I ran a marathon.

Yesterday I ran a marathon...on a treadmill.
I'm a little timid to broadcast that because I know it's odd.  Let me explain.

Ironman Cozumel was both a major accomplish and a huge disappointment.  The accomplishment was in the preparation (so many hours of training), the swim and the bike went well and I finished that marathon despite being so, so sick.  The disappointment was that the marathon was much slower than planned and due to my "digestive" problems, I was not able to run the speed that my fitness would have made possible.  After that race I said out loud that I would never do a marathon again but in my head, there was a little voice saying, "you will do that again and you'll do it well next time."  I ignored that little voice in my head for awhile but last summer I decided I was ready to listen to it.

Timing was an issue.

I already had enough races going on in the summer and early fall.  I didn't want to wait too long to do the marathon, so winter made the most sense.  There's no local marathons and I didn't want to travel for this one.  So, I decided I would just do it ON MY OWN.  The treadmill made the most sense because then I could have my water bottles filled with electrolytes and calories.  Not to mention the fact that it's 30 degrees warmer in the gym than it is outside right now (my knees get sore in the cold).

I was nervous this whole week.  I trained for this but I cut my training short because I was getting bored and impatient with building up my times.  My longest training run was just short of 3 hours long.  Adam reassured me saying that whatever I lacked in training, I would make up for in mental toughness.  Ironman training did give me that gift of being able to suffer through loooonnnngg workouts.

At 9AM I took my kids to the gym childcare.  Adam planned to pick them up at noon (on his lunch break) and take them to my parent's house for the rest of the afternoon.  I set up my station next to the treadmill with my water bottles, change of clothes, sweat towels, electrolyte drinks, snacks, extra runners etc.  Yep, it was quite a pile of stuff.

I broke the marathon up into 4 sections in my mind, one hour at a time.  I started at a 5:30/km pace and actually held that pace right through to the end.  Adam put a few movies on his ipod for me to watch.  I hooked it up to the TV on the treadmill and that really helped pass the time.  Of course there was suffering but nothing I couldn't run through.  By the third hour I started feeling somewhat lightheaded and my joints and muscles were achy.  My knee hurt off and on (my IT strap helped with that).  My left hip flexor was sore for the last three hours but it didn't get bad enough to make me walk.  I changed shirts three times and re-applied vaseline to any potential chaffing areas (think anywhere that clothing rubs).  I remembered from IM having a chaffing line at the top of my shorts that was bad enough that it bled, so I was generous with the vaseline.  I was so grateful for Silvana, who was there to support me by running on the treadmill next to me.  Thanks Silvana!

I finished in 3:50 (time on the treadmill) and 4:25 (total time including time off the treadmill for bathroom and changing clothing/runners).  It was weird to get off the treadmill with my wobbly legs.  The other people at the gym had no idea what I had just done, they probably wondered why I was walking funny though.  No cheering crowds.  I stretched, showered and came home to meet Adam.  He said, "I have something to present you with."  Then he put a medal around my neck and I cried.  I had been battling doubts about whether this marathon "counted" and so that medal meant a lot to me.  Thanks Adam!

Trying out the snorkel.

I find it fun to share the 'not so attractive' side of triathlon.  Swimming is pretty unattractive, With the swim cap and goggles but a snorkel brings it to another level.

Adam's swim club members were required to buy a snorkel.  The point being, that you can then focus on your kick and your arm stroke, without taking your face out of the water for a breath.  Adam's coach claimed that the snorkel helped him tremendously (he's a professional ironman triathlete.)  He said that he wasn't 'catching' properly with his left arm and he only realized this with the snorkel.  Adam wanted me to try it out but warned me that it was hard to get used to.  I thought to myself, "what could be so hard? I've swam in the ocean with a snorkel looking for fish and corral several times, without any trouble."

Well, it was tricky after all.  My first lengths I only kicked, so I could get used to the breathing but I kept having to stop and take it out to get a breath.  I also kept getting water up my nose.  It was hard to keep the water blocked from coming into my nose and only breath into my mouth.  I started to figure it out after a few lengths and decided that, even though it's an ugly tool, it's definitely a helpful one.  I found it especially helpful for working on my kick.  I've been focusing lately on trying to have looser ankles (think fins or fish).  With the snorkel it was awesome because I could stay underwater in the correct body position and just think about kicking better.  I could hear my coach's voice in my head, "from the hip, soften the knee, soften the ankles."  It's coming little by little.  I must say, I love this off season work.  I get to patiently take time to improve in the details, without worrying about increasing time/pace so much.

Oh and by the way, I have decided to run a marathon.  Ok, I did it.  I put it out there.  That means I have to actually follow through on it.  I'm just going to run it on my own timing, not in an actual race.  I want to do it in December and there aren't any local marathons on a Saturday in December, so I figured I don't need the structure of a race this time around.
I ran for 2 hours today and it was ok.  As good as 2 hours on a treadmill can be I guess.  I'm building my time up to about 2.5 hours and then I'm just going to go for it.  If I'm being honest, the reason I want to do a marathon is to prove to myself that I can do it (IM Cozumel doesn't really count) and ALSO to get my body used to the idea of running that long because someday I would love the give the full Ironman another shot.

Life Lessons From The Pool.

Today at swim club we did time trials.  This is my first time starting off the swim block in a timed event.  It's also my first time being timed at short distances (I'm used to longer distance swims in triathlons.)

On our last 50 m, my dad asked to move up into my heat, so that he could race against me.  He had that "Harding gleam" in his eye, excited for some family competition.  He dived out in front of me off the blocks but I made sure to beat him.  Our coach seemed to find our banter funny, as she was giggling when we finished up.  Beyond the friendly competition, I had some "aha" moments.

The pictures have little to nothing to do with my points...

 When I get tired, it's harder to keep good technique.  I often revert to old habits.
Those old habits are buried underneath layers of all the new things I've learned and as I get tired, the layers start to peel away.  I start entering the water across my body, it gets hard to keep my elbow high and I don't glide as much with each pull.  Basically I start swimming how I used to swim  In life when I either try to do too much or don't get enough sleep, my life skills revert and get ugly too.  I sometimes see this in friends as well, who with good intentions, want to give their children lots of good skills and experiences but get too busy and stressed in the process.

Do it for as long as you can do it well, then take a break and come back to it refreshed.

I used to only do long sets in the pool.  In Ironman training, I would often swim 3,000 km straight sets.  This meant that I was swimming about 400 m with good technique and 2,600 m with progressively sloppier technique.  In swim club, we do smaller sets and switch up the strokes.  For example today the main set was 4 x 200 IM (2 x 50 drill, 50 kick, 50 swim).  It is a shorter, more focused effort on a specific skill and then you switch to something else before you get tired and sloppy.  This principle of variety and shorter focused effort applies to life.  In fact, that is how I like to clean.  I don't like to clean for long periods of time. I like to do it in shorter "bursts" here and there.

Best to learn it right the first time.  Bad habits are hard to break...but they can be broken, there is hope.
I LOVE the dolphin kick.  It's seriously so fun!  I've never tried it before and I'm glad I haven't because I came to it with a clean slate.  My coach showed me the proper motion on the first day of swim club.  (Originates in the core, really roll the hips down to the toes in a fluid motion.)  I picked it up quickly.  One reason for this is I had no bad habits to break.  In fact, I'm progressing quickly in the breast and fly for the same reason.  Freestyle is a lot harder because my stroke is so ingrained in me.  It's like someone trying to teach you to walk differently, when you've been walking a certain way for years.  Not easy.  But not impossible either.  I am learning and changing, teaching my brain and body new habits.  I felt this principle in our first year of marriage.  I felt that the habits that Adam and I set that year were going to be important.  We had a clean slate back then.  Fortunately in life and in swimming, there is still hope to break bad habits, it's just harder than setting them right the first time.

To be fast in the water, you need to be relaxed and take advantage of the glide and recovery.  
Sometimes I forget that and I think that if I give more effort, I'll go faster.  Only effective effort makes you faster.  Slugging it out like a panicked, drowning person isn't fast and it isn't effective.  I know this because in the races where I'm calm and relaxed and smooth, I always have a faster time.  Whereas when I start forcing it and stroking too fast, I tire and end up being slower because of sloppy effort.  Trouble is, I keep forgetting this principle.  Like this morning in the pool, I wanted to be fast and forgot to be smooth and relaxed.  In life, I am at my best when my efforts are used at things that help me move closer to my goals and when I take advantage of the "recovery" phases.  In my life, this looks like making sure I have some "down time" each day so that when I need to be on, I'm on.

Improvement comes little by little...sometimes it feels so meticulous it's ridiculous!
 I catch myself doubting these little improvements.  Like when my coach says, "roll a little more in the water", I think sometimes, "can a little more roll really make a difference?"  It takes a certain amount of trust too, to believe that small changes here and there will really add up.  I sometimes think, "oh, the way I'm doing it has gotten me this far, no need to change."  But that's not the way to improvement.  I need to let go of old ways and trust in higher wisdom.
I only improve as a swimmer, when I'm willing to make these LITTLE CHANGES.

Harvest Half Marathon

Saturday I ran in the Harvest Half Marathon in Calgary.  I finished in just under 1:52.  I'm happy with that, especially considering I ran with a sore knee for the last 6 km and had to stop and stretch twice.  I know I could have been under 1:50 if it weren't for the sore knee.

I was kind of emotional when I crossed the finish line.  So much relief and joy.  Races can be a little intense: the preparation, the pre-race nerves, the visualizing, the doubts that try to creep in, the pleasure of pushing and racing, the suffering as it gets difficult....there's just a lot of emotion there.  I really doubted my fitness this race because I chose not to make this race a priority in my life.  I wondered what I could really do on the course and felt concerned about my knee because it had been bothering me in training.  I knew this would be my last race of the season and wanted to end the season on a good note.

I started the race at the front and ended up racing around some great runners.  Fish Creek park is SO beautiful to run in this time of year.  When we were descending into the park from Evergreen and our view took in the golden rolling hills surrounding the valley, I commented to the runner beside me, "isn't it so beautiful!"  She looked at me like, "why are you talking to me?"  My recent approach with races has been to really soak in the scenery as much as I can.  It helps pull my mind out of the racing and just breath in the beauty.

One of my favorite parts of the race was having all my family cheer me on at SEVERAL points along the course.  THANK-YOU!!  My other favorite part was seeing this guy run barefoot next to me.  I wondered how he felt about his lack of footwear when we hit some rocky path

Here's some pics from the race:

Doing things backwards.

It seems like with my racing I do things a bit backwards.  I did a full Ironman before I did a half Ironman.  I did a marathon and half marathon within triathlons before I ever did the run portion on it's own.  So this Saturday I will be doing a half marathon.  And for the many people who have said to me, "oh a half, that will be so easy for you."  Remember people, this is my first half marathon.  It will be my first experience at how to properly pace myself at this distance.  It may sound odd to you but I actually LOVE running off the bike in triathlons.  My legs are warm, I'm already psyched and in race mode and I know I'm on the last leg of the triathlon.  So, pure running races are very odd for me.  I'd like to keep improving at them though.

I've had a bit of a struggle to figure out how to approach this race.  It's my last race of the season and I'm already kind of in "off season" mode, so it's been harder to get pumped up and eager for this one.  I've wondered if I should just take it easy and not go full out but then I remember that's not really in my nature.  I get a huge thrill out of giving everything I have to give in a race and immense satisfaction when I pace it well and am able to finish really strong.  I love tapping into my deeper emotional and physical reserves in racing.  It's exhilarating.  But right now I just feel like being more gentle with my body (part of that off season mentality.)  Just one more race body....you can do it!!!  Then you get a nice, long break until the spring.

Good news is this race is in my beloved Fish Creek Park.  This is a place of peace and serenity and untouched beauty to me.  It's a place that I've bonded with, after the many training hours I've spent down there.  I imagine that racing down there will feel very natural and familiar and comforting.

Screen time.

If you know me well, you probably know that the past year I've been making efforts to reduce my screen time.  I've done things like putting my laptop in the den, so that I have to go there with more purpose.  (I used to keep it in our great room and I'd sit on my couch when I used it.)  I made a rule for myself that I'm not allowed to be on my computer when Riley comes home from school.  I have a snack and a visit with him and give him my full attention.  I've come to realize that I just don't feel very well after I've been on the computer for a long stretch.  I feel more tired, kind of down and fuzzy-brained, almost as if the computer has sucked out a bit of my zest and happiness.  Weird hey!

So I will continue writing my blog but it might be a little more sparse and sporadic. 

Second day of swim club went really well.  I was literally the slowest person there.  My dad would normally take that blessed title but he couldn't make it to swim club today.  I really don't mind being the slowest.  It means I have the most room for improvement and will probably benefit most from being there.  I love being surrounded by faster swimmers because it's inspiring.  I'm not sure they all love having me there though. I'm kind of like the "difficult" child at school who takes all the teacher's time.  I ask a lot of questions and probably get more of our coach's attention than anyone else.  Oh well.  Too bad for them that they're not as slow as me.

I ran 21 km last Monday and it felt kinda brutal.  Our 10 day holiday really gave my fitness a kick in the pants.  It seems like my hamstrings and IT band tightened up and it's causing me a little knee pain.  Yep, I like to self-diagnose.  So I have 2 weeks to get my butt in gear and ready for the Harvest Half Marathon.  My fitness is not going to be at the same level it was for the Hawaii half Ironman.  At that race I ran the half in 1:55 after swimming 2 km and biking 90 km. Plus it was a tough, hilly course.  At the Harvest Half I think I'll be aiming to go sub 2 hours.  It's the off season for me, so I'm focusing more on swimming and strength training and well, having fun.

Swim Club

I started swim club today with my dad.  He sent me this picture last week, joking that he'd be wearing a pair of "skimpies" like this.  Those stripes are highly unflattering.

As we headed over, I felt grateful to be trying something new.  I had that blessed apprehension that comes when you put yourself outside of your comfort zone. I hope that as an adult, I am continually willing to do this.  I could see how my life could go either way: I could continue doing "comfortable" things that are familiar or I could swallow my pride and head out into the unknown for adventures.  Swim club is one of those unknown adventures to me.

I can already see that my swimming is going to improve by participating.  Our coach made us more aware of the 29 muscles in our core and the importance of firing these muscles to have correct body position.  I feel like that's going to be key for me.  The first Tuesday of every month (starting in October) we are going to do time trials of 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m.  For the first month, she's having us work more on our kick to strengthen up our legs.  Now, I have never really attempted the dolphin kick previously, except in jest but apparently this is one of our coach's favorites.  I told my dad as we drove home that from now on if I ever need a reason to smile I will picture in my mind him doing the dolphin kick.  He said he noticed a few lifeguards gather on the edge of the pool, possibly to observe his attempts.  He claimed to have a hard time making it fluid.

Joking aside though, I am really grateful to spend this time with my dad and glad that he's up for an adventure with me.  I'm looking forward to spending more time together. I'm also looking forward to seeing my swimming improve.  Look out triathlon world, I'm going to be coming out of the water quicker from now on.

Me and my dad before the chinook tri a few years ago.

Olympic fever.

Any of you see the Nike commercial during the Olympics??

Well, it entered my subconscious and I've been thinking a lot about greatness lately.  What is greatness?  How do I achieve it?  What does it look like in my life and sphere of influence?  These questions have really been weighing on me.

These are big and tricky questions.  I don't have the answers.  I've just been doing a lot of brainstorming. I've been reflecting on the races that Adam and I have completed this past year.  We now have the title, 'ironman' but does that title make us great?  Perhaps in that area of life but what about the other areas? Greatness as a mother, as a wife, as a friend etc.  Greatness in these areas becomes a little more vague.  There isn't a race to complete and the process is ongoing.  The results can't be measured by a finishing time.  So how are they measured??  Even in my ironman race, the finishing time was awful but I overcame so much to finish, qualifying for a measure of greatness because of the enormity of the task. Also, every athlete knows that greatness isn't achieved in the race, it's achieved in the training.  It's day in and day out, putting in the hours and the time and walking up to that starting line PREPARED.  That is a measure of greatness.

I think it's a case of "Olympic fever".  At least that's what I'm going to label it.  Me and Adam have been such hard core Olympic fans.  We normally watch zero television but we ordered cable just for the Olympics.  Yeah, we're that hard core.  Watching all these athletes compete awakened in me the dreams that I have of being a world class athlete.  But, even my ever encouraging parents had to be realistic when I asked them if they thought I could make it to the Olympics.  My dad smiled and said, "in what event?"  "In triathlon", I responded.  Out of love he resisted bursting out laughing, as we both know that I'm too old to start down that path.  So that left me with a feeling of "then what??"  If not the Olympics, where am I going to find my greatness?

I felt a measure of greatness here.

But that greatness would be empty and short-lived if that's the only area that I felt like I was experiencing greatness.  So here are some of my thoughts...

Greatness is sometimes visible to many, sometimes visible to only yourself and God.  Some of my greatest moments in life had no applause or approval.  My only reward for these quiet acts was a sense of peace and a comfort that I had done something good.

I think greatness involves planning with wisdom and then having the discipline to execute that plan.  Sometimes wise planning requires relying on the wisdom of someone else.  There's no way I could have prepared well for Ironman without a coach.  Other areas of life require relying on the wisdom of others too....like in motherhood.

Greatness sometimes involves doing something different or unusual and it something involves doing something very ordinary.  Some may see greatness in my races and athletic pursuits but I see greatness in a friend of mine who, from my perspective, excels as a mother.  Greatness can be ordinary, or not.

Greatness might have something to do with fulfilling a divine mission.  I believe that God has a plan for our lives. There will be callings that will come to each of us, some 'official', some very unofficial and personal.  When we embrace and fulfill these callings, that is greatness.  Some of these callings will only come into our lives as we have an open mind, are willing and are courageous.

I have wondered whether to continue with this blog.  The only reason I do it is to inspire and help others.  I have a journal and I enjoy writing in it, so that's not why I blog.  I try not to be a prideful boaster, so that's not why I blog.  I love people. I want to do my eensy weensy part to help others, so I figure a blog can help me do a bit of good in the world.  I want others to dream and set goals.  I do not think everyone should do triathlons though.  Two reasons for that:  then the sport would get more competitive (wink, wink) and I would have a hard time getting a top finish AND greatness looks different in every person's life.  What I hope for you is that you will take a look at your life, have a conversation (or many) with God and try to figure out what greatness means for you in your life at this time.  Be open to things you may not have considered.  Be willing to dream. Be willing to do things that are amazing.  Be willing to do things that are simple and receive no applause.  Be willing to be great.

Sometimes mom whines too.

In the past three Saturdays we have biked for over 150 kms as a family.
The first Saturday, we biked from Canmore to Lake Minnewanka to Banff and back.  Wow, the scenery was incredible.  The climb to Lake Minnewanka was challenging, as it was a pretty long uphill but then it was a tonne of fun going back down.  When we asked our kids what their favorite part of that ride was, they said it was the ice cream we had in Banff.  Not the world-class scenery, it was the ice cream.  All right.  At least they appreciate a good Mcdonald's cone.  It did taste pretty amazing but most things do when you've worked up an appetite by exercising outside.

The next Saturday we parked up at Pierce Estate park and biked over to the Stampede grounds, around behind the Talisman Centre and then down to the Glenmore Reservoir and back.  A good reminder that you really haven't seen the beauty that Calgary has to offer until you've hit the trail system.  It is so incredible.

This past Saturday we decided to start from our house and ride over to the Glenmore reservoir and back.  My legs were tired to start with because I had been doing weights all week and had run almost 2 hours the day before.  It was a 58 km loop and as you can imagine, Adam and I end up doing most of the work pulling the tag along bikes.  The kids do pedal but it's kind of a casual rotation of the crank, rather than a real driving push.

As we got closer to the turnaround point, Adam seemed like he wanted to go for the yellow jersey and I had a hard time keeping up.  This annoyed me somewhat, so I may or may not have done some whining about that when we stopped for our snack.  Then Adam noticed that Riley's front tooth was looking gray-ish.  It's been loose for weeks but he has resisted our attempts to let us pull it out because he wanted it to "fall out on it's own."  We've respected his agency, trying to give him control over his own body but we reminded him that the tooth needed to come out.  So he turned away, gave it a pull himself and out flew the tooth into a pile of gravel.  Hmmm....that's great, but now we need to actually find it.

After finding the little item, we headed back.  This time I was determined to win the jersey and asked Adam if Kyla and I could lead.  We make it back to the Ranche (25km) in an hour.  After another snack/washroom break we started on the last short leg home. Adam thought we should loop around to the north bridge but as we started that way I realized my legs were shot and I was officially a whiny momma.  Adam said, "if you stop whining I'll give you a foot rub when we get home."  He also reminded me of the quote by Jeffrey R Holland that I always remind him of when he's the whiny one.  "Nothing is so bad that whining won't make it worse."  My mature little four year old was also buoying me up from behind.  "Mom, don't worry, we're almost there.  Just enjoy it."

Sometimes mom whines too.

Oh and we've decided that we are now the touring Mexicans.

Adventures and Strength Training

Adam and I have had some great adventures this past year.  

Now I want to have some great adventures with my kids.  Even at their young age, I think there's so much we could do together as a family, especially if we think creatively.

So this Saturday we are going on a bike adventure.  There's a beautiful paved path that's about 60 km round trip.  We'll have two tandem style bikes, so that we do the majority of the work but it's still a team effort and a family accomplishment. When I presented the idea to the kids Kyla said, "I better do my morning stretches that day so I have enough energy." 

Here's our little athletes in a fun run they did a few weekends ago. 

This weekend I designed a Triathlon Strength Training Program.  It's based on some ideas from Mark Allen, who is an Ironman Champion.  This morning I went through the exercises and figured out my starting weight for each move.  I realized how much I love strength training.  It's been awhile, so I've forgotten the feeling of strain, effort and fatigue that come from it.  I loved how achy and tingly my body felt afterwards.  I also love that by incorporating strength training into my workouts I will be a faster triathlete.  One of my favorite moves is a hip flexor cable thrust.  Such an important muscle for both running and cycling, that often gets overlooked.

I am pretty sure that I'll be doing a half marathon in the fall.  We are just working out the details of our family vacation plans, so once we figure that out I will register.  Adam wants to join a master swim club and I figure I probably should do that, since the swim is my weakest of the three.  The thing is, I just love running so much that I'd rather focus on that.  Hmmm....what to do???

Magrath Olympic Tri

Driving over to the race I started to feel nervous (yep I still feel nervous for every race) and I thought, "why do I do this to myself".  It was 6AM and I could have been at home sleeping in my comfortable bed.  But instead I was about to put my body through a short and intense triathlon.  I must be such a succor for punishment.  Even well I thought that, I knew that as soon as I started racing I would be having the time of my life because I love to race.  Even though it hurts, it feels amazing to push yourself that way.

Putting on a wet suit is such an attractive experience:

The first lap of the swim was kind of rough.  People seemed more aggressive that usual.  I was kind of jostling for position with this guy next to me, when he stroked hard near my face and ripped off my goggles.  I grabbed them and thought to myself, "hmmm...I've been wondering what it would feel like to have your goggles ripped off.  That really wasn't so bad."  Then almost as soon as I got them back on, someone else punched me pretty hard in the head.  So I decided to look for some room and quit trying to jostle so much.  The second lap I got into a beautiful rythym.  It's kind of magical when that happens.  I felt relaxed.  My stroke was strong and smooth and my breathing was full and relaxed.  I was loving it.

Then I pulled strong on the last stretch and came up out of the water to the sound of the cheering crowds and noticed this tall man next to me who looked familiar.  "Is that Adam? No, it can't be? Wait, it is!"  So I shouted, "Ad!" a few times as we jogged over to transition and he looked around confused, thinking it was a spectator calling him.  Finally he saw me and looked stunned, saying nothing.  I was like, "are you ok?",  thinking something must have gone wrong.  He responded, "yep."  So I started thinking back to whether or not I had rounded all the buoys.  We said nothing else cause we were both trying to hurry but when I stopped at my transition spot Adam grabbed my wet suit zipper and pulled it down.  A nice gesture considering he was in a moment of great defeat at having his wife match him on the swim.  My swim time: 30:57.60.  Adam's swim time: 30:57.95.

It drizzled rain through the bike, so the conditions weren't ideal.  The first segment of the bike was an out and back, so I counted the women ahead of me.  There were 9.  I wanted to pass them all.  I pushed hard and could feel the lactic acid building in my legs, especially as I climbed the hills.  I didn't care though.  I was hoping my body would flush it out before the run but that didn't happen.  I finished the 40 km bike in 1 hour 10 min plus a couple minutes for transitions. 

After running the Raymond 10km race in an aerobic heart rate zone and experiencing how uncomfortable that is, I decided to race the first half of the run aerobically.  My legs felt like lead, so I quickly realized that because I had pushed hard on the bike, there was no chance of a sub 45min run.  I adjusted my goal to be a sub 50 min run.  I ended up making that goal (barely) and had an overall time of 2:32.56.  Wasn't quite what I had dreamed of but it's still a personal best for me.  I was the 5th overall female.

Adam finished in 2:19.46 and was 7th overall.

We are so grateful for all the races we've been able to do this past year.  It's been an amazing adventure and we're both really proud of each other and grateful for all the adventures!!

I LOVE having friends and family to race with.  Macey and Sheryl, you both did amazing!

One more triathlon.

This Saturday will be our last triathlon of the year.  I say that but I suppose it's possible that we'll end up doing another one.  It's the last one we have planned though.

So, that means we'll be holding nothing back and racing hard.  Why not??  I really love these local races.  They are so great for the confidence.  Last year I placed fourth out of the females.  This year I would love to win it, so we'll see.  I know I'm faster at all three sports than I was last year but I'm not sure if it will be enough to win.

I am excited to swim in a wet suit because it's been awhile.  I love how it puts your body in perfect position.  Flat on the water.  I am kind of hoping to hit my sub 45 min goal on the run but Adam thinks I'm crazy because he doesn't think I'll have the legs for it after swimming and biking hard.  We'll see.  I just find it fun to try and am really excited for this race.

My legs are still tight from Raymond, so I'm hoping that if I stretch twice/day and ice them a bit, they'll be ready to race hard Saturday!  Wish me luck.

Raymond 10 km race report.

Imagine the fastest pace that you can run.  Ok, now imagine holding that pace for 46 minutes and you'll basically understand what I did last Saturday.  It was kinda painful.  I may have said a few "mormon" swears under my breath during the race to express how I really felt.

You'd think that with the amount of races I've done I would know how important pacing is.  It's just that running a road race feels "new-ish" to me because I've been so absorbed by triathlons for the last 6 years.  Plus this is a really short distance for me, so it was tough to know what pace I could actually hold.

Only about 100 competitors felt like a small group.  We all lined up and I was chatting with a couple girls waiting when the gun shot took us by surprise.  I ran off and just kept with the top group, just behind "the girl in the blue top".  There was one other girl out front of us but she didn't look like much of a runner, so I figured she'd drop off soon enough and I didn't need to worry about her (I know, I'm judging...but I was right).  I looked down at my watch and was like, "oh man, we're holding a 4 min/km pace".  I didn't mean to start out that fast but I felt good at the time and wanted to stick with the lead females, so I held the pace.  At about 4km we ran up 'Temple Hill' holding a sub 5min/km pace and I totally killed my legs doing that.  I was still behind "the blue shirt girl" but another chick had managed to pass us both and was incrementally increasing her lead.

I wanted to take the female lead on the downhill and tried to will my legs to do so but they would not cooperate.  They felt like lead and didn't want to "fly" with me.  So we chugged. At least it felt like chugging but it was still a fast pace.  At about 8 km I had some good self talk.  "Ok Kim.  I know you have hardly anything left but remember Hawaii.  Remember what you did there.  Dig down deep and find some more.  You have to leave it all on this course or you're going to be disappointed with yourself."  So I found another gear and picked up my pace enough to finally pass the "blue shirt girl".  The lead female was only a couple hundred meters ahead of us, so in a spirit of camaraderie, I said to my blue-shirt friend, "come on, let's catch her."  I guess in my head I figured that if we worked at it together, it might be possible.  Apparently she didn't have another gear to find because I just carried on right past her.

I tried to catch that lead girl but realized that it just wasn't going to happen and decided that 2nd place female was pretty darn good.  I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure that 2nd place didn't become 3rd place.  I tried to sprint but it was probably really ugly and awkward.  Understandable, since I had basically been sprinting for 10 km.  At the finish line I asked Adam, "how did you do?" between gasps for air.  He showed me his watch which had been paused at 39 minutes and said, "good, I got second.  I just couldn't catch this old guy in front of me."  I was like, "sweet, we both got second."  It's really a good thing because we would have been a little jealous of the other person if one of us had won.  Maybe next year we'll take first.

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again.  Sometimes I stand outside my life and look at it with interest.  Two years ago when I was 'training' for the Magrath triathlon I only ran 10km twice because it just hurt so much to do it and I really just preferred the classes at the gym.  It has been a miracle to me to watch how with consistent training my fitness has improved exponentially.  It makes me believe in goals, growth, change and miracles.  I've realized that I have far less limits than I thought I had.  You do too!

The family reunion was a tonne of fun.  I love Adam's family like my own.  One highlight was the giant slip and slide...

Road race.

It's been so long since I've done a road race.  In fact, I can't remember the last one.  It must be the mid sun race I did several years ago.  So, this weekend I'm going to do a 10km road race in Raymond.

My goal is to finish in sub 45 min.


Not sure if I can do it but I love to set hard goals.

It's going to be strange to start a race in my runners and to not be getting wet first.  I've gotten so used to triathlons lately.  Adam wanted to finish in sub 40 min and win the thing but now he has a glute injury, so we're not sure if he'll be able to go hard.  We're hopeful though.  He's had a few injuries the past year, so he's learned how to quickly repair it through acupuncture, physio, icing and stretching.

Either way, we're both looking forward to this road race.  Small town races are so good for the ego because it's possible to place well.  We'll see what these legs can do....

UGLIEST Race Photos

Racing is not always an 'attractive' experience.  I thought it would be fun to share a bit of  the ugly side of racing with you guys.  I had a hard time ranking these because each picture has it's own unique and wonderful side of the ugly.  Hope you enjoy!

#8  Adam looking  kind of weird and wobbly crossing the finish line at Hawaii 70.3.

#7 The triathlon top fit Adam a little tighter back then...

#6 Didn't quite make it to the vehicle after finishing Ironman St George.

#5 Suffering in the marathon of Ironman Cozumel.

#4 What's with the arm??  

#3 That's a pretty amazing sprinting face!

#2 You always want your finisher picture to be a special one that you can you can put in a frame.  Didn't happen in Hawaii.  I have some sweet fly away hairs but Adam really out did himself with the unzipped top and the smeared race number.  Nice!

#1 And the winner is....

Thank you Silvana for capturing this special moment!!  Look closely and you'll notice the evidence that I have a young baby who has not been nursed on her regular schedule.  A definite winner!!

Hawaii Half Ironman

We arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon, so we had a few days to prepare for the race on Saturday.  Our first day there, we drove the bike course and were both surprised at the hills.  We wondered, "are there no flat roads here or what?"  It was kind of intimidating.  Keep in mind, a year ago I was a brutal hill rider.  It had a lot to do with the fact that I really didn't know how to change gears smoothly and even ended up falling off my bike a couple times going uphill, in my training for Ironman Cozumel.  We chose to do Cozumel, in part because it was flat.  So my choice to race Hawaii was a choice to do something hard and far out of my comfort zone.

Thankfully the training I've done on hills recently has helped a lot because when we actually got out and rode the race course, it wasn't so bad.  But we both figured we were going to be slower than we had planned.  Slow but steady.

We couldn't check out the run course because it's located on the Fairmont golf course.  We swam at Hapuna Beach where the swim was located.  Everything I experience is related to Cozumel because that's my most recent race.  So the water in Hawaii was a little colder but there was more to see on the ocean floor (beautiful fish and coral) and best of all, NO JELLYFISH!!

After the swim, we'll be running up a nice little hill in our bare feet to get to our bikes:

I love the events before the race because it's so great to rub shoulders with like minded people.  People who love the same sport as us and are passionate about health and fitness.  The athlete meeting began with the Fairmont manager quieting the crowds by blowing into this shellfish horn of sorts.  Then he spoke a welcome to us in the local dialect.  Throughout the meeting we were reminded of the culture of Hawaii where respect and love of the land is vital.  The race director explained that Ironman champion Mark Allen learned that when you give to Hawaii, it gives back to you.  Mark went out of his way to give to the land and people of Hawaii and only then did he start having success racing there.
He said, you are going to suffer tomorrow like you may not have ever suffered before but don't blame your suffering on the volunteers.  He also let us know that the conditions on race day were going to be the worst they had ever had for a race there.  There would be 50 km/hr winds and it was going to be hot!  Also, just to make sure we were prepared for the next day, he let us know that the run course was the hardest in the Ironman 70.3 circuit.  I kept thinking, "wow it sounds like this is going to be a tough course but I just did a full ironman last fall, so it really can't be THAT hard."

I may have bought a few things at the expo.

Setting up our swim to bike transition:

My tradition for a couple of years has been to eat ice cream the day before a race.  I've found I have insane amounts of energy the day after I eat ice cream :)

We prepared all our bottles of electrolyte drink the day before.  I froze mine overnight and they were still warm by the time I started drinking them on the bike.

Race morning I woke up naturally at 3am.  Easy to do since we were staying on Calgary time and had gone to bed at 7pm the night before.  I ate (really drank) my liquid diet breakfast of milk with a chocolate powder I had brought from home.  Going liquid on race day was part of my plan to avoid the GI issues I had at Cozumel.

We drove to athlete parking, caught the shuttle over and arrived at transition at 5:30am.  I loved being there early with plenty of time to set up our bikes, visit the port o potties, get body marked and watch the pro swim start.  The sun wasn't up yet and it was peaceful and quiet at transition, as not many athletes had arrived yet.  Adam filled our bike tires and then being a nice guy, filled the tires for three other ladies who were having some trouble with theirs.

The Swim (2.1 km)

After the horn for the pro start we waded out into the water to find a position among the 1,600 athletes.  There was a thick group up front and then the majority of people were spread out into a large area along the beach.  At first we stood near the middle but then Adam decided we should move up to just behind the thick group of starters.  We had planned that he would 'clear the way' for me again so we wanted to start together.  Before I really felt 'ready' the cannon sounded and Adam said, "ready??" and I said, "yep" and off we went.  We were next to each other and I didn't even get in behind him before getting swarmed by everyone.  It was a crowded mass rush to that first buoy.  Lots of contact this time, mostly because we started so close to the front.  In fact, the whole swim I had people close to me on both sides and felt like I was constantly in a crowd.

Rounding the first buoy was crowded, as people slowed to round the buoy as tight as possible.  Similar with the second buoy.  Then my goggles fogged up and I couldn't see a thing.  (Apparently I rinsed out the ani-fog solution a little too much.)  I stopped swimming and took off my goggles to sight the buoy but by this point the current had picked up so much that I couldn't see a buoy because of the crashing water.  A lady next to me was doing the same thing and I asked, "can you see the buoy?".  She responded, "no!"  So I put my goggles back on and tried to swim the direction of the crowd.  It was so unnerving to swim without being able to sight the buoys at all. I just prayed that I would stay on course and wouldn't get pulled out of the race for missing a buoy.  I stopped a couple more times on that long stretch to take off my goggles and try to sight, without any success.  Finally I could see a big red buoy and knew I was still on course.

I love the feeling of touching the ground again after a long swim.  Running across the sand I could see a big timer that said 52 minutes.  I was disappointed but I didn't know at the time that it was the pro time and my time was 49 minutes, which is at least a little better but still slower than what I'd hoped for.  Although, perhaps my time was great for how far I went (I'm sure I went quite a bit further than 2km, since I couldn't sight at all.)

A quick rinse off in the shower and then I ran up the hill to my bike. I noticed the lady next to me spraying herself with sunscreen.  I thought, "oh crap I totally forgot to put sunscreen on at the aid station at the bottom of the hill!"  So I asked if I could use some and she said, "definitely, you have fair skin like me!"  Such a tender mercy that she was there because the little spot on my hand I missed spraying was badly burnt and that would have been my whole body if that lady hadn't been there.

The Bike (90 km)

An awkward part about this course is the bike start is on a steep uphill.  Tricky because it's hard to clip into pedals and get going on an uphill.  There were volunteers giving people 'push starts' so I took mine and off I went.  I decided not to wear a heart rate monitor this race and to go by perceived exertion.  So my plan was to keep it at about a 6 on a scale of 1-10, so that I could save my legs for the run.  This course is the difficult half of the Ironman World Championship Course.  It was constant hills and extremely windy.  I even saw a girl who had just gotten blown off her bike by the wind gusts.  When I looked ahead it seemed like everyone was riding at a 45 degree angle.  I plugged away at the hills, tried to stay in the right heart rate zone and I actually really enjoyed myself.  There were some highlights.

One was that as I was cycling along all of a sudden I saw someone coming the opposite direction (it's an out and back course.)  I looked closely and saw "Livestrong" on his gear and realized it was Lance!  So cool to be racing in the same race as him.  Then awhile later I heard the words, "hey Kimmy!", as Adam passed going the opposite direction.  I love racing with Adam, even though we don't technically race together, we are still a team of sorts.  One of my favorite racing moments was just after the turnaround at Hawi, there was a big, long downhill stretch coming back.  I didn't need any more water at that point so I passed by a bunch of people breaking at the aid station there and sprinted to pick up speed for the hill.  It was so fun flying down that hill for a few kms.

The winds kept picking up speed and were random and gusty, so I spent the second half of the race in what I'll call "half aero".  One hand resting in aero to stay low and the other on my handlebar to maintain control of the bike and be prepared for the gusts.  It worked well!  My nutrition was great.  I've learned from Cozumel.  I made sure I drank all of electrolyte drink this time (600 calories) and took two gels (200 calories).  I didn't need to worry about taking in as many calories/hr this race because I've been training my body to be metabolically efficient and use more fat for fuel.  Heading into the Fairmont resort there were lots of crowds cheering and I felt strong and ready to kill it on the run.

The Run (21 km)

Running is my strongest of the three sports, so I was excited to see what I could do.  I started at an easy pace because I knew if I went anaerobic too quickly then I would put myself at risk for GI distress.  So I kept it between a 5:00/km - 5:30/km pace for the first half an hour.  I had absolutely no issues and did not have to spend any time in the port o potty.  Hooray!!  Unfortunately I realized about a km into the race that I totally forgot my salt pills in my transition bag.  Dang it!  I hoped I would be ok without them, especially since I had kept my electrolytes so topped up on the bike and it was half the distance of the full in Cozumel.

The course was unique and beautiful as it weaved all around the golf course.  After a little while I started passing people quite a bit so I decided that to pass the time and to get my mind off the numbers on my watch I would count how many people I passed and try to get to 50.  I made it to 50 and thought, "hmmm....I wonder if I could make it to 100."  This little mental game continued through the race and helped me stay positive and keep a relaxed but fast pace until I passed almost 200 people.

I must say it felt amazing to be picking up my pace and passing so many on the hot, hilly little course.  I learned from Cozumel how much ice helps with keeping cool so at every aid station I grabbed 2-3 cups of ice.  One down the shorts and one down the sports bra and then I'd hold some in my hands and let some melt in my mouth.  I also made sure I got a few calories by drinking a cup of perform at each aid station and then I had a couple gels near the end of the race to give me a boost.

The last 6 kms or so of the course is infamous because it's an out and back on the black lava fields.  The out is downhill and the way back is uphill.  Me and Adam planned that this is where we would lay it all out there because everyone else would be struggling and slowing up.  So I picked up my pace and gave it everything I had.  I had been trying the whole race to work with the elements (the water, the wind, the ground).  With the wind at my back on this final uphill stretch I really allowed it to push me up that hill and felt like I was flying.  With the field being mostly men, I loved seeing a woman out there and I encouraged each female I passed to "finish strong, you're almost there."  To which a few responded, "holy crap, you're flying".  It felt amazing.

After cresting the hill, it was just one more mile through the golf course to the finish line.  I didn't have much in my tank at this point and this it where I had to dig into the mental reserves to keep my pace strong and finish this thing off.  It was tough on the little rollers and I kept looking at my watch and thinking, "aren't I there yet?"  Then I decided to stop looking at my watch and to just pass ten more people and by then I would be there.  So I passed ten but I wasn't there so I said to myself, "just pass ten more and I'm sure you'll be there."  So I started counting it down, "one, two, three...." then finally the finish line was in sight and I tried to muster up some sort of a sprint but from the finish line pictures it looks more to me like an awkward, gimpy, knock kneed kind of a run.

I pumped my fist in the air and a thrill went through me, as I knew that I had left it all out there on the course and was so proud of what I'd just done.  Adam was there for a big hug and he was like, "wow you did great?"   My time was 6:15 and he had finished in 5:25.  He thought I'd be coming in a bit later so he had just barely showed up at the finish line.  A little different experience from Cozumel where he waited for hours for me at the finish.  He said, "come here, I've got a spot in the shade for you."  I was teary as we walked over and felt so grateful for the race.  I've come to humbly realize that no race is guaranteed.  Even when you do all you can to prepare, there are always things out of your control.  This time there were difficult conditions with the choppy water, the wind, the hills and the heat but somehow it all worked for me this time.  I am grateful for that and do not take it for granted.

We went and sat in the shade next to two older men.  I rambled on and on about the details on the race to Adam and he shared details of his race.  The two men seemed like they were in a different zone, as they were both tired out and grieving a difficult bike and run.  I know how that feels too.

We both got a massage, ate a chicken burger and some chips, drank lots of water, showered off and then got front row seats for the awards ceremony where Lance Armstrong received his first place award.  He's a hero of mine and obviously of many others.  He got rushed by the crowd for pictures and autographs. It's constantly amazing to me to learn what the human body is capable of.  Lance Armstrong can go from excelling in cycling to excelling in triathlon within a matter of a couple of years.  I can go from having a hard time running 10 kms last year to now running a half marathon in 1 hour 55 minutes.  It's truly amazing.  
If you're reading this, then I hope you can imagine what you are capable of doing in the next few years and I encourage you to try it!!

Here's our numbers:

CONGRATULATIONS, KIM, ON YOUR FINISH!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 59

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	49:56	49:56	2:35/100m	59	1171	360

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 36

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
4.8 mi	4.8 mi	15:26	1:11:26	18.66 mi/h
12.8 mi	8 mi	32:31	1:43:57	14.76 mi/h
30 mi	17.2 mi	1:11:31	2:55:28	14.43 mi/h
48 mi	18 mi	47:37	3:43:05	22.68 mi/h
56 mi	8 mi	33:46	4:16:51	14.22 mi/h
Total	56 mi	3:20:51	4:16:51	16.73 mi/h	36	977	249

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 27

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
3.3 mi	3.3 mi	29:02	4:48:20	8:47/mi
7.2 mi	3.9 mi	38:55	5:27:15	9:58/mi
10 mi	2.8 mi	23:11	5:50:26	8:16/mi
13.1 mi	3.1 mi	24:09	6:14:35	7:47/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:55:17	6:14:35	8:48/mi	27	683	165

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:04
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	2:27

CONGRATULATIONS, ADAM, ON YOUR FINISH!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 68

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	41:48	41:48	2:09/100m	68	751	529

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 56

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
4.8 mi	4.8 mi	16:08	1:04:00	17.85 mi/h
12.8 mi	8 mi	28:08	1:32:08	17.06 mi/h
30 mi	17.2 mi	57:52	2:30:00	17.83 mi/h
48 mi	18 mi	41:58	3:11:58	25.73 mi/h
56 mi	8 mi	28:39	3:40:37	16.75 mi/h
Total	56 mi	2:52:45	3:40:37	19.45 mi/h	56	461	372

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 34

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
3.3 mi	3.3 mi	23:58	4:07:29	7:15/mi
7.2 mi	3.9 mi	33:08	4:40:37	8:29/mi
10 mi	2.8 mi	21:14	5:01:51	7:35/mi
13.1 mi	3.1 mi	22:35	5:24:26	7:17/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:40:55	5:24:26	7:42/mi	34	269	218

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:04
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	2:54