I finished in 15th place yesterday and that was the best that I could do yesterday. No regrets. No excuses. And no feeling sorry for me. I fulfilled my dream and my life’s goal. I made a difference in the life of one person in this world.

Have a great day today!

Lisa

Yesterday was the toughest last 60 minutes of running I have ever had to do – it wasn’t the fastest – but it was the toughest!

I had the swim of my life getting out of the water with Karen Smyers and less than 2 minutes behind Belinda Granger and Jo Lawn. I had the bike ride of my life catching the Jo Lawn, Gina Kehr and Kate Allen pack by about 40 km to go. I let them go in the final 20 km after getting sick of playing the “speed up and slow down” game associated with being swallowed up in a huge pack of age group men – I wasn’t going to risk a drafting call or win this race wondering if I had an unfair advantage. Integrity and fear won out and I got off the bike a bit over a minute behind that pack and a solid 11 minutes down on the leader Michellie Jones. I was ecstatic – that was my smallest bike to run deficit ever!!! I had accomplished my goal of setting myself up to use my run following a solid swim-bike combination. I then had the run of my life – for the first 2 hours, that is – and then, the marathon – true to its history – got very difficult indeed. By about 2 hours into the marathon, I was in third place having just passed 6-time champion, Natasha Badmann. What an absolute thrill it was for me to pass this incredible, gracious woman. And then I entered the Energy Lab still feeling good but hearing the pitter-patter of Gina Kehr’s feet behind me. I picked up the pace to try to break her, but she persisted. Then on the way out of the Energy Lab, on the slight uphill with a tailwind that made it feel like a sauna, Gina passed me and I moved into 4th. I could not respond at all. I felt like I was moving backward.

At this point, we were about 11 km from the finish line. This was the roughest patch of the race for me. It is interesting how you can go from running 3 hour marathon pace to wanting to lay down on the side of the road and go to sleep. I didn’t want to slow down – I just wanted to stop! I stopped for a little porta potty break hoping to relieve my GI issues and then I re-grouped, re-focused and returned to running. With 2 km to go, I re-passed Gina who had put over 1 minute into me out of the Energy Lab. At this point the race has a significant downhill followed by a flat and another slight downhill and then a flat to the finish line. I hammered as hard as I could without looking back – not wanting to relinquish my first ever podium and hoping somewhere along the line, I might even snag 2nd place.

Thankfully, I crossed the line in 3rd place – my best finish ever in the Hawaii Ironman World Championships! The top ten women all finished within 20 minutes of each other for one of the most competitive days in history. My beautiful husband, Dave Cracknell, was there at the finish line with a wonderful hug – my reward for a hard day’s work! It was, after all, our 1st wedding anniversary – my first podium and my first anniversary all on one fantastic day.

Thank you for all of your cheers and support – it means the world to me. More later – there are photos on www.tridubai.com as well as those below. Click an image for full size.

Lisa

Ed. Note – When you’re really fast, you get your own
personalized shoes, or ‘Magic Slippers’ as Lisa calls them.

It was wicked. I was out running on the Queen K in the middle of nowhere – out here in Waikoloa near Mauna Lani and Puako – and this sound came up – like a freight train or when you are driving and only have one window open and you are driving at high speeds – and then the road started to shake and I screamed and couldn’t believe it – I saw rocks falling – of course – I kept on running – then another hit – it was a weird sensation – very weird.

Dave was out on his bike at the time and he thought he was going to crash. He knew it was an earthquake whereas I thought that it was me being a little nutty. He stopped his bike and then saw big rock boulders – as big as a car – falling on the road up ahead. He made his way home very carefully – careful of the aftershock and careful of the rock faces.

When we both returned to the Hilton, it had been evacuated. The power was out – some of the beautiful antique tables and vases at the Hilton are overturned and broken – it is such a shame. In our room, a table was overturned and my lucky new Dell helmets were on the floor (they were on display on my television before!!). Our room usually looks as if an earthquake hit so now I have a good gauge before I use that expression!

It is always an adventure here in Hawaii – but we are both safe and sound and I think that most people are ok – thank goodness!!!

Training has gone very well – life is good and I cannot wait to race!!!

Lisa

So, yes the Hawaii IM is more than 3 weeks away, but I am going to Kona early to train on the roads and get acclimatized. This has worked for me the past 2 years (despite falling ill both years!!). I was thinking on the plane this morning about my trip and about my race and I think that the theme of my race is going to be LOVE – you are probably laughing right now – but the reason is that race day is the same day as my 1st year wedding anniversary with my husband, Dave. Someone asked me what I was going to do for my anniversary this year and I was about to say “I’m going to sweat for 9 hrs and race fast .. blah blah blah” and I thought – “heck, it is my anniversary and all I want to do is surround myself with love” – and so I decided that my theme will be LOVE – love for my wonderful husband – love for my sport – love for my career – love for my competitors – love for the spectators! At the end of the race, all I want is a kiss from my husband. Last year, he did the ultimate in love – he pulled me off of the marathon course because he knew how sick I was (I ended up having a ruptured appendix) – why is that the ultimate in love? Because he loved me, the person, so much, that he risked breaking my heart by pulling me out from a sport and event that I love.

Today isn’t a big training day – it is just travel and waiting and traveling and waiting and renting cars and waiting – but in many ways it is a “growing” day because I am spending a lot of time with myself and learning lots about myself in the process.

Be safe!

Lisa

In June, the Tri Dubai team leaders, Franko and Tony, started to think about having a team building Ironman preparation camp in Kona. After a few weeks of planning, our team embarked on flights from all over the world gathering on the Big Island. Cam Brown came from New Zealand, Normann Stadler from Germany, Jo Lawn and Tim Deboom from Boulder, Desiree Ficker from Austin and I traveled from Canada. Thanks to the Hilton at Wailoloa Village, we were all able to stay at one of the nicest resorts on the Island. Inside Triathlon sent over two of their crew – Amy and Lars – to film and to interview each of us training.

Our training was as individual as we wanted it (according to our own needs), but with a little organization, we were able to do some fantastic sessions together. On Saturday morning, I got to swim with some of the best athletes in the world!!! I had to do a pretty tough set – 20 x 100 – a set that is only as tough as you make it. And since my trusty teammates decided to do it with me – it was tough and wonderful at the same time. Desiree, Jo, Cam and I pounded out the workout with our two trusty spouses – Dave and Armando – alongside to push us even more. On deck, Franko and Michael Yux took photos and celebrated their team. While we were doing that, Normann and Tim were running up to Waikoloa Village – a 7 mile uphill run! It was a normal day at the office for Tri Dubai.

While most of my teammates were pounding out lots of biking and running, I was fine tuning my training for a peak performance at Subaru Ironman Canada. I still managed to bike the whole course (over a few days) and run most of the course since I still had one long ride and run in my final Subaru Ironman Canada preparation. The first few days were very windy and it was a great reminder of what will be in store for us in October. There was one ride that Dave, Cam and I did with Dieter, the general manager of the Hilton. The ride was a complete tailwind on the way out and a headwind on the return. It took us 14 minutes to get out and 30 minutes to get back. But that was a gift because at least it was only a headwind – further up the road, that wind would have been a grueling and frightening crosswind.

It was a pretty neat trip – after all, how many people get to train with 2 former Ironman World Champions – Normann and Tim – 2 multiple Ironman Champions – Cam and Jo – and an up and coming Ironman athlete – Desiree – all at the same time in Hawaii!!!

You can check out some stories and live video on www.insidetri.com and some photos on www.tridubai.com. Enjoy!!!!

Lisa

My training and preparation has been excellent. Over the past 12 weeks of training, I have swam at my best, thanks to Brian Kelly, my swim coach, I have biked at my best and I have executed career best runs. And thanks to my Kona training buddy, Nigel Gray, I have maximized my training sessions and gotten every ounce out of the fantastic coaching which Lance Watson has provided me since 1999.

It is because I have been supported so wonderfully by everyone that I am wanted to share this note. I have been battling abdominal discomfort for the past 10 days. It started last Tuesday. It improved gradually and I felt pretty good by last Sunday. But then on Monday, I became uncomfortable again. All told, I spent two days in bed in quite a bit of pain. But it would always improve enough for me to battle on and rule out anything sinister.

This past Tuesday, the pain got pretty severe and I started to seek out a doctor on Wednesday. The trouble is that with all of my positive thinking, I had convinced myself that I was going to be fine. After all, I was improving and I only felt really uncomfortable at the end of the day particularly after eating.

Thanks to Dr. Hiller, my friend from my Labman sodium studies, I was able to see Dr. Park today, Thursday. I either have chronic appendicitis or sigmoid diverticulitis (inflammation of the colon). Both are treated with antibiotics. I was going to get a CAT scan to confirm the diagnosis, but the end result was going to be the same regardless – antibiotics to treat the infection and lower my fever. Oh yes, I’ve had a fever for a few days but never knew it. Can you say “high pain tolerance” or perhaps “stupidity” or it is a weird form of “positive thinking”? I’d like to think that it is positive thinking.

I decided to delay the CAT scan until Sunday. Dr. Park does not think that I can harm myself in anyway by racing. But that said, I will be respectful of my body and I will listen to it on race day. My health and well being are most important (and marrying David Cracknell next Wednesday). In the meantime, I will take my antibiotics to get rid of the infection. I know that racing on antibiotics is certainly not the way to optimal performance, but I plan to replace whatever the antibiotics take away with a lot of heart and passion.

As always, I will race with heart. Cheer loud. I will do my best. Regardless what happens on race day, there will be no “what ifs” from me. I will be very fortunate to start the race and like everyone else, I will be a champion to finish the race. There is a reason for everything. I accept my path and am grateful for this journey. Thank you for your support.

Lisa