Tri Time

Tri training is starting up again. I took a couple of weeks off from training after the race  I have a cold and I always wait a week after a race until I start training again. so I waited the week, then was sick a week. I went to a baby shower today for a ling-time friend. Like, almost 25 year long- time friend. It was a really lovely afternoon. Then, I come home and read outside for a while. The weather is finally warming up here in southern Ontario.

I'm giving you the background because I was most definitely not in the mood to get out there today. BUT I DID. After aimlessly wandering in my hallway for a bit I figured I may as well put on my runners and head out. I was going to wait until this evening but Game of Thrones is on and I didn't want to be going out at 10. This is basically a pointless post. I went and did 3 miles in 48 minutes. At my last race I realized that my nike+ was a quarter of a K off in it's calculations. For every K it was telling me, it was actually less. Which sucks. Because now I don't know my actual speed, I guess I can just aim to go faster.

Today's run was actually quite pleasant. I recently did a stress test and got to see how exercise does affect your blood pressure immediately. So, I tried to push myself a little harder than I normally would. I still had some gas in the tank at the end. It was quite a nice run. I was sweating, breathing moderately heavily and soaking in the sunshine.

I often find on days like today when I'm forcing myself to get out there I just make up my mind and go, the more I dawdle the less likely I am to actually go. So, I didn't even hit the bathroom today before I left and I was very thankful that there's a McDonald's a km from my house. It worked out well for me. And on that note, I will end. Lesson of the day: pee before you flee.

Last Training Session

About a week before my Tri I headed to Gulliver's Lake and did a run then a swim. I am really glad I did this brick training in this order. I had a fantastic run, doing 2.5 at 7'38. It felt so very good that I decided to really be in the moment and remember precisely how it felt so that when I headed to the tri regardless of how tired I was I wanted to remember that I love running.

For the swim, the part of the tri I was most confident about, I actually took it pretty easy. I found the water to be a bit warm so I didn't particularly enjoy the swim as it wasn't refreshing. I like the bracing cold. It invigorates me.

Following this training day I took the week off. You may notice that this means that I had not actually done the tri in it's entirety. My theory heading into the race was that I KNEW I would be able to finish because I absolutely could do the swim/cycle portion of the race and could walk the 2.5 K if I had to. I also was completely uncertain as to what to expect for the transitions.

Also, on the Friday before the race I wrote my final final for my BSW. It relieved a lot of stress (now it's only the stress of waiting for the grade). Having finished, provided me with some mental breathing room. It was a big week!

So, I had done all that I could do and the night before the race visited with some of my nearest and dearest in a sort of university mini-reunion as I had friends visiting from Ottawa staying with my co-racer. It was the best thing I could have possibly done. It filled my heart and cleared my head and I knew psychologically I was in a fantastic head space going into the race.

 Doing the calculations I figured the swim would take 15 minutes, the first transition 5ish, The cycle 45, another transition of 5 and then the run 25 for a grand total of 95 minutes. In reality, my goal was just to finish, all the better if I could do it without stopping.

Still Catching Up

I've inspired mon petit frere to participate in a race next year. No word on him if he's gonna attempt the try tri or a du as he can't stand running. Regardless, I'm impressed this kid is (actually as of Aug 3 WAS) a smoker and long time couch potato. I'm not insulting, he's the first to admit it.

We headed out for another cycle settling on 12k for a distance on a path down by the waterfront that he'd told me about. It's lovely because it's a marked trail. I think that this is my favourite place to go in the city now for training. I love, love, love that it is a marked trail, every 200m.

We've got a  nice little sibling rivalry going. I am not competitive by nature except in this one instance. You may recall that I hate cycling but the last time I went out with him I had a blast, so I was looking forward to this ride. I also knew that being down on the beach it would be a pretty flat ride. He led for pretty much the entirety of the ride. Here's the thing though, I have this theory men-especially ones new to working out- they tend to overextend themselves at the beginning then it gives women an opportunity to catch up/surpass them. I told this theory to my brother and that I would beat him because of it.

Well he led most of the way, I passed him around the 5K mark and took great pleasure at yelling "LEFT" at him. He let me lead for like 10m then passed me, being sure to respond with equal enthusiasm. As we moved along after the half way point she gained a substantial lead of 200m. I watched him as he rode though and his rpm were above mine so I figured he was in 2nd while I was in 3rd and I noticed him standing up a lot more and taking a brief rest. I knew he was getting tired.  I was most definitely cursing him and the back of his stupid white shirt as I rode not actually sure that I could make up the distance between us now and just hoping that he was really gonna tire himself out. I made up my mind to try to catch him in the last K so for the 2nd last one, I bumped it down to the 2nd gear to give my legs a bit of a rest (ps I have no idea if this is AT ALL the correct terminology, you know, how there are 3 bigger gears in the front, then 7 smaller ones in the back...the first 3 things are the ones I am talking about.) and then in the last K poured it on. I could see him looking back at me so I yelled that I was coming for him and I did, indeed finish ahead of him, just barely. He was doing a gear change as I was passing him and it skipped or something, I heard it. He claims that he would have beat me had that not happened but I am not so sure. I feel like it was too late for him. He defends himself by saying he was a smoker, I say I'm diabetic.

I had really wobbly legs afterward, which is good. I also really liked the approach that I took giving my legs a bit of a rest. I remembered to store that mental nugget away so for the race. It was another really great cycle and I had a blast.

Olympic Break Over

 I have to apologize because over the past 17 days I slacked on my blog. Clearly, I LOVE the Olympics and there were several great moments. My favourite was definitely the Women's Soccer team winning a bronze medal. I absolutely cried my way through these games. Paula Findlay, Simon Whitfield, Usain Bolt, among a hundred others, inspired me. These games reached me on more of personal level than ever before because of my recent training. I marvel at the human body, dedication, and soul.

I ran (and biked and swam) my try-tri today but I'm gonna play a little catch up first. So you're just gonna have to be patient.

I did a cycle and run as part of my brick training a couple of weeks ago. It was a pretty toasty day out and I hadn't done this combination before. My friend who's completed a sprint tri and is competing with me in the event had told me that I should get used to running on tired legs. My legs were sufficiently tired! It was literally, the most difficult thing that I had ever done. 

Between my cycle and run I was getting shaky- a sign that my sugars were low. So I gulped so orange juice and made sure I was going to be ok before heading out for the run knowing that I would have to fiddle with my insulin some more before the race to figure out how much I should take.

I almost immediately wanted to stop running and repeated the Canadian Olympic Team's motto of give your everything to keep me motivated. Plus I knew that if I had have stopped running that I wouldn't be able to start again. At 2 K my second wind kicked in and I made a mental not of this for race day so that when I was that exhausted on the day of I could remember that the last half K would be the best if I could just dig deep and get to that point.  It was by no means an enjoyable training day. It totally freaked me out. I was proud that I had done it but was terrified for race day. I got home and jumped in the pool, clothes and all. There was never a better feeling.

1

After checking out the site of my try tri to see if he could make it to watch me, my brother saw that there was a Du of swimming and cycling at the event and told me had he known that, he would have trained. Regardless, he is going to give it a go next year. The first step for him was quitting smoking. I really hope he can stay committed. He's quit before. His decision to train has also been a nice motivation for me. Nothing like a little sibling rivalry! I'm glad that I have the upper hand right now. I'm sure he's going to catch up to me though (hopefully he's not reading this, it will make him smug).

Dustin Hodgson plays paralympic soccer for Team Canada. He's been playing since he was 6 and his Cerebral Palsy doesn't hold him back. In fact, his nickname is The Turbo, for his speed. He is dedicated to his sport, training 7 days a week. Rtbot.net explains: The sport is played with modified FIFA rules. Among the modifications are a reduced field of play, a reduction in the number of players, elimination of the offside rule, and permission for one-handed throw-ins.

Meaghan Benfeito is the second half of the 10m synchronized divers. This is her second time heading to the games and will also be competing in the individual event. She started because of that her now teammates Emilie Heymans and Alexander Despatie. She hails from Montreal and can be found on twitter @megbenfeito. 



11

I went camping this weekend with a few friends and had a grand time. I also got in a swim and run combo. The advice that my friend who's done a sprint tri keeps giving me is to know what it feels like to run on tired legs. You know, good ole rubber legs. Since the tri is under a month away I figured I would heed this advice. I didn't have anything to measure any of my distances which is always a frustration for me but I think I did a 300 m swim and 2, or 2.5k running. I have no idea how long it took either.

I DO know that running on tired legs wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Being tired means that I stay nice and loose. So I rather enjoyed the run, plus I was nice and cool from swimming. I realize I was missing the ever daunting 10k in the middle but I survived doing this in the blazing heat in the early afternoon and wasn't miserable. All good.

As I ran I also though about how the tri was less than a month away and I hadn't done near the training that I had wanted to. I also thought about the Olympics, of course and American Ninja Warrior and kept going.

Someone else who draws inspiration from our Olympians is Jeremiah Brown. He  is one of the men rowing in the men's 8. He was inspired by the men's 8 who rowed to gold in 2008 and took up the sport. He has a connection to my hometown as he was born there and played football at Mac. He's also a blogger (http://jeremiahbrown.wordpress.com/) and can be found on Twitter at @JeremiahFBrown

Lauren Barwick is a Paralympian competing in Equestrian. Her nickname is the Centaur because of the connection between her and her mount. She started riding at the young age of 7 and became paralyzed 12 years ago when a bale of hay fell on her. A year and a half after her injury she was back computing. She's met with great success winning gold and silver in 2008. How does she do it? Paralympic.ca explains, she "has a custom adapted saddle with special knee rolls, a Velcro strap over her thighs and elasticized straps to keep her feet in the stirrups. By adjusting her seat’s movement with her torso, she can change the direction and speed of her horse. She has a small handle bar at the front of her saddle to grab hold of if she becomes unbalanced. During competitions, she uses two whips that act as her legs, along with a system of audio clues - clucks and kisses – that allow her to further finesse her control." You can find a great little piece that Lauren wrote before the 2008 Games here: http://laurenbarwick.typepad.com/the_road_to_bejing/a-little-bit-about-lauren.html

18

Yesterday I spent the day at the lake. I did a swim and a bike, Using various people's extremely scientific guesstimations (on was an OPP officer and the other a traffic engineer, I trust their judgement) I thin my swim was about 500m. I think I managed to stay in a pretty straight line. I also managed to get water in my ears. The were both plugged but the right one incredibly badly. It still is today. Investing in ear plugs will be a definite must. The swim went well. I like it. Then I cycled and it was ok. I just kind of pedalled around for half an hour. I have no guess as to the distance I did. I could feel that my legs were tired later in the day just swimming around for fun and when I went to bed I was exhausted. It was a great day. Putting the two together and not being dead tired afterwards is a good sign.

Here's a good link about great sportsmanship. I've posted about a couple of the events they're talking about before: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/the-10-most-heartwarming-moments-of-sportsmanship

Patrice Simard is a *Wheelchair Rugby player (Wait, what?! Wheelchair Rugby? Intense. I need to brush up on my knowledge of paralympic sports). He's nicknamed the Pit bull for his ferocity. After a car accident that caused a spinal cord injury he started playing. He's now considered one of the world's best defensive players. He won silver in 2004 and bronze in '08. This year he's going for gold, to have a complete set. If you get the chance google wheelchair rugby and take a look at some of the pictures. They really demonstrate the aggressiveness of the sport.

* All right, while doing a bit of research for this piece I found out that Wheelchair Rugby has undergone a name change, it was previously known as murderball . I am familiar with this. So I'm not so out of the loop as I thought.

Karen Cockburn is a Canadian Trampolinist (I think I just made that word up). It seems that we're going to be quite a dominant force at the games in this event. This is the 3rd athlete that is considered a medal contender that I've written about. If she medals this time around, she's going to be the first Canadian athlete to attend 4 Games and medal at 4 Games. She won a bronze in 2000 and a silver in the following 2 Games. If her name sounds familiar it may be because she also was the flag bearer at the closing ceremonies in Bejing. She's been competing in the sport since she was 11. Just last month she won Bronze at the World Cup in Spain. She is also an ambassador for At My Best and Canadian Tire Jumpstart. If you want to learn more about Karen you can read her book: Karen Cockburn:Soaring High. Her Twitter Handle is: @karen_cockburn and website can be found at: karen-cockburn.ca/