WCOC Oliver Olympic Race Report

May 15, 2011

I have been planning to revisit this race since the shock from racing it last year wore off. I spent the fall and winter swimming, spinning and unfortunately gaining a bit of weight while not running due to an IT band problem… I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull it off while packing extra Becky up the hills and false flats. I was finally shamed in to signing up for the race by my training buddy Tina.

Despite my apprehension I signed up, so I gave my attitude an adjustment and decided to go for it and seriously improve upon my race experience from last year.

A practice swim in Tuc El Nuit Lake and a ride around the course actually helped my confidence and I decided not to run and just wing it.

Race day came and Mark, the Girls and I headed down to the race start. Bike racked, transition mat laid out, couple of nervous bathroom breaks and a great warm up swim (that’s the key YO!)

Swim starts and we’re off like a heard of turtles, do we really want to be swimming in 17 degrees murky water? Oh well here we go. Breath out fully, breath out fully, no crazy dog, no crazy dog (ask Olly), focus on stroke technique, find some faster feet. Hmmm I am almost done the first lap and oh my goodness my watch says 17 min exactly my time goal for the first 750 meters. Back in the water again for another lap, feeling warmed up, found some nice feet to follow.

Swim is done in 35 min according to my watch. So freaking happy!! Gotta strip off the wetsuit and run up two flights of stairs and prepare to ride 40 km. I don’t think there’ll be any crying today.

Stand by for the bike report…

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There are some really important things that I would like to be fit for this year. I would like to race the WCOC Oliver Olympic triathlon again and show it whose boss!!, get some family photos done by the awesome Heidi and I have my 20 year grad reunion this summer. What the heck where did 20 years go?

I trying to figure out what kind of “program” or method to use to get myself on track…. Should I become vegan, vegetarian, do U weightloss again, Weight Watchers, exercise like a fiend? Or should I modify all of the ideas and try to just be healthy, oh so easily said. I have been spinning and swimming all fall and winter but my running has been seriously lacking. If only I would to my phyiso routine and deal with my sore IT band.  I just have to suck it up and do it right!

myfitnesspal is a great website that a friend of mine (shout out Andrea) recommended a while ago and another friend (shout out Shelly) is using currently. It is a great website that helps you set a daily caloric goal for your basal metabolic rate BMR that will allow you to lose weight, the really wicked part is: if you exercise you log the time, intensity, type of exercise and it ADDS CALORIES to the daily total. In effect you are earning calories by exercising. A good way of looking at it, because often when you are trying to lose weight you add exercise and restrict food, counter productive ;(

I have set a goal to be down a certain amount of weight by May 16 which is 2 months away and the weekend of my race, which I need to sign up for still. Time to commit, in more ways than one

Love and Peace to all.

Betty

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2010  YEAR IN REVIEW  2010

2010 was an excellent year that kind of fizzled at the end so I am doing a year in review to inspire me for the upcoming “season”

WCOC aka Oliver Olympic Triathlon

Swim: 1500 m  Bike: 40 km  Run:  10 km

TIME: 3:50:05

I had high hopes for this Olympic distance triathlon, but I was not prepared for the open water swim in early May. There is no way I could be prepared for it we only started being able to swim in the lake the week before….The only thing that kept me going was the support of family and friends. Mom and Dad and Mer out on the bike route, Anna on the run course, Gary running me in to the finish, Mike and Heather  and Coach Kev at the finish, tri buddies along the way, and of course Mark everywhere (not laughing as I was bawling after a horrible swim).  I think I will need to revisit this one with some lake swimming under my belt.

Man of Steel: Rec. Division

Bike: 10 km  Swim: 400 m  Run: 5 km

TIME: 00:58:23      1st Place

This was a great race right from the beginning. All of my indoor training in the fall and spring really paid off. I got on my bike and took off like a shot. Hills that would have bogged me down in the past were like ant hills, not Hillbourne  of course it is still hilly The swim was kinda meh, I am not a great swimmer without a good warm up and it was a pool swim with next to no warm up, did okay though. Now the run was awesome. This is where my competitive streak came out, I googled my closest competitor to check what her 5 km run time was on a similar course. I am not proud of it but it kept me going and I had a goal to beat. I was lucky to have my friend Heather to run with and she pushed me hard. Later she told me she was pushing hard too. I ran a great time on a hilly hot course and I was so happy with the race. Best of all a bunch of my buddies were in the race too. Such a fun sport. Gotta do it again this year and see if I can knock some more time off. I know Bryn is gunning for me.

Peachland Beach Run

5 km

TIME: 00:24:13   4th in my age group

Heather and I decided to run together in the beginning and then see what happened as the race developed. I guess I ran a bit faster than she expected because we got a fast start to the race and since it was only 5 km we kept bookin’ it. She pulled away from me but I was able to keep her in my sights. I had another couple of ladies that I tried to keep up with and that spurred me on. When I crossed the finish line I couldn’t believe that I had knocked over 3 min off my last years time, in which I came 4th as well. All depends who shows up for the race…

Across the Lake Swim Kelowna

2.1 km open water

TIME: 00:44:45  (my goal was 45 min)

I was really quite nervous about this event. I felt a lot better about the concept of swimming across a large open water distance after having some lake swimming practice, but it was still daunting. As I was swimming I really worked on my spotting and trying to swim in the straightest most efficient manner. During the middle portion of the swim I got worried that I was really off course or last because I could see anyone around me, it turns out that I was right on course and a whole heck of a lot of people were way off course, like floating towards the bridge off course. While I wasn’t thinking about spotting I was focusing of swim techniques in order to not think about what was lurking beneath. Great experience I’ll probably do it again.

Summerland Sprint Triathlon

Swim: 750 m (slightly short)  Bike: 20 km  Run: 5 km (slightly long)

TIME:  1:24:12    21 min faster than last year!

This was a great race. While I was racing it there were times when I questioned WTF am I doing? As I watch the time and I knew that I was going to beat my last years time handily I became very happy. I knew something was amiss when I came out of the water in 12:27 almost 9 min faster than last year. As we would find out there were some technical difficulties with the swim markers. That being said I was still faster on the swim. The bike was close to my goal of riding it in 38 min at 40:30 11 min faster than last year. It was hard transitioning from bike to run and some of the girls I was keeping up to on the bike zipped past me on the run. On the other hand some of the men that had been ahead of me on the bike were now walking and I was passing them. The run times were very close which is not much of a surprise as running was my “specialty” last year. I did improve my time by 1:15, plus we think the run was a tad longer than last year with some course adjustments.

A great race. I will do it again for sure. I don’t know how much more time I can knock off though…

UBC Fall Classic 1/2 Marathon

21.1 km

TIME: 2:18:13   right in the middle of my goal range

I had no idea of what to expect on the day of the race, I had been suffering with IT band, knee and hip pain for a couple of weeks and I wasn’t able to get my long run past 17 km without a ton of pain. I went to physio and massage and just rested and hoped.  On the day of the race it was -3 plus the windchill and there was ice on the ground! I started off conservatively and by 3 km I was feeling okay despite almost wiping out on the icy slight downhill. Who did I see on the side of the road? Mark, he had pulled up with sore calf and could not continue at the pace he had been running. Lucky me, he decided to pace me until he couldn’t run any further, and double lucky me he was able to run the whole thing. The distance really wasn’t that bad. Near the end I was getting a bit antsy and I just wanted to be done. Mark stopped to pick up a wrapper I had dropped and I popped on my headphones and found the running demon within. I just started booking it. I started to reel in target runners. The guy in the green shirt gotcha! 2:20 goal lady gotcha, lady with twins we chatted with at 12 km in who dropped us at the aid station gotcha.

Doesn’t matter that I could barely walk or lower myself to a seated position for 2 days after I am so happy with my result. I would like to do it again better trained, uninjured and in warmer weather. In other words perfect conditions, oh and a tailwind both ways if you don’t mind.

Here is to a great 2011. Fitness, happiness and camaraderie.

Love,

Betty

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I am a bit behind in posting here….Life gets away on ya sometimes.

Way back in July,  Canada day to be exact, we ran the Peachland Beach Run 5 km. This is a race that our friends make a point to do every year and we are starting to make it a tradition too. There was a change over in management of the race so a few things went a bit squirrley but I am sure they will have them ironed out for next year.

The great part was that I managed to run my best 5 km time ever. This is a wonderfully flat course  and I had my friend Heather as a rabbit to keep in view. My time last year was 27:19 and this years time was 24:13 a whopping 3:06 faster, big improvement on a 5 km race, 4th in my age group. I would have to really learn to boogie to drop that much time again.

Mark did really awesome too 19:04 first in his age group.

I know it is not all about the times and medals,but if it were just running for fun it wouldn’t be called a race. A little bit of healthy competition is good for you.

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Here is the third and final portion of my harrowing first attempt at an Olympic distance triathlon, the run edition.

After getting off the bike I knew how I would feel, my legs would be wobbly and feel like lead and my spirit would still be a bit down. Knowing these things I just got off my bike and started pulling off my cycling gear. I popped on my new runners with my “go faster” elastic laces, which are the total bomb by the way.

Off I go and the first part is an up hill, one of the few hills on this course. Hmmm not feeling too bad when are the lead legs going to come? … BOOM there they are. Just keep running, running, running. Got about a km in to the run and I needed to walk. Now I don’t like to walk in a running race, in fact it irritates me to walk and it irritates me when others walk and then end up beating me, but that is my own head trash. Part of the reason I don’t like to walk is that it is so hard to get myself motivated to get running again. For the first lap of the 5 km route I did a lot of run/walking. Near the end of the first loop Mark met up with me because he thought something had happened to me, like I had quit or something. He walked along side me for a while which just made me get choked up and I thanked him for the moral support but let him go on his way because I couldn’t stop crying. Weird!

The second loop was much better. I was able to run a more than walk  and I even started to pass a couple of people. I kept a couple in my sights but I wasn’t able to catch up to them. All in all not a great example of my running ability, but then again it is not just a running race it is a triathlon and all of the disciplines influence each other. I wonder if I had not had such a brutal time in the swim if I would have had more psychological “energy” for the bike and run?

As I was coming up to the last corner I saw a mirage… One of my teammates (Gary S) was walking around the bend. He was coming to look for me. He stuck by me and encouraged me to keep running, bring it home. For some reason his presence didn’t make me cry.  He even called ahead to let someone know that I was almost at the home stretch. Coming down the finish chute was such a great feeling! I actually finished a race that I thought was over from the start. As I crossed the finish line I saw all of my friends and family there cheering me on and I teared up once again, such an emotional day, my goodness. I think I always have the best cheering group on any race. Mark, Mom, Dad, Meredith, Mike and Heather.

If I ever wonder if paying for coaching is a good idea when I am such a newbie. I should just remember that my coach was at the finish line waiting for the very last one from the team to finish and gave me a big congratulatory hug. We are so lucky to live here in Penticton where we can train with great coaches and swim, bike and run on the Ironman Canada course.

I have a great post brewing about a confidence building race I just participated in. Stay tuned.

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After getting out the the water at the WCOC Oliver Olympic triathlon and stumbling to the transition area I stood by my bike and sobbed. What do I do next… I am freezing, confused, demoralized. I looked up and there was Mark looking over the fence at me, encouraging me to get going, come on, finish this thing. I slowly flung my wetsuit over the rack, donned my bike gear, all the while blubbering. When I thought I was ready I looked up at Mark with a pathetic tear stained face and cried DO I HAVE EVERYTHING ON??? “Yes now get going!”

Of I went in a bit of a crowd with the Sprint distance athletes that had started the swim a considerable time after the Olympic athletes. At least I wasn’t completely alone starting the ride. All was well for a while until we reach the turn around point for the Sprint and all the sudden I was alone…, and I remained alone for the most part of the ride. It is difficult to ride alone, with nobody to catch or stay ahead of, you are truly racing yourself.

I did find that during the first bit of the ride I was still pretty demoralized from the swim experience, and I found myself having odd morbid thoughts. Like if I fell off my bike nobody would look down on me for having to pull out of the race. Having survived the harrowing swim I wasn’t going to let a silly 40km bike ride take me down. Besides I knew my family would be waiting for me along Blacksage road to cheer me on a take my picture. Better practice my smile.

As the ride went on I felt a bit more fluid and I even used the aerobars quite a bit. I even managed to catch up to a couple of people and pass them. I was super happy to round the corner to the transition area once again, but a bit concerned about setting off on the run course. Hello Lead Legs.

Stay tuned for the Run portion.

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I have been a naughty, naughty poster. I promise to make up for it with a fascinating post about my recent adventures in triathlon.

May 16th does that sound like a good time of year to go swimming in a lake, in CANADA? Well whether it is rational or not early in the morning on that chilly spring day I embarked upon my very first Olympic distance triathlon. The event is the Wine Capital of Canada Triathlon which is an Olympic distance triathlon, 1500 m open water lake swim, 40 km bike ride, 10 km run.

I need to give myself a bit of a break as I go on to describe the ensuing trauma created by the swim, since I had never really worn a wetsuit, only practiced open water swimming once this year and the water was frigid. I experienced things in the swim I totally had not predicted and never thought would happen to me. I had at least 3 severe panic attacks. To me a panic attack involves rapid breathing, rapid heart rate and a feeling of impending doom. Check, check ,check. I wasn’t sure what was bothering me the most, the restrictive feeling of the brand new wetsuit, the cold water, the mob of people at the the mass start, or perhaps all of the above.

This experience was defining moment of mind over matter for me. I essentially floated on my back, breast-stroked, floundered and did the occasional back stroke. There were moments of bargaining when I was asking a higher power to let me go through labour and delivery with twins again rather than continue on with this madness. I considered stripping off my wetsuit, throwing it at the kayaker and trying to continue on, I was sure death from hypothermia would have been better than finishing this swim.

But… I did carry on. Pretty much the only thing that kept me going was the fact that my family and friends were there at the crack of dawn to cheer me on, and I am a very stubborn person who does’t like to disappoint people. As I rounded the turnaround bouy the Race Director Joe grabbed my hand and encouraged me on. Okay I can do this, back in the water I go. The second lap was pretty tough but somehow a bit better than the first. I do take a while to warm up as I have mentioned before.

As I finished the swim, not last, I don’t know how that was possible. Some poor souls dropped out due to the cold and panic attacks. I am glad I didn’t really know of the prevalence of panic attacks before I signed up for an early season race.

What are my feelings about this first race in the open water?

A lot to learn, to improve on, a lot of time to shed. I will get back on the horse that bucked me, because it didn’t kill me, I am stronger.

Stay tuned for the Bike portion of the race report.

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Hi there in webland, if anyone is still reading…. I have been neglecting the blogging lately. One of the reason is my site no longer has the stats on it so I am not addicted to see how many people are reading (talk about ego).
I have also been very busy with triathlon training, writing a nursing paper and general family life.
I have a few goodish ideas for posts so stay tuned.

Uncategorized blogging, fitness

I had a great week 2 of my new attitude and new weight loss goal.

Monday: Spinning 60 min

Tuesday: Running 30 min with dogs, Swimming 60 min with Masters club

Wednesday: Rest day working 12 hours

Thursday: Running 30 min at dark o’ clock, work 12 hours, Swimming 60  min with Master SO TIRED!

Friday: Rest day working 12 hours

Saturday: Cycling outside 40 km rode to OK falls via Maclean Creek Rd. 2 hours of riding (harsh headwind)

Sunday: Running 45 min didn’t feel too bad.

My eating was great while I was on the U turn plan and then for a couple of days after too. Come Friday I ate healthy all day and then at night a gave in to soft serve ice cream and apple pie. After our killer ride I gave in to sourdough bread and spinach dip but managed to have only one slice of pizza and a huge salad.

The key is to regroup from the small indiscretions and move forward with a plan. I was down to 178 which still leaves me 10 to lose in 3 weeks. I wonder what I will have to do to lose this weight. Obviously I am doing enough exercise! Just keep eating well and maybe kick up the intensity of the workouts. I don’t know…

Keep on keep’n on.

Cheers

Betty

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I took things up a notch this week. I am using a system called U-turn from u weight loss, it consists of a kinda yucky shake (they warned me it would be yucky) sort of tastes like I might imagine infant formula tastes. I am also taking their kickstart product which is a supplement that helps the body flush toxins. I have to admit my energy has been much improved. I have also been much more diligent about taking my calcium, omega, vit D, and fiber as well. Is it annoying to take these supplements? Yes in a way but it is much more annoying to have no energy, be depressed and worry that an airplane seatbelt might not fit.

I don’t think that I will be taking these things forever. I will find the right balance of vitamins, minerals, supplements that work for me health wise, financially, time management.

My eating has been right on track. I am following the U turn recipes to a T. I am following a certain schedule and calorie level for the week and then I will gradually increase my calories over the next month to six weeks until I am at a maintenance level. Hopefully my weight will stabilize and I will be able to eat a normal, healthy amount of food while being active. I really am loving these recipes. I am running the risk of turning in to a chicken again so I am balancing it out with some shrimp too.

Exercise has been off the hook!

Monday: Spinning

Tuesday:Masters swimming (didn’t really like it but I did it)

Wednesday: Working days, walked to work

Thursday: Spinning at noon (testing day,hard!) Met with Olly and set up some triathlon coaching.

Friday: Rest day, thank goodness because I worked nights last night and tonight too

Saturday: 90 min swim with the tri group (never, ever thought I could keep swimming that long)

Sunday: 45 min  run with Mark, good a bit achy but not too bad once warmed up, geocaching with the girls FUN!

This chick is gonna be busy. I am going to have to make friends with 5:30 am to get my short run in during the week. I do not like getting up earlier than 6:00.

I am hoping to be at my new goal weight by the end of Feb. I lost 7 lbs the first week which I am sure was lot of water weight but at least it is off my body. I am going to weigh in tomorrow so I will let you know.

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