The Expeditions of Team E

Hello 2012!

2012-01-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

The New Year has gotten off to a great start, but not before 2011 was finished off the right way!

Since the Vancouver weather has been less than ideal for fun outdoor riding (re: a LOT of cold, rainy days) - Diane, Steph, Ramsey and I have been spending a lot of time riding together in Ramsey's basement. As New Years Eve fell on a Saturday, we came up with the perfect way to finish off the year - the 2011 Spinfest!

Thirteen crazy friends decided to join us for the inaugural 3 hour spin followed by an amazing brunch. For those who weren't training for an upcoming Ironman, Laura offered to teach a yoga class for the second half of the time.

All set and ready to ride!

Warming down after an tough workout care of Ramsey and Doug!

A LOT of sweaty towels later....

In the end, 7 of the original 13 people finished the three hour ride. It was a LONG time to be on the trainer, but the time definitely went by quickly with some great music and even better friends.

To kick off 2012, we swam our annual 100x100. This year we opted to swim long course which made the set a little tougher but definitely more enjoyable without quite as many flip turns. Three hours later (and a few sore shoulders) a small group of us finished up the set and rewarded ourselves with a yummy breakfast at Zen.

As for the rest of Ironman training, things are going really well. Team SDS are training well and consistently without too many aches and pains. I can't believe that we are less than 6 months away from race day and I know the next few months are going to fly by.

What's Next?

2011-11-29T20:44:00.001-08:00

After taking one full season off of structured training and racing, I was itching to get back into a steady routine and take a second try at Ironman. All I needed was to find some solid training buddies to keep me honest and push me throughout the year. Luckily I had two eager volunteers who jumped on board and we all signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

Confirmed!

Once again, Mark agreed to set us up with a solid training plan and off we went. Diane is a first time Ironwoman who is an awesome cyclist and one of the toughest girls I know. She is always up for anything and keeps us entertained on an daily basis. For Steph and I, this will be our 2nd go at the Ironman distance, but our first time racing together. Steph and I have trained together for the past couple of years and you won't find a harder worker or a more enthusiastic training partner.

Who wouldn't want to try with these chicks?!
(Diane, Steph and I - preride coffee at Bean Around the World)

We have been training consistently for the past 8 weeks and so far everything is going great. We have been focusing on getting strong and fit, without too much intensity at this point of the season. I am still in the process of confirming my race schedule up until IMCdA, but I think it will look something like this:

November 20 - Fall Classic 10k, Vancouver - 42:05 (2nd in AG)
December 26-31 - Training Camp, Vancouver
February 12 - First Half Marathon, Vancouver
March - Training Camp and Olympic distance race - TBC
May 27 - Shawnigan Lake Half Iron, Victoria
June 24 - Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Stay turned for more updates for from Team SDS (Steph, Diane and Susie)!

What Happened to the Summer?????

2011-09-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

As I am sitting at my office on Friday afternoon - before the long weekend - it occurred to me that summer is quickly coming to an end.

My big plans for training and racing this summer got wildly sidetracked with an insanely busy working schedule. Before I knew, the summer was over and school officially starts on Monday - yikes!

Although I didn't end doing as many adventures as I had originally planned, I did squeeze in some fun into my busy summer. To keep things short, here is an outline of the summer.

1. Oliver Half Iron - June
Diane and I had a fun weekend with Mark as our driver, coach and mechanic extraordinaire! I had a decent race considering the amount of training under my belt. I had a good swim, a great bike and a terrible run. I am most please with my bike as I managed not to get passed my any girls and was in 3rd overall - until the run .... we won't bother talking about the rest of the race :)

2. Trip to Toronto - June
I took a couple of days off of work to jet over to Toronto to visit my family and to cheer on Mark's team at Cycling Nationals. I had a great, short visit with everyone and enjoyed cheering on Team H&R BLOCK.

3. Penticton "Work" Trip - July
I had the chance to head up to Penticton for a Whitecaps Women's game in July which was conveniently the same weekend as the Axle Merckx Gran Fondo. Once I got through with the work obligation, I managed to squeeze in a little training and a really fun ride.

4. Whistler Weekend - August
Mark and I managed to get away after a crazy summer for a few days up in Whistler. We had a relaxing time and enjoyed the sunny weather with some hiking, SUPing and downhill mountain biking. It was the perfect way to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary.

5. Thetis Island - August
We had a wonderful mini trip to Thetis Island to celebrate Adam & Sally's wedding weekend. We had a fun trip over on the float plane, followed by lots of swimming, running, bocci tournaments and wine! It was wonderful to be a part of their big day - congrats!

Here's to the fall and more adventures to come.....

April Fools Half Marathon and Sun Run Race Reports

2011-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

I started the 2011 season off with two solid runs. Although road races aren't my favorite thing to do, I certainly recognize the importance of getting outside my comfort zone to improve my run.

Fools Half Marathon

This was my second year racing the Fools Half Marathon on the Sunshine Coast. Similar to last year, the weekend started off with a long ride on Saturday morning in Vancouver before hopping on the ferry to spend the night in Gibson's before the race. I travelled over with a big crew from the NSTC and had a wonderful prerace dinner and relaxing evening as we cheered on the Whitecaps and Canucks. Race morning was very relaxing, especially with a 9am start. I did a short warm up jog and lined myself up in the middle of the pack just before the gun went off. I started off much more conservatively than last year and spent the first few miles chatting with Scott and Dave as we settled into a steady pace. Scott and I were running really well together until the 15km mark when Scott picked up the pace. Unfortunately I couldn't stay with him but was able to hold my pace for the last 6km into the finish. I had a solid finishing time of 1:32:57 which was 5 minutes faster than last year and just off my PB. All the NSTC group had a great race and we were rewarded by a wonderful post race lunch at the Lyne's before heading back to North Van.

Sun Run

Yesterday I ran the Sun Run for the 2nd time since moving to Vancouver. The Sun Run is a really great race with 50,000 runners of all ages and abilities. The start line is unbelievable when you can look back and see just how many people have shown up to participate!

Nick and I made our way to the start nice and early and lined up in the yellow (2nd) corral. As I haven't raced a 10k in years, I didn't have a qualifying time to start in the seeded area. I wasn't sure what to expect as I rode a hard 115km ride on Saturday and I didn't know what my legs would feel like when I tried to push the pace. It was pretty crowded when the gun went off and I spent lots of time weaving in and out between people. I settled into a 6:35/mile pace and tried to maintain that while dodging people throughout the course. In fact, I must have done quite a bit of weaving as my Garmin showed I ran 6.4miles, instead of 6.2! I was able to maintain the pace I started with and finished in 41:36 which was good enough to be in the top 100 female finishers out of 21,632!

Now if only I could learn to run that fast off the bike.....

2011 Season

2011-04-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to recover from a long season last year. For the first time since collegiate swimming, I was back into a regular training/competition routine. I had a wonderful season and could not have asked for a better outcome. That being said - training full time and working full time took it's toll on my body and I needed a good off season break to recover.

I took most of November/December off and slowly started getting back into shape in January. Without Ironman Canada looming at the end of the summer, I was able to start back slowly and do some "other" activities this winter that didn't involve swimming, biking or running.

I have had a little trouble committing to a race schedule for this summer. Part of me wants to try and qualify for IMC - and why not, I had such a great race last year? The other side of me realizes that realistically I won't have the time I did last summer to dedicate to improve my performance. I have been going back and forth for quite some times and have come up with some sort of a race plan for this summer.

April 3 - April Fools Half Marathon
April 17 - Sun Run with the Whitecaps!
May 6-8 - North Shore Tri Club Training Weekend, Penticton
May 8 - Blossom 10 miler (maybe)
June 5 - Oliver Half Iron
July 3 - Vancouver Half Iron (maybe)
July 10 - Desert Half Iron
August 14 - Lake Stevens 70.3 (maybe)
October16 - Nike Women's Marathon (hopefully!)

There are a few "maybes" and a few "unknowns" but I for the most part, I think this will be a fun summer of "shorter" races!

Clearwater 70.3 Race Report

2010-11-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

Leading up to Clearwater, I had some really solid training sessions. Coming off a great result at IMC, I had the confidence to believe that I could finish off the 2010 season with a great race in Clearwater. I switch my training focus from distance based to one that focused on quality speed sessions. In retrospect, I probably pushed my body a little too hard after IMC as I developed a nasty virus the week before we were supposed to leave.

Our trip down to Clearwater went really smoothly. Mark and I rented a great condo right on the beach and spent the days leading up to the race relaxing, trying to get healthy with a little training thrown in there with the Vancouver Lifesport crew.

Race morning came and I work up feeling excited to race. I got to transition with plenty of time to pump my tires (thanks Bjorn!) and relax before the start. My age group wasn’t starting until Wave 15, so I had a good hour to wait around after the pros started. I got in a good warm up swim and before I knew it, we were lined up and ready to go.

I had a decent entry into the water, especially considering all my prior races this season started in the water. I wasn’t quite able to stick with the top girls as they took off from the start, but I found myself in a good solid group. I had clear (but choppy) water until the fourth or fifth buoy where we started to catch the waves in front of us. It was a little bit of a “gong show” as all the waves started to get mixed up. As I made the turnaround, I got a little disorientated and swam a little off course. The buoys on the way back to shore were really hard to see with the swell, but I did my best to swim in a straight line back to shore.

T1 went smoothly and I was off on the bike course in no time. I spent the first 10 minutes getting into a rhythm and settling into my race heart rate. For the first 30 minutes, the course was fairly empty. I began to think that there wasn’t going to be nearly as much drafting as I anticipated. However, before I knew it, HUGE groups of 20-50 riders started passing me by. I tried to stay out of the way as the big groups blew by me, often time pushing nearly off course. At times I found the course really dangerous as there were a lot of tight turns and turnarounds – combined with too many big groups of drafting triathletes. I did my best to stay out of the packs and remarkably rode most of the race by myself. It was tempting to tag along with the big groups as they went by, but I really wanted to see how fast I could go on my own.

Finishing up the swim

I held a decent pace and effort until about the 60km mark when I really started to tighten up. In retrospect I have never ridden that far in the aero position. Training in Vancouver, there is always plenty of elevation changes, but in Florida, it was dead flat. I spent the last 30km trying to find a comfortable position to ride in, but unfortunately, I lost quite a bit of speed and momentum.

T2 went smoothly and I was off on the run. The run in Clearwater was a two loop course that went up and over the causeway four times. I wasn’t feeling fabulous on the run, but I tried to keep a high cadence and work the hills. The heat really started getting to me towards the end of the run and I probably didn’t have nearly enough fuel as I mostly stuck with water at the aid stations.

I had a solid finish of 4:55:08, which was good enough for a 5min PB and 35th in my age group (Swim 27:52, Bike 2:33.52, Run 1:48.18). Had I been healthy, I am confident I could have been faster, but I will take a PB for now.

Done!

This season would not have been nearly as successful without the support of my wonderful husband and coach. He stuck with me through the good weeks and bad weeks and was there to support me at all the races. He looked after my bike and made sure I had all the right equipment to be competitive with all the other girls.

Mark and I relaxing at the beach post race

I also wouldn’t have enjoyed the journey nearly as much without my fabulous training buddies. Special thanks goes out to the NSTC crew, especially Team S, Steph O, Allison and all the others who kept me company for all the early morning workouts and long training weekends.

I am now looking forward to getting healthy, resting up and getting ready for another great season in 2011.

Ironman Canada - Race Report

2010-09-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

Where to begin?

Completing an Ironman has always been a goal of mine. I am not sure when I got the idea that this might be “fun” but I knew it was something that I would do one day. After cheering on all my friends at IMC 2009, I stood in line, paid my $600 and decided that I would dedicate the next year to train for IMC.

Over the past year I have trained and enjoyed the entire experience. From training ride #1 to race day – the whole experience was far better than I ever imagined. I spent the year focusing mainly on the bike. Of all three sports, this was the one I had the least experience. Luckily I am married to one heck of a cyclist (10-time National Champ!) who coached me along the way. Together we put together a program that would be “bike heavy” while keeping a good balance between training and life. Luckily for me, I made a career change in January which left me with 2.5 months between jobs = one big training camp. I spent my time off riding in the cold, wet, winter hoping that come August the hard work would pay off.

I decided that I would spend the majority of the summer training with just a couple of races to remind myself what to do on “race day.” My thought was that if I spent too many weekends training, I would sacrifice the big training blocks that needed to be done. I was lucky enough to have two solid races as a lead up to IMC. The Oliver Half Iron was my first chance to test myself and see where I stood in June. I followed up Oliver with the Calgary 70.3 which gave me some experience working through a transition very similar to IMC. I took away some valuable info from both races as well as tested my race nutrition to make sure everything that went in my stomach, stayed where it should.

My race week officially started on Tuesday morning when we packed up the car and headed to Penticton with Mark and my parents. We arrived Tuesday afternoon just in time for me to go for a VERY WAVY swim in Skaha Lake. I spent the next few days swimming, biking and running on the course and getting settled. It seemed strange, but all week it didn’t feel like race week. For some odd reason, I wasn’t nervous – I was simply enjoying the experience and spending time with family and friends.

The day before the race I had my first “freak out.” I went for an easy hour ride out to MacLean Creek Road with my race wheels and it turned out to be a very windy day. I had trouble keeping my bike on the road and started to think Ironman might not be such a good idea after all. When I got home from the ride, I got Mark to switch out my front wheel and instead of going with the fancy tri-spoke, I settled with my regular spoke wheel. Aside from that minor incident, I was ready to go!

Mark getting my bike ready for the "big day!"

Race morning came earlier than expected (thanks to an overeager friend wishing me good luck via text message!). I stayed in bed and relaxed and dozed until 4:00am when the alarm went off. I had my first breakfast, got dressed, loaded into the car and made my way to transition. Mark joined me while I dropped off my special needs bags and got body marked. After a quick kiss goodbye, I made my way into transition to get my bike ready. I made friends with a fellow competitor and we helped each other pump up our tires. I also ran into a whole crew from the North Shore Tri Club which helped ease my nerves. This was just a really fancy training day! Shannon and I hit the bathroom lines early and still had plenty of time to chat, put on sunscreen and get our wetsuits on. As I made my way to the beach, the whole experience really set it. The pros were off warming up and everyone was excited and ready to go. Somehow I found my family in the crowd, said a quick hello and headed to the water to warm up.

Once the pro’s set off, I spent nearly the whole 15 minutes warming up. The water was much warming than the air so I kept going until I heard the 3 minute countdown. I found my way to the front of the line and lined myself up with the buoys around people who “looked” like swimmers. We all wished each other good luck and before I knew it, the gun went off!
I have to admit that this is the first time I have experienced a hectic swim start. Normally (being a former competitive swimming) I start at the front and rarely have to deal with the crowds. IMC was a little different with 3000 people and it took me until the third buoy to finally have some clean water. I settled into a good pace and counted off the buoys, one by one. The swim went by fairly quickly. I move from group to group, but spent most of the swim by myself, setting my own pace.

Coming out of the water was the most incredible experience. People were lined on either side of the water and my only thought was “don’t trip!” I managed to get half my wetsuit off before finding the two biggest wetsuit strippers who had my wetsuit off before I knew it. I easily found my bag and made my way into the change tent. The change tent was almost empty when I got there so I had three lovely ladies who put on my socks and shoes, helmet and race belt. The ladies also insisted that I put on my arm warmers – which I later thanked them for!

Exiting the swim

I jumped on my bike and started to settle into a good moderate pace. A lot of people started passing me, but I tried to stay conservative knowing that the course was going to get harder and harder as the day went on. The ride out to Osoyoos went by so quickly and before I knew it, I was on the climb up Richter. I made a point of eating every 20 minutes after many prerace lectures from Mark. I also made sure to drink quite a bit and I had to make an effort to do so since it wasn’t very hot. Richter Pass and the rollers were much easier than when I rode the course in May. I tried to keep a steady effort and stay focused along the way. At some point out by the rollers, the wind started to pick up and the clouds started getting really dark. By the time I got to the “out and back” the sky was dark and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it started to rain. I opted not to take anything from my special needs bag as I had packed plenty of food and was feeling good (and therefore didn’t need my Snickers and Redbull!). By the time I was finishing up the out and back the rain really started to come down. The wind was brutal but I kept my head down and tried to ignore the rain as much as possible. I was so focused on just pedaling hard, that I didn’t even realize I was on the Yellow Lake Climb. Sure enough, just like everyone told me, there were people lined on either side of the course cheering us along in the pouring rain. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh when I saw my husband and his buddies dressed in beaver costumes on the climb. Mark ran with me for a few meters, wished me good luck and promised me that he would see me on the run course. I kept climbing in the rain and wind, but couldn’t stop smiling. I ran into friends all along the climb and before I knew it, I was at the summit and heading downhill into Penticton.

At one point during the ride it was "sunny!"

Normally this would be my favorite section of the course. However, at this point it was still pouring with rain and incredibly windy. As I descended as fast as I could (safely), I was thanking those lovely volunteers in the change tent who made me put on my warm warmers. I was still cold, but at least I had something to cover me up. I passed a bunch of people descending Yellow Lake and I was very thankful I had changed my wheel selection the day before the race. Sadly, there were ambulances at multiple corners picking up people who had washed out going around the corners. I tried to keep looking ahead and focusing on Penticton where it looked a little “sunny.”

Gotta love the support from the North Shore Tri Club Beavers!

As I hit T2, I was happy to be off the bike and starting the run. The lovely change tent ladies changed my socks and shoes, repined by race number which had almost blown off on the ride, grabbed a gel and I was off. The first few miles felt great. I settled into a moderate pace and smiled and waved when I saw my family and friends. At this point, I should note that I decided NOT to race with a watch. I didn’t wear a watch on either of my two previous races and felt that I knew my body well enough to know my limits. Also, I knew that chances are, if I was having a bad race, I didn’t want to know how slow I was going!

As I ran, I focused on one mile at a time. I also tried to refuel more than normal because I didn’t take in enough food or water on the last 30km of the bike. At one point I had the great idea that I should probably visit a Porto potty as I hadn’t gone all day. This was probably not the best idea, as I had a couple of rough miles as my stomach settled down. Remarkably I started to feel better once I reached the hills towards OK Falls. Having trained primarily on the North Shore, I found the hills easy and gained momentum as I passed people who were walking. At the turn-around, I ran into a bunch of friends and family – tried to wave and smile and went on my way.

Almost done!

I was lucky enough to have Mark and Steph out on their bikes throughout the run. They would cheer for me, ride a mile and meet me to cheer again. It was something I REALLY looked forward to. Steph was the ultimate cheerleader while Mark remained calm and cool and kept saying that I was doing great. I had NO idea how fast I was running. I just kept counting down the miles and soaking up the experience as much as I could. Steph and Mark met me at mile 24 where they cheered me on and told me that the clock was at 10:30 and if I moved my butt, I would finish around 10:45! The last two miles, I pushed as hard as I could. I smiled and waved as friends and family greeted me along the way. As I ran through the finishing chute, I also saw my time for the first time that day – 10:44:43!

I felt great at the finish! I had two fabulous volunteers that helped kept me company until Steph managed to weasel her way into the athlete area. I couldn’t believe it – I had finished my first Ironman! Eventually I was able to get up and meet my family who had braved the terrible rain and wind to cheer me along all day. I honestly couldn’t have done it without them.

In the end, my splits were as follows:
Swim – 55:21 (1:28/100m)
T1 – 2:36
Bike – 5:43:56 (19.5mph or 31.3km/h)
T2 – 2:36
Run – 4:00:16 (negative split by 44 seconds!)
Total – 10:44:43

I finished 6/77 in my age group or 268 overall (12th amateur female). Unfortunately my age group was MUCH faster than previous years so I didn’t qualify for Kona. But, I did qualify for Clearwater 70.3 Champs in November earlier this season and I am really looking forward to a fast, flat and warm course!

Sun, Rain, Sleet and Snow

2010-02-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

I guess I should have known better - the Winter Olympics are currently underway.

Today I set out for my toughest ride of the week: 2.5 hours that included 3x4km up Mt. Seymour. I have been working up to this distance and have felt pretty pleased with my progress so far. It has definitely helped that the weather in Vancouver has been perfect for the past week and riding outside and not on the trainer has been awesome.

Today when I left the house, it was slightly overcast, 12 degrees Celsius, but looked like it wouldn't rain for a while. I set off on my ride and made my way over to Mt. Seymour to get started. The first hill rep is always the hardest but I was committed to making this workout a great one! By the time I started the second rep, it started spitting. It didn't really bother me as I was quite warm with all my layers on and welcomed it. But, by the time I started the third rep, the rain REALLY started coming down. I was determined to finish what I had started, so I kept at it. 1km, 2km, 3km.... I had almost reached the 4km mark when the SNOW came down - hard!! I didn't want to turn around early (stupid me!) so I kept going until I had reached the 4km mark. When I looked down on my bike computer, the temperature had dropped a whopping 8 degrees and was now only 4 degrees C. Ouch! Needless to say, the ride down the mountain was NOT enjoyable. I went through snow, sleet and pouring raining before I made it to the basw. I was officially FROZEN. I also had a good 20-25min ride home in the pouring rain. I contemplated calling Mark and begging him to pick me up, but I sucked it up and finished the ride.

A hot shower and warm sweats have never felt sooooo good!

We are off to Whistler tomorrow to catch some more Olympic action. We will be at the victory ceremony on Wednesday night and the Nordic Combined on Thursday morning!

Olympic Fun!

2010-02-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

Vancouver has fully embraced the Olympics. The city is packed with people decked out in patriotic gear from all over the world.

Initially I wasn't sure how the city would react to the Olympic Games. Vancouver always seems to be a city that enjoys participating in sporting events instead of spectating. However, if Saturday was any indication - Vancouver is ready to welcome the world and embrace anything and everything "Olympics!"

Ramsey, Mark, Nick, Dave, Allison and I with the torch!

On Saturday, we headed downtown with a group of friends to check out all the action. We spent some time walking around the city before settling at LiveCity Vancouver to watch the Canadian Women's Hockey team followed by the Women's Moguls. We waited in line for a good 45min to get into the venue, but it was well worth it. Once inside, Allison and Courtney secured us some awesome front row seats to take in the action. We cheered our hearts out as Canada won its first medal of the Olympics Games! CTV just happened to be set up in front of us, filming the fans as we cheered for our home team. Just as the TV cameras were leaving, they stopped by our table to interview both Nick and I - and we both made it on National Television! Fun.

Yesterday, we cheered from home as Canada won its first Olympic Gold Medal on home soil - EVER! Today we hope to head downtown to check out the Heineken House!!

I have a feeling I won't be doing anything productive for the next two weeks as I take in all the Olympic festivities!

Here are a few pictures from Vancouver:

Being interviewed by CTV!

Dave, Mark, Ramsey and Nick taking up the bobsled!

Being tourists in our own city!

Cheering on the home team!

SO far, SO good but SO tired!

2010-01-18T11:37:00.000-08:00

2010 has continued to be a great year so far. The job search is keeping me busy, along with some coaching that I have picked up along the way.

With a little more "free" time on my hands, my lovely husband/coach has definitely been taking advantage of it on the training side of things. Ironman Canada is eight months away. However it is still an unbelievably daunting race and the thought of it has scared me into a consistent and intense training program.

In all my triathlons to date, I have always finished the swim in a great position, usually one of the first out of the water... but, that's when the race ends. The bikes starts, and I get passed, and passed and passed. In fact, I am pretty sure that I have never passed anyone on the bike... EVER. So, my "retired pro cycling husband" has made it his mission to make sure that doesn't happen (as much) come August.

A old picture of Mark representing Canada at some race!

For the past six weeks, I am have been on the bike - A LOT. Most of my riding has been on the trainer, thanks to all the lovely rain in Vancouver. But, as much as I love riding outside, the trainer has allowed me to do a lot of specific training without the worry of interruptions. My goal leading up to IMC is to be as prepared as possible for the 180km ride. After that, we'll see what happens...

Other bike related news - my new bike has arrived! Mark got me a TT frame for Christmas. Right now the bike is in a million different pieces on the floor of our condo. We are still waiting on a few more parts and then Mark can start building it. Also, next Saturday night, a group of us from the North Shore Tri Club will be learning to ride in the Velodrome! Should be a fun night!

Shan, Steph, Ally and I after a 100km ride on Saturday.
Enjoying a well deserved coffee break!

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

This New Year has brought a lot of changes and Mark and I are excited about what the New Year will have in store for us. 2009 was a year of excitement, fun and friendship and we have no doubt that 2010 will be that much better!

I have a few personal goals for 2010 - in no particular order.

1. Keep a training log. It has been a long time since I have systematically written down my workouts and kept track of what I was doing. I miss being able to look back and figure out what works and what doesn't - along with all that I have accomplished in the year. I decided to start this goal early and haven't missed logging a workout since Dec 1st!

2. Eat healthier. Generally, I eat quite healthy. But, there are a lot of time when convenience outweighed eating the right food. With Ironman Canada as my main goal this year, I would like to fuel my body with the best foods and not the easiest foods. This will include planning out our weekly meals, bringing my lunch to work and having healthy snacks around the house.

3. Keep our home office organized. I have always prided myself of being extremely organized...ask any of my roommates in university :). However, this past year I have managed to neglect keeping things as organized as I would have liked. Over the holidays we have organized and sorted out our condo in an attempt to start this year off on the right foot!

4. Find a career that I am passionate about! Just recently, I have decided to leave my current role in search of something more. In the last two years I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience. However, something was missing and I am on a quest to find that something. I know it won't be easy and I definitely didn't make the "easy" decision, but I know if I work hard enough, I will find the "right" fit for me.

What are your goals for 2010?

My New Home for the Winter

2009-11-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my wonderful husband/coach, I have officially started Ironman training. Although the race isn't until August 2010, there are a lot of things I need to improve on - so I might as well get started. This year was the first year I did any type of legitimate training since I officially retired from swimming in 2004. Since then I have managed to stay in shape by training for local road races and a couple of marathons. When I retired from swimming, I was ready to move on and try all the sports I had to give up in order to focus on the pool. It wasn't until Mark and I moved West to Vancouver that I had the opportunity to try my hand at being a triathlete.

Our first summer in Vancouver I got back on my road bike and started to get back in the pool teaching Mark how to swim. We also started running together and found that between the two of us, we had 2/3 of a great triathlon! I competed in a couple of local sprint triathlons and found that I was itching to try something a little longer. This summer Mark and I put together a solid, but brief training plan to get me ready for both the Victoria and Vancouver Half Ironman races. The training plans worked out great and I had some really solid races with the limited amount of training I put in.

Since I definitely do not think I can "wing" an Ironman, Mark has started to put together a training plan that will work with my unusual work schedule as well as the local swim, bike and run sessions that are offered by our club.

However, the main focus for me throughout the winter is this (my new home):

I will be sending a LOT of time on the trainer, set up on our balcony as I try to develop my cycling legs. I will also try and get out on the road when the weather permits, but with the shortened daytime hours, most of my training will be in the comfort of our condo.

My goal will be to get on the bike 2-3 times a week and work through a series of drills and phases to improve my cadence as well as increase my power/speed. With Mark's experience I have no doubt that I will be well prepared to tackle the 180km ride next August!

NS Half Marathon Race Report

2009-10-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

This Thanksgiving weekend was the third annual North Shore Half Marathon and the first half marathon race for me in 6 years. The last half marathon I ran was the 2003 Hogeye Half Marathon in Fayetteville, Arkansas!

I didn't really have a goal in mind when the race started but I knew that a PB was possible. I have been doing some great training with Steph and Shannon and have pushed myself much harder than normal with weekly tempo runs, hills and speed work. Thanks girls!

The race started off downhill, so I tried to take it easy and get into a good tempo. Although I was a little chilly starting off, I quickly warmed up when I hit the hilly section of the course along Dollarton Highway. I wore my Garmin and was a little concerned when I was averaging under 7min/mile pace, but I felt good and went with it. Around mile 8 I started to feel as though I went out a little too quickly and tried to settled into a more reasonable pace (7:20/mile) that I could maintain for the final 5 miles. As we neared the finish line I was quite surprised to look down at my watch and see that I would be finishing under 1:40. In fact, I finished in 1:30:31 which was good enough for 3rd in my age group, 6th female overall and a 20 minute PB. Not a bad start for Ironman training, eh?!

I am not sure what is up next as Mark and I are off to Jamaica Nov 9th for our "better late, than never" honeymoon. Depending on how things go, I may do the Seattle Half Marathon at the end of November. For right now I will keep training with the girls and start getting into a more structured Ironman training plan when we get back from our honeymoon!

Steph and I at the start line

Around mile 5

A new PB... but looking a little tired!

Women's 25-29 top 3!

I'm a sucker...

2009-10-01T17:31:00.001-07:00

Let's just say.... I'm a sucker.

This summer I have met, become great friends, and trained with a fabulous group of people. Training has honestly never been this much fun. As much as I try to avoid getting up at 5am every morning, the lure of a killer run or tough swim with my training buddies, far outweighs the sleep. Morning after morning, I get "talked" into doing something.

Sunday was no exception. I got talked into doing a 26km trail race!

The Rubble Creek 26km trail race is by far one of the most beautiful races I have ever done, as well as one of the toughest. Although it is in its 25th year, the race is still relatively small and boasts no race numbers, aid stations or chip timing. The race organizer stood on a rock, said "ready, set, go"and we were off. The race started with a pretty tough uphill, taking us up 2600 feet, leveled out for a few km's before descending 4000 feet to the finish.

Here is the course profile thanks to Adam's GPS!

The reason why I am a sucker is because I hadn't really trained for this race... and got talked into racing it. Sure, I had started running a little more towards the end of the summer, but the longest run I had done was at the tail end of the 2 halfirons I raced! I was a little worried about finishing the race, but Steph assured me she would run with me and that it would be just fine. We started the race at a conservative pace, while Adam, Graeme and Shannon took off with the main pack. Once we reached the top of the climb, we stopped to take a couple of photos of the breathtaking view... we just couldn't resist!

Me - taking in the view of Black Tusk

Once we reached the descent, I was sooo happy/relieved. My legs were pretty tired and the thought of running up another hill was not very appealing. Steph and I took turns leading the way down the winding slope (she looked quite graceful, while I tried to not kill myself with my clumsy feet). After a good hour of running downhill, we were both very excited to see the parking lot and the end of the run. We were met by Shannon (who came 2nd!!), Adam and Graeme and the race organizer with a stopwatch calling out times.

Needless to say, I didn't exactly race the run. My goal was to get out and get a solid 3 hour run in with some great friends in the beautiful West Coast trails.

Post race: Graeme, Shannon, me, Steph and Adam

Next up, the North Shore Half Marathon!

Cultus Lake Triathlon

2009-09-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

It started off as a little bet and a chance for Mark to do his first triathlon. It ended up being a great weekend with some solid races from the NSTC crew.

This was a role reversal weekend for Mark and I. Normally I am the one racing, while Mark holds all my gear, and cheers me on from the sidelines. This weekend, however, Mark was going to try his hand at a triathlon.

On Saturday morning, we all drove to Cultus Lake to get checked in. As there weren't too many places to eat around the campsite, we ended up going to the Cultus Lake Pub with the whole crew. The night started with dinner and a few pitchers of beer and ended up with the boys on the dance floor and much more beer.... not your regular race ritual!

On Sunday morning, we all got to transition nice and early. My task was to find coffee while the boys got all set up. Luckily it turned out to be a really warm day and Mark didn't freeze to death without a wetsuit for the swim.

Mark had seeded himself pretty far forward for the start of the swim. When we first moved to Vancouver two years ago, Mark could barely swim and if we were in the pool together, I would kick along side him as he swam. Needless to say, he has made some HUGE improvements. As the swim came to an end, Mark was about 20th coming out of the water and looking pretty good.

I personnaly thought that as long as Mark had a good swim, he would be set to take down lots of people on the bike. For those of you that don't know, Mark is a former pro cyclist. That being said, Mark has only rode his ride about 10 times all summer and is still riding his steel framed bike that he last raced with in 2004!

As the bike course was an out and back, I did see much of what was going on until they got back to transition. Mark made up quite a lot of ground on the bike and came off in 5th place. At this point I wasn't quite sure what would happen. Mark claims he really isn't much of a runner, and like the rest of this summer, he hasn't trained much at all.

As I stood at the finish line watching the leaders come through, the next thing I saw was Mark coming in for a solid 4th place! Not bad for his first race, eh?!

In fact, all of the North Shore Tri Club that competed that day had a great race and it was so much fun to watch. We finished off the weekend with a swim in the lake, lunch, and mini golf before heading back home. Hopefully we'll see Mark back in action next summer!

One Busy Month!

2009-09-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Mark and I have had a really busy few weeks to finish up the summer. It seems like every weekend there is something going on. Here's a quick recap on how we finished up a fabulous summer!

The first week in August Mark was busy organizing the World Police and Fire Games. He was in charge of directing all 5 road cycling events which were great to watch. We were also invited to the opening ceremonies - 10,000 police and firemen all in the same arena - so much fun!

Next up was Allison and Ramsey's wedding. Mark and I had the pleasure of being the MC's for the evening and we got to meet and hang out with all their friends and family for the week. The weekend kicked off with a pre-wedding run and finished up with a post-wedding Grouse Grind! Congrats Allison and Ramsey!

The next weekend we did a great canoe/hike with some old cycling friends of Mark's. It was a relaxing day with lunch at the waterfalls, a little cliff jumping into the freezing cold water and dinner at Shera and Basse's.

We ended up the summer with fun filled weekend at Ironman Canada. Corey came up from Texas and we met up with Mandy and Fraser from Calgary for a weekend of camping and cheering. We arrived on Saturday and met up with everyone at the campground before going for a swim in the Lake and checking out all the pre-race festivities. Later that evening we met up with a few others from the NSTC and went for dinner. Sunday morning we woke up nice and early, stopped for coffee at Tim's before finding a great spot on the beach to cheer everyone on. The rest of the day was spent cheering/eating our way around the Ironman course. Everyone was having such a great race and it was so much fun to watch. A big congrats to everyone from the North Shore Tri Club - especially training buddies Steph, Shannon and Karen - you girls rock!

I have also officially registered for Ironman Canada 2010! Needless to say the next 365 days will be filled with lots of training as I work on getting stronger on the bike and run.... 180km of biking followed by a marathon is quite daunting! Better get to work...

Happy Anniversary to US!

2009-07-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

It is really hard to believe that on August 2nd, Mark and I will have been married for ONE year. The year has really flown by and it feels like just yesterday all our friends and family were gathered in Jordan, ON for the big day.

It all started with a "Canadian Night Out" in Buckhannon, WV

Next... it was a first date of skydiving in Erie, PA

Followed by a long distance relationship from Ohio to West Virginia

A surprise proposal on a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls, ON

Moving across North America from Ohio to Vancouver

A perfect wedding day in Niagara's Wine Country!

To many more years of new adventures!

One CRAZY Day - The Bay Challenge!

2009-07-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

It started off as a running joke.... "you sign us up, and I will show up!" The 10km Bay Challenge ocean swim from West Vancouver to Kits Beach was coming up soon - and Steph signed us up!

The Bay Challenge was one of the craziest swims I have ever done - and throughout all my years of swimming, I have done a LOT of crazy swims. First of all - the swim has rules

The swim can be done either solo or as a relay
Relay teams can have as many people as you want
Each swimmer or team must provide their own support boat, as the swim crosses the shipping channel (think big giant freighters!)
The time limit is 4 hours!

My teammate and co-conspirator Steph planned an awesome day. We rented a 17 foot speed boat to get us "safely" across the Bay and we rounded up the best support crew ever - Meyrick and Nick! We plotted out our course, filled the boat with lots of homemade goodies to keep our support crew happy and decided to swim in 20 min intervals.

TEAM Awesome - at the pre-race meeting

I started the swim off and tried to stay as close to the front as I could. During the first 20 mins, I had to go around the first BIG freighter and fight through some pretty big waves. After about 30min, the waves settled down and we got going into a pretty good rhythm, each taking 20 min turns. That was... until the tide changed! Before this point, we were average about 1:30/100m thanks to Meyrick's trusty GPS, but after we got caught in the current, we slowed up quite a bit. We battled on and finished the swim together in 3hours and 5min - placing 3rd and finishing behind two relays that each had 4-5 swimmers.

Me at the halfway mark - with the Lion's Gate Bridge in the background

Steph swimming by one of the big freighters in the Bay

Now.... if you thought our swim was tough... read on!

My crazy but wonderful husband caught wind of our Bay Challenge plans and didn't want to be left out. A week out from the race, I got a text message at work from Mark that says "I hope you don't mind, but I registered for the Bay Challenge too - solo!"

My first reaction was - is this some sort of joke?!?!? Mark doesn't exactly come from a swimming background (cycling is his expertise). Sure, he swims masters swim workouts with me a couple of times a week, but nothing more than about 4000m. However, he was gonna give the 10km ocean swim a go!

Mark on the way to the start line!

First Mark recruited a great support team of Captain Lauren and support crew Adam. They decked out Lauren's 12 foot Red Aluminum boat and were ready to go!

As I was swimming along, I tried to keep track of Mark. Luckily Adam sent me text messages from time to time so that I knew Mark was well on his way to make the crossing.

Mark swimming by one of the freighters along the way!

After Steph and I finished, Meyrick and I headed back across the Bay to return our rental boat and stopped to see Mark along the way. Not only was he getting close to the finish line, but he looked great. Mark stopped briefly to say hi but was quick to start back swimming. I was soooo impressed!

Meyrick and I cheering on Mark

Unfortunately I didn't get to see Mark finish(as we were paying for the rental boat by the hour), but he finished in fine form after 4 hour and 45min! I am so incredibly proud of him!

And our day didn't stop there - after a quick little snooze, we made our way out to White Rock to watch the Tour de White Rock Crit to cheer on all our friends.... what a weekend!

Vancouver Half Iron Race Recap

2009-07-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

After a great experience in Victoria, I was eager to try out another half ironman before the summer was up. It was a toss up between two races and in the end I signed up for the Vancouver Half Iron the week before the race.

The Vancouver Half was a completely different experience than Victoria. Both were great races with wonderful support, but they were very hard to compare.

The race started with a two loop ocean swim off Jericho Beach. This is the first time I have had to start a race with a run into the ocean and my biggest fear was falling flat on my face! Once I made it into the water, the first 200m or so were rough, but eventually I found some open and few men/pros to pace off of. The second swim loop was a lot smoother and I even managed to be the 3rd woman out of the water after Bree Wee and Magali Tisseyre!

The bike was four loops of a challenging course with one big climb each loop. As usual, a TON of people blew past me on the bike, but I managed to get myself into a relatively good rhythm. Because of the design of the course, it was great to be able to see and cheer for people along the way. Each loop, I looked forward to hearing the cheers from Steph and giving her a big wave. My bike split ended up being a big improvement from Victoria. I finished in a faster time and the course was 4km longer... but I still have a long way to go to keep up with the fast girls!

The run was by far the most challenging part of the course. By this time, the sun was in full force and I was hot! I tried to get myself into a good rhythm and follow some of the relay runners that looked a little fresher. Because of the figure 8 design of the course, I was able to watch the pros and wave to Steph a couple of times each loop. As I approach the finish line, I was shocked. Because I don't race with a watch on (nor a computer on my bike), I had no idea what pace I was holding throughout the day. However, when I crossed the finish line, I had almost the same time as Victoria....5hrs, 5min... not bad considering the swim was in the ocean and the bike course for 4km longer!

At the end of the day, Steph and I finished 2nd and 3rd in our age group and ended the day with an ice bath in the ocean and lunch with Doug, our great photographer and race crew!

Up next... the 10km Bay Challenge Ocean swim!

West Coast Summer Weekend

2009-07-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

Summer on the West Coast has to be my favorite time of year. As a big sports fan, every weekend is jammed packed full of events to either participate in or watch. However, this weekend is by far the busiest weekend yet.....

Within a short drive from Vancouver, you can do any one of the following events (and I am probably missing a few!)

Tour de Delta - awesome pro cycling stage race that Mark organizes!
Knee Knacker - crazy trail race from one end of the North Shore to the other!
Osoyoos Half Ironman - head to the Interior and test out Richter Pass... twice!
Vancouver Half Ironman - ocean swim, 4x up UBC hill and a run along the ocean!
Seattle to Portland Bike Race - name says it all!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Canada Day!

2009-07-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July to everyone out there! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did!

On Canada Day, Mark and I both raced in the Sasamat Lake open water swim race. Mark was only signed up to do the 2km race, but decided the day before he wanted to try the 4km... without a wetsuit! So, on race morning we met up with Steph, Allison and Ramsey and had a great sunny swim. I had a solid race - 55min for the 4km and ended up 2nd overall. It was really hard to figure out where I was in the race because the men started 5 min ahead of the women. Once I started passing the men, it was really hard to tell who was with each race. In the end, I was only about 2osec off of first place. More impressively, Mark had a GREAT race. Considering he had never swum 4km before and the fact that he didn't have a wetsuit, he did awesome! He had a solid finish and was pretty pumped to complete his first swimming race.

After the swim, we all went downtown to watch the Yaletown Grand Prix Crit. It was a great afternoon and I love watching how fast the cyclist are able to maneuver the tight corners. It just goes to show me how much more work I have to do to be more competitive on the bike. We finished the great day off with a few beers with the Trek Red Truck Cycling Team that Mark worked with last season.

Steph, Allison and I pre race!
(Picture courtesy of Steph)

Next up this weekend:
Tour de Delta for Mark!
Vancouver Half Ironman for me!

Victoria Half Ironman Photos

2009-07-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately Mark and I have two broken cameras. Luckily for us, the NSTC crew came to the rescue and captured some great pictures from the day. Here are just a few - courtesy of Ramsey, Steph and Mark.

Finishing the swim

Trying to get my new wetsuit off!

Finding my way to my bike

Loop one of the run course - and trying to smile for all the cameras and cheering squad!

Mark and I after the race - I couldn't have asked for a better husband, coach and support crew!

The whole NSTC crew after the race - sporting our new hoodies since it was so cold out!

Victoria Race Recap

2009-06-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived... better yet, I had a great first half ironman. I definitely still have a lot to work on, but it was great to get one race under my belt.

The weekend started off with a fun ferry ride with the NSTC crew. There were about 12 of us that either competed or cheered and we all had a fun time together. Once we arrived in Victoria we headed straight to the race course to get in a little ride and run. After testing out parts of the course, we stuck around for the pre race meeting to get all our last minute instructions. We had a GREAT dinner at Re Bar in downtown Victoria and then settled in for the night to try and get some sleep.

On Sunday morning I actually woke up feeling rested (which I was surprised about because of the crazy work week I had). We got to the race start nice and early and got body marked and chipped and I even made it to the bathroom before the line ups got to long!

The race start was a little hectic. We all started in waist deep water, but with 600 people all starting together, it was hard to tell where all the fast swimmers were. So, I just started out in the middle of the pack and hoped that I would find someone my speed to swim with. Turns out, I didn't. Out of 600 people, I didn't find a single person to swim with and swam the whole thing by myself. I still managed to have a pretty good swim and came out of the water in 25:02, the fastest woman! I had a solid transition and was off on the bike. I had a great first lap on the bike and even managed to stay in my aerobars for the majority of the ride. Unfortunately, my lack of training with the actual aerobars started to hit me on lap 2 when my legs completed tightened up and started cramping (not to mention it started raining and I got a little wimpy going around tight corners). I had to back off the pace quite a bit and finished the bike course in 2:54. When I came into T2 my feet were frozen. I racked my bike, put on my running shoes and headed out for the run. It took a good 3-4 km before my feet warmed up and I felt like I was running normally. I settled into a good solid run pace and managed to find a few people running my speed. Going into the race I was most worried about the run because I hadn't done anything longer than an hour run in months... stupid shin splints. Going into the 2nd run lap, I still felt surprisingly strong and picked up the pace a little and finished in a strong (for me!) 1:42. and 5:04:40 for the day!

Mark was there at the finish line to cheer me on along with the rest of the NSTC, including Nick who blew by my on the bike to finish 30 minutes before me. Allison also had a great first half and finish just behind me in 5:13. In fact, Allison and I even managed to make it to the podium with a 2nd and 3rd place in our age group!

All in all it was a fun race in a beautiful location. Mark was great coach and managed to get me much faster on the bike (although I still have a long way to go!). Even better, Mark is fabulous husband for putting up with all my training and supporting me all along the way. Now I have to decide what comes next!

Pictures of the race to come....

T-10 Days!

2009-06-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

So... ten days until the Victoria Half Ironman. Yikes! Originally my plan was to do the Vancouver Half Ironman in July, but I was persuaded by Allison to move up the race by one month! My training has been going really well (as far as I know). I have enjoyed getting back into swimming, even the 5am swims with Karen, Steph and Shannon. Mark has been working with me on the bike and has set me up with a training program that seems to be working. He also bought me a pair of aero bars for my birthday, so I am desperately trying to get used to them so I feel confident enough to use them next weekend... we'll see. My running has slowly, but surely gotten better. After the Sun Run, I took a few weeks off of running to try and heal my shin splints. Since then, I have taken it easy and I am just running enough to get by. I did a 5km race on Sunday which gave me some confidence as I managed to finish in 21:30, which is just off my PB.

As for a race strategy for next weekend... swim hard, bike hard and try and survive the run. I have nothing to lose and this will surely be a good learning experience. More than anything I am out there to have fun. We have a big group of people racing from the North Shore Tri Club, so it will be fun and encouraging to see lots of familiar faces.

Oh yeah... I also bought a wetsuit on the weekend. I haven't actually tried it out yet, but I hope to do some open water swimming this weekend.

Fun Weekend Recap

2009-04-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, all in all it was a great weekend. Not only did I have to whole weekend off work, but the weather was great and I managed to get a lot accomplished. On Saturday morning we had a great ride with the North Shore Tri Club. We had a big group show up and ended up splitting up into two smaller groups. I have managed to improve enough so that I can keep up with the faster group this year which I am quite happy about. We rode really well as a group and held a pretty good pace for the entire ride. Unfortunately, three hours into the ride I had my first crash. I got too close to the person in front of me and ended up going down, with two people ending up on top of me. I now have a nice collections of scrapes and bruises as well as some damage to my bike. Mark and I were able to ride home nice and easy and still managed to ride about 100km altogether that day. On Sunday, I woke up a little stiff but was already registered to do the 10km Sun Run. We met up with a few friends at the Seabus and made our way to the start line with the 56,000 other people that were competing. We probably should have gotten there a little earlier as I started way back in the crowd. It was amazing to see how many people took part in the event. I knew Vancouver was an active city, however this was over the top. I ran a pretty consistent pace the whole way and negative split by almost 3 minutes. There were far too many people to go for a great time, but I still managed to come in around 46 mins. Now I am off to watch the Canucks games at the pub with some friends to cap off an amazing weekend!

The start of the Sun Run 10km - all 56,000 people

Me - with a few cuts and bruises after the Saturday ride.

Welcome to Our Blog

2009-04-14T19:00:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and started a blog. Although I promised myself I would never start blogging, I find myself continually interested in reading the blogs of my friends and family to see how everyone is doing and stay up to date.

The past year has been pretty crazy for Mark and I. Although I try hard to keep in touch with everyone, I don't seemed to have enough hours left in the day (not to mention the difficulties of a 3 hour time difference to all my friends and family on the East Coast.)

To sum things up, this is what you may or may not have missed in the last year and a half!

Mark and I bought our first home together after moving to Vancouver - in the fabulous Lower Lonsdale area - 3 blocks from the Pacific Ocean and 10 mins to the local mountains - it doesn't get any better than this!

We both got settled in the West Coast - Mark started his own business which is doing great and I started working for Starbucks in their Retail Management Training program.

We took up a bunch of new sports: cycling for me, swimming for Mark, skate skiing for me, running for Mark, and lots of hiking and exploring the West Coast for both of us.

We got MARRIED!!! By far the most wonderful day of my entire life - to have all our friends and family together in one place!

We both have a busy summer up ahead with my brothers wedding in early May, lots of new work projects for Mark and my first Half Ironman in June!

Enjoy reading......