Lake Half Ironman - why again do I live in Edmonton?
When I left Edmonton to fly to Victoria on another chilly day in May (8 degrees) I joked to my girlfriends that I wouldn’t come back unless we have at least 15 degrees. Once I stepped outside the Victoria airport and had to wait for a shuttle, I was truly asking myself how come I live in Edmonton by choice, when there are such beautiful, green and sunny places on Earth? And, those roads….they are sooo smooth, no big pot holes. I want to bike here... (I will come back to that first impression…).
My homestay at the Hendersons made this trip so much more enjoyable. They took good care of me and made me feel at home.The day prior to race day I drove out to Shawnigan Lake to check-in, and to drive the racecourse. Good thing I did, as I was surprised about a) how much up and down the course was and b) how much the roads reminded me of Edmonton. There it went, my anticipation of a smooth bike on race day. Out of all roads I have seen during my 4-day stay on Vancouver Island, the racecourse was the roughest by far. Too bad, but at least the course was very beautiful – 4 times around the lake (I know, no time to look at the scenery while racing ;-)!).
First Performance Test at the Aerobic Power Time Trial
Last weekend was a big weekend for Aerobic Power, as Coach Kevin put on his first club time trial for the Alberta Bicycle Association. Lots of APTSlers came out to try their first time trial, and it felt great to warm up as a team. The warm up felt hard, but it usually does not feel that great on a stationary bike. Alone the ride from the trainer to the starting line made me feel way better. Just the fact that when I rode over some rough stretches of road my new Storck/Zip-wheels made such a loud noise that everybody stared at me made me a bit nervous. I was hoping nothing would fall off in the time trial. Anyway, all nervousness about falling off tires was gone as I was on the smooth road pushing hard (my wheels were quite). I was the first of women A to start, right after Kris. That was good, as I rather chase than being chased. And I knew that she would be way stronger than the other two women A behind me, so I could look forward. Last woman on the start was Tara Whitten - our Canadian star at elite track cycling. It was clear that she was up for the win. I was just hoping that she wouldn’t catch me. And she didn’t :-)! Anyway, having Kris infront of me I could always tell if I am ahead of her or not. That helped a lot and I crossed the finish line 5sec faster than her. Mission accomplished. After the individiual time trials we (Chris, Adam and I) also had a team TT. Our "Team Awesome" (that name was Adam's idea I guess??), was unfortunately not sticking to its name in terms of speed. Poor Chris was totally toast. We tried all team race formations there are, some worked better than others, so at least we got a good practice ride. And we still had an "awesome" time as a team. So, we hopefully get to try this again.
The last two weeks in Spain have been so much fun, that most of us didn’t want to leave our little “Train in Spain”-Camp, shortly forgetting about the sour legs, and hurting bums. However, reality got us back….for sure, when landing right in a snow storm back in Edmonton (and I thought for a moment that I am looking at the clouds in front of my little airplane window, haha).
Sure as well though is that 1370km more on the bike-account feels great - more so in the head than in the legs right now, but after a couple days of recovery and some easy riding, I’m sure the legs will agree with my mind. Mallorca is just fabulous for cycling. Every year I enjoy the beautiful landscape (unless I am trying to hang on to “the locomotive”, Swen Sundberg, then I am just staring at his wheel…fun, fun). This year our group had one opportunity to go ride with Swen, and 6 of us took him up on it. While we were just thinking that we might be the fastest “train” of cyclists out there, a super-powered tandem just blow right past us. That was the funniest thing ever, considering that we went with more than 40km/hr at the time! Can you believe that? Still makes me smile! Would have loved to see Swen’s face when that happened.
There was also more running and swimming then in previous years – a) because I want to do more this year and b) because I really have to, considering that my first IM race is only 9 weeks out!
Overall, the camp was a total success – both, from an organizer’s point of view as well as when looking at my own training. We had such a fun group, some crazy strong riders (see this video as a proof ;-)!, good training conditions, better food than in previous years, some cliff-diving action, and lots of laughs about “chips and shit”, “the Manchester Menace”, and much more…Come next year and find out yourself ;-)!
Yesterday I raced the Longhorn 70.3 Austin, TX. A weather-wise perfect day (not very hot or humid, a bit of wind) turned out to be great overall. After coming out of the water in 15th spot I managed to bike and run up to 8th place, and with that fulfilled my goal of placing top 10. It was a great experience, still looking at and learning from the big names, and just really enjoying to race with / against them. A more detailed description of the race in my report.
Thanks to Tom Keogh, Sheila Findley, Noni Herchen, Andy Trevoy, Dwayne Gibbs, Mia Clarke, Jim Greenough, and all my other friends and family for supporting me in my quest to become a better triathlete! Thanks for believing in me, too!
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