Reflections on 2014

Well I am pretty happy with what I accomplished this year.  It was a year off Ironman racing-so I was focused more on speed than endurance.  Also added some bike racing into my schedule and really had fun with that.  From a race accomplishments here are the highlights:

XTerra:

• Canadian National Champion
• 11^th at World Championships 
• Overall Woman at XTerra PDX

Olympic Distance Tri:   

•  9^th World Championships
• Overall Master at Portland Tri

Sprint Triathlon:  9^th World Champs.

 

70.3 Triathlon:   

• Calgary 70.3 5^th – with fastest swim and bike split for my AG.  Set a PR by 5  min  with a horrible run.
• St George 70.3 7^th AG

OBRA Road Race State Champ.:  2^nd 50+

Cross season is still going but I am going to end up with my highest placing in the series since I started racing 4 years ago

So—I have a lot to be happy about.  I also learned a lot and have some things to apply going forward.  Here is what I learned this year:

1. I like racing - -what I mean by this is I am happier if I get out to a bunch of races rather than picking one or two races race for the year and training focused on them.  It is tougher to schedule and still be able to peak for the important races and for the C races you have to make sure that you put the right amount of effort into them so that you don’t screw up your training plan.  I also like trying new races.  We kind of got stuck in a rut for a few years and were doing the same races -- those races are great, but it was a great adventure this year doing mostly new races!
2.  Bike racing is fun.  I added some bike road racing into my schedule - -it was a lot of fun and a great workout.  I will continue to include bike racing in my schedule going forward.
   
3. Strength training is really important as you get older.  In 2013 I made a big mistake and did not keep my strength training up towards the latter portion of the race season (2 Ironmans) and I really paid for it this year.  Let’s just say I had a chain reaction of several events caused by lack of core strength.  I ended up with tendonitis in my foot and have not been able to run much for most of this year.  I was religious with my strength training this year and am using off season to get rid of the last bit of the tendonitis.  I want to have a healthy 2015 
4.  Nutrition issues can sneak up on you.  I had issues caused by incorrect nutrition right before my biggest race of the year (XTerra Worlds).  They could have been avoided—but I was not paying close enough attention to my electrolyte intake in the weeks right before the race (high intensity and also trying to heat acclimate) and this caused me to almost not be able to start the race.  It certainly compromised my performance. 
5.  I need to figure out how to peak better.  I did a bike performance at the Portland Tri—3 weeks after Olympic Distance World Championships –on legs tired from an entire build week and a hard brick the day before that was about 15W higher average power than I did at the World Championships (it was actually my highest average power ever for an Oly tri)
6. I can push a lot harder than I thought I could.  This mostly applies to biking since I couldn’t run much this year.  But hope to apply it to my running next year.  Yes, it hurts – get used to it.

What I really love about this sport it the continual learning process.  This year was the 30^th year for me doing triathlon – so hundreds of races later, I find that I still have a lot to learn.  I also feel that in the past couple of years I have embraced the joy of this lifestyle and racing.  When I was younger, in pretty much every race I did I would always ask myself “Why am I doing this?  It’s hard, it hurts.”  Somehow, I always got past that and once the race was over that moment was forgotten and I went on to the next event.   I have noticed the absence of that question over that last couple of years – I look at each race as a gift and a celebration – regardless of whether it is going well or not—there is always something to be learned and there are always others to help and encourage—just doing that is enough to get me to the start line.  I’ve also spent more time in the past few years mentoring new athletes—I think this is where the joy comes from.  Watching people transform their lives is so rewarding and being part of that is the best gift ever.

What will 2015 bring?  Hopefully I will be able to apply what I learned this year and continue to grow as an athlete.  I will be racing Ironman again next year-at least one, potentially 2.  It will be fun to see what the year of speed will do for my long course racing.

Of course it actually takes a team to do all this.  I want first of all thank Don for being the most wonderful husband in the world and putting up with all this in addition to being the world’s best Sherpa and keeping all my bikes in top working order.  Special thanks to Kirk Whiteman of Tempo Cycling  who not only kicks my ass but has shown me I can do more than I ever thought I could.  Also thanks to Jarod Warf at Adapt Training for keeping me strong,  Altra Running for keeping my feet happy and Athletes Lounge for gear and sponsoring the worlds best cycling team!

Xterra Worlds Race Report

So I’m going to start my race report a week and a half before race day.  I had a business trip to Germany the week before going to Hawaii—leaving Monday and getting home Friday.  My trips to Germany are usually really packed and I don’t get much time to workout.  First time I got a chance to go out for a run was Thursday morning. I set out on my run and about a mile in my right quad totally cramps up – I stop to walk it off but have a horrible feeling about what is going on.  I give it a rub, walk a bit more - -but nothing loosens it up.  I turn around for the painful walk back to the hotel.  A couple hours later it finally starts to loosen back up.  On Friday flying back, walking quickly through the airport causes more cramps.  Taking the dogs for a walk on the weekend—you guessed it, more cramping.  I was supposed to do a cyclocross race on the Sunday but know that I won’t even get through the warm up without a cramp.

I’ve had this before - -first time in my late 20’s—and until I figured out what it was (with the doctors help) I was sidelined from doing any exercise for a couple months.  These particular cramps are mainly caused by a Magnesium deficiency.  I am a heavy sweater and I guess my body also has trouble absorbing this mineral.  Since then I have always had to take supplements and watch my diet.  I have gone through several bouts of this cramping over the last 25 years.  The solution of course is to get my Mg up –but that takes time—usually a couple weeks to get the cramps to go away—or a visit to my naturopath for an IV of Mg and other vitamins.  On Sunday, Don urged me to try to contact my doctor on the off chance that she could give me an IV before our plane left at noon on Monday—it was a long shot.  She was great—responding to my message on a Sunday—but unfortunately she was in New Orleans at a conference.  The best she could suggest was to up my Mg supplements to taking 200mg every 2 hrs of a highly absorbable for of Magnesium called Magnesium Glycinate (just for reference the daily recommended dose for Mg is 400 mg). So we left for Hawaii on Monday unsure if I would even be able to race.

Tuesday we went for a swim in the ocean—getting past the shore break was enough to cause my legs to cramp—I treaded water for a few minutes before attempting to get back through the surf to the beach and limped back home – I was not a very fun person to be on vacation with—this was my A race for the year and I might not even get to start – saying I was in a beautiful place on vacation sounded good - -but not really what I wanted.  Wednesday we decided to go for an easy bike ride along the coast - -so no hills—I felt like an old lady—because that is the speed we were going—the legs were happy to be moving and mentally it really helped to be doing anything.  We managed to get the 10 miles down to Lahaina without my legs cramping—a few twings but they didn’t actually cramp.   We walked around Lahaina and checked out the shops and had a wonderful Oceanside lunch.  After lunch we got back on the bikes and rode home—I pushed just a bit harder on the way home (still nothing like normal riding) to see how they were—made it home soaked-it rained really hard on us for most of the ride home-but no cramps.  This was my first indication that my body was starting to get some Mg back - -still not ready to race but enough that I was hopeful I could make it to the start line.

Fast forward to Sunday—hopeful that I can crank the effort up enough to at least finish the race.  Given the nature of these cramps (the fact the once the cramp starts it lasts for 1-2 hrs) I know that getting one is race ending I have to set a very conservative race strategy – plan is to take it easy on the first half of the bike (which contains the largest portion of the 3000 ft of climbing they have crammed into 20 miles), push it a bit more for the 2^nd half and then keep the entire run pretty controlled - -for cramping running down is just as hard on your quads as running up.  So I know this will not be an ‘A’ race effort – but I really want to finish.

Race morning seems pretty typical on DT Flemming Beach—it’s more of a surfing beach than a swimming beach and the waves are not disappointing.  The race director promises that they will start us when there is not a large set of waves coming in—the plan was Pro’s at 9, men at 9:02 and women at 9:04—subject to the size of the waves.  I am glad I was not a guy as they did not seem to give them mercy and the cannon goes off for them with some pretty large breakers 

The women get a surprise start—we are standing there thinking we have about a minute to go—when boom, the cannon goes off.  Upside—they timed it so we were not running into a wall of water.  I still did not execute getting past the surf very well and got pushed back a bit after I got through the first set of waves.  Eventually I got going - -man was the water rough—it was not the smoother swells that you often get once past the shorebreak—it felt like you were being beaten up the entire swim.  There was also a pretty strong current so you had to adjust your sighting so that you did not get dragged to far past the turn buoy.  Don said that the men’s wave swam a huge C out to the buoy as they got dragged down the coast.  Because of the closer wave start, it didn’t take long before I also had to navigate around the obstacle of the slower men swimmers. 

 

  The swim course is an M—meaning you have to get our halfway through the swim and do a little beach run and then into the second half - -meaning you get the joy of going in through the shore break and out of the water onto the beach twice in the race.  Eventually I got space to swim and settled into as much of a rythmn as I could given that the entire swim felt like you were in a washing machine.  I get out of the water and look at my watch—31 minutes—probably the slowest 1500 I have ever swum (my usual 1500 OWS time is about 24 minutes)—but then these were not your typical swim conditions.

I make the long uphill run to transition and grab my bike.  Have a decent transition for an XTerra race (so much more to do than for a road tri).  I jump on my bike at the mount line and start on the adventure.  This race is really about the bike—on this course it takes a disproportionate amount of the time.  The first 6 miles are pretty much uphill – ending up at about 1500 ft—and some beautiful views of the ocean and Molokai.  Some of the climbs are really steep and at this point there is a lot of traffic—so as soon as somebody ahead of you loses it—everybody has to get off and walk.  I won’t say that I was capable of riding all of the hills—but there were a couple that I know I could ride that I was forced to walk because of people in front of me falling.  On one steep hill the guy beside me fell over into me- - pushing me off the trail into a barbed wire fence.  Not horrible but there is definitely some blood running down my arm for the rest of the race.  The slick course conditions that occurred earlier in the week from the hurricane the weekend before are mostly gone - -there were a couple of low spots with some pretty good puddles (6-8” deep) but the rest of the course was just damp – much better than the dusty conditions that can occur here—especially for the long downhills on the second half.  As we start the second half of the course—with more down than up I start to increase my effort a bit—without the steep climbs there is less chance of cramping.  My friend Ron catches me – he is a great descender—so I try to follow him the best I can.  Now I am starting to pass quite a few people.  The rest of the ride is really fun—a good mix of ups and downs and twisty single track.  Not my fastest bike ever—2:36:54

After a quick transition I’m headed out on the run – basically a 3 miles up hill (about 1000 ft) followed by a 3 mile downhill—with a couple of nasty surprises thrown in.  Like the bike I take it conservatively, walking up the steep sections, running the rest of the time. Mile 3 is the top of the climb—we run around a small pond and then start the winding trail back down—most of it is fun flowy twisty trail with reasonable footing - -there are a few steep rocky/rooty sections that you need to slow down on and be careful.  There are also several downed trees that require scrambling over or under.  There is one paved section near the end - -but there is no celebration for easy footing—it is so steep that everybody ends up walking it—but we know that the end is near—a short run down an exposed ridge with some decent views and then down—to the beach.  So just when your whole body is screaming that its ready to be done—you pop out onto the beach - -and are faced with about ¼ mile across it before the short uphill run to the finish line – and they don’t let you choose your line (i.e. any sane person would run in the hard damp sand at the waters edge), we have to run the whole way in the deep loose sand.  Despite not pushing super hard—was was definitely hot and ready to stop by the time I got to the finish line.  Run: 1:12:20  For a total time of 4:21:36 And 11^th place.  Given how the week started I am very happy with the result.  

This is a beautiful but extremely challenging race—The race director definitely has it nailed—everything was executed great—from packet pick up to pre and post race dinners that actually have really good food (you would hope so with the Ritz Carlton catering) to the actual execution of the race.  The sense of community of the racers is also much higher than for road triathlons.  I will be back again, healthy, so that I can really test myself against this course.

Musings on Marathon Swimming

Warning:  I have no idea where this post is going to end up.  I have had thoughts rolling around in my head all week about last weekend.  For those of you that haven’t been paying attention—I was crew for a good friend of mine, David Livengood as he attempted to complete his triple crown of marathon swimming by completing MIMS (Manhattan Island Marathon Swim)—he as previously swam both the English Channel and Catalina Channel – and on Saturday became the 89^th person ever to complete all three swims.

Marathon swimming is a little different than some of the other ultra-type events – those you can do unsupported (though may choose not to).  But I don’t think that anybody ever completes a marathon swim unsupported—you are much more dependent on your crew than in most of the other endeavors.  

 Your mission as the swimmer is to just keep swimming and follow the kayak where ever it goes.  Meanwhile the crew (in this case we were 2 kayaks, motor boat with driver, chief crew, communications person and official observer) spend the entire time making sure the swimmer is safe, taking the best course (in the case of a swim with strong currents this is super important), properly fed, reporting to the outside world what is going on and occasionally doing a little sight-seeing.  It is surprising how much time all of this takes—there was actually not much time left for sight-seeing at all.  I have now participated in a marathon swim from the perspective of a kayaker.  We were on the water for a total of about 10.5 hours.  David took 9:54 for the swim but we were on the water before the start due to the logistics of swimmers, boats and kayaks around Manhattan.  

  

What did I learn from being a kayaker? 

1. The borrowed sit on top kayaks that the event organizer provides are definitely not comfortable—especially for over 10 hours straight.  
2. 10 hours passes surprisingly quickly when focusing on all of the jobs noted above. 
3. There is definitely a lot of teamwork involved in getting your swimmer safely around the island.  David picked a great crew—and Darrell was a great leader.   
4. The world continues to rock up and down for quite a few hours after you get out of the kayak.

Thinking about the swim—I know the longest I have swam in open water is about 3 miles—or about 1.5 hours—I have to give all marathon swimmers a lot of credit for the mental aspects of swimming that long-I think that that part is actually harder than the physical act of swimming for that long.  Unlike other ultra-sports the time is not spend looking at incredible scenery (or even boring scenery)—you are heads down ,in likely brown water, that you can only see a couple feet in front of you.  Your entire interaction with people during the swim is for about 20-30 seconds every 30 minutes when you stop to feed.  And that interaction is usually about how you are feeling, any adjustments to pacing, food etc.

 

My best memory of the swim is from somewhere in the 7-8 hr. mark.  We were out on the Hudson River—it was still fairly calm (it got really choppy as we went further south) and David had a feeding.  He pops his head up and announces to us:  “I’m having fun!   Are you having fun?”  downs his Perpetum and then right back at it.  Even though our butts were extremely sore by that point, we answered the question correctly.

Where is this leading?  I’m not sure.  I’m incredibly proud of what David has accomplished.  Does it make me want to become a marathon swimmer?  Not so sure.  Obviously I spend a lot of time pushing myself to limits—but somehow changing sports part way through seems to do a reset on your body and it’s like starting all over - - doing one sport for a really long time?  Hmm.  I guess it’s not just swimming either as I really have never done a really long bike or a really long run---looking at all those communities and many of my friends that do ultra-distance racing makes what I do seem just a little less crazy somehow.

IM 70.3 St George Race Report

So life has been a whirl for the past several months.  Professionally, things blew up and I have been beyond busy.  I have managed to get most of my training in -- but everything else has suffered.  I am not going to use this to whine about work -- I see a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully things will return to somewhat normal in the next month.  I am glad I have not been trying to train for an Ironman through this.  I also need to apologize to my family for the times I have gotten a little testy in the past few months.

In the midst of all this IM St George came.  We were able to get down there, not just for the race but a few extra days to enjoy the area.  This was an early season race for me and I know my fitness is not where it will be as we move into the summer.  I have also had some niggly injuries that have prevented me from getting in the run training that I was looking for.  So going into the race I had expectations of a good swim and bike and a not so fast run--I just don't have the miles in to do a decent half marathon.

Race day managed to hit a short hot streak--the days leading up to the race and just after the race, the highs were comfortably in the mid 70's -- but that would be make the race to easy so mother nature scheduled 93 for race day.  Obviously there were a lot of us that have not had a single day of heat acclimatization going into the race.  Oh well--just adjust the race plan to accomodate the heat.
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The day before the race I was finally able to meet up with a friend that I had never met in person -- we have been online friends for probably 5 years now but had never managed to be in the same location at the same time.  It was wonderful to finally be able to put the real face to the name

Race day we were graced with a beautiful morning and calm waters at Sand Hollow reservoir.  There were a ton of waves for starting and I was in the last one -- 1 hour and 8 minutes after the first wave - -that is a long time to wait for your race start.  Hung out with friends and watched the pros.  My start time finally came.  We got into the water and swam the 100 or so m out to the start line.  Nobody had much time to hang around waiting for the start since they don't let you into the water until the wave before goes off and there are only 3 minutes between waves -- I know many of the slower swimmers did not even make it to the start line before the gun went off.  It was a beautiful swim - -the field was spread out so there were no crowding issues, the water was a great temperature (about 64) and the rocks around the resevoir were beautiful.  I settled into a comfortable stroke and just swam my race.  I came out of the water in 33:07 - -which I am happy with for this time of year.  Transition went smoothly and I was off on my bike.

The St George bike course is tough.  It is also super beautiful so that helps for you to forget that there is pretty much nothing flat on the entire course.  None of the hills are steep -- they just keep coming.  I was aiming to do this as a very controlled race so I spent the entire ride checking my power meter.  This of course means that I got passed a lot going up the hills and then passed a lot of people on the down hills as I tried to keep my power in a fairly narrow range.  Don had changed my rear cluster so I had 32 teeth on the back--enough to be able to spin and keep my power in range on all the hills.  The heat was not too bad on the bike since it was still early enough--though I did start to feel it on the final 8 mile climb up Snow Canyon (very beautiful).  Rolled into transition at 2:55 with my legs feeling quite fresh.  I will definitely be able to up my power target for the next race. 

So now the fun begins--the run at St George is no joke.  There is also nowhere flat on the run course--and in fact some pretty big hills that are also reasonably steep.  As I mentioned before I was pretty sure that this was not going to be my fastest half marathon due to lack of run training--and I was right.  I ran out of transition and aimed to set myself at a sustainable pace--also aware of the heat.  The first couple miles are up--at a reasonable grade and I was able to do an ok pace for that.  At about mile 2 you make a right hand turn--and the hill gets quite steep.  At this point I opted to powerwalk the hill - -most people around me had made the same choice.  Once you get to the top at about mile 3 the course settles into rolling hills--no flat.  They did a great job of having frequent aid stations, well stocked for a hot day--lots of sponges and ice.  I made my way to the turn around point running the whole way--just walking the aid stations.  On the way back there was one steeper hill that I chose to walk.  Then it was the 3 miles down back to the finish line.  Down is maybe easier on your aerobic system but harder on the muscles.  At this point I could feel the lack of run miles and just could not get the turn over on the legs to get any good speed on the downhill.  I paid for that--as I did the final 400m into the finish line I was passed by not 1 but 2 women in my age group--the second on passed me about 100m before the finish line--it took me a second for it to register and then decide that I  should not give up and tried to sprint to take her - -I came up about 2m short.  This put me in 7th place.  My run time was 2:03--which I am actually happy with given the hills, heat and training.

Overall I was happy with my race - -I stuck with my plan, paced it well and dealt with the heat.  I know what I need to focus on with my training before the next 1/2 IM at the end of July and will be ready to push that one much harder.

Don and I took the opportunity to enjoy southern Utah for a few days after the race.  Don had acted as my tri-bike transport and drove down (while I flew) so we were able to also bring our mountain bikes.  The day after the race we headed out to a great area of trails called Gooseberry Mesa.  I knew that I was going to be tired -- this trail is pretty flat with just small climbs and lots of fun stuff--its a mixture of desert dirt trail and slickrock.  We had a ton of fun

On Monday we headed to Zion National Park.  We started with a plan to hike a couple of the shorter trails to some pools and falls -- but when we got there we found out that the water and weather conditions were right to allow us to do an up and back hike in the Narrows.  We have been wanting to do this hike for years and any time we have been in the area the conditions were not good.  The Narrows is a very narrow canyon with the Virgin River running through it.  The hiking trail is the river itself.  We were not totally prepared for a river hike but went for it anyway--and had a blast. 

Tuesday we headed for more mountain biking near Bryce Canyon.  I was definitely ready for a few days off after we got back to Portland