Trail Running

So today I did something new, I did a trail run.  For the last 7 years, I have stuck to roads and never ventured onto a trail, in fact I even hate when I have to run on crusher dust during a road race.  All my friends that run trails said I would love it but I was not too sure but I went to support my coach Ray and to raise money for his charity impossible2possible. 

I have had a hard time finding my mojo since Ironman Canada 70.3, I had a cold for a week and generally feeling lazy so I had zero expectations before today's race. Anyway, who runs trails for the first time at a race...I do!  It was a 23k trail run, no small feat but compared to what others were doing it seemed small. My friend Leanne was doing 50k today and did 50k overnight for a total of 100k, that seems crazy to me.

I started out slowly, at the back of the pack and followed the lead of the runners ahead of me, if they walked up the hill, I did as well, if they were running, I ran too. It was quite enjoyable to start with but I found the footing difficult.  I usually make up ground on the down hills but today I could not as the rocks and tree roots made me worry about falling or twisting my ankle.  I hit the turn around just before the time I expected and headed back!  I knew the trip back would take longer and it did.  I did not have enough fuel with me either, I based my packing on a road half marathon, not a trail run and I now know I need more food :-)

I kept on running, walking the uphills but running the rest until the last 3k when I had to take a few extra walk breaks but all in all, I was happy with my first trail run.  Am I a new convert to trail running, nope.  I guess I am a triathlete at heart and I still prefer road to trail but I will probably get out on the trails again because my coach believes in them so much and I try to do what my coach tells me to do...as much as possible.

Beware – Don’t Feed the Dragon!

I feel like this should be tattooed somewhere as a reminder.  I am not referring to a real dragon but my EGO, who I have referred to as the b!tch who lives in my head before.  I am learning to separate my ego from myself so now I am thinking of it as a dragon that lives in a cage, it looks cute and fun to play with but if I feed it, watch out!  My dragon looks like this

I have been working on my mental strength for a while now but especially as I was training for my goal race of the summer Ironman Canada 70.3 in Whistler. Something my trainer, Catherine, said last fall really hit a cord with me, she said I should have high commitment to my train and low attachment to my goals.  I would get so frustrated when I did not hit my goals or when a race did not go as planned because of the weather (a recurring pattern in my life).  I knew I did the training so why was I not seeing the rewards on race day.  During a race, when things were not going well my ego would start the trash talk, you’re not an athlete, you’re too slow, you’re too old, you don’t belong her and all the other stuff I held in the deep dark part of my brain.  Years and years of being picked last in gym, being told I was too fat to do something, not smart enough, not fit enough and just plain not good enough. Those thoughts are the bottom feeders of our soul; they hide away until that moment you are at your lowest and then come out to play. 

I went into Whistler feeling strong. Tremblant had been a good training day, I hit 2 of my 3 goals and it gave us good info for the last few weeks of training.  I had made significant improvement in my swimming and modest improvement in my biking but the run off the bike was still my weakness.  We focused on those areas and I felt good heading to British Columbia.  Huge thanks to my team of coaches for getting me to this race in such great shape, Andrea (swimming), Catherine (strength) and Ray (for everything else).  My instructions from  Ray were simple, just go for it and try to get a new PB!  This would not be an easy task on a challenging bike course but I believed I could if the stars aligned that day.

Race day was amazing, how could it not when you are surrounded by snow-capped mountains and amazing, inspiring people.   As I exited the swim I looked at my watch and saw my time was slower than Tremblant but I was not going to feed the dragon, I kept on going knowing the swim had been rougher than Tremblant and I had more people in my way this time. Biking is my weakest leg of a triathlon and also the longest but I was going to give it everything I had.  Everything was going great until I reached the 63km turn around and faced the final 27k back to Whistler.  At about 70k, the heat and the wind was more than I could handle and I needed to get off my bike.  This would have been the time my dragon would come out to play but not that day! I got back on my bike, remembered I had been in tougher races than this and I could do this and more importantly, I would do this. 

I used every tool in my mental tool box to keep my dragon locked up and for the first time, he stayed locked in his cage for the whole race.  This was my biggest win of the day and one I have worked so hard to have, I did belong, I was good enough and when things got tough, I was tougher. 

Blogging Again, Naturally

Well, its been a long time since I have done a blog post but I want to get back to it so here goes! Sometimes my blog is a way for me to process my thoughts, sometimes its a confessional of my fears and successes and sometimes it is a chance to share my passion for running or triathlon.  I found myself last year with less to say I guess and I was not sure if blogging mattered anymore, it became a chore, one more thing I had to do do I gave myself permission to stop.  I am learning that it is OK just to stop doing something that does not work for you anymore. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder and I recently found I was missing blogging and sharing my passion.

I was recently interviewed by a writer named April for a blog. She posted on a Facebook site that she was looking to interview people who felt their hobby helped in their business.  I had written a blog post about that a few years ago so I reached out to her and she liked the idea.  It gave me a chance to review the blog and rewrite/update it with a few more concepts.  As I worked on it, I felt the fire inside ignite again and I was excited.  I hope I can turn it into a motivational talk sometime soon as I really feel my Ironman training made me a better business women.  My interview with April was so much fun and as we talked and I shared my passion for triathlon and my desire to inspire others to start.  By the time we stopped, she had enough material for her blog post and I had convinced her to sign up for a triathlon in 6 weeks!  I followed up with a bit of a program she could follow and I excited to say that she is getting it done and does her first triathlon on Aug 20th.  Here is a link to her blog post for Dragon's Den.

Last week I was in Whistler BC for a triathlon and while I was there, I was doing a bit of work.  I plan events as part of my work and was viewing venues and meeting contacts in the hope of getting a group there in the next few years.  On Monday, after my race I meet with Ginny to learn about her venue.  We had a great chat about my triathlon as well and she messaged me later that she ran that day and is looking at working towards a half marathon soon.  I love when this happens, when I share my passion about my sports and help others imagine themselves doing the same. We all need a cheerleader, people who supports and encourages us as we start out. I love this cheerleader role and I really want to continue doing this, I want to help others achieve their goals and believe in themselves and what they can achieve.  I am not sure what this will look like for me but I am excited to see how I take this and turn it into something.

I also had the chance to meet a group of ladies from a Facebook group I belong too.  It was so nice to meet these amazing athletes, from different places in the Pacific Northwest.  Meeting them was amazing, they are so inspirational.  It was so nice to spend time with them, to talk triathlon and training, the good, the bad and the really ugly we went through to get to this day.  We all went to the opening ceremony together and one of the many messages we received received that night was nothing on race day would go the way you expect it too.  They also told us to never stop, never quit and never give up and if we kept going we would achieve our goal.  Little did I know who true those two statements would be for many of us but it gave us the opportunity to talk about other races and I shared my Ironman day with them. Katie was doing the Ironman while the rest of us where doing the Ironman 70.3 (half the distance).  This was her first Ironman and Natalee and Liz were doing their first 70.3, I knew what first time nerves felt like.  It made me realize how far I have come in my triathlon journey, my journey is not yet done but I now have a lot of experience to use and to share with others and that makes me really happy.

These are some photos of some of the races I did recently as a bit of an update.