Lisa Bentley Camp... Part I of the story...

I am back in town after a weekend in Edmonton. I had an amazing time at the Lisa Bentley Ironman Camp. This was a sponsored camp for all of us members of the Ironcops for Cancer Ironman Team, and consisted of several discussions on training, nutrition, mental focus, tips from the pro's, etc. as well as some pretty tough training. On Saturday I rode for 184km during some pretty nasty headwinds - although the Edmonton folks would say that it was nothing compared to what they usually get - and on Sunday I ran 25km in the River Valley trails... They are hilly! Some of the climbs and descents were nastier than most of what we see in the trails at Stanley Park. Who knew Edmonton had hills??? I am sharing this with you all in case you thought I was slacking off ;).

I have always believed that Ironman training is more about how you use your head than how you use your body. I learned even more talking with Lisa Bentley. Here is a woman who has been 3rd place at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, and has won Ironman Canada a few times already. She also won Ironman Australia earlier this year.

I set out for my trip to Edmonton with my friend Lenka. Lenka is also a member of the Ironcops team and also in the North Shore Triathlon club. We left Thursday night and drove for about 5 hours to a small motel just north of Kamloops. Lenka has never been up in this neck of the province so I was hoping there would be some neat sights along the way for her to see. On Saturday, we found it. Driving through Jasper National Park revealed some amazing views. Tall mountains and canyons, and a herd of goats along the side of the road. No bears or cariboo, but I don’t know if we needed that kind of excitement.

Road trips have an interesting way of bringing people closer together or driving long-standing wedges between people. Getting in a car with someone for 4 days of driving is a leap of friendship faith. There are the inevitable little things that start to get on you, especially since after driving for 2 days straight. It’s not the other person, it’s more the fatigue and the uneasiness of sitting in one position in a car for a long time. So, with all that in mind, you set off on the adventure and hope that, at the end, you’re still friends. A road trip can be a lot of fun, though, when both people are just open to experiencing the journey, with it’s ups and downs, and be in the moment as much as possible. Sure, there are times where you just want to get home as fast as possible, but those are balanced by some great scenery, fun conversations and joking around…

Friday was a bit of an adventure, but more as we approached Edmonton… The basic story is that Edmonton is big. Really big. And finding a man-made lake that doesn’t exist on any pre-2006 maps is not as easy at one might think. So, we arrived at the Summerside Beach Club about an hour after we had planned. I tell you, both Lenka and I were just happy to get out of the car.

Friday night, we had dinner and listened to a great talk by Lisa Bentley. We got a cool camp t-shirt that was sponsored by Suburu, PowerBar and Team Tri-Dubai. Very nice shirt!

Lisa’s talk on Friday was centered around your mental approach to Ironman. I’ve talked a lot on my blog about differentiating the external and internal goal setting. But her perspective helped re-enforce the sense of how we approach the race itself. The bottom line, control the controllables and set your goals accordingly. Setting goals like “winning age group” or something like that is dependant on too many external factors. And they can leave you with a negative experience. Lisa’s take? External goals are the ones that “hurt your feelings”. They are like hoping everybody likes you. Well, you can’t control that, and by focusing yourself on those types of goals, you give control of your race to them.

She talked a lot about dealing with “curveballs”. Curveballs are all those things that come at you unexpectedly that you have to deal with. She suggested changing your focus to view the curveballs as an opportunity to overcome something. My broken thumb is a great example. It’s either a setback or an opportunity. The opportunity is for me to take something away from this, to realize that all things happen for a reason, and to find a positive in the experience. If I am meant to have my best experience, then it’s because I have become the best problem solver.

And I’ll agree. I’ve become a fast tire-changer due to necessity. I’ve learned how to ride aggressively and also learned – the hard way – when to calm down and take a corner more conservatively. I’ve also learned how to ride in the aero position for 5-6 hours at a stretch – due to the fact that I can’t put pressure down on my left hand – and that has improved my core strength, my cycling mechanics, and my focus. Dave (Lisa’s husband) thinks I should sign up for Florida Ironman since it’s all flat J. Being in the aero at Ironman Canada is virtually impossible, but I’ve already gone on a ride around the course in mostly aero.

I had some great confidence booster’s from Saturday’s ride. There was a threat of rain in the forecast, so I brought along a zip-lock bag for my left arm, since I can’t get the cast wet. I kept an overall pace of about 22 miles/hour throughout most of the ride, save for a few sections. The ride was mostly flat, with a 50k stretch, a 27k loop (which I did 3 times) and a 50k ride back. I started out the first 50k at the 22 mph pace, focusing on eating a Clif Bar every hour (on the ½ hour mark), drinking at least one bottle of water, and taking a salt pill. When you really get down to it, with all that eating and drinking, you are always doing something. Lisa has it even more rigid, as she’ll be doing something every 10 minutes on the bike (drinking, eating, salt pills, electrolyte drink). So it’s hard to get bored…

I started out with Kerry Nisbet, the head of the Edmonton Ironcops Team and the overall head of Ironcops in Canada. We chatted about my thumb – really one of the main topics of my conversations most of the weekend – and how he enjoyed training with his son, Dale, who is doing Ironman for the first time. He and I had a great 20-25km ride out before I stopped at the first support vehicle to fill up with water. Kerry shot ahead and I lost him for the rest of the ride. He’s probably going to go for a 5:20-25 bike split in Canada this year so I don’t mind letting him go.

Lenka met me out at the start of the first loop (after my 50k) and we rode the first 27km together. She’s been injured all year and was hoping to get a 54k (2 loop ride) in. That really helped break down the day, as riding with her we became “Team Cervelo” (we both are riding Cervelo bikes) for 27 km.

After we finished the first loop I went ahead and tried to catch up to Lisa Bentley, as she had passed us a few km back. We marveled at just how fluid her riding is. I guess that’s what the pro’s look like. Lisa backed off a bit and I passed her while she talked with some other folks in the camp. I figured eventually she’d catch me and we’d get to chat, but I looked back over that loop and she was nowhere to be found. At the post race hot dog barbecue, she said she tried to catch up but that I was flying. She knew I was trying to do a harder loop on my second one and wanted to join up but couldn’t catch up in time. I tell you, that’s always a nice thing to hear. I don’t think for a second that I could outrace her, but hearing the feedback, especially since I have always seen my cycling as a limiter, was a great confidence boost.
I decided to do a 3rd loop, bringing the total anticipated ride to 184km. I really have made a point of working harder when I am able to, in order to reap more out of each workout. With the hand in a cast I actually find I get more determined on my rides – one of the by-products and opportunities I was talking about.

After the loop I started to head home. I was alone for the most part, save for the SAG vehicles I would occasionally come up to. They did a great job of following us around the course. The headwinds coming back into town were quite strong, but I was somewhat happy for that since I know Ironman Canada can yield some pretty tough winds too. Still, I was getting tired, and around 83 miles in I was bonking. I had stuck to my nutrition plan for the most part, except that I dropped half of my Clif bar at the 4th hour. And I think I was feeling that. I pulled out a Clif gel – strawberry – in hopes of upping my energy, and that helped a bit. Until I hit about 98 miles, and then my spoke on my back wheel broke. This has happened before, and I was able to keep riding before. In this case, however, my new Cervelo has a wheel base with fewer spokes, which means that if one breaks, the wheel becomes much more “wobbly”. So, my tire was rubbing against my bike frame AND my rear brakes. So, riding was impossible. I called it a day and waited for the SAG vehicle to show up to take me home. Almost 160km at about 153 ave HR, a harder effort but with a lot of pickups along the way. I felt great, and earned the two beers and 3 hot dogs at the barbecue!

Everybody else had a great ride as well, and I spoke with Lisa a little bit after as she told me she thought my riding form was good – another thing I have wondered about – and that I looked strong. Lenka was doing well after her 54km and Murray Frank, Karen’s husband (the two of them are our B.C. team’s “spiritual leaders”), was handing out Coors Light… Beer is beer sometimes!