Catherine Liversidge

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Liversidge CAN’T after all – gutted :(

Aug 17th 2010

By: Cath

7 comments

So, I had a check in x ray yesterday, and sat down and chatted it through with my doctor today. After consulting the Sports Med specialists, it was decided that racing was not really an option. I quote “if it was the Olympics and going for gold, it may be worth considering” – but, as much as I love to race, and even though I’ve trained my butt off all year for this race, and it is the Worlds…. this is still a hobby, a sport, something I want to do for many years to come (as well as lots of other things) so of course, the right decision is to call it a day for this year

If I did race and it re-broke, there’s a high risk that next time it would not heal and would cause a non-union – and this would undoubtedly limit my future enjoyment of both triathlon and the good ol’ outdoors – which of course is why we moved to Fernie in the first place.

So, what next? Well, I’m in my cast for another 3 weeks (my right calf will be stick thin by then for sure!). I’m still going to Budapest – my very wonderful buddy Liz Craggs is racing for GB in the same race, and I’ll be cheering as loud and as hard as I possibly can. My family are still flying over, so we’ll have a little holiday and see some fantastic athletes in motion at the same time.

Now of course, I did qualify for the half ironman Worlds in the race that I broke my foot – I let the spot go as I figured I was off to Budapest – there’s an incy-wincy part of me that wishes I’d taken it But then, that may push the healing process, so d’you know what, it’s probably a good thing…..she says, trying to think positively

So, yes, I’m gutted. I tried my best, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be. It’s not life and death, and I’m going to enjoy a LARGE glass of wine tonight to help numb the pain – I know it’s not the answer, but hey, sometimes it helps a little

So, the postiives, a solid Winter season of training ahead. I also have my respirologist guy to see in Calgary when I get back, so hopefully we’ll iron the blue lips thing out. And I’ll also be looking into some kind of orthotic to support the flat feet. And I’ll go kick butt in 2011 instead when I (probably) move up to half ironman – onwards and upwards

Happy SAFE training to everyone

xx

News
Swim like a fish…..and a little bit more :)

Aug 10th 2010

By: Cath

1 comment

So, the broken foot is healing – well, there’s no proof as such, but I FEEL like it’s healing and that’s good enough for me! I’m off for a check up x ray a week today, and taking every herbal concoction you can think of – I have a tablet that includes calcium, magnesium, vit D, horsetail and other great bone building ingredients! Kim, from our wonderful coffee shop Freshies, is also making me a potion including horsetail and comfrey – apparently very good for healing bones too – I’ll give it all a go – can’t do any harm!

Anyhow, in the meantime, I’m off the bike and off running (obviously!) – so it’s swim, swim and swim again! To make sure I don’t go and injure my shoulders or anything silly like that (!) I’m not going crazy, but swimming enough to keep the fitness up. I’m hoping I’ll be water running by the end of next week and just maybe also turbo biking too – we’ll see! I have a check up with my own doc next Tuesday – someone I totally trust – so it’ll be good to talk through the options.

As if by magic though, today, my Worlds race kit arrived in the post – the kit consists of: my race suit itself, a cycling top, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, a tracksuit top, a pair of socks and a pair of cycling arm warmers. I think my race suit says it all though – have a look at the photo below – Liversidge CAN – I’m taking that as a sign – who can heal the bone – Liversidge CAN – made me smile !!

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A stormer of a race if a little broken :)

Aug 2nd 2010

By: Cath

5 comments
This was my first half Ironman (1.9k swim, 94k bike and 21.1k run), it was a bit of an experiment to see how I liked the distance and how I managed with the asthma too. As such, I hadn’t changed my training at all, my main race this year is the Olympic World Championships, just 6 weeks away in Budapest. The race was therefore to be a long training day

So, how did it go. Starting with an alarm call at 3.15am (ouch!!), we set off from central Calgary to be bused to the swim and bike start in the rain! We’ve had fantastic weather here for the last few weeks, but Sunday wasn’t starting the same way – shame! Everything set up and now ready to go. I was excited to start, all women starting together.

I had a fantastic swim, wasn’t pushing it particularly hard as I knew I still had 5hours-ish of racing/ training to go! To my surprise, there were 2 women ahead of me (about a minute ahead – the lead kayak was within easy sight, so that was my sighting spot!) – and I exited the water with one other woman in 29mins 25secs, feeling great.

Off on the bike ready for the 93/94k ride. I enjoyed the ride, it was rolling, the weather generally good (a bit of rain, but most had gone by then) I got my nutrition bang on right, good for my first longer-distance race. Pulled in on 2hrs 58mins

Time to run – I love to run. My back was twinging a bit, so it’s always a relief to get upright! I was feeling GREAT on the run, blowing Jase a kiss as I ran past at 4k – although I did have to stop for a loo break at 4.5k! At this point I knew I was first in my age group, and was loving the race. After 6k my right foot starting hurting a little, but just thought it was muscular. At 9k it really hurt, and hurt with every step – but still thought it was muscular. I obviously slowed down, but carried on running. I was still enjoying the race, but was in pain for sure. At 18k (3k before the end) I was passed by someone from my age group – so the top spot had gone. I couldn’t put any more pressure on my foot, so a pick up of pace was out of the picture. Crossing the line having completed my first half marathon (let alone first half ironman) in a split on 1h 46mins and a total time of 5hrs 19mins, I was a VERY happy person.

So overall, I was 2nd in my age group, just 2mins behind 1st. I was 10th age group woman overall out of 250ish. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. I think I also secured a 70.3 World Championship spot – didn’t take it up, but kinda good to get one Not bad for a first go, eh?!

BUT, the day didn’t stop there. I spoke to the medic guys as I came through – they iced and strapped my foot, but suggested an x ray as they suspected a stress fracture. We decided to head back to Fernie for it, rather than wait for hours in a Calgary waiting room. Several pain killers later on the way home, and a couple of x rays at Fernie, no it wasn’t a stress fracture, it was fully broken in my 3rd meta tarsal! So, I’d run for 12k with a broken foot – explains the pain I guess. I’m in an air cast for 4 weeks, but can still swim, maybe bike after a week, and maybe water run. It should be fully repaired by Budapest in 6 weeks.

On the asthma front – everything felt fine, probably means that half ironman might be better suited to me, as the intensity is less, and I can maintain the same pace for twice the Olympic distance.

So, what have I learnt?
- I thoroughly enjoyed the race.
- Having a high pain threshold is not necessarily a good thing – having never broken a bone in my body before, I would have expected the pain to be way way worse!
- Did I think it was hard core to carry on with a broken foot – no
- Am I frustrated that I’ve potentially put back my race in Budapest – yes
- Would I have carried on running if I’d known it was broken – absolutely not
- Half Ironman vs Olympic – equally difficult, 2 different racing requirements.
And now for an interesting fact:

There were 9 pro women racing – my swim split would have beaten 4 of them and only 15 secs behind the 5th! It might only be one leg of the race (and the shortest one!) but made me smile!!

Jase and our friend, Col, were there to cheer. It was fantastic to have them both there. Col was “tweeting” throughout the entire, so some of you were able to follow the race there – but, just to say thanks to both for being brilliant – even after VERY little sleep the night before – you’re both the best xx

More photos in the gallery
News
I’m a twit!

Aug 1st 2010

By: Cath

1 comment

I’ve gone live with twitter care of my super IT hubby Jase and our very good buddy, Colin! – thanks chaps! Live feeds will be on this site and on my facebook.

Col will be updating throughout tomorrow’s race from his iPhone, so if you fancy, you can check in for updates.

Race start 6.32 Canadian Mountain time, 1,32pm UK time – finish time – well, who knows, we’ll just have to see…..:) This means a 3.15 alarm call – ouch!

PS Jase says I’m also a twit for doing the race – haha

News
All good things come to an end….

Jul 22nd 2010

By: Cath

No comments

So for 2009 and 2010 I’ve managed to come first in my age group in all Olympic Distance races I’ve done (Worlds excepted!) – but last Sunday, it came to an end, like all good things do at some point! I managed second, but missed that top spot.

This is no reason for the second placing, but I’d had a bit of a bug the last few weeks which had run me down a little – I’d taken a few days easy leading up to try and shake it off. I had a great swim coming out of the water 5th over all all men and women and 2nd woman, leaving the water in 22mins 50secs. I was pretty happy with that, so all was looking good. The bike course was pretty tough, starting with a stiff climb straight out the swim – about 12ish% for about half a mile I guess – gets the blood pumping for sure! I felt fine for the first 1/3rdish of the race – then things started going wrong. I was struggling for breath, I had my inhaler with me so took a couple of puffs of that, but this time it didn’t seem to do the trick. My back also went into spasm mode, so every time I put any kind of pressure on the pedals the pain was a nightmare! On top of that (or perhaps because of that!) people passed me, and lots of them too Funny how the psychology works – I’m sure I felt the pain more because of the people passing!! It took me right back to last year when I used to get this pain all the time and couldn’t WAIT to get off the bike – as soon as I get upright it disappears! My sister and brother in law, Lesley and Steve, were there to support and I knew they’d be a bit worried as I was way slower than normal. 1hr and 20mins-ish later I rode into transition – if the time didn’t worry them, I think the blue lips did! Good job I couldn’t see them, so I ran off out of transition, taking a couple of inhaler puffs on the way – oh, what a healthy girl I am!

But I’m running, and I love to run! It was a hard run – starting straight off with a hill climb, but a really beautiful run. I ran right with the same guy for the whole of the 10k. We didn’t actually speak a word, but it was actually quite nice to have some company

Anyhow, I picked off a few places to finally come in (still with blue lips!!) at:

Overall – 2hrs 30mins – 4th woman overall – 2nd woman in my age group – 18th all men and women

It was great to see Lesley and Steve at the finish line. My fellow tri buddy from Fernie, Brendan Morgan, also came 5th male and second in his age group – so we both got a tankard to take home

More photos in the gallery

Next up is Calgary 70.3 on the 1st August – I’m REALLY hoping my back doesn’t play up – gonna keep my fingers crossed

Splits:

Swim – out of water 22.50 – 5th overall, 2nd woman

Bike – 1 hr 19min 50th (!!!!) overall, 16th woman

Run – 46mins – 17th overall, 6th woman

Transitions about 2mins

News
I present to you, Dr Lesley Dixon….

Jul 15th 2010

By: Cath

No comments

So today, in recognition of all the amazing work that my amazing sister did as the Chief Executive of Leeds University, she was awarded an honorary doctorate! Steve, Mum, Dad and 2 good friends of Lesley’s, Bill and Beryl were there to join in the celebrations and had seats in the 2nd row back. It was filmed live on the internet, so Jase and I could watch too – I was a bit of a blubbering mess, but clapped along like crazy with the rest of them. The on site team looked really really proud.

Dr Lesley Dixon, I’m very very proud of you – you deserve this award so much – and I’m very very lucky to be able to say you’re my sister!

If anyone wants to watch the ceremony, you can watch it on the following link. Lesley is the first award straight after Melvyn Bragg’s speech. She looks very cool and composed – like only my big sister can!

http://webprod2.leeds.ac.uk/webcast/default.asp?eventtype=G

Way to go, sis…..YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!

News
Bit of a catch up

Jul 13th 2010

By: Cath

2 comments

So, I’m not too good at this blogging thing – I seem to take a while between posts!

A quick catch up then:

I’ve been swimming, biking and running – lol! There’s a surprise!! My last race was a few weeks ago, I came down with a bit of a bug, so the training’s been going ok, nothing to set the world alight, just steady training. I have a couple of races coming up over the next few weeks, and then it’s head down for a good 6 week training block leading into the World’s at Budapest. The thing that I’m really looking forward to though is supporting my husband Jase in his first 10k on Friday. It’s role reversal time – just hope I do as good a job supporting as he does for me – yikes!

Our local pool closed for 6 weeks from the end of May to early July, so I swapped between training in the lake and heading down to another pool not too far away – it’s only small 20m pool and is salt water based. So between the buoyancy aid of the wetsuit and that of the salt water, when I actually got back into my normal pool 6 weeks later I felt like one complete dead weight – quite funny really, if a little frustrating!!

I have to mention one of my sponsors, Gear and Training though. I got my wetsuit from these guys – it’s a BlueSeventy Helix – I had the previous model and love the suit. It’s great if you come from a swimming background or are a naturally strong swimmer – i.e. it has neutral buoyancy support but has GREAT flexibility especially around the shoulders. Anyhow, the guys at Gear and Training helped me out with deciding which suit was best this time around and do a fantastic deal at the moment of 20% discount off all orders over $150, plus free shipping within the States. You really should check out their stuff – they’ve got a great range to browse through – and if you need any advice, as they’re actually a PROPER STORE, you can call them to ask any questions – which, personally, I love

So, every Saturday I do my same ride up to Fording Mine here in BC. I’ve posted about if before, and just love the ride. I see very very few cars (maybe a handful in 3 hours), it’s beautiful gorgeous scenery, it has a good wind blowing up there, so you get good training and practice with that stuff – and often see some pretty cool wildlife. Last week, I was biking along, this truck overtook me (giving me LOTS of room – nice chaps that they are!) – but then stopped, reversed a bit, and stopped again. As I rode up beside him, I stopped to check he was ok (like I could do anything about it – haha!) It was particularly windy at this point, so I had been in “head down and just get on with it” mode. Anyhow, the guy says “Oh, I just wanted to check you got past the grizzly ok – there’s a big adult bear up there, and I wanted to check you were ok” – yikes! As I looked up he’d gone by that point – it was actually my birthday and I didn’t see the bear – ho hum – but maybe it was a good thing!

Anyhow, something that made me smile today – after following a bit of the Tour, I was curious to see if the climb within my ride actually hit the “category” listing – and it does! I checked a couple of different sources to make sure – but, it’s at the upper end of a Cat 3 climb and just under a Cat 2 climb – that makes me really happy! If I did it for 3 times as long it’s the equivalent of a Cat 1 ride in the Tour – yikes!! Made me smile )

So, hope everyone’s enjoying the sun when it’s there – it’s due back here tomorrow just in time for my sister and brother in law to arrive from the UK on Friday – happy family times to be had

Catch up soon

Cath

News
Did I really, yes I did!

Jun 17th 2010

By: Cath

2 comments

Just pressed “Yes” to enter Calgary 70.3 in August! We were going to be there anyway to drop my sister and brother in law off at the airport, so I thought, hey, why not! It’s not going to be a serious race, it’ll be a good solid training day, I’m under no illusions on that one Should be fun though, and I’m V excited! See you there, Julie )

News
More 1sts!

Jun 14th 2010

By: admin

7 comments

I was at Wasa Triathlon at the weekend – first off, I have to say, it was a GREAT event, and those guys really paid attention to the details that make a huge difference, as well as making it fun and enjoyable for all – I’d highly recommend it!

Our friends Keith and Linda came over Friday night, which was great, ready for us all to travel over on Saturday together as Keith was racing as well.

Race day comes around, and I’m feeling good and ready to go – feeling confident about my asthma plan too, so all in check. I had an ok swim, not sure if it’s the cold of the water that tightens my chest up but my swim never quite meets my expectations from the pool (or perhaps I ought to change my expectations!) I think I was about 8th out of the water. Anyhow, off onto the bike. Took a little for the legs to get going, but apart from one woman that passed, and FLEW by me with her disc wheel whooshing away (think she was the eventual winner) I just passed more and more men and a few women too (the men started half an hour before the women). I took a puff of the inhaler before I got off the bike and again at the start of the run, it seemed to do the trick. I also pulled my pace back a little to make sure I didn’t have an attack. There’s definitely way more in the legs, it’s just trying to get the chest to match! Anyhow, I passed a few more women, and more blokes, and felt light and strong. Overall, I came in 1st in my age group and 10mins ahead of the next woman in my age group and 4th out of all women (not bad for a 40 year old!) – total time of 2hr 20mins. My own target was top 5 before the race (Wasa attracts some top athletes some of which are pros). I think the first 3 were all elites, so I was happy with that – oh, and I won some cash too – even better!

As the race was only 1.5 hrs from Fernie, there were lots of locals there too, which was really good. We actually entered a Fernie team into the club challenge – and came 2nd! Which I think is pretty damn good! Next year we’ll get top spot for sure! Awards, lunch and a lazy afternoon lying on the grass followed – a fab afternoon all round.

I’ve put some photos in the gallery

News
Asthma management strategy and race prep stuff

Jun 8th 2010

By: Cath

3 comments

So my first Olympic distance race is this Sunday (for those that don’t know it’s a 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run). I’m very excited and really looking forward to it – swim, bike and run are all feeling in tip top form and the week has been a week of PB’s in all so far. Soooo…..the main thing now is a question of can I contain my asthma – oh, and that on race day it all comes together as planned – never a guarantee obviously!

So, on the asthma front, I had a check up with my doctor last week which included a serious “chat” about asthma, that this is serious and I need to look after things…..point noted The strategy we devised goes along the following lines:

1. Take your inhaler before the race (yep, got that one after my last experience)

2. Have your inhaler with your during the race (swim excepted obviously) in case you need it (ditto, got that one after the last race!)

3. Take it as soon as signs of an attack start to show, don’t wait til you can’t breath at all

4. If all else fails, shout for your doctor as he’s in the race too! Not often that’ll be an option but it will be this weekend. I did promise I’d only use that one if REALLY necessary!

Our friends, Keith and Linda, will be coming to stay Friday night, then we all head over to the race together Saturday afternoon ready for an early start on Sunday. Keith is also racing, as are most of Fernie (!) so should be a good day for spectators too, with lots of familiar faces running by.

Will let you know how it goes – either Sunday or Monday depending on how chipper I’m feeling

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