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