Elements of Erin 337

On September 15th, Tim and signed up for the Chuckanut Century ride.  After finishing Challenge Penticton, I still felt like I had some more to give.  I was not ready to finish my season. We drove down to Bellingham, WA the morning of the event.  The weather this summer had been amazing but fall was starting to set in.  It was misty and foggy but we thought it would lift as we started the ride.  Well, that is not what happened.   The weather never really improved and it started to rain at one point in the ride.  We were moderately prepared for the cooler temperatures and rain but not so much.  At the 45 minute mark, Tim got a flat tire.  At the 1 hour mark of our ride, we came across a cute coffee shop where a few cyclists were sitting.  We figured "why not?" and stopped for an Americano European style with actual cups (not paper cups!) After about a 45 minute coffee, we continued on our route through Samish Island, WA .  Wha...

After finishing Challenge Penticton, I didn't have any other races in the plans for 2013.  I usually suggest that athletes have a race planned after their 'main event' to avoid post race blues.  However, I hadn't taken my own advice. Frantically, I began looking for swimming, cycling, and running events to end my year.  After a lot of internet searching I decided to sign up for two half marathons.   My next race will be the Sprit Half Marathon in West Vancouver/North Vancouver on Sunday October 6, 2013.  Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it looks in their website photo. My final race of 2013 will be the New Balance Fall Classic Half Marathon in Vancouver on Sunday November 17.  Typically the weather for this race is terrible.  The year pictured below there was ice and snow on the ground.   Happy Training!

So it is October 2nd and I am updating my blog after giving it a long rest.   After my training camp in July, I regrouped, reviewed my training and racing plans for the remainder of the year and refocused on my goal of Challenge Penticton.   Needless to say, this took a lot of time and effort.  Training for any endurance race takes a lot of time and training and an iron distance race is no exception. Here is my race report, better late than never.  It is a bit choppy and detailed around nutrition ______________________________________ Wake Up -  3:15am Pre Race Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs Large White bagel with natural PB 1 banana 1 500ml bottle IMPerform Race Start  6:35am Swim:  1:13:44 Nutrition: none Morning was warm but windy.  Choppy on the water but no whitecaps.  Felt the chop on the way out. Sighting was challenging with the swells.  Eased up on the way back a bit.  Swam alone, th...

Last weekend we headed to Whistler for some epic riding and running on the new Ironman Canada course.  I am not doing the race but 1/2 of The SAA iron distance crew is, the other 1/2 are doing Challenge Penticton.  The Challenge Penticton race is the old Ironman Canada location.  Confused?  Many are.  Regardless of which race you are doing, Whistler is an amazing and tough place to train which makes it perfect for us Iron-types. We drove up on Friday night in the warm rain.  The weather the next day was forecast as a mixed bag of sun, rain and thunder showers.  Every piece of cycling gear imaginable was packed for this trip.  Sleeveless bike jerseys all the way to thermal shoe covers and everything in between.  After checking in with at the Whistler Athlete's Centre, we met up with our group who was already there.  The Athlete's Centre has 2 options.  Two bedroom town homes or dorm style living with shared bathroom, kitchen and laun...

Whistler here welcome.  The SAA is coming to town to swim, bike and run this weekend.  

I have been thinking about this race for over a week now.  It was a tough one and I had not expected that.  Not that a 1/2 IM is ever easy, but I felt prepared and ready to race.  I have done this one before and remembered it being amazing.  The swim, bike and run course are scenic and challenging and familiar.  Being familiar with the course, I thought I had it made.  That, it seems, may have been a flaw in my logic. My two big races this year were Lavaman and St. George 70.3.  Both I had never done before.  They made my stomach churn in anticipation of race day.  Since I had never done them before, I was excited but never set a solid time goal for either. For Victoria, I was calm, confident and had set some solid time goals.  I set my 2013 time goals based on my previous time in 2009.  In 2009 my time was 5:47:37.  It was my second 1/2 IM and I remember feeling great in and after the race.  This year I can ...

And we are off to Victoria.  The ferry is full of tourists and triathletes.  Almost every 2nd car has bike on the back.  The weather is perfect, sunny and warm for this part of the world.