so many wonderful people both from the race and around Austria. My family and training partner shared the experience with me and then as a family we were able to explore some of Austria and Germany before heading home.  It is an experience that my kids, husband and I will always remember.  Please enjoy some of our pictures of this beautiful place.

Fraulein Maria's Bike Tour- Great way to see
Salzburg and the Sound of Music Sites

The VonTrapp House for the Movie

Kitzkleinhorn

The view from the home we stayed in
Zell-Am See

Salzburg