Last night we had our annual triathlon team Christmas party. Unfortunately it's been a really busy time of year and was a struggle to organize an event that worked for everybody. We ended up going with what worked for the majority and making it a fun time. The potluck turned out great, there was so much food! Probably the best part of that was Darian deciding that along with salads and casseroles every potluck needed breakfast, so he brought along a flower waffle maker. The gift exchange is always a good time. There was a bit of debate going into it on what the rules were for stealing but once we got going it went pretty smoothly. Lots of good gifts meant some pretty competitive stealing! Ended up going and running around on the street with one of the items, a light up ball. Good times playing jackpot in the cold and dark! Then we went inside and had some deserts and more team bonding, hanging out time. Altogether a good night, hopefully next time more people can make it.
On another note, I went swimming for this week! It was awesome to get back in the pool after 4 months! Still not fully there though, I haven't exactly been given the "good to go." I swam twice for about 20 to 30 minutes easy, just to see what happens. It went alright I guess. Shoulders were tired and sore after only that much, but nothing too painful. It will still be a bit of a ways to go.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Monday, 12 December 2011
Early Triathlete Memories
As I begin to look forward to next summer's race season, I also realize another Olympic year is coming. London 2012 will mark triathlon's fourth appearance in the Olympics, as well as Simon Whitfield's. It's crazy to think how far our sport has come in the last 12 years. Back in 2000, my parents went and watched the women's race on tv with other Triathlon Manitoba members. It was a disappointment, as none of our women did especially well. Then came the men's race. Not much was expected, as Canada only had one guy in it. Then bam, gold medal. History. Unfortunately for all those triathletes they had not picked the right race to watch as a group. But fortunately for an almost 6 year-old girl, she happened to be sitting with her parents on the basement couch watching this race. At least that's how I like to think the story goes. For some reason I don't remember physically sitting on that couch watching it, but my parents think I must have sat through it. I do however, remember acknowledging the basics of the situation. Olympics, Sydney, triathlon, gold, Canada, exciting. Good enough.
Let's backtrack one more year now. Pan Am Games in Winnipeg 1999. Again, my memory is somewhat failing me. The triathlon was held at Bird's Hill Park. I remember standing in the familiar parking lot, knowing a big race was happening. Obviously I had no clue who Simon Whitfield was at that point. Let's face it: no one really did. This was one of his first big accomplishments, and he was quite young then. So I don't remember anything about the people racing or anything. But I remember the parking lot and the bleachers set up there. For some reason I seem to have a memory of Opa standing there as a volunteer in his salmon Pan Am Games jacket. This was still the nineties, and apparently people considered salmon to be an attractive colour. I have been told that no, Opa didn't volunteer at this event, he did at a different race the year before (but come on, how would I remember 1998?) and he had no such attractive salmon jacket. Oh well, so much for that memory. I still want to check into this situation a bit more though. One positive though is that I have signed pictures from both Simon Whitfield and Sharon Donnelly from this event. They are on the wall next to the treadmill and have helped gotten me through many dull long runs when it was just too cold to run outside. I hate long runs in winter. (Sidenote: best piece of advice I ever got was written by Sharon Donnelly on this signed picture... "Follow your dreams and keep it fun." That I have been doing, thank you.)
Now time to share my first memory as a triathlete. People often ask, how long have you been doing triathlon? Forever. Oh ok, but when did you actually start? I hate this question. I do not remember life without triathlon, but people don't really understand that. So I say... Well, I've been training with MNTC for two years now, before that I trained with the Youth Team for two years, before that I trained with other small groups and before that I didn't train, I just did Kids of Steel races for fun. Oh yeah, and I did tykes and trikes before that. Which is literally what it sounds like. Back to my original answer: forever.
So first memory: I am at Bird's Hill Park. The race started with running through some ankle deep water at the beach. Then I rode my "bike" on a path. Now I am running across the parking lot from where the path ended to the other side, where I can see the finish line banner. It seems so far away. I am running as hard as I can and I am so tired. I see Desiree in front of me. I can't catch her, she will beat me. She always does. I finally cross the finish line. It's the same one Kids of Steel uses. We also get the same prizes, they even say Kids of Steel on them. I feel so proud. It's almost like I'm included with those big kids. I can't wait until I'm old enough to actually be in Kids of Steel. (Sidenote: 'back in the day' there was no 6-7 year-old category. I had to wait until I was "8-9" to do KOS which was actually age 7 for me because I had a late birthday, but still. Also they have since shortened the course, which is kind of disappointing. I survived. Kids can be tough. Oh well. It is sooo cute to watch now though. My children will definitely do this.)
Let's backtrack one more year now. Pan Am Games in Winnipeg 1999. Again, my memory is somewhat failing me. The triathlon was held at Bird's Hill Park. I remember standing in the familiar parking lot, knowing a big race was happening. Obviously I had no clue who Simon Whitfield was at that point. Let's face it: no one really did. This was one of his first big accomplishments, and he was quite young then. So I don't remember anything about the people racing or anything. But I remember the parking lot and the bleachers set up there. For some reason I seem to have a memory of Opa standing there as a volunteer in his salmon Pan Am Games jacket. This was still the nineties, and apparently people considered salmon to be an attractive colour. I have been told that no, Opa didn't volunteer at this event, he did at a different race the year before (but come on, how would I remember 1998?) and he had no such attractive salmon jacket. Oh well, so much for that memory. I still want to check into this situation a bit more though. One positive though is that I have signed pictures from both Simon Whitfield and Sharon Donnelly from this event. They are on the wall next to the treadmill and have helped gotten me through many dull long runs when it was just too cold to run outside. I hate long runs in winter. (Sidenote: best piece of advice I ever got was written by Sharon Donnelly on this signed picture... "Follow your dreams and keep it fun." That I have been doing, thank you.)
Now time to share my first memory as a triathlete. People often ask, how long have you been doing triathlon? Forever. Oh ok, but when did you actually start? I hate this question. I do not remember life without triathlon, but people don't really understand that. So I say... Well, I've been training with MNTC for two years now, before that I trained with the Youth Team for two years, before that I trained with other small groups and before that I didn't train, I just did Kids of Steel races for fun. Oh yeah, and I did tykes and trikes before that. Which is literally what it sounds like. Back to my original answer: forever.
So first memory: I am at Bird's Hill Park. The race started with running through some ankle deep water at the beach. Then I rode my "bike" on a path. Now I am running across the parking lot from where the path ended to the other side, where I can see the finish line banner. It seems so far away. I am running as hard as I can and I am so tired. I see Desiree in front of me. I can't catch her, she will beat me. She always does. I finally cross the finish line. It's the same one Kids of Steel uses. We also get the same prizes, they even say Kids of Steel on them. I feel so proud. It's almost like I'm included with those big kids. I can't wait until I'm old enough to actually be in Kids of Steel. (Sidenote: 'back in the day' there was no 6-7 year-old category. I had to wait until I was "8-9" to do KOS which was actually age 7 for me because I had a late birthday, but still. Also they have since shortened the course, which is kind of disappointing. I survived. Kids can be tough. Oh well. It is sooo cute to watch now though. My children will definitely do this.)
English Project
Don't worry, I am not changing my whole blogging style... if I have a style that is. I am still a complete triathlete! This is just temporarily an easy place to access a video/poem thing I made for english class. It's based on the book "Three Cups of Tea." So if you're looking for a good triathlon-related read, come back soon!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Indoor 3000m
Well as much as I was looking forward to this race I was also looking forward to posting about it. Not even joking, I was hoping I could pull off something decent. I don't think anyone on the team was really expecting PB's, not at this time of year, but still I was thinking I was in good shape and could have a decent run. Well that didn't exactly happen. Two teammates backed out of the race as a result of being sick. I probably should have too becaues I was sick as well but I figured I might as well go for it anyways. Even though it's usually a good experience just to do a race, it really isn't so fun when you can't stop coughing and feel crappy. Anyways, I made up my mind I would suck it up and do it, and I actually had a good attitude about it right up until the race. That's a positive at least, good practice for when it counts. There were three of us in the race, myself, Emily, and a bison girl named Alex. I talked briefly with her before the race and realized I would be the faster one. I didn't really have anyone to worry about but myself, since Ashlyn wasn't there to share the pacing with. I started out with a 42s (?) lap. Not sure, it felt fine but was faster than I should be holding. I was aiming for 46s laps, which would be an 11:30 (my PB from track provincials in June). Slowed it down a bit after that. At the one km mark I was at a 3:55. This would be on pace for an 11:45. A bit disappointing but I was still hoping to go under 12min at this point. By two km I was completely off pace, and I just wanted it to be over. My throat was burning from being sick, the gross track air, and running. I was also coughing and trying to keep going at a respectable pace. Nope, couldn't do it. Finished around 12 and a half. Not even sure. Threw up a bit after and completely felt like crap. Didn't stop coughing basically until I got home and made some tea. Oh well, it was an experience. I was still the first out of three to finish. At least I got to know someone new from the Bisons and had someone to cool down with, which was kind of fun. And it was great to still have friends and others parents at the track to give support, as well as others checking up on me later to see how it went. Good job to the other girls, as well as the guys. Well there you go, here's hoping the next one is better!
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Compression socks
If you've seen my facebook, I'm sorry, this may already be old news. However I would like to share how excited I was to get thie package in the mail from Compressport. Actually, isn't it always exciting to get mail? So I had decided that I wanted new compression socks for my birthday. Omi and Opa gave me the money for this, because I realize the average person likely doesn't know a lot about picking out the right compression socks online. I still love my Sugoi ones but I actually wear them quite a bit and I wanted something a bit more high-tech. Also I wanted ones that don't have feet. Then I can wear whatever socks with them, and when I wear sandals I won't look quite as stupid... Well depending if you're an athlete or not that may be debatable. It's ok. I rock the socks proudly.
If you are not a triathlete you may be asking, what exactly is the point of compression socks? Well first of all, they are insanely attractive. Just kidding. Mostly. They say: reduces muscle fatigue, helps recover, prevents muscle tears, reduces lactic acid and shocks, etc. Personally I don't generally wear them during workouts or races. I do find they actually help with recovery. I sometimes wear them under my uniform at work during those long shifts when I'm on my feet for 8 hours, so that my legs aren't completely trashed the next day when I have to do a track workout. I also like to wear them while travelling. You see, while sitting in an airplane the blood pools to your feet and it may take a while to recover completely from this. Never noticed that? To be honest I haven't either. However, the idea is that wearing compression socks/calf guards prevents this and leaves your legs feeling fresh and ready to race once you arrive at the venue. Awesome. By the way I am not claiming in any way that this information is scientifically accurate, so don't quote me there, just my understanding. So there you have it. Maybe you understand a little better why I'm so excited to have gotten these. Plus I think they are just really cool. But that's just me.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Recovery week, football, next blog, and more...
Ok actually I'm not sure what the "and more" is yet. But I figured I better allow for it so that my title is not misleading. Plus whenever people need to make a pathetic list sound more impressive they add "and more!" First of all, football. No, I'm not instantly a mega-fan but since Winnipeg is in the Grey Cup I at least care to know the score. The real reason I'm excited about the game is that while sitting around glued to the TV, Winnipegers discovered something temporarily more important to their lives than cofffee. And for someone that would normally be serving coffee till 10pm on a school night this is great. Because when the place is dead, my shift is pretty easy-going and I get to go home early!
Alright anyways... I recently discovered the joys of the "next blog" button. As in the one at the top of the screen that will lead you to another random blog. Extreme time waster yet slightly addicting. There are so many blogs out there, some actually interesting, some terrible. I realize that most of my international blog views (from my stats I know this) probably come from the next blog button. But if you are not from Canada, no, make that not from Manitoba, want to let me know where you are from? It would be cool to connect blog views to actual people out there.
Ok now that all that random stuff is out of the way I figure I should share something triathlon related. Since that's basically the reason I started this blog in the first place. We are now entering the first recovery week of indoor season. Recovery week is awesome. Although so far indoor training had been going well. I actually really like the track workouts that we do. It's great to instantly get feedback on how you're doing and to see how you improve over the weeks. Swimming still isn't happening for me unfortunetely. But I won't even get started on that right now. Went for a chilly and slippery run at the park with Erin today, it was a good time. Other than that not too much else going on right now. There will be a track meet on the 10th that the team will be running the 3000m in. Maybe I'm just wierd, but I'm kind of excited for it actually. I promise to write about that when the time comes, and not waste too much more of your time until then.
Alright anyways... I recently discovered the joys of the "next blog" button. As in the one at the top of the screen that will lead you to another random blog. Extreme time waster yet slightly addicting. There are so many blogs out there, some actually interesting, some terrible. I realize that most of my international blog views (from my stats I know this) probably come from the next blog button. But if you are not from Canada, no, make that not from Manitoba, want to let me know where you are from? It would be cool to connect blog views to actual people out there.
Ok now that all that random stuff is out of the way I figure I should share something triathlon related. Since that's basically the reason I started this blog in the first place. We are now entering the first recovery week of indoor season. Recovery week is awesome. Although so far indoor training had been going well. I actually really like the track workouts that we do. It's great to instantly get feedback on how you're doing and to see how you improve over the weeks. Swimming still isn't happening for me unfortunetely. But I won't even get started on that right now. Went for a chilly and slippery run at the park with Erin today, it was a good time. Other than that not too much else going on right now. There will be a track meet on the 10th that the team will be running the 3000m in. Maybe I'm just wierd, but I'm kind of excited for it actually. I promise to write about that when the time comes, and not waste too much more of your time until then.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
The Y. And other things.
As I've said from the beginning, I'm not going to pretend to be an intersting person when I'm really not. That means I won't always have weekly posts throughout the indoor training season because honestly, it's pretty routine. We are still in our first mesocycle which will last until around Christmas I think. I still am not swimming and I don't know when I will. I am continuing to see different people and trying new exercises and things to hopefully solve this problem. A few weeks ago it was all about the stretches. Now it's about stability. Everything is connected. So even though I have shoulder issues I also need to deael with my lower back and neck right now. But apparently I am fixable so we'll just keep hoping. I went to watch the rest of my team swimming this Saturday. It's crazy how bad you want to get in that water when you can't. Anyways, right before that on Saturday I came from the Y. I think that's what I originally meant to blog about but who knows.
So I've mentioned it before but I think it's time to explain what I do from 8:30 to 10am on my Saturday mornings. And it isn't sleeping in. Since last winter I have been volunteering at the EK YMCA with Ashlyn and Bryn. We coach a group of kids under the age of 13. We have a waiting list but usually anywhere between 10-20 kids show up. Before we took on the program it was more of a babysitting service, a place to dump kids and hope they somehow became athletic. Or not. Sometimes the instructors wouldn't show up and the lifeguards were told to look after the kids. Sometimes they did show up and they sat on spin bikes while watching tv. You get the idea. We have transformed it into a program where most kids actually want to be there and the parents sometimes even get involved with their kid's activities. We try to promote the Kids of Steel Series and the Manitoba Youth Team, and have actually had some success with this.
I have realized I love coaching kids. Sometimes I am a very nice coach:
"Great job today guys! You made some awesome improvements, see you next week." or...
"Just try the best you can, you're doing great."
Other times those crazy kids get on my nerves:
Kid: "I don't want to do this. I ate cookies for breakfast and now you expect me to do flipturns?! Do you want me to throw up?"
Me: "Sure, that's fine. As long as you get out of the pool first." or...
Kid: "I don't want to do those warm-ups they look dumb. I'm going to just sit here and stretch." (the "stretch" part should probably be in quotation marks based on what they do sometimes)
Me: "Get up and do the dynamic warm-up right now. Or else I'll give you the whole lecture explaining why, scientifically, dynamic warm-ups are better for you than static stretching."
You get the idea. Anyways, I wouldn't be doing it unless I loved it. I think that's about it going on right now. There were some cross country races going on this weekend that friends did well in, which is exciting. Oh and on our Friday off I hung out with the triathlon girls and we baked a cake. It had a unicorn on it. Mmm, unicorns...
So I've mentioned it before but I think it's time to explain what I do from 8:30 to 10am on my Saturday mornings. And it isn't sleeping in. Since last winter I have been volunteering at the EK YMCA with Ashlyn and Bryn. We coach a group of kids under the age of 13. We have a waiting list but usually anywhere between 10-20 kids show up. Before we took on the program it was more of a babysitting service, a place to dump kids and hope they somehow became athletic. Or not. Sometimes the instructors wouldn't show up and the lifeguards were told to look after the kids. Sometimes they did show up and they sat on spin bikes while watching tv. You get the idea. We have transformed it into a program where most kids actually want to be there and the parents sometimes even get involved with their kid's activities. We try to promote the Kids of Steel Series and the Manitoba Youth Team, and have actually had some success with this.
I have realized I love coaching kids. Sometimes I am a very nice coach:
"Great job today guys! You made some awesome improvements, see you next week." or...
"Just try the best you can, you're doing great."
Other times those crazy kids get on my nerves:
Kid: "I don't want to do this. I ate cookies for breakfast and now you expect me to do flipturns?! Do you want me to throw up?"
Me: "Sure, that's fine. As long as you get out of the pool first." or...
Kid: "I don't want to do those warm-ups they look dumb. I'm going to just sit here and stretch." (the "stretch" part should probably be in quotation marks based on what they do sometimes)
Me: "Get up and do the dynamic warm-up right now. Or else I'll give you the whole lecture explaining why, scientifically, dynamic warm-ups are better for you than static stretching."
You get the idea. Anyways, I wouldn't be doing it unless I loved it. I think that's about it going on right now. There were some cross country races going on this weekend that friends did well in, which is exciting. Oh and on our Friday off I hung out with the triathlon girls and we baked a cake. It had a unicorn on it. Mmm, unicorns...
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Race Season 2011 in Photos
How is it that it's so easy to just whip up a new blog post, yet so difficult to finish up an essay for school? While sitting at home sick all day and a deadline approaching you would think this is the perfect opportunity to get that assignment out of the way. But I really needed a "homework break" and while doing this I somehow ended up reading some other blogs. As I have mentioned before, many other athletes and friends have blogs and saved in my favourites are over 30 that I occasionally read when I'm bored. I came across one in particular that had a "race season in photos" and thought this was a great idea. I began blogging right after the race season and never mentioned much about it. So here goes...
Started out in March 2011 with a solid 17-day training camp in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. Lot of good times living in a house full of guys and also getting to know the Alberta team. This would be the famous Mount Lemmon, which was one of our many long rides.
High School track season was a lot of fun. I was happy with my improvements and it was great to be able to show this with a bronze medal in the 3000m at Provincials as well as a new PB of 11:30.
The first Jr Series race of the season was held in St. Malo, MB and it was awesome to race with the home support! This wasn't a great race for me, as I fell apart a bit on the bike and run, but a decent start to the season. I finished 20th out of 27, still better than last year.
My next race was a big one, PATCO! It was in Edmonton and it had been a goal of mine to qualify for it at some point, so after only one year of Jr Elite racing it was great to be able to go! I was happy with my race, especially my run. I placed 28th out of 48 girls from North and South America. Made lots of friends too!
After breifly going home it was back to Kamloops for the Western Canada Games. Overall it was a great experience. Lots of fun with new friends as well as really proud of Team Toba for giving it their all. Bringing home some hardware wasn't bad either.
This year we continued running through cross country season, and this catches you up to where I started my blog. In zone meets I placed 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st and at provincials got a 7th place overall (out of about 250), which was enough for a AAA bronze as well as a team bronze. So much fun!
Started out in March 2011 with a solid 17-day training camp in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. Lot of good times living in a house full of guys and also getting to know the Alberta team. This would be the famous Mount Lemmon, which was one of our many long rides.
High School track season was a lot of fun. I was happy with my improvements and it was great to be able to show this with a bronze medal in the 3000m at Provincials as well as a new PB of 11:30.
The first Jr Series race of the season was held in St. Malo, MB and it was awesome to race with the home support! This wasn't a great race for me, as I fell apart a bit on the bike and run, but a decent start to the season. I finished 20th out of 27, still better than last year.
My next race was a big one, PATCO! It was in Edmonton and it had been a goal of mine to qualify for it at some point, so after only one year of Jr Elite racing it was great to be able to go! I was happy with my race, especially my run. I placed 28th out of 48 girls from North and South America. Made lots of friends too!
Next was a mini-training camp in Kamloops to familiarize ourselves before the Games. The hills in theis place were insane! The water was freezing and the weather wasn't great but Emily Unger made the place look beautiful with this photo!
Ok so if you're following this correctly, no we still haven't been home since PATCO and Kamloops... it was quite the adventure. This race the water was choppy and the bike course was interesting with many small loops. I had another great run and ended up finishing 11th Jr (13th overall) out of 22 (24).
After breifly going home it was back to Kamloops for the Western Canada Games. Overall it was a great experience. Lots of fun with new friends as well as really proud of Team Toba for giving it their all. Bringing home some hardware wasn't bad either.
Nationals was in Kelowna again and the race was going great until I almost got hit by a car on the bike course. It sucked to walk away with a DNF and crazy road rash but at least I was able walk away from it (once I got out of the ambulance that is), because it could have been a lot worse. Not an ideal end to the triathlon season but overall it had been good.
This year we continued running through cross country season, and this catches you up to where I started my blog. In zone meets I placed 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st and at provincials got a 7th place overall (out of about 250), which was enough for a AAA bronze as well as a team bronze. So much fun!
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
My shoulders suck
Well indoor season has officially began. As I mentioned in my previous post I was actuallay quite excited for this. This is the time of year where we get to do speed stuff. And short, fast sets on the track can actually be really fun. Yesterday we started with nothing too crazy, 4x150m with 250m jog recovery. But I was feeling quite good and did 25s for the first two and 26s for the next two. Hard to compare that to anything right now though, especially since it's kind of an awkward distance. I'm glad we get to start with this kind of stuff though because last year I was dealing with injuries and missed most of the speed work on the trrack. I felt like I was missing something once I was good to go and we switched to longer distances. Speaking of injuries, it's not always the good news that makes it onto this blog...
My shoulders suck. That's pretty much the only way of putting it. I have been dealing with these injuries for about 3 years now and it's not fun. I have solved some of the problems like range of motion. There was a very depressing time when I couldn't lift my arm high enough to brush my teeth (uh oh there I go talking about brushing my teeth... but I promise this once it is relevant!). I also had issues such as bicep tendonitis, deltoid bursitis, rotator cuff strain, and more with nice complicated names. To put it into simple terms: it hurt, it sucked. So now we are going through extra screening and xrays to try to solve this problem for good. It may now be an issue with my neck, or also partly because of my crash in summer. Because I haven't been swimming since then and it's gotten worse, to the point where it was causing headaches and I was on painkillers everyday. I was quite sad when the rest of my team began swimming and I could not.
We are also having meetings this week with parents/coach/psycologist/athlete. I'm struggling a bit with filling out the form, with goals specific to individual sports. I'm tired of putting for the swim: 'get un-injured finally and swim.' Or something along those lines. It's depressing. It seems like such a pathetic goal but what else can I really ask for? It's not like I can start improving my technique or hitting time standards until I can actually get in the pool.
My shoulders suck. That's pretty much the only way of putting it. I have been dealing with these injuries for about 3 years now and it's not fun. I have solved some of the problems like range of motion. There was a very depressing time when I couldn't lift my arm high enough to brush my teeth (uh oh there I go talking about brushing my teeth... but I promise this once it is relevant!). I also had issues such as bicep tendonitis, deltoid bursitis, rotator cuff strain, and more with nice complicated names. To put it into simple terms: it hurt, it sucked. So now we are going through extra screening and xrays to try to solve this problem for good. It may now be an issue with my neck, or also partly because of my crash in summer. Because I haven't been swimming since then and it's gotten worse, to the point where it was causing headaches and I was on painkillers everyday. I was quite sad when the rest of my team began swimming and I could not.
We are also having meetings this week with parents/coach/psycologist/athlete. I'm struggling a bit with filling out the form, with goals specific to individual sports. I'm tired of putting for the swim: 'get un-injured finally and swim.' Or something along those lines. It's depressing. It seems like such a pathetic goal but what else can I really ask for? It's not like I can start improving my technique or hitting time standards until I can actually get in the pool.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Indoor Season
I know that it's only been about a week since my last blog post, but somehow that feels like a while now. I figured maybe I was the only one that had noticed, and no one else really cared. But I happened to log on to check my blog stats and man, I've got quite the following! Weird considering I don't even tell many people about this blog... anyways thanks for the support through the cross country season. Probably nothing too interesting will be going on in the next little while, but I'll still write when it seems appropriate. Don't worry, I won't resort to describing how I brush my teeth every night. Hmm that seems like a common example for me, that's not how I think of other people's blogs, really. I need to get more creative though. Speaking of creative, how did I end up with such a creative sister? Since we're on recovery mode this week I've been home a lot more and have watched her just sit down and come up with crazy-good artwork. While I struggle to draw stick-runners to put on the thank-out cards for my cross country coaches. At least they seemed to appreciate the effort. I got all (well actually there's only 7 of us) the graduating runners to sign it and it was a bit cheesy, but whatever. It's the thought that counts, right?
Oh and before I forget, another cross country update: the JV boys also won silver in their category! There had been a mix up in the results. And by mix up I mean they completely forgot to count the team. Oops, sucks to be the team that thought they had gotten third. Anyways, that makes it a complete sweep for Westgate, with all four teams getting medals!
So as I mentioned we are in recovery mode right now, it feels well deserved after a hard triathlon season follwed by a solid cross country season. Actually it's only about a week completely off. And by completely off I mean we still do strength training and circuits, running just for fun, team meeting, and I still go to athletic therapy for my shoulders that completely suck. But other than that it's still a rest. Next week we start indoor training. To be honest I'm actually really looking forward to it. There's something about settling back into that routine, the familiar disgusting air of Max Bell, not worrying about warm clothing or getting all over the city with a bike... not to mention knowing I have a solid base and getting in some good track workouts and sweaty bike hours. I like indoor season. That was actually quite poetic. If you have a very narrow definition of "fun" and "poetic." Anyways, I'll keep ya posted...
Oh and before I forget, another cross country update: the JV boys also won silver in their category! There had been a mix up in the results. And by mix up I mean they completely forgot to count the team. Oops, sucks to be the team that thought they had gotten third. Anyways, that makes it a complete sweep for Westgate, with all four teams getting medals!
So as I mentioned we are in recovery mode right now, it feels well deserved after a hard triathlon season follwed by a solid cross country season. Actually it's only about a week completely off. And by completely off I mean we still do strength training and circuits, running just for fun, team meeting, and I still go to athletic therapy for my shoulders that completely suck. But other than that it's still a rest. Next week we start indoor training. To be honest I'm actually really looking forward to it. There's something about settling back into that routine, the familiar disgusting air of Max Bell, not worrying about warm clothing or getting all over the city with a bike... not to mention knowing I have a solid base and getting in some good track workouts and sweaty bike hours. I like indoor season. That was actually quite poetic. If you have a very narrow definition of "fun" and "poetic." Anyways, I'll keep ya posted...
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Provincials!
*Update: full results found at http://mhsaa.e-crew.ca/sites/carberrycollegiate28/2011_XC_Provincials_Results.pdf
Time to talk about another one of those "last" things. Cross Country. Although as opposed to many other things that will not be missed, I'm sad my final high school cross country season is over. Altogether I could not have asked for much more though. I'm super proud of my school for pulling together one of the largest and best teams we've ever had. After the usual two hour bus ride out to Spruce Woods we got to hang out and shiver for a while before the race started. It was quite a chilly day. I once again was told to warm up all the JV and Varsity girls and make sure they were familiarized with the course. Lucky for us, the varsity girls got to go last. Just kidding, I hate going last. I don't get to see everyone else come in because I have to warm up and stuff while they race. Oh well, I got to say hi and catch up with many friends from various circles both before and after the race. One of the things I love about high school cross country is knowing so many people. It's a great community and at provincials everyone is there. Anyways, standing on the start line it was still rather chilly but not as bad as it could have been. There was a bit of jostling around for a good position but it worked out all right by the time the gun went off. Actually it was more of a cannon or something, including a sound so loud you jumped and smoke all over the place. It was one of those races where everybody sprints at the beginning. Kind of crazy, because everyone knows you have to get in a good position by the time you get to the other end of the field where it narrows to a path. Somehow by then everyone else disappeared and I could see exactly five girls in front of me. This made me happy because it was a great place to be and I was surprised that it had worked out well. I spent most of the race in sixth and was hoping either I could hold on to it or catch the girl in front of me. The hills were constant but I tried to keep up the intensity because I knew everyone else was hurting just as much, or more. I kept reminding myself that this was my strength. I definitely wouldn't have been this far up in the race a year ago, all that training has really paid off. For about the last kilometer the girl ahead, the girl behind, and me all kept passing each other. It was back and forth and could have been anyone's race for 5th, 6th, 7th. Unfortunetely it wasn't mine, as I had used up everything and had not much of a finishing kick. But I think I have to be pretty happy with a 7th overall finish. Time was about 11:53 for 3km. Compare that with a last year's placing of 28 and time of 12:53. That's right, a whole minute off on the same course. So yes, I was happy. Also when they seperate it I was 3rd for AAA schools and got a medal for that, as well as my girls team that also placed 3rd for AAA schools. It was nice to walk away with some hardware! Our school's other teams also got some medals. I found myself cheering for many friends both from school and other during the award's ceremony. And good job also to the people that weren't called up for medals, everyone had solid races! I'm not going to start naming other people's finishing placing because it would be too difficult to include everyone in such a big race, but just wanted to give a big congrats and I will post a link to the full results as soon as it is available. You can count on me analyzing all those results to death of course, because that's just what I do! Anyways it was a great cross country season in many ways! It was great to have so much support, so thanks, you know who you are. Solid "last" season.
Time to talk about another one of those "last" things. Cross Country. Although as opposed to many other things that will not be missed, I'm sad my final high school cross country season is over. Altogether I could not have asked for much more though. I'm super proud of my school for pulling together one of the largest and best teams we've ever had. After the usual two hour bus ride out to Spruce Woods we got to hang out and shiver for a while before the race started. It was quite a chilly day. I once again was told to warm up all the JV and Varsity girls and make sure they were familiarized with the course. Lucky for us, the varsity girls got to go last. Just kidding, I hate going last. I don't get to see everyone else come in because I have to warm up and stuff while they race. Oh well, I got to say hi and catch up with many friends from various circles both before and after the race. One of the things I love about high school cross country is knowing so many people. It's a great community and at provincials everyone is there. Anyways, standing on the start line it was still rather chilly but not as bad as it could have been. There was a bit of jostling around for a good position but it worked out all right by the time the gun went off. Actually it was more of a cannon or something, including a sound so loud you jumped and smoke all over the place. It was one of those races where everybody sprints at the beginning. Kind of crazy, because everyone knows you have to get in a good position by the time you get to the other end of the field where it narrows to a path. Somehow by then everyone else disappeared and I could see exactly five girls in front of me. This made me happy because it was a great place to be and I was surprised that it had worked out well. I spent most of the race in sixth and was hoping either I could hold on to it or catch the girl in front of me. The hills were constant but I tried to keep up the intensity because I knew everyone else was hurting just as much, or more. I kept reminding myself that this was my strength. I definitely wouldn't have been this far up in the race a year ago, all that training has really paid off. For about the last kilometer the girl ahead, the girl behind, and me all kept passing each other. It was back and forth and could have been anyone's race for 5th, 6th, 7th. Unfortunetely it wasn't mine, as I had used up everything and had not much of a finishing kick. But I think I have to be pretty happy with a 7th overall finish. Time was about 11:53 for 3km. Compare that with a last year's placing of 28 and time of 12:53. That's right, a whole minute off on the same course. So yes, I was happy. Also when they seperate it I was 3rd for AAA schools and got a medal for that, as well as my girls team that also placed 3rd for AAA schools. It was nice to walk away with some hardware! Our school's other teams also got some medals. I found myself cheering for many friends both from school and other during the award's ceremony. And good job also to the people that weren't called up for medals, everyone had solid races! I'm not going to start naming other people's finishing placing because it would be too difficult to include everyone in such a big race, but just wanted to give a big congrats and I will post a link to the full results as soon as it is available. You can count on me analyzing all those results to death of course, because that's just what I do! Anyways it was a great cross country season in many ways! It was great to have so much support, so thanks, you know who you are. Solid "last" season.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Way to go Westgate!
Alright we have recieved the results from the Zone Championships race and the news is good! As we had hoped, the Varsity guys won the banner for their race. As well as the JV guys and our Varsity girls team! Way to go girls, thanks so much for coming out to run with me, it was so great to have a solid team this year!With three out of the four categories taken by Westgate that just left the JV girls which also did great, placing second. It's been a great season so far for everyone and we're got one final push with provincials, I can't wait!
In somewhat related news, yesterday was supposed to be the championship race for the grade 7/8's. I came along to the park with them and we even started warming up and familiarizing the course. I've got to say, they've already come a long way. Most of them had never raced cross country before and the whole season was a learning experience. I was fortunate enough to be at three out of their four races (including one that I raced as well) and I've gotten to see them improve. At the beginning they had millions of questions which I was happy to answer and they had no idea how to warm up. They would go off in all directions and maybe do a sprint/walk type thing followed by sitting around "stretching" until the race started. They are now much more unified as a team and mostly follow in a jog and dynamic warm up. They are doing good in the races and it would really be a shame if this one was not rescheduled. Anyways we were getting ready but the thunder and lightening was getting worse, and right after we took shelter in the cars it started pouring. However a highlight for me was as I was helping fill out their registration sheet, the other teachers listed me as a coach! Yes, for me this is actually exciting. I've realized I love coaching kids and it's great to officially be involved with this grade seven team. I feel a connection with them and their racing. So even though this race was cancelled they deserve a congrats too! Future varsity champions...?
In somewhat related news, yesterday was supposed to be the championship race for the grade 7/8's. I came along to the park with them and we even started warming up and familiarizing the course. I've got to say, they've already come a long way. Most of them had never raced cross country before and the whole season was a learning experience. I was fortunate enough to be at three out of their four races (including one that I raced as well) and I've gotten to see them improve. At the beginning they had millions of questions which I was happy to answer and they had no idea how to warm up. They would go off in all directions and maybe do a sprint/walk type thing followed by sitting around "stretching" until the race started. They are now much more unified as a team and mostly follow in a jog and dynamic warm up. They are doing good in the races and it would really be a shame if this one was not rescheduled. Anyways we were getting ready but the thunder and lightening was getting worse, and right after we took shelter in the cars it started pouring. However a highlight for me was as I was helping fill out their registration sheet, the other teachers listed me as a coach! Yes, for me this is actually exciting. I've realized I love coaching kids and it's great to officially be involved with this grade seven team. I feel a connection with them and their racing. So even though this race was cancelled they deserve a congrats too! Future varsity champions...?
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Zone Championships
I love it when I have fun things to write about. That's what keeps this blog going. Well, another success story to add to this year's awesome cross country season! I've realized next year I'm really going to miss high school cross country. The people and the competitiong are awesome. Anyways, today we skipped out of school to spend a good chunk of the day at beatutiful Bird's Hill Park for the Zone Chanpionships race. It was awesome to have a varsity team of 6, and I was happy to help lead the varsity and JV girls in a warm-up. Standing on the start line I was surrounded by all the Westgate girls, and was looking around for Catherine. Jane said hi to me and I asked where Catherine was that day. The pressure was on as soon as Jane said she wasn't there. My team all of a sudden was convinced I could win this race for us. I'm pretty sure haven't been this nervous all cross country season. I felt the pressure to help out my team because it would be a close call on the banner this year. I knew I had to be completely sure of the course if I was out in front, and I had to make sure I paced correctly. I was afraid that without her in front of me like usual I wouldn't have the same motivation looking forward and would instead be stuck on looking backwards and hoping the girls behind wouldn't catch me. Wow and all this worrying lasted about sixty seconds. We were off. I pulled to the front and it felt great to take my place there and have control of the race. I felt strong all of a sudden and knew I had to use the initial hills to my advantage to gain a decent lead and mentally seperate myself from the rest of the pack. And I did. I would say I consistantly made up ground on the rest of the field throughout the race and felt strong the whole way. Approaching the area where we finished the lake loop and headed out to the forest loop I knew there would be lots of cheering. I looked forward to this mental boost after putting out so much effort in the first half of the race. I wasn't disappointed; all the Westgate guys and coaches were there for me, as well as people I knew from other schools and people I didn't know. With maybe a kilometer left of this 4.4km race I felt myself starting to fade, and was tempted to back off the pace a bit as long as I maintained the lead. But I knew that I wanted to be proud of the effort I put in and instead imagined Catherine was right there in front of me. I also realized this was the first time I have lead a cross country race from start to finish and wanted to fully enjoy every moment and feel like I earned it. In the end all the hard work paid off and it felt great to make the team proud! I am also really proud of everyone that raced. As I helped keep track of the guys race right after to determine if they would get the banner it looked like they got it! Not sure about the girls but whether or not we get it it was an awesome race for everyone, hope they all had as much fun as I did. Next stop: Provincials!
Monday, 10 October 2011
Gotta love long weekends
I know I usually only write about races, but is such a good weekend that doesn't happen too often! So don't worry, I'm not going to start blogging daily about brushing my teeth and stuff. It started out with my cousin's wedding Friday night which was a lot of fun and it was great to see her looking so beautiful and happy! We didn't stay too late though, because the next morning I had to get up early to drive out to the EK Y for coaching. Always a good time, maybe I'll have to tell more about that in a future blog post. That evening was Thanksgiving dinner number one at Omi and Opa's. So good! So much amazing food, and it was also a celebration of my birthday. After that I went to my twin, Mikala's house for a sleepover. We stayed up all night watching funny movies, talking, and eating crap. The next morning (well same morning I guess) we did it all again with another movie, more chat, and whatever junk food was left for as well as chocolate shakes! Solid breakfast of champions. This was our second year in a row of this birthday celebration. As lame as it may sound, we wanted to also be the first to post on facebook. Last year someone beat us to it which we found rather creepy but this year was a success. So Sunday was obviously the Jets game, which I got to enjoy in the theatre room with HD and surround sound with my family. Wow that was a pretty sweet way to watch hockey! Too bad they lost, but at least they got that one goal in, considering Montreal is a pretty tough team and their goalie is amazing. It was incredible though, just to see how crazy Winnipegers are about their NHL hockey! We also ordered pizza and had a bit of a birthday celebration that night as a family. This also included some more gifts of course, which is always fun. This morning I slept in a long time and am going to sit around pretty much until we go for Thanksgiving dinner number two at Grandma and Grandpa's. Well actually I will go for a run. But homework I'm still undecided on. I've been doing so well at simply not doing it this weekend, so why start now? Also I got the whole weekend off from work which made it awesome! Anyways, the fun will continue today before heading back to school Tuesday, but even that won't be too bad because half the day will be spent at Bird's Hill Park for a cross country race! So keep an eye out for that blog entry.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Shorter Post...?
For being hesitant to start a blog in the first place, I've been a bit surprised by all the positive feedback! So thanks! The only complaint is that I write too long. Don't think that will change because that's just how I write, with lots of details. I think this one will be a bit shorter though, so if it is it's dedicated to people that perfer less to read. You know who you are.
I'm in a bit of race-withdrawl this week. So I decided to go to the grade 7/8 meet that the younger kids at my school were going to be racing at. You know, to help out a bit and give some encouragement. Turned out it was much appreciated by coaches and parents. I mostly lead the grade 7 boys in warming up and stuff. Proud of those kids! Maybe I'll try to go to their meet next week, I had lots of fun!
Following the meet I stayed at the park and was able to join Erin for a nice easy run. I love social pace, especially when you've got lots to catch up on and stuff. It still counts as a solid training run though because it's on the schedule! We should meet up like that more often. Also the park is so beautiful at this time of year, with all the crunchy leaves. And it was around 30 today which was amazing for October!
Anyways, even without racing this is a crazy week. Especially the weekend. Looking forward to some Thanksgiving dinners, a wedding, my birthday, Jet's game on TV, Monday off, and no work. Life is good!
I'm in a bit of race-withdrawl this week. So I decided to go to the grade 7/8 meet that the younger kids at my school were going to be racing at. You know, to help out a bit and give some encouragement. Turned out it was much appreciated by coaches and parents. I mostly lead the grade 7 boys in warming up and stuff. Proud of those kids! Maybe I'll try to go to their meet next week, I had lots of fun!
Following the meet I stayed at the park and was able to join Erin for a nice easy run. I love social pace, especially when you've got lots to catch up on and stuff. It still counts as a solid training run though because it's on the schedule! We should meet up like that more often. Also the park is so beautiful at this time of year, with all the crunchy leaves. And it was around 30 today which was amazing for October!
Anyways, even without racing this is a crazy week. Especially the weekend. Looking forward to some Thanksgiving dinners, a wedding, my birthday, Jet's game on TV, Monday off, and no work. Life is good!
Sunday, 2 October 2011
600/600 Club
This year will be full of a lot of "last" things. Yesterday was the last cyclathon. Every year my school has this cyclathon as a main fundraising event. We go out to Bird's Hill Park and ride, walk, or run 5km laps all day. Fun stuff right...? Especially as a young grade seven tryng to fit in all all those laps by 4pm. Because there is the 100/100 club. This means raising at least $100 and biking 100km. Then for all that hard work you get your name recongized and you get a t-shirt. Hmm thinking back I'm surprised I wanted to do this every year! Anyways, in recent years there have been some graduating students that have been part of the "600/600 club." You guessed it, that means doing the 100 for all 6 years in a row. It is still quite a small group of people that have achieved this status.
Waking up on the morning of my sixth cyclathon it was freezing and windy. I was still sick and the sore throat from last weekend seemed to be returning. I was tired from a long week of running everyday, including my xcountry race earlier and a hill workout the night before. So as you can imagine the appeal of the 600/600 club was already decreasing. However I got out to the park bright and early and got on my bike to begin my laps. I figured it would be best to just finish 75 km (15 laps) by around 11am. Then here's one of the benefits to being a runner: if you are on the xcountry team you can run one lap with the group at noon that counts as 5 laps. So 25km. I would be completely done by 12:30. Turned out almost everything went according to plan. My dad came and biked with me for about 3 hours in the morning. At some points several teachers or parents would come join and draft off of us for a few laps or something. I had enough time before the run to scarf down some food before having to go run. At least as a triathlete I am used to running with tired legs after the bike. Although not really comparable as it was a much longer bike with a delay to accumulate some nice lactic acid in my legs and some undigested food in my stomach. I knew this wouldn't be a speedy day for running so it was great when my friend Mikala asked if she could come run with me, and if I would go her pace. No problem, I didn't really care how long it took and it was great to have some company out there. Also, I decided to rock the socks. Compression socks that is. And she still ran next to me, what a great friend! So having accomplishing my goals I grabbed some more food, caught up with some friends, and was out of there by 1pm. Enough time to have a nap before having to go to work! Anyways, it was suggested to me I return as an alumni and invent a new group; the 1000/1000 club. No thanks, this will actually be the last I think. But a huge thank you to everyone that has supported me over the last six years, your sponsorship for this event was much appreciated!!
Waking up on the morning of my sixth cyclathon it was freezing and windy. I was still sick and the sore throat from last weekend seemed to be returning. I was tired from a long week of running everyday, including my xcountry race earlier and a hill workout the night before. So as you can imagine the appeal of the 600/600 club was already decreasing. However I got out to the park bright and early and got on my bike to begin my laps. I figured it would be best to just finish 75 km (15 laps) by around 11am. Then here's one of the benefits to being a runner: if you are on the xcountry team you can run one lap with the group at noon that counts as 5 laps. So 25km. I would be completely done by 12:30. Turned out almost everything went according to plan. My dad came and biked with me for about 3 hours in the morning. At some points several teachers or parents would come join and draft off of us for a few laps or something. I had enough time before the run to scarf down some food before having to go run. At least as a triathlete I am used to running with tired legs after the bike. Although not really comparable as it was a much longer bike with a delay to accumulate some nice lactic acid in my legs and some undigested food in my stomach. I knew this wouldn't be a speedy day for running so it was great when my friend Mikala asked if she could come run with me, and if I would go her pace. No problem, I didn't really care how long it took and it was great to have some company out there. Also, I decided to rock the socks. Compression socks that is. And she still ran next to me, what a great friend! So having accomplishing my goals I grabbed some more food, caught up with some friends, and was out of there by 1pm. Enough time to have a nap before having to go to work! Anyways, it was suggested to me I return as an alumni and invent a new group; the 1000/1000 club. No thanks, this will actually be the last I think. But a huge thank you to everyone that has supported me over the last six years, your sponsorship for this event was much appreciated!!
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Kilcona race (big hill)
First of all: to be honest I was looking forward to writing this blog post. Well as long as the news on the race was good.... nah I'm kidding I would write about it anyways. But it feels like it's been a while, especially since I did the double-header last week. I couldn't quite justify writing about non-race-related things though, as exciting as my daily life may be. I'm sure the whole world was just dying to know how my hill workout was on Friday, or my coaching session on Saturday, or how I got sick and spent the rest of my long weekend doing nothing but trying not to be sick.
Anyways I was also just looking forward to the race today. I know that seems weird to non-runners and yes, there is a point in almost every race where I think, 'why the heck am I doing this?' Probably the weirdest thing was that it was really the hills on this course I was looking forward to. I have done so much more hill training this year and I feel that it's becoming a strength of mine. So arriving at Kilcona I headed out for a warmup on my own, it didn't seem like anyone else was interested. I've learned that a warmup is essential for me though. The rest of the group was crowded around maps of the course. I kind of ignored that and told my coaches I had run last year and pretty much knew where I was going, especially since I had done my warmup on part of the course. I didn't even realize we were being marshalled onto the start line and found myself pushing between people a bit to get a spot next to Catherine. It was another of those starts where there isn't much time before we're off. They said something about the girls running up the big hill twice this year. I thought, 'Well duh that's what we did last year. Once at the beginning and once at the end, with a lap in between.' I felt strong on the first hill and kept pace with Catherine until about halfway through the lap. She started taking a wrong turn and I shouted out the correst way we had to go. Then she started pulling away from me and I tried to not let her get too far away. Even though I was again trying not to look back I noticed there was a significant gap between us and the next girl. As we turned the corner right before the big hill I heard someone cheering for me, yelling, "Go Janessa, last hill, push till the end!" I was happy to be almost done. But as I got to the top of the hill Catherine ran past the finish chute and people were saying one more lap. I thought, 'Oh crap, I seriously have to do that again?!' Oops I guess I should always make sure I know the course! The next lap was not as fun, I really just focused on trying to keep up my pace and maintain second place. That would probably be the point when I questioned why I was doing this. I tried to tell myself that longer distances and hills were my thing, and that other people would be enjoying this even less than me. It turned out that after the second lap we didn't actually have to go up the hill a third time. Go figure. Apparently everyone else knew this though. I was really glad to finally be done and have another solid second place finish. My school had a great showing today, with full teams at each level. Including Varisty Girls which was awesome! Next race will be the championships, at Bird's Hill once again in two weeks from now.
Anyways I was also just looking forward to the race today. I know that seems weird to non-runners and yes, there is a point in almost every race where I think, 'why the heck am I doing this?' Probably the weirdest thing was that it was really the hills on this course I was looking forward to. I have done so much more hill training this year and I feel that it's becoming a strength of mine. So arriving at Kilcona I headed out for a warmup on my own, it didn't seem like anyone else was interested. I've learned that a warmup is essential for me though. The rest of the group was crowded around maps of the course. I kind of ignored that and told my coaches I had run last year and pretty much knew where I was going, especially since I had done my warmup on part of the course. I didn't even realize we were being marshalled onto the start line and found myself pushing between people a bit to get a spot next to Catherine. It was another of those starts where there isn't much time before we're off. They said something about the girls running up the big hill twice this year. I thought, 'Well duh that's what we did last year. Once at the beginning and once at the end, with a lap in between.' I felt strong on the first hill and kept pace with Catherine until about halfway through the lap. She started taking a wrong turn and I shouted out the correst way we had to go. Then she started pulling away from me and I tried to not let her get too far away. Even though I was again trying not to look back I noticed there was a significant gap between us and the next girl. As we turned the corner right before the big hill I heard someone cheering for me, yelling, "Go Janessa, last hill, push till the end!" I was happy to be almost done. But as I got to the top of the hill Catherine ran past the finish chute and people were saying one more lap. I thought, 'Oh crap, I seriously have to do that again?!' Oops I guess I should always make sure I know the course! The next lap was not as fun, I really just focused on trying to keep up my pace and maintain second place. That would probably be the point when I questioned why I was doing this. I tried to tell myself that longer distances and hills were my thing, and that other people would be enjoying this even less than me. It turned out that after the second lap we didn't actually have to go up the hill a third time. Go figure. Apparently everyone else knew this though. I was really glad to finally be done and have another solid second place finish. My school had a great showing today, with full teams at each level. Including Varisty Girls which was awesome! Next race will be the championships, at Bird's Hill once again in two weeks from now.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Day 2, Race 2
Today was my second cross country race in a row. This was the one I had mentioned in my previous post that gave trophies and medals up to tenth place! It turned out that there were no other varsity runners from my school, but I was ok with that. I still wanted to do this race for fun. Also one thing I love about running and triathlon is getting to know so many people. So there was no shortage of people to chat with and stuff from other schools. Unfortunetely my sister decided not to race, but at least she still came for support. I took some of my school's grade seven boys on a warm up run with me. For all of them it was their first cross country race. It made me think back to all the races I have done over the last few years. I don't even have to think about doing it much anymore. I was happy to answer all their questions though; how fast should we start out? how do we know where to go? when should we pick it up at the end? All of a sudden I was told to hurry to the start line and I didn't have much time to mentally prepare before the gun went off. Oh well. I started out with the lead pack and throughout the race slowly dropped off them, while keeping them in my sights. The difference from yesterday's race was it was a different zone, so different competition, which was a good challenge. Actually there were two zones which they split up at the finish line, and I don't technically belong to either zone... but it was an intivational so I was put into one anyways. But back to the race. I knew that my friend and triathlon teammate Ashlyn was a bit behind me, and behind her I think there was a decent gap before other packs. Ashlyn and I run together in practice all the time and are very similar right now, so it could have been anyone's race depending on how we were feeling. With about a kilometer to go I felt myself fading, feeling the fatigue from the day before. I started thinking about how no one would be disappointed in me if she passed me.... but I had been feeling good up until that point so I pushed on and tried to maintain a positive attitude. With about half a kilometer to go she was really starting to catch up and even though it didn't actually matter because we are in different zones, I figured we might as well continue to push each other, and I didn't want to give up. I entered my finish chute still a few meters ahead of her entering the other one. Solid race for both of us. I had no idea which girls ahead had been in my zone. Turned out I was second from my zone, but first varsity girl. So I came home with that first place trophy! Anyways that was some fun racing for this week but back to practices for the next few days. Next Tuesday will be a race at Kilcona where it's important to have my full varsity girls team competing, in order to qualify as a team!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Start of XC season
So today was my first cross-country race! I was really looking forward to the season pretty much since nationals were over. More than anything I felt like my running had really improved and I wanted to see where I was at. I was fairly confident that this would be a good season; I've done lots of hill training and have been injury-free for months. Still, I wasn't sure how my first race would turn out. Last year I mostly tried to stay with the lead pack and finish around top ten overall in my zone meets, top three for varsity. Provincials I definetely want to improve on. Last year I didn't have a super great race, I finished 29th with no particular reason why I didn't do better, it just wasn't there for me that day.
Anyways, today we showed up to Bird's Hill Park in the rain. As the only varsity girl today I was in charge of warming up the JV's. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them we would warm up 20 minutes in advance, which meant getting out of the bus immedietely while the boys sat in the nice warm, dry bus. I ended up letting them sit around a little longer as I checked out the course a bit. It had changed from what I have become used to running there. The start and finish were on a completely different place on the course, but similar distance. Which was still quite short unfortunetely. After a chilly warm-up I decided screw it, I'll just run in my singlet. Standing on the start line looking at others wearing warmer clothes made me rethink this a bit but it was too late, we were off. I knew that Catherine would be the one to pace off of for the first bit, and the strategy was to hang on to her as long as I could. Some other girls started out pretty fast, but on the first slight incline I found myself pulling away from them and several hundred meters into the race I realized that as long as I could keep up my pace I would come in second place. Sure enough, I kept Catherine in my sights and made up ground on the girls behind me. I tried not to look back too often. I've learned that I always have my best races when I don't look back. I was also cold, which was some encouragement to get the race over with faster! I crossed the line with a solid second place, nothing too exciting. But I was pretty happy with the outcome. Got some warm clothes on and waited to cheer on the JV girls. My sister raced which made me happy! The guys also did well, I'm proud of everyone that raced. After catching my breath I felt good again pretty fast. I like being able to recover quickly, especially because I plan on racing again tomorrow! It not as important because it's not really our zone, but I like this meet. It's a nice course, my triathlon friends will all be there, and the prizes are good. I mean, in grade ten I got a tenth place medal! Where else do you get tenth place medals? And grade eleven I got a first place trophy. I don't get too many of those. So tomorrow should be fun. Hopefully I've got another solid race in my legs and the weather improves!
Anyways, today we showed up to Bird's Hill Park in the rain. As the only varsity girl today I was in charge of warming up the JV's. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them we would warm up 20 minutes in advance, which meant getting out of the bus immedietely while the boys sat in the nice warm, dry bus. I ended up letting them sit around a little longer as I checked out the course a bit. It had changed from what I have become used to running there. The start and finish were on a completely different place on the course, but similar distance. Which was still quite short unfortunetely. After a chilly warm-up I decided screw it, I'll just run in my singlet. Standing on the start line looking at others wearing warmer clothes made me rethink this a bit but it was too late, we were off. I knew that Catherine would be the one to pace off of for the first bit, and the strategy was to hang on to her as long as I could. Some other girls started out pretty fast, but on the first slight incline I found myself pulling away from them and several hundred meters into the race I realized that as long as I could keep up my pace I would come in second place. Sure enough, I kept Catherine in my sights and made up ground on the girls behind me. I tried not to look back too often. I've learned that I always have my best races when I don't look back. I was also cold, which was some encouragement to get the race over with faster! I crossed the line with a solid second place, nothing too exciting. But I was pretty happy with the outcome. Got some warm clothes on and waited to cheer on the JV girls. My sister raced which made me happy! The guys also did well, I'm proud of everyone that raced. After catching my breath I felt good again pretty fast. I like being able to recover quickly, especially because I plan on racing again tomorrow! It not as important because it's not really our zone, but I like this meet. It's a nice course, my triathlon friends will all be there, and the prizes are good. I mean, in grade ten I got a tenth place medal! Where else do you get tenth place medals? And grade eleven I got a first place trophy. I don't get too many of those. So tomorrow should be fun. Hopefully I've got another solid race in my legs and the weather improves!
Monday, 19 September 2011
New Blog
I didn't really see myself as the blogging kind of person. I always figured to have a blog you had to be either so interesting that people cared to read about your life, or full of yourself so that you believed people would anyways. I don't think I fall into either category but I've still decided to give it a try. I know that many triathletes do have blogs, which I like reading sometimes. Some are actually really good. This is another category I'm not sure I will fall into. But I don't usually tend to care about falling into categories. The main reason I decided to give this whole blogging thing a chance is because this summer I did have some interesting experiences that people seemed to care about. I found myself writing long emails and race reports, and the list of people I sent it to kept getting longer. I thought, "hmm this seems almost like a blog anyways, so why not?" I don't really care about sharing this with the whole world, if only a few close friends and family members read it, cool. If more check it out, also cool. I enjoy writing anyways so we'll see how this goes. Maybe just a crazy idea, I am pretty tired right now. But maybe not so crazy.
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