My Bike

I have a pretty smokin' hot bike! In honor of my very positive 165 km ride this past week, I would like to write about my bike. It's a Cervelo P2C, some of it's features include: Shimano Dura-Ace components, constant-width seat tube cutout, aero head tube, constant cross section seat tube, integrated accessory attachment seatpost, integrated seat tube collar, ICS internal cablestops, UCI legal, frameset. I do not have a single clue what all these things mean or do (please do not report me for plagerism from the Cervelo website!), but I do know that this is a bike that I am EXTREMELY blessed to have!




I saved my pennies to buy my first road bike back in 2004 when I thought I was interested in doing triathlons. I bought a Trek 1000 road bike (entry level road bike), which was my most prized possession (first love), I slept with it in my bedroom and I treated it like it was my first born (clearly... Bedford has replaced it). Now, it feels like it weighs 5 bizillion pounds and quite frankly, its ugly (I'm only human... I've moved on to bigger and better things). I did however use my road bike (which I pet named, Lance, after my second love) for my first half ironman in 2006. I placed 3rd in my age category at that race, something very special to me that only Lance I will ever share. Shortly after that race, I decided that I would sign up for Ironman Canada for 2007, Lance and I would complete it together. A few weeks after I made this decision, and also a few days before I was moving home to Calgary from Victoria, Uncle Bruce and Auntie Rosie took me out for lunch. It was a nice visit that we had, but nothing out of the ordinary, we saw each other fairly often, so I wasn't really expecting anything special that day. At that lunch, Uncle Bruce said that he was really proud of me for pursuing my ironman goal, and really wanted to support me. By supporting me, I was under the impression that he would be joining Team Alison and would be donning his pink (from head to toe) cheer uniform (as issued from Alison) at Ironman Canada in 2007 to cheer for me. I was thrilled that he would be apart of it with me. However... I was wrong. Very wrong. What Uncle Bruce meant by supporting me, was that he wanted to help me upgrade my bike. Obviously I was shocked, and thrilled and then shocked again (however, he did also join Team Alison for race day to cheer as well). We went directly to Fort Street Cycle after our lunch to check out the bikes. I was thinking that maybe we would upgrade some of the components on my bike, or perhaps get an entry level triathlon bike. I was wrong again. Long story short, I left the bike shop as the proud owner of an extremely high end triathlon bike (upgraded components), race wheels (zipp 404's), a wind-trainer, and a travelling case for my bike. I can't even imagine what the final bill was, but certainly more money than I've ever had in my bank account! That was one of those days that will go down in my personal history book!

I definately loved my new bike from day one (clearly, as I haven't so much as pumped up Lance's tires since getting the new bike). Carrying on with my naming tradition, this bike goes by Excalibur (Uncle Bruce got a matching P2C and named it Braveheart). Unfortunately, as training ramped up for IMC 2007, I faced quite a few diffuculties when it came to the bike. I never really felt like I got strong or comfortable in that sport, my back was extremely irritated by being in the aero position for any period of time, and I had so many digestive upsets (something very new to my iron-stomach) which I guessed was because of the extremely aeordynamic position of the frame. It sucked, I was discouraged and I was happy to retire the bike upon completion of IMC 07. However.... this year, things have seriously changed!!! Aside from the natural disturbances (wind, rain, hail, etc), my biking has been so fantastic this year! I feel great, I feel so strong, I have man-quads, I haven't had one cramp or upset stomach, my back or neck hasn't been irritated at all, and I actually look forward to my bike rides! It's weird, I don't know what changed, but it's great, I have no complaints! I think this will be very beneficial for the race, as obviously the bike portion greatly affects the run portion. And let's be honest... I'll be ticked off if I don't beat my time from IMC 07.

So, let me introduce you now to my THIRD love (or at least until something better comes along), Excalibur (too bad I don't have the race wheel's on, the bike looks so much flashier, but the race wheels and the Calgary wind do not agree with each other):



If I may (and... I may... because it's my blog), I will give a shameless plug to all the great people at Fort Street Cycle for all of the amazing service that they provided to me (well... Uncle Bruce really). I will also, once again, give the credit to my dad for taking care of this bike (it requires A LOT of upkeep!), as I am incapable of such things (like getting oil on my hands or dirt under my finger nails... gross). Lastly, Craig deserves some thanks for putting up with having a bike in the living room (much much much too precious to go outside!).

Memories

I remember when:

• I used to be able to touch my toes... prior to extremely tight hamstrings
• I used to have clothes that fit my waist and quads proporitionately
• I didn't need 9 + hours of sleep a night
• I had a social life (well... maybe I never had that)
• I didn't have permanent bags under my eyes
• I didn't carry around an hourly alarm clock... my stomach
• I had a wardrobe outside of Cool-Max, Dry-Weave, Wick-Away and Luon

I also remember when:

• We used to bike on West Saanich Road
• We picked up our brand new matching bikes from Fort Street Cycle
• We cheered each other on as we both completed our first Ironman's
• We BBQ-ed Pizza's on hot summer nights
• We played Monopoly in the grass
• We let AR cook us gourmet dinner's while we soaked our feet in Epson salt
• We met at Thetis Lake at dawn and had the entire lake reserved just for us

I am well aware that wetsuits are the most unflattering attire in the history of mankind. I cannot believe I am putting these pictures on the World Wide Web! To top it off, I have a neon orange swim cap on. Yes, I can see that I look like a little boy with oddly oversized legs. I wore that swim cap at the pool the other day, clearly, I have no shame. However, these are some great memories, worth sharing with the whole world.

ALS Fundraising

Before I get to the good stuff, first I must give a brief update on my 150 km ride today. The good news is that I did it, in fact, I even had company! My new friend, Sara, and I took off this morning early for our weekly long ride. Sara and I got hooked up through our coach, Carolyn, she recently moved back to Calgary, from Victoria, and is also training for Ironman. If I hadn't had Sara as my riding partner today... disaster may have struck! We decided to do two 75 km rides, having a very short break at our cars in between. I actually quite liked this, and the 75 km route was very challenging with hills so it was actually quite good training as IMCanada certainly does not lack hills (or perhaps Mountain's is a better description). Approximately half way out on the 2nd loop of the ride, so approximately 95 kms into the ride we rode directly into a massive thunder/lightning/hail/HEAVY rain storm. It was a storm I would be afraid to drive through, let alone bike through! I won't go on and on (because I could!), but the final result was the most excruciating frozen fingers and toes that I have ever experienced. In fact, I could not even function, I rode in the same gear the rest of the way because physically my hands could not change the gears. Sara actually had to unlock my car and start it for me! I sat in a hot bath (which probably wasn't even that hot, but it hurt on my frozen body) for half an hour while my feet and hands tingled their way back to life. It was kind of scary actually, but I lived through it to tell about it, so I guess it couldn't have been that bad. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but my phone took it's last breath and didn't live through the water damage (It was so some seriously heavy rain!!!), so I rewarded myself (for not curling up in the ditch and dying) by buying a new iphone. I guess it was worth it for that (I've been wanting one of those for a long time!). Also on a good note, the 150 km didn't feel bad at all! My muscles couldn't feel any fatigue because they were well into the hypothermia stage before there was any excessive lactic acid build up!

The real reason for this posting is that I have somehow wanted to incorporate some fundraising into my Ironman training. There is a charity near and dear to Uncle Bruce's heart, as well as the rest of my family, and I know that there are many of Uncle Bruce's friends who may be interested in being involved or contributing in whatever capacity they can. At Uncle Bruce's memorial service, in lieu of flowers or donations, it was requested that people could make donations for the Dave Pendray memorial fund through the BC and Yukon ALS society.

ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerate disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons. It may be more familar to you as Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankees baseball star who died in 1941 of this disease. Patients of ALS eventually lose the ability to initiate and control all voluntary movement (that would suck!).

Dave Pendray died of ALS in February of 2007. The Pendray family has been extremely influential on the farming community of Vancouver Island for many many years. The Pendray Dairy farm (off of West Saanich Road) was run by Dave Pendray, and his wife Linda as well as their children. His death was a huge loss to the dairy farming community as well as his many friends. Uncle Bruce was a very dear friend to Dave, his death was very devastating to Uncle Bruce, much like the way that we feel. If Uncle Bruce was still alive and could fundraise and bring awareness to a charity, there is no doubt that it would be in Dave Pendray's name.

Although I did not have the chance to meet Dave Pendray (I have however met his wonderful wife and daughters), ALS has affected my entire family beyond just the loss of Dave. My grandpa, Dr. Barry Backus, died in July 1997 of ALS. My grandpa was the most brilliant, intelligent, caring, generous man that ever lived. If you knew him, I have no doubt that you would agree.

The ALS Society of Canada was created with the purpose to fund research towards a cure for ALS and provide quality care and support for those affected by ALS. If your life has been affected by ALS, perhaps through the death of a loved one, like Dave Pendray, or Barry Backus, and you would like to help fight this battle, you can make donations to:

Dave Pendray Memorial Fund

c/o ALS Society of BC and Yukon

#208 - 1600 West 6th Ave

Vancouver, BC

V6J 1R3

In Memory of Bruce Bowman

Consider your donation a sponsorship to get me out of bed every morning and carry on with all this training. If a financial donation is not something that you are interested in doing, then let me challenge you to participate in your local "Walk for ALS" which is a fundraising charity event that runs in many many cities, throughout the year, in Canada. You can find your nearest event and pledgeforms at this website: http://www.als.ca/events/location.aspx?e=21. Alison and I will be participating in our local Calgary Walk for ALS this year (except she doesn't know that yet).

After sulking for 2 days (sore abs!), I shall leave you with the funniest thing I have seen all week (much, MUCH laughing!):

This is my beautiful, exotic, pure bread, Himalayan, precious baby boy (yes, we treat him like he's human, and we treat him like he's our kid). Bedford:

This is precisely why Craig will never allow me to have kids. The result of leaving Alison and I alone in the bathroom with the cat and an electric razor:




There's a hot summer coming, I thought it would keep him cool... But we're getting Air Conditioning installed in our place tomorrow... So.... HAHAHAHA poor ugly Bedford (I hope it grows back soon!)

Recovery Week

I've just completed my first Recovery Week of the training season. It was so great! I still did my 6 days of working out and about 10 or 11 workouts over those 6 days, but it was all just a little bit shorter and little bit more laid back this week. All in preparation for another few weeks of ramping up again before my next recovery week. Don't get me wrong, I do love the feeling of utter exhaustion, working out till I want to throw up and literally eating, breathing, sleeping, working all things ironman related, however a wee break is always greatly welcomed. It didn't exactly help that I worked 6 out of the last 7 days, but for the most part I'm feeling rested and ready to go again. A couple of highlights from my recovery week:

My mom and I have been swimming together ever since I started Ironman training, it's great to have a training partner in that area. It's not like we chat and have a visit, like if we were out for a run together, but it's a good motivation to have someone join you, and it's nice company on the drive to the pool or during the ever tedious hair drying process. My mom swims with me usually 2 out of my 3 swims in a week (plus she packs better snacks than I do!). I did discover something this week. My mom is officially a faster swimmer than I am. I don't like it. I don't like it at all! I can admit it, I have an ultra competitive edge, and I totally feel like my ego is being stomped on every time I gag in a mouthful of chlorine from my mom's wake. The funny thing is... she would NEVER admit that she is faster. I'm sure like most mom's, my mom likes to think that Alison and I are perfect princesses in every possible way and that everything we do is better than everyone else in the entire world (when is someone going to let her in on the truth...?). She honestly thinks that I could take Michael Phelps in a race, and I probably would have a chance at beating him (then again, I don't smoke pot... so I do have that on him). That's what makes it so funny.... my mom introduces me to all her friends at the Y as her hard core swimming daughter, "I'm SO embarassed to even be swimming with her!!!" yet she's actually faster. Then I see her purposely choose a lane away from me because deep down, I know she knows the truth. Oh well... it's good to have a challenge, my ego can take it, and who doesn't love a mom who's your biggest fan. Maybe this week I should be the one to brag about my ultra-fast swimming mom to all her friends at the Y, even at 50 years old!

Alison and Leon officially commenced their P90X workout, you may or may not have heard about it, a workout series, for 90 days, meant to seriously build some muscle. They started it Tuesday, exactly 6 weeks post baby (and therefore post surgery) and it's a very exciting new challenge. Alison has been keeping me well updated on the daily workouts (they sound pretty intense) and after doing a certain ab workout, insisted that I must try it! So I popped over yesterday (as I do most days thanks to their extremely well stocked fridge... "ummm... I was just in the neighborhood...") and I gave it a try. I do an ab/core workout every day, usually 10 - 15 minutes, at home or at the gym, I like to think it's pretty challenging, and I definately appreciate the importance of keeping those core muscles well conditioned. I had already done my daily ab workout before heading over to try out Ab Ripper X (the name of it is so fitting when you see the guy who does the video... total white-man-beef-head-in-spandex), this was my first mistake. My second mistake was forcing myself to complete the entire 17 minute workout without breaks and trying my hardest to do all the "advanced" positions (there's that competitive edge again, I'm starting to see a problem here). The final result, which I discovered this morning when I rolled out of bed, was some seriously extreme muscle fatigue (aka side-splitting pain!). If you know me or my family well, you will know that there is a lot of humor involved in our lives. We like to laugh, a lot. This may be because we are extremely happy natured people with a positive outlook on life, or perhaps it is because we use humor to cover up our mass amounts of disfunction (maybe a combo of both), regardless we share lots of good chuckles, snorts and sometimes peeing-of-pants, on an hourly basis (well... not the peeing-of-pants, thats more like a once a year thing). Today, this has changed for me. It hurts so much to laugh, its not even funny (no pun intended!). I've spent the majority of my day trying to think of negative and sad things to ward off any laughter in hopes that I won't have reason to laugh, all to save myself from pain enough to cripple me! I can't even look at Craig (he's easy to laugh at), and I'm nervous about tomorrow (2nd day is always the worst!). Please refrain from any jokes, funny stories or humor in any sort of way for the next 24 hours while I allow my poor precious abdominus musculus's (or whatever they are called) to heal. The lesson learned from this experience: no more Ab Ripper X (even that name makes me want to laugh!) the day before rest day (what a waste!!!) or at least before any funny movies. I think I'll go rent Schindler's List tonight.

I guess that's all for recovery week. This coming week has another 150 km long ride, a 3200 m swim, hills, a long run (my favorite!!!) and pretty much everything else inbetween.

Before & After

DISCLAIMER: The pictures you are about to see are disturbing. Please view them only at your own risk. I will not be held responsible if you break any bones whilst laughing your a** off.

I used to be fat. Really fat. Not like "I'm so chubby, I need to lose 5 pounds", it was more like "I'm obese and I'm on the road to a quadruple bypass and CHF for my 30th birthday".

When I was 16 years old, I was over 200 pounds (I weighed in at 223 lbs at my peak). I wasn't an overweight kid, perhaps a little bit on the round side, but mostly average, I think things went downhill for my when I was about 12. They didn't actually go downhill, it was more like falling off a cliff into an ocean of whipped cream which I promptly ate my way to the chocolate covered beach and continued on from there. Like every other young teenager, I had my awkward stage, I wore braces, I was a bit pimple-y, I had a seriously bad haircut (with blue streaks!), but for some reason that awkward stage just hit me a bit harder than the average kid and I had a hard time kicking it. I drowned my sorrows in pizza pops and kool-aid... by the truck load. Perhaps I was rebelling from my ultra-fit, ultra-health conscious family, this was my way of being an "individual". Some teenagers choose black spikey hair, some choose to smoke pot behind the local high school, but not me... I chose a 6000 calorie/day diet and zero physical activity.

I remember very specifically a day, I was 16 years old, and I walked up the very modest 1 flight of stairs to my bedroom. I was out of breath and sweating by about the 5th stair. That's the day things changed. I was pretty ashamed of myself for letting it get that bad. I didn't really formulate a plan or dream of being a 6-pack bearing Bay Watch babe (with boobs that don't ever bounce when I run in slow motion down the beach), I just knew that I officially wanted to get out of my rut and do something, anything really.

My mom was great about. After spending the last 5 years telling me that I was just "big boned" (right... big bones that were insulated by my latest meal of Pogo corn dogs smothered in butter), she suggested we try a diet together. We ordered a program called "The Protein Power Plan" (thank you late night infomercials!), which I believe is very similar to Atkins. Now, after becoming extremely informed in the nutrition field, I would certainly not recommend any diet of this kind (or any other one that is sold on TV by a man in too-short shorts with a mullet), but at the time it seemed like a good way to start. My mom and I followed the plan exactly for 6 weeks, which I would suspect required quite a bit more work than I gave my mom credit for (as in meal preparation), and it was certainly not something that my marathon running mom needed to do. I'm not entirely sure how much weight I lost doing that, but it was enough for me to hold my head just a tiny bit higher and give me the self esteem to adopt a significantly healthier lifestyle. I mostly walked off the weight, I gave up my bus pass and I walked 3.8 km to school and then again home every single day (including -20 degrees days in the winter!). It wasn't until I was in my last year of high school that I actually got a gym membership, where I started to make more of specific effort to shave off the remainder of my weight. I ran 5 days a week on the treadmill for 30 minutes, and I did 30 minutes of weights. By my high school graduation I was 135lbs! I ran my first half marathon the summer after I graduated, and then I really learned that I was destined to be a runner when I spent the next year in Mozambique Africa. I ran every single morning while I was there, even on the hottest days that I have ever experienced. I ran my first full marathon a few months after I returned home from Africa.

In the beginning my relationship with running was much like the first year of marriage. There were moments of a love that I can't even describe, pure bliss, joy (and every other world sappy lovey word that you can think of). But there were also moments of extreme pain; tight hamstrings, loosing toe nails, blisters, burning lungs, irritable bowels (and every other painful thing that you can think of). Now, I couldn't possibly think of anything that I would rather do. I've run 17 full marathons and 2 ultra marathons, I haven't had all 10 of my toenails at the same time since 2001, I get to see the best part of the entire day when I'm out on my early morning runs, and I've been able to build some great relationships with my fellow runners.

Yesterday, I weighed myself at 127 lbs, my heart rate was 47 beats/minute and my blood pressure was 100/60. I think it would be safe to say that I saved myself from my 30th birthday date with my cardiac surgeon.

I'm not writing this story to brag in any way. In fact, I think it's pretty disappointing that I ever allowed myself to get as bad as I was. I just thought this journey would be worthy to share for a couple of reasons:

A) Perhaps someone needs to hear this story to be encouraged, yourself, or someone you know. If I can make lifestyle changes, then anyone can make lifestyle changes. I'm cheering for you!

B) I truly appreciate and with everything within me, I believe in healthy living. Our health is such a gift and I feel so strongly that it is one of our greatest responsibilities to handle that gift with great care. I should know, because I seriously abused that gift for many years prior to learning this lesson. On that note, I'm not saying that everyone needs to do ironmans and run marathons, just adopt a practical healthy diet and be active in any way that keeps you happy.

C)This is my blog, so I'm allowed to advocate for the things I believe in.

D) Kids who make fun of chubby girls in high school are mean. Really mean.

E) Maybe this story means nothing to you, but maybe you just need a really good chuckle... please proceed to look at the pictures below (however, note the disclaimer above!). Don't be decieved, I wasn't actually fat, I was just "big boned" - according to my mom (hahahahahahahaha).


Before:
And another one.... (check out that hair!!!)


After (with my mom and sister):

Top 10 Reasons You Know You're Training For Ironman

10. You eat 6 full meals a day and your clothes still don't fit.

9. People no longer greet you with "hi, how are you?", you are greeted with "Did you bike yet today?"

8. You take power naps in your car at red lights and stop signs and sleep through your meal breaks at work.

7. You have to wear high collared shirts to cover the permanent hickey on your neck... from your wetsuit (Yet no one ever believes that excuse).

6. You need a rolling suitcase to get your lunch to work and you require an entire shelf in the staff fridge.

5. You plan your daily tasks in terms of heart rate zones, ie: grocery shopping - 80% of target heart rate, aiming for a negative split between aisles 1 through 5 and again in aisles 6 through 10 ... and then you log this in your training journal

4. You are an expert at pee-ing in the bushes (or side of the road if there are no bushes available)

3. You contemplate going to bed in your running gear (fuel belt included) to have an extra 3 minute sleep-in the next morning

2. Rest day is the equivilant of a religious holiday in your home.

1. Your family/co-workers/friends all agree that you have a mental illness but yet... you can't imagine speding your time doing anything else in the entire world

150 KM!

Today was my 150 km bike ride. Even though I have done this distance before, and longer (I did a 200 km training ride in 2007), it certainly felt like quite a milestone for me. The wind, of course, was hitting me from all directions, there were moments when it was worse than others, and it certainly accompanied me for all 5 and a half hours, but I managed to find my "happy place" and control my rage (just kidding - see previous posting). I tried to start my ride as early as possible, but by the time I got everything together and got out going, it wasn't until about 7:30, which isn't quite as early as I hoped. I didn't get home until about 1:45, so it sort of felt like my entire day, which makes me wonder how people do this if A) they have kids, B) they have a full time job (I only work 8 or 9 shifts out of 10 for every two weeks... it's great!) or C) they have a social life. I have none of these things. 3 things from today's bike ride are worth noting:

The first thing, and by far the biggest highlight for me, was my cheer squad that surprised me at the perfect time by showing up at my turn around point. Alison had the kidlets up early for cheer practice, and so they decided to take it out to the road and put their cheering to some real practice. I think the wind god's were giving me a reward for fighting so hard that they allowed it to work out perfectly, I was just stopping to have a gel and a little snack (please note: I just dipped into my EXPIRED stash of Cliff bars from Ironman 2007 training. They are expired for a reason). My mom, Alison and the girls showed up at that exact moment! Aria rushed out of the car with two big white pom poms and cheered for me (even though I was actually stopped). She was chanting "Run Run Run" (she may have had her sports mixed up) which she learned after 14 hours of cheering for Uncle Bruce last year at Ironman 08. My mom surprised me with a small baggie of chocolate covered raisins, which most definately beat the not-so-fresh Cliff bar! She's very thoughtful that way! My personal cheer squad and support vehicle gave me exactly what I needed to get home, I definately felt a huge energy burst after seeing them it was great!

The next event that is worthy to be made public is sort of a funny one. I had a quick stop to change my water bottles around, stretch my back, dip into that chocolate covered raisins baggie that I was surprised with, etc. I was balancing on my left leg while I had my right foot still clipped into my pedal (it was supposed to be a very quick stop). In the near distance I saw a semi-truck coming up behind me, I suppose after hours of hearing trucks coming and naturally bracing myself for the gust of wind that accompanies them, I guess I went to go and do the same thing. I failed to remember that I was balancing only my left foot, which I proceeded to lose balance on. The result... an extremely graceful topple over in extremely slow motion... in perfect timing for the truck driver to witness the entire acrobatic act. It didn't hurt at all, except for the giant oil stain on my calf (I scrubbed till my skin was raw and it's still there!) and the giant bruise on my ego. I relayed the story to Craig over dinner.... he laughed so hard I thought he would bust a rib. Makes me wonder what the truck driver was telling his family over dinner.

Lastly, I discovered the perfect little treat, yet still reasonably beneficial nutritionally speaking. I LOVE food! I love eating healthy, I love experimenting with new foods, I love treats, I love anything and everything that is related to food such things. I've studied nutrition quite a bit over the years (in fact, I'm actually a Registered Nutritionist, however, it's more for personal benefit than a career). With that said, I'm sure you can imagine the extreme upset and heart break when my cliff bar was impossible to bite in to. I also packed myself another little something... Chocolate milk. It was SO GOOD. Ideally, I know that chocolate milk is actually quite a good recovery drink, the milk provides protein, and the chocolate is high in antioxidants, as well as a bit of sugar to replenish my lacking glycogen storage. I had it in the middle of the ride, it worked great then too, and to top it off, I didn't suffer from any cramps or stomach upset (which in 2007 was an ongoing issue for me on the bike). I'll be sure to have my fridge stocked for the rest of the summer. Craig will be happy about that because it was actually his chocolate milk that I stole from the fridge to take on my ride... you would have thought that I drank the last chocolate milk in the entire world though, Craig was pretty heart broken that it was gone (on that note, I do all the cooking/grocery shopping in our home, so in my theory, I have first dibs on anything in the fridge).

I guess that's it for the ride, overall, it was a success, and great training. I get to do it all over again next week! The rest of the week has 3 swims, 3 runs and another 2 rides scheduled... I'm guessing by Sunday I'll be ready for my rest day (and my first weekend off of work in a month!!! Yipee!)