Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless - Sherry Anderson

SATURDAY

I spent the better part of today (Saturday) at the Westin with a friend of my, Kathy, volunteering (package pickup) for the 73.3 1/2 Ironman which takes place tomorrow starting from Ghost Lake. It was great to meet all the men and women who were taking part in this race.

One lady I talked to was doing this race for the first time, over the last two years she had lost 300 pounds and is doing this race as her celebration race (she has only done two sprint tri's in the last two years). I meet a women who came in from New Mexico to do this race and several people from the NWT, a lovely lady from the states (forgot where) who grew up in Calgary and was back to do this race for the first time..her family, old high school teachers and high school friends are going to meet her at the finish line to cheer her in as she crosses that finish line.

SUNDAY - RACE DAY

This morning I woke at 2:45 a.m. to make my way to the Westin to volunteer for the body marking OF the athletes taking part in the 73.3 Ironman. If I was tired I can't imagine how the athletes felt having to get up so early in order to catch a 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45 or 5 a.m. bus to drive 45 minutes to Ghost Lake and wait their turn to do their swim.

It was a great morning, the athletes were very appreciative and I really did not mind getting up so early so early. My job was the volunteer in charge of the volunteers - ensuring that they understood what they needed to do (how to body mark, where etc..) and I needed to make sure that the athletes got on their correct bus and no one was left behind.

As the athletes got on the bus I asked "do you have your chip, do you have your helmet, do you have your wet suit, have you been marked" and it is a good thing these questions were asked as some did forget one of two of these items.

By 5:10 a.m. all buses were gone and I was on my way back home to go to bed, but many other volunteers were headed off to volunteer more of their time/rest of their day elsewhere in the race..and for that I am grateful. You see next year this is my goal race and I can only hope that the same fantastic volunteers who helped out with this event are there next year to help again.

Maria's First Gran Fondo

So,you ask, what does Gran Fondo mean? Gran Fondo means long distance or great endurance.

Yesterday I participated in my Gran Fondo first bike race, the distanced varied 170K, 140K, 100K and 60K and because it was my first Fondo I choose the 60K (which as it turned out was 67K).

START - Nanton just west of the intersection of Highway 2 and 18th Street, on 18th Street.
WEST- 26th Ave to highway 533. Head right on 533 and head west to 22.
SOUTH- 22 to the Maycroft turn off.
RETURN - the same route the same way.

I cannot say anything bad about this race:
- Jersey's are bright and I will take pride in wearing it.
- Lots of parking.
- Great, friendly competitors.
- Race route was hilly and hard (a true Gran Fondo).
- Lots of door prizes were given out.
- Only 400 participants.
- Food afterwards was brilliant.

They do say that any bike is permitted, trust me you need a road bike.

I hope to do many of these races in the future and would higly recommend them.

Huge Butt?

I finally realized just how huge my butt was getting (I won't bore you with the details of how I came to this conclusion) but decided I had been sitting around procrastinating long enough. So today I am back in the "training" saddle.

I have one year till I do my first 1/2 ironman so figured I had to get my head, heart and body back in shape!

Watch this space for futher weekly updates.

Did Better Than I Thought - Yes I Rock

Ok, times are in for my Vulcan Tri and to be honest I think I am a bad judge of what I can do. I thought it would take me about 2:15 - 2:30 to complete all three events today (I am basing this on my last tri where the distances where shorter but it took me 51 minutes to complete the events). So I allowed 2:15 for myself.

Here is what I actually did including transitions:

500M Swim 15:20 WOW I ROCK!
15K Bike 39:52 very happy with this time.
5K Run 31:57 seconds AMAZING ME!

Total time 1:27 minutes - yes 1 hour 27 minutes - you heard me correctly.

Yehaaaaaa me - I can hardly contain my happiness.

Vulcan Tinman

So I had to get up pretty early for this one - left the house at 5 a.m. this morning to drive to Vulcan. No traffic meant that I was a little early - got there at 6:30 a.m. (I might have been speeding slightly).

I checked in, got my bib and numbers put on my body (with ink that won't come off for another week), had my biked looked at and then waited for my swim.

500M SWIM....Originally my heat was 8:00 a.m. because I said it would take me 20+ minutes (not sure what I swam it in). I got in early in the swim about 7:45 a.m. and it was bloody cold! Did my 500M swim, took it nice and easy and only shared the lane with 2 others people.


SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION - Not to bad this go round, as I said it was cold so I ran my ass to my bike and quickly changed into biking gear, this transition stuff is what I need to get use to cause you can eat up a lot of your time.


15K BIKE - Love the biking. This route was flat with a slight hill near the turnarond. Found it easy going out but on the way back it was windy. No problem, I was hydrating and eating on the bike and I love the bike even thou it was windy I felt like I coasted.

I even picked people to pass on my bike....loved it.


BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION - Again getting use to this bit.

Did a lot of stuff wrong when I got ready for my run. First I left my number belt at home so had to wear my bib on my shirt - now when you do a tri you wear the number on the back when biking and front running. So I had my shirt on backwards for the run so my number would be on the back (what was the point thou it was covered up by my jacket - it was cold). I had to turn my shirt around during transition so that my bib would be on the front for the run.

I packed my fuel belt for the run but in my transition when I put it on I forgot to put my water on the belt so ran 5K with a totally empty fuel belt. It was all for looks.

5K RUN - I don't know what it is but even thou I had jello legs I was maintaining race pace (6:30) during my 5K run. I took no breaks (well I had someone take my photo that took 5 secs) and felt really good during the run.

I finished at around 9:24 a.m. so that was that. I had heard that the Vulcan Tinman had great food but at 9:30 a.m. they don't have that stuff ready, all they had was orange and milk (yuck)! There was no shirt, even thou it clearly said on the race info that I should pick up my shirt after I was done - I got a bag instead (don't need another bag) but wanted a race shirt. Don't they give these out for Tri's?

As I was all by myself I packed everything up, drove to Fran's for coffee and then came home. Was home by 12:15 p.m. and that is that.

Update later on my time for everything.

Yah...I am not ready.

Ok, didn't I say that before?

Oh well, this week I have just rested after doing the 1/2 marathon on the weekend. My arm is killing me and I am just plain old tired and lacking motivation. I know, I know me lacking motivation - well I better pull some out of the bag soon cause I am getting up to drive to Vulcan to do my 2nd tri this weekend.

Again, not worried about but I know that once I start my actual training next year for the 1/2 iron man I will need to be way more committed than I am right now. I have asked my coach to cut back on my training schedule (distance only) for June and July, this will allow me to keep up better with the schedule. Except for Sat's when I'll be running LSD distance with a friend of mine who is training for his full marathon in August.

Off the tri topic for a minute - what do you think? If a person trians for a full then don't you think she should do the full or just the half. WHAT ARE YOU THOUGHTS?

Ok...back to the tri - I'll keep you all posted on the outcome. Keep me in your thoughts.

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.