Iron Legs

Race number one! The Iron Legs Quadrathlon at the Kimberley ski resort, just 30 minutes from Cranbrook. The race consists of a downhill ski or snowboard, 7.5 X-country ski, 4.8km run (all downhill) and a 6.2km bike (all uphill) I did this race a few years ago, the winter after Avery was born, and had a great time, but haven`t participated since then.
Since having kids, I haven`t been pursuing many outdoor winter activities, with the exception of maybe one or two X-country ski outings.
To disrupt family life as little as possible, I use early mornings, and since I don`t like the idea of heading into the wintery forest in the dark early mornings by myself (totally chicken actually) I stay inside and bike, run or swim! Needless to say, my husband loves to joke about how slow I am snowboarding down the hill.....seems as the volunteer at the transition is sure everybody must be down, but Shawn convinces them that ``no, my wife hasn`t come down yet`
My X-country ski is not much better, I was on 25 year old classic skis, on a icy course, and no matter how hard I worked, it seemed my bad form and poor ski fitness wasn`t getting me very far! We were almost near the end of the course (thank goodness) and I was dying to start running, when, I did something totally dumb, not sure exactly what I did, but it involved trying to pull up on my ski pole, kick back with my ski and me slipping and gauging my left eye with the handle of my ski pole!!
This hurt more than anything I have ever done, I didn`t know what I had done, I just doubled over clutching my eye, didn`t know if it was open or closed, just knew I couldn`t see anything! I am SO glad that another racer Danielle was right with me during the ski and stopped with me when this happened.
She was so awesome, although she scared the hell out of me, she looked at me and assured me not to panic and that I was going to be OK..... I thought, oh my god, is my eyeball hanging out! Through my other eye I could see blood on my glove and I was scared!
With just a few minutes until the end of the ski portion, Danielle guided my to the end and made sure I was taken care of before putting on her shoes and starting the run, as I was driven to the first aid station back at the resort...booo...
I am OK, there was a big gash above my eye, (a suspected mild concussion) a general lousy feeling for a few days and just today (almost a week later) my eyeball itself (which still hurts) is hurting less!
Hopefully a better turn out next year (as it is such a nice event), they felt sorry for me and still called me up and gave me flowers because only 3 girls did the individual race.
Oh....and I don`t think I would have caught the other girl anyways, as I think she was too fast, but wish I could have tried!!
I couldn't figure out how to make this picture bigger, Danielle is on the left, Yeah Danielle, way to go!!

Racing or childbirth, which is more painful?

I remember when I was pregnant with Avery and how confident I was that I was going to "kick ass" at this labor thing....I figured I was strong and able to handle pain well!
To say the least, Avery's delivery kicked my ass!! Looking back, I know that I was not prepared for it, no amount of my cycling or running training could help me with this process!! I think I was only a few cm's dilated with Avery's labor and when a contraction would hit, I would get up and run around saying "go away, go away" well, surprise, surprise, this didn't help at all!
So, I learned my lesson, and even before I was pregnant with Jackson I started "training" I read books and blogs that would help me prepare for my next birth, books with positive birthing stories, inspiring, strong women who had learned not to be afraid of this natural occurrence.
Jackson's was a planned home birth, and it was an amazing experience, Shawn and I felt confident, relaxed and happy to be at home waiting for Jackson. I had prepared myself mentally and physically for this birth and wasn't scared, I was looking forward to the experience and encouraging the contractions instead of fighting them!
I think unfortunately we are bombarded with images of screaming women, and horror stories of this painful torture we are about to embark on.
Like with racing, if we are not prepared mentally and physically we are going suffer, and I find suffering different than the manageable pain we endure repeatedly for races!
I enjoy the challenge of both and think that both although very hard, can less painful if you are prepared and stay focused on the positive outcome that you have visualized.
Still... think I would rather race than give birth every week.

Warning!

I enjoy following several blogs of mountain bike racers. Most of them have been riding and training in super fun, warm places......they post many pictures of long road rides, sunny mountain bike rides....and I have not been doing this!

This is my training dungeon!

It is not actually as bad as it sounds, with a coach now, I am quite enjoying my structured trainer sessions and I am loving my structured treadmill runs! Makes me feel that my training is purposeful and I never miss a workout that my Coach has organized for me!

The most challenging part of my training is the daily early early morning training.....I must be honest I am getting tired (literally) of getting up in the dark and cold every morning to get my workouts done before the kids get up, because even with using all the early mornings to train, I still end up with some evening and daytime training sessions.....and I am really trying to disrupt the family as little as possible with my training.....the whole motherly guilt thing kicks in.

This also means I don't get out to enjoy our beautiful Kootenay winter, no snowshoeing or skiing, no long winter adventures....but there will be time for that when the kids are older!

Anyways......hopefully soon I will be outside a bit more and will be exploring some awesome places!

Whistler Xterra Nationals

Whistler Nationals - Sunday September 5th 2010
Swim- 1.5km Bike - 30km Run -9km.
Well I am almost done my catching up from last summer's races. There wasn't much between Canmore and Whistler, a local race the weekend before...which I should not have raced. Looking back at the few rides leading up that local race, I was feeling so tired and slow, of course like any obsessive racer, I thought it was because I needed to ride more! I was getting slower, not faster. That day was pouring rain and cold! I knew that very night that I was sick....and it got worse over the week, even with bombarding my body with a myriad of natural cold and immune busters!!
Went to the Dr the day before we left and it was another case of bronchitis....but the plane ticket was purchased and hoping to get better the last couple days before the race! I didn't get better....
But it was a nice weekend getaway with Shawn, kids were at my moms...and it was our 5 year wedding Anniversary on Saturday! So splurged on a private room at the hostel (we had a dorm room booked originally!! ) and made a nice pasta dinner at the hostel and went to bed really early!

Race morning, I was feeling pretty awful, but still feeling like I could do this! It was a gorgeous morning at Alta Lake, set up went well and I felt quite relaxed actually...and I was still hoping for a good showing at this event.
My swim felt good....last pro out of the water, but not as far back as I have been in the past.
Heading out on the bike, I felt like I was doing OK....it was a tough course, tough steep loose rocky climbs, really tough single track sections, off my bike and running through the big boulder spots, but the rest was good, felt like I was doing OK, thought I must be getting closer to a couple of the girls, that was until I saw Shawn at the start of lap 2.....he didn't say anything (like "you're catching them" or "they are right there") so I shouldn't have asked if they were close.....because his answer was "no" Boo.... felt punished during the second lap, but a consistent ride (only a minute behind Christine and 3 behind Danelle) so I know I can do better!
The run was tough, so tough. I haven't been getting much running in, so I don't know why I expect to still go out and have a fantastically fast run, you can't get away with that in this company of racers! The start of the run out of transition was fun, great trail system with little ramps, bridges and logs to help me forget how rotten I was feeling, after this it became harder with long steep sections and then a long run (probably 3km...felt like 10) on the road back to the finish at Nita Lodge. I just suffered through this part, it was torture, felt like I wasn't even moving, and certainly wasn't moving very fast.....but down some stairs and into the finish....yeah, I was done and almost passed out when I stopped and couldn't breathe and then started hacking up a lung!!
Well very disappointing, but with lack of training and being quite sick.....I am not sure what else was to be expected?!
I love this sport though and I would like to do better and I would like to be competitive in the Pro Cat.....so I will do what it takes next year to make that happen!

Canmore XTERRA

Racing season will be starting soon, well not very soon for me...but it's coming up, and I am still catching up from last season's races!!
In August Shawn and I went to Canmore to compete in the 2nd Canmore XTERRA, the inaugural one, was won by Yours Truly the previous year! That was a unexpected win for me, but I loved it!! I loved the race, it was my first off-road triathlon, I had so much fun and felt good...and of course I loved winning!!
And this year, of course I was wanting to win again!
I had seen that Danelle Kabush was registered in this event (we raced together several years in the Pro mtb xc circuit) and of course her XTERRA career has been extremely successful!
But having just had a baby a few months before this race....maybe I would have a chance! I felt bad using this for a possible win...but....
Canmore is amazing! I love going there. The mtb course this year was 100% turn around from last year. Last year it was non technical-dbl tracks..but still fun to race, this year, it was technical single track climbs, a few steep chutes, super rooty routes through the trees and twisty rooty corners! And with the rain that Canmore had been getting 2 weeks prior to the race, this made for a very challenging course, but I was hoping that this would be to my advantage...I am not the best technical rider, but pretty darn good!
I didn't have my best swim....improved by 2 minutes from the first year, but not as fast as I wanted to be...
Feeling good on the bike, Shawn telling me after the first lap that I was catching Danelle, and sure enough I eventually saw in heading into the longish climb, this gave me a bit of a burst as I climbed past her, unfortunately I there was a bit of a strait stretch shortly after this just before heading into transition and she took the lead back just before the ride finished.
Of course Danelle is a great runner, and I wasn't able to catch her on the run (but my run was only a minute slower) and I finished second!
Disappointing for sure, but was happy with my ride (fastest ride split) and somewhat happy with my run (I really haven't been getting in much run training this year, really finding it hard to squeeze in)
Next year!