A day in vancouver: Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is on Vancouver's north shore. To get there Jason and I walked to the sea bus (about 30 minutes via a couple of sightseeing spots on the way), then took the sea bus. Once over at the North Shore we caught a bus to Grouse Mountain. It was great being able to negotiate public transport on our very first morning in Canada!!!

Below is how we got to the top of grouse mountain, an 8 minute gondola journey (these gondolas could take over 100 guests at a time!!!)

Jason at the top, in the snow (in Summer), it was actually a really beautiful day up in the mountains... the best day of our whole trip as the weather packed it in not long after:

There was an amazing bird show at the top of the mountain with 5 birds. They flew them through the crowd, just millimetres above people's heads!

Another one of the amazing birds in the bird show:

The bears at the top of the mountain had only just come out of hibernation and were fighting with each other, we got a whole series of amazing fighting shots. They were really smelly as you can imagine after a winter of sleeping!!!!

Me posing with the massive stutues at the top of the mountain, they were amazing!

Me throwing my first ever snow ball:

This is me cracking up at throwing my first ever snow ball at Jason, I don't think it got him, I was too worried about getting the camera.

One of the massive carvings, they were amazing!!!! and huge (just like most things in Canada I think).

This is the view of Vancouver from the top of the Mountain... we are pretty high up here. The green bush at the bottom right of the photo is the park that we raced around for the World Champs. This is known as Stanley Park.

Jason was SOOOOO not impressed that I made him have this photo with the "Bear". I laugh every time that I see this as his reaction was so funny. His face says it all I think.
I was getting a bit tired about now as we had been out all day but this park was in between Grouse Mountain and the Suspension Bridge. My ankles were still swollen from the flight and the grass was so lush and beautiful to walk on, it was heavenly.

Jason and I on our very first self timer shot... it was hilarious, we were using the big lense so Jason had to run about 40 metres frem where the camera was set up to where we were standing for the photo. He was fully puffed and people were staring at us like we were crazy! But it worked and it shows how big the mountains were:

A day in vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge

The day after we arrived in Vancouver we also visited the Capilano suspension bridge, here is the entrance:

We arrived at about 5pm so there wasn't too many people there which was great. Lots of people were pretty scared crossing the bridge (below), it was amazing how much it moved.

Here's a pond at the other side of the bridge:

This was a really great pond at the suspension bridge, it had massive goldfish in it and jumping trout:

The trees are really tall round here:

Jason up in the treetops walk at the Capilano suspension bridge:

Here I am up in the treetops walk:

Triathlon World Champs- Vancouver 2008

This was my third world championship for Triathlon (2005 Standard Distance in Hawaii- 22nd age group and 2006 Long Distance in Canberra- 17th Elite) and 5th world championship in total (I competed at two Canoe Polo World Championships- Adelaide in 1996 and as the New Zealand Women’s team captain in Essen, Germany in 2002).

Here is the "site of the triathlon", this was where the race start, finish, expo and merchandise tents were set up. This was our view from our room... great location:

This race was a stepping stone towards my long term goal to medal at the 2009 World Championship to be held on the Gold Coast in September 2009… My goal was to get a top 10 result this year and to see what I need to work on in order to make the podium in 09. I came 10th this year so was very pleased to achieve my goal and now I know what I need to do over the next 440 odd days until the 2009 Worlds.

Triathlon is a summer sport (or that is usually the case) but I can tell you we did not get greeted with summer conditions in Vancouver at all. The race organisers told us to expect water temperatures around 16 – 17 degrees and similar air temperatures for the race. This was not the case. Vancouver was REALLY cold! The water temperature was only 11 degrees and the air temperature between 8 – 12 degrees… this did not include the wind chill factor. Most athletes were not prepared for this cold snap that hit Vancouver. Luckily I come from Wellington and that the two final weeks here were also pretty miserable. Given that, I still struggled with the cold and I was paranoid about getting sick! It was so cold that the organisers cancelled the opening ceremony and parade of nations as well. They didn’t want the athletes hanging around in the cold!

So as well as the cold I also had to deal with cycling, swimming and running on the wrong side of the roads/swim lanes and footpaths! This was harder than it sounds, has anyone tried to tumble turn the wrong way in a swimming pool? And never having driven on the other side of the road, the first roundabout I encountered on my bike was a mess! Once I got my lefts and rights sorted out my final 9 days of training went ok.

The Thursday before my race all athletes were invited to swim the course in an organised course familiarisation session. This was my first long session in the cold water and I was really shocked at just how cold the water was. I have never swum in temperatures that cold! I could barely manage 3 strokes before I had to pull my head out and stop! My breathing was a mess and I my feet, hands and forehead were all really painful… until they went totally numb that is! Here I am before the practice swim and very cold after the swim... down jacket, woollen hat, hottie, duvet, woollen socks and a cup of tea!!

Race day dawned and at 5.45 am I headed off to transition (1.5 km walk from the start line), although it was cold I really enjoyed the walk and it was great to clear my head. Once I set up my gear I headed back to the start line to get ready. I had decided to do a good warm up in the water, there were various schools of thought on this but I know how much better I am having got in the water.

This is me walking to the race start (by the way Vera's does great burgers for post race meals):

After about 10 or so minutes acclimatising to the extremely cold water I joined the other 80 odd competitors in my age group ready for the start. As we lined up ready to go I noticed that the wind had started to come up and the sea was looking a bit wavy. This got me excited as I am a strength swimmer and the rougher the conditions the better I am. Here is my age group race start:

Once I started swimming I realised how much harder the conditions were. The first 200 metres of swimming nearly bought on a cold water asthma attack for me and I had to hold back a back to keep that in control. I exited the water in 6th place. This was so exciting for me and the best ever swim finish I have ever had. The hard yards are paying off. Here I am leaving the water, my hands were so cold I decided not to finish taking off my wetsuit until I warmed up slightly!!!

The bike was 4 laps around Stanley Park with a hill climb and super fast descent each lap. Again a course that suited me. I really loved the ride, but lost 2 places here. Here I am on one of ther corners... and with my new helmet:

By the time I started the run I was nearly thawed out, my toes were still a little numb but I soon forgot that. It seems like a very similar refrain here but I really enjoyed the run as well... there was lots of little rises and one sharp rise which played to my strengths as an athlete. I also ran a triathlon 10km pb on the course, and was only 10 sec off my straight 10km run pb as well.
All in all a great day. I enjoyed every leg and achieved the goal I set 18 months ago. Who could ask for more??

By the way the emergency blankets on the finish line helped:

Last week in New Zealand

So I only have 5 more sleeps till I leave for Canada and I still have an awful lot to do... training, work, packing, tidying the house, altitude simulation sessions.... the list goes on. But I am ready to race which is an awesome space to be in right now.

I have my actual race time now... 7.25am and there is 85 athletes in my age group. I will be finished my race before some of the men even start!!

Well I don't have much more news and this will probably be my last post before we leave so watch this space for the first report from Canada.

Last big brick done!!

Well today was the last big training brick for this campaign. I had a 3 km swim, 2 hour ride with 45km tempo and a 5km run at race pace.

The swim included:
8 * 50 m explosive kick
3 *(4 * 50 m max, 3 * 100m race pace on 1.30 and 200m easy pull)

The ride included 45km tempo at:
15km just below race pace
15km at race pace
15km above race pace
Each 15km included a climb up Ngaio Gorge.

The run was a 5km at race pace. I did my first ever sub 20 min 5km off the bike in this session which was really awesome!

So all in all a great session to end the really, really hard training leading up to Vancouver.

Looking ahead I still have a few tough sessions to go but none of this length.

At the time of writing this post I am just 13 days and 7 hours away from racing

World Champs websites and race time

Here are two websites where you may be able to find race information up to and on the day:

http://www.triathlon.org/worldchamps.php

http://www.triathlonvancouver.com/

My race time is 6.45 am (not sure of exact wave start time yet) Saturday 7th June (Vancouver time)...

This is Sunday 8th June 1.45am NZT and Saturday 7th June 11.45pm Australian time. So by Sunday morning you will be able to wake up and find out how I have done :-) I promise not to send text messages when I finish and wake you up (approx. 4.05 am and 2.05am NZ and Aus time respectively).

15 days till race day...

So I am sitting at work with just 15 days to go till race day (and only 7 till we leave the country) and I just can't get motivated to work. I am distracted like I never have been. My body is tired and sore from all the hard sessions that I am been doing and I am worried that we won't have enough money for our trip! But I am looking forward to racing.

My goals for the race are:

1. Enjoy the race;
2. Have the best swim, bike and run that I can have;
3. Maintain focus and give it everything I have.

If these three goals come together on race day then I will be pleased. The goal for this year's world champs was to go and see what I might need to do to podium in the 2009 World Champs. I need to see where I am at in my age group and I will then have over a year to focus on building the skills I need for 2009.

In terms of the course I think that it will suit me.... the bike is a 4 lap course with a 2-3 km 6% climb and a 3km fast downhill for each lap. The run course is a 3 lap course with a gradual 400m climb each lap. This course seems to be a strength based course which suits me. So definitely looking forward to it.

The swim is a one lap point to point swim with a beach start. I am technically better at beach starts over deep water starts so that suits me too. I just need to get good goggles for it now as the last few Scorching Bay races I had issues with my goggles coming off in the beach start!

That's about all from me. I am going to carry on writing my to do and packing lists now :-)

More Rarotonga photos....

Here are some more photos from Rarotonga... This first one is of the Thursday swim race start. I am number 8 in the white cap.

Here is a photo of the main road in Rarotonga on race day, if you look closely at the photo you can see the rough road surface that bruised my arms while riding on my aero bars!!!

And here I am crossing the finish line... looking VERY tired!

Raro photos

Here is a random selection of Rarotonga pictures.... just to give a flavour of what it was like...

Fruit and vegetables on the back of a truck at the market.

The beautiful hibiscus flower (my attempt at being arty)

One random beach.... the camera does not really capture how lovely it was

This is the view across Muri lagoon from the backpackers one morning.... so nice!

Random shots of palm trees :-)

My trophy for winning the race (was not allowed to take this one home... I have a shell one that I was allowed to keep).

My wheels for the week... the blue one over the back is mine.

Hehehe the men's toilet sign at the sailing club...

And the women's...

Me before the thursday night swim race...

Me after winning the race

Me back at the backpackers later in the day....

Quick update from Raro... more tomorrow

Hi all, here is a quick update from Raro... I WON the triathlon!!! Yay! I get return airfares back here as part of my prize! So stoked right now.

Backing up a few days I came third female and 7th overall in the round the boiler swim which I was also really pleased with. It was a very technical surf swim with waves breaking over the coral reef. I didn't read the water very well... just didn't know how really. One minute I was fine, the next the coral was nearly scraping my chest!!! Great tough swim though as a lead in to the main race.

This morning started with the ehaviest downpour I have ever cine across... I was a bit worried that the bike might be dangerous but lunchtime hit and the temperature shot up, the rain went away and the humidity levels increased. I knew that I was in for a tough one. In the bolier swim (800m) I was behind the lead 2 women by 40 seconds so I prepared myself to be over a minute behind the girls after the 1500m swim, but I had the SWIM OF MY LIFE!!! at one stage I was with the lead groiup of men. I came out on the lead swimmers toes... having drafted a good portion of the race so stoked with this. I paid for it a bit in the first 10 -15 km of the bike though. But pulled away from the other girls within about a km. In the middle of the ride there was the steepest nastiest hill you could ever imagine. I was in my granny gear and standing!!! and I like hills. I went through 2 full bottles of replace on the ride. About 1.14 for 42.5km so pleased with that effort.

THe run... I didn't know what sort of lead I had from the ride so hit the run hard, at the first turnaround I hit the timer and found I had a 3 min lead on the second place female. Really stoked s I increased this to a 5 min lead by the end of the run. The run was hot hard and tough. There werre aid stations every 1.25km with sponges and water which I needed.

We finished the race to be given nu coconuts to drink and this is the best thing to have after a race./... totally awesome.

I thjen got interviewed by rarotongan TV. All in all I just had a primo day.... and am really pleased. Its so nice to have a race that things go well for.

Yay

I will post phots when back in NZ as well as some stories about the rest of my trip.