Challenge Penticton Part 1 - coffee with Mark Allen & Macca

Then adventure continues…read the first part of my week racing Ironman Kalmar here

Onto the next week which involved 24 hours at home, 50 hours of travel, 1 tattoo, 26.2 miles, 1 awesome relay team, meeting 3 legends - Chris “Macca” McCormack, Mark Allen & Lothar Leder. 

So I finish Ironman and straight into recovery mode because what sounds like a better idea than resting? A marathon at Challenge Penticton the weekend after!  First up recovery protocol, pay close attention because this is very scientific. 

Step 1: Chocolate…that’s all I wanted in the food tent, everything else the thought of made my stomach turn.  Luckily they had stocked it with a variety of quality chocolate for me to gorge myself on.  Mmm especially the hazelnut cream truffles.

Step 2: Beer.  A conveniently placed pub right by the finish line provided the recovery fluids I required, if I’ve learned anything from Macca its that plenty of post race hydration is important and beer is a great delivery system.

Step 3: Big juicy hamburger with fries.  I just crave this after races, and again one of the few things that don’t turn my stomach after a day of sports drink.

(Hydration)

Recovery – Check.

As for the next 7 days before the Challenge Penticton Marathon, recovery and preparation involved one 15 minute run, 8 hours of travel back to Scotland, 1 tattoo, 23 hours of flights and lay overs to Canada, compression up to my eye balls, and wine.  I was taking this very seriously :p

So the question I get most often - why the hell would you do a marathon the week after your first Ironman?

Well Macca had set up a relay team for the first Challenge Penticton race to represent MaccaX.  Originally Macca was going to do the swim leg, until Ironman took over Copenhagen causing him to drop out and decide to do the full race at Penticton.  Things got shuffled around and then unfortunately their runner had to drop out which left them a leg short a couple weeks out from the race.  Knowing that my family is around there he asked if I would be able to jump in last minute to take over the run leg, how could I say no?  I was wondering how that conversation would go with my husband and my coach, so I know I’m doing my first Ironman in a few days…what do you think about a marathon the week after?  A few incredulous conversations and I had buy in from both...well maybe not buy in…more like a “You’re insane, but have fun” kind of response.

So I was in.  At the very least it will be a fun time, a great story, and this time I was determined to cross the finish line standing up.

Unpack, repack, and hit the airport. 

 (Given up packing nicely at this point)

The best part of this race was that there was zero stress, zero expectations so I could enjoy the pre race atmosphere.  Such a stark difference from the week before.

First up on Thursday hit the expo and get to meet my relay team!  It has been so cool going to races around the world and already knowing people at these races, but great to meet them in person.  So we head to the registration tent and….the team doesn’t exist.  What?  We are definitely not signed up for the race, ok send off a message to Macca hopefully they can get us signed up before race day!  After that we cruise around looking at all the goodies, barely containing whipping out the credit card at every tent.  Ohh and they had my Shiv there…by my Shiv I mean the one I’ve been drooling over and dreaming about replacing my entry level bike with, a bike that wont break on me!

(Kick ass team!)

(*drool*)

Gotta love small towns, end up running into Macca at the end of his bike ride checking out the run course (which he neglected to tell me how hilly it was!) so let him know about the team and he said he would get it sorted out.  Next day we met him at registration and team “Embrace the Suck” was born.

(Macca & Team Embrace the Suck)

Then I got to meet one of the biggest legends of triathlon, Mark Allen.  He was around promoting Mark Allen online, and I was invited along when him and Macca went for coffee. I’m fascinated with this sport and want to learn as much as possible so this was entertaining just to hear about the old days and the politics of triathlon.

(Coffee with legend Mark Allen)

On to Race Day

…Tomorrow.  This has become so long I will have to break it up, so stay tuned tomorrow for part 2!  The race, and after party with Macca and Lothar Leder.

Long Run Magic

18 miles.  I've run this distance only a handful of times in the build up for the marathon.  Usually feeling broken down and exhausted by the end, starting to hunch over as my form gave in, and watching the watch closely waiting for it to hit the mark so I could stop.  Thinking about the fact there would be another 8.2 miles to make it to the marathon finish line.

That is worlds away from how I felt today.

I didn't know how I would feel after Fridays weight lifting and monster bike ride, I actually woke up this morning feeling some heaviness in my legs that has been lacking for a while.

Last week was an eye opener; I wasn't allowed to wear my heart rate monitor, and even though I was running through a hail/rain/snow storm, It was so freeing just to run, with no pace, HR or distance in mind.  This week I had a HR monitor and a ceiling, so I just set my watch to Alert me if I hit 175 bpm set it on a screen that told me nothing of importance and just ran.

The sun was out (a rarity in Scotland), I had zero expectations on pace or distance and took it nice and easy to start.  I felt so relaxed, just smiling to myself that it was a beautiful day and everything felt smooth and efficient in my body.  Its so easy to get tied up in numbers and expectations, putting more stress and pressure on yourself to perform.  While structure is needed, and you cant always run nice and easy if you want to race fast, its nice just to have that run where its all about how you feel and enjoying just being out there.

I let my body dictate this run completely.  I started out easy, in zone 1 for the first bit, built up to zone 2.  I let my effort ebb and flow, pushing a bit when it felt right and backing it off when I felt like it.  Smiling to myself as everything was feeling good, no tightness, no soreness,  I've never run this distance without feeling like something was breaking down before today.

Even better, once I got home and uploaded the data, I ran the same course I did last week, with an extra 2 miles and more hills at 7:46/mile pace, compared to 7:53 last week.  I cant believe some of the numbers I'm seeing, my Half Marathon PR was at 8:00 min pace!

I love seeing the improvements each week, but even better how good I've felt doing it.  Between training at MAF, and incorporating strength training I have a foundation that can now be built off of.  I don't remember the last time I've had an ache or pain, that I just assumed was part of running before.

Off to visit my friend the foam roller, and focus on recovery so I'm ready for some intensity next week. One thing I'm looking forward to is a Retul Bike Fit on Monday.  Time to get some free speed by fine tuning my bike fit.

Run with a smile!

Carpe Diem