Ain't No Rest For The Wicked...

Phew....what a week. After a month of rest, race, recover, repeat x4, it was a bit of a shock to the system to get back into training. No worries though, coach Paul just kept it coming and told me "don't worry, we'll have you ready for Calgary". So I put my head down and ignored the fact that every muscle fiber in my body was hurting--it felt so good to be back at it!

ONE MORE WEEK!! Again, who's that super fast girl on the banner??!!
I've been scoping out the course and training on every square centimeter of it. With the help of my support crew (Nicole and Dex, they also helped me with my bike/run on Thursday) I did a swim to bike transition at the Ghost (the Ironman swim site) today...

It's been great training on the course, there have been so many athletes out there--it was tiring waving to everyone. I also made a new friend, Miles. He's also racing next weekend.

One more week of training and then it's show time!

That's all for now, I need to stretch and get some sleep! So tired....

Lisa

Iceland or maybe Greenland & the Bee Killer...

Well, what have I been up to since Kitzbuhel?


I finished 17th there by the way, not too bad for a World Championship, but not where I wanted to finish. It all came together on the bike (making it a runners day) and I had a rough first 5k running, lost contact with a group of runners, and then went from 23rd to 17th in the last 5k. Too bad, if I just held onto the group in front of me for the first 5k, it would have been possible for a top 12 finish.


Then, I made the journey over the atlantic back to North America this week. Maddy and my bag decided to stay an extra day in Frankfurt. I've been recovering in Calgary from my month long travel & the races.

Richard and I went to the Stampeders football game on Friday. That's Canadian football, not American (different rules and field size), European (soccer) or Australian (rugby)!


Ralph the dog--the Stamps mascot, roughing up a Toronto fan...macots scare me...it's those giant eyes...I don't trust them!

Richard and I enjoying the game...well the first half anyway. We road our bikes to the game and left during half time since my body is still adjusting to the Mountain time zone...I think I'm somewhere between Iceland and Greenland right now!

The weekend was a return to training which I have been looking forward to! Coach threw me right back into it with a 4.5hour ride!! Today, mile repeats & and a lake swim....Ouch! I asked for it!
I was riding soooo fast that I killed a bee and it stuck to my frame! I also got one to the cheek....the bees were suicidal yesterday!

That's all I got for today. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer sun!

Lisa

Home Stretch!

Has it been that long already? A month of travel and races? I swear I haven't been counting the days until I get to go home see Richard, friends and family and sleep in my own, not too hard-not too soft bed with comfortable pillows....soon my back will be happy again!

For now, it is time to concentrate on Kitzbuhel, the site of the 4th race in the ITU World Championship Series. Since Korea and DC didn't exactly go as planned, I have some catching up to do in the ITU points division! So, I'm excited for a good day on Sunday. I raced this course in 2007 and just love it here! It is such a cute ski town, I may have to get Richard out here one day!

Here are some pics of my last week and a bit in Europe:

Our accommodations in Holten, a 'bungalow park', very kid friendly as you can see from the super cool play ground!

After Holten I had a quick family visit up in the north of the Netherlands in Groningen. It was windy there, flat and lots of farms, kind of reminded me of Saskatchewan (with out the sea of course!)--Aunt Toni on the sea wall:

Some of my family was on vacation camping, so we took a drive to visit them:

Some interesting Dutch 'treats'. They tried make me eat some smoked eel....No thanks, I'll leave that for my Dad to eat! What the heck is this thing and who would eat it?!

Toni's beautiful garden:

Now, after a cancelled flight and a detour through Paris (I think we could have driven here faster!), I'm in the beautiful ski village of Kitzbuhel!

Someone's lawn ornament, sorry Richard, no room in my bag to take one of these home...though I think it would look lovely in the front yard (over the patch of grass that won't grow!).

Race day is Sunday at 4pm (late!) European time, so those in NA won't have to wake up in the wee hours to watch! Tomorrow is the men's race, so I'll be watching that and testing out the waters, no ruling on wetsuits yet, the water temp is just at the limit now.

2 more days until race day!! Ready to rock it!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend! Go Team Lifesport at the Vancouver Half--wish I could be there racing with you guys--Miss ya!!

Lisa

A Quickie....

So, not great access to internet since arriving in the netherlands...I'll make this one quick, no pictures either (maybe later in the week!?).

European Champs: First I raced the team relay in Holten on Thursday. It was short and sweet, teams of 4, 2 men, 2 women each racing 300m swim, 10k cycle, 2k run. I went 3rd. There was a bit of gap to the lead group going onto my leg, so I worked the swim hard and closed it fast, then the bike it was 6 of us at a leisurly pace, onto the run I just ran hard, using the race as a tune up for sunday. In the end I had the fastest women's time of the day and we ended up 6th...only because the boys all came together on the run.

Then Sunday was the Championships. I had a great swim....FINALLY!! I was 1st to the turn bouy and then 4th out of the water! I've been working hard on my swim the last few weeks and was finally able to transfer my pool skills to my open water times! Onto the bike, it ended up being a pack of 23 women, I just watched for breaks, but compared to my last 2 races, the pace was not very hard. I had a speedy T2 and was onto the run in 3rd place. I ran hard, it was hot out, had some mentally tough sections, but held on for 10th with a respectible run split.

Up next? Kitzbuhel World Champs Series race. Should be fun!

More later! Now I am in the north of the Netherlands for a quick visit with some family. Then back to work!

Lisa