Wasa Race Report

I raced the Wasa Olympic triathlon last weekend...my BIG goal was to finally break 50 minutes for a 10km in a tri. And I did!! 49:57 baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!! Hey, every second counts.

My total time was 2:29:08 -- a 10 minute improvement despite the fact that the bike course was totally changed this year from the nice flat and fast route to a hilly one. (Going towards Fort Steele instead of heading towards Invermere. The last time I did this race I did it in 2:24, but that doesn't count as the swim course was short, so I compared the results to the race before that one.) Plus, I ended up 10th female overall. Including the real fast girls. :) :) (They also remove the top 5 women from the AG standings, so I ended up being 2nd in my age group...I'm more pleased with my 10th OA though!)

Swim -- 28:12 (not too bad! Hee-hee!!)
The Wasa swim is the best and kindest swim in triathlon. They sent all the Oly women off together and there was no clawing/grabbing/frustration. It was so nice! This was also the first time in a race I did 2 dolphin dives at the beginning -- Hee-hee!! :) :)

Bike -- 1:11:01 (again, not too bad, the course is hillier, so I'll take it)
Not too much to say here -- a great ride.

Run -- 49:57
Great run for me! The biggest triumphs for me were the following:
Not succumbing to the negative thoughts and fear of seeing faster girls catch up to me. The last time I raced here, there was a woman on an out and back who gave me "the look" and I sort of thought to myself, "Wow, she looks so determined, if she catches me, she deserves it." Well, guess what she did. This year, I was READY.

There was another girl who was chugging along but I said to myself, "Hang on Julie! You deserve this!" I did it. :) I did get passed by some women, but not by that one. I held on until the end. :)

You have got to hand it to the race organizers -- they do the best post race food -- tons of watermelon, oranges, bananas, canteloupe and grapes. I didn't partake of the macaroni salad and I tried the chili but it was gross (sorry, but it was!), but the fruit was a godsend. After that I craved nothing but KETHCUP CHIPS and SNOWPEAS. The craving overtook all my senses. Hahahhaha -- so funny how your body knows EXACTLY what it needs -- LOL. When I finally dug into some ketchup chips, I had major ketchup-chip-quiver-tail going on. ;)

Onto other news...

A few months ago, I began making more changes to my daily nutrition needs. I did a bit of poking around the internet reading other people's blogs, and decided to try some new things...

First I eliminated dairy. This was sort of easy. Although I ate LOTS of cottage cheese and yogourt, I always felt bloated and *not right*. Next was eliminating grains and pasta and bread. This I had to do with an all or nothing approach. It is far too easy to TRY and incorporate more vegetables into my diet and then fill in the gaps with bread or pasta. By eliminating all breads and pasta, I had no choice but to add more vegetables. When the pasta went, the yams, squash, carrots and bananas moved in. You can't fool around with replacing carbs when training for multiple Ironman races.

My body has responded very well to this type of nutrition. I went down 2 swimsuit sizes! That is right...TWO SWIMSUIT SIZES!! I 've always been a 36/10, then I moved down to a 34/8. The day that my suit became baggy before it was worn out, I was shocked....could it be that I needed to go down another size? I was hesitant when I asked to try on a 32/6...the suit looked so tiny. How was my bum going to fit in there?

But it fit! I haven't had to *watch* what I eat or how much to eat. I eat all the veg, fruit, meat, eggs I want. If I am hungry I eat. Basically this means I graze all day long. Plus, I have the energy to get all my sessions in.

For bike nutrition whilst training, I use water, baked yam slices, and bananas. That's what I've used all winter and spring. Now that the temperatures are finally warming up I'll start throwing some Nuun into the mix, but keeping it simple works for me. :)

The local outdoor pool has opened and it is bliss swimming in the fresh air. :)

And one more thing....

I am completely addicted to HBO's new series Game of Thrones. I cannot wait until next season -- it is the best series I have ever seen. The story-telling is totally unconventional -- time and time again my jaw will drop open at the events unfolding. Usually such physical reactions are restricted to really, really good books...I LOVE how the series challenges assumptions I had about story-telling itself. Assumptions I didn't even know I had!

Plus, there is Drogo. Oh. My. God. I have only ever had one other movie-star crush before this and it was Horatio Hornblower from an A&E series years ago. LOL. Poor Mike, has had to deal with me giggling and rewinding scenes to watch Drogo over and over again. Hahahahahahaha!!!
Every time there is a scene with him in it, I could feel Mike's eyes on me...waiting for a reaction. Of course, that just makes me even more self-aware. LMAO.

Elkford Sprint Race Report

I was so excited to FINALLY race!!! After last year's DNS in North Carolina, and months of healing my broken foot, I was so ready to let loose! :)

Coach Sara gave me a bit of rest but said she would be training me through the race...I've been logging some pretty crazy hours training, and the week before the race I felt so bagged. SO BAGGED. I was wondering how on earth I would recover and do the race! Hahahaha - and it is only a sprint!

On Wednesday before the race, I had a 5 hour bike ride that I ended up only doing 2:12 of....I got caught out in the middle of the back roads between the Pass and Pincher Creek in the rain storm to end all rain storms. HOLY COW. It was like a monsoon swept through -- all the cars had their lights on and it was effing cold. SO COLD. And windy. By the time I arrived at the Shell gas station in Pincher Creek, I was frozen solid. I had a hard time speaking to the guy behind the counter when I tried to ask to use the phone. He asked, "Are you all right?" And I replied, "N-n-n-n-n-no, can I use your phone? I have money!" and I held up a zip lock bag with assorted dollar bills in it (dripping wet). The guy just waved my baggy away and gave me the phone -- LOL!!

I called my Momma to come rescue me (one of the major perks of living in the same community as your parents!) Then, I stood there, dripping wet and made a big puddle standing in the gas station waiting for my Mom to arrive. A couple of men in work trucks offered to give me a ride home, but they thought I lived in Pincher...They were visibly surprised when I told them I lived in the Pass. HAHAHAHAHAH!! It is so easy to impress people with biking mileage around these parts.

I had big plans to set my bike up on the trainer once I got home to finish off the session....However, after some food, a hot bath, and a thorough bike cleaning, my energy levels fell like a rock and I went to bed instead.

Ok...enough preamble. Here are the race deets!!!

First woman overall and 4th over all. :) :) :) I was tickled to analyze the results and learn that I had the 2nd fastest bike split overall!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

http://elkfordtri.ca/uploads/2011results/2011oa_750.PDF

Here are my splits:
750m swim: 13:36 (YAY!!! I AM getting faster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
20km bike: 36:27 (Windy, hilly course)
5km run: 22:53 (Work in progress!!)
Total: 1:12:57

For the first time, I was in the last heat for the faster swimmers. LMAO!!!! And get this, I was leading my lane!! Hahahahahahahahaha!! I warned everyone in my lane before the race, "I hope my swim time guess-timate matches my ability!" Once we got rolling, or shall I say, swimming, the guy right behind me passed me, but then piddled out, and I re-passed him -- and was first out of our lane. :)

The bike portion was so awesome. I was so present, so fully in the moment, it felt like the ride lasted 2 minutes. Seriously. It was like I was completely immersed in every single moment. Very weird, but very cool. :) :)

The run was good too -- my breathing was hard and loud for the first half, but I chugged, chugged along. Man, there was this one girl who was such a good runner -- she did the 5km in 18 min and change, she looked great!!!

Small race, AMAZING volunteers and a beautiful day all in all. I don't want to slag my competitors BUT...

To the only person in the race that wore his wetsuit: REALLY?

I won a $25 gift card to Canadian Tire and a stainless steel water bottle. :)

Most importantly....I am fit and racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Run Skills

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to have my running form assessed by my friend and newly minted coach Tina Dubois. (An embarrassing aside: I had to ask her what her last name was...Hahahah! I never paid attention to what it was, and when I was telling someone at the Cochrane pool about my "friend," I was asked, "What's her name?" as Cochrane is a small town. My response? "Ummm, I actually don't know her last name, but I haven't needed to!" Eeeeeeep. Heh-heh-heh!)

Tina's assessment was an AWESOME experience. If any of you have ever had your swim stroke videoed -- you know what I am talking about. What you think you are doing is not at all what you are actually doing. Hahahahahah -- or let me rephrase that...what I thought I was doing, I wasn't.

The session began with Tina filming me running on the treadmill. Next, we sat down and reviewed the video clip, frame by frame. After looking at the video, Tina made an educated guess about running injuries I may have had, and pain I might frequently experience. The accuracy of her observations piqued my interest immediately. You know how those fortune tellers are so good at reading people? Hee-hee! It was like that! I was thinking, "How can you tell? Does my running form really indicate that? I don't see anything so funky on the video!"

She explained the nuts and bolts of running -- what a lot of people end up doing compared to what they are trying to accomplish. A number of pictures punctuated our discussion -- really illustrating her points.

For anyone who knows me, I have a hard time sitting still and not talking, and it took all my willpower not to interrupt....Well, Ok, I did interrupt and ask a few questions. Hahahaha! I was that kid in class who would squirm in her seat and raise her hand in the air to answer questions.

For instance, I wanted to make Tina understand that the pace I had been running on the treadmill while she videoed me was a "jog" and that I run faster than that, and that it is an awkward sort of warm up pace. She smiled and said, "We are getting to that..."

And sure enough we did. She showed me frame by frame how long my foot would be on the ground during the running (or my excuse of a jogging) cycle. Then she explained how having a higher cadence reduces that length of time, and load on the feet...This was where I interrupted and said, "Yeah, but...I was warming up, my legs move faster when I am RUNNING."

What followed next truly blew my mind! As someone who does not have natural running skills/body awareness, her next demonstration really was an epiphany to me!

She hopped on the treadmill herself and turned on her electronic metronome-thingy. She started running at 4.0 mph. She was ticking over right in time with the digital beep-beep-beep of the metronome. Then she increased the speed to 5.0, then 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, then 9.0. Her cadence remained the same at all speeds!!! WOWZA!!! This was a huge lesson for me!

Then came the fun part -- she had me do a number of exercises and drills both on and off the treadmill. The metronome was turned on, and my shoes came off. It was AWESOME. It was like the very first time I felt the "catch" is swimming (see, this memory is still very vivid as it happened so recently -- LOL.) I FELT good running -- It felt very different and easier. More effortless -- I wasn't struggling. I NEVER realized that it was even possible to run at a high cadence at all speeds.

Tina shouted out various coaching cues as I ran on the treadmill. Again and again she would catch me reverting back to old habits and would repeat the cues. The effect would be instant. I am good at doing what I am told. (hee-hee -- Mike doesn't think so -- LOL)

The culmination of the session was taking another video of me running -- a before and after if you will. It was so COOL!!! She filmed me, then we sat down and looked at it frame by frame again. My cadence had increased - my foot wasn't lingering on the ground so much! I have proof! Hahahahaah!!!

What I find so exciting about this new knowledge is that it is unlike anything I have heard of before -- the coaching cues caused me to focus on different things. Instead of focusing on how many times my feet are hitting the ground for instance...she gave me a new set of cues (much more effective for me personally) that worked straight away. Most importantly though, is that I FEEL the difference.

Awesome, awesome, awesome stuff.

And an awesome coach too -- Tina is very observant and clued in to the varying needs of an individual. She emailed me all the exercises and coaching cues after our session -- and the videos as well.

If you are interested in having a revelation about your running style, eliminating running injuries, and a greater body awareness, here is her site:

http://www.livingbarefoot.info/coaching/

Starbucks

Sometimes I feel as though I am a fraud.

I mean, I am a cultured person…I’ve been to plays, to an opera even! I have lived in major urban centres and I have travelled extensively. It’s just that for some reason, a few things have seemed to slip by me…things that the vast majority of people seem to somehow *know.*

Like what to order at Starbucks.

My God, I am 36 years old and I still have NO idea what all those terms mean up on the chalkboard. One shot, double shot, Americano, espresso, etc. What does it all mean? My background in coffee consists of drinking black coffee from Tim Horton’s, and reading the occasional novelty coffee story in those news ads before I sign into my yahoo email account.

You know those stories? They are always accompanied by a picture of a big bowl of coffee with a heart drawn through the frothy milk, or a cute furry animal whose poop is the most expensive coffee bean in the world.





I’ve heard that espresso actually has less caffeine than a regular cuppa Joe (I forget exactly how and why, but I remember I watched an interview about it), and I have a number of friends and family members who have quite firm opinions on what makes a good cup of coffee:

My Dad (a.k.a. “Garbage Guts”) – drinks coffee from Tim Horton’s and gas stations. On our 5000km road trip across the US last year, we tried all kinds of gas station coffee. And it has to be pretty raunchy for my Dad to pass it up. Think: Sludgy, black, and toxic.



My Victoria Friends: Starbucks all the way. They know precisely what they want in a coffee. They take into account the time of day, what they’ve eaten/drank beforehand, and what they presently feel like. They order something different every time, and I am always impressed. I always order, “What he’s/she’s having,” in an attempt to broaden my coffee horizons and hopefully enrich my lacklustre coffee knowledge bank. They also buy specialty beans and grind them every morning.



My Calgary Friends: Very similar to my Victoria friends, with the exception that Tim Horton’s is an acceptable substitute. They know how to order at Starbucks, but will not hesitate to order a half hot-chocolate/half coffee from Tim Horton’s. (You see, by ordering your drink using that language, you pay less than if you asked for a Mocha Coffee or Coffee Mocha or Café Mocha or….well, you get my drift, right?)



My European Friends: Opinions range all over the map here. My friends from England do NOT like Starbucks – something about there not being a lot of actual coffee in a drink…or something like that. My German friends love Tim Horton’s, and like Calgarians, will order the half-hot chocolate/half-coffee, but will add whip cream on top of it all.



And then there is me: I buy the big red tub of Folgers from Wal-Mart. Or, when I am in the city, from Costco – you know they sell the even bigger red tubs of Folgers? And I brew it in my Tim Horton’s coffee maker. That thing ROCKS. As fast as you pour the water in, the coffee is made. Sweet coffee action. I drink it black.



Starbucks still intimidates me – the employees (do they have special names too, like barista or something?) are all brusque and business like. Friendly, but no-nonsense. Like the customers who stand in line behind me as I stammer out my order trying desperately to fit in. I always screw it up. You see, the harder I try, the more I concentrate on articulating that unique coffee language of “Skinny,” and “Grande,” or “Tall,” , the sooner I automatically default into an apologetic, “Can I have a small black coffee please?” And do that half-smile/grimace – making eye-contact with the barista (is that the right word?) as he/she nods empathetically to me with an understanding smile.



The strange thing about all this is that my quest for ordering a cup of coffee from Starbucks without feeling like a total idiot is far from over. Like a moth drawn inevitably to the flame, I continue to “go for a Starbucks,” with my friends. Always copying what they order, always asking what they like/don’t like about certain drinks. For I believe that one day, I will be able to stride confidently into a Starbucks and rattle off my order of a “Skinny-minnie-latte-no shot-one-shot-whatever,” and not only KNOW what I have ordered, but understand too.



CHEERS!!

;)

My bike nutrition...

And I ate all those bananas except one -- for a 3:18 ride. My jersey pockets were gross -- covered in brown banana slime from me cramming the peels back in my pockets.


For those who don't know me....I really do eat that many bananas. :) :) :)

I LOVE BANANAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some videos for your viewing pleasure...

In Cozumel, Mike thought he'd video me doing laps so Sara could see how hard I was training....




And here we are back at home in the perpetual winter...

What I've Been Up To....

• I have FINALLY felt what it means to "catch" the water. Yes, you read that correctly...I have to admit, all that talk about "feeling the water," etc is not bull$hit! You really can feel it when you get it right. Go figure! LOL. Oddly enough, I first *got* the catch whilst doing lots and lots of backstroke. (Yes, I like to do things backwards. Hahahahahahaha!)

• I am running! And in a new jazzy pair of orthotics. :) :)

• Made up new nicknames for my two kitty cats: Mandalay and Peanut are now also known as 100G and P-Dog. LMAO!! This delights me to no end. Even better -- when I called my Mom and told her the new nicknames and she responded, "But Peanut is a cat." HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Awesome!! (100G is because Mandalay weighed in at the vet's 100 grams more than last time. I still think I was soooo clever to think of this. Hahaha!)
  

• I almost sliced the top of my thumb off when I chose not to use the safety device when cutting yam chips on the mandolin. (Why do I need to use the safety, how bad could it be....OW!! Holy CRAP.) Then, I went to emergency and learned that stitches were not an option, so I walked out of the hospital with a couple of bandaids wrapped around my thumb. Yes...I went to emergency to get a bandaid put on my thumb. I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! (Insert extreme embarassment and red face here.)

• I now wrap my thumb in saran wrap and pink duct tape so I can continue to swim...Yes, I was a sight to see at the pool this morning.
  

• Found my new go-to daily web site: www.cuteoverload.com. ***Warning. Extreme cute pics and videos of puppies, kittens, deer, jumping lambs (YES, jumping and leaping LAMBS! SO FRIGGING CUTE! Hahahaha!), and all other manner of creatures large and small.**** Seriously, the world can use more light-hearted images and major cuteness.

• I found this recipe on the internet and it is very, very good. I mean very effing good. You have got to try it:

6 TBSP Coconut oil (I added a bunch more because it didn't look like
enough and it worked out awesome.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 TBSP Cocoa powder (I just eyeballed it)
1 TBSP maple syrup
2 TBSP shredded coconut
1/4 cup almonds chopped up fine (I threw them in a blender)

Scoop out a bunch of coconut oil and melt it in a pot. Whisk in vanilla, cocoa, maple syrup until completely dissolved. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into pan lined with parchment and tilt pan to let the runny mixture coat it. Place in freezer and wait 15 minutes. OMG ----- SO GOOD. Snap off desired size of piece and enter a blissful realm of delciousness. (Credit for this recipe: www.realfoodliving.com/recipes/coconut-bark-almond-joy)

• I eat more than other people do on long bike rides. I was at a spin class a few weeks ago -- (3 hour and 40 minute ride) and I went through a number of bananas and Welch's gummies. There was a woman who competes on the national bike team who was spinning just behind me. After I don't know how many bananas, she asked me, "Your stomach can handle that many bananas?" Yes Ma'am, my stomach can handle all that and even more! Hahahahahaah!

I respond well to food! :) :) :)