Elements of Erin 337

Run – 42.2kms – 5:11:09 The run was slow and basically went as planned. The first 3kms of the run are in and around the finish line. When I was at about the 2km mark, I could hear Jordon Rapp, the race winner giving his victory interview with Steve King. How crazy is that??!! I have 40kms to go on the run and the winner has finished. As I headed out of town and down Main Street I saw www.twitter.com/kelownagurl and her husband Erik cheering me on. Not more than 50 feet later I saw www.twitter.com/trifunster and her husband. I was running slowly but had a smile on my face and felt pretty good. I was not really concerned about the distance I had to cover still. I was pretty excited that I had now finished the swim and the bike and was now on the run. It was like being in a dream how quickly the time had passed during the day. Around 9kms into the run I started to feel the distinct tightness of my right IT Band. I had ITB 10 years ago when I first started to run marathons but t...

Race Day My alarm went off at 4:30am. I actually slept pretty well so I felt rested and anxious to get started. I at my regular breakfast of 2 pieces of toast with almond butter. I also made myself a 16oz bottle of Gatorade and drank that on the way to the race site. I tried to eat a PowerBar but I just couldn’t get it down. The night before the race we had a pasta feast that included Lasagne and Spaghetti. I stuffed myself until I was over full so I was sure I had enough carbs in me to last a while without the PowerBar. We arrived at the race site around 5:30am. Tim dropped me off at body marking and him, Jamieson and Brenda went to find a good place to watch the swim start from. Body marking was relatively organized. The woman who marked me wrote the wrong number on my arms. When I corrected her she said she would just scrub really hard to get the numbers off. Funny thing is that when you want the numbers to come off, they never do. She ended up ‘fixing’ the error and it seemed to be...

I can't believe that it has already been a week since I completed Ironman Canada 2009. Today I slept in, made a hot breakfast and read a magazine. Such a foreign concept when you consider my life for the past year. I promised a long post so here it goes... Thursday August 27, 2009 This was the first day we could pick our packages so I headed down to the race site with Colin . The line was LONG and the weather was getting warmer. After being in line for about 1/2 hour, we were told that the line was being split into 2. Racers with race numbers 1550 and under and racers with 1551 and higher. Of course the 1550 and lower was a much shorter line and my number was 2396. I was happy that I brought a bottle of water and a snack with me. About 2 hours later I was in the tent and picking up my package. The process was to show your ID (drivers licence or passport), get handed a waiver, read the waiver, sign the waiver, hand in your waiver, be weighed (I was 134lbs), collect your swim cap and...

Just a quick non detailed update to say... I did it! I am an IRONMAN/IRONWOMAN. The day was fantastic and I lived to tell about it. I will post a full race report on Sunday September 6th (I promise). Get ready for a long read.

Check out August 30th. Looks like it should be a good day for Ironman Canada!

My number is: 2396

Can my IMC 2009 tracker be correct?! Only 61 days until the big day??!! Wow, that is coming up pretty quick. Feels like yesterday when I signed up. Training this week includes a trip to Penticton to swim in Lake Okanagan, ride most of the IMC bike course, and a 2 hour run. Thankful that the worst of my cold is over and I am on the mend. Looking forward to a solid week of training in prep not only for IMC but the Vancouver 1/2 IM on July 12, 2009.

Beach where the Vancouver Tri starts After a few e-mail with my coach yesterday, I will now be adding a second 1/2 IM to my race list for 2009. In addition to the Victoria 1/2 IM on June 21 , I will also be doing the Vancouver 1/2 IM on July 12 . Two 1/2 IMs in three weeks...maybe the best way to train is to race. I had also planned a training trip to Penticton on the August 1st long weekend to ride the Ironman Canada course. My coach suggested coming up two weeks before IMC instead to ride the course. Riding the full course two weeks before the race seems a little unorthodox but what do I know?

March 15th marked the end of my first five weeks with my new coach . We had a good conversation on March 13th and discussed the my upcoming four weeks of training. This next block of training will be four weeks instead of five because Easter Base Camp is at the end of the 4th week. During our conversation we discussed nutrition on the bike. Given that we will be riding some good distances at camp, I will have a chance to practice my nutrition. My plan is to use a combo of GU20 , CarboPro , Shot Bloks , Gatorade , Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches, Banana Bread and water. Of course this could all change once I get out on the road and test it. For the Lake Stevens 70.3 I did last year, I used GU20, CarboPro and Shot Bloks with no problems. With IMC being 2x the distance and Gatorade provided on the course, I want to use it in my training to avoid any issues on race day. Easter Camp is three full days of training with an optional fourth day ride. I am excited and nervous about ...

Late last year and early this year, many pro triathlete changed coaches. Chrissie Wellington changed coaches twice, Simon Whitfield changed coaches and so did Belinda Granger and Hillary Biscay. BREAKING TRIATHLON NEWS...it is official...Erin337 has also changed coaches. As of February 9th, 2009, I will be training with Kevin Cutjar . I would like to thank Peak Centre for giving me a great base to build from. Paul, Mike and Lucy all gave me great support for my training and lactate testing. My plan is to continue to use Peak Centre for my lactate testing. Now that I am training for Ironman Canada , I was looking for a coach who could provide me a holistic training program (swim, bike, run and nutrition) on a one on one level. My new coach comes highly recommended by many of my SAA friends. Kevin lives in Penticton BC and has completed 30+ Ironman races and won the Ultraman challenge in 1995. He had great knowledge in both coaching and nutrition needs of Ironman athletes. I am now ...

Here is the next four weeks of Ironman Canada training for me. How do you like the IMC 2009 countdown clock? Thanks to Iron Newman for giving me that idea. Happy training!

In 2009, I am going to focus my blog (and most of my life) on training for and completing Ironman Canada. Here is the training plan I am currently working on with The Peak Centre .