"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more."

A. Lou Vickery

Writer

One of the most interesting aspects of my training this year has been the signs warning of `Bear in Area' .. which has a way of motivating me to pick up my cadence either on the bike or run like no coach ever has!

Hey everybody,

First off congrats to Charlene and anyone else that has recently raced........:)

I'm still alive after an interesting experience of racing ....if you can call it that at World's at English Bay.

The weather and the water was by all accounts a real challlenge for the ITU with regards to the age group races on the Saturday. (and Friday)

COLD waters ,chop, and current forced the organizers to scramble and make a decision starting with women 50 and over and all Men

to race a Duathlon.

The Swim was technically 1100m (what the sprint racers had to endure on the friday without the chop,wind, strong currrent (....but, when was a sprint race 1100m ?opps! ) but it was more like god knows........ We were the 2nd last group to enter the water and right way we could tell the conditions were getting worse .I passed people on their backs, swimming breast stroke ,and ,generally floundering, including myself ,in absolute freezing waters . One kayaker manning the race was having so much trouble hanging around a bouy that was madly swinging every which way, (like a large fish attempting to get loose from a net ), that, he flipped....poor bugger......I laughed , then started coughing uncontrollably, (my fault .....being in very cold waters with bronchitis).

The bike was very entertaining ......lots of drafting and groups .....by the time we (the old ladies hit the road ) it was full on .....like the good old days racing Pro......except I didn't have the gas in my legs and my lungs were absolutely burning and I was hacking. Generally speaking I had fun on the bike .....I love Stanley Park with no cars , you get to pretend you're in the tour de france .....yes , I know......tour de france for beginners.with no bike handling skills, but, it's still a thrill.

....mental note.....never race a triathlon with bronchitis in the cold even if it's World's and your kids woke up bloody early to see you cross the finish line..

Then, I got to the run.........pain FULLexpereince.... ( I have a pulled calf muscle /achilles which I had done in a previous race in May)...couldn't feel my feet , good thing ! yet the people cheering were getting excited and my kids at that point were sceaming at the top of their lungs....whether in frustration/crying or joyful glee....who cares! the racers were lapping it up.....then a very strange thing occurred .....50 yr olds were passing me like I was standing still and men were running the other direction at full tilt like a swarm of bees after a loud bang....things got confusing out there. The race course turned into people running everywhere, even , spectators.

My feeling in my legs returned .......bad thing.....I wanted to run on stilts and no feeling ....it's better than the pain of a calf and achilles......I call that being comfortably numb...........anyway, got to the finish, and saw my 4 little faces ....MUMMY!. best part .....they think you're the greatest ....even if you've had a shocker. I came 43rd. I guess ......it's all an experience.....this one ranks in my all time yucks top 10 list . My partner , Andreas, said after the race " you have an all time top 10 worst list ? Then after listening to me hack and wheeze....he said ....".maybe you should go back to the Doctor."...I laughed and started choking........and said "and......say what?" WE then both looked at each other and started laughing ....me choking/laughiing.....yes, that would be a real good story to tell the doctor , who had already given me 2 sets of antibiotics (it's viral bronchitis....they didn't work ) and told me to rest....yes CRAZY! Well doc, I decided to go into the ocean for a swim and then get on bike for a ride with wet clothes on and...........you get the picture.

Instead, the nest day, I endured the humiliation of going to physio the next day and my therapist asked" what's the numbers on the backs of your legs? '''oh" I said...." my kids were drawing on my legs" !

This weekend I'm doing a training race in Whistler called Comfortably NUMB 25km....it's an awesome trail race that covers the northern part of Garabaldi Provincial park . 25km of mountain bike trail that the Whistler Mountain bike assoc created and Kevin Titus ( a great trail runner / winner of Knee Knackers and Vancouver Marathons) thought it would be great to have a running race on this trail and it is a Epic race.....beautiful scenery. As is Rubble creek in September , southern part of Garabaldi ( also 25km) absolutely stunning trail race.....which I hope to do as well.

Some photos of Lees Triathlon 2 wks prior to World's in Stanley Park. I crossed the line after the first 2 males....fun!

Enjoy....hope you're all well......and maybe see some of you in Osooyos in July.

Happy solstice.......everyone!

And ......does anyone have the password for the shutterfly on the Polar web site?

Carolyn;)

The incredibly popular Yaletown Grand Prix takes place Tuesday July 1st in the heart of Yaletown. Don't miss out on your chance to register. Fields are capped at 75 riders and are filling quickly.

Pre-registration: $35.00

Late Reg/Race day: $45.00

Registration deadline: 5:00 PM, Monday, June 30

ITU World photo journal

Race Experience:

Well, another world championship in the history books for me.

I woke up race morning, had everything packed up and ready the night before (except that I had to download my race song to pump me up for the event, and I did that at 5am).

Thank goodness I have such a great family and wonderful friends. I had my cousin, also known as my race captain and sherpa, come to the house and pick me up at 5am (On her weekend …) my mom was up as well to see me off…we drove up to Traci’s house (she was 18th in her heat the day before…not bad at all!) Helen who I run with as well was waiting there to come down and heckle.

My stomach was doing back flips as we drove down First Ave…got to our prime parking spot…I headed on in to transition.

I was VERY lucky on my bike rack as there were only four bikes in total. Other racks had at least eight bikes per rack. I got all my gear ready…walked around, figured out were I needed to go for which run in, bike out…swim in…all that good stuff. It is like no other race…I get to walk up and down the isles looking at girls from Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and Australia even Mexico !

I packed up my wetsuit, took one last look at my gear and then with my pals at my side, we walked “the Green Mile” to the swim start.

When I got to the beach, I saw my WHOLE family and all my friends there…some with tired sleepy eyes and very large coffees!

There were so many people there to watch and support me in this event that I was overwhelmed.

I got my suit on and jumped in the water for a quick warm up, or cool off as it was 12.5 degrees of FREEZING, got out…and lined up for the start…96 girls jammed onto the pontoon, looking as the wind picked up and made the water turn into a white cap washing machine. Gun went off, and we were in it…The temperature did not bother me until about 600 meters, that was where about I lost the feeling in my hands, and the waves were just everywhere, I took in so much water that I was having trouble finding oxygen. I drank so much of that lovely salty motor oil, I was struggling out there, and I knew it…but I pushed through, I just said get it done, try to relax, you’re a good swimmer you can handle this.

After passing by a bunch of girls I was just behind the leaders out of the water, I was happy with that. Ran into transition, Focus...BIKE.  

The transition from swim to bike with frozen hands and frozen feet was not smooth whatsoever…I fumbled out of the suit knocking all my gear off my bike…attempted to put on my jacket (had to stay warm as possible) the first loop of the bike I was fumbling with my jacket trying to do the zipper up, ending up just tucking it in to my shorts…put on gloves….and rode.

I came around the corner and there was a CRAZY group on my left side standing on the side of the course yelling and screaming and jumping around…oh gees…they are all here with me…made me smile…

I passed people going up the hill at Prospect Point and hammer pasted more on the down hill…Four loops later…I was heading in for the run…wait…where are my feet…oh dear…they are frozen solid!

Into transition, that crazy group of people were all standing at the fence yelling at me...I felt like an animal at the zoo…bike to run was much better the swim to bike, tossed the jacket and gloves, put on the runners, chucked the helmet grabbed my POLAR visor and I was outta there!

As for my feet…I was not sure if they were there or if I left them in my bike shoes…just ran as fast as I could...until the cramps hit. Had swallowed so much water that I got the side cramps really bad, I just tried to relax and let them work out. They did, and each lap I ran a little faster and a little faster…by the last lap I had my grove back…I ran down a lot of girls, when I finished I knew I did the best race I could. And it was all because of the family and friends I had there cheering me on. I love those crazy people.

I ended up 50th at a clocking of 2:16:23. My goal was 2:20.

Charlene

Gold - Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:48 Silver - Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:50:12 Bronze - Reto Hug (SUI) 1:50:17


4th - Hendrik de Villiers (RSA) 1:50:18 5th - Matthew Reed (USA) 1:50:27 6th - Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:50:27 7th - Igor Sysoev (RUS) 1:50:28 8th - Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:50:31 9th - Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 1:50:32 10th - Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:50:34</font>

Saturday was dry, and the sun eventually turned up. But the water temperature was 12.5 degrees in English Bay and there was some chop.

The AWAD group and women through the 50 year ago group had the opportunity to complete a triathlon; the race organizers opted for a duathlon for the rest of the women and all of the men.

I have been meaning to get a few pitures up from the Westside Cycling Classic .... Sorry ladies, I was not able to get close enough to Trevor Linden to get a picture of him in his riding gear.   I guess the weather was better in Vancouver compared to that in Oliver, albeit still on the cool side.

The Bike Gallery did a wonderful job wth the wheel support and made some new friends as I worked the Polar tent on their behalf.   A good day of racing, although I did overhear one lady say "I hoped to see more crashes" - I wondered if she was always that positive .   The Symmetrics team were the big winners for the elite.

Here are few pictures from the event.  

Duncan

From Maxime Talbot of the Pittsburgh Penguins, explaining how he was feeling after the Penguins rebounded late in Game 5 and won in overtime. He scored the goal in the final minute to tie the game.

“Obviously, mentally you feel good,” he said. “You know that you have to focus on Game 6. Physically, you just try to do what's going to make you feel better.

“But I think physically, it's more mentally than anything, if you can understand what I'm saying,” Talbot added as his audience roared with laughter. “Because I can't.”

Have awesome races at the ITU Worlds this week ..

Looking forward to some post race comments from both of you.