The race along the ocean...

In order to talk about my Vancouver race experience, I have to go back to the first steps I took out of the airport upon my arrival. I received a phone call and was told Sam from Subaru would come and pick me up!

I remember the last sentence of the person on the other end of the line: -You wont miss him!, The car has your name all over it-he said...

Now what could that have meant? I understood fast enough once I saw the Magali Tisseyrere mobile (yes, that it how it was spelled...hahaha) approach the passenger pickup zone of the airport with my name in white letters all over the car. Wow! (I have to post a picture of that car a bit later.)

Sam popped out with a smile! Was this for real? There was even a Subaru team race jersey in the car. Danger!
We made it to Subaru, and I was handed the keys to my week-end ride and drove out into the sunset. Well... not quite. That would have been boring. Rather, John Botelho told me to follow him to the beach (site of the transition zone of the Vancouver half Ironman) and showed me the bike race course on the way (he definitely also would have deserved a race car Jersey, I had to toast a couple of yellow lights on that -visit the course rally-! Ahhahahah(I hope my mom is not reading this).
That is how, within two hour of my arrival in Vancouver, I was already driving along in the Tisseyrere car, studying the course!!! I just knew that this was going to be a very nice week-end!
Thanks John! Needless to say, when I got to the beach, I went for a run on the course along the ocean. It was so beautiful (though a bit confusing!!) at that point I knew, I couldn't wait to be racing!

But my adventure was only getting started. Now I needed to get to my homestay, Coach Paul Regensburg would have been a good help for that as he was heading down town. I was handed a map and told to follow for part of the way. Only problem was, I didn’t quite know when that –part of the way- ended. Anyhow, long story short. I got to discover Vancouver on a 1 hour drive up to my home stay which was about 30minutes away ....hmmm.

So I made it to coach Mark Shorter’s place and got to meet his lovely wife Cara. They live in a very beautiful place overlooking the bay and with a good pair of binoculars; I could have seen the race site from the balcony.

I had such a good time with my Vancouver home stay! They have been so helpful, Mark gave me the CO2 101 clinic to make sure nothing could stop me and helped me make sure I had all my equipment for the race. He also let me into the recovery secret of the foam roll. Mark is famous for his ability to recover fast after his Ironman races and he has all these recovery habits he follows religiously (like the foam roll session, which I am now an adept of!). We had so much fun! Mark is everything BUT boring!

My home stay, Mark Shorter, is all about ACTION! hahaha

Race day:

I was very nervous on the morning of the race. Mostly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could race a similar time than the one I did in Boise. Lucky for me, my friend Linsey and all the coaches were there to cheer along the course. My teammates Bree Wee and Haley Cooper were also going to be tough competition, that was going to help me push up the pace.

The gun went off and the SHOW started. Show is the right word, really. The race organizers had planned to have great media coverage for this race, the cameras were everywhere on race day, it was almost funny to see those pop up all over the place! Even in the forest! It was the paparazzi race! Which made things even more fun!

We had each done a pre-race interview in which we had to describe a –not so secret anymore- race strategy. Mine was to start by swimming with Bree. She is an excellent swimmer. And boy did I suffer trying to keep with her during that swim.

I was so proud coming out of the water because I had never fought so hard and managed to stay with her. On the second loop, I was in her feet all the way and she found sea creature Justin’s feet, which made that Hawaiian chick even more hard to follow. I lost her once...fought back, swallowed some water...back to her feet, was safe... lost her again...and then stuck with her until the run out of the water. THE SWIM WAS AN ALL OUT EFFORT.

On the way onto the bike!

My legs felt tired from the swim on my way out of transition but I fought threw it because I have recently realized that even if I went hard out of the water, the legs will eventually come back. So I completed the first lap at a good effort. Wondering if I might have gone out a bit too fast? The course was great for me, the first part of each loop was a gradual climb which I liked. I also loved that there were two turnarounds where I could see my competition and teammates. I could hear Bree and Lance yell encouragements to me with big smiles on their faces.

The run was my favourite part of the course, part of it was cross-country, which made it exciting (even though I fell flat on my stomach at one point, but that was kind of funny!).Then it was the run along the ocean and beaches that inspired me to give the extra effort. It was the most beautiful run course I had ever done. And my team was there to yell at me to go faster!

Now the Lifesport team was reunited after a beautiful day of shared passion! Ready to take the ferry to Victoria to start another BOOT CAMP!!!