Penticton.  My favorite place on the planet earth – which I now call “home.” 

This mural found in the heart of the city may be a bit dated...but it speaks volumes

 I remember the first time I came to this magical place in the spring of 2008.  I had, only months before, decided to leave “the marathon” behind in search of greener (or at least less injury prone) pastures.  I was still teaching at the time, had never raced a triathlon, but was training to experience my first ever season of triathlon in the coming months.  I had two weeks off for spring break and at the last minute I found myself packing my bags for Penticton to meet up with some training partners I had never before met – The Tribalistic gang from Winnipeg – some of whom have become my dearest friends.  I do believe that I fell madly in love with Penticton during that week of ‘riding the course’, running through the KVR trails, and I remember driving back to Calgary thinking I now had two “musts” in my life:

  I must move to Penticton some day.

  I must find a way to train and race full-time so that this can be my job.

Interesting how life has a way of making things happen when you truly want something and are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.  Two years later…here I am.  I am no longer chasing a dream, I am simply living it, and I haven’t a complaint in the world – not a single one.

Before I go any further, and JUST in case you weren’t already aware, Penticton is also the home of Ironman Canada.  IMC is one of the original Ironman races, and has maintained its solidarity among a sea of new Ironman and 70.3 races.  It remains special because of how the community lives, sleeps, eats, and breathes this race.  Ironman Canada is not a 1-2 week event within a community, instead it is a year-round experience which is appreciated and respected in a way that is so very special and rare.  And as a professional triathlete, it’s tough to find better stomping grounds than this. This morning were two prime examples.  As I was finishing an easy spin through town I came across a group of young kids were walking along the sidewalk as part of, what looked to be, a summer program.  Several of the young elementary school aged kids started cheering as I passed by them.  Then later, I stumbled upon a couple having coffee out by the beach who asked me if I was “training for the Ironman?”  I told them that I was, and they asked my name and race number so they could cheer for me on race day.  Welcome to Penticton. 

The Peach - symbolizing the start and finish of IMC

Best little bike shop around....

  Beyond that, I swam this morning with my coach and a group of Factor 9 athletes.  The swim has remained so elusive to me, and a majority of that has been based around the fact that I haven’t had my coach there with me often enough to keep my stroke on track as it develops and improves.  Living in different places makes this a bit tough!  This morning, however, was spent sighting, working on my stroke, and continuing to feel comfortable in the open water – all the while under the watchful and keen eye of my coach.  Finally.  This is now something we can do several times a week vs. the previous ‘few times a year’ scenario.  Scott and I both call this the “new chapter” in my swimming.  Bring it – as I’m getting awfully tired of chasing out of the water with deficits much larger than they need to to be;-)

Skaha Beach - where Janelle is going to learn to make peace with the open water;-)

  So, I continue along on the same road I have been travelling for the last year, but definitely on a new and improved pathway.  A pathway which I know with every fibre of my being that I am supposed to be on and couldn’t be happier to have finally arrived - another ”finally.”  Tough to beat that.

Can’t wait for IMC, where the TIMEX truck and affiliated gang will also be coming up to be part of the EXPO, cheering, and racing squad!!  See you guys here soon!

PS – THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all my super duper moving hands…and especially to Jenny Ayers who has done more than her share in making sure that this moving experience has gone on with as few glitches as possible. I couldn’t have done it without you, good buddy.  Thank you.

After coming out of the water with this deficit, I had some feelings of panic.   I am used to chasing out of the swim, but this was pretty bad and I knew there were many strong women in the race who I wasn’t going to be able to chase down quickly.  It was going to be a long, slow process, and that is a big feat to look at when you still have over 8 hours to go.  That’s a long day of chasing.  But, it was what it was, so I figured I may as well get started.  Here is where I made my next mistake.  I went out too hard.  My heart rate was far too high, I knew it, but I was so full of adrenalin that I tricked myself into thinking that I could handle this pace for the whole bike.  Not smart, but another rookie error.  I learned my limits.  After 2.5 hours of hard pushing on a course that is exceptionally tricky with all the turns and popper hills, I begain to pay the price.  My heart rate dropped substantially and because I knew my fuelling was all right, I knew I had gone out too hard.  But this is Ironman racing.  You live, you learn, and you are forced to deal with the factors of the day – even if they are self-induced…;-) I rolled in at a 5:22 bike time which disappointed me, but at least there had been no mechanical and a large part of me was just glad to have gotten to the run part of the race – FINALLY! 

I was 9th starting the run after having moved up on the bike with the 4th fastest bike split of the day, and slowly continued to reel in the women ahead of me.  I had a pretty good run until about 21 miles, where at this point, my gut started cramping and I had to use the Porta-Potty a few times.  I also started to stop to take in 2 cups of water at each aid station for the last 10 miles or so of the race as it was getting hot and dehydration was slowly creeping in.  I chased and chased but for the life of me I couldn’t catch the 4 women ahead of me (Corbin, Kessler, Williamson, and Cooper-Scott) who were all posting between 3:04 and 3:17 run splits.  I ran a 3:13 (2nd fastest of the day) which was solid, but not overly pleasing to me either.  At the turn around at Higgins Point, the 5th place bicycle was waiting to lead me in to the finish line.  As tired as I was, she was absolutely hilarious, joking with me that she was my linebacker for the race as we pushed our way through the sea of racers all heading the opposite direction. 

 A sea of inspiration on the run course!

The crowds, volunteers, and cheering along the lakeside portion of the race was overwhelming (in a good way!) and it really helped to keep your mind off the pain.  Seeing friends Sam Barnes (who showed me around the course weeks earlier) and Kelly Moore, both having a great race boosted my spirits too.  I saw TIMEX teammates, Roger, Phaedra, and Trista cheering along, and Jerzy and Juli out there pushing themselves on the course too.  Jenny and Brian swayed their hips along as though they were on a Hawaiian beach, and although I was unable to acknowledge any of them (too tired) I processed it all and I was definitely smiling inside.

 Next on the list (after moving to Penticton next week!!!!!!!!) is Calgary 70.3 and then….Ironman Canada.  More experience, more pieces to put together – can’t wait!!!!

As a final note a few special thanks to:

-Steve at Vertical Earth (CdA cycling shop) for helping me with that ‘tick’ in my bike in the days leading up to the race prior to the arrival of TIMEX to come to the rescue, and who also completed his first IM this weekend with a super result to boot!

-My parents for travelling all the way from northern B.C. to watch me race!  As well, as Scott, Jenny, and Brian for trekkig down to CdA to support me for this race. 

-Bonnie for putting up with me as her homestay athlete for a full week:-) 

-Doug (TIMEX) for having that bike primed and ready to roll without a hitch.  Gorgeous.

-Amazing med tent volunteers for taking such good care of me when I was only partially coherent!

Congrats to ALL finishers!!!  It was not an easy day and you DID IT:-)))

The importance of pacing for an endurance athlete is one of the most critical aspects of your training and performance.

You go out too fast and you end up suffering far more than necessary, only to limp in with a disappointing result for yourself.  Go out too slow, and although you might ’suffer’ less, you’re still not going to be pleased with the final outcome if your overall time is in any way important to you – which for most of us – it is.  Although as I’ve discussed before, your final results or time should not define your experience for you, it is still something many of us think about to help us gauge improvement over time, assess our training, and to simply experience the satisfation of meeting an external goal.  So, I don’t recommend your result/time to be your focus, but I do recommend that it still hold value for these reasons.

Pacing has become increasingly popular and integrated within endurance training for a few years now, thanks in part to the adaptation of GPS watches.  Prior to this, in order to assess your speed/distance/pace during a training run you needed either a treadmill, a track, or specified markers (such as in a race to record your splits.)  I guess if you were really hard core you could also use a friend on a bike for a pace bunny…but you need a couple of really good buddies to recycle through if this was your pacing method of choice!!

So, I now bring to you…drum roll please….the highly anticipated….TIMEX GPS Global Trainer.  Long-awaited…but as of June 2010, this hot little “machine on a wrist” will be hitting retail and available for purchase!  Oooh la la! Welcome to the new generation – TIMEX style!!!  And I ask you…is there any other style when it comes to performance watches?  That’s what I figured;-)

http://www.timexironman.com/Products/Global_Trainer_GPS.htm

Some notable features for all you pace bunnies out there:

-GPS is driven by SiRFstarIII chipset which acquires satellite signals faster and lose connection less often than watches using older chipsets such as Forerunning 101, 201, and 301.

-Can store up to 100 waypoints with the trackback feature and 50 custom routes

-Records up to 1,000 lap times

-4 quadrant screen (LOVE THIS!!!!!)  So easy, so clear….so very TIMEX!

-PC/Mac compatible

-Ability to import performance to Training Peaks software

-Can be used with bike sensors, all TIMEX heart rate chest straps and ANT+ third party bike power sensors.

Now, let it be said, that I am a huge believer in pacing.  If you want to run a goal ‘time’ in a race, then you need to train your body to race at that pace - (amazing concept, I know!!)  Slowly but surely, we can use consistent pacing in our training to help us reach our goals, and this watch will take us there.  At the same time, I also think it’s important to realize that pacing is not the only thing that will help us reach our goals.  Two other important pieces of the puzzle are monitoring our heart rates and understanding our perceived exertion.  The former being the most critical of all. 

The Global Trainer will monitor your heart rate (and allow you to also monitor your speed, pace, distance all at the same time – if you so choose!)  Since being given a premiere version of this doozy of a timepiece at the TIMEX camp in New Jersey a couple of months ago, I use the Global Trainer for about 50% of my runs.  It’s the ticket when I want to be out in the elements and maintaining a specified pace to get my body (especially the legs!) used to running at a “x” pace for “x” time. 

Sometimes though, I just want the chronological time and my heart rate.  I don’t want to be tempted by knowing my pace (which I always am when I have the Global Trainer!)  I think…”Oooooh, I wonder what pace I’m holding right now.” Our pace can sometimes trick us.  For example, running uphill into the wind, might have us at a threshold heart rate, but our pace is only what would otherwise be considered a ’steady’ pace. I recall having a conversation with Jerry Ziak shortly after the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2007 where I told him the pace I ran in the final mile of the race.  He then looked at me sideways as he asked me what on EARTH I was doing looking at my ‘pace’ during the final mile of a marathon.  I held my head in shame.  How TRUE!  But again, the point is that there is a time and a place for pacing.  The final mile of a marathon….not the time, people!! The energy I wasted (mentally and physically) by looking incessantly at my watch (prior to the TIMEX GPS days) could have gained me a few extra seconds, maybe putting me at a 2:48 marathon…rather than a 2:49 – in that race.  Time and a place….time and a place!!!

  Heart rate (used alone) also allows us to get a better sense for our perceived exertion.  We get to know what our bodies experience and feel like at given efforts or heart rates, and can use that information for pacing the long distance races when the variables change constantly throughout the race.  Too much dependence on pace can be detrimental, so you have to remember to keep it in balance – at least in my humble opinion. For some workouts, I just want to leave the newest technology behind and look solely at my heart rate as my gauge.  So, for about 25% of my runs I will use the TIMEX Road Trainer, which is, quite simply, legendary.  It simple, it’s small, it’s easy, and definitely not a TIMEX piece to be forgotten in these times of great evolution, with new additions such as the Global Trainer, WS4, and TapScreen.

http://walking.about.com/od/prhrm/gr/timexroadhrm.htm

So what do I use for the remaining 25% of the time for my training runs?  Nothing.  Na da.  Perceived exertion.  Scott tells me to go easy, I go easy.  He tells me to go steady, I listen to my breathing.  He tells me to go hard, I make sure everything hurts;-)

My point?  Balance between the tools towards getting faster: Pacing, Heart Rate, and Perceived Exertion.  TIMEX delivers in the first two areas…the third is up to you!

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the top two definitions of the verb to control, are as follows:

1.)  to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command

2.)  to hold in check; curb

 In preparation for St. George which is swiftly approaching, Scott decided to initiate our pre-race discussions and plans around one question, “What does it mean for you to control a race from start to finish, and end up with a result that you are happy with?”  Good one.  Now, as I am sure for most of you, that word ‘control’ seems to depict some interesting images in our minds.  Often which are accompanied with or connected to a negative connotation.  Something like this perhaps…..

Seem familiar?  (Either that or some Ex-Lax is a dire necessity – one or the other.)

However, when Scott asked me about controlling a race, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about THIS kind of control.  In fact, how are these images in any way even truly related to the word control?

In an race like Ironman, we are anything but in control…of our circumstances.  The sooner we realize and accept this, the better off we are. That is for absolute certain.  Weather, what the other athletes are or aren’t doing, mechanicals, cramping….the list is endless for an event such as this.  I like to say that we can prepare our very best for a race like this, but in the end, it is up to the “Triathlon Gods” who will decide how things will turn out for you - in the end.  Or perhaps not.  Perhaps they set up some of the factors or variables, but the onus is actually on YOU to decide how it will turn out – more times than not, anyways.  Interesting concept!  One thing that is for certain, is that if you try to use some of the methods shown above to control how your race will turn out…you’re probably setting yourself up for a pretty tough day!

 After thinking pretty hard about this question, it is clear that the above images connote anything BUT control, in fact they represent the exact opposite. Through this process, I have come to wonder if the English language needs to evolve a little bit more with regards to this linguistic imprecision.  According to Webster, the terms command or dominate, don’t really seem conducive to what I actually think ”control” means.

 So, how about I paste in an image or two  of what   I DO think control means so that I am being clear.  Let’s try this again shall we?

 Now, I don’t know about you, but I think this is more like it.

 Control, within a race, or in anything we do in our lives, is not about controlling the outcome.  We cannot do this.  Instead, what we can do is control how we ‘react’ to those things that present themselves to us.  If we want to race, or BE, at our best, we have to remain in control…of ourselves.

 At IM Canada 2009, my first Ironman as a professional, I lost control of my fuelling after a cable snapped at the 120 km. mark of the bike.  I ran my way into third, but I was not in control.  I was so very much OUT of control, that I was unable to join in on the finish line spraying of champagne….instead I found myself hooked up to multiple IVs in the med tent.  Had I remained in control of myself when this happened, I would have realized that although I couldn’t control the mechanical, I was still moving forward, and I COULD control my fuelling.  This I have learned. 

So, I guess control means taking the focus away from the outcome, and instead controlling ourselves within each and every moment.  To do the very best that we can with what we are given on the day, albeit during a race, in training, or life in general.   No matter what kind of chaotic insanity might be going on around you, the trick to being at your best, is to stay calm within the center.