Canada

Well what can I say!!!! Canada this year was a bummer. After all the awesome training I have been doing I had a bum day :( 

The swim was OK I came out a bit slower than I wanted but hey it was such a small part of the day that I jumped on the trusty Trekky and headed out onto the beautiful bike course. Almost immediately I felt something was up. I had very little zipp in my legs and the hills that I love so much in Canada seemed like mountains. Now I could come up with a million excuses for why this happens but I wont bother. New crank length, over training, lack of focus, blood blister forming on my foot.....it could have been any of these things. 

Still I rode in in the same time as last year and thought to myself that in spite of my below par swim/bike combo I had gotten my nutrition right and felt like I was about to redeem myself with a personal best run. 

About 10 kms into it the blood blister that had started on the bike was full blown and now had caused me a bit of a limpy wobble in my stride. The left knee felt the brunt of it and now both my legs were hating on me and I was ready to chuck it all in for the day. 

Suddenly it occurred to me that I had to serve myself up a cup of "Harden the F*&% up" this is my job and I am not a quitter. Pain is temporary and quitting is forever. 

People support me and my dreams and I owe it to them and myself to show some gumption and finish this dam thing off. Six other pro girls had dropped out and I was not going to be one of them. I struggled on and got rewarded in ways that I will be grateful for. 

The best things of my day in Canada is as follows:

1. Having Tristian, Em, Kyle and Ben (even though he is no longer Timex) from Timex cheer for me. 

2. Seeing Erik race and finish in his first Ironman. He was amazing and his smile as he ran down the road reminds me of all that is great in this sport..... YOU WERE AWESOME E MAN!!!!!!

3.Being in the race where Belinda Granger SERVED it up on the bike course!!!! She was the first person I ever met in this sport at my very first race in Sydney Australia and she is still the coolest chick out there!!!

Not to mention HARD CORE!!!

4. Making it home and not letting pride get in the way of a  bad finish time.... I am just not a DNF girl. (Medical DNF excused... not having a crack at you Bree)

5. Having Luke and Jac at the finish line to give me cuddles and remind me that I am blessed to be able to do this for a living and that I have another race in 3 weeks in which I can redeem myself. The season is no where near over!

6. Getting back to our fantastic homestays house and enjoying a glass of wine and a slice of pizza.... Thank you so much Alan and Gwen!!!!!

A big shout out to everyone who sent emails of love and support..... stay tuned for the next one in a few weeks. 

I believe!!!!!

Memphis

Over the border!!!!

The "GT" has done it again. Our super duper camper van has been a super star yet again. We loaded her up with all our stuff + a new scooter and have made the mission up to Penticton. Mind you the poor old lady of the road felt the strain of the 220 pound "SWIZZLE" scooter as she went up and over mountain pass after mountain pass.

You know when you go on a road trip and you see the vintage old camper van creeping so slowly up the hills that you laugh and say"those guys will never make it" .... well that was us yesterday and in 103 degree heat. The GT did not let us down though. She did chew through a few quarts of oil. I am not so sure how green she is but hey we made it!!!!!!

This year's race just may be a scorcher as this part of the world is heating up and even the lake is warm. Last year you did not want to get in with out your wetty but this year it is super toasty. Luke has  taken off and gone for the first of many long rides. I am left to do what I do best in these times of taper.... Go to the farmers market!!!!!! 

Take care , train hard and never eat the whole batch of brownies in one day!!

Memphis x 

Tapering.... how hard is this.

People who do Ironman are maybe a bit strange and perhaps even a touch crazy. We swim, bike and run more than what is considered normal. We obsess about our heart rates, our weight, tyre pressure, power tap readings, how many calories we put in a biddon on a long ride, matching cycle kits and have heated debates on whether or not long compression socks are ruining our sports image. After months of doing all of this while following a program that will hopefully lead us to race day glory of either a PB, a kona slot, a podium or even just the finish line we first must enter the "taper" period. 

Now on paper the "taper" time should be a welcome relief  from all the gnarly training but alas this is where everything goes pear shaped. I personally struggle with slowing down. I always get a touch crazy in the first few days.... I cant sit still. I start baking and cooking. Poor Luke gets food shoved in his face. I obviously cant eat it. I am busy obsessing over my weight and wondering if it is possible to gain 2 kgs in this next 2 weeks. Hopefully NOT!!!!

I know how this all sounds....really I do. I guess I just wanted to write about it so that other people don't think they are crazy. Also if I put it down in a blog then hopefully I will not find the need to talk about it and drive Luke and Joey ( housemate) mad. 

I am filling in the time with some serious Olympic Games watching... GO AUSSIES!!!! Also I have been getting some of the best body work done by Tim Monaco here in Bend. He is a magician and can fix any niggle with just 90 mins on the table. The Golden Turtle has had a little love and is ready for the road trip up to Penticton. 

Luke and I will be packing her up and hitting the road on Friday. 

 See you up there!!!!

Memphis x x 

A moment to remember one in a million!

This week I got the news that my beautiful friend "Lady Penny" lost her life partner, best friend and husband the one in a million "Big Bad Billy". He lost his fight with cancer.

You will be forever missed Billy. 

Memphis x x x x 

2 weeks to go!

Holy Cow!!!! Only two weeks to go. My time has flown. Today Luke, Prue, Jeffo and I went out for my last 6 hour ride. I love Bend. There are endless rides to go on around here. A new one for me today.... Luke likes to keep me guessing. We took off and within 2 and a half hours we had travelled out of town, through the desert and dropped down into one of the most beautiful canyons. I blinked and we were back in town and the six hours was over. 

I took up the position on the couch. Sleeping while trying to watch the olympics!!!! Oh well lucky we have TVO.  

I think we will head up to Canada as soon as in a week. I want to go and practice the decent on that dam Yellow Lake. I am just not a fan of hurling myself down a mountain whilst wrestling with massive cross winds. Also it will be fun to go and train with Kristian and Char. They have been up there for a few weeks now. Kristian is the one responsible for my new deep deep love of running. 

OOOOOh and also "Happy Jac" aka Luke's little sister will arrive here in just over a week and a half. I am so excited. She has been in England with some tall skinny bloke called Guy. Some may know him from your Blue Seventy fitting :) Well he has buggered off to the Olympic's and that means she gets to come hang out with us.... we all know she will be training MUCH harder with us!!!! Ha ha ha 

Well hopefully we will take some cool pictures and post them here soon... this blog is all a bit boring. 

Stay tuned 

Memphis x 

Training for Ironman Canada.

Wow what a few weeks! I have been up here in Bend Oregon and have been training like a woman possessed. I have been on an IM program which my coach wrote for me a few months back. This is VERY new for me as in the past I have been doing what ever I put together or whatever Luke wrote down for me. Over time Luke and I realised that I was just not capable of doing what he does. He has had years of training and I have really just did not have the miles in my legs to follow suit. After IM China this year I made the decision to get a coach. Some people can be coached by anyone but I am a little harder to find a good fit. I can be a little stubborn and I travel a lot so I needed to find someone that was a little more flexible and understanding. 

I had already had a bit of a chat with Kristian at IM Australia earlier in the year. His wife Charlotte is a pro woman and a killer runner so I knew he was onto something. I had to procrastinate a little and I wanted to be sure that I would actually be committed. I have a tendency to start things but not to finish them. Along with the fact that I had a hard time following direction.

After a long chat with Luke I finally realised that if I wanted to become a good athlete with the hope of one day becoming a great athlete then I needed to take this step. 

So here I am 6 weeks later following the program and you know what..... Kristian is a genius! Not only have I made massive improvements but I actually love running now. He has managed to take the mystery out of how to get better. He has broken it all the way down and has built me up. Now I find it weird if I do not run off the bike , I look forward to 2.5 hour runs and find efforts totally rewarding. Who would have ever thought that they would ever hear me say that!!!

I am a realist and I know that this is just the beginning of my IM journey. I have a long way to go and a lot of time time make up on the front of the pack. However now I can actually see how I might actually be able to do it. With the help of Luke and my new coach Kristian of TriSpecific I now understand that a plan.... a really good plan is the other thing that you need to get all the way to that podium one day. Just remember that you along with that your plan you must always BELIEVE and follow the dream that no one else can see. 

Stay true , train hard 

Memphis