What A Great Race

Calgary 1/2 Marathon

Had a great nights sleep, was calm and positive at the start, my friends were there to support me and the energy was fantastic.

I started and finished this wonderful race with two great ladies, Jackie and Jennifer, we kept a great pace, talked, laughed and had just a blast. And, we obtained our goal time - excellent!

Getting Back On Track

Well with my last day of my clinic this week I was hoping to get back on track with my training for my upcoming Vulcan Tri. This has not happened. I can't complain really as I have a 1/2 to run tomorrow and I always try to taper and not stress my body out so much before a race, so I did swim (once this week) and ran home but the biking nil due to rain.

I am worried but not too worried, Iknow I can do all 3 events but because I have not put 100% into my training for this particular tri I won't get what I expect out of it.

Once my 1/2 and Vulcan is over I can then get back on track to do what I need to do - what I feel I need to do.

Wishing myself luck tomorrow - goal is 2:30 not a PB but a goal.

Well That Was Easy

Melissa and I did the Tri Diva Tri today...first it was bloody windy but other than the wind we had a great time and as the title says "Well that was easy".

Here is what we did: 250M swim, 9K bike and 2.5K run - my number for these events was 434. I really didn't find this race to hard, the toughest part was the waiting to get into the pool for your turn to do the swim.

The Swim....four of us shared one lane and if you got stuck behind a slower person you had to pass or you were kinda of screwed and had to wait to get to the end of the length to pass. When I started I had a much slower swimmer in front of me so I waited until we finished the length and then passed her, but then I speeded up too much, lost my rythum and ran out of breath. Don't know what I did the swim in cause before you got into the pool to swim they took your number and then they started your time, you swam then got out of the pool and your time did not stop for the swim till you passed the mat outside in the transition area (so my chip time for the swim portion was 8:19 with waiting and walking).

The Bike....this I enjoyed. I transitioned from the swim to the bike, this was new to me but I was prepared. Put my helmet on first, toweled down a bit, jacket, shoes, bike and started my Garmin (or so I thought) then I am off. Like I said it was super windy so the 9K ride was tough in parts but I really like the biking. If you passed someone you had to yell "passing on your left" and this I said a lot - loved this part!

We had to do a certain section of the route twice (about 2K) and this was the windest section so a bit tough but on the way home not too much wind and I motored in.

My Garmin said I did 8K in 24 minutes so obviously started it too late cause I know we did 9K. My time according to the chip was 27:39.

The Run....last transition from bike to running and it was good...just had to take of my helmet (hat head) so put on another hat to cover that up, running shoes on with no socks, lip stuff and off I went and started my Garmin again (or so I thought). The run was 2.5 and more wind. My legs felt pretty good can't say anything bad about it and according to my Garmin (which I had actually not started and had to restart) I was running a 6:19 average and did it in 15 minutes...this is faster than I would normally run but it was a shorter distance.

My time according to the chip was 15:51 so pretty close to my Garmin.

Best parts - our friends who came to watch during this event and support Melissa and myself (thanks Frannie, Steve and Melissa's folks), the biking and feeling like I could do this again.

Things I Learned - not to wear my tri vest during the swim, wear socks when I run, drink more water when I bike, eat something during the bike/run transition and I can do anything I set my mind to.

Training Improvements - need to swim more so I can get faster and do more biking/run brick training sessions and practice using my Garmin Auto Multisport.

Overall my time for this event was: 51:45 and I ranked 6th in my age group and 96th out of 286 participants.

NOT BAD FOR A FIRST TIME TRI.

OK....I am a bit nervous....

I am tired....my foot is sore....have I trained enough....should I have riden more...I have not swum in two weeks....oh my god!

Tomorrow is my first Tri, it is really early in the morning ugh! I hate getting up early, I hate having to squeeze my butt and the rest of my fat that is not attached to muscle into my tri suit.

Oh just ignore me....I am really exicted so cross your fingers for me (and your toes, and your legs and whatever else you can cross).

Maria

Tri DivaTri

My first Tri is coming up on Sunday, May 15th (250 Meter Swim, 9K bike ride and a 2.5K run).

I am not nervous, just a bit exicted to see what my body can do - I know it is only a sprint tri but this is all new to me.

So, check back to see how I did, what worked and what didn't.

tri-Combining form
1. Three; having three: "triathlon".
2. (in names of compounds) Containing three atoms or groups of a specified kind: "trichloroethane".

Lead Legs

Who would have thought that after I biked 64K on Saturday and then ran 16K on Sunday my legs would not feel like running tonight - what's up with that? Hey legs, get with it!

That Was Not An Easy Ride

Shelley and I did a 64K ride today...first one that distance and everything is tired. My bike was great but need to bike some more to get my legs use to the long rides.

It felt great thou! Thanks Shelley

20K does not equal 30K

Well, I had great dreams of biking 30K tonight but I did not turn on my garmin and relied totally on the trip distance on my bike, which I think does not work. So, according to my trip meter on my bike I biked 29K but when I plotted the route on the map it shows I road 21K.

Now 21K is pretty good - took me about 1 hour 30 minutes (the other day it took me 34 minutes to do 10K) so maybe I did 30K - ah who knows. I just felt good.

Two Weeks Till 1st Tri

Only two more weeks till my first tri (May 15th).

Today did 250 meters in the pool (distance of my first tri swim) in a time of 6:30 seconds - that is 1:30 seconds faster than my other times. But, I don't expect that I'll do that in my tri swim, there will be more people in the pool during my race.

Got this awful bra for my tri's (looks like my gradma's bra ugh) but apprently it is a good one, better be for $80.00.

Cost todate to do my first tri:

$ 200.00 for two peice tri suit
$ 80.00 for grandma bra
$2,000.00 for road bike
$ 400.00 for bike gear
$ 100.00 for jacket (really cool one)
$ 80.00 for helmet (the one I had was way over 5 years old)
$ 60.00 entry into first tri
$ 60.00 for cycling classes
$ 120.00 for pool entry
$ 200.00 coaching
$3,300.00 TOTAL

Week Before Thier Goal Race

A lot of the group in the clinic I am teaching right now are going to be running thier goal race next weekend. I hope they are very exicted, they have all worked very hard to get to where they are now and I am very proud of them all.

My goal race, as well as some others in the clinic, is the Calgary 1/2 Marathon at the end of May, that will be my last race of the year as I"ll then be training for my tri's and Goofy in 2012.

I will be sorry that the clinic will end and I have made the decision to not teach antoher one until after I do the 1/2 ironman next year (2012).

The weather is getting really nice so I'll be able to do most of my biking outdoors and really put to use the nice road bike Jeff bought me for my birthday..I am going to be damn fast.

I'll close by letting you know I am having a glass of red wine and relaxing on my sofa, ET is on TV right now I have not seen it since forever!

If Its To Be...Its Up To Me

Reminder to self...if you don't do the training then you may not complete your goal!

When will the snow end?

April 17th and you would have thought we'd at least have some sun, but no snow again! We were suppose to run 21K today but it was so icey and gross out I cut the run short (which eveyone was fine with). So total distance for me was 11K but it felt like 16K.

Just watching Russell Peters for a good laugh and my step son is over for dinner (yeah I know you need to know this).

Gotta get myself ready for the week, might pray for sun.

The Beginning

It all starts with 1 step, then 2, then 3 etc...soon your addicted and your halfs, then running marathons.

After a time you think "what else can my body do" and you decide to put it to the test. So this summer, 2011, I'll put my body to the test by doing 3 sprint tri's.

Today, with the help for my friend in these Tri's we put our bodies to the test by getting in and out of tri suits (lovely), eventually after an hour or so of getting in and out of the tightest suits we have ever been in I found my tri suit (no photos I am afraid - too scary).

So while today is not really the beginning of my tri adventure (I started my training about 4 weeks ago) it is becoming more of a reality now that I have my skin tight tri suit.