Catching Up...

I never know how to start a blog post when I've left it so long without an update.  I really should make a habit of keeping it up to date, even when life isn't what you think or hope it should be.  Good thing is, it always seems to work itself out for the most part, or at least carry on.  Since it has been so long I will do a quick recap from where we left off, 24hrs in the Old Pueblo...

March...

March went by in a bit of a whirlwind.  I spend most of the time on a work project for the Tucson Botanical Gardens called "Growdown".  Essentially four Tuscon Landscape Architect/Designers were selected and  tasked with designing a 15'x20' garden and building it in 24hrs, pretty much speed gardening.  It was a really fun, but amazingly exhausting experience and after three eight hour days out in the sun doing construction I was beat.  I narrowly missed winning the competition (one vote) but was super happy with how my garden turned out.  If you are in the Tucson area and interested, the gardens will be up for just a couple more weeks before they get dismantled.  A full write up about the event with lots of before/during/after photos is on our company website.

Giving the plants a little TLC

Finished Garden

Other than the rattlesnakes waking up, not much else exciting happened in March, so let's move on to April.

April...

Kata, Myself and mini-Chloe ;) post race!!

April I got back into the racing thing and started off the month with a last minute decision to race the Arizona MBAA XC Mountain bike race up in Prescott.  I headed up Friday and got to hang out with fellow Xterra racer Jaime Brede for a fun weekend of camping and bike racing!! This year has seen a big increase in the numbers for the women's pro/cat 1 field race making it so much more fun and exciting.  Chloe Woodruff was the class of the field and left us all in the dust, but Jaime, Kata Skaggs (another Xterra girl) and I fought it out until the very last lap.  Pretty sure my legs were about to fall off.  I followed that up with a quick transition run (ouch) then drove back down to Phoenix to meet up with Lisa Ribes and the first race of the AZ Open Water series in Tempe Town Lake Sunday morning.  We both got up early and did our long runs before jumping in for the 3k swim.  I am so lucky to be working with 2XU this year and wanted to get into my new awesome V3 wetsuit and try it out before the triathlon season got into full swing. In hindsight I packed WAY too much training/racing into the weekend, especially one week out of the Xterra series opener, and really paid the price in Vegas the next weekend.

Pre-riding with Racergirl Mel

Soooo Xterra West Champs rolled around and I decided to drive out instead of dealing with airlines, bike boxes, etc... I wasn't feeling horrible, but not great either in the couple of days leading up to the race.  I won't go into the course details, as by now the "Moonscape" that passes for a race course in Vegas has been beaten to death, uninspiring to say the least.  Race day rolled around and conditions were brutal, high temperatures and super high winds that nearly blew you off your bike (this isn't normal on a mountain bike).  I did my normal warm-up feeling pretty sluggish but hoped that jumping into the COLD water would wake me up.  I had a great swim, leading both the men and women out of the water, but then had nothing, and continued to have nothing for the entire race.  I contemplated dropping out more times than I can remember but couldn't bring myself to do it and ended up walking most of the 10k in to finish.  I have raced at the elite level 10yrs as a swimmer and going on 13yrs as a triathlete and this will go down as the hardest and worst race of my career.  The fact that I had a good swim makes things even more puzzling and I'm not sure I will ever figure out exactly what happened but it was definitely not my day.  I guess everyone has them every now and then but after the year I had in 2012 I was really hoping to get 2013 started off on a better note.

Not one to dwell on disappointments, I got back to Tucson, put my head down for some big training and signed up for the Whiskey 50 Off-Road mountain bike race in Prescott in the Pro division, why not;)  Turns out the start list was a comprehensive who's who of North American MTB racing.  If you are a mtber and haven't raced the Whiskey you absolutely need to put it on your schedule.  The weekend starts off on Friday night with the Pro Fat-tire Crit through the streets of downtown Prescott, lots of spectators, lots of fun, and lots of pain packed into a very short amount of time.  The amateurs head out on Saturday for their turn at either 25 or 50miles of pain and suffering and the Pro's get their turn at the full 50 on Sunday.  I was approaching this as a really hard day of training but also wanted to have a good race and ended up on the start line nervous and seriously wondering if I was completely out of my league!!  I also had forgotten sunscreen and was desperately walking through the spectators begging for some, duh.  As the last entry in I had number 52 out of 52 and joked that my goal was just to beat my plate number.

Thanks Andy for the cheers and photo!!

With over 7200ft of climbing I had to ride my own pace right from the start and I knew I wasn't going to take any chances of a spill on the technical stuff so was happy to find my own spot in the second half of the field.  I was super happy to ride solid the whole way and even started picking off girls on the 15mile climb out of Skull Valley.  My skills through the last sections of singletrack were seriously lacking, especially since I had not pre-ridden the course, but I got back into town safe, sound and happy in 30th!!

That pretty much brings April to a close, despite the boss's attempt to ship me back home!! (yes we do have a lot of fun even at work)  Lisa decided returning the plotter was probably a better decision and I got to stay;)  And since this is already a long post I will save my thankfully much happier Xterra Alabama race report for the next time!!!

Cheers :)

Tucson Sunset

Ah-Ha.... It's 2013!!!

Yep, it's been a while, but the giant reset button has been pressed and things are finally starting to get moving in the right direction again.  I won't go into much detail, but I took a bunch of time off after Xterra Worlds to let the mind and body heal, enjoyed a great Christmas back in Canada with the family and have since been slowly building the fitness levels back up.  I didn't think I would lose as much fitness as I did, but I guess that is what you get for growing old ;)

Ready to head out on Lap 1 - 24HOP 2013!!

So fast forward to 2013!!  Still putting the pieces together, but got the season rolling with a shock to the nerves at the first race in the MBAA Arizona MTB series in January at McDowell Mountain Park.  I had a good 90mins in me, too bad the race was 110mins long.  Last 20 were pretty ugly, but you can't beat a day on the great trails at McDowell Mtn.  It did provide me with some extra motivation to get my butt in shape especially since 24hrs in the Old Pueblo was quickly approaching.

Our little piece of 24hr Town

24hrs in the Old Pueblo.... finally got out to see what all the hubbub was about!! I was fortunate enough to be apart of the 5 person coed team "Rudy Project Retreads" with a great group of guys, Nils, Steve, Hunter, and Darron.  We even had uber mechanic Joe Devera in town to make sure the machines were running smooth all night long.  Yep, were are pretty special ;)  Headed out to 24hr town Friday night in time to get an easy lap in before Steve (executive chef!!) cooked us up some awesome grub.  Did I mention we also had a full RV?  If you are going to do a 24hr race this is definitely the way to go, mechanic, chef, RV and awesome peeps!!  We were even treated to a gorgeous sunset.

Saturday it was a leisurely up and at'em for the noon start.  The weather was turning out to be perfect, unlike the usual curse of this weekend, warm and dry with a pretty good wind though.  I was 2nd in the running order and started my first lap shortly after 1pm.  Ran into a bit of traffic but just snuck in under the 1:10 mark for a solid lap time.  We had a team goal of a place on the podium and were sitting just there in 5th going into the night laps.  My 2nd lap was full on dark and only my second time out on the mtb with lights, yeehaa.  Still a bunch of traffic, but rode clean and solid and after a good nap put in another good night lap at 1am.  As a team we were knocking out consistent laps like nobody's business and slowly moved ourselves up into a rock solid 3rd position by the end of the night.  (the first two teams in our division were the pro-squads from Stans NoTubes and Nationwide)

Crazy "Le Mans" start with a couple hundred fellow cyclists!!

Soon enough it was Sunday morning and we were excited about getting in our last laps out on the course.  The wind had died down and the traffic had really thinned out and everyone turned in some serious lap times to hold onto our 3rd position, way to go TEAM!!  Results

2013 - 24hrs in the Old Pueblo crew

Overall a great experience and lots of awesome riding.  Tons of great stories, memories and new friendships and already looking forward to next year!! Definitely a must do.  (Also put in the best straight 12hrs of sleep I have ever had Sunday night ;)

Huge thanks has to go out to Pro-Mechanics Joe and Myron for keeping our machines running smooth the whole 24hrs.  Also to Energy Towels, an absolute must have for between laps, especially in the middle of the night.  Thanks also to our team sponsor Rudy Project for the great gear and to Power Bar for the nutritional supplies.  Biggest thanks goes out to my team-mates who made the whole thing so much fun :))))

Inspirational  Night Lap Message from the Mechanics :)

Not sure exactly what is up next but definitely lots of training miles to go!!

2012 Season is OVER!!!

So for the past three weeks I have been trying to think of a way to positively wrap up this season, sugar coat it so to speak.  Well, I can't do it.  This year SUCKED!! At least as far as triathlon went.  In the greater scheme of live and the world is wasn't so bad.  I have a great life with lots of opportunities, great friends and family, and in the end I will heal and recover and live to fight another day.  But as this is for the most part a blog about the triathlon side of my life, I will return to the summation that the only thing good about my 2012 triathlon season is that it is finally over, done, finished!! I can wipe the slate clean and be done with it.

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This short promo video done a couple of days before Xterra Worlds sums it up pretty well.  Please excuse the first 30secs.  They told me they weren't recording yet and I was joking around doing all the things I shouldn't do during the video :0 If you can lip read there are a good couple f-bombs in there!!

I think Nils pretty much summed up how the day was going to go in this photo!!! 

Setting up transition

Needless to say my calf didn't hold up for the race a few days later.  I hadn't tested it at all in the five weeks since injuring it at Xterra USA and was hoping for a race day miracle.  I taped it up best I could and headed down to the start.  To add to the injustice of it all, the swim was finally challenging and was looking pretty epic as we headed into the surf.  Unfortunately my calf was so bad I could barely run on the sand and had to limp into the water pretty much getting pummeled and stuck behind the entire pro field.  The midway beach run and run up to transition after the swim were about as ugly as it could get without me actually starting to walk.

I got on my bike with the two leaders, Mari Rabie and Barbara Rivera, and tried to get my head in gear.  I knew at this point that there was no way that I could run, but I could have a great bike and since I didn't race Worlds in 2011 this was my chance to get a race pace effort on the course if for nothing else than to be better prepared for next year.  Not sure I accomplished that goal very well, but I did get through it and called it a day in T2.

Big and Lil Fish

the 'Girls' tailgating pre-Halloween Party!!

As bad as the race itself went, the trip was a lot of fun.  Big thank you to the "Lil Fish" for coming out to cheer and hang out.  Also to the housemates, Shelby, Branden, and Dave for an awesome group to stay with!!

Last but definitely not least, I'd like to wrap it up with a huge thank you to my sponsors who supported me through everything:  Sean and Champsys for the amazing (and incredibly stylish) racesuits and training gear,  Native Eyewear for my great glasses, Maxxis for the best tires out there, Nineteen and their awesome wetsuits, Extreme Endurance, Honeystinger, and Zipfizz for their wonderful products that kept me hydrated, fueled, recovered, strong and healthy.  Also big thanks to my coach Gareth Thomas for guiding me through the tough times and putting up with not a lot of good news coming in on the training logs!!

Throughout this year the reputed Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" has often popped into my head.  Here's hoping for a much less interesting 2013!!!

Xterra USA

I haven't really been too excited about writing this race report, hence the two week delay since Xterra USA Nationals.  Overall the race went about as well as could be expected considering how my year has been going and I'm happy with my 6th place finish.  However, the resulting aftermath is just typical of what I am going to chalk up to as simply the curse of 2012.

Swim Start - Xterra Photos

The pro's had a slight head start in front of the amateurs and it was nice and clean.  I quickly got in behind Ben Allen and Craig Evans with Branden Rakita right in the mix.  The three of us couldn't hold Ben's pace through the 2nd lap and came out of the water a couple of seconds down with a nice gap behind us to the next guys.  My swim is finally really starting to feel good and I was excited to be swimming right where I should at a comfortable pace, especially after feeling like I was going to die at Xterra Canada.

Wheeler Canyon - Photo Emma Garrard

Onto the bike I was feeling the best I have all season.  I held onto the lead all the way through the first two climbing sections getting caught by Mel and Suzie right at the top before the first descent.  I stuck with them for a bit and thought I might just hang on, but the pace was just out of reach.  Leslie, Danelle, and Renata gradually reeled me in and passed me up the long climb to Sardine Peak and I rolled into T2 in 6th place, right about where I thought I would be.

Middle Fork Trail - Photo Nils Nilsen

I started the run feeling pretty good, legs were light and turning over nicely.  I had been nursing a bit of a niggle in my left calf and a chronically sore right Achilles tendon for the week and a half leading into the race but was hoping that by easing into the run I could let them warm-up and get through the run without any problems.  Usually my Achilles is a bit stiff and sore for the first couple of minutes then loosens up and is fine, unfortunately not this time.  By halfway through it was progressively getting more and more sore and putting lots of strain on my soleus, which was in turn tightening up.  A slight stumble in some congestion when the sprint course joined back into our course sent a shooting pain up my calf and I almost just had to laugh, really I just can't seem to get a break this year can I.  All I could do was hobble into the finish hoping the damage wasn't too bad.

Fall Colours on Run - Photo Emma Garrard

By evening my ankle was starting to bruise and swell along the side of my tendon.  After two days in the car driving home from Utah I had cankles the size of Canada. Is this season almost over, please!!!

Anyways, only three weeks to go until worlds and then it will be over.  Making the best of what I can do training wise and will just have to roll the dice in Maui and see what comes up.  Good news is no matter what happens I will be in Maui :)

Xterra USA - Pre-race video...

Little late, but just figured out how to convert this video from DVD to digital.  Fun little interview I did with Park City TV the week before the race!!

Quick Update...

Thought I'd write just a quick update before Nationals happens here tomorrow.  Just a couple of days after getting back from Xterra Canada I loaded up the car for the extended road trip up to Utah for Xterra USA.  Fortunate enough to be able to work remotely I was able to head to higher ground and hopefully produce some additional red blood cells before race day.  The trip started out with the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival in Showlow AZ.  The last time I was in Showlow in 2004 I got airlifted out (another story for another day) and I had to laugh at the wall of hay bales marking the spot of the incident. Thankfully the Xterra event went off without any problems, though it was a tough little course.  Shonny V and I made the guys work hard placing 4th and 5th overall!! Good hard training day in the books.

Fool Hollow Lake the night before the race

BigFish style run :)-

Sunday right after the race I jumped in the car and headed north, what a gorgeous drive, and pulled into Moab right at sunset.  Stayed the night in the hostel, hmmmm, a little sketchy.  Up early Monday and decided that even though the training plan said day off a quick MTB ride was a must and headed out to Klondike Bluff.  Perhaps not the best of Moab, but a nice little introduction, definitely will be back!!!

Heading into Moab at sunset

Klondike Bluff, Moab

From there it was a quick drive up to Park City where I was lucky to be able to stay with 'future xterra triathlete' Kelsey Withrow ;) and BF Evan.  One day she will see the light and leave that road stuff behind!!

Tour De Suds

Enjoyed a great week and a half in Park City (aka MTB nirvana) training and adapting.  Even joined in the local Tour De Suds MTB hill climb race in costume on Sunday.   Great event if you ever find yourself in town the weekend before Nationals.  

Mid-mountain trail, Park City

And here it is, race evening in Snowbasin.  The weather looks to be perfect and the fall colours are putting on a show.  Everything is packed and ready to go :)  Woohoo!!

Looking up the canyon towards Snowbasin

Xterra Canada

Well we all have those days when the body just doesn't want to get moving and Sunday unfortunately was one of the them for me.  I knew going into the race that I was going to struggle a bit with the bike course, then it decided rain the day and night before.  While the course handled the rain well and there wasn't much mud, it did make the roots a tad slippery.  With all that has happened this year with crashes and injuries I was going to play it safe and not take any risks even if that meant losing some serious time.  What I didn't count on was feeling pretty sluggish overall and suffering even on the double track and roads sections.

Canadian Sunrise

We woke up Sunday morning to a spectacular sunrise, complete with snow capped peaks!! Brrrr...  Warm-up was definitely on the chilly side but got in a good bike/run then headed down to the Quarry for the swim start.  It was a mass start of some 150 people for the 3 loop course, but everyone was surprisingly good with their self-seeding strategies considering the limited amount of space available.  I got off to a clean start and onto Branden Rakita's feet where I sort of stayed the whole 3 laps.  While the pace didn't seem all that fast, I just couldn't get into the next gear, a feeling that would continue for the whole race.

Quarry Lake - Xterra Photos

Swim Lap - Courtesy Jordan Bryden

Not going to elaborate much on the bike and the run as I pretty much just got through them.  I did manage to pick up the pace a bit and ride better the second lap of the bike but too much damage had already been done by that time to make up any ground on the rest of the field and I finished up in 7th. The course though, was very spectacular!! Thanks Trey for the photos :)

About to drop into EKG - Xterra Photos

Heading out on the run - Xterra Photos

Back in Tucson and moving on!!! Deuces Wild Triathlon up this weekend in Show Low before heading up to Park City, Utah for some altitude adaption ahead of Xterra USA Nationals end of September.