And then this happened...

Liquid courage is a thing. (Just go to any karaoke bar.) And liquid courage following on the heels of some exercise endorphins is a potent, perhaps dangerous thing. Before I tell you why, let me take you back in time.

It was the August long weekend in 2014. Do you remember what you did that weekend? I do. I was training for Challenge Penticton. It would be my first iron distance race and I was on a training weekend with some of my best girl friends. It was my first time riding the bike course in its entirety. And it was also Ultraman Canada race weekend. 

For those who are wondering what Ultraman Canada is, it's a 3-day multisport stage race:

• Day 1: 10 km swim + 150 km bike
• Day 2: 275 km bike
• Day 3: 84.4 km run 

On Day 1 of the 2014 race, we would be sharing a part of the Ultraman bike course with athletes while we were on our training ride, though I don’t think we realized that when we set out. I remember stopping in Oliver for water and the clerk at the store asking if I was doing the race… “ha ha no… but thanks for thinking I could be!” 

Later, when the Ultraman course branched off from the Challenge/old Ironman Canada course, one of the volunteers was signaling to me to turn on to the Ultraman course. Again, I remember feeling flattered that someone thought I could actually be competing in that race.

That weekend got my Ultraman curiosity piqued. I spent a bit of time perusing the race website and discovered that to race Ultraman, you had to race a qualifying iron distance time, and then apply for entry to a small field of athletes. A qualifying iron distance time is 14:30 or better. Heading into my first iron distance race, I was worrying over making that 17 hour cut-off. The idea of getting under 14:30 was laughable. Well, no need to spend any more cycles thinking about Ultraman anymore! That’s a level of racing well beyond me!

And then a few weeks later, I raced my first iron distance event. And finished in 14:15.

Challenge Penticton Finish Line. 3 years ago today.

Suddenly, the idea of racing Ultraman “one day” wheedled its way back into my brain. So then what happened?

Well I was in no rush - I thought I’d work on getting faster, buy a tri-bike, save some money (this race isn’t cheap!) but it was on my list of things I wanted to do “one day”. Firmly on my Bucket List. In the years that followed, Ultraman became Ultra520K Canada and then last year, they announced that 2018 would be the last year for the event. The qualifying ironman needed to be in the previous calendar year and mine wasn’t.  So I took the Ultra520K Canada logo (paired with my believe/fierce ambigram), off of my vision board and thought “well, it was a long shot anyway”.

So then what happened?

Fast forward to this year. The August long weekend. Ultra520K Canada race weekend. During the race, the organizers posted to social media that they had decided they would do a 2019 event, and that they’d “relax” the qualifying standard, and that those interested should get their application in ASAP. Now, this might have gone unnoticed except a friend tagged me on the post... Shelly, I'm looking at you.

I posted on their Facebook…

So then what happened? 

I went for a swim. Then a run. Then a ride. Had a few post-ride drinks with the hub and one of my best bitches (who did nothing to discourage me... Diane, I'm looking at you). The next thing I knew, I was at home, filling out an application form and hitting submit.

I’m not gonna lie, the next day, I was freaking out… What have I done?! But, I’d thought with the Ultra520K Canada window opening, it really was now or never, and that I shouldn’t let the opportunity pass. As I waited for the official word on my application, I wondered if I’d be relieved or disappointed if they declined my application. As it turned out, the official word was that those who had expressed interest race weekend, should officially submit (or in my case, resubmit) their application. An opportunity for a sober second thought! So what did I do? Of course I applied. Bucket List, remember?

And then this happened:

O.M.G!!

I'm not kidding. Let that sink in. If you're going to call my crazy, get in line. I've already heard it a couple of times today! 

Today, the race organizers issued a press release that the race will continue for the foreseeable future and I briefly wondered whether I should have waited but then... waited for what? I'm not getting any younger. In 2019, when I toe that start line, I'll be 49 years old. What a fabulous & fitting start to the last year of my 40s given that I started them by running my first marathon, 11 days after my 40th birthday, not even halfway through my weight loss journey. Can I do this? In the words of the inspirational Chad Bentley: You will only know if you try. So I'm going to try.

Left: summer 2006. Right: summer 2017

The woman on the right tackles challenges that the woman on the left never would have contemplated for herself... not in her wildest dreams. Applying for Ultra520K represents more of that dreaming big, leap of faith, embrace the journey thinking that has been so transformative over the last decade - transformative in so many ways, all positive! 

Huge thanks to friend and phenomenal athlete Ann Barnes for reaching out and being such a voice of encouragement and support these last few weeks. She has me believing! 

I'm not exactly sure what the next 2 years of preparation are going to look like (and by not exactly, I mean I have no clue) but I do know that they begin with a cork popping tonight.

Do what you love

I had a great swim this morning. Yes, I said that. Fast for me, and fast compared to my lane-mates this morning. And since I am compelled to compare myself to everyone, over everything… well, it’s nice to come out on top once in a while. And it comes at a good time because I’ve been struggling with motivation and a sense of being stuck or being “less than” with all of this swimming, biking, and running stuff. So much so that, as I touched on briefly in another post, I have been considering doing the unthinkable. No, I’m not talking about wearing flats. I’m talking about the Q-word.

Yes, these last few weeks, I have been doing a better job of rah-rah-ing others than I have myself. And somewhere my language shifted and instead of saying things like “I’m doing Ironman this year” when people asked about it, I said “that’s the plan… ”. Post-race blues? Lack of endorphins through recovery weeks? Dunno, but I was feeling dangerously close to returning to the sofa from which I had dragged my super-sized self not that many years ago, and eating my body weight in tortilla chips.

I told Coach I needed a pep talk and so we had a little long sit-down where he indulged my neuroses, tried to be a voice of reason and encouragement (I think that’s what he was doing) and left me with some options to consider… “And you don’t need to decide anything right now.”

So I took the time to carefully consider what he said about 5 hours later… this happened:

Partially influenced by this:

Yes, a new coffee mug I’d felt compelled to pick up the day before. I don’t need another coffee mug but this one wouldn’t let me leave [the bookstore] without it.

So I’m in. Committed. And now also broke.

And this morning while eating my usual pre-swim breakfast of toast with nut butter and banana, sipping slurping coffee from the mug that gave me permission to click that Register button, regardless of how slowly I might traverse the course, I was cruising through Facebook and happened upon this video…

There’s a moment where Mirinda talks about the selfishness of being a professional athlete but that the point, the reward,  is in influencing or inspiring others to take control of their lives and live them more fully (I’m paraphrasing). And it’s good messaging to hear right now. That it really isn’t about how fast or slow, but about tapping into the best that you can bring, and perhaps inspiring others to make whatever changes they need to, to live their best lives. Or maybe that wasn’t what she was saying. But it was my takeaway.

Now, I'm not sure about you, but I think this post has gotten much too serious. So let me end with this topical thought: 

Marathon Number 6 & Olympic Dreams

OK settle down. It’s not what you think. Before you consider an intervention, or perhaps recommend some medication, hear me out…

Probably the best of the medals. Coffee cup & glitter.

Back when I was a young lass of 39, I had this crazy idea that I would push back against turning 40 by running a marathon. Because really, there is no better way to feel young and sprightly than by subjecting yourself to a physically and mentally punishing ordeal that will leave you shuffling like an octogenarian for days afterward. (So just in case you are again thinking about interventions and medication, let me just mention that I now celebrate my birthday with a day at the spa with two women I covet as sisters.) But crazy ideas are a specialty of mine and so the Seattle Rock’n’Roll Marathon (2010), falling within a couple of weeks of my 40th birthday, became the Bucket List & Birthday Big Idea. I talked my bestie into doing it with me and after months of training together, off we went, and ta da: a few hours (way too many) later, we were marathon finishers. I took an eternity to finish (6:56), finishing just ahead (barely) of the sweeper vehicle, and really getting my money’s worth out of that race fee. Actually not really, because by the time I finished, all the bands had gone home and they were packing up the water and other finish line stuff. Rock-and-roll, not so much. And I swore I’d never run another marathon... in Seattle. And high on endorphins and post-race-afterglow (probably dehydration), I declared I would run a marathon every year thereafter.

Despite my hate-on for Seattle marathons, for “41”, in 2011, I went back to Seattle and ran the “regular” Seattle Marathon. Because if you don’t love Seattle hills, interstates, and 40-million out & backs on a sunny June day, you’re probably going to feel much better running a hillier Seattle route on a rainy, windy, November day. I know. Rain. In November. In Seattle. Who could have predicted that? I had manipulated convinced my bestie to run this one too, waiting for the right time (read: emotionally vulnerable) to pop the question: Wanna run another marathon? We both ran big PBs (6:11 this time for me) and declared our Seattle Marathon days were over.

For “42”, I stayed home and ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon in 2013 (4:31). For “43”, it was Whidbey Island (4:21), my favourite (so far). And of course for “44”, if you’re not new here and have been paying attention… Napa Valley (4:11). But that was like weeks ago and within a few days of finishing, I started trying to pick #6. Something between June of 2015 and June of 2016. And something that would work timing-wise with IMC this year and whatever IM I might be thinking about next year. Because Coach says recovery is important. Sure.

So after working out a Plan A, B and C that all hinged on race lotteries, I ran these by my Coach and then scrapped all of them and went with Plan D: LA in March. Only guess what? LA moves to February next year. Why? Something to do with allowing time for recovery between the marathon and the Olympic 10K trials… yeah I think that’s it. I didn’t pay too much attention because (obviously), I’m not looking for a spot, lol. And speaking of the Olympics, LA is hosting the Olympic marathon trials the day before the LA Marathon.

So registration opened today – for 2 days only – and then it re-opens in September with a higher price tag. And I might have accidentally signed up. So number 6: LA Marathon, February 14, 2016. Sub 4 is the goal.

And speaking of the Olympics… Recall in my last post, I mentioned that my swims were sucky. Suckier than usual. So today, I was repeating one of last week’s workouts and feeling pretty good about it. This was my workout:

• 200 swim, 100 kicks 
• Main – on 15s rest: 
• 4x200 @ 70% 
• 4x100 @ 80% 
• 4x50 @ 90% 
• 4x25 @ 100% 
• 4x100 with pull buoy & paddles, on 10s rest. 
• 100 easy 

So I’m feeling good. Lane to myself, no rage, and I’m pretty sure I’m swimming it faster than the previous week (which I did, 2 minutes faster FWIW). And then I’m doing my 4x50s and I’m just finishing my 15s rest when an elderly Asian lady in the next lane, doing breast stroke and keeping her hair dry, comes swimming up. I head off for my next 50 and am just finishing my 15s rest at the wall when she comes swimming in again. WTF? Suddenly I’m not feeling so much like Ariel. As I head off, I think I catch a glimpse of flipper and I think “riiiight, of course… this is why her leisurely breast stroke is not much slower than my 50m @ 90%”. After I’m done my main set, before I head off with paddles, I duck my head under and have a look: no flippers. Damn it!

It’s so obvious what’s going on here. Clearly this woman is a former Olympic medalist. Next time I’m there, I might ask her to sign my swim cap.

Pulling the Trigger

While enjoying my first cup of coffee this morning, I did something a little crazy. A little reckless perhaps? I'd been thinking about it for a while. After volunteering at Ironman this year, I was pretty much decided that yes, 2014 was the year.  It took all of 30 seconds at IM Whistler before I was swept up in the excitement. Then as time passed, I talked myself out of it. Then into it. Out of it. In. Out. In. Out. And then, before caffeine levels had reached a clear thinking threshold, this happened:

That's right... I pulled the trigger on an ironman race registration! I flipped back and forth between Challenge Penticton and Ironman Whistler, finally choosing Challenge for a few reasons:

• I'm afraid of the Whistler bike course, particularly the 35 km of climbing coming back to Whistler from Pemberton.
• Challenge has a much more generous cancellation/rollover policy than IMC does. Given my propensity for injury in the last 2 years, this was an important consideration.
• It looks like all the peeps I admire and adore from my tri club are going to be up in Penticton, doing the full or the half.
• There's a red carpet to the finish line. Hello! Maybe I'll have some stilettos waiting so I can cross that line in style! No? Yeah, maybe not.

So today, in addition to my #300aDAY challenge reps, I did an 8 km run at lunch with a friend, and then I hopped onto my tri-bike (on the trainer) when I got home and did a 1-hour speed pyramid workout. One thing is painfully clear: I need to vastly improve my fitness in the next 40.5 weeks (but who's counting?).

I am both excited and a little lot freaked out. I'm looking forward to the training (except the swimming), dropping into bed exhausted every night (but not getting out at 4 a.m. for the first workout of the day), and to the race day experience (but not the 24 hours of anxiety and doubt leading up to the start). So here we go!

Image from Challenge Penticton Facebook site

Don't worry. It's not the end of the story. I am sure my training and mental misery at what I've signed on for will provide fodder for several amusing blog entries.