Training begins...

After the 2009 race season there was a nice break before the Ironman training would begin. Awwww, two weeks later it began...lol! Between October and January I maintained my fitness level by swimming 2 days per week, cycling 3 days per week, and running 3 days per week. The idea is to build on your distance gradually and allow time for recovery. I am following a schedule through the Toronto Triathlon Club that builds on distance for three weeks followed by a recovery week. In the Fall I purchased a trainer so that I could cycle indoors through the winter. The contraption fastens to the back of my bike so that it is stationary while having the benefits of riding your own bike indoors. How nice not to worry about the weather conditions and hop on my bike in the comfort of my own living room! As a very essential training tool I watched episodes of Sex and the City to pass the time. After many hours of cycling and watching 94 episodes, as well as, the movie I am unfortunately no closer to understanding the male gender. Now I have moved onto other movies and TV series, I'm hooked on Dexter currently so if anyone has beyond season 2 I would like to borrow, pretty please? Thanks Dave lending me all your DVD's!

By the new year in January 2010 everything became a strategy! Mornings are consumed with training and preparing meals for the day. The night before has been all about packing for the upcoming day. Sometimes I get tired just thinking about, now it is like second nature. Schedules, schedules, and more schedules! One morning I was BBQ'ing at 7:30 am so that I had a nice hearty lunch for the day and a dinner packed for swim that night. Eating has become an event in itself trying to ingest the appropriate amount of carbs or the proper amount of protein and when it is most effective to eat it. Each day I set off with a bag of groceries to fuel me for the day with snacks and meals. The bonus part of training sooo much is that you get to eat every 2 hours and the food is endless....glorious!

The newest addition to my racing passion is a carbon fiber Kuota K-Factor tri bike nicknamed after the profession and very skilled cyclist Mario Cipollini. We call him Chip for short. Given my track record of being accident prone I am certain that this will be a well suited name.


The winter training has been much better than I expected. With the mild weather conditions and lack of snow the outdoor running has been spectacular. Swimming has been consistant from a great coach that constantly encourages strength and technique. I have been able to bank hours on the bike in my living room during the week. Our long rides on Saturdays have been at a very top secret location in Toronto that I am unable to disclose...lol! The cycling group are amazing and extremely motivating with an unfortunate lack of skill in selecting movies. The first part of our workouts usually begin with watching some sort of movie that did not make it into any top listing for theatres and are based on corny humour or some mission to destroy the world with zombies. After the joy of watching something like "Black Dynamite" we continue the remainder of the workout on a simulated course in different zones.

Our training has slowly increased from around 9 hours per week to now doing 14 hours per week and it will only go up....YIKES!!! Overall feeling fit and great!

To be inspired...

Two years ago, I attended my first Ironman event in Lake Placid, New York State as a spectator. I was very excited to go and watch some friends compete in the race that seemed to be an insane distance. My first impression of Ironman when I had found out the length was "who in their right mind would want to do that?".

After training myself for shorter distances I knew that it would be a big commitment to complete this distance. The whole area of Lake Placid was buzzing with excitement that week as athletes were arriving in preparation for the big day. I enjoyed training with the others as they were gearing down for race day! I was convinced to bike one loop of the course on a particular day; 90 kms to get a feel for the terrain. There was beautiful landscaping and many challenging climbs along the course which I thought would never end. Particularly when it began to rain, it pelted down and began to hail at one point and I thought to myself...."aw come on, are you kidding me". Regardless I survived and was thankful I would be cheering rather than racing. There were hundreds of spectators as we set out early that morning at 5 am. I had been advised that many people would be wearing costumes to cheer on the race. I had come prepared with my own patriotic costume to ensure I could be seen and support my group, I have never needed a reason to wear a costume!

The day presented itself to be overcast with the possibility of rain. That was an understatement! It rained, and rained, and then rained some more, my umbrella hat sure came in handy despite how many laughed at me earlier in the day. Regardless of the weather, men and woman pushed their way through the distances with intention and purpose. Men and women who were all different ages and different body types. I was amazed to see the different types of people and how they seemed so dedicated and passionate during a test of ultimate endurance. The finish line was emotional watching friends and many others complete this great challenge. I knew then that I wanted to try myself and sign up. I had booked a trip for Thailand the following February for 6 weeks and understood that there was no way I would be able to race the following year with taking training time off. So, I decided that I would return the following year to cheer again and continue to be inspired and sign up for Ironman 2010.

2009 was another great road trip down to Lake Placid! This time with another fellow triathlete Annette. We both cheered, volunteered, and then signed up for one of the biggest challenges we may ever undergo. The year ahead of us is sure to bring some interesting experiences!

Life is a daring adventure, or nothing - Helen Keller -

Ironman 2010

Welcome to my blog about a journey that will bring me to the Lake Placid Ironman on Sunday July 25, 2010. This triathlon will consist of a 3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, and a 42 km run; a distance of close to 226 kms - and I have 17 hours to complete the challenge!

I am embarking on this for my own personal reasons and to raise money for an organization that is very near and dear to my heart. Victoria's Quilts is a non-profit organization run solely by volunteers who make beautiful quilts for cancer patients. Please visit their website at http://www.victoriasquiltscanada.com/ All donations are directly used for the materials needed to make unique quilts and to deliver a gift of warmth during a difficult time. The Ironman will be a challenge in a number of ways, but with my training, and your generosity, a real impact will be made!

I love life! I am one of those people who loves to get out there and make the most of each day. I love to run, swim, cycle, play volleyball basically just stay active. It would be hard for me to imagine how my life would change if a doctor ever said to me, “you have cancer” yet I know that thousands of men, women, and children will hear those words each year. They may be faceless and nameless to me and to you, but they have families and friends and busy lives and they love life too!

If you are reading this, then you either care about me or you care about cancer. You may even care about both! It’s possible that you have personally been touched by cancer, and so you know exactly what we’re fighting against.

Recently my Aunt Murial courageously lost her battle to a very aggressive type of Lung Cancer, with the help of Victoria's Quilts I was able to send her a quilt during her chemo and radiation treatments. These quilts can bring comfort and warmth to those in need when there could be little hope. Without these organizations, not only my Great Aunt, but others would be faced with little or no hope at all in battling cancer.

I am committed to raising money for this organization and believe that it touches the lives of those who need it tremendously.

Please give as generously as you can,

Christina xoxo

How it all started...

Once upon time, long ago my good friend Irene suggested I take a "learn to run" clinic. After I contained myself from laughter, I considered it as a new challenge and another good way to stay in shape. This was the beginning of what I never imagined would become possible! I built up my confidence in running by taking the clinic TWICE and began running short distances as part of a regular routine. The same friend later suggested a triathlon, which I happily completed in Orillia using Irene's mountain bike. I was hooked instantly and decided that I needed to invest in a bicycle and improve my swimming so that the next year I was better prepared.

This new beginning helped me build confidence, endurance, and a whole new network of friends. The triathlon experience has enabled me to push the limits and see what a person is capable of when they put their mind to it, really anything is possible! The friends I have met since this journey began have become a family which I can depend on, are supportive, and can laugh with. We have had some super fun weekends racing in different parts of Ontario. As you can see we can get quite silly!

I have trained harder each year and focused on new goals to improve my performance. My biggest hurdle was swimming, which I never thought would be a problem. Early on I discovered that swimming for pleasure and swimming for racing were two completely different things. The nice thing was that I felt comfortable in the water despite my lack of skill. My early races were completed using the breast stroke or more so the doggy paddle followed by catching my breath on my back. In 2008 I signed up for my first masters swim that helped me improve my technique and I quickly went from swimming 100 metres every 3 minutes to now maintaining a 100 metre pace in about 1 minute 40 seconds. You would think I had been swimming backwards before or so I've been told. I traded in my bikini (temporarily) for one of those full piece suits and a wetsuit with goggles and swim cap. Last summer I practised my open water swims with friends down at Cherry Beach and lived to tell the tale. Despite many environmental warnings it was a convenient and friendly atmosphere to swim along the buoys surrounded by the sailboats. It even brought entertainment on a few mornings...once I was greeted by "drag queens" passed out on the beach after an eventful night during gay pride. Another morning a few of us were photographed by tourists that could not believe we were geared up in wetsuits to swim at Lake Ontario!

Selecting a bike was more challenging than I could have ever imagined. Firstly, I spent more time researching bicycles and their components than when I had purchased any of my past vehicles. Some bicycles actually cost just as much as a used car! My Cannondale taught me to be a better cyclist with the help of Peter Oyler who coached me on changing gears, climbing hills, and bike maintenance. What do you mean I need to refill the tires after every ride? At a race in Milton I had my very first significant hill climb known as the beast, and what a beast it was. Others had warned me that if you were not careful in changing your gears you could fall off your bike especially if you lost your momentum and didn't clip your shoes out fast enough. I was terrified but ready for the beast, and there it was, early in the race and I battled the beast, without falling off. What I wasn't prepared for was the 30 kms of rolling hills that followed the beast, how does one sustain the energy? Last year after returning from South East Asia I began training at Wattsup; an indoor cycling group that allowed me to train through the yucky weather and build endurance and strength. For long rides on the weekend I began meeting more people and it really helped to have others to follow on the open roads near Leslie and Hwy 7.

The running has been consistent and overall have a love for it! My first big distance was a half marathon in the Prince Edward County, Picton area where my parents and grandparents live. Picton has a beautiful running route along the sandbanks that brings you back into the Main Street on town. Since then I have made it a yearly ritual and enjoy the crisp October run and have completed 3 other half marathon distances. Next, I challenged the Toronto full marathon which was double the experience. It was the last 8 kms that really did a number on me where I had to talk myself through the aches and pains. I wish I could have tape recorded some of the thoughts that I had, although the finish line at Queens Park made it all worth while when I was able to see my friends eagerly cheering. My best friend's son Ronan congratulated me on finishing without puking. Apparently he had seen some runners finish in a less than glamorous fashion. Helen and Aidan's little Cara surprised me with a little home made trophy for Auntie Anna. Irene had peddaled througout the race route and would pop up and sing an inspiring song to push me through. What a thrill! There have also been some equally entertaining sighting around the city running early in the morning when the freaks don't necessarily just come out at night. My clumsy habits allow me to be a bit of a spectacle when I trip over my own feet and can sometimes be found pretending to superman across the boardwalk or tripping and falling into a bush. If you can't laugh at yourself than who can you really laugh at?

Sooo much to learn and nutrition has been a big part of training with all the electrolytes, protein, and other foreign substances to help replace what you are burning off. The best part is you can just eat! Over the past 4 years I have been able to complete different distances and experience a variety of racing conditions. Rain can be an extra hurdle thrown into the mix at anytime....bring it on!

Thanks to Irene....its all her fault I started this!