One week till race day....

One week till I will take part in the Half Ironman 'Great White North (GWN)".....now this is not my goal race obviously...but a pretty big one in the lead up..
This race will give me a good idea of where I am at and also I should be able to predict an approximate finish time for Ironman...."should"...

Now I do have 2 half's under my belt leading into this race. The first was GWN back in 2004 so 7 years ago!! The second I did the Calgary 70.3 last summer...

My memory from the last time I did GWN is a bit foggy...all I remember is how I felt when it was over and that was HORRIBLE!! I was sick for a good 24 hours post race....I know now that was mainly due to bad nutrition choices during the race. After that race I actually took a hiatus from triathlon until 2010 when I did a few sprints and 1 olympic then 2011 when I did 70.3.....where I felt 100% better...so good that gave me the momentum to sign up for Ironman...

Now with that said I decided to look up my times from both races to see how they compared and what I had to aim for for this race coming up..

So here they are:

GWN 2004:
2 km swim- 42.22
90 km cycle- 3 hours 51 mins
21 km run- 2 hours 14 min
total time- 6 hours 48 mins

Calgary 70.3 2011:
1.9 km swim- 1:07
94 km bike- 3 hours 45 mins
21 km run- 2 hours 26 mins
total time- 7 hours 27 mins

Now looking back I would have never guessed I did the one in 2004 that much faster then last year...but I must remember I was 7 years younger and this was pre kids!! I had more time to train back then.....also the courses were quite different..70.3 was a more challenging course and the weather last year was also a factor where it was 34 degrees by the time I hit the run..

So looking ahead to next weekend...I have a few predictions....not that I like to make predictions since ANYTHING can happen in a race..
But here they are anyway..

The swim.....Not sure if I can do what I did in 2004...man that was fast (not sure how I did that) so I predict about 50-55 mins this time...my swim has not improved much...it has remained kinda the same since last year...so I could push 1 hour again not sure...

The Bike...now this is the area I have really focused on this year...so I hope this is where I will make the improvements....if I can do it in around 3:40 that would be great.

Now the run......I am still suffering with knee pain once I hit past 12 km...so I not expecting big things in the run...I hope to run as far as I can get...then if I feel alot of pain I may have to walk...I don't want to mess things up for the next 2 months.....so I cant even predict the outcome of the run..
The other factor is my pace I train at right now is slower since my distance will be double this...so I think this will also have a factor in how I do this race...

Overall....if my run goes well I hope to do the race in about 7 hours...but the run may be a major deterrent in that...
What I really want to get out of the day is I get my transitions smooth...my nutrition right and I have the feeling that I can do more once I am done..then I know I am on the right track for my next 6 weeks...also lets hope for some SUN!!!!

here is a pic from 70.3 last year..

So leading up to the race this weekend here is my plan for the week:

Monday- TRX/open water swim
Tuesday- 90 min run
Wednesday- 2000m swim
Thursday- easy 30 min run/ride 30 km
Fri/Sat- rest
Sunday- RACE!!

The Ironman Death March....

Jen sent me this article this week and it is so fitting to how I feel right now...
It is called "The Ironman Death March"
http://www.impactmagazine.ca/workout/articles/welcome-to-the-ironman-death-march.html

What this article talks about is how is a race like Ironman we are expected to feel some sort of pain and discomfort....and also with the high volumes of training...

I am defiantly feeling some "pains" right now....Unfortunately it is every time I go past about 12 km in a run...
I was doing GREAT until about a month ago and I went to a training camp for Ironman....we biked about 300km over 2 days...and I ran 26 km....
I felt great during.....but the following week it all went wrong....attempted a half marthaon and had to stop have way through...
Unfortunately my runs have not got better...
Short runs have been fine......I have done 2 longer runs since...both times feeling pain after about 12 km...
I have been getting treatment....the source is VERY tight IT bands that is pulling laterally on my knee cap..
I think what happened is I did the volume training at training camp but not sure if my body was ready for it and then once I trained the following week my body gave in to the extra stress I put on it...

I was hoping that it would be better by now....but I ran last night and once again at 12 km....PAIN....but the pain was not as bad...so I thought about this article above and took down my intensity and ran through it for another 3-4 km....I could feel it but it was bearable..

My chiropractor Shannon...who also is training for her I think 3rd or 4th Ironman gave me some GREAT advice...since I have a race in 2 weeks (half Ironman) she said go out and have a strong swim and bike...and do the best I can do in the run.......if I have to walk the last 5-8 km I have to walk...this is still not my GOAL race...I might be just looking like the "Ironman Death march" at the end of this race...

So with 2 weeks to go until my first race...my volume is starting to go down in training...which I hope will help my knee...time will tell..

Plan for this week:

Monday: TRX/Spin 1 hour
Tuesday TRX/MAP run / Open water swim 1 hour
Wednesday- Bike 40 km
Thursday- Run 1 hour
Friday- Swim 2500m pace
Saturday- rest
Sunday- Bike 100 km/run 30 min (Brick)

Oh I am going to pay for that....

Well I just returned from my second annuals girls weekend...

This is an annual golf trip...where last year I brought my bike instead of golf and went for a long ride...
So I thought I would do the same this year..

So packed up the bike with the girls and we headed to Fairmount...
Friday night we hung out had a few drinks and a few laughs but I headed to bed early since my plan was to bike about 120 km the next day..

Woke up to pouring rain....I waffled about going...but I stepped outside and the temp was 5 degrees! I did not bring gear for that cold...so I bowed out!

So we spent the morning doing a mini Boot Camp then headed to the Hot Springs...got back to the cabin at lunch and the rain kept coming down...so what else was there to do...we DRANK...and DRANK and DRANK some more...don't get me wrong it was A LOT of fun....but man this 39 year old lady does not do this very often....and I was a hurting unit by about midnight..YIKES!

So today we headed home.,..it was a quieter ride with some sore heads....I did not feel bad but definetly was feeling the effects of the weekend...

So I missed my big ride....may have been not so bad since I had been dealing with an injury for the past few weeks...so maybe the party weekend healed it?? We shall see..

But the show must go on and I move into a pretty high volume week this week and I sure hope when I wake up tomorrow that this booze is out of my system and I am ready to get back at it...

Monday- 1 hour spin/90 min run
Tuesday- Pilates/TRX
Wed- MAP run/swim intervals
Thursday- Ride 100km
FRiday- Swim 2500 Pace
Saturday- Run/bike brick
Sunday- rest

Coach Jen!

One of the best decisions I made in my journey for Ironman as to involve a "Coach"....now Coach Jen is not just any coach...she is also my friend! Jen has completed Ironman about 4 years ago and is a FANTATSIC athlete. Jen is also a police officer and has trained with Tri Cops. Jen last year took her Triathlon coaching and has been coaching the team out of C&C for the past 3 years as well.

So I was so happy when she said she would coach me for this race! Jen sends me the workouts and advises me on things to focus on etc...
What I love also is Jen is a MOM...she know what that is about and that I don't have 20 hours a week to train...so the program I have has balance and I don't ever feel I am taking a lot from my family..and that I love!

So today I went on my first ride with Jen.....She was only able to do the first half of the ride with me then she sent me on my own...it was great since she gave me some great tips on hill climbing...since this ride was full of hills....

Here is a pic of Jen and I today...oh and we did not plan to wear the same jersey! ;-)

So this week I also rode Highwood Pass......this was also a nice ride with some amazing scenery....

After a rough weekend last weekend I had a great week of training.......now we move into next week:

Monday- TRX/Spin 1 hour
Tuesday- Run 3 hours
Wednesday- Intensity swim 2250m
Thursday- run 40 mins/Bike 60 km
Friday- Swim Drills
Saturday- Bike 120-140 km