Swim, bike, run - How Bad ASS can I be?

Mark Kennedy - I had the pleasure of actually running with him for a short time this past weekend.   Who is Mark Kennedy?  He is the gentleman that ran 24 hours straight to raise $$ for First responders  and their families.  Specifically he ran to raise $$ to help pay to send First Responders suffering from PTSD  to  CAMPY MY WAY ( www.campmyway.com ) up by Whistler-Lillooet area.  This camp is set up specifically for First Responders to go and start their healing journey, a safe place in nature where they can  begin to heal and maybe if not release at least learn to manage the pain and mental scars and wounds they carry from the hard work they do every day. Ok I know there a lots of runners out there that have run Ultras that are 24 hours or longer but it was why he was doing it and for who that caught my attention.   I saw a post on a fellow runner’s social media linked to an article in the local paper talking about Mark and his goal of running 160km or 24 hours – w

So after the Northwest Triman in June,  I said that is it I am never doing another Ironman distance Triathlon.   I officially retired from that distance and am actively pursuing all the other things I want to do.     Joe – Yeah right Me – No that is it – I am done no more Joe – I don’t believe you Me – Believe it   - I have too many things I want to do/learn.   Joe – You say this now but you will do another Insert just about anyone else in the Joe section and the   conversation was pretty much the same with mom, other family member, friends, neighbors, co-workers, running buddies, random strangers – ok maybe not random strangers… Anyways you get the gist   - know one believed me.    So what I have been doing since Triman you ask?    Well I have kept busy not to worry – registered for a standard tri and a 10km run in September so still running, riding and swimming just not uber long distances.   I really want to do an Ultra next year and some longer bike ri

I know, I know this should have been posted a while ago.  My tale of procrastination is sad so I won’t even try and sell it.   Here is the long awaited race report! First some background or review:   the original plan for this event was for me and Joe, my husband to go and do the event together. Joe would race his brother and I would “participate”.      That did not happen for various reasons , suffice it to say I was doing this event/trip/adventure without Joe   physically there. What I will say was he was there in spirit along with all the rest of our family and friends and he helped me more than he will ever know on race day.   The Wednesday before I flew out I did my usual group run with my run club and tweaked something in my Right Hamstring.   Worrisome but this injury has been on and off for the better part of 6 months. The next day I ran before I got on the flight and it was still quite sore but nothing I could do about it until I hit London.   I started off

With less than 4 weeks until event day my anxiety is starting to kick into overdrive.   Have I trained enough?   Have I done enough hills on the bike?   Is my nutrition plan going to be ok? Am I getting a cold?   Why does my right knee hurt? Double, triple, quadruple check my travel plans, pack lists, documents, etc, etc.  And well honestly the realization that my best friend will not be at the start line with me this time.   That I am doing this on my own - the person I have always leaned on won’t be there and he won’t be coming out on the run course to pace me no matter how much I wish for it. That is probably the hardest part.   So I have been working really hard on my visualization.   A few years ago I had the amazing luck to train with Barb Zimich.   She was and her husband at the time, Larry, were big proponents of the power of visualization and the importance of incorporating it into your training and race day planning.   How does it work? Well you fi

NUTRITION – the other Discipline in Triathlon Everyone hears Triathlon and they go Swim, Bike, Run – 3 disciplines WOW - but there is actually a 4 th discipline and if you don’t nail it the other 3 will suffer and quite possibly can end up causing the dreaded DNF (did-not-finish) on race/event day no matter how much training you did.   It is NUTRITION   - if you are not eating and hydrating properly you will suffer – during training and definitely on event day .   I will be honest my nutrition plan this time around has been absolute #!@*@ .   Let’s face it, you will always drop a bit of weight when training for Iron distance events but I have never dropped 40lbs any other time.      Now some of this is due to the running streak but a lot of it is due to just not eating enough or properly. So with 2 months to go until race day I have to start working on my nutrition and get my plan in place because quite frankly I have not been on top of this at all. That means I need to

With only just over 10 weeks – (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth) to the Triman in Spain I am not gonna lie – I am starting to freak out a bit.   Which is not very Bad Ass of me at all. The running portion is not going to be an issue as long as I stay injury free.   The problem is I have to do a swim and a “wee” bike ride before I get to run.   I have been pretty consistent in my swimming – I will get it done – I am not speedy but I am consistent and persistent.   The bike this is where an Ironman will come crashing down if you have not done your time in the saddle.   I will own it I have not put as much time on the bike as I normally do – I have been consistently doing Power classes since last fall but December, Jan and Feb got derailed.   The weather sucked – too much snow/ice and I live on the side of a mountain.   Which really is me just making up a good story because there is a trainer in the house that I could have been getting on and well I did   a few ti

Day 148 of running and counting....                   How did this streak start, you ask?   One of the local running stores Capra   does a challenge every November – run 30 minutes every day for November - https://www.capra.run/pages/the-november-30x30 -   initially I thought about it and said no.   I was starting to train for my Ironman distance race in Spain for June 2019 and I have always believed that if I run more than   4x a week I will get an injury so it was going to be a hard pass.   However my brother-in-law had been running every day for over a year and seemed none the worse for it and well it was only 30 minutes each day.   So I thought well let’s give it a try and see how it goes plus there was PRIZES and not for how far or fast just for running and I LOVE prizes.   My streak actually started the streak on October 31 st because the club I run with   https://www.facebook.com/NorthBurnabyRunners/ runs Wednesday nights and October 31, 2018 was a Wednesday.  

I know – I should post more often but being a Bad Ass is busy work – no really I have been busy. So I had mentioned that I did my very first ever swim meet in Feb.   I am not going to lie I was a little apprehensive as   I can swim forever but not at a “brisk” pace.   I was part of our Coast team that is made up of swimmers from our Masters club and well they all swim at a “brisk” pace and Coach Stewart put me on 2 relay teams. Well I am happy to say I had a fantastic time and loved every second of it.   The people we “raced” against came from all sorts of backgrounds and skill levels and the vibe was inclusive and lots of fun.   Coach Stewart was completely right just like a running race- I would encourage anyone to   do one just for the experience if nothing else.   I signed up for the   400 and 800 front as well as the 100 back.   I was then added to 2 relays teams   one I was front and one I was breaststroke.    I will definitely sign up for another meet – plus it was nic

This post is a tribute to the original and founding member of the Shaunette's -  Chris Fretwell.   Chris passed away on February 15th at 11:37pm after a very prolonged battle with Breast Cancer.  She is survived by her 2 sons - my god sons and her chosen family which is larger than any one would ever expect.  This is a true testament to the amazing woman that my friend was. I met Chris at the X-spot during the weekly Sunday breakfast/brunch after run club on Sunday mornings.  She just appeared one Sunday morning and she fit in.  Honestly I did not really know much about her as I was in a faster pace group but she seemed friendly and she joined us at the restaurant every Sunday.  Fast forward to 2004 and I decided to train for my first full marathon and so did Chris.  For those that have run a marathon it is not easy, it is even harder if you are struggling with arthritis, stomach issues and well your lady bits are just being jerks but Chris is the definition of determined and s

So I have been thinking about what it means to be a bad ass   really thinking about it and what it means to me right now and why it is so important to me. Part of it is extending myself past my comfort zone – I used to do this all the time and then I stopped I let people get in my head and started to doubt myself – well no more.   I am entered in my first ever swim meet!!!   Crazy – at 50 years of age I am going to compete in a swim meet.   When Coach Stewart - https://coach-stewart.com/ - mentioned the swim meet I will be honest I thought hah- no way.   But to his credit he said why hah?   He said when you sign up for a half marathon or and Ironman are you planning on winning?   Um no.   He   said well this is the same thing – so I thought what the heck why not?   Put me in coach!   So I am registered to complete in 400 and 800 free and 100 back – if nothing else it will be an adventure! The run streak you ask?   - today I finished day 95 of my run streak.   Why because it is

I don't even know where to start so I decided a total reboot. New title for the blog, new colors and well I am obviously not new but I am going for a new perspective  or at the very least rediscovering who I am and what makes me a bad ass. For the last few years I have kind of lost myself - found reasons and excuses to not do things, I mean I was living and "racing" but I stopped pushing the envelope.  I started finding reasons to not do things, I put on a lot of weight,  and I just was not motivated. I thought that all was well  in my world  and then the poop hit the fan and my world was turned upside down and I have had to look at my self and all I believe and do some serious thinking about what matters to me and what I want in my life. So as part of year  50 on this planet I decided that I would do my 4th Iron distance race- June 15 in Northern Spain.  Part of that was to start running regularly again so I found a run club close to home in September and meet up w