I love training, and I love racing. There’s magic in putting in the work that nobody sees. The days, the weeks, the months. I was looking forward to putting some very special bibs this year. 2020 was going to be THE year. But just like in racing, we’re all just going to have to deal with adversity and adapt. Because with every struggle, there is growth. My Ironman training continues, but we’ve dialed back the duration. Training is now mostly to keep me healthy, physically, and mentally. And I’ve decided to keep up with my coach because I also like how the training routine and structure to our days.

My perspective for races is that the big day aka race day, it’s really a victory lap. There is so much work involved in getting to race day like balancing schedules, the training itself, staying healthy, and being able to show up to that start line in peak physical condition.. those are all nothing to scoff it. It’s a bit strange now to continue training even though there aren’t any races in the near future. So now we’re pivoting to training for life in general. Movement is medicine. It feels good to sweat, so we’re just going to keep it up. It’s easier to get back into a run if you slow down to a jog, compared to starting from a standstill. So that’s our M.O. for now. We’re going to keep our bodies moving, so when things pick back up again, we are ready.

How are you keeping yourself moving?

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Set up new training goals

Our new training goals were to simply stick to our weekly schedule. Now that we no longer have races to train for, the could technically mean no more weekly training schedules or workouts. But it doesn’t mean we have to stop. We have chosen to stick to our weekly training schedule, but made sure to dial back the intensity and mileage. We have dialed back because we don’t want to be constantly stressing our immune systems with hard workouts all of the time.  

Challenging ourselves with time trials

I wish I had started doing time trials earlier in my racing “career”. This is such a fun way of being able to measure and see a measurable growth in your fitness. Every few weeks in my training rides, I’m asked by my coach to put down 20-minute “best-effort” so I make sure to hustle to try and beat my previous numbers. If I didn’t have these mini-trials/challenges, we’d probably pick something like improving our 5km time or getting a personal best time for a particular workout. 

Variety in our workouts

We are huge fans of the Peloton app and find there is plenty of variety in all the different workouts offered. It’s one place to go to find different workouts with different instructors. It is subscription-based but well worth the money. There are also other apps like Nike Training Club, Adidas Training app that also offer great workouts for free. The Lululemon website has lots of free content like yoga classes.

Use social media and challenges

We are big fans of “badges” and “achievements”, both physical with race medals as well as digital. We mostly use Strava to keep up with different challenges. Justin wears an Apple Watch to keep track of his activity and closes his rings on the daily. If you repeat rides on Peloton, you have the option of racing your previous rides! And you can also aim for personal best via output for different ride durations.  

Just keep swimming…

We have been following this approach since March, and it has kept us moving! We are really excited to see the visible improvements in run times as well as strength gains. We cannot control a lot of what is happening to us, but we can control how we react. Movement and fitness is something we have the ability to take charge of.

We’ve also been extra careful with current and new workouts. RMTs and physios aren’t currently accessible, so we’re making sure to exercise with caution. A few weeks ago, I was doing my usual workout. I must have been feeling pretty good afterward, so I think I may have skipped my post-workout stretches and also slept funny later that night. The combination created some neck pain that lasted a few days, which was really stressful. I did a lot of stretching and had to incorporate a heat pack and Biofreeze for a number of days, and the pain finally went away. But it was a great reminder to be cautious with our workouts.

Thoughts? Let us know below!

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I don’t know how people can travel for week-long business trips with carry-ons, I always need to pack a checked bag when I travel for work. It’s important for me to get in workouts when I travel for work, to stretch my legs, get the blood flowing, start the day strong, and reduce stress before important meetings. So when you have all your work and workout clothes in a carry-on, it just blows my mind.

Usually, I pack a bunch of workout clothes because I don’t like climbing into “dirty” workout clothes. I tried handwashing some gear on one of my last work trips, but it took forever to dry and I just didn’t like it. This time, I only packed 2 pairs of crops, 2 shirts, and tons of sports bras. I wore the same top and crops for 3 workouts, and then a fresh set on the last day. It was OK I guess. None of my gear smelled, which is what you get when buying quality workout gear, so that was also nice. So I guess I could just wear the SAME workout clothes every day … eugh. Does anybody have suggestions?

SWIM

None. I didn’t bother packing any swim gear this time. The pool at this hotel is slightly larger than other hotels I’ve stayed at in the area, but I didn’t think it would be worth it. On the last day I was there, I did see someone swimming laps in it. They also didn’t do flip turns like me (I don’t know how to flip turn, and you don’t have walls in triathlon swims anyway) and it just looked like a pain.

BIKE

3 sessions. I got a heavy intervals ride in, a short “medium/moderate/mad” or MMM effort ride in, and a long 90-minute MMM ride in. The MMM effort workouts are part of the Trisutto Method. I can’t remember the exact details of why it’s important, but I know it’s a good one. I feel like I’m getting stronger, so that’s been a big boost in the confidence of my bike strength.

RUN

I got 2 sessions done at the hotel. Short hill reps and an easy run. I have a long run slated for this weekend but will do a cross country skiing session instead. The tready runs felt great. I was able to run more comfortably at the same speeds, compared to the last time I was there. For example, I remember my jog effort at “5” on that treadmill as being really fast and quite the struggle, but this time I felt really strong!

OTHER

Cross country skiing as a substitute for a long run. And a 90-minute RMT massage. I want to try and be diligent with getting massages.

Overall Thoughts

I felt great this week. Despite flying across the country and being 3 hours off from my regular hours, I didn’t skip any of my scheduled workouts AND I managed to work out at 6am 3 times! This is what commitment feels like. There was no other choice, I just do not want to be 3/4 into my races and regret not putting in the work when it mattered.

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SWIM

Swam twice, two 900m swims. My first swim back after taking some time off, we just did a buoy-only swim. The second was a couple days later and we started incorporating paddles back in.

BIKE

2 bike sessions for a total of 1h140m. One was a heavy intervals session, and the other was big gear work. Both sessions felt great. I felt strong.

RUN

I had one run session and could have had one run session but traded it for a snowshoe with Justin. It was short hill reps, which I love. I started incorporating them in my training in 2017, and I attribute that as one of a couple of key types of sessions that helped build my run speed.

OTHER

2h17min of snowshoeing! It didn’t feel like much at the time, but I was pretty tired that evening, and my legs were sore the next day. Especially my calves! I also did a couple of abs sessions to build on my core strength.

Overall, I feel pretty good so far. 31 weeks feels close, but I’m being reassured by my coach that we have plenty of time.

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I hired a coach in September. Other than the obvious goal of finishing, I would love to have a respectable swim time, a strong bike, and then just jog/walk the run. Everything was going along really well. I was getting a bit of swimming in and even started looking forward to my open water sessions. I was spending time on the bike as well as a treadmill. All of it ground to a halt when my mom got sick in October, and then training stopped altogether.

There’s this huge movement at the moment with regard to self-care and making sure you take care of yourself before assisting others. I really tried to follow the philosophy of putting your own oxygen mask on first. I was sticking to some of my workouts, and then I gradually reduced my workouts to simple runs at 30 minutes in duration. I found that I was much kinder when I did that. But when the going got really tough, and my mom got sick, I just couldn’t justify to myself getting away to work out anymore. Thankfully I had the full support of my coach, and we decided to go on a pause. She said I had plenty of time. And looking back now, maybe my opinion will change when I’m 120km into the bike segment at Ironman on August 30th, but I look back now and I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Putting on my own oxygen mask wasn’t strictly working out, and it looked like other things too… like sleeping in and having a quiet cup of coffee.

This post was sitting in the drafts, and I realized that I never finished writing it! However, it makes sense to be writing it now in the new year. Because of everything that had happened in our lives. And because there was an option do to a payment plan for my registration, so I took it (it didn’t appear to me that there were additional fees or penalties to do that) and ended up paying for the race over 3 payments. And it was only on January 1st that I received the familiar registration confirmation email from Active. That was my visual cue.

Well, I’m ready. I’m excited that I committed myself to this journey of becoming an Ironman finisher in 2020!

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I just had the most fun I’ve ever had in a race at Ironman 70.3 Victoria. The training cycle for this one was pretty rough and not a priority at times, so I’m pretty happy how everything turned out. I had raced BMO Vancouver Marathon 6 weeks prior, and also wanted to have a great time at the Rock n Roll Seattle Half Marathon that would be 6 days after finishing Victoria. So with (the lack of) training, I was banking on my riding my marathon fitness, and seeing what I could pick up and cram in from a well-timed triathlon camp in Vernon that I attended three weeks prior to race day.

Athlete Check In/Bike Drop

Ironman Victoria 70.3 had the worst check in I’ve ever experienced. In previous years, all activities were held on the other side of Beaver/Elk Lake, and they moved it all this year so there would be more parking and space available. It was awful, so I can’t imagine how it used to be. When we arrived at Beaver Lake, the road by the highway was really crowded, so we decided that we should hop out and walk in with our bikes. It. Was. So. Far.

When we finally arrived at the Athlete Village area, there was a huge line up to check in, and I stood in line with our bikes before space finally cleared up on nearby racks. I needed to pay one day race insurance fee, and got diverted to the slowest table to even though I had exact change. Then we had to go to another table to sign waivers, and give permission on if our names could be shared in case of accident. Then we went to another table to pick up bibs and swim caps. Then another table for our chip timers. It was in a really small crowded tent, and I disliked the process here compared to other races.

The Athlete Village was kind of nice and had a few vendors. As a pre-race ritual, I went to go buy a new pair of goggles at the Aquasphere tent. I did like how there was a huge swag tent, there was lots of swag to look at compared to Ironman Calgary. I bought a bunch of race branded water bottles because it looked like they were running low, and planned on returning to the swag tent once I finished. We put the stickers on our bike, dropped off our bikes in transition, and walked by the swim start before leaving for the day.

Pre-Race

Since the race started around 6am, we woke around 4am so that we could get to transition early without rushing. I opted to eat a Clif bar for breakfast, which I took with me and ended up eating while setting up at transition. I was going to have a gel before the swim, but totally forgot.

Swim

With the way I swim, I really have no business participating in triathlons. But I really wanted a 70.3 finisher hat. I didn’t do any pre-swimming at the venue because everyone had nasty things to say about Elk/Beaver Lake. I didn’t do any open water swimming before this race, because the waters were still too cold. I was only swimming about 1x/week.The outdoor pools had just opened for the season. I didn’t even try on my new wetsuit until before athlete check-in/bike drop. The odds were really against me.

On race morning, we learned the swim was officially shortened due to lake weeds. Yay! Shortened swim should mean auto-PB. It didn’t take long to set up at transition, and I rushed so I could get in the water for a small warm up. I wore a one piece Sugoi trisuit, and quickly put on my wetsuit. I made sure to Bodyglide the back of my neck, around my elbows and knees. Walking barefoot from transition to swim start was honestly the hardest part of the entire day. The swim start was really far from transition and I should’ve brought flip flops.

The lake was warm and there was no visibility — perfect! All my triathlon swims have been in murky water, so this is all I know and I think I prefer it. I let water into my wetsuit, swam towards a buoy and got back out to get in line. It was a self seeded start and I put myself in the last 1/4 of the crowd. The swim start area felt like a cluster. The corral was too small, and there was not enough space to wait by the signs for your expected swim times. I’ve only ever experienced wave starts, so this rolling start was new to me but it felt very much like a running race. The gun went off, and you gradually make your way through the starting arch. Everyone started getting into the water, and I waded in until about waist deep and started swimming. Some people walked in until up to their neck. I swam a little bit and then started to get jostled. Nothing major, no punches or anything. But in the first 100m, every time I got bumped I would completely stopped and then I started to panic and get scared. But I couldn’t quit because I wanted that hat. And I was too close to the shore and the crowd. So I forced myself to keep going. I exhaled extra hard and counted my strokes to keep myself busy. After I passed the first buoy, I felt better. When I passed the second buoy, I was over the moon. I was suddenly having THE BEST SWIM EVER. I was having the best time ever. I just kept counting my strokes and enjoyed the swim. It was magical. Until it was time to turn back. The turn buoys switches sides (which was really confusing, I thought we kept all buoys to our left) and we got into the lake weeds. I didn’t love that. I didn’t know what to do so I started to swim weird. Then a weed landed on my face. But it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I thought that if you were to get into the weeds, it would start pulling you down into the depths of the lake and stuff. Nothing like that happened. The lake weeds were also nowhere as scary as people bumping into me.

We got pulled out of the water at the swim finish, which was a floating plastic dock thing. The volunteers form a human chain to hoist you out. No wetsuit strippers. I literally skipped and ran with joy into transition. I’ve never felt like I was having fun in an open water swim until now. I hope this is my new normal. My swim time was still pretty awful, 42:19 for either 1500 or 1600m, I’m not really sure what the distance was. I lost some time with the buoy confusion. I need to work on sighting, getting comfortable in crowds, and swim strength. So, basically everything.

T1

I was able to run to T1, which is a first for me. I had tucked the end of the zipper string into the velcro part on the neck of my wetsuit, so it was really easy to reach and start unzipping myself. I took off my swim cap and goggles and held them in my left hand while I pulled off my sleeve so they got safely stowed away. I sat down in transition to wrestle the rest of the wetsuit off. I rinsed off my feet using an extra water bottle, and put on my hot pink Betty Designs cycling jersey and Sugoi cycling shorts. Yes, on top of my one piece Sugoi trisuit. I like extra padding. It was overcast, and my jersey has SPF, so I skipped sunscreen.

BIKE

I had a great time on the bike, but I am so embarrassed by my time. I felt really strong and rode in the big ring for almost all of the ride. Compared to where I now currently ride and train, the Victoria course felt pretty flat, other than 2 major hills. I spent a lot of time with my head turned looking the at scenery. Not aero at all. I planned on riding by HR but couldn’t because the HRM I brought with me ended up being a dud. So I decided to go by RPE alone, and not check my time.

The course was really beautiful, but I felt like there were too many cars for my liking. There were also a few accidents. One was at an aid station, and I think I saw at least 2–3 ambulances over the course of the ride. But maybe that’s par for the course when you’re back of the pack like me. I rode with concentrated Infinit and water, and my nutrition felt bang on. I will ride with one disposable water bottle on future races, so I don’t have to fumble with water re-fills.

When I got back to transition, I finally looked at my time and was shocked! 4 HOURS?! I was so annoyed at my time, and got little disoriented so extra T2 time was wasted by trying to exit out the wrong corner of transition. 4 hours?! 4 hours. Boo. My RPE is a liar. I was hoping for at least 3:25 or under, and ended up being 03:45:13. I learned my RPE is a liar and elevation charts are greatly exaggerated. Next time, I’ll be sure to ride with a working HRM and most obviously, check my time.

T2

I was pretty upset at my bike time, so I forgot to take off my cycling shorts. I changed into my sneakers and threw on my race belt. I opted to run in my cycling jersey because the weather was still cool and I still didn’t want to bother with sunscreen.

RUN

The run was pretty flat, 2 loops around Elk/Beaver Lake. The aid stations were every 2km, but felt a lot farther than that in some places. Normally I run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute, but since I never do any speed work, I decided to try a new ratio of 4:1 and see if I could get free speed. I stuck to cola and water, and ate half of a peeled banana for some reason. Pre-peeled bananas are weird. It was pretty hard having to run by the finish line to start the second loop. I thought about how hard that would be on a 140.6. My second loop got a lot quieter. I also stopped for a bio break, and I’m convinced it was the reason why I did not PB (in reality, it was many things). There was a younger guy whose left leg didn’t seem to be cooperating, but he was limping faster than I was running. Just like how there were people who were backstroking faster than I was front crawling on the swim. We leap frogged a bit and chatted some. I lost him when he stayed to walk with a couple girls in really cute Zoot kits. It got a little warmer near the finish, so I started throwing a cup of water down my chest. I’ve seen plenty of other people racing in what look like cycling jerseys, and I loved racing in my hi-vis Betty Designs cycling jersey for so many reasons. It was easy to spot me. It kept me comfortable. It had sun protection and covered my back and shoulders, and I learned it could keep me cool when I needed it.

Overall Thoughts

I was pretty undertrained going into this race. I was getting into the pool once a week. Barely running. I was focussed on getting stronger on the bike (and I was getting there) but never doing any speed work. If I was racing in July, I would’ve been in much better shape. Especially with everything I learned at this awesome training camp. Regardless, it’s pretty cool to see what my body is capable of. Victoria won’t be the top of my list for next year, since it’s really early in the season for me and I don’t like taking the ferry from Vancouver. But I’m excited to race another 70.3 and see what happens. Thanks to my husband and family for being really supportive, and thanks to my friends for all your messages and encouragement.

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