Race recap of World's

World's Race Review

London was a fun city to be in for a week, although I can¹t say I¹m a
fan of the weather (too much rain). My brother and I were out
sight-seeing during the week leading up to the race and I ended up
with a cold on Friday night (sore throat, stuffed up nose, and feeling
pretty lethargic). Saturday wasn¹t much better so I was pretty upset,
having worked hard all year and looking at having a sub-par race due
to a bad cold. However, race adrenaline kicked in Sunday morning and I
was able to feel somewhat energized, although my nose was still pretty
clogged up. Having stood in bare feet for about an hour prior to the
race start it was almost a relief to be able to put my feet in the
water as it felt warmer than the ground I had been standing on. I
don¹t think I would have minded having the full length swim, however
it is what it is. I didn¹t have a great swim, swallowed water multiple
times and got hit and kicked far more than I am used to, however I
kept a calm head and didn¹t let that ruin my race. I exited the water
somewhere around 10th place, which is what I was expecting, and
managed to pass about five of those people in the long run-up to
transition. Heading out onto the bike I pushed hard right off the bat
and was quickly able to position myself in 2nd place, somewhere around
the 3km mark. There was one Aussie ahead of me but didn¹t seem to be
gaining or losing ground on me so I kept up the steady but relatively
hard pace. Around the 7km mark a Kiwi caught up to me and I worked
hard to stay with her for the first lap. However, I was getting pretty
fatigued trying to maintain her pace and I made a judgement call that
given her body type (slightly stockier), probably wasn¹t going to be a
fast runner. I let her go on the second lap although kept a strong
pace myself. I knew this decision could come back to bite me in the
ass later but given my experience at a race earlier in the year where
I gave it everything on the bike and had nothing left for the run, I
knew that I needed to save a little bit for the run. Approaching T2 I
caught the Aussie who was still ahead of me, but was caught by a few
people in transition as my hands were so cold that they didn¹t want to
function for me. In the end I had to start running with my shoelaces
not tightened as I couldn¹t get my fingers to co-operate for me. I
passed the couple of people who had caught me in transition in the
first hundred meters or so, leaving only the Kiwi ahead of me. After
about 2.5km I had warmed up enough to be able to tighten my shoelaces,
and my feet no longer felt like blocks of ice. Nothing was going to
stop me from going for gold so I kept running as hard as I could and
caught the Kiwi at about 4.5km. I didn¹t let up the pace though as I
had no idea who was behind me, so I just kept running as hard as I
could. I could feel my IT band getting very tight on the second and
third laps but tried to ignore it. The Canadians were awesome as there
seemed to be someone cheering for me around the entire run course.
Coming down the finishing chute was better than I had ever imagined as
it feels pretty awesome when someone announces you as the World
Champion. :P Upon crossing the finish line I felt like my cold
hit me in full force with a pounding head and feeling very weak. But I
was ecstatic about the finish (and that I had over 2 minutes on 2nd
place) so was able to celebrate with the other Canadians who were
finishing their races. I also was happy to see Keith having a great
race (since he hadn¹t run for three weeks and didn¹t know if he would
be able to in the race).  All in all it was a spectacular experience
and I look forward to Edmonton next September.

Update on the running and life

So I started running again back at the end of February. Everything was going great until I hit about 20 minutes. Then my leg started to hurt. I just chalked it up to shin splints since that would be expected at this point in the game. So I kept running, but by the time I was to be at 50 minutes my leg was hurting unbearably, keeping me awake at night and making it very difficult to concentrate on school work. After a teary e-mail to my coach it was determined I should stop running, as at this point in the game a stupid decision could take me out for triathlon season. It felt exactly like a stress fracture so I assumed the MRI results were wrong. So I started to look for answers. I got blood work done (soooo many vials, they must have checked EVERYTHING), a bone density scan, and a bone scan. I also had a gait analysis done by Sean Delanghe at Price Health Center in Waterloo. It revealed that I actually don’t have shitty form so my running technique is not likely to be the cause of my problems. The blood tests came back with good news- I’m as normal and healthy as can be. Bone density scan, which I was really worried about, came back also with normal results. So last thing to check was the bone scan. Also normal. So what is going on???? The sports doctor now suspects it may be chronic exertional compartment syndrome. I have an appointment to check this out on Saturday, where they will take $200 that I really don’t have and stick some needles into my muscles. Although on the one hand this can be fixed through surgery, it would require many weeks off from training (about 6). So although I want answers, now is not a good time to be told I need surgery. I will have to wait and see, but at the moment I am allowed to run for short amounts of time and ice right afterwards.

On the job front, I am lacking. No job for the summer at the moment. L I’m pretty stressed about this at the moment but I must have faith that something will come along. If you’re reading this and you have a job for me, I am willing to work anywhere in Southern/Central Ontario, for minimum wage, doing whatever needs to be done. Fingers are crossed. 

Reading Week in Arizona!!

So for reading week I went to Arizona with the C3 team to spend the week training in warm weather. While the weather wasn’t quite what I would define as ‘warm’ it was pleasant most days and the training was phenomenal. It is unfortunate that I was unable to do much running, however I am quickly becoming a professional power-walker so was able to take in the sights that way. The swimming was done in one of two outdoor pools throughout the week, both of which were beautiful. One was 50yards across with about 15-20 lanes and 25 yards long (which was different for most people there, but since UW is old we have a yards pool so that’s what I was used to). The other pool was at a luxury gym place on a golf course- free towel use, free soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, sunscreen, razors, and of course tampons. 

We were in Oro Valley, which is about 20 miles north of Tucson, and the bike lanes were fabulous. On most roads the bike lanes are wide enough to ride two abreast and the roads are well paved, not to mention that pretty much every road has bike lanes. Canada should take note. We did some particularly memorable rides including the infamous Mt. Lemmon climb as well as the ride out to Gate’s Pass.  Mt. Lemmon was pretty chilly and my toes had gone completely numb by the time I got to the top (which is just over 8000ft elevation). It was definitely worth it for the overly-large cookies at the top (and of course the sense of accomplishment for riding up a mountain for 3 hours). Coming down was exhilarating!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I averaged close to 50km/hr on the way down. Gates Pass was scenic, although I could have done without the extreme bumpiness! We did this ride on my last day in Arizona so I got a good sun burn and it was a great way to end a fantastic week. I should also mention that on the Wednesday we got snow!!! One local said they hadn’t had snow in seven years, although another said it had only been two. Regardless, snow is a rare occurrence so even the locals were taking pictures. Of course we went swimming outside while it was snowing, which was a lot of fun and definitely not something many people can say they’ve done! Another thing we did that I really enjoyed was hiking up to the Romero Pools. This required hiking up a mountain to find these pools of water which of course were basically melted snow at the time so were absolutely freezing. I was too chicken to go in, although I got my feet wet. Some of the more brave men in the group went right in and submerged themselves. Seeing their reactions I have no regrets about staying dry. Back in Canada it took several days to recover from the week of heavy training although I am happy to say that I am back into full swing again now. I am even training full-time with the varsity swim team! And I ran for 25 minutes today!! 

MRI Results!

So I had an MRI done on my leg at the end of Janurary to check up on the healing of the stress fracture. I got the results back recently and it shows that I have shin splints but that the stress fracture has healed!!! I was extremely excited about this, although my coach has me only power walking for a couple of weeks to build up leg strength. Anyways, I will take the good news and hope that the return to running is as smooth as possible. I am headed to Tucson on February 15^th for a triathlon training camp which is sure to be a lot of fun!!! The swimming and biking are going well so hopefully I will be very competitive this summer =)

Laser Eye Surgery

I.CAN.SEE. Enough said really. Yesterday I went for laser eye surgery, today I have perfect vision. Totally awesome. I have wanted to get this done since about grade 7 when I first heard that it was possible to get your eyesight back. Financially this obviously was not possible and my parents don’t help me out financially for anything, so I was on my own. I started wearing contacts in grade 11 but over the past year or two I have developed an allergy to them. I have tried different brands and switching to dailies, but nothing worked. I wanted to claw my eyes out whenever I put the contacts in, and I was going to end up with so much scar tissue on my eyelids that I would only be able to wear glasses for the rest of my life. In the life of triathlon this was not going to be possible. My eyesight was 20/400, so pretty bad, and there was no way I was going to be able to do the swim without being able to see, let alone find my bike after getting out of the water. So I forked out a lot of dough and went and got the surgery. I have absolutely no regrets, this was worth every penny. The surgery went great, although I was pretty scared during the procedure, what with instruments in my eyes and lasers and you hear the person beside the surgeon timing the procedure, it sounded pretty ominous. “43 seconds….okay 10 more seconds” I’m thinking in my head “What happens if it takes him more than 10 seconds?” Anyways, all was fine and I would recommend this procedure to anyone. I slept/dozed most of the afternoon because my eyes were sore, but I was totally fine when I woke up this morning.

In other triathlon news, I am officially part of Barrie Shepley’s C3 High Performance Team! I am super excited about this and feel that I should be able to achieve some really amazing things under his coaching. Tentatively we have talked about me doing some draft-legal racing as well as some local Southern Ontario races. The objective of the U23 draft-legal racing is for “me to get my ass kicked” as Barrie put it. It’ll be great though, definitely a huge motivator and it will be great to meet more people my age who have the same level of commitment to the sport that I do.

Unfortunately the stress fracture still has me out of action. I tried to run last week but it did not go well, as in my leg has clearly not yet healed. I will continue to pedal away on the bike and some day I will be back to pounding the pavement. 

Concluding the XC Season

Saturday saw the conclusion of cross country season with the Canadian Cross Country Championships held in London, Ontario. Two weeks earlier the Warriors competed at the Ontario Championships in rainy, cold weather on an extremely muddy course. We had some fantastic performances and the women managed to come into 7^th place as a team- to my knowledge, better than we have done in the past five years at least. I’m am extremely proud of them and it breaks my heart that I couldn’t be out there racing with them, however I know I made the best decision not to race. It was hard to put my short term desires aside and look at the bigger picture, and I know that several people would have liked me to race. But despite wanting to race, I do not have any regrets about not racing. Hopefully I will be back on the running scene in the near future, uninjured and ready to train.

The Canadian Cross Country Championships (CIS) are always spectacular to watch. The best runners in the country all toe the line together and give it their best shot. Caught up in the energy and vibe of the day, I decided that I should test out the leg (it’s been 7 weeks so not an entirely unreasonable thing to do). I did the 15 minute warm up with the team and ran around to cheer my teammates on during the race. This added up to probably around 25 minutes. NOT GOOD. My leg is still sore 3 days later. I was hoping for better results than this but as there is nothing I can do I will move on and continue to spend my time in the pool and on the bike.

The men’s race was extremely exciting with the winner, Kelly Weibe, crushing the course record and winning by 40 seconds!!!

On the triathlon scene, I am currently in communication with Barrie Shepley. I applied to the Triathlon Canada Tri-This program but currently am a) not good enough and b) not looking like a great candidate given my injury history. However, I do have the motivation and desire to become better, and have proven that I have potential, so Barrie Shepley is considering me for his C3 High Performance team. This would be amazing and I will do everything I can to make it onto this team. I attended a swim assessment on Sunday evening with the team, and Andrew Cole (Olympic swim coach) videotaped our swimming (with a swanky ipad) and gave us things to work on (I have a lot to work on- so much that he didn’t even bother to tell me everything). It’s fantastic to finally have some direction as to what I can do to become better and hopefully in due course I will see these improvements translated into faster swim times!

Bikes and Tough Decisions

I will start with the tough decisions part. As my previous post let you know, I ended up with a stress fracture in my tibia after the first cross country race of the season. I intended to run the Ontario Championships (OUAs) anyways (the damage is already done right?) but this weekend that changed. The Championships, being held at the Kingbridge Conference Centre in Nobleton, Ontario are next weekend, October 27^th. Initially my motivation for running was, apart from that fact that I love to race, to get my team to have a shot at being sent to the Canadian Championships (CIS) two weeks later in London, Ontario. Yesterday I was informed that the university will send them regardless of the team placing at OUAs. I had been testing my leg out this week and it was holding up pretty well, but I could tell that it wasn’t healed. This left me with a decision to make. My coach would let me run, but I was risking doing a lot more damage to the stress fracture and putting me out of action for a lengthy period of time. After much deliberation I came to decide that I would not run. This is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make because I really wanted to do the race. However, in the long term it is better to not race and let my leg heal, so that I can come back and kick some serious butt later (read- triathlon season next year). Unfortunately the best decisions are not always the easiest to make. However, I know that my team will do great next weekend and I will cheer them on enthusiastically. =)

Now the fun part!!!! Yesterday I took the train to Burlington and walked to Neworld Cycle (http://neworldcycle.com/main.htm). Having qualified for the World Triathlon Championships next year I knew I wanted to get a better bike than my current road bike (even though I love it). I had been searching on Kijiji for some time but it was not yielding any results so had begun looking into bike stores as most are having their Fall Blowout Sales right now.  My brother, Keith Marchant (who is a fantastic triathlete and happens to live in Burlington), came to the rescue once again and found a great deal on Cervelo P3s at Neworlds. This being my first free weekend of the fall I headed down, certified cheque in hand, ready to buy my bike. I had done plenty of research into bikes and had determined that the P3 was going to be the best value for my money. The guys from Neworld, Jeff and Victor, were great and got me fitted up on a snazzy looking Cervelo P3, with pedals and bike shoes (no more cycling in my running shoes!!). I brought my bike back home via the train and it is currently sitting in my (locked) room. I hooked it up to the trainer today and absolutely love it! The aero position is going to take some getting used to, but I have lots of time for that. =)