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June 17/2008

What a weekend for Team Tri Life athletes!  I am going to hit the highlights and hope I don’t miss anything cause it was spectacular! This is long, but there are a lot of amazing stories and results!  They are in no particular order… just the order they came into my head.  Please read it all… you’ll be inspired!

• On Saturday Roy Ellis had a great 9^th place finish in the 5 Peaks race in Jumping Pound.  It was 11.2k of hills and mud and he loved itJ  (Sick huh!)  Then, on Sunday… the day after 5 Peaks, Roy HAMMERED his duathlon time from last year with a 30 min PR, and believe it or not, he did it in board shorts! (Did I spell that right?)  I think he lost at least 3 minutes to poor aerodynamics with those things flapping in the wind!  He did have on his TTL jersey though so he looked very cool! 
• Dr. Phil:  Well, the good Doctor talked to me on Thursday.  Reluctantly he admitted he had this secret goal of breaking 40 minutes in the Footstock 10k.  This was going to be his 4^th 10k after just starting to run a year earlier.  His times in previous 10k’s were
• 47 min (not bad for a first time!)
• 44 min
• 42 min

We all know that to come from 42 to 40 is a gigantic leap.  I listened to him, supported his plan, but secretly thought that was too big a jump.  Well, who knew Doc. Phil was so darn determined!  An 8^th place overall place, 2^nd in his age group, and a BLISTERING 39:56 put him solidly in the sub 40 min 10k club!  Did I mention that they put the meanest hill in Cochrane back into the course!

 Then, on Sunday, he had an outstanding result at the duathlon.  The bugger wouldn’t even admit his legs were tired!!  What a weekend!

• Karen Fisher:  A PR in the 10k and 11^th woman overall.  Karen teaches full time, has her kids on her own every second week, and rocked this 10k and finished with a smile! Then, on Sunday, Karen took home a bunch of hardware in the duathlon as she was second woman in her AG, and the now has the title of PROVINCIAL DUATHLON CHAMPION WOMEN 35 – 39 and 8^th woman overall!  We have pics of her getting her medal on the website. She’s covering her eyes in embarrassment because she didn’t think she had a current ATA membership which would have taken her out of the running for the Provincial Title.  She went home, found out she did have an ATA number, and reclaimed a well deserved award!  Congrats Karen!
• John Bosma:  I have to start with his weight.  John is lighter now than he was in high school!  We are actually talking about how to keep calories on him as he continues working towards his goal of Ironman Canada!  In the Footstock Half Marathon, the day after 2 swims (1 in the pool and 1 in a very cold Arbour lake) and a 100k ride, he had an outstanding 1:52 half marathon with an 8 min negative split!  I told him we need to get him running a bit faster the first half of his races as his negative splits are a bit large!  Regardless, it was an outstanding effort!
• Doug Barker:  The runner turned duathlete!  Doug has been to Boston, we know Doug can run!  After a disappointing day in Vulcan where the race was cancelled before he got to run, and he didn’t get any splits on his swim and bike, he needed another race.  So, he signed up for the Footstock Duathlon.  Saturday he volunteered ALL day long, and Sunday he place… are you ready… SECOND in his AG in a very competitive race, AND he became the Provincial Duathlon Champion for men 50 – 54! WOW!!!!!!!!!!
• Trish Thorne:  Trish outdid herself on the bike at the duathlon!  She took 16 min off her last duathlon time and most of that was on the bike!  Did I mention that she did it with a “bonk” on the final run!!  We need to work on fueling, but an outstanding result!  Trish has IMC on her race calendar this year!  Things are looking very good for her at that event!
• Joanne Zawada….  What can I say?  She is 40 pounds lighter than last year.  That is a major accomplishment in itself.  This is the HUGE deal though!  At Wasa Olympic Distance Triathlon, JoZ as we lovingly call her, took… are you ready… she took 45 min off her time from last year!  The best part is that she took time off the swim, the bike AND the run! When she called me she was in tears, and she put me in tears, and all of us waiting for the Footstock Du to start were overwhelmed with pride at her amazing perseverance to improve herself and her abilities in sport.  You are amazing JoZ!
• Kelly Dinsmore:  OK… you probably don’t know this when you see her flying by on the bike and run, but Kelly hated running.  Not just a little… but a lot!  We started in January with a run 2 / walk 3 program to get her running safely.  She now regularly hits the trails at 4:30 in the morning to squeeze runs into her busy days, and apparently it’s paid off!  She took 9 min off her time at Wasa from last year, with 5 of that coming on the run… she was hoping for 2!  She ran a 50min 10k OFF THE BIKE!!!!!!!!!  To top it off she improved swim and bike too, and is sure she can go faster on the bike as she did it without a HR monitor to push her!  (Technology problems on the start line!)    
• Nola:  Nola called  me last night to tell me where she started her Olympic Distance Triathlon career!  Over the course of 3 years, Nola has taken an hour off her first OD time. This Sunday at Wasa, in her Ironman year, she knocked another 9 min off AND it was on the bike and run as her swim held steady.  Nola has changed how she races.  She used to be a very social racer (those of you who know her are smiling at that comment I’m sure!)  Now Nola is focused on the task at hand and the new strategy is working for her. She had an outstanding race and confidence is high going into GWN and IMC!
• Michelle S.:  Michelle has been with TTL for a few years now.  Most of you don’t know her although she did come to Bow a few times this winter.  Michelle is the one who did her own triathlon because the race schedule didn’t work for her!  She has worked harder than ever this year, and she did her first open water tri at Wasa and was thrilled with her result!  She ran close too… or perhaps even a pr… on the 5k at the end of her race.  WAY TO GO Michelle!
• Maureen Ng:  Wonderful Mo has had a cast on for the past 3 months with a broken scaphoid bone in her wrist.  She has ridden her bike indoors as we enjoyed the sun, I mean rain… outside! Mo was hoping to do Wasa, but when the cast came off her wrist was too sore for her to safely change gears or hold her handlebars, so we made a last minute decision that she would register in the Footstock Half Marathon.  She loved the race, said she’ll be back next year, and is honestly the most positive person I think I’ve met! 
• Janet Sima:  Janet wasn’t sure if she’d get this race done. She’s had a rough go training this spring, but surprisingly things turned out well! A solid 5^th place in her age group and Janet was really pleased with her ride!!  Good stuff Janet!
• Cindy Chetley Thompson:  I think you all have  a face to go with the name now…at least those of you who were at the Footstock Duathlon on Sunday! She was easy to pick out in her TTL garb, and her outstanding finish that was 20 min FASTER than last year!  Not only did this breast feeding mother of a toddler and a 6 month old infant have a HUGE PR, but she also took home hardware in her AG and as Provincial Duathlon Champion! She said she’s so excited at getting a medal that she’s having a hard time focusing on training this week! She is off to GWN shortly so must get back on track… and she will!
• James Davidson:  I hope you are reading this still so you know about James! James is a cyclist… he’s not a swimmer, or a runner, but he’s a cyclist!  That was until January when he decided he wanted to do a triathlon.  James started at a very gentle walk / run progression after a string of running injuries in his own attempts to pick up the sport.  I “encouraged” him to do the Footstock 10k, and he did GREAT!  He was very methodical in his pacing and recording of km’s, and we know he raced well!  This was a wonderful initiation to the world of running. He is moving on to his first tri this weekend and I know he’ll have a great day!  (Remember… he could not swim… he could not put his face in the water in January!  He’s now off to do an open water race called the Half Moon Sprint.  Have fun James!)
• Richelle: I am going to throw this in here to make it official!  In the past Richelle was stuck at 26 min for her 5k.  Nothing she did brought it down, until this year!  At the World Championships Sprint Triathlon Richelle had an amazing result on a brutal raining cold windy day to finish 8^th.  That in itself is outstanding!  What I really was blown away by though was her run!  The course was 5.1k, and Richelle covered the distance in 23 minutes!  She has pr’d her half marathon, blown away her previous 10k best time, and now her 5k and sprint distance time is significantly lower!  Richelle also was Polar Athlete of the Month for June!  GREAT JOB Richelle!
• Kent Milloy:  Kent is the silent one!  We’ve seen him at  hill workouts a few times, and he was at Bow early in the season before work got in the way, but he hasn’t been around a bunch!  Well, he proved he is doing the work and squeezing the training into a chaotic life with an outstanding result in the Footstock Half marathon on Saturday!  Kent rode 150k on Friday as we wanted him to race on tired legs.  He then PR’d his half mary in a time of 1:43! He knew he was going to have a good race, and he was right!  Outstanding Kent!
• Now onto Ken… Ken is new to triathlon. You all know he is a great runner and cyclist, and has this weird ability to do well with very little training. (Ya… I hate him for that!)  Ken is one of the few “lucky” souls who got to complete the Vulcan Triathlon.  After a freezing cold panic ridden swim (500m in 17min… most of the 17 min spent at the end of the pool trying to catch his breath from what I understand) Ken set a blistering pace on the bike and run to take first in the worst Vulcan Triathlon EVER!  Of course, the fact that only about 1/3 of the athletes got to race was a factor… but who’s counting!  Then, at Footstock, Ken decided to run the half mary. I “encouraged” him to do a 100k ride the day before so he could race on tired legs. (He doesn’t always listen to me!)  He also did his first open water swim on Friday night, and you know how stressful that is!  Well, in the half marathon, Ken was 6^th OVERALL and ran a 1:27 ON TIRED LEGS!  His PR was set a few years ago in Canmore when the run was largely downhill and that was a 1:26. Based on how tough the Footstock course is I’m giving this to him as a new personal best time! Who knew training worked so well. Congrats Ken!
• Me… well, I am off to IMCDA on Sunday and I had a great race in Vancouver. I will get a race report on the forum soon. I promise!

If you’ve read this far thank you. I know it’s long but there are so many amazing things happening for Team Tri Life Athletes.  Thanks again for letting me be a part of your training and racing journey!