On the triathlon road to Las Vegas!

I was at the local Fernie (ice) hockey game last night (watching them win 5-0 – yay!) – it reminded of the soccer (football) chants in England…. “Here we go, here we go, here go”, that then got me thinking about my triathlon season ahead – an insight into how my brain works!

The foot is well and truly on the mend.  I’m still on walk/ run workouts for the run, but it’s way better than it was a week or so ago, and it feels GREAT to run, even if it’s just for short little bursts at the moment.  I even felt a bit like my old running self this week, a huge boost

I had 2 days with the respirologist in Calgary this week too – 2 days of tests to review my asthma and confirmed the medications I need.  Feels great to start breathing properly again – because, believe me, 8 weeks off training, back to 1000m above sea level and no asthma meds makes starting back a bit of a challenge

While I was in the UK I had a swim technique session with my coach, Michelle Dillon.  We worked on a couple of things, which of course at first always feels a little strange to say the least.  Well, happy to say, that after a few more sessions in the water, it’s feeling more normal and the times are showing it – here’s to lots of happy times in the pool!

As the snow hasn’t quite hit us here yet in BC, I’m also making the most of biking outside while I can.  When we landed from Australia last year, it was already -10 or something ridiculous on 1 October, so I never biked outside again until Spring.  I’m determined to make the most of the snow free conditions until it’s no longer possible.  Today took me up to one of my old routes, near Surveyors lake.  My fitness isn’t quite where it was before the foot broke maybe, but feeling that breeze against your skin was superb.

So, all in all, everything’s feeling chipper, things are in place to get what needs to be sorted sorted, and I’m excited for a solid Winter of training ahead.  And, having just watched the pros race for Kona, who couldn’t be inspired by that kind of racing!

So, as the title of blog says “Here we go, here we go, here we go……”  time to rock ‘n’ roll

Happy training (and racing for those that still have some left!) everyone x

…thought I’d drop a few lines with the latest.

We went over to Budapest as a family of spectators for the Worlds (the folks were originally coming over to watch me, but as I was sidelined and we’d paid for everything, we figured we’d go and have a good holiday whilst watching some world class athletes at the same time!)  The weather for the first couple of days was pretty dire, but after that the sun came out, and the racing was unbelievable.  My wonderful buddy, Liz Craggs, was racing and knocked a whopping 20 minutes off her pb – fantastic to watch and cheer and be a part of.  My coach, Michelle Dillon, also had 11 other athletes racing and came home with 3 golds – not bad going eh?  If you’re looking for a coach, definitely worth considering   The only downside was that with all the shouting I managed to lose my voice, which then became a throat infection – oops!  Well, I did say I’d cheer as hard as I would have raced……

My cast finally came off just over a week ago, the day after the World’s race (oh, the irony!)  Anyhow, it’s feeling stronger by the day.  I’m not running fully on it yet, but should be back at it in full swing in a week or 2 I reckon (post x ray confirmation when I get back to Canada)

I spent last Wednesday with coach Michelle – as my fitness was what felt like near zero (!) after 6 weeks of doing nothing, we spent the day focussing on technique for swim, bike and run – what a fab day   Hugely informative and a heap of fun at the same time – what more could a girl ask for

So, Canada calls tomorrow.  Jase and I are both looking forward to it, though as ever, it’s with mixed emotions – saying goodbye to our folks is never easy, but my Mum and Dad will be out visiting late Spring, to conveniently catch my first 70.3 race at Boise, Idaho, next year – handy, eh!  Jase’s Mum is flying back with us too, so that’ll be fun.

Winter training is ready to kick off full steam ahead – can’t wait to get back into action, and give it some welly – pain and joy here I come

Happy safe training everyone

Cath x

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

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 !!

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