About Me

I am a mother of three very hungry, busy boys. A Wife to a helicopter pilot and my most amazing support and sponsor of my triathlon lifestyle! I am the owner of Perseverance Multisport Coaching in Whistler, BC. I coach athletes competing in short to long course distance triathlons. I started racing triathlon in 2003 in my first sprint distance race and gradually worked my way up to the Ironman level racing. This past July, I completed my 9th Ironman Canada race! In 2009, My goal one day is to qualify for Ironman Hawaii World Championships and show my boys that with a lot of commitment, hard work and determination "Anything is Possible"! I hope that I can instill the love of sport and living life to its fullest every day to my boys and to everyone I am able to share my healthy triathlon lifestyle with!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

How much can you pack in on the Canada Day Weekend???




Thursday July 1st... Canada Day... Holiday?... For some, maybe. For Jordan, he spent his morning with an Oral Surgeon and had all four of his impacted 'wisdom teeth' removed! Ouch!!!

Loving the Tylenol #3's and post IV sedation buzz!!
"RICE"
Rest-Ice-Compress-Elevate
Jordan didn't enjoy the ice part. Too funny!
I couldn't keep the ice packs on him very long. Not a lot of tolerance for ice therapy! After making a couple of batch's of Jello, organizing Grandma to come in the morning with a grocery list of "soft foods" I was onto my bike for two hours and then a hill run for an hour while Jordan slept. Then I was madly packing for my 3 day training weekend in Penticton, BC on the Ironman Canada Race course with Rhonda and Sarah.


We arrived in Penticton Friday afternoon, unloaded our bikes at the Hotel, shopped for groceries, ate dinner, and prepared for the next days training. First thing Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn and out at Okanagan Lake to start our 1.5 hour lake swim.

After the swim it was back to the hotel for breakfast while we watched the Prologue for the Tour de France. Feeling incredibly inspired, we packed our camel backs and headed out for our 2:45 hour run on the hilly section of the marathon course. After spending one of the coldest springs we have had, I was not able to handle the temperature changes from the mild cooler Island temperatures to the dry hotter conditions in Penticton. I had to cut my run short as my head was spinning and I chose to lay in the lake, completely clothed, while Sarah and Rhonda finished the last 15 minutes. We made a pit stop at Whole Foods, picked up some fresh Chocolate Milk from one of the local farmers and headed back to the hotel to do a recovery ride and spin out our legs for around an hour. Dinner and wine was consumed back in our hotel, then bottle filling and nutrition calculations were made for the morning 180 km bike ride on the IMC course.

Sunday morning was not as warm, (for Sarah & Rhonda) they decided to use their arms warmers. I did not need them, as it was actually warmer than what I was used to.

We rode our little hearts out and conquered Richter Pass (11km of climbing), the rollers after Richter and then the head winds heading into Cawston and the out and back. Just as we were about to make our way to the final climb of Yellow Lake, Sarah's tire split open and we found ourselves on the side of the road wondering how the hell we were going to get her a new tire to ride the last 45 km of the course. Luckily I had used some hockey tape to secure my aero bottle and we used a few pieces of that to hold together the tire and Sarah's flat was fixed and we were on our way again. I would say we were not totally confident that the tape would hold, so Sarah road very carefully along the smoothest parts of the road and avoided all rocks, pebbles, etc. in order to limp her way back to the hotel. If anyone knows the IMC bike course, you know that we had some of the hardest cycling ahead of us. The climb to Yellow Lake was uneventful and a little celebration was had by my fantastic friend Rhonda who has come so far over the last 7 years physically and mentally. Rhonda told me that in 2002 she and her mom watched IMC. As they were standing at the top of Richter Pass watching all the incredibly fit Ironman athletes, Rhonda said to her mom, "That is absolutely nuts! Can you imagine ever riding your bike up that mountain?" "Never!" Now my friend you are one of those incredibly fit athletes and a mighty fine looking one I might add!!! I told Rhonda to enjoy the course, ride her little heart out, and I would stay back to make sure Sarah did not blow another tire and be left behind. The video of Rhonda squealing with delight says it all.

Unfortunately, Sarah's tire did blow again! With only 15km to go, Rhonda and I rode our little hearts out back to the hotel to pick up the car and retrieve our stranded friend! This called for yet another pit stop at Whole Foods for more chocolate milk!!!

Our day ended (7.5 hours later) with dinner at "Salty's" on Lakeshore Drive! It was a spectacular end to a great couple of days of pushing our bodies to the limit!


Monday morning we had the best intentions of getting up early and swimming again in the lake, but it was going to be over 9 hours of travel time for me to get back to the Island, so we called it a weekend and headed back to reality.


My reality came within 30 minutes of me traveling on the highway with a phone call from my middle son, Nathan, who informed me that he had some news from his friend Cade that they decided to head out to Mexico for 3 weeks and Nathan was invited and I needed to get all the travel documents and packing ready for him to leave first thing Wednesday morning!!! What??? Seriously???!!!


I'm not totally sure I am ok with letting my 13 year old travel down to Mexico for three weeks. I think I am in a bit of shock and disbelief that he is actually going. We said our Good-Byes this afternoon as they are planning an early start tomorrow, so Cade picked Nathan up and away they went! It will be a lot more quiet around here with one less boy! Be safe my Nathan!! I love you!!

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