I had a great 2013 season: I raced well, improved my mountain biking skills and strength, held steady on my running and swimming, raced well, qualified for XTerra Worlds, and had a top-shelf race in Maui. I knew it would be tough to repeat such a great goal-achieving year, so when planning out my season for 2014, I tried to make choices that would be measurable and specific to improving my skills as an athlete. I also had to spend energy recovering from a string of illness in February/March/April, and somehow in all of that chaos I had to fit in full-time work and family.
Here's how I decided to kick off my 2014 season: a triple-header of races, three race in three weeks.
The First Event
For the past three years, one of my goals has been to "run a faster 10km." I have been hovering around the 55min mark for several years, it's been on my list of things-to-improve, but bigger goals have taken priority. So I spent most of the winter and early spring focusing on how to run faster. The answer, of course, is to do more speed work. And with our crazy weather this year, I did a large chunk of it on the dreadmill.
On June 1, I got to test out the hard work on the dreadmill at the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon Festival, where The Husband and I signed up for the 10k. His job was to keep me motivated throughout the event, keep me on-pace when I slacked off, and enjoy his day. I was prepped and ready, I had a mental dream-goal, a realistic stretch-goal in mind, and had thought through all the details for race day. I did not, however, plan for the Friday before the race: my eldest daughter loves to mountain bike with me, so we headed out for a casual ride at COP Eastlands. Naturally, I fell on a feature that I ride every day without blinking, and instantly cracked my left knee against the frame of my bike. Ouch. I limped home, put some ice on the knee, and went to bed. I tentatively did the tune-up workout on Saturday, put more ice on my knee, and watched as it turned purple, green and yellow. On Sunday I downed some Tylenol, and boldly stepped into the chute beside the 50min pace bunny.
GO!
Away we went! The first couple of km's were fast, tough work weaving and dodging people who don't understand how to seed themselves in the starting corral, but we found a rhythm. And The Husband was right beside me, assuring me that I was evenly paced, pace was on-target, relax your shoulders, keep going. He did his job very well! My knee really only bothered me on the mild uphill slopes on the unpasses, which is annoying but otherwise, I held strong and steady. The race was well organized, the route was well-marked (although somewhat less than scenic), and we kept running.
I'm happy to report that we crossed the line at 53:09, a new PB, putting me 14th in my AG (out of 232 women 40-44)! The smile in the photos say it all.
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| 10k PB smiles with The Husband |
Of course, now I want to go faster.....
The Second Event
One week later, I toed the line at the Spin Sisters Iron Maiden Mountain Bike XC race held at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Let's set the record straight: I don't race much of the AB cup series events, and this was a big event for the provincial points grab. It was also a qualifier for AB Summer Games, and there were lots of people aiming for spots. There were 239 racers at the event, who says XC is dead - ha! So there were lots of FAST people waiting to race in the sun. Also, during the pre-ride, I noticed that I could best the Novice category times from 2013 without being at race-pace, so I decided to move up to the Sport category (something they let female riders to do encourage participation). The Sport category added an extra loop of the course that contained a lot of uphill riding and some fun technical sections. And as Coach Jack pointed out, I wasn't "race ready" for mtn bike racing since I had been focusing so hard on the 10km. It's important to remember these things when I tell you: I got my ass handed to me on this race course. Yep, those young women sprinted uphill when the starter's whistle sounded, and kudos to Ramona H., Fiona M., and Gloria S. (fellow Spin Sisters) for chasing them down. The leaders were finished 2 laps of the 3-loop course a solid 18min before I crossed the line, certainly in last place (but only 2 min back of the next closest competitor). Congrats to the racers that day, they showed sportsmanship, grit, strength, and good fun. I focused on a smooth ride, worked on some technical sections, and generally had fun while trying not to barf from exertion. Fun times.
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| Ready to race Sport women cateogry with Gloria S. and Ramona H. |
The Third Event
One week after Iron Maiden, The Husband and I stepped up at the Canmore Nordic Center to race the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series event. The race course was fun - lots of single track, crazy amounts of climbing, good post-race food, but the organization pre-race needs some improvement. I showed up on race day uncertain which category I was running: the distances between Sport/Enduro kept changing, and my status in either category also kept changing. They also didn't post the race route until the day prior, which makes it tough to plan. I was a bit frustrated because I couldn't make a race-plan based on a course or distance that would mentally help me measure out my effort. Again, it helps to keep Coach Jack's words in my head, "Use this race as a tune-up for XTerra Victoria, make it a tough run but don't shred your legs." Upon arrival and check-in on race-day, I confirmed that I would be running the 12km Enduro course. Not quite what the Coach ordered, but I set out determined to run hard and steady. The first 2km out of the stadium were uphill, quickly finding some singletrack. In some ways, it's good that there was a crowd of people, it forced me to temper my effort while waiting for a space in the trail to pass; I didn't burn out on the first uphill. The Enduro course had a 2nd loop, so when the Sport runners kept moving forward, I found some relative peace as I looped around (uphill!) for the longer run. There were still plenty of runners in my line of sight, there were 4 women and we kept leapfrogging each other. Oddly enough, I seemed to pull ahead on the climbs, and they would catch me on the descents (note to self: I need to learn better technique for trail running, esp downhill, I think this is where I lost a lot of time!). On the final climb, The Long Road to Ruin, I managed to shake them loose, and held strong as I ran uphill to the finish line. I will post the finished time, it will look silly next to the Scotiabank 10k time, but keep in mind this was a very hilly trail run. I finished in 1:30:09, good for 11th in my AG (out of 20 women 40-49). I'm proud of my effort on this run: steady, consistent, uphill running. A good day for me on the trails.
Where is this all leading?
Next event is XTerra Victoria on July 6th, followed by XTerra Canmore on Aug 17th. See you at the start line!
