Strange Places and Familiar Races

I started writing this blog, explaining some background of my sob story of the past few years leading into my race in Yokohama to reiterate how happy I was to have made it back to a start line of a WTS. Going over all  my injuries and time off seems redundant, you guys already know all that! No need to dwell on it!! 

So, needless to say I took great pride in toeing the line in Yokohama last week. Even though it's been 2 years away, my years of experience served as an autopilot for setting up/warming up and everything about racing. 

I was ranked last but with a small (albeit, strong!) field, I wasn't too concerned. The gun went off very quickly so i had very little time to think. I got pulled under and pushed back literally within the first 10 strokes. I didn't give it much thought given i had zero expectations for the race. I moved myself to the outside and just put my head down and swam. I decided i should look up to see where i was, dreading looking up to see a sea of arms infront of me. To my surprise, i only saw about 4 people! I looked around the buoy thinking, "this can't be the front" but there was only open water ahead. Feeling smug and comfortable i let a girl up beside me. Then another one came of my other side and i began to get squished in the middle. All this drag and smacking arms landed us a few seconds back from the top 3 girls but i wasn't super concerned. My transitions were rusty but I hopped on my bike in good position and rode straight up to the leaders. 

The bike was super cruisy but i wanted to keep up the pace to keep the second pack from reeling us in. I haven't had a ton of run training and i knew that would be my weakness so a small front group was going to be my ticket. We eventually did get organized and had up to a minute lead at one point. Unfortunately, the skies opened up and a downpour began. Our group was cautious on the corners, which i am thankful for, but unfortunately this caused us to be caught on the last lap. 

My T2 was bad to the point of humor but i was planning to head out on a imaginary solo 10km TT so it didn't reeaaallly matter. Will have to clean that up for next time though! I was nervous of bonking so i took it out comfortably. Looking back, i may have run a little too comfortably but i figured better safe than sorry in my first attempt back. I was already super satisfied with my swim/bike. 

I ran with a smile nearly the entire time. This is what I had worked so hard in rehab for.  I finished in 17th place. I was probably the happiest 17th place finisher in the history of WTS racing! 

Now I'm on the plane home from one of the coolest experiences of my career! The Red Bull Endurance Project.  6 athletes from cycling, running, triathlon and motocross were looked after by 7 of the greatest sport physiology minds as well as a handful of other experts in physio, massage, hydration, mechanics, and nutrition gathered in Mammoth Lakes California.

 We studied our heart, lungs, muscles, brains, blood, urine...literally everything possible. This camp was cutting edge, testing things that have never been tested on athletes like oxygen saturation in the brain and cardiology testing for things like how much force your heart produces with each  pump. We also tested the volume of blood the heart can pump, 24 hour blood sugar monitoring using a device inserted in our backs, the voltage coming from our muscles, the oxygen saturation in our muscles, our heart rate variability through the night showing how much recovery went on...the list goes on and on. My finger got pricked literally 100 times during the 4 day stint of testing, but it was well worth it!  

Besides all this data, we made great new friends, soaked up a lot of info from some great minds (think Tour De France physiology, nutrition and coaching, people who develop their own testing devices and software) we also worked really hard, had a lot of laughs and gave each other a real hard time! Note to self, do not wear toe warmers in California in front of cyclists ;) 

I'm heading home with a lot more knowledge, confidence, friends and clothing ;) I need to thank Red Bull for putting on this amazing camp! I saw first hand what went into it during the camp and can only imagine what went in to this overall. It was cool to see the staff so passionate and having such a great time putting in 20 hour days, cleaning our sweat and drool... they really had the hardest job!  I never could have imagined this would  be the camp i signed up for last winter. It was so much more than anyone could have imagined! 

Now for a little rest, and back to the grind...implementing what I've learned of course!! :)

Yes, This Blog Still Exists!

There's a common theory among athlete bloggers and blog readers that when an athlete's blog is neglected, they are likely injured or not going well. I've been asked this a number of times over the past few months since I last blogged. The answer is, yes, I've had ups and downs (which I will speak more on later!) but I am healthy and racing in the next WTS event in 2 weeks time! Point being, I wasn't neglecting my blog on purpose. I am ticking along and enjoying life! So I guess we have a lot to catch up on! Lucky for you, I will spare you the details and eye strain.

First off,  I cannot believe it's nearly May! I started training "properly" in January with my "new-old" coach. That makes sense to me at least ;). I  have basically done base training from then until now. We lucked out in Victoria with some better weather than most winters and I haven't been soaked and freezing too often this year! #canadian #I'mhashtagginginablog #newlow #annnyways

I was fortunate enough to be named to the National Development team by our new high performance director, Libby Burrell. I participated in a national camp in Florida and was based there for the month of February. Having been out of the scene for so long I met a ton of new faces and witnessed a heap of new talent! All in all it was a really great time and I learned a lot. Especially from run specialist Bobby McGee. I hope to work with him more in the future. I trained all 3 sports with no real setbacks during the camp which was an achievement in itself given I was only just back to running any sort of volume. The problem was, in Clermont the only real trails are sandy. Sand is not the friend of a person recovering from plantar fasciitis, let me tell you! My foot was getting tight throughout the camp and we went home at the right time. With lots of treatment and fine tuning of orthotics, along with 2 weeks off running I managed to put out the fire and continue on.

Actually, I take back what I said about having no setbacks at camp. It wasn't a conventional setback but a setback nonetheless. I had a gallbladder attack! Yup, 24 year old 110lb me had a gallbladder attack! I have been struggling with issues since camp but have recently got it under control. I had many doctor and hospital visits in March and into April. Apparently my gallbladder releases bile 10% of the time. Great. There goes my multiple daily fridge stops for a mouthful of whipping cream. I had to say goodbye to bacon too. But, I now have things under control and avoided surgery thus far.

Apart from that odd report, things are great! I'm training at full volume and looking forward to racing! I'm still a ways away from speed work but that will come in due time. I'm just excited to mix it up again! No expectations of "storming back on the scene." Just getting in there and giving a good effort and wherever that takes me, I'm happy with for now! That attitude will change somewhat eventually but for reentering the series long term I don't think there's any other way to approach it. It's spring and I'm healthy! Haven't said that for probably 5 years!!

Thanks to my coach,  Red Bull, Synergy Health Center, D.I.S.C Sports and Spine, Body Works Health and Fitness, and Libby Burrell I am writing a happy post!

Here are a few photos from the past few months:

 Cali sunset

 In the process of healing my foot. That's one bruised calf!

 My sister and I tried to recreate an old favorite photo for my dad's 50th birthday

 

 Swam 6k like this with no Janet Jackson moment!

 

Onesie cooking with Ellen!

 Running with some of those talented youngins I was talking about!

Lovin FL training

More onesie activities. Relaxing (ie trying not to laugh) at our at-home-spa.
 

Me with my cousins, sister and Brandon

Family :)

A New Year, a New Quadrennial, a Fresh Start!

I always remember my parents saying how time flies as you age. I must be getting old because it's amazing how fast time is passing!  I remember grade 5 feeling like an eternity and now it seems a year has come and gone in a flash.

I'm hoping 2013 will be a fresh start for me.  I'm not expecting to "burst back onto the scene" but I am expecting a year of consistent training with a few races thrown in. I'm focused on performing my best a few years from now so I'm not overly concerned with results for the next little while, just plug along consistently. That's the goal.

I wouldn't say my foot is %100 healed but it's definitely getting there. I can run an hour and swimming is coming along too. I have to respect the amount of time off I had (7 months) and not be too concerned about how slow I am or how tired I get from what I would normally consider minimal training. One foot in front of the other!

Less training volume means I had time to enjoy the holidays with my family and boyfriend.  Lots of quality time with immediate and extended family, good laughs and good food. I even got to go downhill skiing for the first time in ages! (My mom says I was 10 last time.)  I was in the company of some pretty exceptional skiers so I was under some pressure!  I am happy to say I didn't fall and I didn't get injured in any way.  I'll try again in 4 years time :)

January really marks the beginning of my season, at least in my mind. The fall was for easing into some structure and exercise and more just like fluff training (I think I made up a new term!) but now I feel more serious. I've started training with the NTC again and utilizing what's being set up for us from TriCan and our new super HPD Libby Burrell. Anyway, I'm feeling good about the set up and plan back to action!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and I wish you all the best for 2013!

And we're back!

 Back to spandex, back to wet hair and goggle marks, back to track pants and Red Bull tees, back to early bedtimes and extra meals...back to TRAINING!! Before I get too excited, I have to add that it's only 10-15 hours a week but I'm in the training frame of mind and I'm living everything stated above so that counts! :)

Since I last posted, my foot has made great progress. I had a low dose cortisone injection as well as PRP (platelet rich plasma therapy, where they inject your own platelets back into the injury site) about 2 months later, as well as previous shock wave treatments. All this combined with my lift and orthotics have seemingly created.. SUCCESS! It's early days yet but so far my foot feels like a normal foot for the first time in 3 years! I can walk/run now as well as swim and bike in small amounts. My super chiro Jamie Grimes has also sorted out some nerve damage and scar tissue on my nerves that come through my scalenes in my neck. It's likely from my crashes in 2011 where I smacked my noggin pretty hard. This was actually great news because I couldn't figure out why I was swimming so terribly for a whole year and was getting a little worried to be honest. Turns out I damaged 3 nerve pathways, 2 to my shoulder and 1 to my diaphragm. Anyway, that's all fixed now and my shoulder is a million times stronger (neural activation really helps strength...who would have thought!? :P) and my lung capacity has improved 10 fold. The body is really a complex thing! Good thing I have a good team to help me sort it out. Here I was thinking I was just insanely unfit! Well I am but that's beside the point. ;)

So now my job is to keep moving forward slow and steady. I have lots of strength and activation exercises to stay on top of which is easy when training is so light. That has also left me lots of time to spend time with my friends and family and hang out in the kitchen! Cupcakes seem to be my latest obsession. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks:

This one covers 2 categories from my intro, spandex and wet hair! Beautiful Victoria weather.

          Bacon cupcakes for ProCity bike shop staff. Trade mancakes for mechanics :)

                        At home gym!

                         Yep, just an owl cupcake NBD

                       Girls all dressed up

                             In the process of getting dressed up

                      A flamingo, a german girl and a pirate make a great trio

                            Tiny festive cupcakes. 56 of them to be precise

       Ellen and her handsome man sans nose. Kyla the artist showed us all up with her boat!

                          
                                 Got Milk? or Lucky... Milk seems to be the overwhelming choice

Oh and on a side note, I went to Europe for a quick trip and the end of September! I went to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Ibiza, Munich and Frankfurt. All in 2 weeks! It was great to see my school friends. Some are traveling, some on exchange. Here are a few highlights:

Dutch apple pie... ps they are not ranked in order of highlight-ness! But this was pretty tasty.

 

Amsterdam classic apartments on the canal

                                                              Marie and I

                                           Cruisin the bike path on the beach in Zandvoort (Amsterdam)

                                                          Oktoberfest!

                                                                Paella in Barcelona

                                                         Santa Familia Church in Barcelona

                                                                Overlooking the city

                                                                    Selfie in Ibiza

                                                 Ibiza is so pretty. There's caves under there!

                                        Scooted around the whole island...for almost 9 hours.

Alright I think that's enough photos! I hope everyone is enjoying fall as much as I am! Time to go for a run :) I just like saying that! Just gonna go running now! hehe I haven't said that in SO long!! :D