Off On The Right Foot

This is my first blog in a couple of months, and as I write this, I’m on my way to Boulder to train for the summer, but first I should back track to where I left off in March.…

I had been struggling since last August with pain on the ball of my right foot, and after an inconclusive MRI in November, 5 weeks off running in December, and  months of  therapy, I finally decided in March to get a second opinion and a second MRI which would show a more localized area of my foot. To make a long story short, the MRI showed a large neuroma between my second and third toes, and a partial tear in the plantar plate ligament at the base of my second toe. A week later, Dr Carriero removed the neuroma and repaired the plantar plate ligament. 10 days in a walking boot, 4 weeks off biking, 9 weeks off running and a record number of swim practices later, and I’m back on the road to starting my 2014 racing season. A little bump in the road, but thankfully, not too big a setback.:)

A BIG thank you to Dr Carriero at Core Orthopaedic in Encinitas for diagnosing my foot injury, and giving me a happy foot once again. Also, a BIG thank you to Pam Cloud, my PT for putting me through endless lunges, jumping and bounding drills of every kind – I’m ready for the circus now if this triathlon thing doesn’t pan out.

Onwards and upwards to a great summer ahead!

Boulder bound and looking for luck.

March Running Tunes!

Here are my four latest downloads to my running iPod. Enjoy!

 

2014 Sponsors and Groundhog Predictions

For 2014, I'm happy to announce that I've returned to Cervelo as my bike sponsor. Growing up in Canada, I had close ties to this leading edge bike company early in my triathlon career, and was sponsored by them from 2008 through 2010. I'm very excited to be back with Cervelo for 2014, and grateful to continue my sponsorship with some of the best companies in the sport who have supported me over the last few years : TYR, First Endurance, FuelBelt, Cobb Saddles, Zipp, SRAM, and Saucony. I'm also excited to be wearing D2 Shoes.

I love this time of year because it's the time to put in base miles on the bike and run, and there's nothing I like better than going out for a long ride or run. Living in Southern California, it's sometimes easy to forget that it's winter when it's 70 degrees and sunny in February, but as Mr Groundhog reminded us today, there's actually six more weeks to winter. Not good news in other parts of the country I'm sure, but a happy reminder that there's still time to get out and enjoy those long days on the bike, building up a solid base before race season starts. As one of my favorite poems reminds me,

"The heights by great men reached and kept
 Were not attained by sudden flight
 But they while their companions slept
 Were toiling upward in the night" -Longfellow

Onwards and upwards!

HAPPY 2014!

Out with the old, in with the new! Best wishes for a great start to 2014, and a year filled with good health, happiness and success!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With Christmas just two days away (yikes!), I figured it was about time for me to update my blog. I'm sad to see 2013 come to an end as it was a better year for me than I could ever have hoped for - a faster recovery than I had anticipated from my two hip surgeries, an amazing summer training in Boulder, and a race season highlighted by 2nd and 3rd place finishes at Leadman Bend and Leadman Tempe. Now that I've had a little off season break, (from training and, umm, blogging too), it's back to work to get ready for an early start to the 2014 season.....more exciting news on that to come later!:) To my family, friends and all of my sponsors who supported me this year, a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2014!

LEADMAN BEND EPIC 125

I've just returned from Leadman Bend, without a doubt the coldest race I've ever done, but also one of the most challenging and spectacular courses I've raced on. As I've been getting back into race shape over the last 6 months, the Leadman series has been a great distance for me - 2.5km swim, 106km bike and 16.5km run (shortened to 12km this past weekend).

I guess I could chalk it up to ignorance as a Canadian for not being aware of the fall temps in Oregon, but it was a bit of a shock to wake up to 38 degree air temp and 56 degree water temp race morning! I spent the early part of the bike blowing on my hands to bring them back to life, and wondering how I would overcome the challenge of opening my gels and gripping my water bottle with frozen fingers (note to self : full fingered gloves next time!). Somewhere around the last 30km of the ride, we started our decent back down into lower altitudes and thankfully I started to thaw out and the shivering came down a few notches.

The run was a beautiful undulating 12km loop around a golf course on the north west side of Bend. Although much warmer than earlier in the day, I was still feeling the effects of the cold when with 3km left to go, I mistakenly took a slight detour when I saw an arrow for golf course parking. I was thankful to the car coming towards me who woke me from my stupor and told me that I was going the wrong way!

I finished the race as 2nd place female and 8th overall - very happy to have another race under my belt for this season, and happy to survive the adverse conditions. An added bonus was finishing under 5hrs (4:37) and claiming a belt buckle. Thanks Leadman for putting on such a great race!

Last Days in Boulder. Yup, Still Here!

Well, here it is the last day of August and I'm squeezing in a blog post so I can say I didn't skip the month of August. Actually, I can NOT believe how fast the summer here in Boulder has gone. I came here the beginning of May planning to stay a few weeks, changed my ticket to stay until Muncie 70.3 mid July, then decided it would be great to have another month of training at altitude, and just last week changed my ticket to stay until September 12th. What can I say except that it's been an amazing summer training in Boulder!:)

The main reason I decided to stay in Boulder after my last race in mid July was to put in a bigger block of training, and then back load the rest of my season. The riding here is the best of anywhere that I've ever trained. It's amazing to be able to head out in the mountains for a long day of riding, knowing that I'll likely encounter only one, at most two traffic lights. And I've never been a trail runner, but Boulder has so many trails to choose from, that it's hard not to become a trail runner, even for someone with flipper feet like myself. But now after the last 6 weeks of hard training, I'm looking forward to and even starting to dream about tapering for my next race. I'll head back to San Diego on Sept 12th, and then head to Bend, Oregon for Leadman Bend on Sept 21st. Can't wait!:)

This month also marks a year since my second hip surgery last August. I've had a few people reach out to me in the last month either with the same injury or recovering from the same surgery. Looking back over the last year, I have absolutely no regrets and I'm so thankful that I made the decisions that I made. I look back to a year ago when I couldn't sit without pain and couldn't ride in my aerobars. And then I look ahead to this year when I'm training and racing full time with no hip pain, and I couldn't be happier. One chapter closes and another one opens. Onwards and upwards!