Is Diane Doing Her Training Week of July 7-13

Monday- run :40 Completed Tuesday am
bike 1:15 Done

Tuesday- run:20 Done
swim 1:00 Done

Wednesday- bike :55 Did :45 then tragedy struck

Thursday- swim:35
bike 1:10 Done

Friday-

Saturday- swim 1:30
bike 1:30
run :35

Sunday- run 1:10

Is Mark Doing His Training in the Week of July 7-14???

First week of training went pretty well, I did miss the bike ride on Friday when my plan to wake up at 5:00 AM didn't even get close to started. Maybe for the best anyways, next time I think I'll just plan to bike to work. Had a wedding on Saturday and still pulled off the 1:10 run on Sunday, which was pretty solid. I went on a bit of a trail run up wedgewood ravine so that was very pretty solid.

Day of Week	Plan Calls For	Mark Did
Monday	1:15 B 0:40 R	Swapped to Friday
Tuesday	1:30 S 0:20 R	1:30 S 0:40 R
Wednesday	0:55 B	10 hills (run)
Thursday	0:35 S 1:10 B	1:30 S 1:00 B (spin)
Friday	Day Off	0:40 R (from Mon)
Saturday	1:30 S 1:30 B 0:30 R	1:00 S 2:00 B 0:20 R
Sunday	1:10 R	1:10 R

Diane's Adventure

Well, I should have known I shouldn't have gone biking when Beena bailed on me at 5:10 this morning. I figured, what the heck, I'd go out anyways and get in my 55 minutes as per the training bible. Everything was great- the sun was out, there was little to no wind, and I flew up the Henday onto Highway 16. The road was a filled with rocks and crap, but I was still cruising along, approaching the Devon intersection when POP. Of course, it had to be a back tire. I wanted to cry, but I just thought to myself WWLD (What would Lance do). I got out my tools, and to my amazement, I actually managed to get the wheel off (the back wheel is tricky), get the tube out, new tube in, and the tire back on the bike. I was feeling very cocky about my mechanical prowess. I am woman, hear me roar!!!!I pull out the CO2 dispenser, when to my surprise, I notice that my only CO2 cartridge is used. So there I am, on Hwy 16, with no cell phone, all alone.

My saviour arrived on the scene after about 5 minutes- Tom Yellowbird and his pick-up truck. He was very nice, packed my bike in his truck and drove me home. I almost got a date out of the deal, as he asked me out for coffee, but I declined!!!!!!

Note to self- ALWAYS check to make sure I have all the tire repair equipment with me, and start carrying a cell phone, espescially if I'm riding alone.

Having completed my first Ironman, I realized that I made no less than 40 mistakes during the course of event. There were things that I had no idea about that caught me off guard. I will chalk these up to a lack of experience; try to learn from my mistakes and better prepare myself for the Tempe attempt. I will:

1) Train smarter and more efficient.
2) Do more transition integrated workouts.
3) Have a better diet.
4) Put in more time on the bike and run. Quite a bit less on the swim.
5) Enjoy the whole experience with Team KDM2. (Make sure Mark gets to experience that last 800 meters of the race … what a rush!!!!)

I think it is really is more about the journey and less about the final time.

The day the music died!

July 7th....Great White North Half Ironman.... was the day the music died!
I'd done this race twice before and enjoyed it! I'd done pretty well and was expecting to do so again this year. I definatly had not trained as well, but I thought " I can do it". Was I ever wrong!

There were many omens that the day was going to end badly.
1) I'd forgotten to pack a run shirt in my bike to run transition and it was too late to add it!
2) I didn't untie my shoe laces so when I got to transition, I had to undo laces tied 3 times!
3) It started raining during the swim
4) While swimming at what I thought was a decent pace I was pasted by a back stroker
5) While riding along I noticed the guy ahead of me had a camelback ( no offense Mark) and tube socks
6) When I got to bike to run transition Mike ( count chocula ) was not there with my shirt

So the swim was dreadful, even though in my mind it felt like I was going super fast!
The ride was good, I past lots of people and averaged about 30km/hour. Then I started the run, usually my best event, and I ran along and at 8 km I just couldn't go on! MY stomach hurt, my leg hurt and my mind was absolutly dreading the boring run course. Never before have a just quit a race but thats what I did...I ran into the bushes, took off my timing chip and ripped off my race # and started the long hard journey back to the finish line. Of course I didn't want to walk on the run route so I dodged in and out of residential areas until I finally found my friends.
When I quit I felt like all the pressure in the world had been lifted off of me and I felt good! I was sad when I saw my friends because I felt like I had let them down. In hindsight I think I should had tried to finish the race, even if it took be until the cutoff time. But I didn't and it is too late now to change anything.
Its a wake up call to swim harder and do more transition runs!

Mark's Race Schedule

My ultimate goal race, is of course Arizona Ironman.

In addition I was planning on running the ING Edmonton Marathon, however the long runs seem to be slipping away from me and I want to concentrate on completing the IM training program so it looks like I may do the 1/2 marafun instead. You still get to go through the tent with the waterfall so may be all solid anyways.

For preparation tri's before the big one in Arizona I've already done 1/2 Moon Lake which is of course one of the biggest edmonton area tris. I wanted to do an Olympic one as well, but can't seem to find one that fits so I think the final preparation tri will be the Alberta Challenge which is a 1/2 IM at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. Should be good?

Diane's Thoughts

Well, it's Day 2 of Ironman training, and so far so good. The big challenge is actually making it swimming. I just signed up for Alberta Challenge Half Ironman, so Mark and I will kick some butt (hah- more like try to finish standing up). The only other tri I will do before Arizona is the Leduc Woman's Only (sorry Mark and Mike- unless you grow breasts, you're not allowed).

I have no time goals for Arizona. I just want to finish with a smile. My only real goal is to actually run the run, and not have to float on my back to stop hyperventilating during the swim.

138 days to go until the big day.