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June 16, 2009
Hey TTL... it has been a REALLY busy few weeks. I have to say I'm pretty tuckered but also thrilled at how our team is coming along. So... what's the latest... I'm going to start with Richelle's athletes this time:)
- Jenny Miron – Jen had a great first race of the season at the Lake Summerside Triathlon. Despite the cold water temperatures, Jen stayed focused and crossed the line as 10th woman overall. She also PR’d her OD race and her run was a huge run PB! Way to go Jen!
- Denise Roberts – Denise now holds the title as Provincial Aquathlon Champion for women 35 – 39! She had a great swim time despite the fact she felt she could have pushed harder but sure ran a hard 5km to clinch the title. Denise is now spending the summer gearing up for a great race at Strathmore Women’s Triathlon. Look out!
- Maureen MacDonald – Maureen has been racing so well and continued to hit her progress goals at Wasa this past weekend. This was her first Olympic distance race and she did exceptionally well. Maureen continues to progress in this sport as we gear her up for the Magrath Olympic distance triathlon. I am very proud of Maureen for becoming more comfortable on her bike. Keep it up Maureen!
- Jane Warner – Jane was nervous heading into Wasa but, with her results you never would have guessed it. Jane raced a great race and executed her plan well and was thrilled with her results. This was Jane’s first OD race and now she knows she can do it! She swam, biked and ran well and should be very proud! Congrats Jane!
Angie's Athletes...
- Leana race the aquathlon last weekend on tired legs and had a really solid race. Then this week, on no taper, she raced Wasa, and not only PR'd OD racing by over 10 minutes, but she PR'd her 10k for 1 minute!!! A pretty outstanding effort!!! WOW!
- Phil... Our little Cochrane 5 x 5k series was frustrating for Phil. The weeks he came he was a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately life got in the way and he only was able to attend 2 of the races which took him our of contention for the overall. On the plus side though, he ran the FASTEST 4.8k time of the whole event! (Ken raced 4 of them and was not able to catch Phil's time.) Phil also was the Silver medalist in the Provincial Aquathlon championships! Nice work!
- Trish... after volunteering all day Saturday Trish took a last minute spot in the Footstock Duathlon for Sunday. She had a really really great bike and moved up a number of places on the bike! Nice work Patrizia!
- Richelle... despite not running for a number of weeks because of a stress fracture, she has raced 2 weeks in a row with some solid results! She did well in the aquathlon and ran a really descent 5k, then accomplished her goal of a sub 50 min 10k at Footstock on Saturday. Nice work Richelle! It was a few minutes off your PB but considering how little running you've been doing, it was a really good effort!
- Leslie Anne... she has had some old injuries plague her, and I gotta tell you that Leslie Anne is the only human being I have ever met who LOVES water running! She is part fish! So, with almost no land running in recent months, she race Vulcan on Saturday and the aquathlon on Sunday. Both races saw 28 min 5k's which I was thrilled with as was she! In Vulcan I believe she got 5th in her AG too!!! Nice work LA! GWN is coming soon... bring it on!
- Cindy... Holy... another crazy gal who did Vulcan Saturday and the Aquathlon on Sunday... and this was all 1 week after pr'ing her half marathon by 8 minutes at the Calgary Half. Cindy had stellar races both days and pr'd Vulcan which was GREAT! The only hitch now is a nasty blister on her heel that needs to get better ASAP as we are in her final build to GWN! Oh... 2 days after the double weekend of racing she rocked the time trial as well. I don't know how you do it Cindy!
- James... most of you know what James did as I sent out his race report. A 3 min 10k PR at Foostock! Smiles all the way around! WAY TO GO JAMES!
- Chad... OK... This one I didn't see coming. Even I was a bit surprised, in a very good way! Chad rode 100k on Friday with Ken, Phil and Doug. He had his work cut out for him and he held is own. Saturday he raced the Footstock 22k, which is a tough course with a big hill. Well, he took 5 min off his Police Half pr and ran a 1:37 good enough for second in his age group! WAY TO GO CHAD! Outstanding:)
- Sarah... we all know that Sarah had a very speedy half marathon, and she backed it up a few weeks later with a HUGE pr in Wasa and 5th in her AG. A solid swim followed by a solid bike / run combo made for a speedy result of 2:22! I'm not sure how much of an OD PR this is... but I know it's a lot! Sarah also was second woman overall and AG champion at the Pool to Path Provincial Aquathlon. Those little legs sure can move:)
- Kelvin... OK... so Kelvin and Chad might tie for biggest surprises. We set Kelvin's realistic goal at 2:40, and his dream goal at 2:35. (I still don't like time goals... this was kind of an offshoot on race planning.) So, when I got an update from Caroline that he went 2:17 in Wasa I thought it was a typo! Guess what... it wasn't!!! You deserve this Kelvin! You're been working hard and it's paying off. (One more thing... he was seconds off his 10k PR. WOW!)
- JoZ... we tired her out as much as we could for this race. My goal was to leave nothing in her tank and have her race the swim, hammer the bike, and hold on for the run. Mission accomplished! JoZ had a great day in Wasa, hit the process goals of a great bike / run combo, and held on for the bike. Congrats JoZ!
- Shannon... after a TON of pre-race stress with a stolen wallet on Friday and an "almost" decision not to go, she got in the car and did the race! With no open water training she nailed her swim with her best AG placing ever in a Tri swim! She then pushed thru gut issues and lack of ability to fuel for a descent bike / run where her bike pace was quite a bit faster than in a sprint tri not long ago which is awesome!
- Gillian... this woman travels the world. I'm not sure she's ever home, but she does her best to get her training in. She did the Footstock half mary, and despite some significant hip pain she pushed through for and finished. It wasn't the time she was looking for, but with the travel and hip issues, I was pleased with the result.
- Nola... She was nervous before the race, and a triathlete at the hotel shared his mantra which was "Do your best". That really worked for Nola and she had a really good race at Wasa:) Congrats Nola! (I still don't know if she managed breakfast though... I hope so!)
- Carla... I haven't heard from Carla about her race in Wasa yet, but I'm assuming she is very happy with her 24 min OD pr over the Apple Tri in 08!! Great job Carla!
- Katie Anne... she is new to TTL and training for Calgary 70.3. This was her very first OD race! She said that things went really well and is looking forward to the big on on August 2nd!
- Stephen... I haven't heard from Stephen either, but I just did the math, and he did a 33 min Olympic Distance PR in Wasa over LakeChaparral last year! That number is almost hard to believe.... it's HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW Stephen! CONGRATS! I look forward to hearing details:) (Oh... Steve was also our Provincial Aquathlon Champion for men's 40-44! Nice work:)
- Michelle... This is another HOLY CRAP result... She had a 23 min PR in the sprint tri from Wasa 08 to 09! Yes... the swim was short making up for a bit of that time, but even with that her PR is outstanding! Her previous best for a sprint tri was 1:36 in Manitoba last year, so the 1:21 in Wasa was a huge testament to her fitness! WAY TO GO Michelle! (Michelle also raced really well at the Pool to Path Aquathlon! It was a great showing by TTL!)
- Sue E... Sue has race a few times in recent weeks. At the Footstock 10k on a warm day she took about a minute off her time from the Calgary half only 2 weeks earlier. I don't know much more than that, but results don't lie... Footstock was a faster day!
- Alfred... He has not been running much and decided to pop himself into the Footstock 10k:) Afterward he renamed it the "Longest Max V02 Test"' in the world, and said he thought he might die! Still, with the wee little bit of running he's been doing he really pushed to a high level of pain and gave it all he had! Nice work Alfred. Now it's time to bring out the white skin suit next Time Trial:)
- Pamela... Pam is really busy with her job. Training time has been challenging to come by, but she's doing what she can. She set the goal of sub 3 hours in Wasa, and she obliterated that time goal by 13 minutes!!!!!!! So, take the short swim into account and she still beat her goal by 10 minutes "ish"!!!! GREAT JOB Pam! It's nice to see you so happy about a result. I'm THRILLED:)
- Tracey... well, she had a rough start with a panic attack in the swim. She worked thru it, got her head back into the game and didn't let a slower than usual swim get her head messed up. (This is a BIG feat in a triathlon.) She then went on to have a really strong bike and run. She said she LOVED this distance and wants to do more! Way to go Tracey:)
- Rena... Rena ran the Footstock 10k just minutes after nursing baby Max! She ran with her brother and had a TON of fun:)
- Dana... Dana is doing the swim and run on a team with Alfred at GWN. He has been suffering a "cranky" knee lately so we decided that he should do the swim and bike at Wasa and DNF the run. He did exactly as planned and was very happy with his swim / bike combo! First open water swim... DONE!
- Ken... he is a SUPER HUMAN FREAK!!!!! He rode 100k on Friday and was tired and cranky. (I can say that because I'm married to him!) On Saturday he raced the Footstock Half Marathon and KICKED it in the arise! A 1:26:35, his second fastest half mary ever and he was TIRED! He also was second in his age group and 3rd overall in the whole darn thing! I actually lovingly called him "Speedy Boy" this morning. I was really proud of him! He then went on to volunteer from 5 am until about 4:30 on Sunday... did I mention that he cut the grass on Saturday too:) Nice job Honey:)
- Angie... Well, I had a good race too. I didn't expect much as I'd had a pretty tough training week. Not high volume but lots of intensity. Tuesday, Wed. Thursday were big enough and hard enough days that by Friday I was one tuckered triathlete. I took a light day Friday, and did a 1 hour ride Saturday after my Footstock commitments with the hope my legs would come around in time for the duathlon. I started the run a bit conservative knowing the hill that was ahead. It was a smart move. On the hill I passed quite a few runners and I bridged the gap with 2 women I'd been chasing since the start. The 3 of us came into transition together, and 2 came out, but that was the last I saw of those gals! I had a GREAT bike! I rode like a woman possessed and really bonded with my new Kueen K. (Once again one lamb chop fell off my Helmut so I looked like a weirdo!) By the end of the bike I had worked my way up to 3rd place for women and oddly I held that place thru to the finish line. I took 3 min off my bike time from 2007, the last time I did this race, and my second run was oddly the same to the second! How weird is that! I was slightly faster on the first run though, and even though I didn't run faster after the bike, I ran easier, so I'll take it as a good day. That speed didn't hurt near as much as a few years ago. In the end I finished 3rd, won my age group, and my favorite part is that I had the fastest bike split of the day for women, including a pro duathlete who won the whole thing.
Honorary TTL athletes...
- Jeff G. from spin class raced in his first duathlon. Not surprisingly he preferred the bike to the run, but he was ALL smiles after!!! Way to go Jeff!
- Lara... Lara did her first OD triathlon and her first open water swim in Wasa. I haven't talked to her yet, but I see in results that she got the job done (no surprises there... she is a work horse!) I'll look forward to her updates.
Caroline update... Most of you know that she suffered a very scary crash on her bike about 3 weeks ago. The update today is that her head is clearing and her broken collarbone is improving. We look forward to seeing her on the bike as soon as the doc's give the go ahead:)
That's it for now! CONGRATS again to outstanding efforts by our team. People are improving at different rates... some are on a meteoric rise, some are slowly chipping away. I'm seeing a number of you think about process goals as race season hits us. I'm really happy with that. Always remember, unless you are the BEST in the world, there is always somebody faster than you. (This position of best in the world is a tough one too as you are guaranteed to lose it! It's a fleeting thing.)
If you're out training and racing and getting it done, there's always somebody slower than you because as of yet the whole world doesn't know how wonderful our little sport of triathlon is. The best we can do is compare ourselves to ourselves. The results only indicate who showed up to race that day; they are generally not a reflection of you and your abilities. I hope this all makes sense. Again... most of the team is extremely happy with their results as of late which is awesome.
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