Post Race Adventures

After the race, I grabbed a couple pieces of pizza and went to my family who was waiting. They had already grabbed all of my gear. I was pretty pumped so we said goodbye and Ben and I just headed back to our hotel.Ben, however, decided to stop at Burger King first, I dont think we've eaten fast food in the 6 years we've been together! He got a burger, french fries, onion rings, and chicken fingers. We went back to the hotel and while Ben ate I had an epsom salt bath and passed out. We woke up the next morning moving pretty slowly, our legs were pretty sore. We met my dad and switched our tri stuff with our camping stuff, and then we decieded to go down to the Ironman grounds. We checked out the overpriced finisher apparael, grabbed our special needs bags, and had the free breakfast. We headed back to our hotel to check out and figure out where we were going to go. We were planning on camping around couer d'alene for the week, but it had started to rain, so we started googling places. According to the weather network if we drove south we would hit sun. So we drove, and drove, and 5 hours later we arrived in McCall Idaho, a super cute lake town... that was supposed to look like this:

but instead we ended up like this:


So we quickly set up our tent and went in to town in search of beer and pizza. Which we found at a cool pizza place where we got the flamethrower pizza which was a combination of elk sausage, jalapenos, and crasins... weird combo but AMAZING. We went back to the tent and slept hoping that the weather network hadn't steered us wrong and it would clear up the next day.
Nope, it rained... poured in fact. We set up tarps and hung out by the campfire praying for it to clear up. By 8 pm, our camp site had pretty large puddles all around, and the inside of the tent was damp. SO we made the decision to sleep in the car, with Rudy. It was a little squishy but at least it was dry. We made a deal that if we woke up on Wednesday and it was raining then we would head to Fernie. Wednesday morning came and guess what, we woke up to pouring rain!! We packed everything up soaking wet, and started the LOOONG drive to fernie.. 9 hours. We would have been better off to have just stayed and camped in Coeur D'alene since it was raining there to but at least we would have been closer to home.

We had made it 6 hours when we stopped at a walmart in Sandpoint to load up on alcohol before we crossed the border only to come back to a flat tire. UGH! nothing was going right! It was totally ruined, but we scored a used tire for 40 bucks to get us home. We got to fernie around 8 pm that night. Where we were greeted with Nancy, Bill, beer, food, a shower and a nice warm and dry bed. Ahh bliss!

We stayed in fernie until Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it's always nice to visit with my in-laws. Our legs were feeling better so we climbed castle moutain on thursday.

Friday and saturday we did alot of walking, went to sureveyor lake near kokanoosa, napped, drank some beer and just enjoyed being off. Then it was back to calgary to get ready to return to reality.

6 Years

I know we're married now, so the only anniversary you're supposed to celebrate is your wedding. But 6 years ago today was a very important day; Ben ran his first marathon, and we started dating. Since then training for for running or triathlons has become an important part of our lives. I can hardly believe that it has been 6 years since I got a job at COP and I met Ben. 6 years, that's nearly a quarter of my entire life, and definitely the best quarter! He has encouraged me to go after every dream that comes my way, no matter what. With him by my side I am now a 2 time ironman finisher, I graduated from Economics with distinction, we own a house, along with many many other adventures (Peru, mountains, marathons, Revelstoke, roadtrips) and we continue to dream about our future. I am so thankful every day to have Ben in my life. He has taught me so much, he understands me, and I love him more than anything. I love our life together. So here's to 6 years, and another 60!


July 2007 -- I'm pretty sure that's our first picture together

July 2013

Ironman Coeur D'Alene 2013

Well, we're finally back home from our adventures, and I am now a 2 time Ironman Finisher. Although my day did not go according to plan at the end of the day I persevered and finished the darn thing. Our trip started going sideways before we even left Calgary. Unless you live under a rock, you would have heard about the flooding in Calgary. We planned on leaving for Fernie right after work on Thursday to break up the drive, but Thursday morning we woke up to flooding in Canmore, followed by all the cities and towns downstream of Canmore. The main highways were starting to flood, and I started to Panic. We had to be in Coeur D'alene by 4 pm friday or no race! Well with some major detours, 16 hours of driving, and a 6 hour stop over for sleep in Kalispell and we made it with 3 hours to spare.. PHEW!

Saturday was spent running errands, getting our gear checked in, and relaxing. We ate some pasta for dinner, dropped Rudy off with my Dad so we didn't have to worry about him the next day and went to bed around 9. Unfortunately that's also when my stomach started acting up. The alarm went off at 4, I drank some coffee, ate my peanut butter on bread and a banana, and sipped on some water, but nothing was sitting well. We got to the race around 5:30 am The organization at the race was top notch. No line ups for body marking, signs where to drop off our special needs, a quick stop at our bikes, and we were off to wrestle ourselves into our wetsuits.



I heard that the water can be really cold, so we went down to the water 15 minutes early to dunk ourselves, and boy was it ever cold. We swam around a bit, and I lost Ben. So I spent the next 10 minutes trying to find him again to wish him luck, which was nearly impossible since everyone looked the same with their swim cap and their wet suit. But alas with 2 minutes before the gun, I found him, gave him a big kiss and went back to my place in line. Only to hear someone yelling `Jen!` when I looked up I saw my Dad standing there, which was a treat before the race started. This is the first time they had a "safe swim" start. Which we LOVED. You line up like at a marathon in corrals according to how fast you think the race will take. This kept all 2700 participants from rushing in to the water at once and swimming on top of one another. It was WAY better, it took me 7 minutes to get across the timing mat, and I think I only got kicked once!.. which is a miracle in triathlon. It took me a few minutes to get my stroke going, and to warm up in the water, but I had space and I just kept swimming forwards. The first lap only took me 42 minutes, which was basically bang on to what I thought, but then I started to struggle. My leg cramped, my stomach was sick, and I came out of the water at 1:38, so happy that the swim was over.

Transition was very organized. It took a bit for the charlie horse to work itself out of my calf, and I couldn`t bring myself to take any of the nutrition down that I had planned. On my bike, it took a while to get my heart rate down, and I could feel my chest so I took my inhaler to try and prevent an asthma attack. About 20 minutes in to the ride, my chain fell off.... little did I know this would be a problem throughout the race. We had brought our bikes in to be tuned right before the race, and they adjusted my derailleur incorrectly. I had planned on a gel every hour, and chews on the half hours. But I when I went to take my first gel I nearly vomited, so I sipped on some water hoping my stomach would get better. The bike course is challenging. According to Ben`s garmin it is 6000 feet of climbing, more than Ironman Canada. There are 3 big hills, that you get to climb twice! what a treat! The first lap went well, I was passing alot of people who got out of the water faster than me. But around Mile 60 I started to feel light headed, probably from not taking in enough nutrition. My chain fell off my bike for a third time, and I stopped by the side of the road for a few minutes seriously debating whether I should keep going. I sipped on some coke, trying to get something in to me, feeling a bit better and digging deep I put my chain back on and carried on my way. 10 miles later I had gone up the first major hill on my second lap and I just was so sick. I pulled over at the aid station at the top of the hill and ran in to the bathroom vomiting the coke I had just taken in. I came out, sat by the side of the road seriously debating with myself whether I should continue or not. I sat there for a solid 15-30 minutes. Watching everyone that I had passed zoom pass me, which was very frustrating. However, it was probably the best thing, since I took in a LUNA bar and some water, and slowly the lightheadedness subsided and I hoped back on my bike. I had made a decision at this point that I was finishing this darn race. I started to think about how if I didn`t finish, and I didn`t pass my test then I would fail at everything I had worked so hard for this year, and since I don`t have control over the results of the test, i do have control over this race. The rest of the bike was fairly uneventful, and I let go of any time goals since the day had turned into survival, perseverance, and just finishing even if it took me the full 17 hours. I was off the bike after 7 hours and 21 minutes.

At the transition, I saw my Dad which cheered me up. I was happy to be off my bike, and set off on the run. It took a few minutes for my legs to start moving and I was running. I took my inhaler again as my chest still wasn`t feeling 100%. The run course was very beautiful, and 2 loops of out and back so I got to see Ben 4 times! But also very challenging. They decided to change the course last year and have you run up and down a pretty big hill 4 times. At around mile 3, I had just seen Ben on the way back on his first lap, I was so excited that I saw him since i had been searching for him on the run all through Ironman Canada and never saw him, and then I had a massive asthma attack. I dropped to my knees, and I couldn`t get my inhaler in. I was starting to panic and the medics nearly pulled me off the course. But I managed to calm myself down enough to get my inhaler in and slowly my breathing returned. However, after that, any time I got my heart rate up my chest would start tightening. So my marathon turned in to mostly walking with some light running. But there were lots of people around me who had been beaten up by this course and we chatted along the way. 15 hours and 7 minutes later I crossed that line. It was perhaps even sweeter than the last time because of all the struggles I had throughout the day. Also the finish line, it is seriously amazing. You run down Sherman Ave, which is slightly down hill. You can seee the finish line way off in the distance, and the entire road is lined with people cheering. It is seriously what makes the entire day worth it.

We have already decided to sign up for another one next year, but a late season one so that I dont have to do my heavy training and studying at the same time. I have some seroius goals for this one, and I just plan on continuing my training, since taking 2 hours off my time seems daunting. We were flipping back and forth between Arizona and Florida, however, we`re now thinking about perhaps Lake Tahoe. We dont have to sign up until the fall so we have some time to figure out our game plan. We also plan on getting some new tri bikes for next year too! That will surely take some time off right?

Much love! We went on some crazy adventures after the race, but more on that later.

Race Week Thoughts

Well Race week has arrived. We leave Thursday after work for Ironman Coeur D'alene. I'm not entirely sure where the last 6 months have gone, looking back it all seems to be a blur. My exam feels as through it was a decade ago and yet it was only 2 weeks. The past 2 weeks my training volume has petered out to nearly nothing. Some yoga, walking, and this past weekend super light biking and swimming. My foot has been bothering me since the marathon, and after finally mentioning it to my chiro it turns out I have a bit of plantar fasciitis. So I have been steering clear of running and stretching it in hopes that it doesn't bother me come race day. My body has also needed some serious time to rest and recharge before the race. I have been pushing it both physically and mentally for the last 6 months, and I just needed a break. Our weekend in Kananaskis definitely helped with that. This past weekend was a lot of preparing and last minute errands. We had to get our camping stuff all together to hand off to my dad so that he can bring it down to Coeur D'alene for us. It's moments like these where we wish we had a truck or an SUV... or in Ben's dreams a Delica. Our camping stuff, Triathlon Stuff, and everything for Rudy just can't quite squeeeze in to our Mazda 3. So after the race we'll trade off our triathlon stuff for our camping stuff and head out on a much needed relaxing by the lake camping vacation.

I am starting to get nervous about the race. I've been googling every race report that I can find from last year; Praying the weather is nice; Second guessing the hours of training that I've logged on my indoor trainer... you know the normal triathlete stuff. The problem with an early season race when you live in Canada is that you just don't have the weather to get the road under your tires much, which I think is adding to the second guessing. I have only had one long bike outside, the rest have been inside on my trainer. Then I found this checklist from 220triathlon.com and it took my mind off of IRONMAN, the enormity of it all, and made me think more about the individual things that I can control. I printed one off for Ben and I encourage any long distance triathlete to fill it out. It breaks everything down, and encourages you think about stuff before hand that you might not have thought about, at least I definitely didn't think about before my last race. Often as athletes we train our bodies so hard but without a plan for the day your entire race could be side tracked. This checklist gets you thinking about everything from why you're doing this (because you'll need a reason come kilometer 160 on the bike when your legs are aching), to what you'll do if things go sideways, and what you'll eat that morning. I also found this , an article about race day and the mental game involved by endurance nation. This article is amazing for any long distance triathlete, with super important tips for each disciplines of the race. This article helped me wrap my head around the fact that at this point it isn't about fitness, I'll have that from my 6 months of training, now it is just about the details of the day. How you execute may make or break your race. As they put it in the article "All you've done for nine months is build a vehicle. Ironman racing is about how you drive that vehicle, not about the vehicle itself."

My goals for the day? Well the rough goals for each of the disciplies is as follows:
Swim 1 hour 30 minutes
Bike 6 hours 30 minutes
Run 5 hours
Plus transition time would lead to a 13 hour and change race.

However, you never really know how the race is going to go. I have never seen the bike nor the run course and from the reviews last year they both have some pretty significant hills, unlike Ironman Canada which had alot of major hills on the bike but a very flat run course. Also the weather may throw some curveballs our way, super hot, cold, or windy can all impact how the day goes.

My back up goal is just a Sub-14 hour race, or even just beating my previous time.. but at the end of the day as long as I get to do this again, it makes all those months of training worth it. And I'll just train harder for the next one! For now I'll just take a deep breath and remember that "I can do all things through him who strengthens me".... and also of course thanks to Kelly " what doens't kill you makes you stronger." Because isn't that why we do these races, to test ourselves to the brink and come out victorious?

Kananaskis Weekend

This past weekend we headed out to Kananaskis Delta Lodge, kind of a reward from studying and training. We booked the entire trip on airmiles, and so we lived large.. in fact the end bill would have come to over $1200.00...for a weekend... which we never would have spent for one weekend.. but it only cost us about $200.00 and it was just what we needed.

We started the weekend on friday night. We drove up to Kananaskis after my swim on Friday after work, so we didn't get out there until around 7:30. We checked in to the room, took Rudy for a little walk and headed down for a delicious meal. When we got back from dinner and we found rudy sprawled out on his own bed like this:

Yea I think he thought that he had died and went to doggy heaven. Multiple walks, an entire queen bed to himself.. what more could a dog need?

Saturday morning Ben was up bright and early and headed to the gym around 6:30. I, however, decided to sleep in a bit. I finally hit the road at 8 am. It was a little chilly, and my legs were feeling a little heavy, but it was a beautiful ride so that distracted me on that 1.5 hour bike.

When I got back we grabbed some brunch, exchanged our biking shoes for our runners and headed out on a hike with Rudy. It warmed up substantially by this point, and it was a beautiful day in the mountains. We planned on climbing to the Mt Kidd lookout but we couldn't find the trail head.. in fact I'm pretty sure a river was running down where the trail was supposed to be, so we wound up on some cross country ski trails up and down in the forest. It was beautiful.

After our hike grabbed our books and headed down to hang out by the outdoor hot tub to lounge before our massages. It was sunny and hot, and so relaxing. We hit up the Eucalyptus steam room before our massages, and then out massages were amazing of course. At this point we were feeling so relaxed, but a little bit hungry so we went to the pub for some beer and nachos. The combination of biking, hiking, sunshine, massage and beer made us ready for a solid nap, followed by another walk with rudy where we snapped this silly picture:

Yes. our dog is a goof. We headed to Seasons restaurant for a fancy shmancy dinner that night. Even the french fries were fancy and cooked in Truffle Oil. We washed everything down with a bottle of our favorite wine, Kim Crawford (as the waiter said "Everyone loves Kim" which made me think of my mom, cause everyone loves her to).

Sunday we got up and went for a run together, we wound up on a beautiful path that wound along the river. It was nice, except the whole way out was down hill so our whole way back was uphill. We followed that up with a quick dip in the hot tub and breakfast before we checked out and headed home.

This week we're just relaxing, letting our bodies heal. We leave next Thursday after work for Coeur D'alene. I took the last 2 days off of training and I am surprised by all the time that I have. On Monday we had leftovers so we didn't even have to cook. We were finished eating by 5:30 and I looked at the clock and thought "what am I going to do for the next 4 hours?!?!" Of course TV tends to suck a couple hours out of the day, then a bath with my book and the next thing I knew it was bed time. I'm going to go to hot yoga tonight, swim on Friday, and a bike on Saturday. The weather is supposed to be crumby, so perhaps we'll finally see one the the movies that I'm dying to see at the theater... Star Trek, Ironman, Now you See me, The Great Gatsby... all these movies that came out while I was studying and I really want to see but didn't have time. This weekend will also include some packing and preparing for our trip to Ironman CDA, along with some naps, and relaxing.

Before 30

As those who know me know I am a goal orientated person. I thrive on setting goals and chasing after them. Well I just realized that in turning 26, I am only 4 years away from 30. Wow 30, that seems so old. When I was a kid I always envisioned this glamourous life I would be living in my 30s. In fact, one of those included living in New York as a marketing exec... but I'm pretty sure that influenced was after watching how to loose a guy in ten days and Sex and the City. I then visited New York and realized that I don't really have any desire to live there. My life right now is so much better then I could ever have imagined. It is so full with love and happiness. I have an amazing husband, an adorable dog, the opportunity to own a home, and the resources to do a lot of pretty great stuff. So then I started to think about what exactly I want to accomplish in the next 4 years, before I'm 30, and here is what I came up with:

1) Become a CFA Charterholder
2) Climb mount kilamenjaro -- perhaps a good trip for my 30th birthday...? what do you think ben? maybe? please!?
3) Run a sub 4 hour marathon ... qualify for boston??... perhaps if I actually trained properly for a marathon
4) Do a sub 14 hour Ironman... sub 13? .. a new bike for this hopefully!
5) Travel somewhere at least once a year
6) Do Yoga. More.
7) Keep injury free
8) Become debt free (except for our mortgage)
9) Continue to progress in my career
10) Be Happy

Then of course there are the things that I want to do every day for the rest of my life, like never take my husband for granted and let him know how much I appreciate him every day. Anyways, we will just have to see what adventures life takes us on in the next 4 years. 4 years ago we never thought that we would be where we are today, in fact we were still living in our no bedroom bachelor apartment off of 17th ave just barely getting by, at times both of us were in school and we survived off of macaroni and cheese topped with egg and tomato.

Have a great weekend!

Que Sera Sera

Well, I wrote the CFA level 1 last Saturday. How do I feel? Relief. Like an enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Relaxed. I don’t think I completely realized how much this exam preoccupied my every task until it was done. How did it go? Well... it went really well.. I think. I know for a fact I made a few errors, and there were a handful I didn’t even have any idea where to start, but that is normal for the enormity of these exams. It was very similar to the practice exams that I took, and I was consistently scoring well enough on those so I am cautiously optimistic, but I will find out for sure in 2 months. There is nothing I can do about it now except wait. I put in my best effort, and if I happen to fail I would definitely be disappointed; but I have realized in the last couple of days that I wouldn’t be as devastated as I thought. This is something that I want, and I plan on going after it. If I happen to fail, I will just jump right back in to studying in September and re-write in December. Since the bulk of the material will still be fresh it will become more practice and review instead of re-learning. But we shall see, we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

This week is the last week of training before we cut back for our taper. The weather has been brutal, raining for the last 2 weeks which has made training outside rather difficult. I have had too many rainy, cold, and windy rides in the last couple of weeks. As long as Ironman is relatively nice, I think it will just feel easier then these last few training rides. As the race approaches I have started to second guess how prepared I am. I have done more running, but less swimming and around the same biking as 2011. I feel as though I have had a more solid training season than Ironman Canada, but we’ll see what the results say. I am aiming for sub 14 hours, but I think i'll be excited to cross that line no matter what the time. So much can happen throughout the day, that it's impossible to know the result of the race. However, I think knowing the pain I will be in, how long the day is, and the emotions that will come in to play will help make the day run a little bit smoother than 2011.

Finally, Ben and I are heading to Kananaskis Delta Lodge this weekend a much needed mini vacation. Training is starting to wind down, so we’ll train a little bit, eat some awesome food, hike around the mountains with Rudy, and get massages… just a weekend away to relax and reconnect since I have been so busy and preoccupied with this CFA thing. We booked the entire weekend on airmiles, and even got some gift cards through airmiles for our meals. We figure it is about a $1000 weekend, for free! Can’t go wrong with that.