Sarah Van Tine-UBC Olympic Distance Tri!

Sarah Van Tine’s First Olympic Distance:

For some of you that don’t know who I am I joined Team Tri Life this year and I live in Banff Alberta. Last spring/summer was my first year doing triathlons, all it took was one event and I was absolutely hooked! Then this year I figured it was a good idea to have a coach to help me out along the way, and that is when I came across Angie.

It was now time for me to do my first Olympic distance; I figured I would start off early in the season with the UBC triathlon in Vancouver. March 6 came pretty darn fast and before I knew I was on my way to Vancouver! Who would have ever thought that so many people would be interested in your bike bag when you travel! It was quite the conversation piece… and most people thought it was quite something when I said I was doing a triathlon We then arrived in Vancouver, and by we I mean my husband Jaison, he is such a great supporter in my new found passion, even though I am quite sure I drive him up the wall when it gets closer to races We then drove up to UBC to check out the course, once that was done I felt much better!

I think this could be the first triathlon where I did not have to arrive at the crack of dawn! All you had to do was arrive 1.5 hours before your heat start. This event was so well organized. So it was now time to get out on the pool deck to get things started! My husband had this little bet with me… (but I just could not bring my self to do it) but now I am thinking if I had done it I could have started a new trend in the triathlon industry or, everyone would just think I lost my marbles… Before I left for the triathlon a friend of mine was giving me some breathing techniques for calming nerves, one of the techniques was a karate chop, basically you put your arms above your head with your hands together and then you do a karate chop with a really loud yell, and you repeat 5 times, this apparently releases any tension…. I believe it really would work but I just could not bring myself to do it, maybe next time

This swim was in a 50 m pool which was fantastic! It was now my turn to go, and I was off! All I could think about was pacing myself and not getting into racer mode… I managed to pull it off and it was the best swim ever! Then it was off to the bike… I stop at the change tent, as it was cool outside, and after the Banff Triathlon I have learnt my lesson about what to wear. The bike was great, it was my first time on my new road bike and I loved it Then the run came I was almost there… the first part of the run was great, you ran around UBC in and around the trees, and then the last 3k came, it was the hardest part as I kept getting side craps, and had to walk several times, but I kept going, and got to the finish and felt fantastic! Later that night I thought I would look up my times as I was curious as to how I did, when I looked I almost fell off the chair! I placed second in my age category this for sure came as a surprise.

Now I know I can do an Olympic Distance and I will keep doing then for the upcoming season. Thanks Angie for your support and putting together my programs, can’t wait to dive right back into training! I can’t wait to see fellow team members at races this summer!

You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.
Michael Phelps

Thank you for ready my race update.

Cheers,
Sarah Van Tine (SVT)

Leslie-Ann at St Paddys Day and Canmore Winter Tri

St. Paddy’s Day 10k - March 12, 2011

I had signed up for this race thinking it would be a good beginning to my race season and use the training and the race day itself to wean me off my skis for this season.

It was not a particularly successful plan as I was skiing very hard the weekend before the race which drained me! As a result pre-race week was more a recovery week!

That being said, I decided it wasn’t going to be a PR race which helped the pre-race prep!

Ohhh, there are times it is good to be a Rider fan! I had my pick of what “green and white” attire I could wear for the race. I selected one of Roger’s green and white striped rugby jerseys and donned a green afro wig! (Roger had the same wig on topped off with a green and white Cat ‘n’ the Hat hat!)

Race day dawned a cool but sunny morning. I wasn’t nervous or stressed about the race itself more concerned with the internal issue that had plagued me. I hoped it would leave me alone and it did for the most part.

Wandered around saying hello to other TTL members, checked out the merchandise and found myself walking to the start line without a proper warm-up (oops)! That had me shift again how I was going to do this race. My error was I was more concerned about Roger as he was doing his 1^st 5k and not wishing to leave him alone!

Off we go and I had to take the 1^st kilometer to literally warm up! As the race continued, the sun came out and the temp rose. This was noticeable to me as I had this rugby jersey on that seemed to me to weigh a ton. I took off my neck scarf (Rider green and white of course!) and that cooled me down. Note to self: Fun to wear fun stuff but if it is not proper running gear it becomes too heavy and too hot!

I did fine on the climbs, not as fine on the down-hills. I began to curse running when I shifted that thought as I decided that 10k was not my distance this year and eased my pace and breathing which eased my mental stress load.

The dreaded internal issue flared around the 8k mark stopped and talked my gut into backing off so I could finish the race. Did so utilizing the downhill towards the finish vs. fighting it!

Time for the race-56:37.75. Placed 80/236 women and 24/52 in the 40-49 category. I’m good with that but definitely know I could have done better.

Recovery for the day was the worst I have ever been through! It looked like I had run farther the lack ‘o’ energy that I had!

I did manage to pull myself together enough and Roger and I went to the post-race gathering. We did not stay long, not because of the day but because I needed to get some sleep as I was on a team that was doing the Canmore Winter Triathlon the next day! Needed to be “up” for my 500m swim portion!

Summary:

I did not have the pre-race running in that I should have nor the rest! Fuelling begins everyday now and I need to figure that out so I am not challenged 1 or 2 days prior with repercussions during the race.

I had fun as it was a special treat to have Roger there as a participant. He ran his 1^st timed 5k and did great! He said he would not run another timed event but would keep up the training. I’m good with that!

Canmore Winter Triathlon - March 13th - Team Event, Swim Portion

I haven’t done a team event since the late 1980’s where I was the swimmer (shocking I know…) for an Olympic distance triathlon.

I posted on FB (Richelle’s wall I believe) that I would do the swim for a team. Next thing I know Allyson contacts me and I’m on a team!

I was thinking the race was in April, good thing I checked earlier in the week!!

I got out to Canmore at 1:30pm poor Allyson was a bit worried that I wasn’t going to make it! I had told her and the other team member I wouldn’t be out until 1:30pm due to family commitments but she didn’t get that message!

Got numbered, set up how our transition would go (Allyson was the runner) and waited on deck until my heat.

I was in a lane with some very fast swimmers! I was the 2^nd swimmer and I did get passed but I used those opportunities to draft. What a fun 25m I had behind a really tall and fast guy!

One of the guys that passed me I managed to catch up to in the last 50m. In fact, I was on his feet within the last 10m. I was just getting warmed up when I had to get out! I figure in a longer distance I would’ve passed that swimmer!

Tagged Allyson and she was off! Met up with the team just as the x-country skier Angela Ripley finished, she was very fast! She had recently medaled at the World Masters Games, wow! Angela made x-country skiing look easy! Glad it was her and not me, I would’ve been on my keister! LOL!

I was unable to stay for the medal presentation which was too bad as our team came in 1^st place! Well done Triple A Spirit!!!

It was a fun race and the swim was exactly what I needed to recover. Yup, love the water!

Good weekend for racing! Bring on the rest of the season!!

Paddy's 2010 IM Arizona Report

So, it's February and I have not yet completed my race report for Ironman. I'm not sure why. It may be that putting it all down on paper makes it completely all over. My journey started awhile back. I wasn't a real athlete, 48 year old, ex-smoker, and a few pounds overweight. I had hurt my back and promised that I would take a proper running course to improve my 1/2 marathon time. I signed up with Angie Andersons 1/2 marathon clinic... you know where this is going! Angie came to a bunch of us the next winter and we started training for triathlon's! I know for me, the goal was to do a few of these little things...not a real Ironman, the Tinman was challenge enough. But the Tinman turned into the Women's race in Strathmore and then a bunch more smaller races and soon Stoney and then a couple Ironman training camps. When I signed up to do the marathon in Vegas, I knew that an Ironman had to be done.

Joz was signing up for Arizona and Trish said she would sign up as well to support her. Cindy and Carla were in too. So I signed up. Let the games begin!

Race day seemed to come quick even though the training seemed to go on forever! The strain of training and working full time was definitely starting to show. We had biked and we had run and we swam and the day was here. I had my complete race team with me, missing only my daughter and the dogs! I woke up early in the morning and was amazingly calm. All the panic from the day before was dissolved. When I came to transition, I just got ready! Time moved interestingly slow until it was time to get into the water. I sat on the edge of the Tempe Lake and thought...this is insane! It's freezing in there! A kid next to me must have sensed my hesitation as he looked at me and said, "if you go, I'll go...on the count of three"! I jumped, swam to a starting spot and waited for the gun to fire. The swim seemed surreal. Nothing felt like it was moving fast and I just kept moving forward. I remembered Richelle talking about a bubble and I was thinking...no one is hitting me, I must be in a safe little bubble. This thought made me happy and when the smell of gas was in my face or my fingers started cramping, I just kept thinking of my bubble!

Out of the water at last and I moved in a half frozen state to the tent. I was really in frozen slow - mo! I finally got changed and out to the loo where I saw Trish she said hi and headed out to her bike. The race was on! For the first time everything started to feel like a race. I knew I had to catch up to Trish. A quick pee and on to my bike. I was moving not really fast but steadily knowing I had to catch up to Trish. It was great to see everyone on the way out. I finally got Trish in my view and thought that I would ride a bit behind her for the whole race. I thought that would be really funny as she would be thinking she was way ahead of me. I realised that this was an out and back and she would see me long before that so I caught up to her. I had a great bike. I'd pass Trish and she'd pass me. We did this for the whole ride. At one point she had to stop to go pee and we both knew that neither one of us would get off the bike without the other in case someone got ahead! So we both stopped, quick pee and back to it. The wind just made me laugh. We had seen dead dogs, broken glass, tumble weed, the wind was just the icing on the cake and it did not get me down. It was like God's little challenge. Ok God, I'm into it! and as a reward, the wind was on our back on the way home. Yahoo!

The weather seemed to sort itself out for the run and settled into the perfect evening. The first loop of the run was fun. We were running 10/1 and enjoying the people. A guy thought the pace was good and joined us. I enjoyed all of the water stations. The music was great and the volunteers were excellent. The snacks looked good at the tables. This was the first loop. The second loop started to show signs of wear and I took in the speedy massage and our pace slowed a bit. The third loop was the killer! I developed stomach cramps and my toes felt like someone was jabbing knives between them. I even said no to chocolate that a runner offered us at special needs. I kept telling Trish to go ahead, but she said NO. "Just keep Running". So I'd burp, stretch and try to keep running. The last loop took FOREVER! There were some amazing people out there. Everyone seemed so supportive of each other even this late in the day. Even at this point, I was actually having fun and enjoying the day (even though I was bitching pretty much the whole time now!). Finally we were at the last stretch and still moving. I could not run as much as I wanted but we kept going towards the end. Finally we saw everyone and we just had to go the last leg to the finish. Without a doubt, that was the longest stretch of the entire day! But, there it was... the finish line. Trish and I crossed together. Everyone was cheering and I just wanted to cry, or have a shower or lie down or something. (mostly I wanted and got that massage!) I also wanted to scream that "I had done it".

Thanks to Angie, Trish and of course my husband, my kids and family and all of the EE and Trilife gang. Angie was right, it has changed me. I never had the confidence before to think of myself as an athlete, but now I can say, " I am an Ironman!" and I'm pretty pleased about that!