Into Thin Air--week 2/5

2/5. One more week closer to race day! This past week I was in Victoria until Friday, when I flew into Calgary to sleep in my own bed for one night and then off to Canmore for the weekend! Richard and his First Energy gang were racing the 24 Hours of Adrenaline mountain bike race in Canmore, so I decided to do my own mini-altitude training camp while they were racing.

After a another tough week in Victoria with more biking, some hills on the run and some solid swim sessions (it was a little lonely with all the girls gone but I jumped into the pool with the junior kids, so they kept me entertained in the water and kicked my butt!). My body was pretty tired by the weekend.

Saturday in Canmore was nice and almost leisurely. I enjoyed the fresh mountain air and went for a spin with Gord. I just love the Rocky mountains! I miss them! The coach then had a tough bike/run workout on my schedule for Sunday. I was hoping for a training partner on this ride/run but apparently "anyone up for a 4 hour workout with some time trial intervals, stacked with hill repeats and followed with a run off the bike?" doesn't sound appealing to most people! I knew if Bree was here she'd be game, so me and imaginary Bree set off down the #1 highway and then up the 12% grade on Silver Tip Road for one tough workout!! I was going to hit 'the Quarry' for a swim but the thunderheads that were dumping rain on the poor guys in the race moved in right as I was about to head to the water--so I swam in the local pool instead and finished with a nice hot tub!

In the meantime, the guys were up at the Nordic center getting dirty and trying to stay warm! A number of thunder showers continuously hammered them with rain throughout the race. I stayed for Richard's first lap and then headed back down to my warm bed for 9 hours of sleep while they huddled in a damp tent with the neighbouring racers playing Metallica into the wee hours! I felt a bit guilty, so I brought them coffee and Timbits in the morning! They managed to finish second to a local bike shop! Good job guys!

Richard post muddy lap--me getting out of there!3 to go. In Calgary for the week, racing in Canmore on Sunday, then off to Korea on Monday for the last bit of Beijing prep!
Take care!
Lisa

Olympic Prep Week 1/5

Hard to believe this picture is only from 2002...UCTC sprint triathlon on a mountain bike.  It was a cold and rainy day, I put a shirt and shorts on in transition...the next year I did my first Olympic distance race! 

2005 my first ITU points race, 2006 my first World Cup, 2008 Beijing!!  I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one!!!  Still a little surreal! 
After Hamburg I flew home for a quick visit, dinner with the family, a frantic visit to the bike shop, and then back on a plane to Victoria.  Coach Paul convinced me to join in a Lifesport training camp they were putting on after the Vancouver Half Ironman.  So I joined in with a strong group of long distance (Ironman & Half Ironman) athletes--Bree Wee, Katya Myers, Caroline Smith, Eileen Swanson, Janet Neilson and Sam Mazer, Coach Dan Smith, plus a couple brave spouses and locals joining for a workout or two.

After scoping out the schedule, I was a little nervous training with the long distance crowd, especially after a week off and all the travel, but I was hoping the girls would be tired from the race the weekend before.....NOPE, they hammer it no matter how tired they are!!  Tuesday, was fairly easy, base ride & run and a long lake swim.  Wednesday started with a tough pool swim followed by a hilly ride, a one-on-one meeting with sport psychologist Terry Orlick (very motivating!) and then intervals in the lake that evening.  Thursday turned into a 'survival' swim which was followed by an awesome group talk from Coach Regensburg in the morning and then a killer 8x2k repeat run set!  Coach Dan was there to pace me....I was thankful for that...and Bree was there to make me stay with him...doesn't that girl get tired!?!  The day finished with a leg icing in the ocean and an another yummy wild Salmon meal at the Regensburg's.  

Phew....Friday was legs off and only an open water session.  Needless to say, I was tired by Saturday which started off with a fartlek run that I really worked hard.....then, after an hour rest.....a 5hour+ bike ride!   With Coach Dan 'bomb-da-downhills' Smith in the lead, the pace of the ride was a little tough for me!  It turned into a 5 hour draft practice, with the only thing I could think of the last 1.5 hours was 'don't lose Dan's wheel, you don't want to ride back on your own' over and over!  I had to pull some Tour de France style descending--tucked in low on my bike--to keep up with him on the downhills!!  Once I made into town I abandoned my car at the Lifesport office and went straight back to Erin's (where I'm staying) and luckily she was already cooking dinner! Excellent!  Today (Sunday) was a 2 hour base run, I was dropped by the group within 10min--my legs were killing me--but they came around after 45min and I finished 'er! Then back to the lake in the afternoon for a cruiser swim.  It was great camp, most of the girls have now gone home and my legs are exhausted....man those girls are tough...i don't know how they do it!!  An Ironman won't be on my schedule any time soon!!  Sorry Paul!

Thanks for all the posts and e-mails!  Hi to everyone at NuVista--sorry I haven't replied to the e-mails, please see above for the reason I haven't!  I promise to stop by the office soon!

4 more weeks!

LM

It's Official!!!!!!!

It's official, just got the word and all my oranje gear!

Beijing Bound**!!!

Man, I've been slacking on the blogging updates!! Apologies!

With a 10th place finish in Hamburg, I have finally met the Dutch NOC criteria for Beijing! That's right, Olympics, here I come!! How cool is that??!! I still need to get official approval for my spot, but it is looking positive! I'll let you know ASAP.

I'll post some more later, maybe a pic or two since I haven't done that in awhile!

Thanks for all the e-mails and posts!

Lisa

**pending Dutch NOC approval.