tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236063190596924662012-02-16T04:25:54.343-08:00Getting Chicked:When a dude busts a gut to pass a chick simply because she is a chick and then that chick dusts that dude later.Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-452860430163042712011-02-23T13:48:00.000-08:002011-02-23T13:48:26.929-08:00Inspired by JT: What to do when one is overly uninspired?
Been awhile since the last post, mostly because there hasn't been much to say. It feels like I had my head down for an entire two years working towards my triathlon goals and now that I'm taking a step back into the real world....I'm not sure what to do. I am sort of coachless this year; well I have an "advisor" or more like several advisors as we all know people are always more than happy to Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-91406032749195140212010-12-06T18:42:00.000-08:002010-12-06T18:50:40.894-08:00Adventures in Cozumel: an Ironman, some drafting douche bags and a great freakin day.We arrived one week before the race and were greeted by the managers of our villa, DJ and Donny. From the start the mood was super relaxed and everything was in place for a great race and vacation. Villa Miranda in Cozumel is a 4 bedroom house with a casita attached; plenty of room for all 10 of us, 5 bikes, tons of our race crap and still the place felt really open and spacious. I could go onHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-2202413337079089582010-11-01T11:38:00.000-07:002010-11-01T11:38:05.721-07:00The End Is NighHard to believe that it's been almost a full year of training hard for IM Cozumel. Had some ups and downs, but mostly ups. All in all I think it's been a good year. Bike strength is much better than last year, run is heaps and bounds better and the swim is still consistent, not faster, but I'm ok with that - something to work on next year.
Put a lot of time into diet and mental toughness Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-35192910690371895552010-09-21T17:06:00.000-07:002010-09-21T17:06:18.179-07:00Public Sess PoolsThis post has arisen after several years of visiting many local pool facilities. I'm not generally one to keep quiet when in the presence of something shocking, but some of these things have had me dumbfounded or just plain made me sick to my stomach over the years.
1. Don't cut your nails. Frankly, don't cut anything (I've seen worse than nails, but won't go there, actually, hell yes I willHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-62481190388137405812010-08-19T12:57:00.000-07:002010-08-20T09:38:29.889-07:00Lessons LearnedI've never really been one to write race reports, or maybe it's just that I don't race very much; in any case I'm not going to write a report for the race I did because I think it's more important to reflect on the things that went wrong and what I can do to change them.
It was hotter than hell in Lake Stevens last Sunday. By the last lap of the bike I was really feeling the growing humidity. Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-27810946115972213862010-07-21T16:42:00.000-07:002010-07-21T16:42:58.481-07:00Ahhhh, training camp. Upon arriving this year, I felt much more at ease than last year. Sure, I've only done a few races; been at this less than a few years now, but somehow getting that first year under my belt has really helped to ease the nervous apprehension. Granted I still have SOOOOO much to learn, but when you are surrounded by so many people who are as much giddy as scared shitless Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-6902104132551958642010-07-13T10:59:00.000-07:002010-07-13T10:59:48.775-07:00Quit bitching and get moving![There are still many triathlon milestones that I have yet to reach, but I firmly believe that what I have accomplished thus far has resulted from my inability to see the numerous obstacles in my way. I clung to what most others would have considered unrealistic goals and struggled doggedly towards them until they were within my reach—only to then look back and see all of those mountains in the Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-66175815245500463332010-07-07T17:01:00.000-07:002010-07-07T17:01:42.713-07:00Race Reporting or Something Like ItI am terrible at these things so I will attempt to summarize in a succinct and entertaining manner. I recently did a half ironman; my first of the season. I have been training since January for this "C" race and was getting a bit antsy to get it done and out of the way. Not in a bad way, just in a sheesh-I've-been-training-for-a-long-time-when-is-this-going-to-end kind of way. Okay, so onto Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-34965634704529642702010-06-03T10:01:00.000-07:002010-06-03T10:01:41.723-07:00Cozumel ain't gonna race itself!Okay, so I've been on this "no gluten, no dairy" thing for a few months now, well, let's say I've been 90% free of those things...anyway, I have fallen off the wagon a bit recently (mmmm bread, cheese, mmmmm) - I would liken this to Homer Simpson in his chocolate fantasy...okay, get ahold of yourself Heather. When the doc first said, "okay, so here are your test results and I would recommend Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-37080565815341672702010-05-05T14:29:00.000-07:002010-05-05T14:29:43.058-07:00BMO Half MarathonWho knew I'd ever be pushing the low 1:40's in half marathons? Dare I say that on a flatter course I might even be able to go sub 1:40?! I am not a runner people!! I struggle mentally to push myself while running, but the other day was different. I felt good. I stuck to the plan. I wanted to push myself. And it all paid off. Who knew - not me that's for sure! Of course, now that means Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-62432459311250934482010-03-18T13:11:00.000-07:002010-03-18T13:11:30.671-07:005.4 km of painI went out too fast, like an idiot and it cost me in time and pain. Ended up 3rd chick overall, but it was a small, local crowd, so no big deal. I really only care about my time, as in besting my last 5km race. I wasn't looking at my time the whole race, just at my HR with occasional peeks at my km pace. Things looked good as I was playing catch-up with this 13 year old punk kid who was neverHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-67524892453114987192010-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:002010-02-23T08:27:13.967-08:00Race Report, or something like itHad my first race of the season on Sunday, a 10km, and it went pretty well. Considering I only really got back into running in January, not that I haven't done anything since IM last August, but I definitely wasn't running. Anyway, I digress, it was a hilly course, much more so than I expected, so my legs were dead by the end of it, but I felt pretty good. I was shooting for anything under 50 Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-47394231598317558272010-02-03T14:53:00.000-08:002010-02-03T14:53:35.790-08:00I should stop trying to write blogs about stuff that's not interesting for me to think or write about. Yeah I train for Ironman. Yeah I bike and swim and run every week. Sure it's fun and interesting to talk about all that stuff, but I'm deviating from my true cynical, sarcastic nature here. It's time to bring that back. I would like to conduct this blog like so: I will begin with writing Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-74453888884886621402010-01-04T13:49:00.000-08:002010-01-04T13:49:26.343-08:00The PlanIt's a new year and I've got a new plan, well not so new really, just more in tune with the Ironman training lifestyle I think. The newish part is that I'm going to make a solid effort to keep up my 3x weekly yoga and strength/core training regime. I want this year to be about doing as well as I can, so I need to avoid injury and health issues as much as possible. I'm on my own for racing thisHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-19956739837899639392009-11-19T12:27:00.000-08:002009-11-19T12:27:23.987-08:00Dreaming of hot Mexican weather during hot yoga class.I've recently taken up hot yoga, yoga in general actually, to supplement my sporadic attempt at P90X. I took the plunge into yoga after my dog ate my P90X dvd, plus I was curious to see just how the P90 version of yoga stood up to the real thing. Turns out the P90 psychos make you do some of the most difficult yoga poses out there so it's been nice to learn some easier poses and how to do them Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-38733662689201145682009-09-30T13:14:00.000-07:002009-09-30T13:30:03.672-07:00Strength Training in the Off SeasonI recently started my 90 day strength training session. I bought into the P90X routine. I have subjected myself to many of these workout videos in the past (Cindy Crawford being my favourite, go ahead and laugh, but when you're 16 with 8% body fat, any workout video will do the trick), all with mixed results, but I wanted something hard core that would allow me to mix in some cross training Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-76198523200021153232009-09-18T13:03:00.000-07:002009-09-18T13:44:21.786-07:00Commuting RantExcept for during the Great Blizzard of 08/09, which wasn't really a blizzard by most standards, but Vancouverites tend to freak out when there is more than 2 cm of snow...anyway I digress...I have ridden my bike to work every day for the past 2 years. I feel as though it's now time to lay out some of my gripes, not that I want people to listen or even expect sympathy, but because if I don't, I Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-51429711350675958462009-09-04T08:28:00.000-07:002009-09-10T12:40:11.858-07:00The Numbers: 12:36 and $7800I'm not very good at these race reports and always find them a bit convoluted and boring to read so this is going to be really simple. I was hoping for anything under 13hrs and I ended up with 12:36. The swim was a bit nasty, but I survived and came in under my goal time of 1:15. Considering when I first started all of this I was afraid of open water swimming and was hoping for anything under Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-90340333737309187862009-08-12T15:24:00.000-07:002009-08-12T15:28:26.412-07:00Hill ridingOur coach sent this out this morning. For anyone doing a hilly triathlon, have a read, or risk being passed by slow runners like me as you walk the deathmarch :)"This is an article written on Xtri.com from the guys at Endurance Nation - well worth the read"We’d like to share with you our double top secret squirrel race day hill climbing technique. We’ve learned this method through having Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-45618914756220174332009-07-31T09:28:00.000-07:002009-08-07T10:19:26.531-07:00Final CountdownAm I freaking out??? Nope, strangely enough I feel good about it all and ready to rock on August 30th. We just returned from a 5 day training camp with our coaches in the Okanagan during which we rode and ran the IMC course. I got sick during the run, but drove the course with our coach and he gave me a meter by meter run through of what to expect. Jeff and I just signed up with SUGOI to be Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-90170029769167274272009-07-01T05:31:00.000-07:002009-07-01T05:41:19.694-07:00Rock'n'Roll Seattle!"You go run a Marathon, I'll be in Mexico..."-Yet another awesome Heather quote.Pre-Race notesMy PR for a half marathon is 1:29:06 from the First Half Marathon earlier this year. I signed up for this marathon ages ago, when they first announced it. I was one of the first few to register for the promotional cost of $50. I was asked by my coach to drop down to the half marathon due to the proximityHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-13661825299002175862009-06-24T12:03:00.000-07:002009-06-24T12:07:44.726-07:00Pretty sure that "kid" has a name"This is Iron Mountain, not Iron Maiden." -Yet another awesome Heather quote when she was talking me out of racing in my skull bandana head band. (I went with our tri-club's visor.) THE SET UP I won a free entry into this race as a door prize at the North Shore Sprint triathlon. I finished second in my category at the North Shore race, while I was attempting to defend the title I won the previousHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-6276659559076114612009-06-08T09:22:00.000-07:002009-06-24T12:19:23.458-07:00Oliver Half Ironman Okay, so, things went pretty well yesterday. Essentially I had nothing to compare it to as my only other recent triathlon was half the distance (Shawnigan Lake Olympic). I had a soft goal of sub 6 hours, but my primary goal was to pay close attention to monitoring my heart rate and nutrition...Ironman will be very unpleasant if I don't learn to cram all that stuff down my gullet! :)So, the Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-8554865148340986102009-06-04T09:05:00.000-07:002009-06-08T11:03:56.315-07:00Shawnigan Lake Olympic TriathlonI'll keep this one short as the Oliver race post is a biggie. This race went really well, had some trouble sighting during the swim because of the glare from the sun, but all in all a good swim with minimal contact. Bike went well except for the damn bump in my rear tire...guess that's what happens when you attempt to glue your own tubular tires for the first time haha. Well, I didn't die, so Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123606319059692466.post-24540454422340652592009-05-01T10:21:00.000-07:002009-05-06T07:40:26.753-07:00Boston MarathonWell it's been over a year in the making, but Jeff finally ran The Boston Marathon. His race report is coming and I'll upload photos soon. We had a great time chatting hockey with all the locals ("Couva?! Who they got? Ongo?! Meh, go Sox!"), the city of Boston will find out shortly exactly who we got here in Couva! Watching the winners of the marathon come in was worth me standing in one Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964414624919010278noreply@blogger.com0