Ironman: Its Always Epic.

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling excited. Always a good sign; “today I get to do Ironman!” Everything went smoothly on race morning and I jumped in the water 20mins early for a warm up. I couldn’t wait for the race to start so my nervousness would stop.

I had an awesome swim. I had a feeling I would. My swimming has improved tonnes, largely thanks to Clint’s training smarts and the new long course elite group he is coaching in Victoria. It’s been very good for me. In my journal I wrote 53.30 as a best case scenario for the swim. I swam 53.27. That was inconceivable last year.

On the bike I knew right away that my legs were feeling heavy, but you cant dwell on crap like that in a race. If you feel bad, its too bad, but today is Ironman day and you have to keep moving. I was riding a disk wheel that Lori Bowden gave me (of all people!). I have never even met her, but she is a good friend of Clint’s and so I inherited a very nice 650 Zipp disk to go on my baby Cervelo.

The conditions were windy and everyone suffered as a result, seemingly with the exception of Tereza Macel who was absolutely flying. She biked faster than my little brain can conceive. My stomach also felt off on the bike, but again, you cant dwell on these things, just make good decisions and try to get the calories in the best you can.

Starting the run I knew I might be in trouble and really felt like shit. But this is Ironman day and I cant change it, so its either run or quit. The latter was very tempting. At mile 4, I was running in about 8^th or 9^th and Clint said, “You can catch at least 5 girls.” This was the perfect thing to say and so I kept running. And one by one, I picked them off, never feeling good, but still moving forward faster than those around me. At mile 20, I overtook Janelle Morrison (who, kudos to her, had her own problems out there and still finished 3^rd!). Its tough overtaking another “runner” at mile 20 of an Ironman, because, unlike some of the other girls, she was actually moving forward at a fair clip and I was scared she might latch on and we might have a battle on our hands. I was in no mood for battling. As it turned out, I just went past and very slowly pulled away.

It happened at mile 23, just after the mile marker. In the space of a minute I went from running reasonably well to walking and staggering all over the road. I bonked hard and it wasn’t pretty. The medics were there immediately trying to coerce me into the ambulance with promises of a nice bed and some morphine. It was very tempting. But in the end, the nice ambulance man (from Victoria!) walked an entire mile with me to get me safely to the next aid station. It was touch and go whether I was going to finish.

I gobbled down loads at the aid station, then walked the final 2 miles to the finish. Ironman #15 done and dusted.

There’s one thing I can say about Ironman: its always epic.

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Office Romance: The Athlete’s Perspective.

This blog is a response to Clint’s blog, Office Romance, www.clintlien.blogspot.com

What’s it like to be coached by your boyfriend?

I am often asked this question. And while the relationship feels so natural from the inside, I can remember posing the same question myself to friends in similar situations in the past.

My first thought is always the same; it only works because we are a true partnership. I don’t deal well with being told what to do. After many years in the sport, I know myself fairly well and I find I have the greatest confidence in the training program when we write it together.

As such, the coaching relationship becomes an extension of our total partnership. We make decisions together about how to get me to peak fitness in just the same way that every couple makes decisions together about important things like buying a house, or parenting a child. We discuss all the issues and then we decide. Its really very simple. More often than not we are thinking the same thing anyway.

In all honesty, I think of Clinton as my boyfriend pretty much 100% of the time. I recognize that he is a good coach because I get to watch him coach others, and as a result, I respect him and his opinion on matters of training and racing.

In his post, Clint said I made him feel like he has the final say. I suspect he is just sensing my respect for him, because in all honesty, he makes me feel the same way.

After my bike ride went poorly in Lake Stevens, he questioned whether he gives me his best, but I have no such question. He does.

Accountability runs deep when you are dating your coach. If things go badly, I am not just letting down someone who I pay a couple hundred bucks a month online, but I am letting down my partner. This both adds pressure and is motivating on a new level for me.

I really wanted to race at Lake Stevens last weekend because at the Calgary 70.3, I got a taste of what I might be capable of, but felt I was really affected by the altitude. I wanted another shot at the distance. So, we agreed that Lake Stevens could fit into my training plan and off we went. In the few days before the race, it became apparent that I wasn’t recovering as well as we had hoped.

The outcome was that I had no power on the bike and the hilly course spanked me hard. I came off the bike 20mins down, worried that I might be crushing myself with view to Ironman Canada in 2 week’s time.

One downside to being coached by my partner is that the whole process carries an emotional weight that it might not otherwise. For example, out on that bike course, I was worrying about him worrying about me. I knew he would be thinking that I might have crashed. I saw him as I pulled into T2 and tears welled up in my eyes. I also didn’t know what to do. I needed a coach who could read my mind and tell me if I should run or not!!

Though good, Clint’s not that good, so I started running thinking it was a ‘transition run’ in my ‘training session’. ‘I’ll just do 5k.’

But, after 5k, I knew I was moving well, so I continued, 5km at a time, until I hit the finish line.

As a coach myself, I know that it’s fairly easy to make a beginner faster. Its not really too difficult to take someone who has been training poorly and to make them faster. It is quite a bit more difficult to take someone who has been training well for 6 years and find that extra 5% that will raise that person to the next level. So, it is this difficult task that we are working on together, and frankly, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Coaching together in Penticton.

At a family wedding.

Next stop IMC.

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