Sport Spiel and White Hatted!

On Thursday I was asked to attend a Tourism Calgary event downtown as the representative for the Calgary Ironman 70.3. The event involved the Mayor of Calgary and Team Alberta (and Olympic medallists) curling team, plus athletes from all the various sporting events going on in Calgary this year. There were even 2 of the Stampeders there with the Grey Cup--Mike Labinjo (my favourite Stamp!) and Burke Dale (now one of my favourite Stamps!).

They also gave all the athletes the famous Calgary White Hat--the white stetson is given out to visitors, like Oprah, and local athletes and is a fun tradition in the city. We then had a very serious curling bonspiel after....I was on Team 'Bronco'--the Mayors team!


Our intense game. We ended up losing when curling great Kevin Martin threw a great last rock!
Stampeder Mike Labinjo going down on the ice...guess he's better on turf than ice!

A fun time and great way to promote sport in the city of Calgary. This year, along with the 70.3, we have the Brier, World Champs for water skiing, a big golf tournament, the Grey Cup final, and many other events! Good year to be a sport fan in Calgary!

LM

1:30 on the TM

The weather in Calgary took another turn for the worst. It's been -20ish the last couple days, and this meant that I had to do my long run on the treadmill (TM) at the gym. Boring!
So, if you were wondering what goes through my head or occupies the time while running in one spot for an hour and half...here is goes:

-Australian Open on TV, watch a match and a half, pretend that I am in Australia running.
-count the number of Lululemon outfits at the College gym on friday afternoon...stopped counting at 30...
-focus on run form every second 5 minutes
-wonder why the heat is on in the gym (the vent is above me), solve all the weeks problems--exercise helps me focus.
-watch big-muscle-tattoo-guy get his skinner-than-a-tooth-pick girlfriend spot him while he incline pressed an obscene amount of weight. Wonder if anyone else is worried that she is fixing her hair while spotting him...
-count the number of muscle shirts being worn in the gym...
-focus on run form and play "technique police" and spot all in the gym with improper lifting technique--a pet peeve of mine.
-watch every second of the last 5 minutes tick by and hope that the weather is better next week for my 2 hour base run!!

It wasn't very exciting, but I got through it! It's supposed to warm up next week, so hopefully no TM again!!
LM

Back to reality

Well, made it back to Cowtown. I was a hermit on the weekend and pretty sore. The good thing is that the weather in Calgary has been fantastic (for January!), sunny and in the mid-teens, nice! Trying to focus on recovery and getting back into my routine here. I had a massage the other night and my therapist (who I've been going to for years), stopped after about 45' and told me: "you should book another hour this week if you can, this the worst your back has been in a long time" Ouch! Guess +70km of swimming over 2 weeks will do that to you. I'm back in on Thursday and doing some serious stretching and recovery!

Found some pics from the 8k race in Victoria...that is me running behind the crowd, #17, think this is just before I really started hurting!!

Lucy Smith (Lifesport coach/teammate & race winner) showing us how it's supposed to be done!Cheers,
LM

The WALL

Yesterday I hit the wall, and hit it hard, no bouncing off it, just hit and drop to the ground. It's usually about 10 days after arrival at training camp that athletes who have been going strong for 9 days straight suddenly max out and the body just simply quits. Well, in Victoria, I was starting to think I was invincible and would be able to clear the wall in one jump. I started to approach the wall half way through Day 12. I ran head on into it on Day 13.

Day 13 started off with a horrible nights sleep, and an accidental sleep-in for the 5:30am swim--it happens to the best of us. I was only 40' late and made up all the meters I missed, although I was really tired and sluggish. We were back at the pool for another swim at noon but I first a 30' "recovery" run. It took all I had to do this run, I even downloaded some new tunes to my ipod, solely for the extra motivation. After the swim I had a lunch meeting with Coach Paul and then back to the lab for some sweat/sodium testing. What was supposed to be a 2 hour ride turned into a 3 hour trainer ride. I struggled, came back from the brink of breaking, but managed to suck it up and finish it off strong. I actually slept that night!

Day 14...we did a tempo/fartlek run around 'the bog', I went out pretty hard on the first part of the run, hoping the legs would come around for the second half...nope! I saw the 'spirit of the bog' floating out there, ready to drag me in when my legs finally gave out (hallucinations, not a good sign!). Fortunately, I made it through the run without a dip in the bog water! After a short break, back to the pool--hoping for an easy float--nope again! Coach Lance put together one hard workout, I think they were officially trying to make me break...I was close but not going to give them the satisfaction! Thanks to the draft of Brent, I managed to get through the workout!!

Now, I going out for sushi...yummy! Only one more strength/core session and a swim to finish off...I can do it!! Now time to get back up, recover and make to the top of the wall. This will only make me stronger. Love it.

Back to Calgary friday...I may not leave my bed until monday...

Lisa

New for 2009...

I have been asked by Paul, the owner of Speed Theory, to write a monthly article in their Ironman 70.3 Calgary Newsletter. I'm calling it Lisa's Top 5's. For January it was my top 5 ways to transition from the couch to training. February will be my top 5 travel adventures. Take a peak at: www.speedtheory.ca/blog. There are also technical articles by fellow Calgary Triathletes, Trev Williams, Kyle Marcotte and Scott Curry. If there is a 'top 5' you'd like to see, let me know!

A couple other exciting new things for 2009 are my new partnerships. Trakkers and Timex have added me to their teams! Click on the logos to the right to check out my partners and supporters.

That's all for now.

Lisa

Vic camp Days 5-10

My last post left off with me going to the trainer ride+run off the bike. Since we started the ride at 5, it meant we were running at 7--in the dark! It turned out to be a Rocky Balboa moment...dark, wind and rain, surprisingly, I felt good and had fun during it! The next day was a 5:30am swim (never my favourite!), core/strength workout and VO2 max testing on the bike. With tired legs, I had a tough time mustering up the energy to crank out the extra wattage, but the numbers were okay for an early season test.

Thursday, coach didn't let up on us one bit--8k of swimming (in 2 sessions) and 8x1k of running, good times. Friday was a little easier, some recovery swimming and a well earned sleep-in. Saturday was a base run and ride--I rode outside solo, in the rain...I wasn't passing up a chance to get on the pavement..plus I secretly felt tough like Lance Armstrong...

Today was an 8k run, which Paul had told me was "just a small local run". Turns out that running in Victoria is a bigger event than running in Calgary. There are so many fast runners here! I managed an okay run for 6th women overall, 2nd in my age group, with some tired and heavy legs--I had tough time with second 4km. I was snaked at the line by an 80lbs, 50 year old lady...I had no idea she was there, and in my defence she apparently was (and still is) a really fast runner in her day!! Anyway, this run was followed up with a 6k swim.....phew!

Tomorrow is a lighter day, but still 2 swims! I Hope that I make it to my flight home on friday...

Lisa

Vic camp days 1-5

Ouch!

After 5 days of heavy training (coming off a Christmas-New Years recovery week), I am thoroughly exhausted! We've done some long runs in the snow, wind and rain but it's nice to be outside. Paul had us run 3x2miles on the weekend and follow that up the next day with a 2hour hilly base (low heart rate) run. Needless to say, I could barely move my legs by Monday! He's taken care of the upper body with some long 5k swims. Good news is, my shoulder seems to be holding in okay and my times are coming down again! It's been a long recovery from that Beijing crash but it's slowly getting better!



Now I am vegging out on my bed, recovering before our trainer ride (with an added bonus of a 20' run at the end). Gotta love training camps...

Lisa

2009!

Happy New Year!!
Well, 2008 is officially over and onto 2009! Overall it was a great year for me in Triathlon (except for the Beijing crash!), now to start 2009 on the right foot. I'm off to Victoria for my first Lifesport training camp of the year! There is a great group of athletes joining me out west, so it should be fun. It's a swim focus and my shoulder seems to be holding up ok as long as I stay on top of my exercises and stretching. That'll be my New Year's resolution--strengthen and stretching!

Since training is now back in full swing, the posts will probably more triathlon focused. Hopefully I have Internet access there, I'll do my best to update often!

Hope 2008 was great and make 2009 even better!
Cheers,
Lisa