3 in 5!

Three half Ironman wins in 5 weeks!
I now know that listening to the little voice -deep down inside- can bring great things. I placed so many bets in the last weeks, trusted so many new decisions in training and it turned out just super!!

Lessons learned in the past five weeks:
-Balance and happiness are the well underated keys to success
- It is so important to know when to follow your heart and when to just be smart.


These past five weeks have been all about getting to know myself, trusting my coach, trusting myself, taking chances and praying for the best. The result makes me proud and I can't wait to share the story!

I have been negociating threw the first half of my summer as the start of my season was good but not great because of a set back before my first race when training was going so well (big cold that stayed LONG), my first half of the summer has been all about re-adjusting, feeling, taking last minute decisions.

St-Sauveur

The first decision was to head back home after Florida 70.3, -deep down inside-, I knew that I needed to resource myself and take a deep breath.
I had been working HARD all winter and maybe lost a little bit of balance and perspective. I just needed a week home and it was just great! From being in St-Sauveur and visiting with Equilibrum, came the decision to race Mooseman. My sponsor, Equilibrum (François St-Onge) was doing the race and it inspired me to race with my crew from Quebec.

St-Sauveur! My little piece of paradise...

Training with Francois and friends in Quebec before Mooseman was the most fun I had in a long time. These guys are so passionate about their training and are so much fun. Thanks for the easy ride that turned into an -ALL OUT HAMMER- session guys!! These men are QUITE FIT!

Mooseman 70.3

I listened to my heart, I wanted to race with my home crew, it made me feel excited. Reason also was telling me it was my kind of course (CLIMBS, technical DESCENTS)....and had I known it was going to rain? Even better!! haha.
The other reason I knew it was not only my heart is that coach Lance also thought it was a good decision. I was all set. I packed my things, mom and Evita the weiner dog and we were off. It was all going to be a big party. I had a great feeling about it. Mooseman turned out to be a great race shared with mom and my Quebec crew, also my first 70.3 win of the season and the hard win I had always wanted. ouch! YESS!







Then it was time for more work. Back to my sweet training obsession!

The Superwoman- Kryptonite challenge!

I came home to Victoria after Mooseman, refreshed, with a big smile on my face, happy to be home and ready for more training. I got so hungry after the first win, though, that I wanted to race again soon! Sooner than was on our plan. The plan was to train hard and race a 90K time trial in a relay in the next two weeks and do the Vancouver half Ironman but I was not satisfied and wanted another good Ironman 70.3. So I did the relay and the hard training.
The relay was so much fun! The superwoman (Swim=Gaby, Bike=me, Run=Lucy smith), would trash talk the -Kryptonite- (Coach Dan Smith's team). Dan and I have been time trianing together on the bike. (ouch!!)

Kryptonite versus Superwoman trash talking activities.

Dan, at awards.. on a ladder...(???)

The superwoman take the women's team title and the top five overall time of the day.

The Superwoman team race really showed me that my biking was coming around, I had a great time out there with the pro men and used it to build confidence. After this race, and a good week of training, Lance and I decided to go ahead and take a quick decision to do Buffalo Springs 70.3.
I had a good feeling about it!!!

Buffalo Springs 70.3

There was not too much time to get acclimatized or really taper so much after the 90K and training and Lance decided to work me a little harder on the taper and see how I would react, guess you can't get to know yourself if you never take any chances . The week leading up to the race, I had my share of doubts! It was so HOT and I was NOT used to it!!!! The taper felt like lots of work..!! I remembered how Lance had always managed my training so well and decided to trust his one week aclimatization plan and do the workouts before the race. Here, I was NOT listening to my deep down inside feeling about that taper but I knew I could trust my coach.
It turned out it was the right decision. It was, again, not an easy win but it gave me my second 70.3 win in three weeks. Going out there had felt like placing a big bet, but a bet that I had felt -deep down inside-, was a good one.
More smiles, more good times, more confidence built. Wish I could tell you more about that race, it was quite the adventure and my first tri on the new -superwoman- painted Blue bike! Loved it! What a great course, really cool, old school race! I want to go back there for sure!!

Vancouver International triathlon

Last Week-end's Vancouver international half Iroman (Subaru Western triathlon series, http://www.triseries.ca/).

And then came the biggest -do I trust my coach- challenge and more almost angry feelings of uncertainty. When I was in Buffalo spring, I figured I would have to maybe let down the Vancouver International triathlon (half Ironman) that I had planned to do a week later. There was no way, in my mind, that I could race a week after. I had kind of put it aside, in my head. Specialy because I had done alot of traveling heading back from Buffalo springs the day of the race, arriving in Coeur d'Alene for the TYR photoshoot the next morning (this was soooo fun though!), staying there for two days and then traveling back to Victoria for two days only to...meet with Lance...and have him tell me that I should race in Vancouver in a few days. Don't tell anyone but, I actualy thought he was a little crazy or evil (sorry Lance) or I don't know what else. I tried to tell him he was sending me on a confidence suicide mission, but he convinced me that it was the right decision and I figured there would be no harm in trying a new experiment and getting to know myself. I decided to make this race a mission and told myself that I had to get to know my body, one way or the other.
So I went to the Vancouver international half Ironman
At press conference with Heather Wurtele. Ironman St-George winner, fellow Canadian and really cool girl. (Also my favorite GIANT!! hahaha.)
Denise and Curt came along (Denise won her age group by the way and Curt is getting in shape quite fast! Watch out guys!).

I got excited about a trip with my friends and stared feeling like I was heading into another party!!
It is one of my favorite courses and a very well organized event. The run goes along the ocean, it is scenic!! See!!

THANK YOU TO FELLOW CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID MCCOLM for these great race pictures he sent me for my blog!


Even has a part going threw the forest. And tough competition showed up just to boost the adrenaline level!Heather Wurtele gave me a run for my money. Again, it was not an easy win, at all....but that is what I had asked for. A hard earned Victory and a good time, even bettered last year's time by two minutes, 4:12 or so this time around. What a great day it was out there in Vancouver and I learned so much in just one day.