IRONMAN CANADA 2008
Well, another race, another story. This one began last August when Skip decided that he wanted to sign up for Ironman Canada with me. We were in Penticton to support our teammates and both got slots for 2008. It has been great to be on the team and train together.
After many weeks of 15-20 hours of training it was finally time to travel to Canada and put it all together into one long day. During our season I swam 135 miles, Skip swam 142 miles, we biked 3,152 and 3,685 miles and ran 1,195 and 709 miles respectively. So in total we covered over 9,000 miles, or ½ way around the world!
We took off on Thursday morning with our kids, Chelsie and Kyle, and Chelsie’s boyfriend Shane. They understood that they were there to support and help us throughout the weekend….. just call them Sherpas.
We drove from Vancouver to Penticton and it was a beautiful drive. A little rain, a little sun, and gorgeous mountains.
Thursday evening we got the kids settled at God’s Mountain Estate, a B&B that Skip and I stayed at last year with very unique rooms, a great view, and awesome breakfast. Skip and I stayed with the team at the Ramada in town.

Friday consisted of registering, picking up our bikes and doing a test ride, and sorting through our stuff to put into 5 different bags. 2 of the bags had to be turned in with the bikes on Saturday and they were for the transitions from swim to bike and bike to run. It is quite a challenge to predict all the things you might want on race day. These bags could have extra stuff in them however because they would be given back at the end of the day. I needed more time to deal with this so Skip took the kids wine tasting while I had the room to myself.
Saturday we took the transition bags and bike to the transition area, had a team lunch, and tried to relax. Ya, right…
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4am, we got up and ate our pre-race breakfast… oatmeal, banana, bagel, and recovery drink. About 700 calories for me and 1000 for Skip. It’s good to eat 3 hours before the race starts because the closer you get to race time, the less able you are to eat. We met Coach Joe at 4:45 to get a ride to the start. We had with us our swim stuff and warm clothes for the finish along with special needs bags. These bags had anything we might want at the 75 mile mark on the bike and the ½ way (13.1 miles) on the run. We both packed our sports drinks so we could just swap bottles, some extra gu, sports blocks, endurolytes, tubes and co2, and I had gloves for the run. These bags are a little trickier to pack because you get none of this stuff back if you don’t take it.
We turned in the bags, got our bodies marked with our race number and age in BIG BOLD NUMBERS (the age anyway), and proceeded into transition with our teammates. We all pumped our tires, loaded food and drink on the bikes, did the first round of porta potty lines, and then sat down to wait for the sun to come up. We all started getting our wetsuits on at about 6:20, finished up our electrolyte drinks and gu, and proceeded to the water to warm up and see the pros start.

The crowd was enormous and we could not locate the kids in the masses. They saw us however which is pretty amazing since we kind of all look the same with wetsuits and caps.
The cannon went off at 7:02, and we were off. I started in the middle of the crowd towards the front, mistake number one. Everything was just fine for the first 400 yards or so until all the people on the left moved right and all the people on the right moved left. Then I got very claustrophobic. I looked up to see hundreds of people in front and to either side of me. It was total gridlock. Skip started all the way to the left of the beach and stayed on the outside all the way to the last buoy. He said that he did not have any trouble swimming his own pace so I think I have a new plan for next year. I felt like I was in rush hour traffic with no ability to swim my pace, but being forced to go with the flow so to speak. This was definitely the worst part of my day. It was completely crowded, stop and go traffic until after the second turn which is past ½ way. On the return swim I was able to stretch out and swim my own pace a bit and started passing people. At the swim exit I was disappointed to see that my time was the same as in Lake Placid last year 1:17, but I was not really surprised. Skip passed some of the pros on his swim and exited at 57:34 - showoff.
We both had good transitions and were on the bike course quickly. The first 40 miles of the ride is mostly flat with some gradual down hills, one significant uphill and a few rollers. It is a pretty ride around the lake and through horse country. We had a brisk headwind for this entire section but I just reminded myself that it meant we would get a tailwind on the way back into town. I averaged 15.23 here and Skip averaged 17.09. At about the 40 mile mark we turned and started climbing Richter pass. It is a long climb but not really that tough. As I settled in for the work ahead I thought about Liz’s brother Ricky and told him that I could use a push up the hill. I immediately felt a breeze at my back which of course gave me chills. I thanked him for the help and cruised up Richter.
There are 7 rollers after Richter and they were fun! I worked the bottom of each hill out of the saddle keeping the speed up and felt like I cruised through them, passing a lot of people. It was on these rollers that I saw Mai. It was fun to have someone to chat with a bit and she said the out and back was coming up soon. Now the out and back was where I struggled a bit. First of all, I did not realize that it was about 15 miles. For some reason I thought it was only about 5. When we drove the course last year, we skipped this section and therefore did not realize how long it was and that there were some pretty mean hills in it. My second mistake was thinking that the special needs would be at mile 70 not 75. I was trying not to carry more stuff than I needed so I was out of my drink at mile 70 and went with nothing for 5 miles. Mentally this was tough, but as always, you just have to keep peddling and start thinking about all the great support of the team, family and friends, all the people who donated to this great cause and all the awesome honorees. Soon the extra 5 miles was done and I made up for the fluids and calories quickly. As soon as I was headed back out to the main road I felt better.
The next challenge was the climb to Yellow Lake. I felt really strong here and kept wondering if there would be more hills. Skip said that he got a little too hot and defeated on this part and had to mentally kick himself to get going. A large group of team supporters were at the top of the climb and it was great to see them because I knew that it was downhill from there.
The last 15 miles is AWESOME! It starts with a long fast sweeping downhill where I was cruising at over 40mph. We had our own lane of the road so it was very comfortable. I found it interesting that throughout the day I passed several people on the down hills (men included) which is unusual for me. I was talking to my bike on the way down, telling it how great it was and that we just had a few more miles, so no flats or mechanical issues please. I love my new bike (Orbea Diva) and told it so repeatedly on this long decent. Hey, sweet-talk never hurts! I made that last 15 miles in about ½ hour! Coming through town was a little stressful because the streets were very crowded I could see people darting across the street periodically. I was afraid someone was going to try to cross in front of me and I was going over 20mph and it was raining. I really did not want to have to brake suddenly. Skip said that he did have someone cross in front of him through town and he had a few choice words for him. I wonder how the riders on the Tour can handle all those people along the course!
I made it to the dismount, someone took my bike away for me, and I ran to get my transition bag. The last 70 miles for me were at an average pace of 15.46mph and for Skip it was 15.55mph. 7:17 total for me and 6:57 for Skip.
I changed my clothes for the run because I wanted to be in the most comfortable outfit possible, running shorts and my Ironteam shirt, no sunglasses because it was dark and rainy. I was out onto the run course before 4pm! Yay!! It was over 1 hour earlier than last year in Lake Placid. And none of the Pro women had finished yet (always a goal).
Right away I felt great on the run. I tried to stay very relaxed and not work at all. I saw the kids on Main Street and got a boost of energy from them. I settled into my normal run strategy of walking for about 30 seconds at every mile marker as I headed out of town. We had a steady sprinkle going now which was fine with me. At about mile 2 I caught Mai again and we exchanged good wishes. I have trouble remembering what order and where I saw people but it was great to have an out and back course because we could see and encourage each other along the way.
The kids had told me that Skip was about 45 minutes ahead of me so I was trying to figure out if I could catch him and how long it would take. I think I finally decided that I might be able to catch him about mile 20. I felt a blister developing under the ball of my foot at about mile 4 and stopped to put some aquaphor on it. It’s important to take care of small annoyances early before they become big annoyances. I also rubbed my legs with the cold sponges or ice at every aid station to rejuvenate them.
There are some hills before the turn around and I switched to 20 steps running, 20 steps walking up these in order to keep my legs fresh. I saw Skip somewhere around the 12 mile mark I think…. So I thought that I would be able to catch up with him eventually. I was alternating between drinking hydraplex and water and eating bananas, but really wanting some of the flat coke they had at the aid stations. I was trying to continue with my sports drink until mile 20 because I knew it was really better for me, but that coke sure sounded good. I used it as incentive to get to mile 20. Skip started drinking coke at the third mile – no patience!
As I was approaching mile 19 I was really looking forward to seeing the kids because I knew they would be there. This is where the B&B is that they stayed at. I was happy to be getting there in the daylight. I caught up with Skip just before the bend and we came around to the kids together. It is amazing how much energy you can find just seeing people you know.
Kyle started running with me and I tossed my drink bottle back to Shane. I decided I was close enough to 20 to start with the coke. As we ran towards town, Kyle talked about their day and generally distracted me from my fatigue. I was trying to calculate if I was in the clear to be under 14 hours which was my goal. As soon as I realized I would have no problem with that I was trying to calculate if I could beat last year’s time (14:46) by 1 hour. I figured I could do that as well. I had Kyle figure out my pace over the next couple of miles and then started wondering if I could be under 13:30. I thought that I could because I really felt pretty good. I was still being conservative on the up hills, making sure that I stayed as loose as possible. Shane kept Skip company for a couple of miles as he continued with his 1 minute run, 1 minute walk strategy.
As I came into town, Kyle stopped running with me and I continued down Main Street on my own. I felt very strong and picked up the pace a bit. The crowds started getting thicker and louder and I remember someone saying that you feel like a rock star coming into town and it’s true. I rounded the corner and saw the 25 mile mark, knowing I would have to turn away from the finish line for the next ½ mile before heading home. I saw Coach Dan who seemed surprised to see me, and then on the way back I saw Coach Joe who said they were not ready for me. That gave me a spark of energy because I knew I was performing better than anyone expected (including myself). There were lots of others cheering as well and it swept me to the home stretch. I glanced at my watch and knew that I was well under 13:30. I came down the finish shoot and saw 13:20 on the clock! My marathon time was 4:26. I was so amazed and happy with my day! I was also fast enough to get a small t-shirt! YAY YAY YAY! (They ran out of smalls by the time I finished at Lake Placid.)
I got my medal, a space blanket, water, and was escorted to have my picture taken. Kyle was in the finisher area (some lady snuck him in) so that was fun. We took a picture together too. He then left to find Chelsie and my recovery drink (good thing he remembered about that because my brain was done!) I wandered back to the finish line to see Sam finish and give him a big sweaty hug. I got another blanket to wrap around my legs and waited a few more minutes to see Skip finish in 13:39! He was also thrilled with his time.
We saw all the kids then and sent them to wait for us by the court house. We took a long time to get a picture taken, hobble back to the transition area for our bags, work our way through to the massage tent and get a gentle rub down. Then we had to work our way out of the finish area and find the kids. They were patiently waiting for us and quickly took all our bags. Thank goodness because they were VERY heavy. Back at the hotel we had several more recovery drinks, a little food, showers, and Chelsie operated on my blister. We talked about the day and watched some of the finish line coverage on TV. We were both on cloud 9 and kind of wired!
It was such an awesome day and the support from Chelsie, Kyle and Shane was great. Having teammates and Coaches there was wonderful as well as knowing that all of you were tracking us and sending good thoughts! The town of Penticton was amazing; everyone asks about your race and really seems to be happy to have the racers there. And to top it off our team raised over $500,000 for cancer research and patient services – AWESOME! Thank you AGAIN everyone for your support through this season! It was an amazing year.

Celebrating...

Tired Phase

Well, this is the tired phase. And we certainly are - tired that is. We have been training for 8 months and are now doing long workouts every weekend. We hit the 20 hours per week mark and it is now a part time job. We are feeling strong however, and our event is only 6 weeks away - YIKES!

These pictures are from a river swim last weekend. Skip and Sam are helping me get into my wetsuit - super wedgie!

A couple of weeks ago we did a beautiful ride through the hills in the Woodside area. We climbed up to Skyline Blvd 3 times in 100 miles. We climbed over 10,000 feet that day and it was tough. We followed this Saturday workout with a Sunday workout including an open water swim at Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton and a 15 mile run. We were beat at the end and were very thankful that we had 7 friends from the team with us on Sunday to keep us moving. This team thing is great - there is no way we would have been able to do that follow up workout without the group. There is nothing like peer pressure to motivate those tired legs!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you again for your continued support throughout this journey. Unfortunately we are constantly reminded of the reason we keep doing these crazy things. We have a friend that recently went through prostate cancer surgery (and is doing great by the way) and one of our team honorees, Laura is again going through chemotherapy. Laura has been fighting different types of cancers for over 20 years and she keeps winning her battles but unfortunately, the battles keep coming. She is amazingly positive and supportive of our team. She is almost always out on our long workouts providing water and moral support. She travels to our training weekends to lend a hand where ever she can and she completed the Rome marathon with team in training just a few months ago. This round has been particularly difficult for her so please keep her in your thoughts, she is an amazing woman!

Napa 1/2 Iron Triathlon
Skip and Diana's first official 1/2 Ironman distance triathlon! Woohoo!

















Don't we look happy before the start?

At a few minutes after 8am, we began the swim in Lake Berryessa. 1.2 miles that ended up being a bit less. Skip was out in 22 minutes and I was out in under 30 (but took a detour to get my sandals before going over the pad). Our times are why we know it was less than 1.2 miles although we would be thrilled if it was accurate.

On to the bike course which was accurate. Lots of hills on this course, not much flat. It starts out with an out and back on the road which later becomes the run course. This portion is long rollers and a good way to warm up (or burn out if you are not careful). We then progressed out to highway 128 and worked our way down the lake. The backside of the bike had some pretty rough road but the countryside was beautiful. I was debating with myself during the ride as to whether I would prefer rough road with very few cars or smooth road with traffic. I'm still not sure what the answer is, but we had both on this 56 mile ride.

We had another out and back on Pope road and I was able to see that Skip had about 1/2 hour lead on me. I got to see Diana there too before turning back towards the lake. The meanest thing about this course is that there are 2 formidable hills in the last couple of miles. They are a bit of a surprise because you know that you are higher than the lake and need to return to the lake soon, but you still climb!!!

As I turned into transition I went right into a HUGE pothole. By the time I saw it there was no way to avoid it so in I went. I figured if I got a flat from it, I would walk the 1/2 mile in to transition but my trusty Orbea did not let me down and we continued in without issue.

The 13.1 mile run was pretty difficult with all hills and no shade. I adjusted my usual strategy of 30 second walk at mile markers to drink, to 30 steps during the long uphills. It seemed to work well as I made the 1/2 way point in 59 minutes. The course is 2 out and backs so I got to see Skip and Diana on this portion as well. I was very happy to do the second loop in the same time and finish the run under 2 hours. Skip beat me overall by about 5 minutes... I just needed a few more miles to catch him! Diana was 20 minutes under her time goal!!! Overall, another great training day!

Tierra Bella Century

Another beautiful (but cold) day in California and another century (100mile) ride under our belts. This ride is through Gilroy and Morgan Hill, covering both sides of the valley.

We began our day at Gavilan Jr. College and the first surprise was that instead of picking from wearing my vest or jacket I decided to wear both! It was cold! In fact, even though the jacket eventually came off, the leg warmers never did.

We began the ride through rollers on the west side of the valley, then crossed over to the east side and cruised into the aid station at mile 34 feeling pretty good. From there until the next stop however was quite a challenge.

We worked our way over to Thomas Grade (just the name is scary) and started to go UP. We had 3,000 ft of gain in 8 miles. Whew, it was work. At one point I asked Skip how much longer he thought we were going to climb and he said, "well, since we are going 5mph and we probably have about 5 miles to go, I'd say about 1 hour." I told him that he was a ray of sunshine!

When we got to the TOP of Henry Coe park it was very cold. They even had a fire pit going that many people were crowded around. It was beautiful up there however and the view was fantastic.

The decent was a bit scary due to the narrow 1 lane road, lots of cyclist, and hairpin turns. Once we reached the bottom it felt like we should be done, but we were only at mile 60!

We did a bit more climbing after that, but nothing so aggressive. Skip got a flat just before the last rest stop and it took both of us to get the tire off (I guess we were tired).

Once we got back to the valley, we headed north into a brutal headwind. For about 10 miles I was in my lowest gear, in my aerobars, on flat road, only going about 8mph!! NOT NICE. What was nice was getting across the valley and heading south on Santa Theresa Blvd back to the college.

All in all it was a good training ride, but not very fast. We certainly got our money's worth and earned the nice dinner we had with my sister Carol and her husband Mike afterwards. Not sure about signing up again next year.....

(Thank you Dave Stark for the photos!)

Lake San Antonio AKA Wildflower Longcourse

Well, I'm finally writing the much delayed (and anticipated I'm sure) race report from our 1/2 Ironman distance training weekend at Lake San Antonio. We used the infamous Wildflower Long Course for this training and of course it always lives up to it's reputation.


Here we are on our way, and yes I drove the RV.
We arrived by dinner time on Friday with Chelsie and Kyle on board for support work.













Sunrise - time for a swim!!


WALKING THE PLANK to the swim start.......

Kyle was in a kayak during the swim, stationed at the turn around point. He was checking on everyone and making sure we were all doing ok and swimming the right direction. That turn around is very IMPORTANT! We would not want to miss it!

Chelsie was on the dock recording everyone's swim times as they exited. Oh, I forgot to mention it was a 1.2 mile swim, give or take a few hundred yards for straying from the course.

Skip managed to swim past the dock and then have to come back to it. Even so, he beat the entire team by a very large margin, getting out in 31 minutes. It took me 40.

Then on to transition number one and out on the bike course. The bike course has "rolling" hills pretty much the entire way with one doosey (how is that spelled?) fondly referred to as "Nasty Grade" of course I'm sure there are lots of other names as well. This big hill comes at about mile 42 of 56. I must admit that I was much stronger on the bike this year, knocking of 20 minutes from last year's time. We had great weather as well, so no complaints here. Skip had a little issue on his bike ride - a flat which was actually due to a weak sidewall on his tire so he replaced the tube, borrowed $1 from our favorite team honoree Laura, slipped it into the tire for extra support and was on his way. Thanks again Laura!

Now it is off to the run. Everyone always focuses on the tough bike course, and especially Nasty Grade, but the run course is no piece of cake. It's really more of a hike in many places as it travels over hiking trails which are uneven, rocky, and steep. Chelsie and Kyle were at the first water stop so they got these flattering pictures of us. This run is actually very pretty, although slow and can get very lonely at times. My goal was to FIND SOMEBODY! I passed a couple of teammates and finally caught up to Skip at about mile 8. We visited for a while and then I moved ahead. Of course the only reason I was able to catch him was because he had a flat on the bike.


(I told you it was a trail run!)

(I have no idea what I am pointing to..)

We both felt good in regards to our nutrition plan on this event. It took me 6 hours and 40 minutes plus transition time (which I did not get) and Skip came in just a few minutes behind me. It will be interesting to see how that time compares with the 1/2 Ironman race we are doing at Lake Berryessa in May.

Stairs Stairs and more Stairs!!!

It was a beautiful day for torture in the City! Last weekend was a "boot camp" weekend with workout starting at 8am both days and ending at 4pm Saturday and 3pm on Sunday. We did swimming, biking, spinning, running, core and strength, over and over again. The highlight (ha ha) was the Lyon Street stairs. 310 Stairs from what I am told. And we did not do them once, or twice, but 7 times! The first time was just running. The second time was running every other step, 3 and 4 were repeats, 5 was hopping with both legs, 6 and 7 were hopping single leg. I guess I don't have to tell you that we were pretty sore the next couple of days. By the time we got to the last run segment of the workout on Sunday I must admit that my legs were about as beat as they were at the end of Ironman Lake Placid last year - I guess that is the point!

Training Update
Well, it has been almost a month since I've updated the blog and I apologize. Skip and I both ended up with the winter crud that everyone seems to have had and I am just getting over the cough that lingered for 3 weeks. But, we still trained, and last weekend we completed the Solvang Century (100 miles) and a 12 mile run the next day.

This was our second century ride and the first time we did this course. Obviously, we started in Solvang, travelled through Lompoc, up Highway 1 and 135 to Santa Maria, then east of 101 through Fox Canyon and the hills back to Solvang. All in all it was a good ride, although the winds from mile 40-60 were tough and I must admit to tucking in behind Skip so that I could draft. This is not legal in an Ironman race, but perfectly OK in a Century ride. I really needed the mental break at that point. Miles 70-90 were great, through Fox canyon with lots of gradual climbs and I passed tons of people which was a good mental boost for my novice bike psyche. The last 10 miles was, well, the last 10 miles, with lots of nice downhills but unfortunately, also lots of wind. We finished the day with a 2 mile run to train us to transition to running legs after several hours on the bike.

It was fun (in retrospect) and we have 2 more century rides scheduled for the coming months.

In general, we are logging 12-15 hours of swimming, biking and running each week. Skip continues to loose weight and I continue to maintain weight! We have a 1/2 Ironman distance (1.2mile swim, 56mile bike, 13.1mile run) training race at the end of March at Lake San Antonio which we will hopefully be able to get some pictures from. Chelsie and Kyle will be in attendance to help with supporting our teammates at the aid stations. It will be good training for them before they travel with us to Canada in August to be our support crew for the "real thing".

Great Wine,

Great Food,


Great Auction,
AND Great Friends....

What more could you ask for on a beautiful Sunday afternoon? We would like to thank everyone that attended the 5th wine tasting and auction to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Once again everyone enjoyed themselves and we raised $3,000 for patient services and research! A special thanks to Bill Carey, owner of the Tracy Wine Cellar and John and Judith Monnich, owners of Silkwood Winery for sharing their fine wines with us - we could not put on this event without them!

It was a beautiful morning...

on Treasure Island for the annual Olympic distance Louie Triathlon.

Louie Bonpua was a dynamic man with lots of energy and charisma. He had CML (chronic myelogenous leukemia) which eventually took his life but not before he accomplished some amazing things and touched many lives. Louie was a member of Ironteam and completed Ironman Canada in 2001. He lost his battle to cancer the day after he carried the Olympic torch in January 2002. If you are interested in Louie's story see the article at http://www.cmlsupport.com/cmlshrimplouie0202.htm We conduct this triathlon in honor of Louie and all of our honorees. It also serves as a training race for our Ironteam participants.

The race begins with a 1500 meter swim in 50 degree water - sound like fun?? It can be. I went out with the new swimmers and got to swim with Stephanie from the south bay team for 2 loops of the course. She was cruising along very well by that time so I hung out with Romeo for a while. After Romeo finished his swim I joined up with Roman from the south bay team and finished up the swim with him. It was an unusual swim for me because I did alot of egg beater and sculling so that I could watch and talk. Thank God for Chris and his generous offer to give me his gloves! The nice part about doing the swim this way was that I did not have to put my face in that cold water very much. (The picture is the first group of swimmers getting ready, I'm in there somewhere, and coach Ted.)

The team went on to bike 25 miles followed by a 10k run. I did the complete distances on Saturday so that I could be coach support for the actual event on Sunday. It was fun to see everyone finish and be there to help out. We had lots of honorees in attendance as well, braving the wind and rain to support the team.

Skip was unable to participate since he has been fighting an illness most of the week. He was snuggled in a warm bed while we were chilling our bones in the bay!

Happy New Year..

Well, Christmas has come and gone, New Years has come and gone, vacation has come and gone and it's time to get back to serious training.

We are starting our Build Phase of training now which means just that... our workouts will be building. Last week we trained for 10 hours and it will go up to about 20 before we are ready for Ironman Canada.

We hope the New Year brings you happiness and health and we look forward to sharing many 2008 adventures with you.