I recently had the great opportunity to have the cover story for Impact Magazine which is the current issue (May/June.)  Impact Magazine is a western Canadian magazine that does an absolutely tremendous job in helping to promote athletes in Canada.  I am so grateful to Jay Winans (editor/writer) and Claudia Katz (photography) for their tremendous efforts in this.  It means a lot to any athlete to get cover story, but especially for myself during this time of ‘transition’ which the article is called – “Life in Transition” it is even more meaningful!  Thanks so much, Jay and Claudia!!!  I have attached two links, both of which will take you to the article. 

http://impactmagazine.ca/profiles/2009/janellemorrisonprofile.html

http://www.impactmagazine.ca/ (go to the second page for this one)

I would like to add as a side note that unfortunately, my TIMEX gear and TREK bike were not able to get to me in time for these shots, as it was several months ago, early in 2009, when the shots were taken and I am new to Team TIMEX this year.  Tristan tried his best to get these things to me in time for the shots, but in the end, border issues prevailed!  Regardless, the Cervelo is my old ride, which has now been sold to a dear friend (yay, Jenny!) who is going to ride the heck out of it – I know!  This said, my new ride – TREK – is truly a better bike for me, and I cannot say enough good things about it.  It’s smooth, fits me like a glove, and just screams fast.  Oh yah.  Absolutely love it – thanks, TREK, for the super machine!!!

After a strained ligament in my foot kept me away from my first proposed race of the season, Oceanside 70.3, and then an illness kept me away from the Calgary Mother’s Day Forzani’s 10 km. race, I was itching to get the season started, which I finally did last weekend at the WCOC Olympic distance race in Oliver, B.C.  Since I am still a teacher full-time until the end of June before I embark on training full time, however, I think this late start may not be a bad thing, and actually looking back, may be the best case scenario for the long term!  Regardless, the season is now on…and although I will miss aspects of teaching…only four weeks left of this juggling act before truly focusing on training/racing full-time as a professional.!!!  Yipeee!!!!

This was my first ever olympic distance race and I was very curious about the distance/pacing.  I like long, I like hot, I like hilly, but short and fast?  That’s a new one for me!  I also just got my new TREK bike from TIMEX and I’ve been spending a lot of time in the bike shop getting the fit perfected.   Thanks to my bike fitter, Blue (this guy is an ARTIST!) at Bow Cycle in Calgary, I do believe we’ve got it.  Regardless, lots of NEW thing for this race, so I was curious and excited to see how it might go.

The morning had a breeze that developed into a reasonable wind which stayed for the day.  This affected Lake Tuc-El-Nuit as it made things fairly choppy.  The swim was a point to point, where we exited the water at 750 m. and then went back for the final half.  The swim is still new to me in general, especially the open water, and this challenged me.  I swallowed far too much water due to the choppiness and at about 600 m. I had to roll over on my back to calm myself for a moment.  I was feeling some panic as I was filling up with water more with every stroke and found myself in a bad state.  However, I managed to heave this water up (lovely I know) and once I did, I felt so much better.  The last half of the swim did go better after that, but it’s hard to recover fully from something like that while in mid-swim.   I have worked hard on my swim over the winter, but this was still a little disappointing.  The conditions were tough, but I still got smoked by a few other women. After the swim I was already several minutes into a deficit.  I was expecting this though, so I just got through it and put my head into serious chase mode for the bike/run.  Besides, the fun is in the chase anyways!!!!

Running into transition I felt more like I was ‘poking’ at my wetsuit to get it off, rather than pulling it off with any force. The swim had affected me pretty good and I was desperately trying to recover for the bike.  However, once I did get on the bike I felt GREAT!  My position is awesome, my TREK bike is a great fit, the SRAM shifting is sharp and fast, and I felt like I was dicing through the wind.  I attacked pretty hard on the one climb coming out of transition as I knew that because this was a flatter course I would have to take all the hills I could get and use them to my advantage.  I did some training with Janis Lampimaki earlier this spring, and I know that her bike is strong.  I knew I would have to ride hard to beat her bike split.  As it turns out, I had a good day and managed the fastest bike split of the day for the women.  It was a smooth and strong effort – I was happy with it.

I then managed to put my bike in the wrong spot in T2 and my ‘angel friend’, Jenny Ayers, moved it for me as I scrambled to put my Newton Motion Trainers on, which, by the way, are the fastest darned shoes on the planet – bar none.  My super duper coach, Scott McMillan (Factor9), wanted me to wear socks for this as Boise 70.3 is only a couple of weeks away and he didn’t want to risk blisters.  Smart thinking.  So, I did the sock/shoe thing, and started the run.  As always, the run felt terrible for the first 1-2 km. but that’s the joy of triathlon.  Then it settled and I just focused on chasing the remaining women down, Janis and Martina (Wan.)  I caught Janis at about 6 km. and then set my sights on Martina, although I didn’t know it was her I was chasing at that point.  I just knew there was still one more woman ahead of me.  The finish line came too soon though and there wasn’t time to make up the difference.  I ended up running a 39 minute 10 km. which was good for the fastest female run split on this fairly hilly and windy course/day.   Martina had a strong race (and an amazing swim) to place first overall, and I came in 2 minutes behind for second.

Although this was far from the perfect race, it was my first triathlon of this distance and I am satisfied with the result. I’m happy with fastest bike/run splits….now to keep working on that swim AND those transitions which apparently need some work and practice! It was a great training day, awesome prep for the season, and I learned a ton. 

Thanks every one for cheering at the race, to my coach, Scott, who tirelessly helps me to prepare for my season goals, and thanks to Joe and Sarah (Outback Events) for putting on yet another tremendous race.

http://www.sylvanlaketri.com/Wine%20Capital%20Tri%20Web/images/Results/2009/2009%20Olympic%20Overall%20Results.pdf

www.janellemorrison.com

Made my way up to Boulder (My wanna-be home in Colorado) for a mini-camp training weekend over the long holiday. I felt my cycling was a bit behind where I wanted to be at this point in my training build so a bike focus was in order. I was able to put in 206 miles over the 3-day weekend. I must say miles are much harder to come by when the rides include 10+ mile climbs. (The Trek Madone did rise to the challenge in Lance-like fashion) A little different from WI where I would usually knock out 80miles in <4hrs. I always come to the same conclusion every time I come up to Boulder and that is that it has some of the best riding around, best community, and best coffee shop (www.amantecoffee.com). It truly is awesome when you are almost out of place if your not in your cycling gear. Seems you will always run into a friend on your ride too! And always remember, a bad day on the bike is better than a good day in the office :).

Subaru Shawnigan Lake International Triathlon–Race Report

For the past few weeks I’ve been training in Victoria, BC, Canada. The riding around Victoria is excellent and it’s a great place to train with lots of world class athletes and gorgeous mountain and ocean scenery. I’ve had some epic training sessions over the past two weeks, including a long ride with Ironman 70.3 New Orleans winner Brent McMahon and another session of hill repeats with Brent and 2x Olympic medalist Simon Whitfield. It’s tough to keep up with those guys, but at least they were great company!  I finished off this block of training by racing the half at the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon on May 24^th.

Since my focus over the past two seasons has been solely on Olympic distance races, the 70.3 distance is still pretty new to me. This was to be my second half ironman ever; the first being Oceanside 70.3 in April where I finished in 6^th place; good swim, mediocre bike, and the second fastest run for the women to finish off strong. I’ve been training hard in Victoria going into Shawnigan Lake and my coach, Paul Regensburg of Lifesport, had only scheduled two lighter days before the race…so not much of a taper!  But Shawnigan was a good opportunity to test myself at the 70.3 distance once again.

The Race:

The swim took place in the picturesque Lake Shawnigan, a wetsuit swim since the water was about 17 degrees Celsius.  The race was started by a cannon shot…even though I was expecting it, it still sent my heart rate up when it blew!  After a good start I found myself swimming solo and slightly off course due to the glare of the sun, but I managed to be the first female out of the water and set a new course swim record in the process.

The bike was a very scenic rolling four lap course. I had good focus and was pushing some decent watts for most of the bike and tried hard to keep my daydreaming to a minimum.  Keeping focus on the bike for all 56 miles has been my biggest challenge at the 70.3 distance; its not at all like an ITU World Cup where you ride the 40 km fast and furious and there is always action. I’ve been working on it and felt my bike at Shawnigan was much improved from Oceanside.  Last year’s winner Rachel Keirs managed to pass me near the end of the cycle to take the lead and gain a minute on me going into T2.

The start of the run was straight up a hill on a trail through the forest, then across a road and onto the Cowichan Valley Trail, which is a historical railway bed that is now a beautiful winding gravel pathway.  My game plan was to run a solid tempo run for the half marathon since I am racing the Rev 3 Triathlon in two weeks and wanted to save my legs.  I focused on my form and heart rate and managed to re-gain the lead after 2.5 km.; from there it was a smooth run into the finish for the win!

It was a great day out at Shawnigan Lake. I’ve been lucky to race and train around the world and can say that Shawnigan is just a spectacular place for an event. It was very well organized and the athletes were treated great, which is always a plus! I was even given a brand new 2010 Subaru Forester to drive for the weekend!  If you’re looking for a fun race with great scenery next year, I’d recommend this one! 

Here a link to an article from the local Times Colonist newspaper.

A big thank you to all my supporters; Lifesport Coaching, Paul (my coach), Team Timex and all the team partners, Speed Theory Calgary, Travis Blanton, Richard and of course my family and friends!  Thanks for all the cheers!

Lisa Mensink

www.lisa-triathlete.blogspot.com

Photo Credits: Kevin Light, Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist and photographer.  Click here for Kevin’s Gallery.

I finished!!!!

Going into this race I honestly thought my chances of finishing were about 30%. I had been slowly and steadily rehabbing my knee from the injury I sustained during the Cali 70.3 but not at all confident in its ability to take me uphill 13.6 miles and downhill 13.6 miles in 3 days. Miraculously, thanks to ice baths and TP massage, when I woke up on day 3 it wasn’t hurting at all! Not to say I wasn’t in a world of hurt. I spent the night tossing and turning from the soreness and the sound of my heart exploding in my ears. But that is to be expected coming off back to back olympic distance races in the heat.

We got to transition about an hour ahead of time and slowly got the transition area ready. People were definitely moving slower than the past few days but not quite the zombie walk that I remember from last year. One thing that was obvious, though, was there were not nearly as many people starting race 4 as there were at race 1. Curious to see the numbers…

Here I am putting on my race chip. Hurts to bend down a little. Not the best way to start the journey of 70 miles, but that’s life.

The forecast was for rain, but there was not a cloud in the sky. I was really hoping for rain. The humidity was 92% at 5am.

Being goofy before the start:

The start of race 4 is pretty funny. Rather than a full on sprint into the water, most people leisurely walk to the first cone before slowly starting to swim. The contrast from day 1 is hilarious!

Doing my best to run in:

The swim went really well. It’s the only discipline that doesn’t suffer very much with fatigue. I’m not sure if the course was short or not, but when I looked at my watch on the exit it was under 32 minutes. Which would be a new PR!

Heading out onto the bike is when things get interesting. The course for race 4 is again very challenging. Near the start is a long 1.3 mile switchback climb. My rear derailleur wasn’t loving my 27 tooth in the back and was trying to shift down. Making it to the top is a minor victory. It becomes major on the second loop… The descent out of that climb is very technical with several 90-150 degree turns. I am a big big wuss and always err on the side of safety. I’m sure I lose some time on these, but I’m a big fan of skin and collarbones, so it’s all good.

Later on during one of the other long climbs on a single lane fire road an ambulance came screaming by. There wasn’t room for him and us so I had to jump off my bike. I felt something give in my bottle holder but was more concerned with how on earth I was going to clip into the pedals in the middle of that hill. After walking for about 20 seconds I just gave it a go and was able to get moving again. Towards the end of lap 1 the legs were definitely starting to feel the fatigue. The hills just keep coming and coming. The only saving grace is the last 3 miles which are all downhill. It was getting very hot and I was really thirsty. I made the big mistake of trying to drink some gatorade while descending. So of course at 30 mph with my hand on my bottle in the aero position I hit a bump and the water bottle went flying out of my hand and down a steep ditch. DOH! This race is self supported and I just launched one of my 3 gatorade bottles. crap.

Headed into transition to grab my last gatorade bottle from the special needs table I noticed what gave when the ambulance went by. I managed to break one of my rear bottle cages. Double crap! I took one of HFPs water bottles that they supplied at the turnaround and just wished that it would hold:

And then ate a banana!

Loop two was pretty uneventful besides my rear derailleur having increasing testiness with the 27 tooth. Oh, and getting stung multiple times by a bee that got stuck in my singlet… Towards the end of the loop my legs were so tired I started to doubt my ability to get up over the final hills. It’s a very lonely bike course, often going several minutes at a time between seeing another racer, so I was happy to have some company going over the final hill. We were all complaining about having to do that run. One guy told me that he was ok with it since he needed to finish in order to go to the Golden Corral to eat an entire carrot cake. I thought that was hilarious!

Coming back into transition was so bittersweet. Happy to be done with the hills on the bike, but REALLY not wanting to tackle that run course…

This was one of the last smiles in quite some time!

As you can see from the pictures, the rain and overcast day hadn’t happened. The humidity was still in the 90’s and the temps in the high 80’s. At high noon there was no shade on that run course. And being in the middle of the woods there was also not a hint of wind. I simply could not believe how hot it was. I made a decision to allow myself to walk up the steepest hills. The problem was, every time I would walk I would get immediately hot, light headed and I thought I would pass out. Not good. The saving grace was the best volunteers on the planet! They would fill my Nathan bottle with ice and water and were so fast with getting us all the water we needed and even had some salt tablets ready.

I think that if the run course was designed in the opposite way there would be a lot of DNFs. But having the last 2.5 miles before the turnaround be all downhill is a nice boost. Coming into the turnaround I knew that I would finish, but also knew that it was not going to be fast. I told my mom not to expect me to finish quickly and headed back out. The best thing ever happened during loop 2. The clouds rolled in. The temperature dropped (slightly) and I stopped feeling like I was going to pass out every time I walked up the steep hills. To give you a taste of how steep some of the hills are, my heart rate never dropped below 165 walking up them. The run course is so brutal.

Getting to mile 10.5 is HUGE. From that point the rest of the run is downhill. The only drawback is that since you have already run countless hilly miles up to that point, every single step sends shocks of pain up your quads. Running downhill is killer on the quads, shins and knees. But at least it’s not uphill…

I was so happy to finish I would have done a cartwheel if I thought I wouldn’t faceplant.

The finisher’s medals and T-shirts at the Triple T are more coveted than my Ironman finisher’s stuff. I really think this race is harder. The courses are harder than any Ironman I know of (except maybe Silverman) and you have to pull yourself out of bed two mornings after racing, sore and beat up to start another tough day.

But although it is a grueling race, it is honestly the most enjoyable race I have ever done. The race organizers are absolutely top notch! HFP and everyone involved with the organization are the most positive, caring, adaptable and fun group of people putting on races. Their attitude is contagious and attracts a truly outstanding group of competitors. Everyone out there cheers on everyone else, regardless of whether or not the person who needs encouragement is your direct competitor or not. This race is a celebration of the sport of triathlon. A race that I think every triathlete should experience at least once. And then promptly say there is not a snowball’s chance in hell they will do that race again. And then sign up for next year…

Special Thanks to…

- The guy who fired up his sprinkler at the run turnaround and gave me a nice cold water bath

- Roger for letting me borrow his Bontrager XXX Lite Clinchers for the race

- Nathan hydration for providing us with some great hydration products that got me through those tough conditions. Trigger Point for providing the massage products that got my knee through the race. Trek and Bontrager for being awesome. Avia for their most fabulous trail shoes that allowed me to run that race without completely trashing my feet on those rocks. And TIMEX!!!!!! Although I think I would have rather NOT known my heart rate for some of that race….

- And last but certainly not least, Mom for being the best race sherpa/photographer/PR coordinator/race strategist/cheerleader I could ask for