I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

From my job, my personal life and my athletic endeavors, the more things I fail at, the more I push myself to figure it out, to do better.  I think that's why I'm a good scientist, it has nothing to do with god given smarts..... it's good work ethic and a huge fear of failure.  I want to do lots of things, but everything I do I want to do well.  That includes triathlon.  I have my sights set on the Victoria half ironman length race.  

My life journey has brought me to Vancouver, and this is the place to strive for those goals.  I have joined the UBC triathlon clubs, its one of the best university clubs... wait no, THE BEST university club I have ever been apart of.  There are groups runs, swims, bikes and yoga every week, and people go!  They also organize mini-series races to keep the competitive spirit alive.  I am constantly being challenged and I have people to train with.  It's amazing!

This is my vancouver training journey since I don't have any races coming up for the winter.

SWIM

When I arrived I joined the vancouver open water swim society and have been training in open ocean water at kits beach.  It's totally incredible, a lifeguarded 1km course is set up in the ocean twice a week, and for two hours you can swim the loop as many times as you want.  Kits beach also has the most beautiful backdrop so it was amazing until they closed it down for the winter.  Kits pool is also a nice alternative, an outdoor pool of 140m in length.  Now that's its winter I am training in the ubc outdoor pool, participating in one coached swim a week and one endurance swim on my own.  Once my half training kicks in (early January) I hope to up this to twice a week.

Beautiful place to open water swim

BIKE

This place is truly bike heaven.  I have met some great people to take me around biking.  The city is so bike friendly and there are tons of biking options.  Close to me is UBC campus, great for hammerfest.  There is almost no traffic control, lots of great hills, and some fast crit loops to really get the heartrate up.  However I also have met some great friends who have taken me up into the mountains.  I've conquered both cypress and seymour, rated climbs, 12 + km straight up into the sky.  I am determined to bike year round, both commuting (I'm a MEC girl now) and road bike (yes she has fenders) to keep up my edge.  However since I"ve moved to Vancouver I have additionally invested in another little gem.  My dream TT bike, the 2012 FELT DA4W.  Best thing I have ever done.  I rode her down from WA where I bought her.  It's true love.  Still need a new saddle and a bike fit, and aside from races she won't be seeing the rain, so I probably won't get a ton of riding in on that bike... good thing I have two others :) --> never thought Id be that person.  I do love the attitude of fit vancouverites.  F&%K the rain we're doing it anyways.  WHen I'm out there hammering away in the pouring rain I'm never alone, and there is something to be said for that.

Thansgiving!  Day I rode her home. 

a little bike porn

RUN

still don't like it, but it's an inspiring place to run.  I live steps from Pacific Spirit Park.  My runs have upped in distance quite a bit, but I'm not at half marathon length where I want to be.  I run with my boss at lunches which is a nice break, with the triclub once-twice a week (one long run, one interval set) and sometimes on my own.

Pacific Spirit Park - Backdrop of my runs

Overall this is a great place to be for triathlon training, and I look forward to my first race reports stemming from this new training regime.