Magali Tisseyre Triathlete

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2010-10-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

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The enchanted island

2010-10-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to just trust life and let it guide you wherever it wants to take you. I had not had that thought in a while when I woke up on Friday morning.
With only easy training planned for the week-end (actually for all of last week), I just felt like... having an adventure. I just felt like taking my back pack (okay...and also the Blue and my sweet Avia kicks) and leave. Soon enough, I was on a ferry on the way to the enchanted Island of Salt Springs.

I believe life has a way of guiding us if we keep an open eye. I believe there are often signs to guide us on our path. To me, the enchanted adventure started with sign one: As I sat in my car feeling heavy with a smile that was slightly upside down, I noticed a funny man, starting a 40 minute tanning session on the roof of his car. Freedom, there it was, I was going to join the party for sure and one thing was going to be my mission on this trip, relax and find myself again. I gave the door of the car a big swing and headed ON DECK where I could breathe for real and stare at the horizon line! I noticed there were a few people walking around just looking onto the ocean like I was and enjoying a beautiful day. I finally took a deep breath. I started noticing all the mysterious people that really got my imagination going...one girl was sitting on a .... a -ship stem-?...let's call it a ship totem. Anyways, she was meditating with her legs all tangled together like a pretzel. I wondered why it was that I hadn't taken yoga! No one was taking in more oxygen from that sweet ocean breeze than she was, loved it.
As i moved to the front of the ship, I noticed three men dressed in a very particular way (Now I don't want to call them hippies! But it is the best word I find to reflect their fashion statement to you, it is hard to explain, bright colours, natural looking clothes, specially considering one of them was dressed in bouda clothes but also had huge ear phones on.)
Ah! It was going to be so refreshing on the Island! I just knew it.
Well, let's try to ignore that the first person that I heard when I got off the ship (sorry...I mean the ferry) was a person from Quebec...I love the people from my province but this was not a very exotic start. Oh well.
Then, the cell phone connection went dead for a bit.
I was now alone, on an Island I did not really know much about except I found the people that traveled to it quite original and entertaining. There was something quite delicious about that feeling.
There seemed to be one road to follow....and so I followed it...up and over, over and around! Just driving was pretty cool so far. I saw so many little chapels on the road, signs of different artists exposing, vineyards, farms and then started thinking I should find a place to stay so I drove until I found an indication for an info center....14k away. That is how I made it to Ganges ,the main town on Salt Spring Island, and soon enough, found a place to stay and FOOOD. Very important.

Well...it is too bad the picture came out this way. I actualy wanted to show you a reunion of little wood and metal giants. The biggest piece of art I saw on the island. You can barely see them on this picture... :(

Then I realized there was just one thing I wanted to do: Get on my bike and explore the north- west side of the island.
It is at 5 minutes into the ride, that I saw sign two: That sign was much more obvious. See?

...and my mind went on and on with miracle ideas. On the way back, I also noticed that on the other side, this sign said: Too Blessed 2 Be stressed. I liked that alot.

The legs kept on turning calmly over the hills, I was taking it easy and just happy to feel alive, suspended in time with my heart pumping and the most perfect scenery flowing before my eyes.
It turns out salt spring Island has ALOT of steep hill so my easy ride challenged me more than I thought and I think that was a good thing, I needed to feel alive.

Encounter with a deer...if you look REALLY closely, you just MIGHT see him.

Cute little coffee shop.

And right beside it, the weirdest tree I had ever seen. I'm telling you...that Island has something special...

Later that day, I sat down for dinner with more time to think and had a feast and of course, with a delicious glass of red wine and sumptuous dessert. Okay...I was spoiling myself. But that was exactly what I needed to do.
When i woke up on sunday, I felt like discovering the mystery, the people, the Island's secret life. Visiting the artists, going into the little farms and just finding out a little more of what the island was about. But to my dismay, everything was closed. And no....I hadn't thought of that...

I found a coffee shop and enjoyed one of my favourite things (well COFFEE of course). From talking to the people at the coffee shop, I found out that to Salts Springs artists, my name sounded African! HA! I liked it. I guess I didn't mind everything being closed after all, that was not the purpose of my trip, the purpose of my trip was just to be alone, relax, think and get inspired. I decided to tour the north-east part of the island instead. I followed a beautiful road that wen t along the coast.

(uh...what's the english word for this???)

Felt like swimming to that other Island...

The horizontal tree

My secret beach

At one point I just felt like running, so I stopped the car and went. I had fun as I didn't know where I was going and turned whenever a street seemed like it held an adventure. I don't know how long I ran, but I ran until I felt I didn't want to run anymore. No watch on that one. That was against the rules of the island.

A discovery on the run course:

human??

WHew...maybe not!

By the time I drove back to the ferry, it was time to head home.

So I waved goodbye to the funny Lamas...

I still had half an hour so I made my way into another coffee-lunch place that was so cool! I wish I had taken a picture. The music and the decor made you feel like the second hand hippy smoke might just be powerful enough to finally have gotten to you.

Something on that Island had surely gotten to me, I thought, as we cruised back home, and I was sure to come back one day and discover more of the mystery of the enchanted Island.

I am now refreshed and ready to go. Less that FOUR WEEKS TO GO BEFORE THE FUNNEST RACE OF THE YEAR !!!

An adventure to kick off round two!!

2010-08-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I have been away from the mouse-pad-on-the-beach (my place in Victoria) for a little while, resourcing myself!!

After the first series of races, I went home to St-Sauveur and took a deep breath. As usual, this was great for me. In the last month, so many fun, inspiring things happened that will keep me going so strong until Clearwater. I am now back in Victoria, happy to be waking up to a sunrise on the ocean and driving all energy into big training days. I AM READY.

So I kicked the mid-season off with a week of recovery at mom's. THANK YOU MOM. I was craving some down time and a little less training. The timing was perfect as Lance had planned a mid-season break. Back home in St-Sauveur, I was mama's little girl again, I spent time with family, gave myself a chance and accepted that I needed to get my mind off my sweet obsession just for a while. Luckely for me, mom is a great cook and won't let me use the kitchen. She also happens to be alot of fun! SHAME on ME! I was such a spoiled baby back there AND apparently, it just made mom smile that I was. She even was present at a few trainings to cheer me on.
I also got to spend time with the weiner crew, which was nice. I find the hug-a-weiner-dog therapy is definitely underated.

On my week off, François St-Onge (Equilibrum sponsor, lives 20 minutes from St-Sauveur), invited me over for another easy ride. This time I thought....François was coming off an outstanding performance at Lake placid IM (so proud of him!) and so, I figured, he would probably not inflict the usual beating to me on the bike. And so I very innocently went to visit the Equilibrum crew once again....and...about 150 MAN SPRINTS later, we had finished our ride. NOTHING CAN SLOW THESE GUYS DOWN!!! Oh well, I need a beating once in a while, a random workout with the boys with lots of hurt in the plan actualy felt quite good. That was a fun day that we resumed with a fun BarBQ. I love hanging with them.

Then training started back up with a little bit of base, I got two long rides in, in which I had destination goals (I LOVE THOSE). I rode from my place to Mount Tremblant on the longest, most hilly road possible, just aerobic, enjoying being on my bike again. The first weeks building back into training were a little hard as I still felt on vacation in St-Sauveur and had to do heat training (Philippines 70.3 was two weeks after that break!). That heat training felt HARD. The workouts were actualy quite easy in terms of intensity but tolerating that heat and humidity was quite a challenge. I remember interrupting the first few computrainer workouts by the pool just to go lean over the side of it and stick my whole upper body in it to make sure I didn't fall unconscious! I was a lobster in boiling water!! I remember the inner dialogue during that week: It can't be THIS hot over there!!! Focus...the water flowing down my knees and elbows are a sign of adaptation! Great! Is this healthy? Can I survive this? Is this going to be enough? This is hard! I can do this! an I do this?... OH goodness.

Philippines 70.3

I was back in Victoria for a few days after St-Sauveur, just enough to do one or two harder training sessions before Philippines. Soon, Lance and I made our way to Manila
to meet our hosts Fred and Kerry Uytengsu and start an amazing adventure.

MANILA

Fred Uytengsu and his wife Kerry were the most amazing hosts ever. Fred is one of Lance's athletes and also the president of Alaska Milk (http://www.alaskamilk.com.ph/). Fred has done alot for more than one sport in the Philippines. He has a basketball team that he supports quite proudly and as president of Sunrise events (Ironkids and Ironman 70.3 Philippines) and as head of the Polo triathlon Club of Manila, he is very involved in the growth of triathlon in the Philippines.

Manila was non-stop fun. We canadian adventurers arrived in the night and I got to see for the first time, a developing city. Action, in a jungle of new things. Everything I could see was new and exciting. Taxis everywhere honking their horns in the night (to make sure the overworking driver ahead was awake), buildings in construction everywhere, strange bicycles and motorcycles with passangers mounted on the side making their way through Jeepnees (transformed jeeps from the second world war), nothing better to keep my eyes open in the night with 14h of traveling now behind me. It was four in the morning and our trip was about to begin. In Manila, I helped Lance with the race preparation camp for the Polo triathlon team. So much fun! Lance gave some talks on race nutrition, got to show off some transition skills, we also did some fun bike-run workouts in a very fun local circuit...actualy a cemetary!
I also got to give a -barefoot running- clinic and apply some of the knowledge from Biomech. That was quite fun. I left feeling like the Polo team was family, we had shared so many smiles in such a short amount of time. Perhaps it is also because part of the camp included throwing each other a pack of 16 in a single swim lane. I also got my own workouts done in the Polo Club's beautiful 50m pool.
(below, Kerry, showing me around the Polo Club of Manila)

Bellow: Fred Uytengsu after the bike-run cemetary workout.

After Manila, Fred and Kerry sailed us away to a second dose of fun. It was time to travel to Caramoan, where we would relax for three days before the race.

CARAMOAN

(Bellow: On the boat to Caramoan)

Then a car ride threw little villages
(Bellow, a Jeepnee crossed on the road to Caramoan)

When we arrived to the ocean, we had to pause at a beach before we could keep on going to final destination. The reason for this is that, the little beach where we would spend the next three days was needed for the -Survivor- crew's Tribal council. That was fine we were quite pleased to visit the surrounding area. Joseph, our -guide- suggested that we take the boat to another island as we waited for our beach to become available. Soon after having taken off, the boat started dancing in the waves, making me feel like a rag doll subjected to acute episodes of laughter.
It was a sunny days, and all I could see around me was beach after beach, Island after Island. I wanted to set foot on each of them. Joseph chose one and out we were, exploring. We were all kids again. Arland (Philippino Elite that joined us on the trip), Lance and I went on a mission and found Star fish, huge shells and explored a strange sea weed culture. Once the first series of explorations were over, we headed back to the -survivor- beach for a first night in paradise.

(bellow: Waking up on the beach in Caramoan)

And each day in paradise was another perfect dream.
(bellow: One of our adventures was to visit some local caves, here I am with Arland and Lance)

During the trip, we mostly relaxed, swam from Island to Island and improvised ourselves as marine biologists. It was not bad at all!!!...thanks to Joseph, we had a boat escort supplying powerade and water to keep us going throughout the day.
One day, Arland, Lance and I, Island hopped our swim. Half way home, we arrived on a beach and as I innocently stood out of the water with my green paddles in my hands, I noticed a camera man, a sound technician and a stange man that looked like a Voodoo stanfing at the edge of the forest, just as perplex as I was.
-ummm....were we interrupting something? I asked...
A Cerbian girl ran out of the forest explaining something with an accent stranger than mine. Her body semmed to say: GETTATA HERE!!! NOW!!!
(they were shooting survivor, I should have known...)
So we did and off we were, body surfing waves, all the way home.
That's the kind of training I'm talking about! OLD SCHOOL STUFF!!! Batteling the waves, underwater combat on the last 500 with Arland! Jelly fish stinging my belly!! (Oh well on the last point, I just found out the next morning that I had a huge red rash on my tummy, souvenir of the Caramoanian ocean. Better than any tattoo! Except so itchy!)
Soon, the trip was over but more fun awaited at the race site and we flew out on a 40 minute Hellicopter ride and got to see the beautiful coast line from the sky!

Race site and race day

What a party it was at the race site too! Race organizers had Transformed the place! The event was so well organized and all guests were definitely spoiled. We lived in little wooden cabbins right on the race site. Three delicious meals a day were served in a tent in the few days before the event and everything just flowed wonderfuly.
The key word for this race was -fun-!
I wanted to have fun with this race, and it was so easy to! It took place on a wonderful playground!

The start, transition and finish line were at a Wakeboard park in the camsur watercomplex (CWC) (http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/). The swim was divided into two lakes (I loved the idea of running out of a lake to jump into another). There was a timex bonus in the wim between the two lakes, which made it even more exciting and ade it feel like a game! I got the bonus on the swim and that was good but came out of the water second, behind Michellie.

After a quick transition, I was on the bike, determined to make it a smooth ride and just stay in front of the race without doing anything crazy (I would need my energy on the run to fight the legendary heat). The bike course led us through little villages all the way to a turnaround at the ocean. On the bike course, the energy was outstanding. It was a party out there! Flags lined the road. And holding these, were children from the villages. The sound of the crowd was constant for 90km, I had never seen anything like it before. It was such a beautiful thing to see those parents and children from those tiny villages, stand smiling and welcome us in the most outstanding way. Event organizers had even set up a contest, the village displaying the nicest cheering squad was to win! I think they all should have won.

And then there was the run. HOT HOT, challenging run. I had mentaly prepared to make it through that run, it was my mission to do a great job at it. I was curious to see how I could do in such heat and humidity. I ran into the trail that took me through more crowd, more happy kids, cheering, more hands to reach for, kids to high fives. High Fives, though, that saddly became hard to do. Soon enough I realized that I would have to respond with an occasional smile. It was time to concentrate on surviving. As soon as I started running, I knew it was going to be a mental combat, I was just going to have to focus harder than ever on putting one foot in front of the other for 21km and never stop focusing on the rythm, until the finish line.
I had an instant ice pack in transition so I snapped it and left on the run. At every aid station, I would drink all I could from a water bottle and poor the other over my head, I would also grab a gatorade whenever I saw one. After each aid station, it was head down again, and focus until the next water oasis. I had never been so hot in my life, part of me kept on wondering how long my body would hold in the heat and I could just hope it would hold until the line. I guess there is no real secret in the heat. For me it was: Focus on moving forward as fast as you can, keep the cadence up and aim for the next available water. Once there, take as much as you can, then look forward, focus and make it to the next aid station. The longest Km of the run was the last. I thought I had made it to the line when I saw I still had a 500m semi-loop to go, even then, I was thinking I had to hold on because anything could happen, I was well roasted and running on a fine line!! But then I heard the crowd, one of the loudest crowds I had ever heard and a saw that glowing finish line right in front of me! That was the moment I faught for. That was the best feeling in the world.
Then it was time to celebrate! The trip ended just as beautifuly as it had begun and I left the Philippines with so many memories that will make me come back next year.
It is back to work now for me. That trip was just what I needed. What an inspiration!

3 in 5!

2010-07-06T19:42:00.001-07:00

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.

My Blue Bike dream team

2010-05-25T08:00:00.001-07:00

ADVENTURE NUMBER 2: THE WIND TUNNEL!!!

In case you haven't noticed.....
My sponsors spoil me BIG TIME.
CRAZY BIG TIME....the day after the race was a REAL TREAT.
I got to travel to Charlotte to meet Chance Regina (Blue Bikes) and Mike Giraud (A2 wind tunnel specialist) at the A2 wind tunnel and got so much out of it!!!!!!!

WOOOOWWW.....this wind tunnel is the wind tunnel of legends. This is the Lance Armstrong and other big names tunnel and the staff that goes with it. The real deal. No joking around.

This man is also the real deal. Mike Giraud (notice the french last name!). Mike is...ummm...some kind of magician that makes you do about 15 intervals sub 70.3 race pace with looongg rest, blows some wind into your hair, fiddles with the bike and ends up taking 20 watts for a 30 mph speed just like that.
We changed some things on my position, made it more aero with just a few adjustments: Saddle slightly up and forward, aerobars down, hands pulled up a little at the end of the bars. A position that not only helped me win lots of free watts at race pace for the same effort but also increased my level of comfort significantly by decreasing the extra work I was doing to support my upper body with my arms, lowering my head relative to my shoulders comfortably etc... unreal. Just miraculous to me.

I also got to know Chance Regina a little better. What I love about Chance is that (well first anyone who knows Chance knows he is just a great person but I knew that already), what I admired this time is the passion he has for the sport and his job and the involvement he has in our success. I feel that he gets personaly involved in our success and I think that is the most inspiring thing a sponsor can do. It definitely also makes you have more of a reason to race HARD!!!!!!!!!!!

The next day was another HUGE TREAT!!! I got to meet Chance again in Atlanta and he introduced me to Mike Skop, president of Blue Bikes . Talking to him also made me realize his involvement. I also got to ask him a lot of technical questions about the elaboration of the bikes aswell as the philosophy and the history of the company.
It is just amazing stuff. Every little detail I wondered about on my bike, the geometry, the weight, the way the back wheel slips into the frame. Every factor on that tri bike is chosen according to the latest research and wind tunnel tests with the best. It's just amazing to see what perfectionists are behind the elaboration of my bike. I loved my Triad SL but now I understand more of the reasons why. This bike is not a time trial bike, it is specificaly designed to be a triathlon bike and every single detail on it is elaborated for that purpose. I am convinced it is the best triathlon bike out there. Blue is a young company and is doing so well. Also a company with a very bright future.

From left to right: Brian, little me, Chance and Allen Heaton. Brian, holding the bike, is the one who did the paint job. Allen took care of putting the Blue together and much, much more!

Every single person I met at Blue was a good person but also a highly driven perfectionnist. From the owner, to the bike techs to the man who did the paint work on my bike. Lots of heart goes into the bikes. wow.
so here is some proof. See my new ride? This is it!! The graphics on it are ment to represent the comic book, fun, concept there will be on my website. We are so proud of it. It was a surprise to me. It was Chance's project, it was my project, it was Travise's project and wow, it turned into something that made us all smile. THANK YOU ALL!!! That is an amazing gift.

I am now preparing for the next race, staying in St-Sauveur with mom for a bit, I needed it, it's very refreshing! The second day here, I got to spend some time with my sponsor from Quebec, Equilibrum. And BOY ....we sure created ADVENTURE NUMBER 3. My next blog!!
Thank you for reading and cheering everyone. I'll race for you.

Let the party begin!

2010-05-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

ADVENTURE NUMBER 1.

There is something very special about Florida.

It keeps me coming back....
And I'm not just talking about the 70.3. We vacationed in Florida every winter with my family during all of my childhood and that place just gives rise to beautiful memories.

Training on the course before the race, feeling strong and definitely back into the game.

I hadn't felt the sun and the heat in a while. I love the Florida sun, the oranges, the sand, the humidity....(oh and here's a secret: THE ALLIGATORS...I prefer to say the crocs cause it's more fun). There is something unique about the Long road stretches, speeding down white sprinkeled pavement inmy aerobars to the sound of my new pro wheel (hehe...sorry if I just broke the romance by saying a brand but you have to know, they are truly amazing). No better place to get the legs back into action. It is a course I want to own because I have it in my heart. I want to come back and own my course, everything about it just makes each Florida adventure a bright memory. And it is also a magic race, a race that starts and finishes in the fantasy world of Disney.

Cheer leading crew! Mom (kiki) and Lucas Tisseyre!! haha.

The beloved Lucas Tisseyre the first. haha.

The great Lucas the first.

Me and my ultimate weapons.

But yes, I'll have to admit, Florida is not a course for me, dead flat, swimmers race. But again, I just have it in my heart. I was third again this year and chances are, I will keep coming back and trying to win no matter what. There is not much I can do about drafting, I have tried to talk to officials before the race but it seems that it is something that is hard to control. Maybe on a good day, it is possible to stay -even- with a pack on a solo 90K time trial but it wasn't for me this time. The swimmers rode away with the pro men. Maybe I just had to be prepared and not let it affect me. I let it make me mad at each turnaround, I let it get me in a bad mood and get into my head. Next time, I will accept it and come prepared.

The run course is one of my favorites, you get to run by transition on three loops and the energy of the croud is just unbelievable. I was still in a pretty bad mood on the run, i won't lie, but each time I got to the croud, my smile was back. YOU PEOPLE ARE AMAZING.

My focus on the run was to fight to stay positive and get back into the game, also fight the heat (I had not done much acclimatization but had gotten to Florida on tuesday night so that probably helped). I still had good form on the run and enjoyed the last loop. I always like the loop where everyone is on the course. On the last loop, we had the age groupers out there. I like it because, strategicaly, you get to hide, blend into the croud and also, they always cheer for me as we all suffer together in the sun. They work just as hard as I do. It makes me strong. I still remember a woman calling to me: Go QUEBEC. Crazy to say...but that really helped. Made me so proud. Made me forget about my hard feelings and think that I had to give it my best.

There a great moments at every race. Another great moment at this one was, well, my favorite part of every race. Coming threw the cheers and crossing the finish line. No matter what the race, I will smile when I cross that line.

Another great moment was when I got to see my manager Travis Blanton before the race and some. Travis is my guide, he is not only the best manager one could imagine, he is also one of the most amazing, extraordinary people I know and a great friend, someone that always makes sure I am smiling and I don't get to see him very often so that was a treat. Another great thing was when Lifesport teammate David Kahn told me... he had come in 5th pro man. I knew that was coming. But still...this guy is a full time student, David is studying to be a dentist and still manages to be fifth. WATCH OUT people, he is coming!!! (Remember I said this!)

Another great thing about the race is that our friend, Anders Hamilton came to watch, cheer and hang out with mom and I. We met Anders randomly at bike shops two years in a row in Clearwater, where he lives.
One of those coincidences that are just too obvious. Anders saw me wish for a top ten one year and get on the podium the next once I had joined Lifesport. He is part of the adventure for sure and is of great support.
Anders is now also getting involved in triathlon. He has a busy life but is drifting into try- tri -mania, he has done some training since we last saw him in Clearwater and I feel he will be addicted very soon.

So Florida was still a treat and a definite learning experience. I felt sour for a couple of days, but in the end, the good things always stand out and they are the ones that stay on the record. The rest just goes into making a better plan for the future.

coming up this week: ADVENTURE NUMBER 2: BLUE BIKES AND THE WIND TUNNEL!!! and...ADVENTURE NUMBER 3: MEETING THE EQUILIBRUM CREW!!!
Got lots of pics and lots to share. Promise.

My Blue Bike dream team.

2010-05-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

EQUILIBRUM

2010-04-13T11:51:00.001-07:00

With François St-Onge, President of Equilibrum

Hi everyone! I want to introduce you to my new sponsor, Equilibrum. I met the president of Equilibrum, François St-Onge, at Muskoka 70.3 last summer. François and his training buddy, Gilles stood out in the crowd and felt familiar right away with their smiles and outstanding energy. Gilles and François asked me to sign a T-shirt, saying they were fans from Quebec! That was the first time someone had ever told me they were a -FAN- from anywhere and I gladly autographed the shirt. I actualy remember telling them I was not used to this kind of thing! hahaha.
With Gilles, François's training buddy!
Well it turns out, that was not the last time I would talk to François.
I received an email from him at the end of the season in which he told me he had a orthotics company in Quebec and was wondering if I would give him a call to discuss potential sponsorship. Needless to say, I did not hesitate. I loved the idea of the orthotics company (my field of study is running biomechanics) and it just all seemed like a call that was meant to be.
The actual conversation confirmed my impression. François is a great person, full of energy, joy, life, ideas, dreams, passion and I would soon realize that he was also.... someone who makes great things happen.
I am proud to announce that Equilibrum will be my primary sponsor for 2010 as well as a sponsor through 2011. Equilibrum specializes in custom made orthotics of all kinds: For sports, for rehabilitation. You can visit the site at: http://www.equilibrum.ca/FR/images/catalogue.pdf. I am looking forward to visiting the company in May, finding out more about Equilibrum and talking biomechanics and triathlon. I am also looking forward to trying out some orthotics of my own for feedback. Very curious and excited. The plan is to fly out and see them after Wildflower as I make a short trip home before Florida 70.3.
I share two passions with my new sponsor: Triathlon and Biomechanics. I can't wait to race with Equilibrum's logo on my suit. I can't wait to race for the -fan from back home- and his team. To race in honour of the drive and the energy that go into making equilibrum a unique, growing and dynamic company.
François and team, HERE WE GO!!!!!!
Oh...and did I mention I get regular updates on François's training aswell as he prepares for his Ironman. Another coincidence....the first Ironman I was thinking of doing is the one François is striving for.
Cheers to all. Welcome to François and to the Equilibrum team. GO, GO, GO!!!!

Pimpin' up the baby Blue...

2010-04-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am sorry I have been so bad at updating my blog recently.
Now my mission is NOT to go threw the past weeks and describe them all to you. I want to spare you that painful reading challenge. There are some things from the past weeks that I am dying to share though....may I? I'll make it quick...
CALIFORNIA
I should have taken the time to tell you all about my trip to California to explore the Wildflower course with my awesome friend and teammate Haley Cooper (the one who drove countless hours in order not to let me down. That girl that brought so much sunshine into the whole adventure! Haley, again, THANK YOU so much).
I am glad I did that trip. I Love that course, I have already associated great feelings to it, seeing it, riding it, running it, loving it...I just can't wait to RACE IT!!!!
TRAINING
First, I had been working on a run focus. In training, I have been wanting to feel like a RUNNER, not a triathlete, A RUNNER. I love that idea of tasting each of the three sports INDIVIDUALY. (I have a new idea of fitting in some track races in my schedule, a 5K track run on spikes!! OH MAN!!! I NEED TO DO THAT. Never tried it before. Let's see what Lance says...)
So I have been racing with DA RUNNERS, doing local races, tasting a bit more of that sport I love. Finding inspiration all around me. Running with Lucy Smith when I was lucky in training. Even been reading an amazing book that an even more amazing friend has given me: Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. I definitely recommend it. Running. Oh how I love running.
The bike focus came later. I started climbing.... faster and faster, up the observatory, time after time (remember, the center of the universe!). I even got to do it on my new Blue roadbike that earned me a record and some amazing new feelings a few weeks ago. I have also been discovering more about cycling through bike sessions from Peg Labiuk an Olympic medal cyclist (WOW), it seems like Victoria is packed with inspiring athletes. I also have been pushing the watts up on the trainer, sometimes hurting alone, sometimes pushing with partners. I had some great times with my friend Hillerie Denning on her outside patio, I also got some new energy biking on the pool deck with Lifesport junior recruit Gaby from Guatemala.
And then there is Dan Smith. Dan (the domestique..heheh) has helped me push through some long, hard rides in the rain recently. Ahh... Dan the metronome, hammering through our 1hour time trials effortlessly at a cadence of 90 or above. From where I was, it sure looked like he was just performing some of that -soft pedalling- he mentionned he wanted me to try.
ANd then, there is my candy.....
I HAVE BEEN PIMPIN' UP THE BLUE!!! Thanks to the crew at Pro City cycling bike shop, my bike is now all set up in SHIMANO/PRO.
I have signed with Shimano and they have literaly SPOILED ME.
I love the way the deal with Shimano happened with Joë Layno and how I had met him a few years ago in Muskoka as I was still definitely a rookie. I love everything about my new sponsor. I am loving the new equipment. Shifting Dura Ace makes me feel race ready. (Thank you to Aaron from Pro City racing bike store for having Switched it all to Shimano with a smile). And those wheels!!! Take a look at the Dura Ace wheels I got just for training on the pics! I also got spoiled with a super light disk that I can't wait to try out and two sets of race wheels.
I am loving this new set-up, it's working for me and I feel like I am geared up for a great season!!

Specialy considering that Bill is working on helping me find the ideal position on my Blue Triad SL and ...it's going very well!! Bill's natural qualities? He's got the eye AND he's got the humour.

Bill Fry (left), Troy Woodburn (right), workin' on the Blue.

Bike position feedback with Bill Fry (above)

Troy (left) is our famous bike mechanic. Yes, he has been with some of the best cyclists and triathletes in the world. Not surprised he came up with quite innovative ideas to support Bill's positioning evaluation.

ANd well...yes I have had some good times at the bike shop as we worked on all of this.
Above, today's special guest-photoshoot appearance from Mr. Jasper Blake. PIMPIN' IT too 4 sure.

And speaking of Jasper, it's getting late (thank goodness for you or I would have kept on writing), and I must be at the pool to swim with Jasper and friends at 7:40am tomorrow.
I should go. But I will keep you....posted. Promise.
Thanks for reading friends 24 days to the first race and I will keep in touch!
I still need to tell you about Equilibrum and about the last Lifesport camp before we start racing!
Mags.
P.S: Special thanks to Regan from Pro City Racing bike store for the pics.

Sweat Sodium test

2010-02-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

As promised, I am giving some feedback about the sweat sodium test.
This test was administered to us yesterday, in order to determine our sweat rate and sodium loss during an endurance exercise. (Blood lactate and glucose were also controled)

We had to swallow a (very big) -pill- before the (hard) swim in the morning...
Apparently, this is a definition of the word pill:
Radio emission device disguised in order for the swallowing by the subject to be less challenging. (That thing had metal cabling it in! YA KNOW!?)

In truth, probably a tracking device for coaches to monitor locker room discussions or monitor our every training activities?
No, actualy, the purpose of this DEVICE (definitely not pill) was to emmitt a radio signal to the black box on the top picture to help track body core temperature during a three hours training ride we would have to do at the PISE lab, later in the day.

Here is the, umm....DEVICE.

So we swam first (I had another good one yesterday! I'm loving it! Starting to really feel good in the water lately!).
Then, we went to the lab and started emptying our body from the water we had in it. OUHHH!
o.k well not exactly...
we were allowed to take in a monitored quantity of drink during the three hours of the test. And considering this, our weight before and after the test helped the scientists track sweat loss.

Here, I didn't know the place I was sitting, beside my bike, would soon be covered with a puddle of my own water.

Brent Poulsen's arms are a good -lab rat- example of how they placed patches over our forearms to monitor salt loss during the test.

AND as the team river started tracing it's way on the lab surface...we drank more of that energy SYRUP (man!! That thing was the most concentrated sports drink I had ever tasted. I actualy think there may have been a 1:1 ratio of powder to water in that one. OUUUH. (They wanted to monitor sodium intake so there was no other choice than to make it so concentrated). I finished the test promising myself I would NEVER, EVER have dessert, EVER again. That was enough sweet stuff for a lifetime.
(Of course, on the way home, Brent Poulsen stopped at the gaz station and I downed a chocolate milk. So much for that resolution huh?) (and I had 3 pieces of chocolate also later)
DID I EVER TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED CHOCOLATE!

New team member Cliff (still need to get his last name! grrrr...)

The Lab man! James Brotherhood (hope I spelled it right, not so great with last names as you may have noticed)

Nice job at looking pain free Brent!

By Brent's side, Bjorn (last name thing again), the new coaching manager for Lifesport and also Lifesport coach I believe.

Overall, the test was lots of fun. Riding for three hours with the crew. Lots of action around us and with a fun training session to do, three hours went by pretty fast. Oh and there was also my MUSIC. Got some new Trance on my Ipod. Sure helps keep the candence up.
Looking forward to getting the results of the tests and satisfy some curiosity!
Camp goes on now. Today was recovery, tomorrow....will be hard work. Not worried. Always works out great when you are in good company.

Triathlete also came for pictures, that also kept us busy. Fun!

Lisa went home last night though...will be missed, needs to do a trip for sponsors I believe. Was great to have you around Lisa, thanks for the great energy.
More on the camp a little later.
Cheers all! The season starts soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE FUN WORKING HARD!!!
Mags.

Flash Back!

2010-02-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

Quick Flash back of the past weeks!

Ice bath moment last week in front of the Mouse Den...a 15minute record. Both my legs went completely numb after 5!!

Mom to the rescue!

What a pleasure it was to get to introduce my new life to mom! I couldn't wait for her and Lucas to step off the plane in Victoria. I would kidnap them, take them down to the beach and show them what they had been missing! My mission was to have mom fall in love with Victoria and have her savour my new life here as much as I do (and secretly, I hoped she would stay...at least for a little longer than the planned six days!). To mom, that was not so important, she was on her own mission: To check on her racer and make sure I was set up right, in my little place that would soon feel like home.

Mom's mission started at the moment she first opened her eyes on day one of her stay: That Bumble bee was sleeping when I left for my early morning swim and...when I got back, she introduced me to a completely re-designed home. I suddenly wondered how long I had been swimming...Ahhh....the angel of decoration had come into my home. It was wonderful and the -home makeover- had only just begun!

As usual, mom spoiled me during her stay, she turned my little place into a wonderful home, made sure I ate all my veggies, made me feel like a spoiled little girl, even took me shopping. Mom will always be mom. No matter how old I get.

Mom's stay went by in a flash and I wish we had more time together...I was very busy training and I wish I could have done more to turn her stay into a beautiful vacation. Unfortunately, the working bumble bee cared little about the word vacation and I just feel like I was the only one to savour the benefits of having a family member around. Still, I think she had fun discovering the beach with Lucas,

I think she also enjoyed getting to know Victoria while testing her new photography skills, oh and... meeting and celebrating with my Victoria family:

She also got along very well with Hillerie's family and the Champions. We were also invited to Lance’s place for an evening. The evening that mom discovered...Lucy’s amazing Chili recipe. The amazing Lucy even revealed her secret chili recipe on a blog post specially dedicated to mom! http://lucysmith.ca/runforjoy/

TRAINING update!

Training has been going SUPER!

Swimming:

Lance's magical feedback!

I have been doing a lot of technical work with Lance and some hard training session with Jasper’s group and it seems it is starting to pay off. I have been working on my swimming using visual feedback from a underwater camera that was sent to be by my friend David Keefe from UP My GAME http://www.upmygame.com/. Lance also brought his own camera to the pool and gave me some good cues. I have to say I even got a 20 minutes, unexpected private Clinique with Rick Say. He gave me a few helpful drills, that was great.

While mom was there, I PB’d on my 400 twice in the same practice. I was sooo happy. Swim is going well and it is one of my top objectives to swim faster this year! We are on the right track.

Running:

10K run!

I did my first 10 K a couple of weeks ago, again, on tired legs. It turned out to be my first win of the year! Had a great time. And actually, Lance also impressed me too.

I keep on pushing on the golden Thursdays. The investment Thursdays. The day I get to deliciously suffer through a hard swim followed by an even harder run that includes tempo AND hill repeats. OUUUH! That is definitely a confidence builder.

The top of the hill on which we do our repeats....we run up to: The CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. I LOVE the idea!!

And now...

MY BUDDIES ARE IN TOWN!!!! IT's the LIFESPORT PRO CAMP and THE BOOT CAMP HAS BEGUN!!!! HEHEHEHE. IT'S TIME TO GET THE HARD WORK GOING!

Trainer sessions with the Lifesport group!

So welcome to Amanda Stevens, (remember? my pre-Clearwater camp buddy!!), Brent Poulsen (shared some great moments in Maui with the 09 crew (miss you guys!), awesome guy), Lisa Mensink (also in Maui and Kona together last year and definitely helping me push the run recently!), also some new friends, Steven Hewick, Cliff (still need to get his last name!). We are getting some serious work done guys. The last few days include a max bike test, 2 crazy interval run sessions placed two days apart (ouch), long runs, long bike, swim, swim, swim, swim...swim... and the best is yet to come.

Ice bath with my buddies (Brent Poulsen and Lisa Mensink)

Tomorrow is the sweat and salt loss testing. Never done it before. Will have to blog about this, seems quite mysterious. Will make sure to get some good footage tomorrow during that three hour test.

I have many many more things to say but in order to survive I shall now go to sleep.

I will make sure I report on the sweat test session!

Cheers to all! TRAIN HARD!!

Mags.

This week's training tales

2010-01-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

Now I am really caught up in my sweet obsession. Every day feels like a mission and there is not much time for anything else than training, recovering and eating these days. I’m loving it.

RUNNING

On my right, the -friend- that helped me get the best out of myself on burning legs. From what people were screaming, his name was Simon. It looks like Simon had alot of friends. I think I know why.

It all started to get serious on the day of the –wake up call-. The day Lance decided to wake up the animal in me by adding a tired 8km race to my training week. It acted as my first interval session of the year. (OUCH!)

I LOVE VICTORIA, here I was in January,waiting for the gun in shorts and a race jersey , breathing in some fresh air, feeling the pack await the signal, all of that energy that is just waiting to be released. Then it all begun and my burning legs, heart and lungs took me threw a avalanche of emotions. I remembered what makes me love running.

-The rythm: Lucy Smith was telling me about the importance of it after the race.

There is something very addictive in the fast rythm of a race. The unleaching of a train of bouncy legs and heads. The sond of all those soles pounding the pavement, the heavy breathing all around you. It is all whispering the beat that you have to hold in order to keep up. As the effort becomes harder, the rythm becomes that thin rope that ties you to the person you are chasing. When the body starts fading, it is the rythm that can keep you going, you just focus on those legs in front of you and try to step it up. And as the ribbon approaches, you just have one thing on your mind: put a little more force into each kick and hang on to that fast rythm. You have gradualy been pulled into a wonderful semi-conscious state.

-The emotion: It ‘s all so obvious when someone speaks about a race. It’s all about -Hanging on- , --working with-, -chasing-, -passing-, -fading-, -building-, believing, thinking, trying, wanting....raw emotion.

-The challenge: How, in a race, uncertainty can change into opportunity and bring you all the way to success or satisfaction.

-Confidence building: And the one thing that is sure to help you come from uncertainty to satisfaction is YOU taking control of your destiny for a short while.

Each person on a start line has the possibility to achieve satisfaction. Even if the body is not generous on a given day, the mind can always be. And you can always look for the satisfaction to have been a warrior. To have been stronger than you had ever imagined you could be, mentally.

Great moments on today's run.

Swimming

The golden fifty

So my three buddies in the swim group this morning laughed at the thought I might lose my goggles on the middle 50 dive of a series of ...quite a few....

A moment of distraction and...the signal was given...terrible start for all three of us, enough to make me laugh up bubbles on my way up to the first stroke.

Refocus, move those arms girl!

After having given those first few strokes, –the men- catch me, there are two guys on my left and one on my right. The tsunami catches me..and I am surfing their wave, I am not kidding. In an instant, My tired arms are beating the water effortlessly....I have never felt such a draft effect. (If you have ever been body surfing, you know the precise moment i’m talking about!) These guys –picked me up- on that waves and I just rode it baby!!...for about 25m...then I lost it and was a mortal again, fighting under water to make sure I wouldn’t lose that advantage and mess everything up in the final meters. My times were getting worst and worst with fatigue but on that one, I went 3 seconds faster than expected. The golden thought of the golden fifty? I have been using it alot these days: -PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY- (then at the race last time, Lucy and I saw also this other version on a runner’s jersey: -BARF IS WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY) guess I will not need to use the second one as often..well, I hope not...right Lance?

Bike

Hours and hours on my bike...hills and hills. Climbs up the observatory (also called the center of the Universe).

Wonderful solo rides with lots of time to meditate and be strong. I have my favourite routes and I just enjoy challenging them over and over again. I also like to take out the double latte gels at the end of long rides and feel the rewarding caffeine boost (much needed in the last hour, most of the time). I love these gels! One or two and my legs are going strong!
oh! And I'm not bonking as I was had once or twice just a few weeks ago. Fitness is coming back and it also seems like the squats I have been doing at the gym have been helping!!! YES! !!! We shall see!

And while I am absorbed in my world of -swim, bike and run and if you are done, do more of that-, other parts of me are exploring the world.

I let Sean and Ariane intertain me on that one. The other day, I was sitting in my living room and I picked up my blackberry, finding a message from my sister, open an attachment to ....see her sitting on a Camel with her husband in the desert. Hmm....some of use are living quite an adventure out there. Sean and Ariane are on a wonderful trip that started in Dubai.

Ariane and Sean on Camel!!!

And speaking of trips, MOM IS COMING TO VISIT IN VICTORIA NEXT WEEK AND SHE IS BRINGING LUCAS! This should be fun. I guess that means I will be on the Sofa bed! HA!

Day 8

2010-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Now that I have just posted a week-old blog, I figure I should complete it with notes on the most recent activities in Victoria...
UGH!!! I have not been good at reporting on my blog. I must tell you, however, that one of my resolutions is to update more regularly!
The day of the 31st started out pretty smoothly....then there was a crescendo of activities... that took us into the ocean in front of the -Mouse Pad on the beach- (the official name of my home/epic training lab).
I thank Denise, Curtis, Jen, Hillerie and John , coach Lance and his wife Lucy for this delicious crescendo.
No Denise invited me over to a -Lobster-champagne evening on the 31st which I agreed to without much difficulty. Champagne...yes...there was lots of that...yes...what is the expression...too much of a good thing? I guess that I didn't realize that as I was observing Denise and Hillerie put on the lobster show before tossing them into the boiling water, I was sipping on more Champagne...

Thank fully, resolutions kicked in at midnight and I switched to water...I saved myself from trouble right there. Well not completely I guess. I woke up suddenly the next morning remembering Lance's proposition to join for the Jan first pace run around the lake (that race in which you have to complete a lap and arrive as close as you can to 11 am.)
- a good opportunity for a tempo run-, had said Lance (even though there was no training on my plan that day!!HAHA, LOVE IT!).
On the first, I jumped out of bed with a very unclear idea of where I had to go for that race. Determined that too much Champagne and too little sleep because of actions last year, would not take the fun out of the first day of this one.
I drove to the lake, was late and at the wrong parking, no idea where they started or which direction they had gone around the lake. Long story short, chose a direction and ended up running much too long, I was running for them but little did I know they were BEHIND ME, running in the same direction. I realized that and turned back, still running all out, to finally find Lucy running pretty fast towards me. I figured, why not go with her and keep on running!! Saddly, when she came by, I ran with her for a bit. A bit I say...the champagne was pumping threw my veins and I felt slightly sick after a few minutes.

So much for the lake run. Next plan was a quick transition and get to the ocean for a frozen bath!
We drove with Denise only to find out there was nothing going on there...but when we girls have an idea...we have to go for it.
We ended up driving back to my place to run into the ocean. We had the emotions we had been looking for....OUUUUU that was cold. Leaves you with a wonderful feeling though once you are out of there! I WAS AWAKE FOR SURE NOW!

Since then, the hard work has begun.
This is a view that inspires me every time I do a trainer session in the living room, pushing hard on my own, looking out the window.
Is there anything more inspiring than that. I focus on the waves, the line of mountains, have my great music playing. Perfect focus, mind at the right place for sure.

I am focusing on getting some good trainings in and working hard.

Training is starting to get just a little more challenging, we have stepped it up. I have sent Lance all of my -athlete resolutions-. We are going to have fun this year!

Oh and...bike mechanics and maintenance are still on my mind.
I hope you are all feeling inspired, heading into this new year. I hope you have many dreams and that this year s the opportunity for you to make them happen.
Cheers everyone.
Magali.

Christmas time update! A report from the past! ;)

2009-12-30T07:03:00.001-08:00

CATCHING UP!
Merry Christmas everyone!!

I hope you are all very busy elaborating some lovely dream ideas for 2010 and spending some great times with your friends and family.
Christmas in St-Sauveur my clan has been so fun! Although, I must say...there was a rather surprising amount of -dog talk- going on around here. I was amused to see mom and the other dog fans (Ariane and Sean) exchange...DOG STOCKINGS!!!...

(Ariane at the dog stocking exchange)

And that is all that I am going to write on this blog but it gets much, much more extreme. CHILDREN I SAY!!! This is just the beginning of an idea of what it was like:

(Ariane and Sean, imagining that Lucas is the hushpuppy that they are getting in January)

(Simeon, all dressed up for the evening????!!!!)

(Dog treats????!!!)

Oh and there was some holiday training! (Apparently we each have our obsessions...haha). So I don't know if you remember that getting back to training had been rough! I mean I bonked twice on some relatively short bike rides and gave out some long (though not so intense) efforts. That got my body back to work! And Lance rewarded me with some active recovery between Christmas and the new year. He gave me an idea of the quantity of training I should do but other than that, I was FREEEEE!
So I played around lots and made it ....different...I had fun, that's for sure. And I am staying focused on my weight and core strength program though! Loving it.
Here, I was going to include a video I did about my core strength routine, trip overview, fun at the pool and winter sauna activities but there seem to be a problem with formatting and I can't upload it to the blog. :(
My friend extraordinaire gave me a flip cam. I plan to post more videos from now on. Having plenty of fun with that!

Today is my last day back in St-Sauveur. Tomorrow morning early, I am heading back home. And tomorrow night, I will be celebrating the new year with my friends in Victoria.
I wanted to think of a memorable thing to do on january first...so I wrote Denise and Hillerie and told them it would be fun to do a Jan first ocean swim (wetsuit allowed) in front of the beach house for who ever dared to join. BUT it turns out the people in Victoria are my kind of people and there are already such races organized. They named me like four fun races that I could choose to do on Jan first, at least one of them included freezing our bums off WITHOUT a wetsuit in a lake (YYYYYEYEEEAAAHHAHH!!!!). There is even a run race around the lake where you have to make it passed a certain point at 11 am, or as close to that time as you can, you leave whenever you want from point A and have to make it to point B by 11am. That is how you win the race. PACE YOURSELF. That should be a good one to try although I am not sure I will win that. Maybe I should race Lance and if I beat him, he will never, ever be allowed to tell me that I don't pace myself well!!! (Well, I can't complain, he has never actually said anything that negative to me anyways, but Ironman training will come and I get the feeling I will hear something about pacing one day!).
Anyways, I will make sure I report about what we actually decide to do on January first. LET'S HAVE FUN AND START THE YEAR WITH SOME ADVENTURE!!!!
I have to leave now, I am going downstairs with mom, she wants me to show her my strength training routine and compete with me.

Consumed...!

2009-12-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Heading back to my family is today’s mission... and I know I will soon be stepping out of the airport in Montreal , flipping up my furry hood and breathing in some –more than fresh- air.

These past two weeks spent at the mouse pad (in case you are not familiar with the term, it is what my coach has decided to name my place on the ocean), have been fantastic. Many things have happened and in the last days, things have changed. And again, they have changed for the best.

First, (drums please), I HAVE SENT OUT MY THESIS and it has landed on Dr. Pearsall’s desk. You should have seen me at the copy counter in Victoria, as I waited for my three copies to be born. Two years later, I was finaly standing there with my beautiful 3 piles of the 97 most important pages of my life. So pleased, even as I had to poke the wholes manually through the three copies to bind them. Shipped out friends!

Stepping out of the post office, empty handed felt delicious. A January first kind of feeling, a couple of days in advance. Since then, I am finaly living the way I always dreamed to: I have found one thing that I really love to do, it has become my job and I am finaly feeling like I can let my self just freely live a passion.

What feels different?

There is something very tasty about a little excess....especially when it can be the pathway to success. I am letting myself lose a bit of balance. And I have decided it would be like this for this part of my life, it is the time for that right now, so I will savour it. It is the time to become truly absorbed with what I do. I feel like I can finaly freely give in to passion. I have been savouring every single aspect of my new life.

Now, It feels like every minute climbing hills on my bike and every minute that goes by with running shoes or goggles on is just so much more....precious.

Mount Dug run trails...

There is no feeling of urgency because the priority is in the moment. No more of that part of my attention that thinks about other studies than the important one: To train in the moment, to find a way to make my dreams happen. The good thing about passion is that it is very contageous .

Did I ever tell you how much I like to get muddy? (Curt got real fast on the bike, I draft him now, or at least try to. That helps me get all muddy! )

Thank goodness Passion adds to passion. And I have been enjoying not only doing what I do, but also sharing it....sharing it with my friend, with those that are following a parallel path, with those that are working on it with us (my coach, our coaches). The more passion you share, the deeper you are absorbed, the better it feels when you lace up your running shoes and go out on the everyday mission. Seems like every day spent living like this is a true blessing.

I have had a good week in that state of mind, riding my bike all around , along the ocean, in the mountains, riding with Curt. Discovering amazing hilly forest trails, running to the top of Mount Dug. Swimming at the pool and crossing paths with fellow athletes ....all on the same mission. Most of the time, a very brief exchange, like that wave and water toss that Simon gave me with a smile as he caught his breath before heading into another fast interval. Then was gone, on his own mission.

I am also enjoying having time to think about other details that I hadn’t focused on before...like getting to know my equipment better. Curt and I went to a bike mechanic course at the bike store (pro city cycling) that was amazing because Bill tought us pretty much everything you should know about a bike in two hours.

He even embarrassed me to come in from of our class of five to show him that I could adjust my gears on my own now. Hey! I took it seriously and was very proud to give myself a style when I adjusted the rear derailor... HA! See!!!just like the guys at the bike shop!! Hehehe....Anyways, I am now on a mission to find out pretty much every thing there is to know about my bike. I am also working on my nutrition and trying to figure out a good plan for this year. I am also finaly organizing myself with my Garmin equipment and softwear, Computrainer, all of that fun stuff....loving it!

Today, I am heading back home to the snowy, Christmassy atmosphere of St-Sauveur. I will get to see my family again and celebrate some more! Looking forward to it!

I hope you are all enjoying your time getting ready for some fun holiday adventures.

Cheers to all!

Wind Storm ?

2009-12-06T17:06:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!

There are now just two more days of -everything and anything- left before training begins again!
Since I had said I should go out and party, I stuck to the plan and went out the other night with Curtis and Jen. I really enjoyed myself. Discovering the Victoria night life with them was good and a -different-, yet fun experience for a girl from Montreal. The evening started out at a store called Freedom that they turn into a bar about once every month. You can actually purchase clothes and shoes during the evening and make pretty good deals (oh my! Toronto was not good for me. Here I am going on about shopping again!). Anyways, I met some interesting people and enjoyed the more layed-back atmosphere of the Victoria night life. There is a natural feel to it. We later went to a bar called Element, which I enjoyed as I got to dance all I wanted to some good music. Jennifer and I were also very lucky as Curtis seemed to be our personal body guard during the evening. -Pleased to meet you, and this is our body guard, mister Champion, Curtis Champion.-hahaha... We girls have strategy! Closed the bar, and were left hungry for more!
And as it is always great to taste the extreme, the next day, I got up late and stayed at home on my computer and FINALLY went for my first walk on my little beach in the afternoon.
Here is what I had envisioned for my first walk on the beach: Just me clearing my mind of technical thoughts, filling it up with big dreams, walking slowly, feet in the sand, teasing the edge of the waves, taking breaths of the fresh ocean air, looking for shells, listening to some good songs, meditating and walking all the way past that point that I have always been curious about.

Now here is what it actually was like: I opened the door and seized when I took my first breath. HOUH! cold. Went back in to get my tuque and scarf, came back out looking like a snow man, walked down to the beach in my running shoes, never even considered taking them off, turned to the left to start walking , smiled, got whipped violently by the first cold bit of the -wind storm-, stood there surprised, searched and found the smile again, started my precipitated walk leaning against the wind, eyes on that point at the end of the beach.

The dream had suddenly become a mission. I WOULD hear my divine music even though the wind was blowing my speakers off my ears and making it inaudible, I WOULD be able to meditate even if it meant counting the rocks and shells I followed on the fastest line to the point at the end of the beach, I WOULD feel nice and relaxed even though my lips and finger tips and ears were to turn blue, I WOULD get that feeling of freedom I was seeking on that beach walk...but....unfortunately, I WOULD not make it to the point at the end of the beach. When after fifteen minutes of shell following and shoe watching, a big frozen wave caught my toes (so much for my teasing the waves huh!), I suddenly fell out of denial and ran back home on the deserted, grey beach, chased by the frozen sea breeze. Ha! And that was the best part of the beach walk! I was feeling cold YET..... FREE!
I went back home and later heard they had a name for this kind of freezing windy, meteorological situation here in Victoria. It was a -wind storm-, these are very common during the winter here, and that one was pretty big. I was invited to have dinner at Hillerie and John's place, they mentioned that a -Wind Storm- was coming! OUH! (I thought to myself: you sure it has not come yet? ha!), after dinner Curtis and Jen thought it would be great to go see the wind rise the waves over the breakwater.

We went to chilly downtown Victoria and the tide was down, we didn't see much. No, nothing but the beautiful Christmas scene, the tide was too low. I went back home to find out...the party was at my place!!! It was crazy, I struggled to get through the wooden door that the wind was pushing against me before I was able to head down to my place. I woke up during the night, thinking my house would be ripped off the beach and driven into the sky just like in the wizard of oz. The next morning, I woke up as captain Mags, having breakfast in a crazy ocean storm. Looking out my kitchen window to see stranded shipmates

This place is EPIC! I LOVE IT! AND WOULD GO BACK FOR A FROZEN WALK ON THE BEACH OR DOROTHY EXPERIENCE ANYTIME. MY LITTLE HOUSE ON THE BEACH MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE!!

In other news...for the dog lovers: This little guy's name is Lucas. Mom got him from Calgary. He is the new addition to the family.

BALANCE!

2009-12-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

It is the OFF season! And the last week of it!
I have been on Tri-vacations for two weeks now with just a few trainings to do. Nice and easy, all in liberty!
To me, this part of the year is just as important as the rest for performance. I believe that in order to achieve great things, you have to savour and remember every little achievement on the way, then use it as a pillar for building the rest. And also...be able to remember the importance of BALANCE.
Right now, I am savouring the last step I took this year, taking some time to give myself a pat in the back. I am taking some time to visit the other extreme, the other parts of me that I have put aside and can't explore freely when training hard. The parts of me that I go back to when I need strength and inspiration later in the year.
After Clearwater, there was no more structured training. I am afraid to say, the first week was not so resourceful, as my bum didn't really enjoy being on (such a hard) chair for long hours, working on the final details and corrections on the thesis (YES! I KNOW!!! I AM PRETTY SURE IT IS DONE NOW!!!! F-I-N-A-L-Y!). Still, I enjoyed studying from that hard chair since it was in my little house in the beautiful valley of my favorite little ski town. I was with mom again and with her wiener babies.
Yess....some people really like their dogs...

I love the country, it helps me feel free. I enjoyed little escapes, walks with mom between chunks of studying, going to get food at the village in the already Christmasy atmosphere ( I love the holidays). I enjoyed going to the pool, just to play as I wished. Just playing, loving to swim, stopping whenever I wanted, just a little revenge for all those times I didn't allow myself to in the year. Now WHENEVER I WANTED, sprinting WHENEVER I FELT IT! And nobody would tell me to keep on pushing, not even myself! ha! Oh! how I enjoyed training with a little evil grin on my face!!! I got into some games....sure you have played: Racing each of the 25m sprints that the mystery man in the next lane declared once in a while. Seriously! I did lots of that with a big smile on my face. I once also got a couple of 25m sprint men that relay-raced me good! (In case you don't know, those are the dudes that get in the pool, stay on the side, watch you get tired, and make you a sprint victim once in a while, ever met any of those, they can be very useful, actually I might have been one of those myself when I first started swimming with the big fish!!!).
I even had some fun with great music on the trainer rides!!! Fun and play in training. No stress.

Oh...here I am talking about training again! STOP! The title of this blog is balance (maybe that is why!) and this is the off season!

So....I would prefer to tell you about how, on my way back to my little beach house inVictoria, I stopped in Toronto to visit my sister Ariane and her new husband, the amazing Sean. I love them and ..they spoiled me rotten. First, they flew me there. I talk to much to get into details but I should say the week-end started with champagne off the plane, included a taste of Sake the next day to enhance the taste of the best sushi in Toronto and ended with a delicious brunch....that left me wanting more mimosa....ehheheeh. (What? Remember the words! -Balance- and -off season-. Thank you.) Now, unfortunately, we did not spend all our time eating as we HAD to get to work: So much hard work my friends.....Playing princess with my sister Ariane. Shopping, Toronto style. AAAAaaaaah! Bringin' out the -girly- side this week-end for sure.
And....since training must always be considered, I also went running with Sean, Ariane and the dogs at the beaches. Good times doing what I love with the people I love.

Oh and also...I must tell you that I realized that it was not only my mom that had a thing for dogs. Sean and Ariane have a boxer and also took me -shopping- for a new baby hush puppy on the week-end. The next addiction ...oh sorry....I meant addition to their new family.

So I am back in Victoria now.

Wanting to train but thinking that I will enjoy being LAZY ME for a few more days before I put it aside for another -long- time COMBAT! heheeh. Tonight! To the movies with Curtis and Jennifer. That will be fun. I also want to go out dancing later this week. Here as some other things I want to do: Surfing, snowboarding, riding a motocross again, playing violin again, going to a Spa, going on a club med dream vacation, reading more, learning things, cooking, discovering new recipes! But only a few more days before work starts again! I'll make sure I take note of these ideas for later.
HAVE FUN EVERYONE!!!!!
Magali.

My family of sponsors

2009-11-21T13:05:00.000-08:00

It is now the triathlon new year for me. Time to celebrate 2009 and dream about 2010!
This year has been one of the luckiest years of my life. I had gone through hard times at the end of last year and had decided to make changes in my life and to find a coach and start focusing more on triathlon (something I had always wanted to do). Finding a coach had always been a challenge, many people have helped me very much along the way and I am very thankful but I had to find a committed, personal coach that shared my dream.
Last year,I had a podium in Newfoundland 70.3, followed by a frustrating sixth place in Boise in which I was beat to the finish line by one second. At that race, I promised myself I would come back and do better the next year. Coincidentaly, it was also at that race that I met Bruce Regensburg and Dan Smith from Lifesport almost and started talking about coaching. I contacted them several times. Just after Christmas, I got a call from Paul Regensburg from Lifesport and got invited to a training camp in Victoria.
And here I was, invited to join them in a few days in the canadian triathlon Mecca!
Exciting plan for the new year? They didn't need to insist. I was on the plane on January first. On my way to a first GREAT adventure!!
A homestay was arranged for me. (the people that now feel like family in Victoria) and I headed into training very fast. I was smiling on the plane..and little did I know...I WAS GOING TO BE IN FOR IT!!!! LIFESPORT BOOT CAMP NUMBER 1. HERE I COME!!!! (Poor innocent me!!! hehehe....)
I arrived in an environment every triathlete dreams of. All of a sudden, I was living in a wonderful training climate, feeling the contagious energy of a team of very professional, committed, passionate people. That was my dream coming true, this was the winning team for sure!
Oh and... isn't it funny how quickly pain and effort are forgotten? Come to think of it,it was hard my friends! I had so much fun working the HARDEST I HAD EVER WORKED IN MY LIFE (so far) with my new friends. Each night, I would come home victorious and bragged to my homestay about how I had managed to survive, at night I prayed I would wake up the next morning and still be able to walk! (I am almost not exaggerating!!!). Uncertainty is a wonderful thing...
But, at the end of the week, I had survived. And had discovered what being a pro athlete, committing and working hard was all about.AND I LOVED IT!! I met my coach Lance Watson, during that camp. The man who I owe much of my success this year to. From there, it all started. It was the beginning of all of the great work with Lance, meeting more new team mates, traveling to training camps in wonderful places while benefiting from the best support ever, training hard, so hard! and learning from Lance every day. Becoming a full time pro and racing faster than I ever had before.
Well, i guess I had to tell you all this in order for you to understand how thankful I am that I have come to meet my new team and how proud I am to be a LIFESPORT athlete. Thank you to all of the Lifesport team for having helped me through a wonderful season.

MY TEAM! Fun times at the 2009 Maui training camp!

As a good thing always leads to another, another blessing in 2009, was meeting my new friend and manager, Travis Blanton. Travis has made it possible for me to meet the great people who would sponsor me this year, the people that I trust and those that would make it possible for me to race with the best equipment and also to look to the future and see my dream of making triathlon my job, possible.
Travis (the tall guy)

I met the people from TYR shortly after Boise, and discovered another group of extraordinary people. How many sponsors do you find yelling encouragements at you on the side of the road the first time they come and see you race (Timberman).I discovered the great work ethics they have when I followed them on a week-end photoshoot. They are a young and dynamic group of people with wonderful ideas that I get along with well and am eager to get to know even better.

Fun at week-end photoshoot! With Chrissie, Becky and TJ!

Feedback on products... perfectionists...

I am also very lucky to have just signed with a new major sponsor, Blue Bikes. It is very new. My team mate, Brent McMahon, had been very satisfied of his Blue bike and had a very good season. Blue sent me a bike to try and I found it just AMAZING. So amazing, that I decided to ride it in CLearwater, even though I had only had it for two weeks!! Blue is now part of my sponsor family and I am very proud to represent such a promising, dynamic, serious company. All of my sponsors have great dreams, which I share.

With Chance, from Blue

My new ride!! All set up for race day?

Another sponsor new to me is Trakkers. I have talked to the guys at Trakkers and get along with them very well. They are very fun to work with and have done some very original website designs for many of the top athletes in our sport. Together, we have elaborated some fun ideas for a website and they are working hard on a project for me. Their creativity will make it very fun!!!

Of course, there is also the people that I want to thank for having provided me equipment in the last years and help me make 2009 possible. Pierre Vermette and Natasha Cassivi from F3 distribution have provided me with Pearl Izumi shoes and apparel for several years and my friends at Marinoni have made it easy for me to find bicycle equipment and have greatly encouraged me in the past years. And since I am in Thank You's, I would also say that I owe alot to my friend Sophie Limoges for having prevented me from getting injured all year with her chiropractic skills! She is just amazing..and more of a healer than a chiro, really. Each time I have gone to see her with something wrong, she has solved my issue. She is magic! Merci Sophie et Robert. Last but not least, thank you to my new friends that have provided me with beautiful race pictures all summer and to all of you that have been cheering for me.
With a family like that, it feels great to look to the future!
2010, here we come!

Please don't pinch me! Let's keep on dreaming!

2009-11-18T07:34:00.001-08:00

Photos from coach Dan Smith

Lifesport swim clinic on the beach.... giving out some of our secrets!

It is now Wednesday.... but I am still on Saturday. Since then, every day has felt like waking up from a wonderful dream. Savouring the memories from saturday has not been very hard as everything going on around me takes me back to the beginning of the week-end. –Congratulations on your run Mags-.....-thanks for bringing it up, want to hear more about it??!!- I don’t want to brag but I will re-live that race whenever I can! Hahaha.

It was Christmas morning on Saturday and I got to unwrap all my presents. How often does Santa give you MORE than you have wished for? I remember Lance a’ Clause asking me for my list at the beginning of the year...-what were my expectations in terms of performance- he asked. We had just started working together and I didn’t want him to think I was crazy.... I blushed and said that I would like to have a podium and some top fives in 70.3s ...and finish in the top 10 at worlds in Clearwater. At the time, that sounded like a VERY ambitious plan to me and just thinking about achieving that is what got me all excited an kept me pushing hard through training.

I knew the result at this race would be a surprise, I just hoped and prayed it would be a good one: I have to admit that I landed in Florida with both my escorts: The angel and the demon. As I sat on the bench at the airport pick-up zone for two hours and a half (hahahah, long story), the angel started reminding me of all the good work I had done in the last three weeks, took me back to moments at the pool where I got MAD at Lance for the first time, hitting my fist into the water at my first stroke as I had just finished a very hard set just to find him asking for more... The fastest had to be the last...at the end of a 1h hard practice? Insane....but correct, I got out of the pool that day with a smile! I wasn’t going to forget that –induced- personal victory.

In other moments of reflection, the Devil brought back the fight with the Flu that Amanda and I had two weeks earlier. That deep coughing between intervals....and all that sleeeep! Kind of scary before the world championships, not so nice of the devil to like to bring it up before the race.

Other times, I smiled, thinking about how it had felt to race in Boise, Vancouver and Calgary, where I had felt good, and tried not to think of tired Muskoka and Georgia. Races where it never got going and I was starting to wonder if I had raced too much for a first big season. Oh...and there was also that bike crash at the beginning of the taper that did not make me all so confident when it got on my mind. Early in the trip, it seemed like it would be an emotional yoyo game all the way to the start line! But when I got into the condo in Florida and found all my old habbits, it all came together.I chose my side. I was going to chase opportunity and felt so happy.

THE BIG DAY

I love how Saturday started in the dark. The night before Christmas, you never get that much sleep... I was up early (4:30) and soon laughing in the car with mom on the way to the adventure. Where were the nerves? I was just excited and focused on the task, just where I wanted to be. Before the start, it was a mix of darkness and bright lights, the set of a party. I made it to the swim start on time for a good warm up...sighted my buddies, got a nice pep talk with Justin, a huge hug from Amanda and her usual big smile, there was also mom running all over the place looking after some of my things. And where was Lance? Found him lined up in the croud, calm and reassuring. There was something magic and extremely comforting about him. He always is. So glad to have had him there.

The SWIM!

After a good swim warm up and I felt on task, I had just put on my new TYR Hurricane Cat 5 wetsuit and was trying it on for the first time. It was feeling FANTASTIC! We lined up in the bay on the new swim course they had changed the day before. Adding a bit of mystery to the adventure to come. There we were again, lined up at dusk....ready to make things happen, looking ahead into the rising sun. Oh and...may I ask who got the DJ? My favourite music was playing just before the start. This one had to be special.

So there we were, lined up at the buoys, nervous laughs all around, a delayed start, more nervous laughs... and then the gun!!! Girls pounding on my right side, pounding on my left side. A Big kick in the eye, emptying my goggles, catching the chase pack again. A couple of sightings to the lead pack, head back down to push. A nice, somewhat cruising swim, in a pack, getting kicked once in a while but also enjoying a nice constant rythm and an amazing feeling of efficiency that came from all of the good work done with Lance. Out the ramp to transition. At that point, I was proud of my swim effort and focus but still didn’t know anything about my ranking out of the water...

Aim for the Pirate ship on the way out!

THE BIKE!

Out of transition and on to MY NEW BLUE TRIAD!!! the war weapon!!!! My sponsor spoiled me with a sub 9 AND a 1080 for that ride...first time racing on those too...just flowing, feeling amazing. I had been nervous about the 1080 in the wind but Lance was right. Good choice!

I felt powerful as I chased Michellie Jones down the road at the start of the bike, I passed her at maybe 5 k into the bike , but she didn’t seem like the kind of girl that would let anyone get away. The bike ride was just about staying steady, at a good effort, but still keeping some for the run. I knew this race would be won on the run as the bike was very flat and not so challenging. Jones was strong on the bike, she was going at a good pace and I loved having her there, pushing hard and definitely challenging me. The big surprise of the race was when a HUGE pack of men went by us about a quarter of the way through...it was crazy, it felt just like a bike race for a couple of minutes and I didn’t know what to do! The train went by and it was over. It was the first time I had ever seen a pack like that in a race!...

The RUN!

Photo: Ramon Serrano (Thanks Ramon!!!)

Now on to the run...the magical part of my race. The run is the true surprise all the time. I never know what to expect. Again, in Victoria, I had some of my best runs ever and was feeling strong but then again...I had also felt that way before Timberman, where I had a disappointing run. SO there again, I had to have faith and hold on! I hoped off my bike and had a quick transition. I then actually had this thought: -Nice! Lance will be proud!!!- (ha!). The started the run OVERPACE. I was excited and feeling like I was going a bit too fast when....Laura Bennett passed me....going even faster (later told me she had recorded a 3:25 for her first K). People started telling me I was eight. I then thought to myself that is was good but didn’t even think about the podium. I just focused on the task and pushed forward. I hung on for a while before remembering my plan to keep some for the last lap. I was going to let her go but keep her in sight. After maybe 7K, I saw that she had slowed down and moved back up. Onto the bridge, I found myself feeling bouncy and great legs, and from there, things just kept on feeling better and better. The effort started feeling easy and girls kept popping up ahead of me....I was sixth, fifth, and the fourth.....the emotion got to me and made me faster and faster, I ran up that bridge so fast with everyone cheering. I felt bad but couldn’t help pumping my fist and celebrating with 3 kilometers to go. Then I got to the mile before the end....with everyone yelling that third was right there....I couldn’t see her..but coach had yelled that she was within seconds. I put my head down and moved into second gear, just as Lance had said. Little did I know, second gear would get me third place just meters before the end of the race!!!!!!!

JUST LIKE A DREAM. I NEVER WANT TO WAKE UP FROM.

I will shortly be putting up a special blog to tell you all about the amazing people that have helped me get to where I am today and that have made Saturday possible for me.

Talk more very soon!

Magali

P.S: Anders, we can't find your phone number!

Cherry on the sunday!!

2009-11-16T17:50:00.000-08:00

With coach Lance and team mate Amanda Stevens....

HI EVERYONE!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CHEERS AND COMMENTS!!!
I just got back to St-Sauveur, where I am spending a week with mom and family, finishing my thesis, relaxing and PLAYING THIS WEEK-END'S RACE OVER AND OVER IN MY HEAD!! It seems like there is a permanent smile on my face since Saturday morning. I am just so glad that I could end the season on such a good note. A podium at worlds is definitely what I had dreamed of for this year! I still feel like I have to pinch myself and keep on re-playing the last stages of the race in my head! I will report all about the race tomorrow, once I get some sleep!
Cheers to all!
Magali.

It's on!

2009-11-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

I will use all of the good energy you have all been sending me since the beginning of this blog! I will use it to DIG DEEP. As deep as it gets. I will give it all. You are very inspiring.
Thank you.
Mags.

Opportunity

2009-11-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

(Photo: My souvenir of this morning's EPIC swim. Courtesy of Clarke Rodgers of Sportzfoto.com. Thank you Clarke!)

Hello everyone!
I know... WHERE HAVE I BEEN? At this point, it might be shorter for me to start by....where am I now?

(HA!)

Well, as you might have guessed. I am back in the sandy, warm, festive environment of Clearwater, Florida.
This year, it is the feeling of opportunity that is driving me. I am reliving all the good memories from last year and having a second taste of everything I liked from the past: finding our same little beach condo, training in my same little secret spots, enjoying the same special dinners with mom, watching the scene of the BIG RACE get set up and ANTICIPATE a great day. I am quickly drifting back into my lovely pre-Clearwater –Habits-.....

But this time, I am enjoying making all things GREATER! All I can feel this year OPPORTUNITY. And that will give me all the energy I need to race strong!
I know I have a shot at this one and I will do everything I can to give my best effort on Saturday.
The weather has been very different out here lately. It has been rainy, windy and the waves are huge! The practice swim we had this morning with Lance and some of the team was EPIC. The hard work felt like play...specially the cool down, riding the waves back to shore. I have to admit that I hope the conditions stay this way. I think it would be easier for me to stay with the front pack in these conditions. Friends have said it would calm down for Saturday, I like to think that it will stay EPIC.
Another new thing for me this year is some new found CONFIDENCE. It comes from this year's hard work and good fights but also from amazing friends, family, a great coach (who will be on site!) and my great new sponsors. I am surrounded by great people that I owe much of this confidence to, people that believe and are helping me push forward.

So, now that I am in context, I can speak more freely of WHERE I have been!!
The answer is simple: IN VICTORIA, WORKING MY BUTT OFF!

It has been a three week mini Clearwater training camp. An intense set of efforts, pursued with our very devoted coach, Lance Watson from Lifesport and with great training buddies such as fellow team mate Amanda Stevens, Kerry Spearing and...Curtis (THE CYCLIST!).

Those three weeks brought me so much. I got some very hard trainings done that will definitely stay in the back of my mind come race day when I have to fight. I have been happy and loving what I do, training with an amazing partner. Amanda has helped me push and get the best out of myself everyday.

You know.....when a very hard training block followed by a freezing ocean ice bath feels like a party and is full of laughter, it is always because you are on the right track.
There has also been some adversity to spice it up. We had to overcome the flu while in intense training about three weeks ago and I also had a bike crash while getting a bit carried away at the beginning of the taper, but amazingly, none of this has really affected training. I feel so lucky.
Now, all I have to do is stay confident, stay happy, stay inspired and think about my new, golden feeling of OPPORTUNITY.
THE WORK IS DONE!!!! LET THE PARTY BEGIN!!!!!!
To all of you racing on Saturday: Good luck! Make it count! Put on the show!!
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! THIS ONE IS FOR ALL OF YOU! HERE I GO!
Mags.

-Courage, Madame, Courage-

2009-10-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It has been so busy out here in Victoria and I love it!

I have everything here: Great friends, amazing autumn weather, a charming little place on the beach, the ocean, my coach and some of the Lifesport crew to help me push in all trainings before the big race!

I am getting used to my morning sunrise on the ocean! I have even seen some surfers out on the little waves further down the bay on a stormy day. That’s just incredible to imagine I could just walk out of my little place, grab a board or kayak and head onto the ocean! I need to get a kayak! ...now I am having the visual of myself hoping on the kayak at the end of a big day of training and paddling into the sunset…ahhhhh!

Training has been going so well since I got here. I am feeling great and definitely getting some hard work done!

It would be long to describe how amazing the quality of training is here, but here are some flashes from the last weeks that I would love to share!...

Riding, riding, riding, hills, hills, hills!!

Photo recently sent by photographer and friend David McColm.

Perfect weather....Outside in the sun with just shorts and arm warmers!

Long rides on the highway that takes you up the Malahat, with great partners, through beautiful mountains....ocean views from the hills (the good thing about overgearing workouts in the hills is that you get the gain and can also see the view!!)

A five hour ride, where we were pushing it and just playing hard! Ending a big day, drafting off cars with my buddies along the ocean drive, also one of my favourite rides!

Trainer sessions too: Instead of staring at the garage door, here I do them at the pool with friends. We put some loud music on, and push for hours at a time. In the last of Lance’s magic trainer sessions, a friend even came to cheer me on and Lance came to push me through the last part of the workout. It was so hard, I was just trying to get the pedals to turn and he would comment on my technique and force me to get back on the aerobars!!! Hahaha.

Working hard on the trainer by the pool with coach Lance!

Running, running and more running. The crazy one was off a really hard trainer session with Lance riding his mountain bike beside me, just flowing, through the trails around Elk Lake. In those trainings, Lance acts as my positive conscience. Unfortunately, I have to stop bringing out the devil sometimes too when it gets real hard. That is still my challenge!

The other hard training was my mistake! OUCH. Low calory 2h30 run. I kind of faded...just kind of...in the last five kilometres, I prefer not to mention how many gels I dropped on the run. Enough to make me kind of lye down on the ground for a while when I got home. Before I desperately reached for some food sitting on the kitchen counter.

Oh AND there is the swimming! That always hurts the most. Kerry and I have been working the pull-paddle sets recently... it seems there are only BIG FISH around here so I just HAVE to hold on for as long as I can! I even got to join Brent and Simon Whitffield in a practice. Simon has been really nice, made me feel very welcome. But boy...does he swim fast....even..on his easy (my tempo crazy) swims!

Goodness. If my Victoria inspiration doesn’t make me faster, nothing will!

Tomorrow is a HUGE brick session at Lance’s place…there is a new sentence I keep on repeating to myself when I am working very hard now: -Courage Madame, Courage!- and I will use it then.

Let me explain: My friend Josianne Pusterla, has told me that she would be watching Clearwater from Burkina Faso! She has told me about that expression often used in Western Africa in order to encourage female athletes during their effort. It is my magic sentence now.

-Courage- to all of you!

Magali.

My new home

2009-10-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hi!
I have safely made it to my new home and training paradise! I am now a (very proud) -Victorian-!
I am so happy about my new situation here. And I knew it at the moment I got off the place and suddenly started feeling strange to be carrying my big white, furry, winter coat around. In Victoria, it felt like summer. And it seemed like it was giving everyone something to smile about.
Waiting for Curtis (remember, my homestay) to pick me up, I was now standing in the sun in a t-shirt and knew I was home.
Almost all of Lifesport has gone to Hawaii, it would have been great to see them again!
But I got such a warm welcome anyways. It started with Curtis picking me up (and later admitting he had missed school just for that!!), then reuniting with the homestay family, going for a visit to Hillerie and John s ....and then there was also what happened the next morning at my first, back to Vic, swim workout with Team mate Brent McMahon!
We had planned to meet at 9a.m, right after the national team training session, and go for that 40x100 killer set. When I first got to the pool, not only did I see Brent, but Lifesport athlete Samantha Mazer was also there with her usual smile and great energy and so was...Simon Whitfield and the national team athletes. As I said, they had just finished their swim.
Simon greeted me to Victoria in his own, very original way. When I mentioned that I was staying for good, he pulled out a card board box he had with him, grabbed my swim paddle and started forcing that box open. He then handed me a -house warming present-....a beautiful vase...well, not only a beautiful vase. A particularly memorable one, the trophy of the Hyvee triathlon!
He didn t have to insist much for me to except this kind offering and KEEP IT for my house on the ocean. I was taking it home for sure!

The first swim I did that morning (on Tuesday), was BRUTAL. Oh, now I remembered the feeling, the -all you can sweat fest- had begun!!! And coach was not even there yet! Yikes, imagine what it will be like when he takes out that whip!
It was so good to hear a familiar voice give me encouragements during the set, to do the warm up side by side with Sam and to use a bit of Brent s draft before seeing him disappear in the distance at each of the 40 of the 100ms we did. Ha! I am definitely getting my share of motivation now! Just at the right moment too!!! I need to step it up and get those swim times down too!
This place will be perfect to train before Clearwater!
That great new feeling has not left me. Training, so far, I have gone on a crazy 3 hours bike ride today, where I rediscovered the beautiful, hilly trails all over again (I did not see time go by!). I then went for a fast hour run off that bike around the lake trails. Happiness is definitely an amazing training fuel!
And then there is the rest of the fun stuff! I got into my beach house, and had quite an adventure getting the mattress there on the top of the car with Curtis. I still need to go shopping for some more furniture and Pierre arrives tomorrow with my car and the rest of my things. I have not slept at my new home yet (I was staying with my homestay until things were set up) but I think tonight will be the night!
But first, to the pool! (yes, it is getting late but it seems that here, pool time is unlimited! )
Tonight is an easy swim so I am walking to the pool with homestay mom Denise, she will be joining me on that one! Sure that will be a great way to end the day!
Then, my first sleep at my new place.
Cheers everyone! I will do a special effort to keep you posted on my new adventure!
Cheers!
Magali.

Inspiration of the day

2009-10-01T05:33:00.001-07:00

This morning, as I was having breakfast, MANUEL DE LOS SANTOS
popped up on my TV screen. It was a short interview that brought me so much inspiration into my day.

Like many children from his native country,( the Dominican Republic), Manuel dreamed of becoming a world class baseball player. His determination drove him to be recruited as a development athlete for the Blue Jays at age 17.
It is at the moment the young athlete saw his childhood dream become a reality, that he would have to face tragedy. His dream of becoming a baseball superstar was shattered when a motorcycle accident left him without his left leg.

But it seems, not much can stop a champion from becoming a champion. Manuel figured that all he needed to do was....to find another sport in which to exert his passion. And this man didn't waste any time!

After having seen an inspirational movie about a golfing champion (yes, really, it was THAT simple!), he figured it looked like fun and his baseball skills might suit the game (hey, kind of like a baseball version of Happy Gilmore?). He went to a driving range for the first time and IMPRESSED. To him, each shot felt just like a home run! And from that moment, he was on a mission.
Manuel De Los Santos started playing golf in 2003, he now has an outstanding portfolio and has recently placed second at the European Handigolf championships. He is also competitive at the non-handigolf category and his aspirations are high...how high? I think we will see very soon.

Why do sad things happen to good people? Probably because they are the ones strong enough to make the whole world smile and dream. They are examples to all of us, they are there to show how strong a positive mind can be. I remember the way his interview ended: With a huge smile on his face, he said: -When it goes well, I smile, when it doesn't go well, I smile too!- he then laughed. It sounds so simple! I guess that is the secret to becoming a champion.

Have a great day everyone!

oh and.....TRAIN HARD! YEEEAAAAHHH!

Magali.

Surprise! The Augusta Candy Race!

2009-09-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

SO WHERE WAS I???

The build to Clearwater…Day 14??

I will explain, but first, I really want to say...

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR GREAT MUSIC SUGGESTIONS, I was so amazed with all of your ideas and there were some great new songs in there. I have selected many and loaded them onto my Ipod that I took...on the road to the AUGUSTA 70.3.

What race? That wasn’t on the plan!

Well, let’s just say that at day 1, 2, 3 of training after Muskoka, I realized that I felt particularly good. With the last disappointing race in the back of my mind and good legs, it was going to get dangerous...

And, long story short...I GOT CARRIED AWAY..happens to me sometimes! I did my run practices a bit over pace last week and after I crossed the fictive finish line of my 2 hour run, I thought to myself how nice a real one would feel.

I was thinking: -No pressure, no matter what the outcome, I just REALLY WANT to race, I LOVE IT and I AM HUNGRY- Part of me knew I was not in the best shape ever YET and another part of me thought, that the feeling I had could make anything happen. So I gave it a shot.

On Wednesday, mom and I packed the tri-stuff and, of course, the weiner dogs and migrated south! I was a happy girl. It was the first time in my life, really, that I felt so free about going to a race. I just wanted to go down there, rip my legs and heart out no matter what.

Yes, we DROVE a LONG WAY . The plane tickets were crazy expensive at that point in time and we just figured we would drive and stop on the way to train. We turned it into a road trip and I got to study too! We had fun. Lance had me promise I wouldn’t drive that far to a race again....(I told him a bit late)

Mom is my hero, she didn’t want to let me drive! I really tried, I promise. I had it easy and we arrived in Georgia really relaxed. It actually felt much better than it would have felt getting off a plane. No kidding. It must have been our stop in Christiansburg on the first night. (Pretty funny considering my mom’s name is Christiane!).

THE RACE:

Time flew by and soon, I was standing at the start line. DIVE START! NO WETSUIT!!

Exciting! But not familiar at all! (Laura Bennett on the start line, one point for her? No, I had to fight that! I just had to concentrate and stay RELAXED! Just because I am the one who can dive and immerge without goggles with a silly grin after 20m of the 100m dive sprint sometimes, I had to prove to myself that I could do a good job!)

I am so proud of my race start (so funny, there is a picture of it in the paper and I got to check out my technique!). I knew my main problem was that I always go out too fast and tensed on the swim, and I never swim times like I can do in the pool. So the golden rule for me this time was to just relax and go for long strokes. And I did! It felt so good, almost too safe, but everything was lined up fine! Oh and my time is fast BUT...we were with the current, that helps you know??!!! AMAZING FEELING, try racing that one, one day, YOU WILL LOVE IT!

On to the bike, I still had to catch up with Pip Taylor and Laura Bennett and they had a head start. I got a visual very fast (I went out much too fast) and almost reached Pip when I started to fade. I came off the bike second, maybe one minute or so off Pip. During the bike ride, I thought it would be she, Laura and I for the win. But when I hopped off my bike, I had a bad surprise. All my magical feeling started drifting away slowly as I realized I didn’t have my legs, I thought they may come back and tried ...and got passed... and tried but the legs were gone....I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you run like crazy but go no where!

It was not easy getting passed like that after having been so certain that I was having a good race. I held on the run and ended up 5^th, I think five minutes or so down from the lead. A deception because my best training these days have been on the run and I was about 8 minutes off my goal time for that one.

THE WRAP-UP:

I left Georgia satisfied, in a way....This race is the key to the rest of the build up. First it allowed me to see that my harder last two races were not a result of being tired from the season. It is more that I need to bring my watts back up on the bike and get some fitness back from all those tapers I have been doing lately. I figure once my watts are up on the bike, I will get off a good bike split with legs left for the run. There is a week link I need to get rid of!

SO this is what I have to do. Now there will be no more races before the big one and that is a promise.

It was a nice day out there, a day I got to re-live some nice feelings of fast racing (well, until I started running that is!), and where I got to race along side people that put some sunshine in my day: My team mate and –big brother- Justin Parks was there ( no, he was far ahead, don't get me wrong!) Sara Gross, from Victoria was lots of fun to be around. I also really like Desiree Ficker, it seems like she is a great gal! I saw her cheering for a friend after the race, she has a great energy about her. And how can I forget the magic man, Travis (the one who helped me get all my sponsors!), who was there to support me before the race, it really felt great to have him there. He helped me feel reassured and confident just before the start.

SO WHAT'S NEXT???

Next week, I head out to Victoria to settle there for good!!!! Lance and I figured I should make my move now, so I can get the optimal training environment before Clearwater. I will be moving into my new place there on Monday! (I will be living on the beach! I really think I will like that!). More news about that plan a little later.

Once again, thank you to all for following and posting your comments. Your support has been so helpful...

CHeers guys!

Magali.

The build to Clearwater: DAY 1

2009-09-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

I have recovered well from the race and am ready to go!
It feels like the race -woke me up- from a little shut down after my week off and some down time and I am back in business. We shall see!
We had a fun ride back home that helped me get some frustration off my mind. The best way to do so was to feel that I was back to work and starting to train for Clearwater.
Never look back, not only on the course.

My first training after Muskoka was in this beautiful lake we found along the road!

I am writing on day 1 of training before CLearwater, ready to put my running shoes on and head out the door. I am so motivated I had a hard time finding sleep yesterday, I kept on thinking about how I wanted things to go in Clearwater and maybe I shouldn't have looked at my next four weeks of training and watched those Steve Prefontaine running clips on Youtube just before going to bed (bad idea)!
P.S: I never say this but thank you so much for your comments, they really help so much. Thank you particularly to one of you for reminding me about the angels on my right shoulder, the people that support me, cheer for me and follow. You are right, that energy is an amazing source of motivation.
Speaking of comments, I would love to know if you have any ideas of some great training music. I am looking into it. Need to find some new, powerful stuff.
CHEERS. And to those that are also in a final stretch, LET'S GET GOING AND MAKE IT COUNT! Yeaaahh!
Out the door now! Ciao!

The devil on my left shoulder...

2009-09-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

These are the thoughts that make me feel good this morning:

How can you get strong without ever facing adversity?

Facing adversity has you face yourself.
Facing yourself is getting to know yourself.
Knowing yourself is what helps you grow.

Now I can even say that, in the long term, I am glad that I had a tough race yesterday. (?). No really!

Yesterday, at Muskoka 70.3. I faced myself.
I am making this look dramatic now. I shouldn't! It was not that bad, I didn't crash, get insured or feel sick. I just had a tough, disappointing day on a beautiful, sunny, race course.
I placed 4th but was a ways from the lead and my times were not at all representative of what I can do in either sport.

I learned so much yesterday though, it is always on those days that you learn the most. I am not happy about certain thoughts that crossed my mind from the moment I came seventh out of the water to the moment I crossed the finish line. I constantly had to re-focus because part of me was very disappointed. I wanted to win and did not want it to go any other way.
I feel I should have been fighting harder, looking ahead and never looking back.
That is the athlete that I want to become. And I do believe that I will be changed by races like yesterday's. I will become tougher.

Swim exit and 300m hill run up to transition.

Getting ready...

With team mate Brent Poulsen.

It is like everything at that race was pointing me in that direction. I was lucky to race along side Lisa Bentley, the greatest example of determination and mental strength. The woman who's strength and determination have never let anything stand in her way and a person who would fight against all odds. I am just getting to know Lisa and am very impressed.
Also competing was Laurel Wassner (Rebecca's twin sister), who overcame Lymphoma some years ago and is now back to racing pro and racing well. Our sport is made of people with such strong minds. It is a big inspiration, it is beautiful, and it makes it the perfect sport to help grow as a person.

To get back to yesterday,

Moments before the start of the race.

Before the race with sister Ariane and her husband Sean St-John.

Dave Cracknell, Husband of Lisa Bentley, was of great support and did a very good job with race organization.Coming out of the water.

Every race is a battle between the angel on your right shoulder and the demon on your left. The thing is, on some days, circumstances have the demon on your left get pretty excited!
Next time I have a day like this, I want to be re-focusing on the task, putting my head down, thinking about moving up, making every second count, believing in nothing else than the power of the effort. The most important thing in the long term.
The truth is, on a given day, as Justin (Parks) would say: - it is what it is- and now I know the real champion is the one who can just -suck it up- and keep on pushing AND keep on believing no matter what.

David McColm an amazing photographer (www.davidmccolm.com) and great guy!!! Sorry David, I didn't represent you in pictures as well as you did with me.

Starting today, I am going to do exactly that. I had a bad race so I will SUCK IT UP and keep on pushing. I am actually very motivated and hungry after yesterday. Hungry to race and train well and hungry to test not only my body but mostly my mind. I should have a great chance to do that very soon as I start my build up and another hard training bout before the big race.
A good race in Clearwater will taste that much better now. BACK TO WORK!!!!

On the road again!

2009-09-10T05:50:00.001-07:00

On my way to another Canadian 70.3 and already having some fun in the forest!
Feeling happy, free and starting to be race ready!

The ice baths of nature do not only sooth the body....

There is nothing better for the mind.

The Ice bath was definitely a good idea. Training this week has been demanding since I was given a week off after Timberman. It is always scary when coach Lance takes me off the hook. It is always because he is preparing an evil plan for later. Friends, I did not get back into training this week, I was WHIPPED back into it! And now, I get to savour a little reward for a good week!

It takes at least two to tango. Mom is coming along on this one too , she was part of party number one, by the river somewhere along our 6 hour drive from St-Sauveur to Muskoka.

You can't keep mom away from her wiener dogs, it was clear the deal was that Simeon and Evita would not be left behind!

So yesterday was a day off training, a day of traveling, playing and getting the mind ready to race!

I am waking up this morning on site. Ready to go ride the run course, swim and discover the race site.

There is some good luck and good vibes in the air this morning! Linsey sent me this pic of her Kona Gecko for good luck. She is back to training hard in Hawaii, getting ready for the BIG RACE! GO LINSEY!

Stay tuned for more news from the Muskoka pre-race party!
CHEERS!
Magali.

Triathlon Magazine Canada

2009-08-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Remember how in my last post, I was just realizing how lucky I was to have all those great people in my life, people that cheer for me and help me achieve my goals!?
Well....it seems like I had counted some out! Just when I thought things couldn't get any better...
Paul (Regensburg) tells me to check out the next edition of Triathlon Magazine Canada:
The Magazine wasn't out in Montreal, so Chris Lepik from Triathlon Magazine Canada sends a couple of PDF's to me: CHECK THIS OUT!! A COMPLETE SURPRISE!!!!

NO WAYYYY!!! Talk about a pat on the back before Clearwater!
And that's not all....
At the moment that was sent to me, I was back at home and on my first day back in the books, trying to get pumped to finish my studies FAST!
I open attachment number 2:

Notice how it says that I'm almost done with school!! :))))) Great article! Perfect motivation huh?!!

And finally! The most heart warming surprise I got in that magazine must have been this surprise advertising from Marinoni:

Now, you probably know why I have a huge smile on my face, an it is all perfect because now is the time to give her all for Clearwater!!!!
I am counting the weeks and am going to live by what Lance has told me: -Every session counts-.
It is time to give it the last shot, at school and in training.
I have had a complete week off training and can't stand it anymore. LET'S GET READY FOR THE BIG ONE GUYS!
To all of you out there, still racing, looking forward to end the season beautifully, LET'S GO!
Let's finish it well! Good luck.
Magali.

More good into my life...

2009-08-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have only been in triathlon for a short part of my life, but it has already brought me so much.
I have met so many amazing people through it all. I think that is the way life has to show me that I am on the right track!
All those people have crossed my path and helped me build my confidence and made my desires start to become a reality. If you have already read my blog, you must know that I am talking, in most part, of my new Lifesport family, but I am also talking about the whole range of people I have met, from my old friends from Quebec that I started training with, to my new friends from TYR.

Which takes me back to last Sunday:

At Timberman, I was third. Things didn t go quite as planned as I was very dehydrated on the run and felt my legs nearly cramped more than once. But I am happy about my race because the swim and bike were descent and I gave the run my best effort on that day. I held on, and survived. (Catriona...wowowowow....you were on fire on that run!!!!).
Being at that race has taken me back and had me realize how lucky I was. I have been inspired and more motivated than ever after having been to Timberman, a race closer to my home town. I realized that I had some supporters, people that believed in me and that wanted to see me do well. On the day before the race, two supporters from Quebec gave me their best wishes in transition, we had never met, but they looked so happy for me and gave me their support, that is beautiful.
Later, an other very nice lady came to tell me she would be cheering. I later saw her on the course. It was a big help.
Finally, at the start line on race morning, I encountered old training partners that came to see me to wish me luck. One even had a message from my best friends watching the race from home: -Dominic and Josianne are watching on the computer, they wanted me to wish you luck-. Waw, Dominic is the one I did my first two hour run with...he has always followed and believed in me. That put things into perspective, I had a moment at that point, when I thought of how lucky I was to have all the people supporting me, I owed it to them to have a great race and to put my heart into it! THANK YOU EVERYONE! (Oh, and Sonia, mom told me she saw you!! You are great!)

The best thing about Timberman was that I got to meet my new sponsor s team! (TYR). Ryan, from TYR, was at the race, such a fun, relaxed, person! He spoiled me. He was even on the race course, yelling out splits. Photographer Eric was also part of the support crew.
Speaking of inspiration to race, I got to race Chrissie, which is so motivating, and we met after the race. All those things they say about Chrissie are true. She is inspiring, not only because she truly loves what she does, but also because her dreams, positive spirit and love of the sport are so contagious. She is someone that worries about others and always is seeking to help and to make the world (specially our little triathlon world), a better place. Chrissie also shared a very emotional moment before the start of the race, when she gave a speech in remembrance of the late Jon Blais before spreading his ashes into the lake.

Chrissie was among the four outstanding TYR athletes that I spent the days after the race with for the TYR photo shoot....AND WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAD IN THE WOODS!!!!

Well, it was not only a photo shoot...at all...! On day one, we got to see the new TYR collection, to comment on the actual line. Designers spent an hours with each of us, asking about the actual products, what we liked, what we thought could be improved, and were very open to our comments. They presented the textures and material they wanted to work with in the future, asked for our perspective and were very open to our ideas. TYR is such a young, dynamic, open, company. It was quite a privilege to have that day to talk with the designer and input our ideas and opinions.
And....WHAT AN AMAZING 2010 COLLECTION IT IS!!! I am not just saying this! I have never seen such a nice collection!
And....they are definitely diversifying the collection and....what is the most impressive are the stylish colours and designs coming up, remember I said this! It was just hard to think those products were not available to wear now, that part kind of felt like a great day of shopping, but...you had to wait to be able to take it all home. Patience! It will come soon!
We got to wear all those fancy things for the shoots, which was goooood!

See, look at that baby blue and white race suit! Got to wear it for shoot 1.

Water shot with the reversible bathing suit!

Becky (Lavelle), Andy (Potts) and I, getting ready for the -pop out of the water-shot!

Team TYR running to the camera!

Photo shoots can be long! Ours was NOT! Chrissie had a great idea....-who wants to play some games in the sand while Andy does his shots?-she asked. And so...the TYR Olympics begun! The wheel barrel competition, was my payback for sunday! hehheeh. Becky was a great partner!

O.k....well, we didn t do so good at the three legged race...

This one was my favorite!!!

Not only was the day at the photo shoot fun, it also ended beautifully, at the lake in front of the house, with a group picture of us just hanging out on the dock. So good.

We were definitely spoiled by the TYR crew during our stay. We had great places to stay, amazing food every night that Ryan s wife and his mom cooked themselves and great support during the shoot. We were also given time for training (I was off for the week, but couldn t resist Becky s invitation to go on a short bike ride, so nice! (and what a great girl she is, just so authentic and nice!!!)). TYR really put their hearts into our racing and gave us the royal treatment the whole time.
Thanks to all the TYR crew and Andy, TJ, Becky, Chrissie...it was so nice to meet you.
Special thanks to Liz, from triathlete magazine, who took all those pictures I posted and was great company during the day. Thank you also to Cat, great fun!
Now I am on a break for a week, I get to focus on school so I can get it done as soon as I can! Next on the schedule, Muskoka 70.3!
Cheers to all. Thanks for the very precious support.
Magali.

The fun has begun!

2009-08-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

HI!

I am writing tonight from the stormy Timber forest, where, from my hotel room, I am having just a taste of that wonderful thrill that most of the campers around here must be experiencing every time the lightning strikes!

I was waiting for that storm. Not just because of the lightning, but mostly because rumors have it that there is a cold front coming and... this might be the first sign of it cooling down. Now cold, here, is a relative term. It has been so HOT!

I am starting to feel race ready (and so is mom! she has started saving her voice), I feel explosive, I am focusing now on keeping it all for race day!

I have explored the courses several times. They are beautiful and I know them quite well now.
The way I study the course is strange but I find it very fun. I usually drive the course, I then identify-things, places or views- that make different sections of particular interest and help me divide it. That way, on race day, I can get the best effort by always staying motivated on the next section objective.

This time, I had quite a laugh when I got to divide this one into sections because we found many strange things along the road that gave some funny race section ideas:
I don t want you to know how ridiculous my course divisions can get so I wont describe the sections but I will show you some pictures of some of the odd things that inspired me to name the sections.
Here is the reasoning behind the -Mag course dividing theory-: If something is very odd or funny, there is little chance you will forget about it, and if you are lucky, during the race, it might even make you smile!
This time, there was definitely some odd things material!

Among odd things: The lost sea monster.

The bear that will not make you run.

The flying car.

Has Santa been naughty?

The big white rock meditating area

The watch dog that never moved.

Smiley face. Much needed at the bike turnaround!

Though not on the course, this was also an odd thing I saw!: Mom taking the wiener dogs for a ride. For all you dog lovers out there!
Now for a more serious idea of the Timberman race scene:

Swim:
The beach

The water was warm and, as you can see, waist deep, for a long time!

Bike:

Run:

I also went for a swim with David Kahn today, David is a new Lifesport athlete and will be racing pro on Sunday. We had quite an adventure trying to get a swim in between thunder storms.
More news a little later! Cheers!

Flying out to a new adventure...

2009-08-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hi!!

I have safely arrived in New Hampshire. My first day here was great! And even just getting here was a lot of fun!

First, I got very lucky. After Curtis so kindly dropped me off at the airport (around 5:40 a.m), I directed myself to the nice lady at the Air Canada counter. Nice! No line up, just a lady waiting for me with a pretty smile!

-Your name please?-

I answer

She looks confused...

I feel a surge of adrenaline when she answers: -I don t have you on this flight!!!-

I suddenly remember how on the way to the airport, I was bragging about never having missed a plane! oops.

How could that be, I pulled out my ticket, the flight name on the ticket was correct but the time was not! So....as the adrenaline flowed through my body, the nice lady searched in her computer...before saying the most relieving words of the day, something like: - There is one place on the next flight, you are so lucky, you have half an hour to get to the gate, you can make it. -

I loved that lady, she was a YES girl, I felt like hugging her but I had to hold back and just give her a hand shake!

I got to the gate, flew into the air, and slept the whole way. I don t usually sleep in planes because although I love to fly, it scares me to be stuck in a metal cage, flying threw the sky with 200 strangers and no control on the situation!

But....yesterday, I was going to find out that it could also be scary to fly in a little metal cage with only three other people on board with some (though limited) control on the situation.

Here it goes:

The call up for boarding on the flight from Toronto to Manchester was original. I had asked the lady at the desk how soon my plane would board and went for coffee. Minutes later, she just yelled: Boarding for Manchester- then looking at me- that s you!

Why only me? Hmmm....She pointed me out to gate 270, I walked, walked, saw a tiny old plane down the line, prayed it wasn t mine...walked...and found it was mine. Noooo! Another flying coffin. Me and my family members call those types of planes that way because we had a very frightening experience in one of those in a storm. Those little planes are not so reassuring to me in bad weather.

I sucked it up, and got into the plane. Met co-pilot evil (he wouldn t smile back!) and met the three other kind passengers that would be with me. The plane was tiny, I gave a look to the other passengers and sat right behind the pilot (Hey, I want to know what s going on!!!).

To my relief, the pilot himself was nice, he turned around and gave me a grin. OUF! That was reassuring since that was at the precise moment the old man behind me was re-living some pre-school experiences as he was scolded by co-pilot evil for having put his back not quite tucked enough under his wife s seat. His poor wife tried to calm co-pilot down.

Then, co-pilot evil announced something along the lines of: -There is no flight attendant on this flight- (he was definitely not one)haha -so we will be flying together for an hour and a half, if you have any questions, let me know-

I felt like asking him why he looked so sad today...but I kept that to myself.

He then brutally shut the door. Uh, oh...there was no turning back now.

Then, the familiar sound of my vacuum cleaner started....it was the engine! (really, you would have laughed, it realy sounded the same!)

Oh no! There was nothing I could do...all of a sudden, I started wishing I had a parachute ...or wishing I had my pilot license. One day! Too late now! Here we go!

I had a lot of fun observing the pilot manoeuvres at take off and kind of forgot about all the scare. We had a smooth flight, I started to like the cowboy feel there was to it. At one point during the flight, the pilot got up and left the cockpit. – Hey mate, who s flying the plane!-

I kind of liked the idea of being in the air with no pilot. All of a sudden I pictured myself heading up to sit down at the pilot s seat as he had gone the the bathroom and taking control of the plane.

The pilot was back now, not a bad idea, guess I ll try the bathroom too.

I got up, walked three steps (that s how long the plane was, from front to back) and entered the strangest plane bathroom ever. First, where was the light...oh there...oh it doesn t work! I let one of my flight buddies know so he could have a good laugh (we had talked about the medieval aspect of the plane). Then a girl suggested...to just keep the door open, they wouldn t look! (great! Hehh, kind of funny situation). I decided to close the door and trust my senses. In the dark now. I lift up the big square compost type bathroom cover and will not start to describe the smell that arose from there. OUH! That is not all. At the moment I finally had to get out of the bathroom, the door was jammed. I had to fight it open in the dark, and once I did, my flight buddies and I had yet another good laugh.

-Who s next?-

The rest of the flight went fine. We had fun, as captain and co-captain read extra pages of the novels they were into. ( No kidding, they actually both were reading at one point)

When we landed, I was happy to be back on firm ground after that and found mom waiting for me at the airport with the puppies.

It was so nice to be reunited, once again!

More news very soon!

Leaving soon...

2009-08-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

High five Curtis! One last Tuesday at the time trials.

I am getting ready to leave Victoria very soon... I can feel a little pinch on my left side...

I have had a great stay here and will definitely be looking forward to driving down in November to make it back to my new playground for good.

Dan, Sam and Shelly from Lifesport, were racing yesterday.

Many things I have done and loved from Victoria:

-Ice baths in the ocean

-Cycling by the sea

-Biking for ever on outstanding bike routes (and never the same!) (And I have definitely not seen it all)

-Running for ever in trails around lakes, along the water, through the forest (and never the same!)

-Swimming in so many wonderful lakes. (I still would love to find a buddy to take me diving off the cliffs I have heard of)

-The special one on one training sessions with coach Lance

-My new friends, my team mates, my home stay family, my new training partners (training with Brent and Kerry from Lifesport and with the NTC group for open water (to get my but kicked regularly) and track)

-Shopping with home stay family (tried it out this week! More to discover in November)

-The nice places to hang out by the harbour

-The fact that you can just take a ferry and be in beautiful Vancouver

And most of all:

-The fact that for some strange reason, it really feels at home here.

Training:

Now for TIMBERMAN!!!

I am so excited about the next race. I have worked hard and have gotten in some particularly encouraging run trainings in this last week!
Yesterday was my last long brick, it was a challenging one and a fun one too. It got wet!!

With Curtis, at the end of a big training day in the rain. 1h easy swim, 3h progressive bike, 45 minutes tempo at the track. Big day, good day.

Friday night track meet:

Tonight!

Lifesport coach and outstanding athlete, Lucy Smith, was representing!

Featuring: Lucy Smith (pink top), won the 5km in a time of 16:28!!!! That has to be a new record!

And also featuring... her crazed fans, Kerry, Curtis and Mags.

Seeing all those people run, had Curt and I inspired to go home and have a -let's cook mexican-evening.

More action to come!!!

-Next Tuesday: Leaving for the race, meeting support crew mom and her new puppies at the hotel. (She will drive down and meet me there, she insisted to drive...she needs to take Wiener dogs along)

-THE RACE

-Photo shoot and meeting with TYR for a couple of days after the race! I will get to meet the team! Very exciting!!

and then....there is...

-My mid-season break...and finishing school.

More news a little later.

Take care friends and thanks for the support!

Mags.

When effort makes it a better day...

2009-08-08T19:16:00.001-07:00

I was not really myself this morning (sad things happened) . I can't start complaining about that, I have been blessed with so many happy days in the past year! And I know there are many good days to come!

And...on the schedule today was....the toughest training day of the week! I'll admit, a bad day to feel down.

Today, I was going to have to do the best I could to work with it because I had no other choice. And again, I was going to get to work on getting stronger inside.

I know that it is the positive thoughts and energy that help when I need to push through training. I knew it would be harder than usual today.

But someone told me that the strongest athletes are able to take a negative situation and turn them into positive energy for training and racing.

I had to meet Lance for a morning run around the lake. It was a bit chilly yesterday, a bit gray but I got to meet the NTC group for a while before completing my solitary run.

I returned home, went for a nap and some work, preparing for a hard afternoon. Tried to get my mind set on a big effort.

It was Lance's masterplan that saved me today:
Because it left no time to overthink, and that was a blessing in desguise.

My mission was to drive to coach Lance's place, ride down to do a bike training with Brent (McMahon) to complete a three hour bike ride including time trial and hill repeats. Then ride back and do a track workout with coach. Not much time for overthinking in that plan.
As I left Lance's place, I couldn't help but notice it hadn't gotten any warmer....it then started raining...I kept on thinking to myself that I was going to warm up during the time trial though!
I got to the training sight early, sat in the drizzle waiting for my training partner, secretly thinking I didn't know how I was going to do this. Feeling very alone.

I met Brent and things changed fast, he was ready for a big effort and that is very contageous! Brent always has a good drive, he is very balanced and a great, smart, training partner.
The work begun. The whole effort I put into that time trial was to turn my bad feelings into a good push on the pedals. It was not perfect, but I made it hurt plenty, it was a great practice, there was some good work in there and I was glad to see I was able to focus and push hard....forgetting about worries for a while felt very good. Riding my bike, felt very good.

I followed Brent into challenge number two (the hills), I was impressed with Brent's drive. He had us climb a couple of extra hills before the actual repeats, he wanted a good quality training and was not going to go for anything less.We finaly found the hill. We pushed, we focused, we enjoyed. Before I knew it, I was back at Lance's place feeling glad, satisfied, focused. Ready to run.

Challenge number three was even better. Coach was there with a smile and helped me push through...what turned out to be....one of the best run training of my life ( I NEVER would had expected things to turn out this way, this morning, when I woke up). Lance was very positive and even added 5x400 repeats to my training at the end, when I thought I couldn't take anymore. By doing so, he made me feel how I could take more than what I thought. Which brings me to the true lesson of the day: -the body can always give more, you just have to find the state of mind that will allow it-. The workout was a big set of 400's in which I had to focus on rythm and form. That workout took me to another place. I got my energy and focus from the fact that I love running, from the encouraging words of my coach, from the thought that I am so lucky to have such a great coaching support and to be here in Victoria, and from thinking about the race to come. And there is always that little extra bonus that you get sometimes: This time, my bonus was the nice, old man that stood by the track with his dog, talking encouragements to me after each of the couple of first repeats.

I left that track smiling, cooling down in some new, beautiful trails.
Now I know for a fact that the best remedy for a sad heart is to set a goal and overcome it. It is the last thing that you feel like doing but it is the first thing to do. I guess it is a good way to feel some control when things you can't control, affect you.

Another good remedy is.....good company.

Spaz, the magic nap cat.

Little house party....with Denise, Jennifer, Curtis and friend Mike.