Racing the Ridge

I was really looking forward to this cycling race.  It would mark my first ever three part stage race and I would get to race Cat 1/2 women (aka PRO/really, really good racers).  I was really interested to see how I would fare, and how many I could beat!  Barry the race director and owner of Maple Ridge’s bike shop Local Ride put on a fantastic race and had offered this newbie all kinds of help and support for the weekend which was awesome.  

Stage 1: Saturday morning 10:30am was the 70K road race – in cold, dumpy rain; I am good on cornering downhills, and bridging gaps but need some work on my hill climbing speed and pick up my ave cadence; I finished with the main pack behind 2 lead escapees 

Stage 2: Saturday evening 5:00pm was the 12.7K Time Trial – in a dry tailwind, with clip-on aerobars and Bruce Wenting’s light n’fast tubulars

Day One: 4^th position, 1 minute behind the leader

Stage 3: Sunday afternoon 1:30 was the 45min + 3 laps Criterium – a sunny, beautiful race day! Took 3^rd in the 15min sprint lap; then, in the 30min sprint lap I’m coming around the final tight corner to the finish in first position, clip my pedal, get tossed off the bike, scramble to pick up the bike, and ride for a 5^th overall position with a broken arm (I only found out it was fractured in two places hours later at the hospital).

In sports and competition, an athlete must learn to take the downs with the ups – I have had an incredible year of racing which has been a definite high so I’m grateful and praise God for the ups and the downs.  Praise God for the broken arm…?  Yes, AND at least I can train my legs hard (cycling and running) so I’m thankful :) and my cast is purple like my bike!

Happy to Take the Pain

Sunday was Vancouver’s infamous Sun Run.  This race is many different things to different people: a social event, the end-goal to a fitness plan, an opportunity to claim participation in 10K of the well-known race, or a chance to better one’s 10K time.

This was my chance to better my 10K time.

Two years ago I raced the Sun Run as an elite to pull through in 39:14.  Last year I only ran 10K in triathlon races for a best time of 39:10.  This year I am proud to nail a sub 36min 10K – 35:56.

Thank you to Coach Bomba, my mother-in-law and hubby-wubby who came to the race.

It was really fun being a VIP elite for the day.  My elite race number got us everywhere fast and with lots of good food!

My teammate Joel DeSchiffart and I post-race (I promise I am wearing shorts...)

Alex, me, momma Ruth, french toast and Joel at the VIP brunch

+ 11 @ Nationals

That was my overall score for the weekend.

Coming into the weekend I was ranked 8^th for the 3000m and 16^th for the 1500m.  At the end of the races I took 4^th for the 3000m with a best time of 9:51.45 and 6^th for the 1500m with a best time of 4:32:32.

That’s +11!

What really made the memory was that my faithful fans (mom and dad) came out to watch AND my brother and sister too!  We had a great time together at the races, dinner and coffee dates in between.

Also, I dyed my hair (why not)

- on a walk with my sister we ran into my Edmontonian aunt on her lunch break!

- and Alex watch my races live via the interwebs :)

That’s +11 with eleven --> !!!!!!!!!!!

Did I end up with an extra $11 at the end?  Maybe - but nobody counted.

Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.

It's Fine to Be a Champion

Alison’s SPARTAN STATS: 

2^nd Place – Spartan Women’s Team

(this is an amazing feat due to the small numbers of our team vs. a number of other teams with more than double our numbers)

3^rd Place - Our 4x800 team (Meg, Anastasia, Alison, Fiona, :)& Jordyn)

1^st Place & CanWest Champion for the 3000m race

(I ran a very tactical race to win based on smarts and not time)

2^nd Place - 1500m for a best time of 9:36

(This #2 spot qualified me to run the 1500m at CIS Nationals along with the 3000m in Edmonton)

These stats are exciting, yes, but this is just a small bit of the many successes experienced by our Spartans at this meet!

 

     AND

Best of all my parents drove 6 hours to come watch the races in Regina!!!  This absolutely blessed my heart because I know that champions will come and go.  So I am so happy that I could share this year and competition of special moments with my family as well as my teammates.  I just wish Alex could have been there too!  Although Alex did remind me that I have been talking a lot about my desire to win – not just to be good, but to win – and God allowed me to do so here.  Not only that but I so excitedly received the CanWest Female Athlete Community Service Award.  I know there were some incredible nominees so I graciously and proudly accept this 2012/2013 award.

Two of my teamates also received awards for their amazing performances

Now, our team looks forward to CIS Nationals March 7-9 in Edmonton, AB.

If you are around at all, COME WATCH!

Indoors & Around In Circles

Fiona is scary.

I have a race coming up.
Oh, it's a triathlon.
No, actually it's a track race, and indoor track race.
Ooooh...wait, running or cycling?
Okay, I have an indoor track running race - it's a 3K.
Are you still talking cycling?



Boy, this could get confusing :) but I don't really mind.  I love it all!

At the beginning of January, I made the goal to swim 6 x a week for the next 18 months to see if my swim could improve enough to take me competitively through elite triathlon racing.  I also made goals to do more pure cycling races.  I was going to swim and cycle hard right through the hard indoor season (running) without a worry of what it might do to my running performances because track races aren't as much my thing as cross country running.  This has taken a lot of pressure off of me to perform.

1st at Harry Jerome Indoor Meet

Then, with the long socks on, I drop my personal best times in the 1500m and 3000m 7 and 17 sec!  Whew!  Now, I am ranked 8th in Canada for the 3000m which could take me to Nationals and my 1500m is in the running for an explosion into Nationals as well.  So, now I am thinking about Nationals...hmmm...

The training we are doing at TWU is making me stronger and ready to handle harder workouts and my body has adapted really well to the stresses of training three sports together.

Anyway, we will see :)
Win or Lose.  Praise God.

P.S. This is me at the Burnaby Velodrome this February for the first fun time :)