Inked

It's tradition for participants to celebrate their Ironman finish by making it permanent and getting the Ironman tatoo. It's a pretty big deal, and it's pretty much expected, plus, I'm pretty sure finishers are secretly more than happy to permanently brag about their accomplishment. I never tried to fight it, I knew that if I finished, I would HAVE to get the tatoo. I'm not really a tatoo/piercing/being-an-individual type person. Give me a Gap cardigan and a pair of chinos and let me blend in to any crowd, I don't even have my ears pierced! I don't do accessories, I don't wear jewlery (minus my wedding rings), I wear a potatoe sack most of the time (aka hospital scrubs) and I'm not into bright patterns and colors, I just like good old classics in black, white or pink. So would it be shocking to say that I am the owner of not 1 but 2 tatoos!!! It's my secret little rebellion from my otherwise very normal appearance.
My first tatoo you would never see unless I showed you....
My second tatoo - the Ironman!

The day after the race in 2007, I pre-booked and pre-paid an appointment in White-Trashville, and as a family, we all went to enjoy the experence. As you can see, it was one of my dad's proudest moments!

I would be lying if I didn't say that the three minutes it took to get the mirco-tatoo made permanent were, in fact, more painful than the entire 14.5 hours of painful endurance that I accomplished the day before! Extremefully painful!

I had a hard time fully committing to the tatoo... The real Ironman Canada tatoo is the IMC symbol, which has the ironman surrounded by a red maple leaf. I just couldn't do it. What if I ever chose to wear pink (which I do most days!), it would clash with my tatoo! Also, image if for some God-forsaken reason I got chubby one day... I would not want a visible Ironman tatoo somewhere screaming of what I used to be (however, I hope that never happens!). Lastly, I did the race in over 14 hours, to non-ironmaners, that's amazing, but to my fellow ironmans... that's not really something to brag about. It would sort of be like someone bragging about their 5 and a half hour marathon. Not that it's not an amazing accomplishment.... but...

So, I just got the little Ironman symbol, and I got it tatooed below my ankle bone. In this case, it can be covered by shoes/socks if necessary, it won't clash with any particular colors, but I can also show it off and wear it with pride when I want to. The final result:

I guess now that I have it, I don't need to go through that again this year... I've had some suggestions on adding to it, perhaps having my time tatooed below it, or perhaps the years that I did it. I think I'll just leave it as it is. I've spent enough time in the tatoo artists chair for one lifetime...

As for other news, I just finished an extremely intense training week (well, I have two more days to go, but all the big workouts are done). Which means, after 3 of the most intense weeks I've ever accomplished, Sunday officially commences my recovery week!!!

My mom, Auntie Rosie and I were all planning a training week in Penticton this past week. Unfortunately, we got forest fired-out. It sucked, I was pretty disappointed, but I guess there is no stopping mother nature (or stupid campers who smoke...whatever it was), the highway from Kelowna was closed and it just wasn't worth attempting the alternate route (long drive!). I was disappointed to enjoy the beautiful Okanagan, partake in some great wine, see AR, and have a nice drive with my mom. But most of all, I feel a bit of anxiety to not have a chance to bike the race course. It's been two years, I'd really like to refamilarize myself such things as Richters Pass, Yellow Lake, and the 7 Rollers from hell... we'll be in Penticton 4 days before the race, so the best thing I can do is drive the course (once, maybe twice), I hope that's good enough.

On a very positive note, I did my dreaded 200 km long ride (only one for the whole training season!) yesterday, followed by a 34 km long run today and preceded by a 4000 m swim on Tuesday (so pretty much an ironman in three days). The ride went great! I averaged almost 28 km/hr, which is great for me, and I did the bike in a faster time than it took me to ride the bike portion of the race in 2007. I was pretty proud! It was stinkin' hot (great for training!), and I biked a lot of hills, so I felt satisfied that it was the best training I could possibly do. I felt fine the whole time but I did have to lie down in the dirt beside my car when I finished for about 10 minutes before I could head out on my 30 minute Brick run (I was a wee bit light headed). I think I paid for it all in my run today! It was pretty painful, and perhaps a good reality check for what I might feel like on race day (plus, it was another hot day and I think I had a mild case of heat stroke). I think the only negative thing about doing an Ironman for a second time is actually knowing what if feels like to start a marathon after biking for 180 km. I liked it better the first time when I thought my strong running background would make the run seem easy (clearly, I know better this year!).

I guess that's all for this week. I'll thoroughly enjoy the rest and relaxation next week (which isn't really that much of a break, but at least I can pretend). Only 6 more weeks till the race!

Week Update

This has been a LONG week! Long and hard! But it's nearing it's end, and Sunday is my rest day, so I think I'll survive it!

I have tried my absolute hardest to be as positive as possible at all times through this whole Ironman experience for 2009. For a couple of reasons: first, I think my 2007 Ironman experience wasn't necessarily one of my better memories, not that it was negative in any way, just that I was SO stressed out about SO many things. It was hard for me to take in the moments and enjoy it, as well I don't think I ever gave myself credit for a rare (and frankly, amazing) accomplishment that I done. I was too busy worrying about if I could actually even do it. Then, when I proved that I could actually do it, perhaps the moment was over. Secondly, I never planned on doing this Ironman, my motivation for this Ironman is so completely different than 2007. Uncle Bruce would have only wanted this to be a fun event for me and everyone else involved, and so I've made that a top priority. Lastly, I think Ironman (any endurance event really) is half physical race, and half mental race. I failed miserabley at the mental race in 2007, and I am NOT going to let that happen this year. All this positive thinking has proved to be beneficial, and I can absolutely see it in my physical race!

Overall, I think I've done really well. I know I've said it before, but I feel great, training is going so well, and I am having so much fun doing it! However.... This week has proven to be a big challenge for me and I'm feeling like my "positive thinking tank" is somewhat drained.

This was a pretty heavy duty week of training, and my 2nd heavy week in a row, so just that much harder than last week! I completed all my scheduled workouts, and I didn't have any specific events or situations that were diffucult. I just seemed to have a hard time finding my motivation, and then I felt guilty for not enjoying myself. Maybe I'm just tired (probably) or hungry (obviously...cause I always am), or maybe it's because I worked 7 days in a row last week (definately did NOT like that!).

So I'm going to dig deep, VERY deep, and pull out all the positives I can to get me out of this rut:

I biked a full 180 km, and I did it faster than I did the bike portion of IMC 07. The route I did was very hilly, so it was comparable, and I felt amazing (particularly in the digestive area). I stopped for only 1 bathroom break, at which point I bought a KitKat bar (140 km into the ride), and I realized that was the first time that I can remember (in many years) actually buying and eating an entire chocolate bar. It tasted so good I wanted another one (however I practiced a wee bit of discipline and opted for a nasty tasting Raspberry Gu). I also think that I know exactly what I will be adding into my "special needs bag" for the race as a little treat!

I swam a full 3800m in a 25 m pool and I did it faster than the swim portion of IMC 07. This is great because I always swim much faster in open water then in the pool doing lengths, so obviously my swim is right on track! My mom joined me on that swim and her "snack sack" was well stocked with my favorites, so I was happy (as the state of my stomach dictates my mood - these days anyways).

I got to celebrate my mom's birthday last Wednesday, it was a beautiful day, and we had so much fun having lunch in the mountains followed by a great family dinner. I hope she felt special, because she deserved it!

I bought myself an "Ironman outfit". I don't want to spoil the surprise (for my fan club, of course), but let's just say... there's a lot of pink. Hot pink.

I cracked out a brand new pair of running shoes from my stash (I like to buy in bulk and keep them hidden away in my closet). I opted for the pink pair. Hot pink.

So, here is my attempt to stay positive even though I am exhausted and the thought of squeezing my buns into one more pair of padded spandex shorts makes me want to cry.

Just get me through till Sunday (rest day!), then I'll be back on track and ready to go at it again...

I know this isn't really related... But blogs are no fun without pictures, so I had to add something...

These are the up-and-coming Ironman's of the future:

Ironman's Past

This year is going to be my 4th year in a row participating (in some capacity) in Ironman Canada. I spectated at Ironman a few times prior to 2006, but my real journey started almost exactly 3 years ago.

2006
I did my first Half Ironman in 2006, the New Balance Half in Victoria, I did way better than I expected (bronze medal!), and it was then that I officially decided that I was going to sign up to do the full Ironman. That meant I was required to be in Penticton for the 2006 race as I had to sign up the next day. Leon, Alison, Aria and I moved back to Calgary (from Victoria), one week before IMC 06, I hate long drives, so it was painful and boring, but I survived it thanks to my extensive library of Celine Dion albums. So it was only 6 days later that I had to get back into the car and do that long, awful drive again! Luckily, this time my dad agreed to join me as long as we followed his "road trip rules". Involving: no talking, no pee breaks, no up-beat-ganster-music ("kids these days!") and no touching anything in his perfectly clean car. It was great (maybe not... but it was nice to have company). We only drove up the day of the race because we couldn't find accomodations for the day before, but we got to Penticton in plenty of time to see Jasper Blake come flying across the finish line.
I was exceptionally stressed out (which became a reacurring theme for the next year) about registering for the race as 2007 was the 25 year anniversary for IMC and was expected to sell out of entries. I lined up at 3 am to insure I got an entry, it was fine because that's normally when my dad gets up anyways. The line started moving at 9am, I was registered by about 9:05 am... and that's when it all began... We got back in the car and drove home that morning.

2007
This was a very big year for obvious reasons. I trained all 364 days since I signed up, and I thought about Ironman every one of those days as well. We turned IMC week into our annual family summer vacation. We rented a house in Kelowna (beautiful house and location, but staying in Penticton would have been a MUCH better idea!), my immediate family, UB and AR, Zoe and Arin (training partner) and Tracey and Oly (neighbors) all came. It was so much fun, we had such a great time, however I wouldn't consider it much of a vacation for me because I was distracted with any number of things that made me stressed out (weather, what to wear, what to eat, if I would finish, how my crossing the finish line picture would look - very important details!). After a long, long, LONG day for all of us, I did finish, I became an Ironman and all I could think about was what I was going to eat! I cried for 3 days straight after I finished Ironman because I wasn't sure what else to do with myself, perhaps it was withdrawl or perhaps I was crying out the excessive amout of salt tablets that my body rejected approximately 20 km into the run portion. UB made the early morning journey into Penticton the day after the race to sign up, and thus started his journey.

2008
This was UB's Ironman year, however, we carried on the tradition and made it our annual family vacation week. Again, we stayed in Kelowna, and it was so much fun having Aria just a little bit older, she really got into the race this year! After being so eternally grateful for and SO impressed by all of the volunteers, I decided that I wanted to volunteer for this race. I chose to be a bike catcher in T2 because I thought this would give me the best chance to have a few minutes with UB when he was in transition, which was our primary reason for being there. I loved volunteering! I wore all of my IMC 07 "finisher" attire with pride and I loved being in the transition area to really see what a fine tuned operation that goes on for all the racers. I did not, however, enjoy getting bikes hurled at me with extreme force (mainly from the pros), nor did I like the fact that I am well aware that racers relieve themselves while biking during the race. Gross. I think I would chose a non-contact volunteer position next time. I would LOVE to volunteer in the medical tent as that is right up my alley, but it didn't work out for 2008 because we wanted to be there to cheer for UB when he finished (...maybe 2010).
UB finished the race, looking great, even despite the nasty rain that accompanied him for most of the marathon. The next day we had a celebration, the whole family, as well as UB's sisters, Buff and Joan, who we had SO much fun cheering with on race day. UB signed up for IMC 2009 as he originally planned to do an Ironman when he turned 60 (he just happened to do so well in the training that he did one a year earlier than planned).

2009
I guess this year is still history in the making... We all had planned to be in Penticton to cheer for UB, so I guess an unwelcomed twist in our plans took me off the cheering squad and put me in the spandex unitard... But after accepting the circumstances, I think the last two months have been the most memorable Ironman months I've had in the entire 4 year journey. I'm so excited for this race! I'm excited to race for a greater reason, I'm excited to drink gatorade till I want to puke, I'm excited for scorching heat and Richter's Pass, I'm excited to FINALLY have accommodations in Penticton, I'm excited to add to my Ironman-brand wardrobe, I'm excited for another fun family vacation, I'm excited to eat whatever the h*ll I want for an entire week after, I'm excited that I feel GREAT. But most of all, I think I'm the most excited about adding to my memory bank, because I know that I was always look back on my Ironman journey, and these 4 years will always carry such a significance to me.
And of course, in all honesty, I'm extremely excited, because this year, I am BRINGING IT to Penticton, and I'm going to race a Personal Best after only training for 3 and a half months (positive thinking!). I'm going to break 14 hours this year!

So here are some pictures from Ironman and some of the best parts of Penticton and Ironman week:

Here we are admiring the bikes at The Bike Barn (however, my bike is still the nicest):
In Ironman Village at the Cervelo Tent:

Up very early on race day (2007), Aria has her Iron-Baby hat on (which Poet will get to wear this year!). Alison is wearing her Iron-Sister shirt which turned into Iron- ister by the end of the day.

Getting my Body Marking. I was #2042, I couldn't get it scrubbed off for 3 days after!!! (is that normal???)

Row after row after row of Port-a-Potties... My parents (so classy):

Sunny Days

I love summer, and this summer has been a particularly great one! Craig and I are just finishing up a long weekend together, which is an extremely rare occassion for us. I work every 2nd weekend, and I usually end up working one of my weekends off, so I really only have one weekend off a month. Also, I always seem to work long weekends because if I actually have the sat/sun off, then I have to work both the friday and monday nights (just how my rotation goes). Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like shift work, the thought of working mon-fri, 9-5, makes me want to poke my eyes out. But, unless it's planned, Craig and I just don't get too many weekends off together, like most normal people.

With some careful planning, we just enjoyed 3 entire days off together! I made Craig spend a lot of time with me (A LOT!), but he survived it because I let him sleep in while I got up at the crack of dawn to do my various training things. We went to Sylvan Lake for a day, we dusted off our cowboy boots and hats and went stampeding, and we had a great time at our Church's stampede breakfast. Almost too much fun for one weekend, I'm exhausted!!! A highlight, having a famous family member has it's perks, Craig and I got to enjoy best possible complimentary seats for the Calgary Stampede Grandstand show Saturday night, which I thought was extremely well done! Leon, Craig and I indulged in some of our favorite treats too (but we made a pact that what happens at Stampede... stays at stampede), then we felt sick for the rest of the night after someone had a crazy idea to go on the "Drop of Doom". Calgarians generally try to avoid stampede, so I kind of felt like a tourist in my own city.

The real reason for this blog is that I have a new challenge for myself. I'm going to make it public, which will force me to at least attempt to stick with it. I HATE not completing something (had to pull out of a marathon once because of a fractured tibia, just about killed me!), doesn't necessarily matter how well I do, but if I make a goal for myself, I need to at least put in my best effort. This goal is going to be very challenging for me, so I'll need the accountability. I am going to commit to avoid the sun, wear sunscreen whenever I am outside, become a shade-lover, and make a much bigger effort to protect myself from the harmful effects of the sun.
Obviously, one could see how this could be very challenging for me, for a number of reasons. I spend a significant part of my day outside, in the sun, for hours at a time, and generally it's ideal to be wearing tank tops and shorts (as in, biking and running). I also have skin that just doesn't burn, ever! It's very weird because I have extremely light eyes, and blond hair (natural, obviously), which would generally be paired with fair skin that burns easily. I guess I have my moms genes, we can be outside for hours on end, we never need sunscreen, at most, we might have pink cheeks for an evening, but it's a nice glowing tan by the morning. It doesn't really help that my half-jamaican husband is sort of in the same boat (never burns... ever). But most of all, I just love a tan, it makes me feel alive, my skin glows, I feel like I look like I have so much more life in me.

Recently my dad found a small spot on his forehead that was diagnosed as Basal Cell Carcinoma. Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer, 3 out of 10 caucasians will experience this in their lifetime. Sun light will cause DNA damage in the basal cell of skin, resulting in mutations (aka tumors, carcinogens, cancer). Luckily, Basal Cell Carcinoma is extremely easy to treat (cut out the problem area), survival rate is 99%, and it almost never spreads to organs, nonetheless, it's still skin cancer. My dad and sister are red-heads (well...my dad was a red head, until he started paying for Alison and my university tuition...now grey), extremely fair-skinned, they could even get burnt if they sit too close to me from the UV radiating from my body (yes, that sensitive!). This is what a day at the beach looks like for Alison and I (hahahahaha!!!):

My dad's and my sister's effort for healthy skin is very admirable. They are concious about sun damage because they have to be, but I suppose that makes you more passionate about something. Maybe my skin is skin that can withstand sun damage, and maybe I will never be the person who has to get spots and moles chopped out of my body... But, I think I'd rather not risk it, I rather not know either way. Like everything (drinking alcohol, coffee, eating chocolate, sitting too close to a TV), there is a ton of research about sun-damage and how truly harmful it is. I really believe in science/medical research, it would be foolish of me to disregard this. I really care about my health in certain areas and I'd really like to make more of an effort in this capacity.

In my dad's case, I am fully confident that his issue will be completely resolved when he has his problem area removed. His extremely vigilant effort in this area will also keep him for a reoccurance, he should become a sun-hat model as a career after retirement (as he is never seen without one on these days). Also, on a positive note, statistically speaking, only 1 of my immediate family members will have an experience with cancer. I'm going to go ahead and consider this experience as my "1-in-5", meaning, let's just hope statistics are right and my family is done with cancer. It's nice of my dad, taking one for the team.

So this is my new goal. I'm heading to the store to buy my first bottle of sunscreen, it's almost exciting! You can keep me accountable if you want, or at least give me a glare if you find me secretly catching some rays unprotected.

Product Review

This blog is dedicated to my feet. I have some very well used feet, they definately experience a beating on a daily basis. Because of this, I feel very strongly about treating my poor feet with great care when it comes to my footwear.

To start with, my feet are quite possibly the most horrific, wretched, ugly things that have ever been attached to a pair of ankles. It's not so much that I have gnarled feet, or that they are too fat or too skinny, my toes aren't oddly shaped (sausage-y or middle toes longer than big toe), and I do not have warts. The problem is that my feet are just plain old beaten up, they should be in a battered women's sheltered and I should be charged with assault. I could go into great detail (however, I may lose readers if I do that), but I will paint a picture for you...
I've lost a lot of toe nails (all of them at one point in my running life), what happens is that for various reasons, I'll get blood blisteres under my toenail, which is extremely painful, so to relieve the pressure of the blister, the toe nail comes off. Sometimes the blister makes the toenail fall off, other times, I must perform a minor procedure which I like to refer to as a toenailectomy (it hurts but not as much as if I didn't do it). Luckily, in recent years, I have adjusted the size of my running shoes to give my toes just a bit more space, which has cut back on this significantly, unfortunately, the damage is done, toe nails just never grow back as nicely the second (or 100th) time.

Also, I have some pretty heavy duty callouses. I work hard for my callouses (lots of long hard runs), and its great to have them because they save my feet from a lot of pain. However, these callouses eventually get to a point where they are starting to take over my whole foot. At this point the callouses need to be shaved down a bit. I haven't quite mastered the art of this procedure yet, as I usually end up with a giant hole in my foot where I completely remove the callous. At times, I have also gotten a giant blister under the callous, much like the toe nail issue, which causes a similar problem of excruciating pain from the pressure of the blister... needless to say, the callouses must come off. Unfortunately the fresh virgin skin underneath the callous usually blisteres quite easily, and I have to begin the long hard task of turning that skin back into a callous. It's a vicious cycle of pain, minor surgery (performed by me, in my bathroom) and then more pain. But once I get those callouses... it's great, my feet can endure anything!
I could go on (and on and on and on), I could tell you about my bunion, or my recent stint with Athlete's foot, but I'm going to go ahead and stop there (to save the little bit of pride that I have left...).

Needless to say, I try my very hardest to treat my feet whenever I have the oppertunity. I feel extremely guilty for what I put them through, not that I'm going to change anything, but at least I feel guilty about it (see... I really should be charged with assult). The best way that I know how to treat my feet is by using the best of the best footwear! I try my very hardest never to wear cheap/unsupportive shoes, and I feel very strongly about not subjecting my poor feet (or knees for that matter) into high heels!

When it comes to my running shoes, I am extremely particular. In fact, I simply won't run unless they are in my specific running shoes. I use the Gel Nimbus model by Asics. I've been using these shoes (seen below) for over 5 years now. Asics has updated the model every year, but made no major changes, which I am eternally greatful for, when you have a good thing, change is not always welcomed. I follow the "500 mile" rule pretty faithfully, meaning that I replace my shoes after they have ran 500 mile, which actually works out to be every 4 months for me, so I average at least 3 pairs of Gel Numbus a year. The Nimbus is considered a "cushioning" shoe, which is good for me because I tend to be a bit heavy on my feet, and also appropriate because I wear orthodics, so a supportive shoe (which the Nimbus is not) would actually overcorrect my feet. I do know a thing or two about all these things because I worked at the Running Room while attending Univeristy. As staff, we got a lot of promotional shoes (for extremely good prices, or even free), which we were encouraged to use to add to our knowledge for when we sold the shoes. I refused to run in them, but I certainly enjoyed having an entire closet full of shoes that I could pick to wear to work. I still use all my free running shoes, I match all the various colors to match the various colors of scrubs that I wear to work now, it's great, I'm very coordinated. Anyways, seen below is my loved running shoe, I would highly recommend Asics (the model may vary depending on your foot type) if you are a foot-abuser like I am. Your feet may actually forgive you! The Nimbus usually goes for $180 - $200 /pair depending where you get them (usually cheapest at the Running Room, but they usually have a buy-one-get-one-half-off at Sport Chek)




The next treat I like to give my feet is seen below, the Sanuk sandal/shoe. It's a shoe and a sandal having an identity crisis. I'm actually quite new to the Sanuk world, but I would highly recommend these great inventions! In the summer it is so nice to be able to wear flipflops, what foot wouldn't enjoy the fresh air and freedom to see the world? However, due to various open wounds (weekly minor surgery's), blisters and plain old ugly-ness, it's not completely ideal for the general public to see my feet. The Sanuks allow my to hide my shame (ugly feet), but still enjoy the benefit of sandals, and they are extremely comfortable, and come in a very wide variety of colors and patterns. The only down fall is that they are slightly pricey, $60/pair, which seems a bit much for a pair of sandals. Also to be noted, they don't stink, and they clean up very well, I also just found out that you can buy them online at the Sanuk website, for only $45 USD/pair, which might be just slightly cheaper. I would highly recommend!

So this is my product review for shoes. If you are a high-heel wearer, I think you should consider trading your pumps in for some good ol' trusty asics (your joints will thank you!), but clearly, who am I to judge when it comes to foot abuse! Wear your heels with pride, our feet can become friends at the foot-abuse support group.