Sometimes our egos just get in the way......

Yup today was one of those days in my 10 plus years of racing that I would like to forget...

Today I was suppose to complete my 6th half marathon....instead I walked off the course at the 12km mark.....and went home...

So a little background....when I planned my race plan for the year I initially had planned to do the Calgary FULL marathon......then I booked the training camp the week previous and it was advised that a run that close after would be a BAD idea...so I thought okay I will VOLUNTEER...also since at the time my husband Brad was training for the half...

Let’s skip ahead to about 2 weeks ago...(1 week before Training camp) Brad has been dealing with a knee injury for about a month now..so he made the decision not to run. Well I could not have neither of us now do it...so I thought "what the heck I will do the half" so I went in and got my bib changed.

So we know I had training camp last weekend...that was about 16 hours of training in 3 days......so a lot of volume!! I knew I had to take it easy this week..plus now that I knew I was doing this half...

So here is where I went WRONG.....I did take Monday and Tuesday easy last week.....BUT then I was teaching a few extra classes..and thought well I am not doing a lot of workouts...so I will do these classes with the gang.....the class on Thursday was a muscle conditioning class..well it was TOUGH...we did high high reps of strength....and well....I felt that Friday....then I had to teach 2 more classes...I took Saturday off...but I was still mighty sore...

So I got up today and popped a few Advil and thought the run will work this out...since I knew I needed to do this as a NICE EASY training run....here is where I went WRONG again...

I get to the start...the gun goes...and I am OFF....feeling good...got a good pace...I told Brad that I plan to take it easy so will not finish until 2:15....so that is a good easy pace for me...

My last half I got my first sub 2 hours...1:59...so of course I know I can do it...

So what do I see as I am running....the 2 hour "pace buunny"....I think I feel good I can run with him...what will that hurt...

Then I realize I am ahead of him....I get cocky AGAIN...think man I could do BETTER then last time!!

Then I hit 8km.....feeling a bit tight in my left knee....I think "I know I need shoes soon it must be that"....9km it gets worse........now I think "Candice you are being DUMB" so I take down my pace.....the 2 hour pace bunny goes by....I say "that is okay this not suppose to be a race"...

I still feel pain....I take it down AGIAN...now the 2:15 pace bunny goes by...

NOW I AM MAD!!

I get to 10km...and the it really hurts...I stop to walk! I NEVER stop to walk...I am now SWEARING!!

I get over to the side of the road and I start to stretch...

Then I start talking to myself......"Option one I can bite the bullet and just run through it and finish this damn race...and most likely not be able to run for who know how long after"...."Or Option 2 I can stop now and hopefully save my knee and be able to continue my training and finish my races that I am going to finish in 5 weeks...and again in 3 months"!!

I pick option 2.....and I start to walk.....I turn off my Garmin...and I walk....I am now a bit teary....I am not sad I am not finishing the race...I know I can do this distance...I am sad that I let this happen.....I got cocky and did not listen to what my body needed......and maybe I really messed this up....

The pain now is gone...I can walk fine.....I spent the rest of the day shopping and that seemed to help :-)

My plan for this week....is to attempt the training that has been given to me....the swim and bike I do not see a problem...if the runs hurt this week I will take them off and asses if I need to get treatment etc...I just pray that it will be okay...and time will only tell...

I do plan to NOT be doing the classes I teach for the next 3 months...I may throw in the occasional exercise....but now with the amount of training I have I need to take recovery as recovery....not as oh ya I can do this 1 hour class......again need to listen......slowly I am getting this...slowly!!!

So here is my tentative plan for the week:

Monday- Swim (drills)/Spin

Tuesday- Run (suppose to be hills...I am going to attempt just a short easy run)

Wednesday- swim 2500m pace

Thursday- Run 60 mins....I hope ;-)

Friday- Ride 100 km (Highwood Pass)

Saturday- REST

Sunday- Ride 90km/run 1 hour (Brick)

I survived!!!!

Well I am home and I am happy to say "I survived Ironman Training Camp"...

A few months ago I heard about this Ironman training camp through Critical Speed. I was hesitant signing up since I had trained with this group once before and they are.....well pretty
"hard core"!!
But I signed up...the main reason is I wanted to ride the bike course since this is the part of the race that scares me the most!

So as a family we drove out to the Oakanagan on Thursday and went to Brads brothers house. This is where Brad and the kids hung for the weekend and I made the hour drive each day into Pentiction.

So Friday I woke up and headed to Pentiction for Day 1. When I pulled up to the hotel where most of the gang was staying I was nervous since I had no idea what to expect.
Day 1 the plan was to bike 120km for the Ironman course. So we drove out to OK falls and this is where we started our ride....
I will talk more about the course a bit further down so stay tuned...all in all I felt okay on the ride..it got quite hot towards to the end of the ride...someone said it was 31 degrees....I did feel that at the end foresure...and I was ready for it to be over...and I defiantly was thinking "how the HECK can I do 160km  on Sunday?".....
But I did it.....and with that I was happy and ready for Day 2....

Day 2........this morning we headed out for a run...we did not do the IM course since that course is through most of the town so hard to do when roads are not closed etc....So we did a trail run around Saka Lake....it was a beautiful run...once again quite HOT!!! This run ended up being 26 km...my longest run this season to date.
After the run I really felt my knees and hips...I was not used to running on trail and some sand.
So I followed suit with some of the others and went hip deep into the lake after the run....and let me tell you that water was FREEZING!! But felt GREAT on my legs!

The plan was to have a 3 hour break and then we were to drive out to Oilver for a lake swim. After talking to a few of the others  they were opting out of the swim...for various reasons...mostly since they wanted to wine tour! So I did decide not to go since Oilver is an hour drive south so opposite to Kelowna,......and a long drive.....so I went back and hung with the kids and rested up for the next day!

Then there was Day 3....today we rode the course...we had the option to ride the whole 180km course or take out one small part and do 160km...so I went with the majority and did 160km...THANK GOD!!

So here is a pic of the course as well as what the elevation gains look like...

So I give a quick overview of what I thought of the course....

So the part that comes out of Pentiction and follows into Maclean creek we did not do Friday but did Sunday.....it was a nice part of the course with a slight incline but nothing too crazy.

Then we link onto the highway towards Oyossos (this is where we started Friday)....it is about 50-60 km to Oyossos from there.....going through OIlver etc. The big land mark is the huge Canada flag at the Huskey station that is where the rest stop was...and man I was happy to see that....my bladder needed the break :-)

Once we leave the Huskey we start heading West and this is where the FUN begins....we start our climb up Richter  Pass....It involves 3 steady inclines before you reach the top. I did not find this climb as hard as I thought it would be be...but it was quite a bit harder  on Sunday when we had ridden further by that point.

After the summit we go for about 20 km that has about 11 rolling hills....again this was harder on Sunday...when my legs were a bit more baked :-)

After  that is a nice flat through some wine country.....good scenery here :-)  Then we have another rest stop before the next climb...

This one is Yellow Lake.....now I found this one MUCH harder....is it steeper then Richter Pass.....also it is about 140km into the ride so the legs are FEELING it!!!

Once you hit the top of this you are laughing.....we stop for a pee break and a huge breath since we now know the climbs are OVER!! I did feel like I was spent after this climb foresure on both days but especially Sunday......Garry (one of our support guys) was pouring COKE for the athletes at this station and he offered it to me...an I though "COKE...no way".....but he said trust him it works....so I tried it and washed it down with a cookie...and he was right it sure gave me some pep at the end!!!  Who knew coke would be soooo Good!!!!

Now the decent....it  is gravy....there is about 20 km left now....there are 2 little bumps to climb up then it is ALL down hill back into down....and a fast steep down hill!

Whoever planned this course is a GENIUS!!! The hill going in is so perfect it gives you that recovery you need after  all that climbing..

With that said when I reached the end the thought of having to get off my bike and running 42 km was the furthest thing from my mind......I just sat  down and relished in the fact that I got through that! In 3 months I will worry about the "little" run after!

So all in all it was a great camp! It was unfortunate that the coach did not make it to the camp.....having the education piece would have been great! But my main goal was to go and ride the course and as much as I could....knowing the course and that I can do it....makes me so much more confident about this race!

Now I have 3 months...to work on the endurance even more and ready to rock this race!!

So my plan for this week is:

MOnday- rest

Tuesday- Yoga

Wednesday- Swim 1500m

Thursday- Run 45 mins easy pace

Friday- TRX/ride 50 km

Saturday- rest

Sunday- Calgary half marthon!!!

Training Camp here I come.....

Well it feels like I am prepping for the actual race where that is still 3.5 months away!!

This weekend will we be driving up to Pentiction for a 3 day Ironman Training camp...

Why do I shutter in fear when I say that?? Maybe the fact that we will be doing most if not all of the entire Ironman course during the weekend! OMG!!

So today I went out and did a 90km bike ride.....first half was kinda hellish since we were riding into a head wind....second half though I got my "mojo" and felt great! As we finish off Amber (my riding buddy) says "and think that is only half way!!!"......yup 90km is only half of the crazy distance I need to do for this race!

Next weekend will be hard I know it...but I have been told that it is doable at camp....so I am hoping everyone is right!! If not I will just be found on the side of the road in Pentiction once again rocking in the fetal position until someone stops to get me...

So this week I am taking my volume down until Camp...

Monday- 2 hour computrain
Tuesday- TRX/30 mins run
Wednesday- 1500 m swim
Thursday- travel day

Camp:
Friday- Bike 120-140km of course.
Saturday- Run 2-3 hours of course then open water swim for 2 hours
Sunday- ride all or as much as we can off 180km course....."gulp"...

Until next week....

What does not kill you makes you stronger...

Yup this is my motto when I putting my classes through a gruelling TRX workout...I usually yell this out as they are ending there last set and about to die...

Well this week I muttered this saying over and over in my head!!  My weekends now consist of a longer ride and run which is now becoming a bit of a mental game.....where I am okay heading out for 1-2 hours...but now my workouts are 3-4- even 5 hours....I find this more and more of a mental challenge...where I need a lot of self talk to keep going!!

Tuesday was a day I was suppose to have a "shorter"....60 min run...but kinda last minute I needed to cover for our half martahon group so I went and ran with them....and the weather was well....a DOWN POUR....not a little sprinkle....so after this 2 hour run I was drenched from head to toe...and freezing.....not the enjoyable run of my life.

Then there was Saturday......yes it SNOWED....and not just snowed it snowed sideways!! So after my 1.5 hour indoor bike I got my runners on and I headed out...I thought heck just a little snow. Well snow with high winds...equals a VERY unpleasant run!!

Thank goodness for the sun today and my 70 km bike ride was wonderful and just what I needed to head into a new week!

Plan for the week:

Monday- TRX/ 1 hour spin
Tuesday- TRX/20 km run
Wednesday- 3000 m swim
Thursday- 50 min run/ 2 hour computrain
Friday- interval class
Saturday- rest
Sunday- 80 km bike outside!!