Totally exhausted

This weekend I drove up to Penticton with my dad to race the BC Duathlon Championships. It was a good opportunity to gain some fitness for my first triathlon coming up on June 3 in Dallas, Texas. I also figured it would be kind of fun to do something other than a triathlon for a change, and it was good father daughter bonding time :).
We left Friday morning, and arrived in Penticton at about 4 pm that night. It was fun to travel somewhere, even if it was not as far as other ventures I've been on in past years. I'm not sure why, but I really like Penticton. There is something about the Okanagan Lake, and the small town feel that I love.
I raced at 2 pm on Saturday, so had quite a bit of time to kill that morning. At about 9:00 am, I went out on my bike for a little spin and wasn't able to shift out of my big chain ring.... obviously something kind of undesirable on race day. I took my bike in to the local bike shop, the Bike Barn, to get this looked at. The mechanics were really nice (one guy even offered us gingerbread cookies), and in about 20 minutes my bike was good to go, and I was feeling relieved that I wouldn't have to ride 32 km in my big chain ring.
The race consisted of a 5 km run, 32 km bike (nondrafting), and 5 km run. I felt good in the first run, which made it difficult to not go out too hard. I think I paced it pretty well, but it was still a solid effort. The first half of the bike was brutal as we were riding into a pretty powerful headwind. The race wheels I was riding also made it challenging to control my bike as I kept getting blown from side to side. On the plus side, we had an awesome tailwind on the way back to transition and I was really able to motor along. Starting the second run, my legs felt awful... I don't think I have ever felt that drained in a race. Thoughts of not finishing definitely crossed my mind, but then I thought of all the time I had just spent in a car driving up here, the fact that I was the first woman, and that first place won $150 (and a bottle of wine... although for me that wasn't very motivating), and knew that I couldn't just stop when I had less than 20 minutes left in the race. So I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, staying relaxed, and just finishing the race no matter how horrible it felt. I was the first woman to finish in a time of 1:41.
This race was a good learning experience for me, and I'm hoping that the more I race the better I'll be able to handle the longer distance. Next step... add in a 1500 m swim and another 8 km of biking :)
So now I am back home after 7 hours of driving and 2 hours of ferrying, and I am really exhausted. I think I will just continue to lie on the couch....

TC 10 k

I ran the TC 10 k on Sunday, the first time I've run this race and the first 10 k I've done in 2-3 years.... so I was pretty confident I would get a best time. My goal was to have a really good run, pace it well, and finish strong, the result would take care of itself. The course was challenging, with false flats both up and down, but I really liked it and I achieved my goals for this run. I went out strong but conservative in the first 5 km, I had lots of people to run with and really focused on my own pace, trying to ignore what the other 14,999 people were doing! Once I hit the 5 km mark, I picked things up, I wasn't going to play it safe and just worked hard for the second half of the run. Thinking about keeping my form together allowed me to forget about how tired I was or what I was feeling, and just run. I was very happy that I was able to hold everything together right to the end and finished with a time of 38:31. I was really relieved to have a good solid run, as I feel like things have been a bit up and down over the last few months of training, and this was a bit of a confidence boost.

A solid week

After studying 24/7 for exams last week (which inevitably meant doing minimal training), I got back into the swing of things with a solid week of training. It is always a bit of a shock returning to hard training, even after only short breaks. Getting back to hard workouts was frustrating as my body had to remember what this feels like (and it didn't like it at first!), and by the end of the week I was totally exhausted.
On Sunday I entered the Windsor park crit race, my first crit race in about 2 years. I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was a short (900 m), flat square that we rode around for 40 minutes plus 5 laps to finish the race. I have no idea how many laps we ended up doing, but my corners got pretty good by the end! It didn't start quite like I had hoped... the pace was high right from the start, and I hung on to the back of the pack for about 3 laps, then got dropped : ( . For the next 20 minutes I was soloing and suffering through, and being lapped by the lead pack didn't exactly help my confidence. But, when a group of 3 riders came by me I stuck on their wheels and worked with them for the remainder of the race. Once I had someone to draft, the race became a lot more enjoyable and I wasn't struggling to keep their pace. This race was a good eyeopener for me and let me know where my bike fitness currently is. It was also good practice for olympic distance races in terms of racing hard for an hour and riding with unfamiliar people. I am looking forward to doing more crit races and am hoping each one gets a little better.

And awesome job Ellen, who did her first crit race ever, and Hilary, who lapped me twice!!

(picture by Brian at Oak Bay Bikes)

First day of "summer"

It is officially my first day of summer today! I had a crazy week of exams, having all 4 in a row from Wednesday to Saturday. It is always such a relief when final exams are over... no matter what, you walk out of the last one with a big stupid smile on your face that you just can't get rid of! So today is the start of summer for me, although, it is a little dreary out.
I'm looking forward to being able to focus more on training now. I am running the TC 10 k in two weeks and am excited to have a good run and start gearing up for olympic distance. My first triathlon is in Dallas at the beginning of June, and this will also be my first completed olympic distance race. Last year, I raced an olympic distance in Sooke, but got a flat tire half way through the bike and wasn't able to finish. So I still have that first one to get under my belt. I'll admit, the idea of racing hard for 2 hours seems a little daunting... but lots of other people have done it and survived, right??

A fresh start

Ok, I really failed at the whole blogging thing last year...so I'm going to try again! Stay tuned... hopefully I will actually have something interesting to say...

Season summary

My last race of the season, the Junior Elite World Championships, were held in Beijing China, a place I have never been before and am not exactly sure would want to go back for a holiday!! Everyone in China was very nice and helpful, however, after breathing in hazy polluted air for a week, I appreciated coming home to fresh air and blue skies!
The race itself was a strong showing for me, but was a bit of a different race experience than I have ever had before. After not a fantastic start to the swim, I found myself behind the first girls coming out of the water and in the seconds pack. There were about 7 of us in the chase pack, and over the first 2 of 3 bike laps, we caught the girls in front of us. The bike course was very challenging, with a few descent uphills and downhills, as well as lots of corners and a 180 degree turn. It was cool racing on the Olympic course, and it is not to be underestimated. After the third lap of the bike, we were a pack of about 12, and I left T2 in 3rd position. The first lap of the run was tough, and the steep downhill and uphill on the out and back run really takes the energy out of your legs. Heading onto the second lap, I was in around 9th spot, and was really starting to the feel the effects of racing hard for 50 minutes. I held my position on this lap, running into 9th place for the finish. I improved my placing from last year (12th) and also had a  much better race, but was a little disappointed that I didn't break the top 8, which was my goal. But I know I can't exactly complain about being in the top 10!

So the season is over, and now I am back into full on school. I had my first two mid terms this past week and can hardly believe that first semester is almost half over already. I am keeping busy with everything and just got back into training about a week ago after a week off. For Thanksgiving weekend, my family and I are up in Tofino for a late summer vacation. We're staying in a little wood cottage right close to the beach The change of scenery has been really nice, and so has being able to walk along the beach and hear the waves crashing in every morning.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me this year and all other years. Thanks to Triathlon Code sponsors: Nineteen wetsuits whose suits I loved racing in this year, Specialized bikes whose equipment never let me down (no crashes this year!), and Champion Systems whose trisuits and gear I practically lived in all summer. Thanks to Frontrunners, Oak Bay Bikes, and Procity Bikes for helping me with last minute race preparations and bike tune-ups. Thanks to all my coaches and supprt staff who help out not only at races but throughout our entire training season. Thanks to LifeMark at PISE for the great support in massage (you kept me in one piece!).Thanks to all my family and friends cheering me on and offering words of encouragement. And thanks to anyone else who follows triathlon and reads this blog....I couldn't do anything without all of you.

A very long post about everything

The last few weeks have been really busy with three races in about 20 days. It began on June 26th in St. Malo, Manitoba with the first junior series race of the season. As this was the first time I would be racing other triathletes from across the country, I was very nervous, and wondered how fit I actually was and how I would compare. The race started great...I had an almost perfect swim with a flawless start and soon found Hilary's feet to draft off of. Falling off her pace in the last 100 m, I was second out of the water close behind her and with about 20 seconds to our next competitor. This big lead coming out of the water was very exciting, and the two of us pushed the 20 km bike out and back along the quiet prairie road. Working hard right to transition, the chase pack still made up time on us and our lead dwindled to about 5 seconds at the dismount. I had a solid run, but not my best to date. Focusing on my own pace, I tried to accelerate when Ellen Pennock ran by me, but was not able to hold it. Although I ended up second in this race, the result was bitter sweet as Ellen took the win.
With only 2 weeks until the next race, the priority after St. Malo was to recover and prepare for the Pan-American Triathlon Championships in Edmonton on July 10th. The next week of training was tough, but I knew that in a few days I would be tapering again.
My race in Edmonton was very exciting. Although I was nervous for this race, I had a little more confidence coming into it as I knew where my fitness was at, unlike before St. Malo. I also had a very good swim in Edmonton. The start was more congested, but after about 200-300 m I was on Hilary's feet again and this time I stayed there right to the end. Having a bit of trouble removing my wetsuit and getting my helmet on, I excited transition behind my teammate Alison Hooper, who wasn't far behind us coming out of the water. The three of us worked the first of two bike laps hard, powering up the hills and holding off the chase pack. Going onto the second lap with about 18 seconds lead, we decided that working hard on the second lap to hold the chase pack off wasn't worth it. We continued to work together until the chase pack of about 6 or 7 girls caught us and I did my best to conserve energy. Going onto the run, I felt much better than in St. Malo. I held a strong pace and didn't beat myself up when Ellen Pennock passed me. I held off Mexico's Adrianna Barraza to place second and finished very proud.
Still no time to take a breather! Our next race was 6 days later in Penticton, BC...junior series race number 2. I was feeling very confident going into this race as Ellen has been the only competitor to beat me this year and she wasn't racing (a bit of a relief!). The race unfolded smoothly. I had a great swim start, worked with Hilary on the swim (I pulled the first half, then drafted her for the second half), and came out of the water just behind her. I had a bit of a messy T1 again, and started the 8 lap bike course with Hilary and Alison. Stevie Moore bridged up after the first lap and unfortunately Alison crashed while we were lapping an athlete. So the next 7 laps (1.25 km out, 1.25 km back... lots of corners!!), Hilary, Stevie, and I built up a very comfortable lead on the rest of the field. Heading onto the run, I just had to run strong and stay in the lead. It was a challenging run as we had 5 laps of 1 km, but I felt fit and ran to first.
So after these three races were over, I had to wait the official word to find out if I made the World Championship Team....and  I can now tell you that I will be heading to Beijing, China in September!! It felt so good to have made the team again this year and I am looking forward to the next month and a half of preparation.
I am also very excited to race my first Olympic distance triathlon on August 7 at the Sooke Chase, and to race Nationals this year in Kelowna, BC...one of my all-time favourite race courses!
So hopefully that catches you up a bit!

Christine