Birds Hill and Edmonton Races

Well by now I have two races to write about. Two weeks ago I was very excited to have the first race of the series on home turf, Bird's Hill Park. Despite a bit of stress leading up to the event because of trying to pull together a successful pre race meal for the athletes, I was pumped to race. I know these kinds of races take a lot of work to put on, so am very thankful to the Triple Threat Triathlon Club and the many volunteers that gave their time and energy.

The swim start was not ideal, being in the water. I prefer beach starts, which I am much better at. I'd have to say it was one of the roughest starts I have been a part of, I guess I just got caught in a really bad place. After being thoroughly beat up I was finally able to get some clearer water and see the lead pack and chase pack. Unfortunately, they were much too far away and with my current swim abilities I had no chance of catching them. I got out of the water with a few girls right around me including my teammate Madison, but they didn't stick with me and after transition it was just a girl from Quebec with me. We biked hard up the hill and caught two other girls on the flat section of the first of two laps. I tried to be very encouraging and get our group moving, but it just wasn't happening. Whenever I wasn't leading the pace felt way too slow. I felt like I was once again doing most of the work for the pack, a situation I found myself in far too often last year. It was frustrating, but I tried to do the best I could and focus on the run. I had a quick transition and felt strong. I knew that one of the girls was quick and she passed me pretty soon, and the others were still behind me. I noticed my original bike partner coming up behind me, about to make a pass. But I repeated my mantra from Tempe, "this isn't over yet" and picked it up to maintain the lead. The rest of the run was uneventful and I just tried to keep my steady pace. I started to cramp up with about half a kilometer to go, but pushed through and just held my position. I finished in 14th place and I would say that although it wasn't an amazing race, it wasn't horrible either. I know what my weaknesses are and it was a decent start to the season.

This weekend I was happy to be back in Edmonton for a third time. I like this course and was looking for a bit of redemption after my sub par race here last year. I had felt great two years ago, so I tried to channel some of that back into my race. Race morning was a bit of a mess, with the women being held in check in until the men were off the bike, almost missing our entire swim warm up. It was the first time I've had to set up my transition while wearing a wetsuit.  It was quite frustrating for everyone, and I tried my best to stay calm about the situation. The swim start is a bit of a weird one, standing on a raised platform, so not a true beach start. It's a steep and quick step, step, step, dive, swim, or else you might trip or sink into the sand. But I kind if like it. I completely nailed the start and was surprised to find myself right up at the front! But of course that couldn't last forever and I felt like I was being passed by way too many people.  I don't understand how people say they feel good during the swim, or steady or solid. I don't think I've ever felt that. Even when my shoulders are not giving me too much trouble during the actual race I feel like I am struggling to breathe and keep moving forward. I was happy to not just see empty water in front of me as I was about to exit the swim but I wasn't sure who was there or if I was close enough to bike with them. I got to my bike and had a bit more trouble taking my wetsuit off than usual. But then I saw my friend Taylor and was very happy I would have someone strong to bike with! One other girl joined us and then about halfway through the first of two laps we caught my teammate Ashlyn.  Our group of four was actually one of the bigger packs out there this time, the lead group was five, and then a few more in between. I was happy to be in a decent position and was looking forward to the run. The other girl with us attacked the second time up the big hill, and we let her get away, I guess she was very strong on the bike. As I had hoped, I nailed that second transition and started the run with a bit of a lead on the other two, posting one of the fastest T2 times of the day. Taylor is a solid runner and after a while she caught me. I tried to sick as close to her as possible and not look back to see where Ashlyn was. She had a bit of tough time out there, and was just passed by a girl from Saskatchewan who was also gaining on me but was running out of room. Similarly, I could tell I was getting closer to the girl that had previously attacked, but not soon enough.

I finished in 12th place and I am happy with my race. Although I know I still have a ways to go, I'm getting back on track and can't really complain. It's the swim that will either make or break my races at this point and hopefully I will just keep improving and start getting into those packs that I want. Next up is New Brunswick followed by Toronto, and since I have officially made the Canada Games team I will also be off to Sherbrooke. Exciting races still to come!

Here's a link to the results. I'm still trying to figure out how to add pictures from my iPad.

Women:
http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2013_edmonton_patco_triathlon_junior_pan_american_cup/259448


Men:
http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2013_edmonton_patco_triathlon_junior_pan_american_cup/259447

On another note, we also watched the elite World Cup event later that day. In the women's race our Canadian girls rocked it, good job! Congrats as well to the guys that finished, and I wish quick healing to those affected by the crash. Here's a highlight video from the men's race.

http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/rouault_runs_to_first_world_cup_win_in_edmonton

Training Camp

Well I know this has been a while since I've posted, but better late than never! Things have been so busy lately I haven't been able to justify spending time to sit down and blog. I survived finals, wow my first year of university went by so fast and I loved it all. Now I am taking a summer course online which seemed like a great idea until I realized a good chunk of stuff was due right after getting home from training camp... And at camp I did not have much free time, and when I did I was too exhausted to get much done. Oh well, I've worked hard and I think it will be ok. Anyways triathlon is always much more exciting than school so I'll get to that!

This year I went with a group from Saskatchewan. Thanks to the coach RossAnn for letting me join in, and to a great group of athletes for some solid training and an awesome time! This camp was 18 days long and included altitude training. We stayed in a house in beautiful Sedona (about 4500 ft) and did some training there as well as Flagstaff (about 7000 ft) and Camp Verde (about 3100 ft). We pushed hard till the very end and got in some great training sessions. We did some bricks twice and it was great to feel solid running off the bike, and make my times faster the next time. I was also super happy to realize that with no practice before this camp, my transitions are still wicked fast. The fourth event of the triathlon seems to be my best one. Some other training sessions involved long hilly rides, intervals, trail runs, lots of good stuff... Including swimming!

Yes, I don't want to jinx this too early, but it's possible that I'm swimming better than I have in two years. We will see once race season starts I guess. I was not sure how swimming at this camp would go since I have only been in the pool about twice a week this winter and my shoulders continue to give me difficulties. I would say that although I had good and bad days at this camp, I have to be happy with the volume and intensity I was able to swim. Other than one day off, I did at least a little bit every day. And by a little bit I mean I was still able to do a couple km maybe, which would have been considered a good practice for me last year. I put a lot of focus into my technique and it seems to be clicking together more smoothly now. I was surprised and excited when I was able to complete some full workouts that were around 5000m. And I was actually swimming decently well. Anyways, I really hope I can keep up the training. Going into last race season with just some 20min easy swims under my belt was far from ideal.

Another highlight of the camp was the race we did in Tempe. Although we were not used to the "picnic style" age group transition area, as I liked to called (wow it makes me glad we have strict rules about where we leave our stuff) or being alone on the bike, or having stairs in the middle of the run and confusing course markings... Everyone seemed to have a good race and us Canadians just showed up and cleaned up our categories. The swim was only 400m which was also kind of weird, I thought it would be great for me but I found my rhythm didn't really set in for the first part anyways. I wasn't too far behind Gab coming out of the water and had a good transition, so I was able to keep her and American junior guy in my sights for part of the bike at least. For both the run and the bike I had some points where I was really feeling those brick workouts in my legs and it was tough to focus on pushing through on my own. The run course was also long so it's hard to compare times to other races but overall I feel like it was a good start to get me pumped up and ready for the season.

I am happy with the work I put in during this training camp, and had a great time. I have said goodbye to my Sask friends, but the good news is I will see them again in only a week!

The first stop in the Junior race series is at home at Bird's Hill Park at 7am on Sunday, June 9. So if you find yourself with a bit of free time come check out the race and cheer on your favourite Manitoba triathletes. Creating a home crowd advantage would definitely be appreciated!

Part 1 running a 5000m, part 2 struggles

Part 1

Well I finally ran another 5000m. It didn't matter for funding times, it was just good practice for the distance I'll actually be racing and I was really wanting to get a new PB. The last time I ran one last year I went 20:33 but I know I can for sure run faster, especially now. My run workouts have been much better this year. The goal was to finally go sub 20min. Very attainable. Unfortunately that wasn't happening on this particular day. I had been feeling off during practice the week leading up to it, getting back into things after being sick for a week. But no excuses, I was still going for it. There were two other women in the race that I knew were faster, and they ran us with the guys. Because who would want to stick around watching two races that long? It was also at 10pm and I'm pretty sure we all just wanted to go to sleep. Anyways I'm not going to go into detail about my splits or anything (yes, I have every lap time recorded if anyone's interested) but to make a long story short (and yes, 25 laps on an indoor track can feel very long), I gave a good effort considering how I was feeling but the speed was not there for me. I went 20:44 and was quite disappointed. I'll probably get another chance in a few weeks to be paced through a better time and finally get that PB.

Part 2

So lately I've been struggling a bit, physically and mentally. 

At Monday's practice I had a hard time shuffling my way through my 45min easy run. Gary asked how I was feeling after and if I was feeling recovered from the 5000m. I said I was about ready for another recovery week! Then on the bike I was struggling so much to keep pedalling and for once I honestly didn't know if I could force myself through the whole practice. I told Gary I wasn't sure what the rest of the week would be like for me since I was already feeling so awful. He knows I'm not one to just complain and after looking around at some other tired teammates he cut a little bit off the practice. 

The next day we had strength which was ok, and then some 200's on the track. Warm up was rough and I was hoping the adrenaline from doing speed-work would get me through the practice. Then Gary said the girls would do two less than the guys and I kind of got my hopes up... until he said I was an honorary guy. Normally that would be fine, but I guess the look on my face made him reconsider and say I could choose depending on how I felt. We got started and they were going alright I guess, but I asked if I could be a girl for the day.

 

Today I took a break from it all, including classes and training. I got some much-needed extra sleep and got some stuff done at home, but also relaxed a bit. I've found I'm very tired recently. And I'm finding it difficult to re-motivate myself. This is probably because of quite a few factors:

1. Being sick for a week and still recovering from it

2. Not really getting that "break" I was hoping for during reading week since I sat around being kind of miserable and not having a chance to catch up on stuff

3. Still feeling on the edge of getting sick again (and getting nosebleeds every few mornings which is an early sign of being run down for me)

4. Running the 5000m took a lot out of me!

5. Some late nights and stressfulness getting through my two midterms and two assignments last week

6. Not having training camp in the heat of Arizona at the end of the month to look forward to (I'm going in May instead but usually after Christmas my countdown begins to get me through the worst months of the year)

7. Our latest dump of snow makes it feel like winter will never end, even though everything has been flying by so fast ("triathletes attack life at the speed of light," which is also tiring in itself)

8. I've been trying so hard to "crush it" with everything I do lately, sometimes I gotta realize just because I'm a triathlete, doesn't mean I can keep that up all the time

Anyways I could probably keep listing more things getting me down right now but the point of writing this is to turn that around. I called Steve this afternoon since he wasn't having a great day either. I'm not the type to talk on the phone a lot but I'm learning sometimes it really helps. I tried to explain how I was feeling, just like I'm trying now. I had also gone for a walk right before that. It was kind of a random impulse, I never go for walks. I always figure I might as well run! Again, I attack life at the speed of light so why would I purposely do anything slowly? But I'm not feeling up for running right now and the sun was shining, I figured some vitamin D would do me good. I walked past the school field, where recess was going on. It was really interesting to see the kids, just running around and having fun. We tend to stop doing that after a certain age. Maybe the kids have it all figured out. I felt a bit better after just going for a walk in the fresh air.

So anyways, I was talking to Steve trying to figure out what was wrong and what I should do about it. What do I do that I enjoy? Training, obviously. When I'm stressed? I still go for a run or something. So when that isn't really an option? What could I do today? What else do I enjoy doing? I wasn't sure. I like swimming, biking, and running. What did I enjoy when I was younger, before my main focus was triathlon? What could I do that didn't require a lot of energy, but that could help me relax? We both study this in school, what people do throughout their lives as leisure. Even though having a clear focus at this point is great, triathlon training shouldn't be my only leisure activity that I enjoy.  I got off the phone still not really knowing but feeling more positive that I will get through this. I wanted to do something instead of sitting around. So I got out my old favourite recipe for double chocolate cookies and baked while listening to some good music. Then I decided writing is another thing I enjoy, which is where this blog entry came from. I like getting all my thoughts out (and this is about as creative as I get, I'll leave the artsy stuff to Laura) and it doesn't even matter who reads it. I do it because I want to, but I also know I've got my family and friends behind me in whatever I do.

So I'll take this break from life without getting too down about it and hopefully I'll be back to crushing it with my usual crazy happy energy. 

Bison Classic

It's been a while since my last 3000m, but as always the life of a student-athlete is busy. Now it's finally reading week, not that I'm doing a whole lot of reading, but I'll get to that later. Anyways, I was super pumped for the Bison Classic. I knew there would be some great competition from other universities and I knew it would be my chance for a new personal best. I'd ran 11:23 back in November and then three more races slightly slower as I got tired of running these things pretty much alone. So as I was saying, I just wanted to run under 11:23, but really I had 11:15 in my head. I have for a long time, it's been another one of those barriers. I spent the whole week leading up to the Bison Classic being excited for the race and mentally getting myself ready. After one particular practice I could tell I was running great, so as I walked off the track I told my tri coach Gary I was PB'ing that weekend. I was pretty confident saying this because I knew it was time. Sometimes attitude is everything.

I still felt pretty good warming up and it's the best feeling to actually be excited and happy on the start line. I also knew I had the support of my family, friends, and coaches. Since this was the second heat of women I felt comfortable enough starting out with the main group. Although I knew it wasn't a pace I could hold for the entire race, it for sure helped to be pushed. After a while I noticed the girl ahead of me was falling off the pace a bit, and I passed her so I wouldn't lose the group too. She found another bit of speed and passed back. Soon though I realized she wouldn't stay with them so I passed again and hung on to the others for as long as I could. I did begin to lose them as everyone spread out a bit. I was kind of on my own, but that was fine. I knew I just had to mentally hang on a bit longer and keep pushing the pace on my own. I was kind of listening to my splits, and kind of knew I was where I wanted to be. I didn't waste too much thought on calculating times in my head at this point, it just gave me enough confidence to know I was close to doing what I wanted. In the end I got my new PB, 11:12.

I'm happy with that of course. I ran well, stayed focused, and accomplished my goals. But now I can't wait to finally break the 11min barrier! Even 10:59 sounds so much better. I realize that's still a pretty big chunk of time to cut off, but I think I can do it soon. I'm not saying I should have gone faster at Bison Classic. I think I left it all out there and did the best I could have for that day. But I think I can do it at another good opportunity. I had super nice offer to be paced for sub-11 by a teammate. I feel like now I have the confidence and maybe by starting out at a proper pace and knowing I have to just hang out to someone that will be consistent can get me there.

A couple years ago, going under 12min seemed like such a huge deal, (yes I know, that is not very fast, and I know 11:12 still may not seem fast) I had a breakthrough race at provincials in grade 11 and went 11:30. Then I basically got stuck in the 11:30 to 11:45 ish zone for a long time. I know, here I go reminiscing again and using way too many words to tell a simple story. But it's my story of how I got where I am now, and it's far from being over. Many improvements still to come. If that doesn't matter to you, your loss if you feel like you wasted time reading this. I'm looking forward to the improvements ahead as well as the work that comes with it.

Another highlight of this race was getting to see my lovely Saskatchewan friends. It's always nice to catch up outside of race season, and makes it feel like its not too far away anymore! Also got to chat about training camp in person a bit, which was good. I have booked my flights and am planning to head down to Arizona for a few weeks in May with the Saskatchewan group, really looking forward to it!

Oh and I said something about reading week earlier... I'll keep it brief. It's reading week right now. Writing this in the car driving home. Finally. Was in Fargo. Randomly got really sick. Stayed in hotel by myself for many hours. Snow storm. Highways closed. Stuck for another night. Went to doctor. Not strep throat so no antibiotics. Random virus I have to wait out and just take Advil and Tylenol for. Everything hurts. Not much energy. Want to be home. Finally heading home. Long day. Not so happy. Yay reading week?

Don't worry, I'll still find lots of positive energy soon enough!

2013

Happy New Year! It's been tough keeping up with this blogging thing lately but there hasn't been too much exciting stuff going on. I can now say I've survived my first semester of university. Even though it was so much work, especially by the end, I can still say I'm loving my year. I'm grateful for all the amazing friends I've made so far and for lots of awesome experiences. Now that it's 2013 I'm sure race season will be here so fast! I'm looking forward to some solid training. I will try to maintain doing some of my track practices with the Bisons, I feel like mixing it up with those speedy ladies has really been helping. They really push me all the time and I love the whole group of people.

Before Christmas I did some indoor meets. We started off with the Brown and Gold meet, a fun event  among the whole track team. Obviously my serious event was the 3000m, and then I did some other events for fun. I had been sick and I knew my attitude wasn't what it should have been, but I finished with a time of 11:23. I wasn't sure what my previous PB was and somehow we couldn't really find it, so now that's what I'm going with. I felt like I could still do better though, so I tried again a week later. It turned out I was the only female entered so I was totally on my own for pacing. I ran 11:30. So being the crazy person I am I decide why not do one more. There were a few other girls racing this time and even though I hadn't been close to getting standard yet I figured if nothing else it was good race experience and would be fun. Because everyone knows running three 3000's in a row just because is one of the most fun things you can do. Anyways I didn't have a great one and my time was 11:35. But back to some training and in the next little while I will probably do another one or two and hopefully get a better time, I feel like I am running well lately.

As for swimming it is still not ideal but at least I'm way ahead of last year. People keep asking if my shoulders are getting better. I have no idea what's going on with my stupid shoulders. It doesn't seem like it's exactly getting better but I am able to swim more so I guess it's not getting worse. Who knows. I've been swimming about twice a week so far, usually for about an hour. And I am doing the harder efforts too which is good. Last year the only training I had going into junior elite racing was about 3 months of very short (20 to 30 min) swims, completely easy with no intensity. Scary now that I think about it. So hopefully I can hold it together and gain some speed back in the next few months. I feel like it's all going to go by so fast!

New Years resolution... Keep up with blogging? Nah. I'll update when I feel like it and have time. Oh and maybe when I actually have something interesting to say. Just kidding, I don't care if it's very interesting or not! Like everything else in my life, I write because I can. As always, it's up to you if you care to read it or not. So no, I didn't make a New Years resolution. I'll just keep at it, work hard, and enjoy training, school, friends and family.