Angie Anderson

Strathmore Women's Only, Aug. 15, 2010

2010-10-08T11:55:00.001-06:00

Strathmore Women’s Only Sprint Triathlon, August 15th, 2010
This race was FUN! I can’t describe it any other way! I picked up the ever colourful Leslie Anne McKenzie bright and early and we were off to the races, so to speak!
I was still building to the Kelowna Apple, so like Chaparral this was a training day for me. On top of that I had recently committed to racing Muskoka 70.3 in September so knew I didn’t have the luxury of resting into this one AND I needed a long run! So much training to do, so little time I had to problem solve to come up with a way to do it all! Mission accomplished and the best part was I had a BLAST doing it!
What are you to do when you need a long run AND are racing, all in the same day! In my distorted little world I decided to run loops of the course before the race to total 15k. That would give me a 20k run total for the day, with a really hard final 5k! Plus I could swim and bike hard in the middle!
The race was in heats, and I was in the last heat which left lots of time get my run in. I didn’t know where to go thus the decision to run the course. The best part of this was the volunteers! They laughed “with” me... OK... maybe “at” me, but were cheery and wonderful! On my 3rd time around I warned them I wouldn’t be as happy the next lap. I’d be in race mode! It was SO much fun, and there was NO PROBLEMS with me not knowing the course this week! No way! I knew my way!
The other thing my pre-race run did was it showed me the beauty and heart of a gifted devoted race director. Deana Jabs had the course SO well marked. There were volunteers everywhere I turned, and the best part were the motivation signs placed strategically along the way. Every woman in this race was lucky to be there, myself included!
The race went well! My swim... well, it was my swim. Argh... I must get to work on that! The bike! FUN FUN FUN! I raced at higher watts than I’ve seen in a long time! I was the only athlete with race wheels and an aerohelmet! I looked like a freak!!!! Still, so many women along the way gave words of encouragement! I was SO excited to be on my little white and red Kuota! I felt like I was flying!
The run... well, it was hard, but in such a good way! I paced well which is always important to me, and I ran as hard as legs and lungs could take me! Again, there was oodles of encouragement from the competitors, and the volunteers (more friends by now!) gave a final cheer as I huffed by!
I LOVED this race! I loved the course, the volunteers, the meal, how the draw prizes were given out, and that age group winners received a single rose. The day wasn’t about winning... it was about a race experience! The only downside for the women doing their first race is that their “expectation bar” has now been set very high! They might not come across another race like this for a very long time, unless they race this one again next year!
To finish, having Christina and Leslie-Anne there with smiles and great races made the day even better! On top of that Maureen M. volunteered in her TTL colors! I’m putting this one on my race calendar for sure next year! I hope you do too (If you’re a girl of course.)

Lake Chapparal Olympic Distane, Aug 8th 2010

2010-10-08T11:15:00.000-06:00

This was a training race. I went in tired, with a plan to race as hard as I could and see where my legs and lungs would take me. During the race I had a few moments of thinking “racing on tired legs sucks”! Mission accomplished, I was tired!
The wonderful amazing Tanya Solomon and I traveled together for this one. I am very lucky to be able to train with such a talented athlete. The rides are fun and mixed pace when we do manage to train together; the conversation is better. She decided to do this race last minute, and it was fun to have her along!
The morning of the race we had laughs and giggles. I got my Starbucks and we had some great pre-race banter! It was nice to race so close to home.
Swim... not much to say. I wanted to stay on Tanya’s feet. (If at first you don’t succeed, tri tri again! It didn’t work with Sarah in Invermere... maybe I’d have better luck this time around!) I made it on her feet for the first lap. Somehow, on the start of the second lap I lost it! Her feet were gone in the turn of my head to take a breath! I’m still miffed about this!!

Onward and upward. I felt I swam well again, although my time was the same as always. It was after this race that I decided that I’m kind of at a standstill with swimming. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I do or don’t swim. I swim the same time every time. I’m stuck and need to work on that this winter. Still, my swim was OK.
The bike was fun! I really enjoyed the technical hilly course. By the 5th lap I decided I was good to be done with the big hill, but overall I was happy with how I executed. I stayed focused on watts and heart rate, and knew that the fatigue in my legs was a factor for both. Still, I thought I rode well. I was 3rd woman off the bike which was great! I knew that Tanya would be in front, and didn’t know who the other gal was, but I saw her during the bike. As it turns out I made up time on her and had the 2nd fastest women’s bike split of the day.
The run... a frustrating story indeed! It was supposed to be 9k. That’s what the race director advertised on his website. I’m fine with it being short as long as I know. Off I went for my 9k run. My technology failed me on this day as my footpod died. I was running nake! I was disappointed there weren’t any km markers, meaning I had NO idea how far or fast I was running. I don’t like that as most of you know.
I started the first loop and legs felt OK. I quickly got into rhythm and had a positive outlook. Then, I got MAD!
There was a “t” intersection on the course. It was maybe a km or less into the run, and it brought me to a standstill. There was nothing there to indicate which way to go. Not a pylon, a volunteer, a chalk aero, a surveyors flag. I couldn’t tell I was in a race, and was afraid to take a guess. I made a decision to run back towards transition to see if I could get directions. As luck would have it the 4th place woman off the bike was very pleasant and kindly showed me the way. She warned me that I would run along a long row of houses and not feel like I was on a race course at all... but to KEEP GOING! That was the best advice of the day.
When the race was over Trevor (TTL athlete) asked me why I came “back”! He saw me standing by the lake with my arms in the air. I was SO frustrated! I just about quit... but I didn’t; and I’m proud of that. What kept me going was the “What would I say to an athlete in the same situation” self talk? Would I be excited about an athlete quitting a race because of a wrong turn in the road? No... I would not. There are more lessons to be learned by finishing what you start, than by quitting because of dumb luck. If I couldn’t support it in others, I certainly could not support in for myself. So... I kept going!
My good friend Janice McCaffrey was a great cheerleader! She was on her cute little mountain bike, and rode along beside me a few times offering support. Get the “grrrr” Angie! You’re running well. Focus on the sign... just run to the sign! Her timing was perfect because as always, I was suffering!
The run took forever. I didn’t know how long I’d gone or how far I was running, but it felt like I was out there for a very long time! As it turned out the course was almost 11k. I didn’t know that, but I sure felt it!
In the end I finished 4th, and won my age group. The experience of traveling with Tanya, having Janice along to cheer, and Rena, John, Trevor and Steve there made it worthwhile for the day. Seeing Leslie Anne in tears over her AG placing was a beautiful moment in triathlon for me!
Will I do another Multisport race again anytime soon? Probably not. I was disappointed in several basic organizational expectations I have when I sign up for a race. I did talk to one of the race directors about it, and he accepted my feedback with kindness. It is my responsibility to know the course. That rule is a firm one. The fact that there was a volunteer at the infamous “t” intersection on my second lap tells me their lack of marking it was an oversight though, and it was careless.
The post race food was FANTASTIC! I must give kudos to the organizers for that! I will give credit where credit is due!
Oh... how did Tanya know where to go at the “t”? She didn’t! She guessed too! She said she had a 50/50 chance of getting it right, and was happy to make the right choice. Me... I got some extra running in and met a very nice young gal from Vegreville who runs FAST! She raced in Kelowna as well... but more on that next race report!

2010-10-08T10:08:00.002-06:00

Angie’s Long Overdue Heart of the Rockies Race Report

I am a tardy race report writer! As of this moment, I have gone to the start line 5 times since I last sat down to write my tales from the trenches of triathlon. (I must be in a mood to “alliterate”!) It there’s a bonus to my procrastination, it is that each report has to be short; something I’m not all that good at but will do my best to accomplish this time round. Here is the first one.
Heart of the Rockies Olympic Distance, July 11th, 2010
This race was important to me. As you may know, my last race at Great White North Half Ironman was what I define a terrible day. I don’t need to relive it her, but it certainly moulded my goals for this race.
What did I want out of this one? Simple.... I wanted to race happy. I wanted to “enjoy” the process, and finish with a smile.
The few days before the race were filled with fun! Rena, Sarah and I had a great time dancing with a few glasses of wine on Friday night in Panorama. Saturday was filled with pre-race workouts with Sebastian, Jeff, Rena, Sara, Trevor, and Alanna.

Race morning I had a bit of chaos. First of all, I talked to way to many people and fell behind on getting ready. Secondly, the battery in my powertap died. I so badly wanted the data from this race to compare to last year. I had a brief moment of panic, the Sarah saved the day with a brand new battery in her HR strap! YAH SARAH!!!!
I got my wetsuit on with minutes to spare... literally! No warm up and the gun was off.
I hoped to stay on Sarah’s feet for at least a few minutes of the swim. “Dream Big Arnold” comes to mind here! NOT A HOPE! She was gone like a flash and I was left to fend for myself. I enjoyed the swim, felt I swam technically well, and was happy with my time.
The bike was fun! I had a ball on the rough road and hills. Last year when I did this race I was grumpy. I hadn’t recovered from GWN I don’t think, and the whole ride and run I made excuses for why I didn’t need to do this race. I was committed to not letting those thoughts override my attitude on this day. I actually thought I rode SO well! I was SURE my watts would be higher than one year earlier. They weren’t... oddly, they were exactly the same although paced differently. Last year I started HARD, and lost watts on the way home. This year I started and finished very close to the same. I didn’t improve my watts, but executed better. YAH ME!

The run was AWESOME! This course is a hilly hard 10k. You climb straight for 6k, get a bit of a break, climb again, then do a hard downhill run to Invermere. Knowing the course this year made it a lot better. Last year I walked a few times and wallowed in my misery. This year I forged on, smiled when it hurt, and hammered downhill! Unfortunately I got passed on the last k and lost 2nd place woman overall. The gal was FLYING! I didn’t mind at all though. I had race a GREAT HAPPY RACE! Process goal accomplished. Third place this year felt SO much better than first place last year. I did a little celebration at the finish line, and joyfully received my beer mug for winning my age group. Our team ROCKED the day as well which made it that much more special. BONUS... I won a free pair of runners from the draw prizes! DOES IT GET ANY BETTER!
I forgot to mention that I PR’d my 10k off the bike. 46:24 was my fastest to date on a tough course. This took me to an OD best time and made the day that much better. Maybe... just maybe... I’m a runner now
I highly recommend this race be added to your calendar next year if you can make it happen. I’ll be back! It was a GREAT race and an even better weekend.

Running with Socks, GWN Race Story 2010

2010-07-14T15:49:00.002-06:00

I think most of you know my story. My new nickname “Angie Running in Socks” speaks loads as do the 2 big black marks on my feet. I suppose I should think of them as “badges of a hard day”... maybe I will soon.

The weekend leading up to race day was nothing short of amazing. I loved being in GWN with our team. AT the carb load on Friday I was a very proud coach! Not only for my athletes, but for Richelle and Sarah as well. They are a huge part of the success of this team. Pre-race workouts on Saturday were SO much fun even though the wind was on the edge of tornado force! When a rack with Sarah’s bike blew over and nearly clipped her, it hit me just how hard the wind was blowing. I thought that if it’s that way tomorrow “we” athletes from the South will do better than others because we are very familiar with strong wind! Luckily we didn’t need to draw on that experience as race day had perfect conditions.

Race morning went tickety boo. I changed my breakfast and went away from my standard bagel with a fried egg, cheese and tomato, and switched to my new favourite breaky of oatmeal with a half an apple and raisons, a wee bit of brown sugar and skim milk. On the bike I realized that I forgot my heaping tablespoon of almond butter! I had a brief moment of panic that I was racing without any protein The panic quickly dissipated as I realized it wasn’t really hurting me and if it was, there wasn’t much to do about it by that point anyway! The lesson to take from this little blooper was that I need to not be quite so casual about race morning. I’ve race... a lot, over the years. I find that lately I have a hard time being keyed up doing normal pre-race tasks. The last few races I’ve forgot simple little things that I believe help me work towards success. Do I think that missing almond butter was a key factor in the creation of a challenging day? No... but it was careless.

In the morning I think a lot of us felt like rock stars! Team TriLife supporters were in full force taking photos, candid and posed. Lots of hugs and have a good day. I took off for a few minutes by myself for a run in my keens... no extra running shoes! I also had my wetsuit on up to my hips. I looked like a bit of a freak, but it worked to warm me up and get my brain in race gear.

I stood on the beach with Tanya Salomon. She ended up being second overall woman for the day!!! We chatted briefly and then the gun went sooner than I expected. A quick dive in and I tried to stay on her feet. I thought I was swimming SO fast!!! I felt SO good in the water! If anything, I was a bit warm, but the goop and mud didn’t bother me, and I was very lucky to have very little contact. I found feet, fought to stay with them on and off throughout the swim, and felt I executed well. The hardest part was the run around the buoy to the second lap! Running through knee deep quick sand takes your breath away! I didn’t get my splits at the half way point because my watch was under my wetsuit. I’m pretty sure I slowed down the second lap, but that’s OK. It was still a good swim. Time 32:39. I’m consistant!

Bike: I had a really quick transition and was on my way! I was excited to ride and felt the conditions were ripe for fast times. At the mount line my aerobar pad fell off. There was nothing I could do so I got on and rode up the hill. This turned out to be a major distraction throughout the ride. My forearm was on metal and screws. At times I was grumpy about it, but then I would will away the anger and tell myself “control what you can, let go what you can’t”. I contemplated stopping for help, but honestly didn’t think that bike support would have anything to fix it. I rode in aero mostly, but I couldn’t quite rest comfortably on that arm. Still, my bike time was fantastic. It exceeded what I ever believed was possible. Nothing to complain about there. I did an analysis of my watts from the last 5 races at this distance I’ve done. It’s below in a chart.

• Oceanside March 2009,
o Average watts 165
o Normalized power 175
o Ride time without transitions 2:47:25
o Course... hilly and windy

• Great White North 2009,
o Average watts 181
o Normalized power 184
o Ride time without transitions 2:36:54 with transitions.
(2:34 “ish” without)
o Course... flat, tail wind out, head wind back.

• Sooke Sept 2009,
o Average watts 177
o Normalized power 190
o 2:43:19 for 86km not including transitions
o Course... VERY hilly! HARD!

• Clearwater Nov 2009,
o Average watts 184
o Normalized power 188
o 2:17:35
o Course... FLAT AND FAST!

• Great White North 2010,
o Average watts 172
o Normalized power 176
o Ride time without transitions 2:33:28 with transitions.
(2:30:30 “ish” without)
o Course... flat, slight head wind out, tail wind home.

As you can see over the year last year my bike fitness grew. Oceanside was done on indoor training. Average watts is set on my powertap head to only count watts when I’m pedalling. If I’m descending and not moving my pedals, the zero is not averaged into the watts. Normalized power is a way to compare one ride to another regardless of terrain or wind. It’s calculates your effort to create a wattage that you would have had WITH that effort on a totally flat course. As you can see Sooke the highest. That is because of the hills! It was a tough one. I knew that even though this ride was my fastest at GWN, it was not my best effort in the “Angie compared to Angie” mode of comparison. I could not have rode any harder. It was my best effort for the day. Nutrition went well; I consumed a bottle of infinit per hour. (Mind you, I wore a fair amount of infinit because the top of my aerobottle came off! I HATE it when my fingers stick together! At every aid station I would grab water and try to release the goo... it didn’t work, but I kept trying!)

One other interesting analysis... in 2010 I had the 65th fastest bike split. In 2009 I had the 96th fastest bike split. That is a really interesting comparison that surprises me. It makes the lower watts in 2010 a bit off. Hmmmm.... now I’m thinking.

The BEST thing about my ride was my dismount! For the first time in my racing career I did a gliding dismount It was SO fun and fast!!!!! THANKS to the TTL Tent Dwellers for all their cheers at the end of the bike. I loved seeing the orange and purple jackets on the course as well! It very much brings you back to focus when you hear cheers from teammates and friends!

T2 went well. Nothing much to talk about. I got in, and got out.

Run: This is where my challenges began. Let me prefix this by saying that if one of our team had a run like I did, I would discuss the following points with this athlete. I believe these points, and if nothing else, this has been a very good learning experience that what I say does make sense and I need to apply it to myself.
1. You learn more from a hard race than a race that goes well. Next time you toe the start line you will have a reference for how much you can hurt, and how much you want to not give in to the demons that make you slow down. This was a learning race... the harder the race, the more epic the learning.
2. You toughed out a very tough day. A lot of people would have quit, and you didn’t. You are an amazing athlete committed to your trade of racing at the edge of your abilities. Some days are diamond, and some are coal. You pulled out a pretty amazing finish of a really hard day.

OK... so that is what I would say, and actually, typing it out helps.

Stats first... I always hit my interval button at km markers. It’s part of my post race analysis. Below is what is on my watch from the run. I’m showing you this mostly because it’s how I analyze my race.
• Km 1 4:42
• Km 2 4:25
• Km 3 4:46
• Km 4 4:59 (walked to drink out of plastic cup)
• Km 5 4:40
• Km 6 4:48
• Km 7 4:53
• Km 8 5:19 (bathroom break #1)
• Km 9 4:36 (making up for bathroom break)
• Km 10 4:46
• Km 11 4:36
• Km 12 4:51
• Km 13 4:54
• Km 14 4:56
• Km 15 4:54
• Km 16 and 17 10:00 (bathroom break #2 in here I think)
• Km 18 5:06 (foot pain pretty bad)
• Km 19 4:48
• Km 20 – 21.1 9:56 (took off both shoes and ran with my socks)

What happened...

When I started the run I knew that I felt tuckered. Last year GWN was my zen race! I started to run and had to tell myself to slow down! I had a hard time keeping my pace back in a reasonable range. I felt SO good. This year it felt like a grunt from the start. Still, I was running well according to the km markers. Stay focused Angie. This is your job today. Get it done.

Early in the run my left lower leg went numb. It was like running on a stump... almost felt like I was dragging it along. I wasn’t, but that’s what it felt like. I did frequent “body scans” and would assure myself that as long as it doesn’t hurt, you can run through it. Pain is one thing, a numb limb is another. Keep running. The km’s were clicking off at a pretty good rate. I was surprising myself based on how my legs felt. All good.

Then... grrrr.... this NEVER has happened to me in a Half Ironman IN MY LIFE!!!! My bowel started to gurgle and brew. The pressure was mounting. I didn’t have gut issues, I just had to go! WHAT THE ....???? Into the bushes at about 8k. I’m not sure who could see me, and to be honest, I didn’t care a whole bunch. When I gotta go, I gotta go NOW! I don’t have much wiggle room. Thankfully there was a treed area for me to step into at my “moment of need”! Back to the run, I caught the fellows I was running with and continued on. My leg / foot were still numb but that’s OK. I knew that Sarah was working hard behind me, and I was motivated to stay in front. I timed her at the turn around. She had gained about :20 on me. That’s OK. I took :30 for the bathroom break. I can hold this. I had to walk thru a few aid stations to get water. Those darn plastic cups. I think you all know what I’m talking about. Sarah was the hand on my back pushing me. This was hard.

My bowel struck again! NO!!!!!! This can’t be happening! This one was quick! In and out of the trees. SORRY to residents of Stony Plain. Back on the run. Come on Angie... keep going.

At about 16k my leg lost the “stump-ness” and a pretty incredible pain went into my foot. I’ve race through a lot of “foot pain” having had a mortons neuroma removed. This felt worse, but my memory might have faded. I tried to walk and wiggle my foot to see if it would let go. It didn’t. I’d run, walk, run, walk. Sarah was right there. At this point it was hers. She blew by me like I was standing still!!! She was breathing harder than I’d ever heard her breathe, and I knew she was having THE RACE OF HER LIFE!!!!! As a competitor, it was a place lost. As a friend first, coach second, it was an amazing demonstration of what you an athlete can do with not only amazing fitness, but amazing determination and resolve to dig deep and ask your mind to allow the “push” when it’s SO hard! I was proud of her! I still am.

Just past the 19k mark I was walking. I was on a hill, and JoZ was on her way down. That darn JoZ yelled at me and told me to get running! After she apologized, but she was just what I needed. I’d seen Richelle, Ally, and Jeff and John, Cindy on the course. All I could say to them was “rough day”. They told me to stay strong, I felt like I was crumbling. For some reason when JoZ told me to pick it up, a light switch went off. At that moment, I took off my shoe, and the relief was instant. I tried to run with one shoe for a few steps, but that was a BAD idea, so the other shoe came off. Once I started running in socks (thus the name) my legs came back, the pain was gone, and I found the determination to finish strong that I had lacked the last several km’s. Sarah was in site, and I was pushing with everything I had to make gains. I carried my shoes for maybe 800m, and I dropped on right before an aid station. I threw the other one at the volunteers and asked them to please save them for me. (Amazingly I got my shoes back from a wonderful volunteer within minutes of finishing! THANK YOU!)

As I turned the corner and saw the TTL tent, and heard the cheers, my emotions started to build. I was going to finish what I would call the run from hell. I heard Annie say “where are your shoes” and I think I had a wee bit of a smile... inside... at that moment! Thank you Annie! I crossed the finish line, I think I hugged Sarah, and I started to cry. I’m still emotional typing this right now.

I kept thinking “it shouldn’t be that hard”. The pain in my feet and ankles hit me as soon as I stopped, and emotionally I was done. I ended up with medical for a few minutes which was OK. I’m still emotional as I type this.

I expected my run time to be much slower than it was. I was shocked to see I was only :15 slower than last year. When I was running I must have ran pretty fast... my suunto graph tells the tale well... run / walk/run / walk in the last 5k.

This feels a bit like Clearwater did. If I had finished in 4:48 with a 1:42:?? run AND I’d raced well, I would have been thrilled! At my age, PR’s are hard to come by! I’ve been at this game for quite a few years now, and to be honest, a PR is a gift. I am so attached to execution though that a fast finish time has very little meaning to me if I don’t race well. On this day I can say that my issues were not necessarily execution issues. I think I paced well, nutrition went well, my mental state was down and that is a negative that I can control, but apart from that, the aerobar pad, bathroom breaks and feet issues were pretty much bad luck. I can’t fix that. I did learn though about what I can push myself through although I hope not to go there again anytime soon!

I talked to Chad a few days after the race and was telling him my tale. He put me in my place in about 2 seconds. He said “at least you can race”. How true is that? At least I can race. That is a perspective that I needed to hear, and Chad and John are both examples of athletes overcoming incredible obstacles to get back to a start line. How much would Terry have loved to be at this race.

Perspective is everything. This was a rough day at “my” office, but there are better days ahead. I am so blessed to have triathlon in my life, mostly because of the people, and also because I get to challenge myself on a daily basis with training. The races are the proverbial icing on the cake. A tough race is not a season ruined, and yes, my finishing time was really solid.

I think that’s all I can tell you. Thanks for reading. Angie

Open water swimming and other random racing thoughts.

2010-06-21T15:55:00.001-06:00

Hey TTL... I’ve been a bit out of the loop this weekend! I raced on a k100 team on Saturday and it was tons of fun! (Well, apart from running 14k up a hill in the mountains it was a good time! I had leg 4 and I regret not looking at the elevation before I went! I might have taken a rest day leading into it because those hills hurt! Still... the experience was a good one and the Adrenalin Rush Women’s Team did great finishing 2nd for the day.)

I’ve been reading all the race updates, and will get around to responding and putting together the team update in the next few days! Thank you for letting me know how your race went. (If you haven’t yet, please do.)

I wanted to address what seems to be a common theme in the updates though, because it can really mess with your head

Open water swims are a dangerous place to evaluate progress. There are a few reasons for this.
1. You can never be sure if race directors have accurately measured the course. The only place for a true swim test is in a controlled environment which is the pool. If times are improving in the pool, you are a better swimmer regardless of open water swim performance.
2. The line you take can drastically affect your swim time in open water. A few extra meters here, a few extra there... all add on to make you slower. In the pool if you do a timed 1000, it’s a true 1000 meaning you swim 40 lengths as fast as you can. In open water, it can easily be more OR less for that matter depending on how accurate the course is.
3. Drafting... this is a funky one. If you get on “good” feet, you can swim faster with less energy. The goal is to find a swimmer who is pushing you, but you can work within a reasonable effort level to hold on. If you get on feet that are too fast, you could swim harder than your ability dictates you should, and there will be a pay off maybe on the bike, but for sure on the run. If you get behind feet that are too slow, you can very easily settle into a pace that is below what you should be swimming. This make RPE challenging to manage, and in the lake the only indicator we have of pace is RPE.

A few other things... if you are swimming hard, don’t feel guilty going to single side breathing. When you run fast, your breathing rate increases. When you cycle fast, your breathing rate increases. Why should the pool be any different? If you are swimming fast, your breathing rate will increase and you might need to single side breathe. In a long course tri like Ironman, maintaining the ability to bilateral breathe can be a good tool to prevent you from swimming too hard. In an OD, if you are “racing” it, you should need to breathe frequently.

Another thought on racing... “If” you “race” the bike, there most likely will be a trade off on the run. The goal is to bring your bike / run split down as a team. For example, at Wasa, Kelvin biked 1 min slower than last year, but he ran 3 minutes faster than last year which gave him a net gain of 2 min. So, comparing course to course 2009 to 2010, he improved even though his bike split was 1 min slower! That is a fair comparison barring weather issues that can affect pace like heat or wind. (Cold too I guess.)

On that note, I often tell people that you have 2 Olympic Distance Best Times! 1) Wasa 2) Every other race! Wasa is a super fast course. That’s why people love it. If you better your Wasa time on a different course, CONGRATS! That is a big pr! Resist the urge though to expect to see a comparable time to your Wasa PR on a slower course.

My final thought is this... “RACING HURTS!!! I’ve had a few discussions with athletes lately who expected their OD race to feel easy since they are training for Ironman! Well, if you did your OD race at your IM pace, it would be easy. You’re going short and relatively slow. Not much reason to visit the hurt locker if that is how you choose to tackle race day.

If, however, you want to see what you’re worth on a given day, and you push your boundaries for speed, you will hurt! Going fast is hard! Taking your HR up high creates discomfort. Learning to cope with that discomfort is a big part of racing successfully. In a long course tri like Ironman, the discomfort comes because you are going for a really long time! If you go “hard” on an Ironman day, it can lead to a long walk at the end, or even a DNF.

In a shorter triathlon, the discomfort comes because your mind doesn’t really like how fast you are asking your body to move! (Not to mention the physiological demands of going above threshold! That creates a great deal of discomfort!) There is a saying... “He /She who hurts the most... wins!” It is somewhat true. If you have 2 athletes with similar fitness, similar v02’s, similar training regimes, the one with the highest pain tolerance and mental fortitude to push through the pain of racing the hardest will likely be the victor on any given day. Your mind is key part of racing.

As you read this, you might think that I’ve lost my mind and want to remind me that we do this for fun! I agree... we train and race for fun, and that’s a great reason to healthy, and fit, and well! It’s our social outlet and our “grow old looking great” plan all wrapped into one! If you like to race in your comfort zone, that is 110% OK! If you like to race so you can push your boundaries and challenge yourself to be faster... test your mettle so to speak, then that’s OK too! We need to understand what drives us to the start line, and what defines success at the finish line. It is different for EVERY athlete! We should support, respect and encourage athletes at all levels, understanding that their journey is “their own”.

I’ll wrap this up by congratulating everyone on their races and their commitment to training this year. It has been a challenging one because of weather, but the sun seems to be holding up now, and training mojo is creeping back!

Thanks Team Tri Life! You are the most wonderful group of athletes EVER! Thanks for reading. Angie

Waterloo Marathon Race Report

2010-04-28T09:14:00.002-06:00

CONGRATS to all Team Tri Life Athletes who raced the Police Half this weekend! Also to Trevor who did his first ever 70.3 in Texas! Lots of best times! A few challenges, and some wonderful lessons learned about execution. We have such an amazing team:) Below is my marathon story along with some other gibberish. Read if you're at all inclined.

Well, I got it done! I am not sure if I looked worse at the finish line, or the next day when I was attempting to walk, wishing that I had a wheel chair! It was hard. Plain and simply put... it was hard. Below is a list of lessons learned, the good, bad, and oh ya... a bit of ugly! The part I didn't include in my little race report was a HUGE thank you to Jill who let me crash at her house for 2 nights! All you can eat sushi, circus school (yes... I jumped off a platform 30ft in the air and swung on a trapeze. I will NEVER do it again... but did it once! I guess I should say that the other women in the group, all a bit older than me and perhaps not as active, did it 2 or 3 times AND hung upside down! I was the weakest in the group by far! It didn't matter though... I jumped!). On Sunday night I got to hang out with the most adorable toddler named Kate! She let me read her a book on animals, and I got to watch a bundle of energy run and dance and sing! (Oh... her parents Craig and Tonya were great too!) On Monday I had an incredible professional development day with Craig Taylor who is coach of the Ontario Regional Triathlon Training Center. Swim workout from 7 - 9, hot tub and core, bike technical session with 3 athletes, lunch and chatting (learning), coffee and more chatting (learning) then an endurance ride with intervals for 2 athletes while we tailed in the car (more learning). An OUTSTANDING day! I got to the plane exhausted but so thrilled with the weekend. New friend, learned a ton, and a story with Kate!

Below are my lessons learned at the Waterloo Marathon...

Execution...

Part of my race plan was to wear my ipod. It was strangely important to me. On the way to the race I realized the battery was half dead. I got a bit panicky (ridiculous I’m sure) and found a volunteer and asked her if she could charge it. It was not a good move. I didn’t see her again. At the start line I was more upset than I should have been, but I had no choice... I had to run without music. So, I started running, thought for a few minutes about how much I was going to hate this, then decided to pull my head out of me ass and just run. It was a minor distraction.

I was cold to start. My hands were freezing. The wind and rain was significant. I thought a lot about what Janice McCaffrey calls those things... distractions that try to throw you off your game. Don’t let them.

At the start line, people took off fast like they always do. I had pace on my watch and calmly said to myself, “let them go”. They’ll come back to you. I used pace on my watch, AND I hit my interval timer at every km marker to see if I was on track. I figured out my watch was reading a few seconds fast / km. That was OK. I knew where I needed to be.

I ended up running with a chiropractor from Waterloo. His Garmin was going “beep” about every 2 seconds! I was missing my ipod bad at this point, but there was nothing I could do about it. In the end, he was my running partner and we did this race together. He was a big part of my success that day.

Jeff, the chiro, wanted to talk. I would give short answers, one word answers, but when he asked a question that needed an explanation I told him “no talking”. He was really good about it. Talking takes energy. In the early parts of the race it feels OK to talk, but that energy should be conserved for later in the race. Trust me... there was no talking in the last 10k. We were surviving.

The wind was there. Plain and simple. There was nothing I could do about it, so I did the best I could to manage the situation. On one long stretch into the wind, I tucked in behind a tall guy who was pacing a buddy to a 3:30. (They didn’t do it.) On this stretch he was bang on km after km and I was with him step for step. That was running smart. I didn’t let the wind get to me because I figured we’d get tail wind to make up for it, and if we could hold 5 or just under min k’s at this point, we were doing great. (It was maybe from 14 – 19km)

We had a tail wind for about 4 – 5k on a gravel road. I thought I’d pick it up with the wind at my back. We did a bit (Jeff and me) but not as much as I expected. I had to really pay attention to how I was feeling. I didn’t have HR at this point, and knew that pushing too hard would have big consequences later on.

When we got back on the pavement the hills were rolling, and every time we came to one I’d say to Jeff... “conserve energy up the hill”. “Make up time going down”. We did that. We ran all hills, but certainly didn’t try to win a hero cookie by getting to the top the fastest! Energy management was now the theme. Legs were getting really tired!

At 32k I was all about positive self talk. Only 10k to go. We can do this. Jeff... we are AWESOME! We continued to click off the 5 min k’s. We were doing the job we needed to do.

At 35k K said to him.... “you are thru the wall, how does it feel”. Jeff said “amazing! I’ve never come thru the wall and felt this good before”! Then the really really bad wind hit.

Environment Canada said 40k an hour gusting to 60k an hour winds. That’s what we had, straight in our face with NOTHING to break it. I had taught Jeff how to work together to break wind earlier in the course. We had a lot of k’s of cross and headwind. It was survival. (At least the rain had stopped by now!) At this point we took pulls at the front, but only about a minute or less at a time. We were getting close to the finish, and Jeff needed a 3:30 to qualify. Come hell or high water we were not going to lose that. This was a HUGE mental struggle. I thought of John Bosma, and the challenges he had to face in upcoming months after his bike crash. He gave me a lot of inspiration at this point. I also thought a lot about how upset I was at Clearwater when my mind gave in to the pain and I walked. I was so disappointed in myself. I did not want to get to the finish line knowing I’d given time away because I wasn’t mentally committed to doing the job I set out to do. So, Jeff and I chugged along and got through it. (You can see on the graph when pace drops. That was the wind.)

We turned a corner to get a much needed break from the crazy wind, and what was right in front of us? A mountain! At least, that’s what it looked like! Again... save energy Jeff. Run it easy but run it.

We got to the top of the hill, I was ahead and he gradually caught me again. At the 40k mark I was hurting SO bad. I didn’t expect it to be this painful... it actually surprised me how much it hurt. The last aid station came and went... no fuel now, we are too close. I felt like I was running sideways. I didn’t look at pace, I didn’t look at time, I didn’t look at HR. I just f#$king ran! It’s all I could do. I was counting down minutes. At 40k I had 12 min to hurt. At 41k I had under 6 min to hurt. I can do this. Come on Angie. Keep your legs moving. You want this... you said a 3:30 was a given. RUN!

I came around the corner, and Jill, who I had stayed with for the past 2 nights was there cheering me to the finish. She had a hood on, and I was a bit delirious and was not sure who she was for a minute. I figured it out. No smiles or waves of recognition at this point. Just f$#king run. Jeff had a bit in the tank and ran ahead. His time was 5 seconds better than mine... but it didn’t matter! WE DID IT! He qualified for Boston, and I got that “given 3:30”! Never again in my life will I say anything is a given. I raced this well, I executed well, I got the time, but the pain I felt was epic. Nothing “given” about this race.

A few things about how I raced...

I didn’t look at my total time during the race except at 10k. I had a bet with Susan from Vancouver (Jill’s sister) that I would be at 50 min at 10k! She thought I’d start to fast. I was at 49:25. We haven’t decided who won the bet yet. I had a plan to run 5 min k/s or JUST under. I did that right from the start. It took patience to watch ALL those runners leave me. (Well, there was only 167 in the race, but it looked like everyone of them was in front of me for the opening km’s.!) I executed this by taking one km at a time. I didn’t even do much math. Often I’ll look at my time at a km marker and calculate a finish time based on my pace. I didn’t do that here. I knew, when I hit my interval timer, that it needed to read 4:55 to 5:00. It did, for most km’s. We lost into the wind, but we’d been steady enough to that point that we had a bit of time in the bank.

At 21k, Jeff told me we were at 1:44. That meant we were on track. I looked on my watch after the race, and we hit 21k at 1:44:12. That is about 1:44:50 for 21.1k, or close. I finished in3:29:40, so it was almost a bang on equal split. Considering the strongest wind and the hills in the second half, I don’t think I could have paced this better.

Pacing and patience is EVERYTHING in a marathon! A BIG lesson I knew... but proved the importance of at this race!

The pace charts had me with a much faster finish. The pace charts apparently hadn’t talked to my legs. They didn’t have it in them to match any pace chart predictions on this day. I could not have gone 1 second faster. I did walk at 3 aid stations for about 5 seconds to make sure I got liquid in. That was it. I don’t think that was a bad choice though. I needed the fluid.

Only read this next statement if you want to... it’s a bit gross! I was running in full on rain. I had to pee, and didn’t see any point in stopping at a porta potty. I peed on the run. The rain was hard and it didn’t really matter at this point if my shoes got more wet! I’m glad I decided to do that... if I hadn’t I would not have broken 3:30J My shoes have since been washed!

My HR was lower on this race than it is when I did 70.3. At Clearwater, I raced at 162bpm for the bike and run. That was my average for over 4 hours. In the marathon, my HR was 5 – 7 beats lower which surprised me. I thought it would be the same. It wasn’t and it’s a good thing I didn’t push it up there. I would have been done if I’d ran over 160. I think a longer run focused training block could possibly get me to a point where I could carry a higher HR in a marathon. Maybe not though... I guess I’ll see if I do another one!

This race was funny. I expected a 5 min km to feel good at the start. I expect to feel like I had to slow down Nelly! I’d have to force pace back, not fight to hold a 5 min k. On this day, a 5 min k felt hard almost from the start. I had lots of “don’t feel good” moments, which I didn’t expect. At the 21k mark I was 10 min slower than my stand alone half time. That should have felt good... but it didn’t. It was something about the day that made it hard, and I’m not sure I’ll every know what that was.

In the end though, I worked through the mental demons of not feeling good. I worked through the weather challenges of wind, cold, and rain, and I worked through a beeping garmin and a sore ankle. The “distractions” were there to throw me off my game, and somehow I didn’t let them.

Sorry this is so long. Writing it has been a good exercise for me in that I actually feel better about my race now that I’ve written down how the day went. I was having a hard time understanding why I wasn’t over the moon excited! I’m not jumping for joy... mostly because my legs hurt too much, but I’m feeling a bit more at peace with the accomplishment.

Thanks for reading if you made it this long.

How fast is fast?

2010-03-07T18:54:00.005-07:00

Here is another blog. It's been a LONG time since I've posted. I felt this note might be worthy of a big of energy to type out.

I am just home from the Masters Indoor Track and Field World Championships in Kamloops. I raced the half marathon and had a pretty good day. I set a best time by :25 for the distance, and at my age I'll take anything I can get! As an added bonus I got the bronze medal in my age group, which was more a factor of the fast gals not showing up than of me running fast! I'm a big girl, and can readily admit that my "fast" is not the same as "fast" for these road runner super speedy women who grace such events with their presence!

(I need to clarify, that if I had not got the bronze medal I would have been thrilled with my race! I paced well, negative split, had nothing at the finish line, and got a PR. Not much bad about that day at the office. As I said, the medal was a bonus.)

My title for this post is "How Fast is Fast?" I remember having this discussion with a brilliant coach from Ontario. He coaches the Junior Elites in his province and is highly respected across the country. One of the things he told me in a random conversation about coaching was that to coach these kids, I need to understand what "fast" is.

I'm still learning this when it comes to these speedy young athletes, but after my experience at the Games in Kamloops, I've found myself reflecting on how we all define "fast" differently. Not only that, but our definition of "fast" is a floating scale that changes with experience.

In my little triathlon community, I'm thought to be a "fast" runner. In this little pod of the world I do OK. I'm happy with where I'm at and am pleased with the improvements. Leave my little "pod" though, and the reality is that my running ability is not at all in the big leagues. Am I OK with this... YOU BET I AM!

The gal who won the race has a PB for Half Mary's of 1:18. She ran a 1:23 and not only won the race, but also won my age group. On the podium she graciously invited me up to the top step to join her. She kissed my cheeks, and I learned that I have a lot to learn about "podium etiquette"! Not to worry, I don't think I'll need it again anytime soon! (Side note: She ran a 1:23, and even though she spoke no English, and I don't speak Spanish, it was quite evident that she was not at all pleased with her results. She appeared to not meet her definition of "fast" on this day. Can you imagine, being disappointed with a 1:23 and a World Championship at the age of 40!)

The gal who was second in my AG was from Great Britain! Lovely woman.. I talked to her at the start line. I encouraged her to "go get the silver" as I was pretty sure that a few of our faster competitors weren't at the start line. Success... she ran 1:28 for second place! My 1:34, which I was THRILLED with, was solidly in 3rd place! Not really in the league of the other gals, but it absolutely met my definition of "fast". I was successful on the day.

Now I have to tell you about some of the other athletes. The woman's 50 -54 age category was CRAZY! Two women over 50 ran under 1:28!!!!! The bronze went to a woman from Venezuela who ran 1:31:12! Now THAT is FAST!

What about the men! Well, the amazing Don King is now the Masters World Track and Field Half Marathon Champion! He ran a BLAZING 1:13, just 2 seconds off his PR! That is... um... er... FAST! He's a really nice guy too and from Calgary. An added bonus!

What about the old guys!

The winner of the men's 60-65 age group was from Whales. Ken and I warmed up with him before the race. A humble bloke... nice... hoping for a good day! He ran a blistering 1:27:13! Guess what... THAT IS FAST! He also went on that afternoon to race with his countrymen in the 4 x 200m relay! We were all hobbling around on sore legs, wishing our bodies not to cramp and sent us squealing to the floor in public! This "older" gentlemen was on the track within 3 hours of his spectacular Gold Medal Finish!

But wait, it gets better!

Women 70-74 Winner from Poland, 1:59:34!
Womens 75-79 Winner from Germany, 2:28:43
Women's 80+ Winner from Germany, 2:40:38!
Men 65-69, Winner from Spain, 1:28:05
Men 70-74, Winner from Germany 1:33:37
81 year old Grant Mule from Canada... 2:31:01! Was he FAST! You bet your ASS he was!!!!!!

You look at these times. By our personal standards, some are fast, some are not. When you put them into the context of the age of the person who achieved these times, they are all UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I think it proves my theory about the "floating fast scale" I talk about above. As we get faster, out scale probably drops time. As we get older, logically it should increase at some point. (I don't pretend that will be an easy pill to follow to get slower! It is what it is. Those "middle aged PR's" are showing up at a race near me soon! Hopefully I'm ready for it.)

Watching the "seniors" hit the track for the relays was humbling, motivating, and darn it... entertaining! Seeing a man who is 91 BOOK it around that track was awe inspiring! Not one of them looked their age, and if they did, they certainly didn't act it! (Video of the 80+ 4 x 200m Men's Relay below.)

To end this long post, I would suggest that you take pride in your definition of "fast". Hold true to what works for "you" as an athlete, always recognizing there is somebody out there who is faster than you AND there is always somebody slower than you! What a GREAT sport!

(I think I need to follow this post up with a process goal post! Coming soon... promise:)

Thanks for reading. To play the video below hit the "play" button! The screen pops up when you do.

Running in the snow...

2009-12-11T15:25:00.002-07:00

I'm going out on a limb here and doing a blog update, even though it was within the last month that I last posted!! (Nobody said I was good at this!) I thought the contrast between my run last night and my run today was worthy of noting.

Last night my daughter Ali had dryland training for volleyball at our local rec center. There is a running track there, and like all respectable triathletes I figured I might as well make good use of my time and run while she "trained". Our track is 232.7 meters around. There is a soccer field, a gymnastics center and a gymnasium to look at below but not much to keep you entertained.

I started my run unsure of how long or far I would go. For lack of anything better to do I ended up doing my long run which, it turns out, was 18k and 1:30 long. One hour and 30 minutes of going round and round and round and round! At least we change directions every half hour. Still... it was mind numbing.

So... what was the difference today? Well, it was snowing, and cold and wintery, but I decided I needed to get outside and get some fresh air. It wasn't as cold as it has been, so I thought I'd try taking one Jack Russel with me and see how his feet held up.

Let me tell you... the running Gods were with me! Duncan (the Jack Russell terrorist) was able to run no problems! We met a beautiful Belgium German Shepard pup who he had a great run with, and he LOVED the snow!!! Then, I came home, got the other JR pup named Dexter, and we were off for another bit of running and fun in the snow! Dexter was a happy little camper too and no footy issues. What a GREAT day to decide to get out!!!

2 happy AND tired dogs, some wonderful fresh air, and an unexpected wonderful wintery run in the snow!!!! A pretty good way to end the week I'd say.

2009-11-18T16:04:00.002-07:00

I had a really strong race at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Florida as I think all of you know. I've had so many congrats from all of you.. thank you. I guess I'll write my final thoughts on the race here.

I'm struggling to feel content with my race. I know I exceeded my time goal... that's in black and white, clear as mud on paper. I thought I could hit a 4:40 for s/b/r, plus 5 - 6 min for transitions making a 4:45 a realistic goal. I finished in 4:40:07 and 7th in my age group, far exceeding what I believed I was capable of. On paper, I should be ecstatic with the event. So... what am I struggling with.

The drafting in the race was a huge issue. I've beat that to death in my race report so I don't need to re-visit it. I guess the one thing I have gained clarity on since I wrote that report is that out of the 6 women in front of me, I know that none of them could have rode any cleaner than I did. It would be easy for them to draft more than I did, but not to ride cleaner. That gives me my 7th place finish in very good conscious. I believe I earned that spot:)

The run is another issue though. If I had ran the 1:45 time and ran it solidly... meaning I committed to "running" and ran as hard as I could on the given day, I would have been satisfied with that result and run split. Where my disappointment comes is that I let the pain of racing get to me, and I broke down and walked 11 times during the half marathon. (I know it was 11 because I counted the walks on my Suunto download. It's easy to see them there as speed drops.) These walk breaks were simply because I was tired, and couldn't force myself to keep running. For me, that was a lapse in focus and commitment to race regardless of finishing time and place.

A lot of folks think that I'm 100% result and time focused... and I do work hard to do well and enjoy strong results at the end of the day. The thing that I think people miss though is that for me, finishing time is always second to execution.

For example, my best Ironman race was when I finished in 11:07 in 2007 at Ironman Canada. That is my "zen" Ironman. I can't find one minute in the day where I let myself down. I raced to my potential from start to finish. In 2008 I went faster... 11:04, but can think of several times I lost focus and my desire to race. I value the 11:07 more than the 11:04 because of how I raced. At Great White North 2009, I executed brilliantly from start to finish. My only "time loser" that day was that I couldn't get my wetsuit off... but that had nothing to do with execution. That day is my "zen" 70.3 race! It's not my fastest, but it's where I raced the best.

So, I guess I'll wrap this one up by saying that Clearwater was an amazing race on so many levels. It felt like a world championship once race day arrived... not much before. Still, I hope to go back next year as I'd like to give it a go again and take what I've learned this year to the start line. Hopefully I can find a way to get that "zen" day next year... I guess we'll find out if I make my way back.

Thanks for reading. Angie

Clearwater #2

2009-11-13T10:35:00.002-07:00

This should technically be Clearwater #3 since this is day 3 in the Sunshine State. I figured that since I missed yesterday though I would stick with chronological order and call this "#2".

From my most basic observations Florida is not the "Sunshine State". The 3 days I've spent here it could be the "Cloudy State", or the "Windy State", or the "State where Angie is always cold" state... but definitely not anything with the word "sunshine" in it. Luckily today there is blue sky, however the wind is still howling and the I need a sweatshirt to stop shivering.

Yesterday was a very low key day. Ken, Jaimie and I went to the Clearwater Aquarium. It's really small and quaint... not at all fancy, but you get up close and personal to the few marine animals they have. It's a rescue facility committed to re-integrating sea critters to the ocean. I found it interesting however that every sea critter they talked about had a reason to not go back their natural habitat so were lifers in the aquarium. Still, it was a good outing.

Last night Ken helped me google every woman in my age group. (Pathetic... I know!) There are a few websites that make searching results really easy. One is www.triresults.com. The other is Bay Area something or other. What I learned was that there are a lot of really really smoking fast women registered in this race. Peggy Yetman was second in Kona in our AG this year. (I'm hoping she's tired!) Cassie McWilliams should be a pro, and there are a few others who are in a league of their own so to speak! There's a good group of women at similar speed to me from what I can tell, and I'm very much looking forward to a good race with these athletes. (Of course my biggest hope is that they all decide to ride clean and not cheat by drafting. From what I understand the chances of this happening are pretty slim!) I also read today that there wasn't any body marking in Kona, making me think there won't be any ages written on the calf of competitors to tell us how we're doing in our AG. So.. it could be a true time trial assuming a few riders stay out of the draft packs:)

The other big news for today is that the swim course has been moved from the ocean side of Clearwater to the Harbor. It will be a deep water mass start for pro men and women, and the age groupers will be a time trial start. I think this means we'll go at 3 second intervals on our own. It means you can't tell where you're at in your age group because everyone starts at different times. On the plus side maybe it will help a bit with drafting. I guess we'll see. This is the first time this has happened at the race so tomorrow could be a bit of an experiment. The website describing the changes is here: http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/worldchampionship70.3/clearwater2009/relocation-of-swim-for-foster-grant-ironman-world-championship-70.3

Finally I guess I should tell you I'm a bundle of nerves today. I don't remember the last time I felt like this pre-race, but I'm settling down finally at almost 2:00 in the afternoon. This morning I honestly was a nervous jittery puddle of goo! I know that when the gun goes though I'll get my brain in the game and do everything I can to race smart, to race hard, and to race clean. The results will take care of themselves when I get to the finish line!

As I finish writing this the wind is HOWLING outside our door, but at least the sun is shining. I'll take it as a positive sign.

Bye for now... Angie

Clearwater 70.3 World Championships Update #1

2009-11-11T12:55:00.003-07:00

I've decided I should blog about my experience in Clearwater. As you may know, blogging is not something I'm good at getting to, but this experience seems worthy of a little typing time. So... what's it like in Florida?

The trip here was uneventful and pretty easy from a travel perspective. We flew direct on West Jet from Calgary to Orlando, and then it was about an hour and a half drive from Orlando to the condo in Clearwater. Ken and I had outstanding sushi on the way which really made the trip!

The condo we're staying in is right on the beach. I am sitting in the living room typing this with a very strong wind blowing in our patio door off the ocean. If it was hot it would be a perfect day! Unfortunately it's cloudy, and windy and cold but the weather is supposed to improve between now and Saturday which is race day.

This morning we went for coffee at a quaint little coffee shop a few k away. It was a very yummy latte... 1/4 pump caramel as always. A great way to start the day. Some groceries then off to the expo to get our race packages. It was FREEZING in the gazebo where package pick up is located with rain blowing sideways off the water into where the tables are. As always the volunteers were amazing, and it was a quick trip around to sign the waivers, get my cap and a run down on what to do with ALL the numbers in my bag, sign in my timing chip and of course, get the goody bag. If always amazes me how every Ironman expo feels the same, no matter where you are. This one was no exception. On the plus side there is a pair of Foster Grant sunglasses in our packages! A nice little bonus!

We then went to the merchanise tent and once again I left buying nothing. I did have a great chat though with a lady I met in Oceanside in April. She's in my age group and very fit and fast. We talked about the course and what we both hope to do. She outran me at Oceanside by 3 - 4 minutes. I'm hoping to catch her on Saturday! We both agree though that how we race is more important than results which we can't control. It was nice to talk to a competitive woman who has a similar approach to racing as I do. We talked about drafting too and how to manage "not" giving it energy on race day. I know that will be my biggest challenge.

We had lunch and Jaimie Roth and I went for a 20 min ride. Wow... riding flat is a really novel experience! I can't say I felt all that safe on the roads. There is a bike lane but it's such a busy street that cars are pulling in and out from the side all over the place, so I was a bit nervous.

From a "race" feel... my bike felt amazing! Ken put it together for me... thanks Ken!... and adjusted the placement of my pads for my aerobars and it's a good change. I also have new pedals that feel great and for the first time in a long time I can clip in and out without effort! For the few minutes I was on my bike I felt "one" with my bike! That's a GOOD thing!

I came home, spent about 30 min fiddling with new speed laces in my runners, then went for a 12 min run. I alternated 1 min fast / 1 min easy and it felt SO good! I'm hoping this is a sign that my cold is done and my chest is clear. I do feel a pretty big need to swim... I'm missing the water. That will be on the agenda tomorrow after our fishing trip! (I'm SO excited about the fishing trip. I think it will be cold, but I REALLY want to catch a BIG fish. A bizarre thing coming from me I know... it's just something I want to do!)

So... that's day 1 in Clearwater. No big pro sightings yet. The expo was pretty quiet today but I expect it to be a busy place tomorrow. We are going to go to Jaimie's favorite restaurant tonight even though we have lots of food for dinner:)

So... that's a wrap for day 1!! Hope all is well in Canada. Angie

Ironman Canada... Quite a day...

2009-09-09T07:33:00.003-06:00

Ironman Canada has come and gone for another year. This was a new experiencefor me in that it was the first time I was there not as an athlete / coach, but only as a coach. Now that it's over and I can reflect on what the day was like, I can say that racing is easier. Supporting, cheering, riding the Ironman rollercoaster of ups and downs through the days with all of my athletes is a much more challenging way to spend a day than when my focus is on me. It was also equally as rewarding; maybe more so, than when I race.

There are so many Ironman stories from the athletes, specatators, family members. I very much hope you get to share them with my team. We have started an "Athlete Blog" link in the hope that people lurking around our website can go there and get a feel for what TTL athletes are up to. Thanks to Ken for doing that for me.

For me the day was about sharing on so many levels. There was our team of amazing Ironman athletes. We saw a few of them in the morning, had hugs, well wishes... by then my job is done. I can only support. There was the team of Team Tri Life supporters. We had more folks in orange and purple on the sidelines as in the race! Then there was the spouses and children of our athletes. They were there to cheer but I know that deep down inside there is always that bit of worry... is he OK? How did Richter go? Is her nutrition working? Did he flat? Daddy... when is Mommy coming? All those questions and really, all a spouse can do is wait. It's a hard job.

Highlights for me through the day are many. Listening to the most beautiful rendition of O' Canada then watching 2600 athltes take off across the lake was nothing short of spectacular. Then it was a quick potty break in the Lakeside Inn (a flush toilet with running water on IM day! WOW!)... and off to watch our athletes out on the bike.

We stood on the corner and screamed our heads off counting them as they went by. At times it was like watching a swarm of bees in colorful outfits trying to pull out TTL colors. Poor Jason... he didn't have a TTL jersey, but we still managed to see him through the day! Siobhan was lost too. I saw her once when she was coming in on the bike, and that was only because she yelled at me!

As we counted down our swimmers turned cyclists we knew the day was underway. Ken survived (yah!), Michael with the shoulder cracked in 2 places got out of the swim and on to his bike. Step 1 down... now could he manage 180k ride on an injured shoulder that hadn't been outside on a bike in a month? Joanne came out 15 min earlier than my time estimate! GO JOZ GO! Sarah and Chad ROCKED the swim! Rena, Cindy, Carla, Hope and Tracey were smiling ear to ear! Jason looked focused and ready to tackle the day. Kelvin... he had a great swim! It was very exciting to see him! Richelle... she was smiling and little did we know she wouldn't stop for the rest of the day! It was a great start! I was off to breakfast.

There was a lot of talk about what could happen on the bike. I had some people at home on their computers sending me updates, but the only timing mat on the bike course is on Richters, so apart from that progress on the bike is unknown. I was carefully checking time and average speed to that point whenver I got updates, creating excitement for some atheltes and perhaps a bit of worry for others. Why are they slower than I anticipated? Maybe they're a bit fast... are they excecuting their race plan? All I can do at this point is wonder and know they are prepared to have their best day. The questions still come no matter how much I tell myself that.

As our Team comes in on the bike I'm so proud and amazed at the pieces of their day I get as they ride by. (I was at Cherry Lane Mall... a GREAT place for me to spend the day as I saw them coming and going bike and run.) Rena flatted twice, Michael had crashed again but was OK and going to make it through the ride... only road rash. Cindy had crashed and was a bit out of it. Sarah was flying and smiling. Kelvin... he was struggling but still moving forward. Richelle...smiles and screams of "I'm doing an Ironman" as she rode by. (I thought that might have worn off by that point! It didn't!) Hope feeling GREAT! JoZ made the cut off. So many stories... a mini celebration as each went by. Now on to the tough part... the run!

I loved where I was on the course because I got to run with each athlete as they went by. I missed Siobhan and Jay... I apologize for that. (Neither were in TTL gear... a poor excuse on my part, but the only one I have!) A quick little chat and I offered final words of advice as the headed out to Skaha. I got a hug from some, others told me they felt great, some didn't feel so good. Cindy was in a bit of shock from her crash. I told her to look forward and remember her box. What happened behind her is over and done. No more energy in that direction... only look forward. Michael didn't feel great, neither did Ken, but both were moving well. Carla looked like she was fresh as a daisy, and Richelle was still smiling screaming "I'm doing an Ironman". Kelvin was walking and in some pain. He asked how Sarah was and I told him she was flying. He had a very emotional moment right then... well deserved and heart felt. His goal was to finish... I had no doubt he would, but I knew it would be a long day. Hope said she felt GREAT! JoZ was on her way out. Rena and Tracey were running hard... both were tired but moving well. Chad was flying... Whoa Chad... it's a long way to go!!!!!

Now the second biggest wait of the day was about to start. I was very lucky to have spotters on the course and TTL volunteers at the finish line. Annie, John, Caroline, Susan... we had a network of communication that kept us abreast of how people looked, what they were saying, and where they were in their Ironman day. That is one of my favorite parts of Ironman this year. The sharing amongst the specatators. My thumbs are still recovering from the texting... but it was well worth it! I also had my buddy Chris on his computer at home sending me updates throughout the day. Without him and my sister Nadine I would have been lost. Thank you to both of you.

I got an update that Chad was on his way home. He was the first TTL athlete, I let our finish line supports know he was coming, and ran with him for a few seconds. He was beyond talking... eyes straight forward but running. Sarah was next... unfortunately I was in the bathroom... SORRY Sarah!!! Then came Ken. He was a hurting unit let me tell you. I think the words "Stupid Ironman" came out of his mouth. He had had a tough day but was getting it done. I was off to the finish line for Ken... (He didn't really mean that... he'll be back at the start line one day soon.)

As I was waiting for Ken the texts were flying... Richelle was at the Sicamouse, Cindy was close, Tracey was about to finish... Carla and Rena were great! I ran from the meet and greet area to the finish to try to see what I could. John, Yolanda and Shannon were catching the finishers. All smiles and some tears. Again, our TTL supporters were a HUGE part of the day.

I can't begin to tell you how much this day meant to me. To see people I have grown close to over the year accomplish their goals and dreams. Seeing Sarah after a 1 hour PR, getting a hug from Chad as he cried thanking me for making his lifelong dream of finishing an Ironman come true. Knowing that Tracy had a hard day after an emotional week but still PR'd. Rena... had the day of her life in spite of 2 flats. No excuses. She was all smiles when all was said and done. Richelle... the happiest Ironman alive. She raced happy and exceeded expectations. Cindy had a 40 min PR in spite of the crash. How did she do that? Carla... she qualified at Great White North and was a nervous wreck for a few weeks after taking the spot. She cruised through the day and made it look easy. Ken... he said the easiest part of the day was his swim??? That tells me he had a tough one out there. Jason... he had a challenging few months leading up to the race with his fiance Sarah having to pull out and go from athlete to supporter. His goal was to finish strong and smiling... check! He got it done. Hope... she pr'd her swim, pr'd her bike, and was in great spirits heading out on the run. Unfortunately her heel didn't like the challenge of an Ironman mary, and she was forced to walk from 17 miles on. Seeing Hope on the run course with 5k to go was a hard part of my day. She was so sad and dissappointed in her day. It wasn't what she envisioned. It was also out of her hands as her heel could only take so much. She would get it done. Michael went from feeling awful on the way out, to telling me "This is cool" on the way in. He had ran the last 10k and while it wasn't the IM day he originally thought he'd have before the crash, he got it done! Wow... that is a testiment of the power of the Ironman spirit. Kelvin... a big hug and tears for him. I walked with him for a minute. I did the math, and knew he would make the cutoff. I called Sarah to let her know he'd do it. She never gave up, and I don't think she sat down. She needed to know he was safe. He got it done. JoZ... she made the bike cut off this year... next time she will get to the run turn around in time. She learned so much, and while the outcome was not what she wanted... she knows this is only the start of a lifetime of triathlon, training, friends, and Ironman races. Baby steps...

I'm writing this a week and a half after the race, and I'm amazed at how emotional I still can be at the stories. Cindy's mantra was 'Angie said expect the unexpected"and our day rang true to that from start to finish.

Thank you to all of our Ironman Athletes for letting me along for this ride. I've watched you train, question your abilities, believe in yourself, plan, nurture friendships, support each other, and be amazing human beings throughout the last year or more. I am so thankful that I have all of you in my life and on my team.

Recover well and celebrate. It was one heck of a day.

The Advantage of Being Directionally Challenged!

2009-08-01T20:48:00.002-06:00

In the last week I've had 2 "opportunities" to get lost. Seems a bit odd to write about it, but the second episode of misplacement created a good story that I would like to share.

The first one is pretty stupid... I was driving to Red Deer, where I grew up and where I have driven 100's of times in my life, and I accidentally turned South rather than North on the Airdrie overpass. Rather than turning around to go the right way I tried to take a short cut through, that eventually led me to Water Valley and the lovely hamlet of Dog Pound! What is normally an hour and a half trip turned into a 2 1/2 hour trip and garnered me some good chuckles out of my family! I arrived in one piece, feeling like a dolt but happy with how pretty the drive was!

The second incident is a better story... promise!

On Thursday I went for my long ride. My goal was about 90 - 100k, and I left with not much of a plan as to where to go. I wanted to base the route on the wind and it actually worked quite well!

Ken and I rode up Horsecreek. To start the wind was strongly out of the West. As we progressed North however it started to turn into a headwind, so, the logical ride for me was the challenging and scenic Bottrel loop that I had avoided thus far this year! This is the PERFECT North wind route!

I left Ken and headed on my way. I was enjoying myself SO much! The scenery was amazing... everything was green from the rain. There were streams, and creeks, and old barns. I saw a pen of very cute donkeys... it was just a lovely day for a ride. I made all the right turns, and knew I needed to take Lochend Road South to get back to Cochrane.

Who knew that Lochend isn't called Lochend at that end of the road!! I looked... and all I saw was "Range Road ##". I kept going. Before I knew it I'd descended a BIG hill, and was in the little village of Madden. I'd always wanted to see Madden so wasn't upset with the change of plans. Not much to see, but now I can say "I've seen it"!

The road kept going South, and gradually turned to the East. I'm not good with N/S/E/W as a general rule, but this was easy to figure out. I knew I was getting farther and farther from Cochrane. I didn't see any cyclists either which was a bit concerning AND I had no idea what road I was on.

I tried to wave a driver down to ask for directions. She waved back. (Grrrr...) I only brought 600 calories with me, and that was weighing on me quite heavily by this point. I had no money... not a dime, and didn't bring near enough food for a longer ride. Stress was mounting and the scenery lost it's appeal. I was hungry!

As I made a forced right hand turn to stay on pavement there was a truck moving slowly the other way. They had their window open and I seized the opportunity to ask for help!

"Excuse me... could you please tell me where I'm at? I'm lost!" As it turns out they were lost too. They had a dog and were trying to find Water Valley.

So... we had a GREAT chat exchanging directions, and as we were saying goodbye I decided to throw it out there... just ask the question that was looming large in my mind!

"Do you have any food?!" Her initial response was no. My heart sank to my toes and I thought I was doomed. Then, like a gift from the greater good, she reached into her purse and presented me with a Twix bar! I have never ever been so happy to see a melted glob of chocolate, wafer and caramel in my entire life!!!!! We parted ways, and I gobbled down the life saving chocolate bar!!!!

From there on in I was able to go back to enjoying the scenery. Within about 20 min I knew exactly where I was, and my 90k ride turned into a117k amazing journey on a new route I hope to ride often...

The moral of the story is always take more food than you think you need and don't be afraid to ask for directions! It all works out in the end:)

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Heart of the Rockies OD Tri...

2009-07-21T10:36:00.001-06:00

I raced Heart of the Rockies OD triathlon on Sunday. I have had a string of very good races lately, and am thankful for that. This day was not a "Zen" race for me which is what I would call GWN. It doesn't get any better than my GWN day from an execution perspective. This race though my head was not fully in the game. I had a very average swim. I got on the heels of an older fellow and he wasn't fast enough. I'd make a move to get in front, and end up swimming beside him, so I settled in and made a decision to conserve energy. It was an OK swim, but not great. (There wasn't anybody else around to draft off of.) The bike was tail wind out and headwind back with relentless hills. I forgot how tough this course was. My watts were lower than I expected them to be on the way out, then they took a nose dive on the way back. I'm not sure it if was fatigue from GWN lingering around in those leg muscles, or my head giving in to the discomfort in my quads. Either way, I lost my mojo to push and watts suffered. This is my biggest disappointment with how I executed. The run... it was SO hard. Oh my!!! We left Invermere and meandered our way all the way up to the top of the hill on HW 93. Up a steep wall, down or flat... repeat! Only one fellow broke 40 min and he ran a 2:55 off the bike at Kona last year, so that gives you an idea of how hard it was. I'm going to admit this... it's a bit like AA... I walked a few times on the run. I just wanted too. Oddly, I don't feel as bad about that as I do about the lack of effort on the second half of the bike. On the plus side, the run course was beautiful and once I thought about it I enjoyed the challenge. The last kilometer was downhill which was nice as well. How did things turn out? After all my whining I think you'll roll your eyes at the end result. I won the race overall for women and got a great glass trophy that is proudly displayed in our condo in Panorama. The best part of the day was getting to the finish line to quite a large group of cheerers and hearing "Here is Angie Anderson, our first place female"... and getting lots of support. That was REALLY cool. I've never won a race that wasn't heats. This was the first one where we started together and they knew I was the winner at the finish line. I liked that part:) So... for me... it still comes down to execution. I enjoyed the win, but what I really value is a well executed race. At Oceanside I was 10th in my Age Group... a big pond of fast fish for sure, but I was really happy with that day as I raced as hard as I could. At the Turner Valley Sprint on July 1, I raced my little heart out. That win felt better than this one, just because I know I really worked for it. GWN... you know that story. So... onto the next event. I'm racing the Delta Half Marathon on Aug. 9th in Vancouver. It's flat and fast and at sea level. I'm very much hoping to get my head into the game there better than I did this weekend.

Junior Nationals with Alberta's Canada Summer Games Team

2009-07-10T21:21:00.002-06:00

I am in Ottawa for the Triathlon Canada Junior Elite Nationals. What a gift to be here with amazing athletes, Bart who is my manager and Lisa a Mom who has been the best tour guide ever. Tomorrow is the big race. I can't wait. I'll let you know how it goes. One thing I know for sure is that being here with our team has made me crazy excited about Canada Summer Games in PEI. I'm a pretty lucky coach to be able to have this opportunity.

A quote I like...

2009-06-26T14:29:00.001-06:00

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

Relentless...

2009-06-26T14:07:00.000-06:00

The word... "Relentless"...

Hmmmm why do I like that word? At a lecture the other night by Dr. Steve Norris on "How to Parent your Superstar" he talked about the word "relentless". It struck a chord with me. Alpine Canada has it in their motto... "The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence" or something like that. Dr. Norris talked about Steve Nash and what he did when he missed a free throw losing his team a championship game. (I'm not a basketball fan... I don't know the team of the game.) What did Steve Nash do when he came home back to Victoria? He went to the gym at U of Vic upon arriving home after a long flight and threw 500 free throws till the wee hours of the morning. He went home, slept a bit, came back to the gym and threw another 500 free throws. He had lunch, and yup... you guessed it... went back and threw ANOTHER 500 free throws.

His pursuit of excellence was "relentless". Here is a man who is one of the best in the world, and he didn't sit on his accolades and accept the fate of the team. He relentlessly went to work to find the error... where did he go wrong?

We triathletes are not so different really, in our pursuit to be the best we can be. Sometimes our efforts bring us gold, sometimes coal, but we learn from every little experience in the pursuit of excellence.... "our" excellence. I think it's important that we define what "excellence" means to us as well. Is it time, execution, nailing nutrition, pacing the bike well, maintaining a happy face and bright shiny attitude from start to finish, placing in our age group, moving up in our age group, not panicking in the swim, remembering to eat on the bike, celebrating the accomplishments of others when we are disappointed in our own, running the whole run, remembering where our bike is in transition, making it home for our kids birthday party and still getting our training in.... the possibilities are endless.

So... find your own definition of success and remember it will change from race to race, day to day, sometimes moment to moment. Be relentless in your pursuit to accomplish what it is you seek, and be the first to say "I did a GREAT job and I am proud of myself"... then move on to the next check mark. As long as we keep learning, accept failure as a part of the journey to success, and acknowledge that we cannot know everything, we will relentlessly learn and improve. I hope to look at life that way until mine is over.

Something to think about anyway:) Thanks for reading.

Enough with the 10k nastiness!

2009-06-26T13:51:00.000-06:00

I looked back at my posts and realized that I am a 10k complainer! I'm unhappy if the course is long; I'm unhappy if the course is short; and I'm unhappy if the course if bang on but I execute poorly! It's kind of like the 3 Bears... no bowl of porridge is just right and I should suck it up and change my attitude:)

So... here is the new me. I had a GREAT swim this morning. I got to share a lane with my wonderful athlete Cindy, then David a good friend. Beside us were 2 of the Roth clan working hard. I was in my happy place. The water felt "heavy" but the clock indicated things were going well. I was motivated and glad to be there!

I got home and forced myself straight out on a run. It was windy (again) but not as bad as yesterday so I got it done. Who knew I could have SUCH A GREAT RUN! The sun was shining, I was by myself enjoying the beauty and serenity of our wonderful path system in Cochrane, I saw a beautiful Husky puppy and others out enjoying the day. Running felt fast and effortless. All was good.

It got me thinking about how lucky I am to have triathlon in my life. It gives me purpose every day. I'm surrounded by people who share my passion and are highly motivated to love life. Sure training can be a challenge to fit around the rest of our responsibilities, but I know that we always feel better once we've got it done. I'm the first to say "leave the vacuum alone... get your run in" and I base that opinion on the fact that I always feel better after the run, but not so much after the vacuuming gets done. I've heard people say that training for an Ironman is a burden. I was surprised at that. We all make a choice to go this route with our time, so how does a "choice" become a burden?

Think about places in the world where every living moment is spent doing tasks to survive. Getting water and food, building shelters, keeping your family safe; all things we take for granted. We have an existence where we are able to make choices about how to spend our time at some point pretty much every day.

So... the next time you are struggling to get out the door to swim / bike or run, give yourself a quick kick in the behind to "gently" remind you that you get to make this choice. We are a privileged group. I'm thankful for that.

PR's aren't all they're cracked up to be...

2009-06-18T16:00:00.000-06:00

I've learned in the past 6 months that I'm not a good blogger. Honestly, when I'm riding or running I often come up with little tidbits of info to throw up on my blog, but I get home and never ever follow through with it. I'm finding out though that lots of people come to my website and take a boo at my blog. How disturbing that the first thing they see is a pad full of goo drawn out of my foot:) Time to move on past that.

So... TONS of things I could write about. Maybe about how today I was riding in a pace line behind Ken and the great Carmen Augustini into a kick arse headwind thinking I'm about the luckiest gal in the whole world to be riding behind these uber rider blokes. I could talk about that.

I could also talk about missing Terry "Tigger" Toma... but that's too hard right now. She's been gone since April 1st and I still don't have it in place. It will take a while.

I could also talk about the fact that my two daughters are aging and at the ages of 13 and 15 going into grades 9 and 11 I'm too darn close to being out of a "Mommy" job. I don't really want to talk about that either.

So many options... so little time.

Let's talk about the PR that pissed me off!!!!!

I'm not a fast runner. My times are coming down though and darn it, I'm working at it. From the perspective of some folks, I do OK. From the perspective of other (speedy) folks, I'm a big of a plodder. Still, I'm doing the work to improve, and it's paying off.

To why am I pissy about a PR? (The alliteration is killing me!)

The Foothills Academy 10k was a few weeks ago. I didn't taper really but I wanted to see a 44?? when I crossed the finish line. That was my goal. I'm not big on time goals but for this 10k, I set a time goal thinking it was realistic that I be able to accomplish it.

So, I started the race and I felt GREAT! I used my foot pod for pace, and was holding just below goal pace. Those darn km markers said I was going faster than I was, but who the heck is going to listen to that when I have my speed right on my wrist. At about 3k I started to feel not as good, but I hung on like a trooper. At the 5k mark I was amazed to see my 5k pr! How cool is that! A 5k pr in a 10k race:) Oops... can you say "poor execution"!!!!

So, the next 5k I suffered... BADLY. I will even admit to walking. Yup... I had a bit of a mental lapse for about 10 seconds and I walked. I'm a bit shamed to admit it, but I was hurting SO bad. I tried all the tried and true mental tricks... the ones that get me through and IM race. Nothing worked. I walked.

After that I pulled myself together and soldiered on. I had to finish this thing and I could still hit the goal time. Pain is temporary... pride is forever... right!!!

At the finish I clicked my watch. Mission accomplished. The deed is done. I finally have an official 1ok time reading "44" and I should have been thrilled!!!! Why wasn't I?

It all comes down to my deep rooted belief that a well executed race is a beautiful thing. Any distance any speed... if you execute well the time will come. Process goals process goals process goals. That's the key. What will you eat and drink? How will you pace? What are your mental strategies to keep your legs moving when your brain tells them to stop? These are a few of the things we need to look after to race well.

On this day, on this simple little 10k, I got the time goal, but my execution sucked. In the end I ran the second 5k 1:14 slower than the first. That is just ugly. The wierd thing is that poor pacing totally took away from the joy of the time. I would have been very happy with my finish stat IF I'd raced well. Who knew:)

So... next time you go to a start line think about what you value most and put the "steps" in place to honor that. I know I will... if I ever do another 10k!!!! Maybe next month.

Bye for now:) Angie

Goo

2009-03-16T09:49:00.000-06:00

The miracles of modern medicine! In about September I got this nasty lump on my foot. It grew to a bit larger than my lateral malleolus (ankle bone) and was lumpy on top... full of pressure. Yesterday I finally got the goo sucked out. The picture says it all, but if you want to really be grossed out look at this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pugFvLGfkis

Quitting....

2009-02-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back at Panorama and I've decided that's when I blog. I've had a few complaints about my lack of blogging (Kelly... you know who I'm talking to), so I'm finally sitting down to get it done.

I'm guessing that the title of this post... " Quitting"... seems a bit odd for those of you who know me. It's not something I talk about, think about, aspire to do. It's not in my "framework" as a general rule. I think that's why I'm blogging about it.

I was at the pool on Monday of this week. There was a bit of a planned but unplanned group of tri geeks taking up one lane in the pool. Four men, all very good (aka: much better than me) swimmers, but I took the challenge and hopped in. Chris, Jonathon, Jaimie and Ross... thank you for the 43 min of torture.

The workout was 50's on a minute. 43 of them to be exact. It was a pyramid where we did 1 hard/2 easy, 2 hard / 2 easy etc. It built to 5 hard / 2 easy, then went back down. The boys were getting more rest than me, but I was THRILLED with my splits as I was consistent throughout and able to hold 40 - 41 second 50's. An EPIC swim for me. Stroke mechanics went out the door; this was survival. I didn't quit! I pushed through and finished the workout. It was so hard and I was extremely thankful it was over...

Until it wasn't.

So, Ross and Jon get out leaving Jaimie, Chris and I in the pool. "Splashy Boy 1 and Splashy Boy 2" banter back and forth deciding how we should end this workout. (Nicknames given by a nice lady who lane swims a lot.) They decide we should do 2 x 100m hard on 2:15. Tons of rest. It will be fine. I should have said no, but I'm weak and thought I could get through.

The first 100 I finish in 1:29. I was shocked I pulled that out since my arms were no longer attached to my body and without feeling! We rest, and head off on the second 100. I complete my first 50, push off the wall only to meet Chris coming in to finish his 100 as I hit the flags. (He swims about a 1:07 - 1:10 100 so he's WAY faster than me. I like to call him "Super Human Freak"... with love of course:) When he went by me something snapped and I quit. Yup... I put my feet down, and just quit. It wasn't even a conscious decision. It just happened. The stupid thing is I wasn't even THAT pissed off at myself. I just quit. It was over, done with, no more, nada... the workout complete. A few easy 25's to cool down and home I went.

The next morning I was at the track doing speed work at 6:30 am. An ungodly hour I might add... but that's when Pete could run. We were doing 6 x 3 min hard with 2 min easy. It was hard, and we were running faster than I anticipated we would. I was really struggling this week with energy. The weeks of volume and intensity really seemed to be catching up with me. Somehow though, this workout was coming together.

On the 4th interval, something happened in my brain. I was struggling, and my reference point for feeling crappy flashed back to that moment at the pool when I put my feet down and quit. I now knew that to make the pain stop, I simply had to stop moving, and the discomfort instantly goes away. It works... I've done it. I could quit.

This is the lesson. It took every part of my being to push through and finish that interval. I knew then that quitting one time re-set my tolerance for training discomfort, and gave me permission to do it again. This is BAD with a capital "B". I am not a professional athlete, but I train hard and take a lot of pride in what I've accomplished in the sport of triathlon through hard work and commitment to training. Quitting is not what I'm about.

So, I pushed through the 4th interval, and went on to have a good 5th and a stellar 6th. The workout was done and the lesson was learned.

When we race, we make reference to past training sessions. In an ideal world we should find examples that inspire us to push through moments of mental lapse when our brain tells us to back off and take a break. We want to stop moving, but we don't. What I learned from this week is that quitting once makes it tempting to quit again. The choice to quit in that 4th interval was a much more appealing choice than running to finish what I started. In the end, I got the job done and more important than the fitness gained from a hard workout, was the lesson learned about quitting.

I am not a quitter... I was once, but not anymore. Have a great day!

Beautiful Wintery Snowy Runs.... WOW!

2009-01-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

The holidays are almost over; I have 2 days before we are back at normal life. The kids have to go to school, household chores take a good hunk of the day, and work and training fall back into their regular routine. There is comfort in routine, but I'm not quite ready to pop back into it just yet!!! Puleassee..... can I have a few more days in Pano!

Oh ya... the beautiful wintery snowy run story...

When I come up the mountain I rarely leave. I pride myself in not starting the car and hunkering down in the snow for the duration of the trip. Unfortunately when you are in a condo with 9 people for 8 days, someone has to get groceries! So, a friend who I have not talked to for a very long time stopped by and mentioned she was going to run in town. I put on a brave face and decided to "break the habit" and head to town! It worked well with a run / grocery shop, so was an easy sell to the family unit who stayed on the mountain.

We parked in the grocery store parking lot to kill two birds with one stone, and headed out. It was a gentle run to start, and we picked it up a bit as we went. I was worried we wouldn't have much to talk about since our lives are very different and we've not really had a visit in so long. I was wrong on both accounts. Joanne is a high powered corporate lawyer. I'm a triathlon coach. Our lives are so different, but somehow, on this snowy day running on Westside Road in Invermere we had a wonderful, intimate joyful run with rich flowing conversation that will be etched in my memory for a long time as a keeper; the runs you reflect on often because there was something special about it.

We had an amazing view of the lake, and there were deer at every turn. Snow was abundant as was sun and cold, and I loved every minute.

So, take a shot at something different once in a while. A new running route and wonderful company inspired me to do the unthinkable a second day in a row! Yup.... I went down and did a short run the next day after several hours shopping and having lunch with my sister, my niece and my beautiful amazing daughter Ali. It was a girls day until I ditched them at the grocery store to do a short run. Again, there were deer, and snow, and sun... and again... it was amazing!

I wonder when the next run will bring.

Holidays Great... Find time to spend with family....

2008-12-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays etc etc etc! I am currently in Panorama with my hubby and kids as well as my sisters family. We had a wonderful and busy few days over Christmas and headed to the slopes on the 27th. Something happens to me when I come to Panorama! Here I am, in the mountains and fresh air, and should be motivated out the ying and yang to get some fresh air and ski, and run and play! Unfortunately that's not the way the world turns when I get to the top of the mountain!

I like to do nothing. Yup... you heard it... nothing, nada, sit on my butt and do... well... nothing! Christmas Day we went for a wonderful run at 8 in the morning. There were 5 of us with Pete, Toni, Dave, Ken and I. We did a nice easy 7k in the bitter cold, and it was a wonderful way to start the day! I was motivated and not willing to give a day of training away to the holiday season! (Fortunately my girls were at my sisters so it was easy for us to get out guilt free!) Boxing day, we were out for the cookie run with the Red Rock Running and Tri Club at Pete's house, then Ken and I did an outstanding ride in the afternoon. (Mine was outstanding with some really hard but wonderful intervals! Ken's was more of a spin, but I was still impressed he got on!) The 27th before I left for Pano I attended day 1 of the swim camp and did an epic 4750m swim! I've done it in the past for 3 or 4 days in a row, and while I was happy with the mileage, I was a bit disgruntled with how poorly my body handled the big swim. I was sore that night and quite thankful I wasn't able to attend the rest of the camp.

So... training, holidays, family, life... was all balanced until the 27th, the day we left for the mountains!

Since then, not much to talk about. Sunday was a complete rest day; I didn't even do core. Monday I did a 1:15 endurance ride plus core, and that felt good, and today I have speed work to do on the treadmill and a hard bike workout to do this afternoon. I only need to find the motivation to get off the couch to get both workouts accomplished! Of course, there is also skiing right outside my door, and I might try to fit a few runs in! We'll see.

So... what is the motto of this long and winded story. I often tell my athletes to let missed workouts go during the holiday season. We spend so much of our year putting our workouts on high priority in the balance of life, that friends and family can feel neglected. Training for triathlon, working, and spending time with your family can be challenging, and when we are putting in big volume training, building to our key races, it's often family time that falls down on the priority totem pole. I think it's important to recognize that. So, during the holidays, I support, encourage, rally my team to take time away from training when needed, "log" some precious hours with the people they love. It's good for the body and soul, and we have a whole year ahead of us to force those selfish moments when triathlon and running are almost all consuming.

So, have a glass of wine or a beer, and enjoy the season! We'll be back hard at it in January.

Happy Holiday!

Another 10k I wish was 10k!

2008-12-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I hauled myself to the start line of the Jingle Bell run against my better judgment! I woke up tired and grumpy (hard to believe but true!) and had ZERO interest in running. I'd ate poorly all week and had spent 16 of the last 48 hours at volleyball tournaments with Ali. I did not want to run. You're probably asking yourself (if you are actually reading this) why did I go? Well, I have this thing. When I say I'm going to do something, I really really really like to get it done. Sometimes I don't get to the grocery store when promised, and I might miss a load of laundry that needs to be done, but for the most part, I complete tasks when expected. This race fell into the same category. Plus, I had a few athletes there and I knew it would look bad if the coach faked sick! Could I go to the pool at 1:00 for a swim when I called in sick and missed the race? I figured it wouldn't look good!

So, Doug picked me up at 7:45, and we met Leslie Ann who graciously had picked up my race package at the Red and White club at 8:30. As we warmed up and got ready to start I was acutely aware of my whining. "I don't feel like racing." "I'll wait till the gun goes then see how I feel." It was pathetic, and I can see that I play the same card a lot of other athletes play before a race... I'll state all the things wrong with me before the gun goes so I have an excuse if the race goes poorly! Oddly, I don't do this in a triathlon or even an Ironman for that matter. I guess that's where I'm more confident in my abilities.

So, the gun goes off and I start running. I'm in a pack with 3 other gals, and I'm at the back. I foolishly think I'll be able to hold on to them and maybe even more up a few places. I'm thinking they started too fast and will die; little did I know they were just warming up and had way more gas in the tank on the second lap! I did pass one just before the 5k turnoff but my little celebration was cut short when she actually took the 5k turn off! We weren't in the same race!

We had no km markers and I didn't have pace, so all I ran by was heart rate. My last 10k it came up, and then it dropped. I didn't have the legs to keep it in race zone in the last few k. This one went much better. I was able to hold 170+ (which is really high for me) from about 3 - 4k on, and I was happy with that. I thought I was executing well, and was excited that this race would confirm that the speed work I've been doing would pay off.

I could see the finish line... I looked at my watch... what! 39 minutes? There is no way! I would love to be a low 40 min 10k runner, but let's be realistic! I crossed the finish line in 41:56. Should I celebrate or should I cry because there is no way that was 10k! I did my usual Garmin check and people had between 8.85k and 9k on their GPS units. (I really need to get a battery for my foot pod.) I came home wanting desperately to confirm I ran a good race, and spent the next 4 hours on google pedometer measuring distance. I contemplated emailing the race organizer, but this was a charity fun run. What could I expect. They have better things to do I'm sure than tell me how far their race was; I supect the didn't know.

After many phone calls and oodles of time wasted I confirmed, in my only mind, that the race was 9.3km. That, corrected to a 10k distance put me at 45:04 and a 10k PR! It's not official, or on paper, but I'm going with it. I think I executed my race well for a change; that's a new thing for me in a 10k!

A steep learning curve...

2008-11-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes opportunities fall into you lap that you question you deserve and are certainly shocked to have. Luckily this one turned out to be extraordinarily positive.

These past 2 days I've spent at the Triathlon Canada meetings in Calgary. I was asked to attend because of my involvement in the development of the NCCP Community Course for triathlon. Walking into the meeting room 1 hour late was shocking to say the least! (I was late because Tracey (T) and Kristine (KK) were held up in Vancouver. Something about air conditioning on the plane or lack thereof!) So, we three gals joined a room full of what I consider to be the "who's who" of Canadian Triathlon.

Barry Sheply, Joel Filliol, Mark Bates, Patrick Kelly, Kurt Innes Olympic Cyclist, Larry McMahon the head of coaching development for Tri Can, Craig Taylor who knows so much and pretends to know nothing! On top of that I was again working with Kristine Chambers who has developed all the NCCP manuals and basically created Comp Intro from the bottom up. There were others too... several I didn't get the name of as I sat in the back like a fly on the wall, wanting to absorb every comment, every presentation, every moment. It was amazing just to be in the room.

What was the purpose for me being there? This was an opportunity for "T", "KK" and I to present the new community program we worked so hard to create, and to do revisions on the now 5 year old Comp Intro Coaching Program. So, even though I would have liked to stay in the room of the "Big Cheese" and listen to the Bejing debrief and numerous other discussions on High Performance Training and Racing in our country, I stayed on task and spent 2 very full days with KK and T.

In the end, our ideas for re-framing the current program to certify coaches in the Competition Stream for triathlon was accepted by the "Big Cheese" folks, and we had amazing brain storming sessions on the new plans for coach development which will be implemented across the country. On top of that, every conversation gleamed an ounce of learning. Today Kristine and Jim had a great discussion on physical literacy. On the way to the airport Glen gave us a 40 min run down on the thoughts of the group to capitalize on Simon's silver medal at Bejing and find the next great Canadian Triathlete to maybe take his place! Thank goodness for traffic... it lengthened the trip!

I am now headed to 4 days of learning and learning and learning at the Sport Leadership Conference in Calgary. I'm tired, and my brain is full, but I'm pretty excited too.

Off to bed... Thanks for reading!

10k's are hard!!

2008-10-27T07:26:00.000-06:00

This is my first attempt at blogging so bear with me! I'm sure there's a learning curve to this cyberspace story telling thing!

I'm an endurance athlete. I like long and somewhat slow racing and training. I'm not used to pushing my aerobic limits in 10k's or sprint tri's although I do them occasionally.... so why on EARTH did I decide to do a 10k in October in my "off" season? Did I think I could PR or set the 10k world on fire? Was I motivated to test myself... prove that I'm not as challenged at this 10k pain thing as I believe I am?

I wish the above were true, but honestly, I did it because it was cheap. Yup... there it is. I ran a 10k cause it only cost $30! When is that last time you did a race that was under $100? It's been a while for me. I compared it to an ugly set of earrings that you buy, knowing full well you'll never wear them, but they are such a good deal you can't help yourself. I call that pathetic!

So, off to the race I go with my running mate Pete! He was good enough to come along for support. THANKS Pete! The great part was the Team Tri Life was well represented with Karen, Tracy, Kelly, Christine and me there. We arrived early, did the pre-race warm up and headed to the start line. It was a chilly but beautiful morning!

The first 2k felt great! I was running faster than I though I should but it felt good. I thought to myself "I can hold this... this is effortless". Mistake number 1! By the 3rd km things started to feel a bit less easy, and by 4k I was just working. HR was up and I was focused on the gals in front of me. There were 3 of them putting me in 4th place overall. I watched the race for first unfold between TTL athlete Tracy M. and a gal who hasn't done a 10k since 2002 but is a soccer player. They pushed and pulled for that first place spot until Tracy had to relenquish to Vicky, the fast moving little soccer gal. These were the places we held to the finish. I had the top 3 in site, thinking maybe, just maybe they'd falter, not really realizing the any faltering would come from me... not them! Pete and I ran the last 3k together and he talked me through. Of course, I had my headphones on and didn't hear most of what he said. At the 7k mark Tracy was about 30 seconds in front of me. I was happy with that. Hold on Angie! She claimed to slow down in the final stages of the race, but let me tell you... she didn't hold a candle to my "anchor out the back I'm dieing and want this torture to end" type slow down! In the last 3k she took another 30+ seconds out of me! I held on for 4th, but just barely as TTL athlete Karen was close behind. I wish I could say that if I'd known she was there I could have pushed a bit harder to hold my place. Luckily I didn't have to as she didn't quite catch up; I couldn't have gone one step harder!

At the finish line I did my ususal... "how far was that" to try to validate I wasn't as slow as I thought I was. The runner technology was all over the map. Some said 10.45k and some said 10.7k. I decided to settle on 10.5k and somewhat validated it with a trip to google pedometer.

The stupid thing was, I went into this race with no expecations. I wasn't 10k ready... I hadn't built to this race or done a proper taper, so what the heck was I expecting? It hurt... it's done... and as soon as I find another "cheap" one I'll probably sign up again.

What did I learn if I'm willing to pay to put myself through this torturous adventure in the not too distant future? Apparantely not much! Maybe next one won't hurt quite so much, and maybe it'll be a bit faster! I can dream anyway.

Congrats Tracey, Karen, Christine and Kelly for a job well done! Thanks Pete for slogging it out with me! I hope your foot is OK today.

Have a great day!

New Blog Up and Running

2008-10-20T18:49:00.000-06:00