I felt pretty good coming into the race. I finally received clearance from the CF Clinic that my lungs were improving and that I could in fact race. I was so excited to be finally healthy enough to race full steam and with full lungs since I had been a bit subpar in both St. Croix and Florida. And that is why I cannot explain why I felt so flat on race day. I swam well exiting close to Belinda Granger and Mirinda Carfrae, but then I lost so much time on the bike. I rode as hard as I could but I never found that magic gear or sweet spot of the pedal stroke but I ploughed along aiming to get every last watt out of each pedal stroke. Granted, I was racing with some pretty tough customers, but still, I have been riding so well lately that this mediocre ride was unexpected. I charged off onto the run and felt great. It was a super hilly run – my forte – and I was sure that I would claw back some time and hopefully some women. But I never got it rolling – it was all effort and no payback. I finished in 11th place just behind Belinda Granger who had won Honu 70.3 the week before – so I was in good company – but I was definitely disappointed. I suppose the accumulation of ’stuff’ may have caught up to me – 4 months of antibiotics, Brunswick going to Heaven, countless doctor’s appointments. My body and soul got into the fine beauty of Connecticut and went on holiday!!! Regardless, it was a good little hit out with some of the best triathletes in the world and I got to have a great visit with Belinda Granger and Jo Lawn. After our 5 minute grunt match complaining about our races, we were quickly laughing and joking and remembering why we love our sport so much and why personally I have been doing it for 20 years!

No time to dwell on that, the Muskoka Triathlon was the very next weekend. It was now time to freshen up the legs and squeeze another race out right in my own backyard!

I have been racing the Subaru Muskoka Triathlon for over 15 years. The course keeps changing but the general venue stays the same. It is the go-to race for Ontario athletes! It is a super hilly race and pretty darn short by my Ironman standards. I might not be racing Ironman anymore, but my engine is all about Ironman. No matter how hard I try to ’sprint’, I have no ’sprint’ available in this body. I am all about slow twitch!

The morning of the race, my bike fell over and a rock broke a spoke in my rear Zipp 404 race wheel. Ouch! I think that this is the last technical issue I am going to have for 2009. I have had the broken shoe, the cracked frame and now the broken spoke. This would not be an easy fix since I ride 650 c wheels and finding a rear replacement would be a challenge. Luckily, within minutes, we found a rear 650 race wheel. We fitted it up – checked the gears – and I was ready to go. It was a clincher and I race on tubular tires so I would have no spare but at this stage, I figured that everything comes in threes, and this was in fact ‘3′ – so we were good!

I had my normal swim – nothing super special – and exited about 3 minutes behind race leader and upcoming pro, Jen Coombs. I felt quite good on the bike and started to eat into the lead of the women up ahead. I got to the turnaround and could see that Jen’s lead was down to about 90 seconds and I was gaining on the others as well. That is a bit of catch-22 for me. You see, I coach Jen and I desperately want her to get her first big win but I am also in the race – so part of me is happy I am catching her and part of me is wondering how I am going to make her even faster on the bike!!!

And then ‘3B’ happened! If ‘3′ was the broken spoke earlier this morning, then my current drama – my chain jamming in between the frame and the derailleur and causing my pedals to lock at 3 and 9 o’clock at 40 km into the ride – must be ‘3B’!!!! I couldn’t believe it. My pedals are absolutely jammed and I am just hoping to not crash as I slow my bike down in order fix the problem. I have NEVER EVER STOPPED in a race EVER in 20 years until this year – first for the broken shoe in St. Croix and now for the jammed chain. It has happened before when I go into my very biggest gear but never in a race. I suppose borrowing a rear wheel didn’t help! Anyway, I grabbed the chain and put it back in place and then pedaled off to make up my lost time and did not use that gear again!! Attitude is more important than fact – the fact is that I had to stop and lose time with a mechanical issue but my attitude is that I will get that time back and more over the rest of the race.

Into transition, there were about 4 women within 90 seconds. I headed out to run as fast as possible and by 2.5 km, I was in the lead. Again, it was with a bit of reservation that I passed Jen. I offered her lots of encouragement and advice and took my own ‘coaching’ notes on how we were going to improve Jen’s run so that I don’t catch her anymore. It is all a work in progress and Jen is so talented, I know it will happen in time!

Once in the lead, I ran as hard as I could to hold off the other great women runners and I crossed the line in first for my first victory of the season! I won my first Muskoka Triathlon over 10 years ago and it is pretty special to be winning it now in 2009!

With that race done, I flew to Boulder, Colorado for a super cool photo shoot on behalf of my bike saddle sponsor – fizik. Fizik had gathered its athletes – Craig Alexander, Matt Reed, Luke Bell, Tim DeBoom, Greg Bennett, Leon Griffin, Mirinda Carfrae, Belinda Granger, Chrissie Wellington and me for a photo shoot. These photos may not be seen until 2010 – so stay tuned – they are not to be missed! It was an absolute blast to get to hang out with my triathlon friends outside of a race venue. There was no pressure and no race face. The only competition was the race to the buffet when the shots were done!

With that 24 hour jaunt complete, it was time for our Muskoka Subaru Success Camp on June 26th weekend. It was a fantastic weekend. The athletes were amazing soaking in all of the information, coaching and encouragement and reaching new athletic goals to fuel them toward their 70.3 goal. Our Subaru Success Camp team of Jody, Teresa, Jen and Mike worked seamlessly together. We had a few curveballs

I have been racing in St.Croix for over 10 years.  This race is tough and that is why I came back to race it in 2009!  Now, with 2 months of consistent running under my belt, I figured that even if I was not at full speed yet, I was at least fit enough to battle this hot, windy, hilly race which favors the experienced, strong and ‘never give  up’ kind of athlete. I figured that that was me and so I booked the trip. What I may lose in speed, I would make up in perseverance!

The plan was to arrive on Thursday so that I could get settled with the course and not have to rush like I did in New Orleans.  But, a delay in Miami caused 32 passengers, including myself, to miss our flight from San Juan to St. Croix. The two other flights to St. Croix were oversold and so we had to overnight in San Juan and wait until 8 a.m. to fly for 28 minutes to St. Croix.  Dave took control of the situation and found a beach for us to swim. Our little Canadian triathlon contingent of Tyler Lord, Ayesha Rollinson, Jen Coombs’ sister Stephanie (Jen took the direct flight and made it all the way) and I made the best of San Juan.

On Friday we arrived in tact at 9 a.m. and made our way to the group swim at the Harbour.  I did a little run, got groceries and then took my bike for a spin.  It wasn’t shifting properly despite the fact that it was shifting perfectly before I left.  Travel is so hard on our equipment. I could not source out a bike mechanic at this stage since the evening pre race celebration called ‘Jump Up’ was underway but I was all set to meet a mechanic at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Saturday, I woke up anxious to get my bike working.  He fixed the problem and I went for a ride. Yes, the original problem was fixed but now my chain was dropping right off when I was in my easiest gear – a gear that I desperately needed in order to get up the biggest climb in triathlon known as “The Beast”. It is a 600 ft climb that varies from 14% to 21% grades. Yes, I desperately needed my chain to stick in my 39-23 gear.  We returned to the bike mechanic and he found that my SRM cable was broken and he figured that was the problem. So we removed my SRM and he test rode my bike and said it was fine. I still wasn’t convinced but I could not ride up and down hills all day testing it out or I would be too tired for the race.  Dave tested it up some hills and I felt pretty confident that it would be fine.

Race day began for me Saturday night when I went to bed since once again, I was too excited to sleep. I just laid there all night waiting for my 4:20 a.m. alarm. It finally rang and off we went to transition.  The swim went off fast and furious as usual.  I could see the pack that I wanted to be in – the Jo Lawn (multiple Ironman Champ), Mirinda Carfrae (70.3 World Champ) group – but I was about a body length behind it. I was still getting a draft as I worked hard to bridge that body length.  At about halfway, the body length grew and I found myself swimming without that beautiful draft but still within sight of the group. I exited the water about 2-2.5 minutes down on the leaders Joanna Zeiger, Nina Kraft and Jen Coombs and about 30 seconds behind the Jo Lawn pack. 

I felt amazing on the bike. I love the hills and I found a nice rhythm early on.  I had my electrolyte bottles snugly fit into my cages and extra packs of salt pills so that I would not suffer the same fate of losing my nutrition in New Orleans 70.3. By 6 miles, I had caught a few girls including Jo and Jen. I would sneak away on the climbs and they would catch me back on the descents and flats.  But finally, when I got to The Beast, I was able to get away. I love The Beast. It is such a tough climb but I love it.  The best thing was that my gears and my chain behaved beautifully and I skipped up the hill gapping Jo, Jen and Tara Norton.

At around 30 miles, I could feel something was weird with my left cycling shoe and pedal. I looked down and saw that my shoe was moving in a different direction from the cleat.  I had 40 km left to go with some fairly significant climbs. But I had to preserve my shoe, so I committed to pedaling full circles and staying seated for all hills.

At 39 miles, the leather upper completely separated from the carbon sole and cleat of my cycling shoe. Yes, my shoes are ‘well worn’ – I love them – and never want to change them. Yes, I am working in a new pair of Louis Garneau cycling shoes at home but they were not yet grooved in the way I wanted them so I brought my old tried and true shoes (not LG) to St. Croix.  So now, with 17 miles to go, the carbon sole and cleat are attached to my pedal and my foot is in the air!! 

My first reaction was to ask for a Power Bar at the next aid station with the idea that I would stick the Power Bar between the sole and the leather and hope that it would bind the two together like glue.  So I slowed down at the aid station asking for a Power Bar but they only had Power Gel.  So I stopped – yes – 0 km per hour – stopped!! I was having the ride of my life and I stopped.  I begged for tape – ‘did anyone have any tape’.  A volunteer ran to his car and grabbed some electrical tape. Then, we taped my foot to the carbon sole and to the pedal. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of my shoe because we taped it pretty tight, but it didn’t matter – I just wanted to finish the race.  At this stage, I have been stopped for anywhere from 2-4 minutes but none of that mattered. Had this happened going up the Beast, I would have crashed. Had this happened further from an aid station, I would have lost more time. Had this happened in training, I would have worn my LG shoes!!!!

Off I went with the fire in my belly. Now I had been passed by Amanda Lovato and Jo Lawn and so I went hard and rode the last 10 hilly miles in their neighborhood. I was able to get away a little bit on the last big climb but we essentially got off our bikes together.

Onto the run, I felt like magic. My energy was good and my body felt great.  I finally felt like a runner again. I carried my Fuelbelt to ensure that I would stay hydrated and energized. I caught Tara Norton and ran with Amanda for a few miles. She was running so darn well and it was great to key off of each other as we hunted down the other women.  I got away from Amanda on a climb and never looked back. I caught a few other women and I was closing hard on Nina Kraft in the last few miles, but I never could make up that last 30 seconds. I finished the race in 5th place but only 1 minute out of 3rd place. Oh yes, the ‘what ifs’ have entered conversation but when my cycling shoe ‘broke’, the only ‘what if’ that mattered was getting to the finish line.

On Saturday before the race, I was interviewed by TSN and they asked if anyone could beat Zeiger and Carfrae. My response was ‘yes’. I said that St. Croix was a crap shoot – there were so many factors on the day that came into play – heat, wind, hills, equipment.  I didn’t know that I would be the ‘crap’ part of the ’shoot’.

The great news is that I had a fabulous race – probably my best executed race ever in St. Croix.  I had a terrific swim. I was aggressive and strong on the bike. And I ran faster on this hilly, hot course than on the flat New Orleans run with just 4 more weeks of running.  So my fitness is going in the right direction and that makes me excited.

My next race is Florida 70.3 in 12 days.  So in the next week and a half, I need to recover, break in some new cycling shoes, get a new SRM cable and a bike tune up and pack my bike like a carton of eggs so that the travel doesn’t hurt my little Cervelo anymore.  Oh yes, and get an electrical tape sponsor since this is now part of my race kit!

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

It is always a whirlwind when you get  home from a 3-month training camp.  I have been home for almost 1 month and I am finally getting back into the swing of things.  Gone are the days of running in shorts and cycling outside in a jersey – I just finished cycling on my Computrainer for 3 hours of gruelling intervals and time trials and then running in a winter hat, mitts and tights – this weather is probably warm for most Canadians, but for me, I was quite thankful for my hat and mitts today!!!  But the great things about being at home are that I am back running on my 1 mile loop so I can time all of my efforts, I get to wear all of my awesome spring and winter Saucony training gear, I get to enjoy my DVDs while I gut through my many hours on my Cervelo and Computrainer, I get to swim with the Dorado swim team and get my butt kicked routinely by 12 year olds!  Oh, the joys of being home!!

I raced in the New Orleans 70.3 a few weeks ago.  I did this race because I ‘could’ but not because I was ready to race.  Once again, I took a huge break from running this winter.  Prior to New Orleans, I ran for 4 weeks in the past 4 months – that was about 16 runs in total.  So I was not completely run fit but I was run hungry and race hungry. And I was swim fit and bike fit.  And so, I made my way to New Orleans eager to see what 16 runs in 4 months could do! 

First, I must say that racing and visiting New Orleans was a very educational experience.  To be in a community that was ravaged by such destruction was incredibly humbling.  The race director, Bill Burke, did a wonderful job closing down the entire bike course.  And staging the finish line in Jackson Square right in downtown New Orleans was truly spectacular!  I applaud the race organization and the community for welcoming a bunch of lycra clad athletes to play ‘triathlon’ in their city.

I arrived in New Orleans on Friday night and hurried to figure out the logistics of the event – finding and driving the bike and run courses, locating the transition areas and swim start and finish area, finding a bike mechanic to fix a ‘travel induced’ braking issue with my bike, locating the registration, my hotel, groceries and places to eat!  Whew – I was exhausted before the gun even went off.  I was very excited about racing and that was evident by my sleepless Friday night and my 2-hour sleep on Saturday night!  Honestly, the racing part is simple – the waiting and the organizational stuff – the thinking part – well, that is the worst!!

As soon as the canon fired, all remnants of my sleep deprivation were gone.  I had a great swim and lead the second pack of swimmers out from Lake Ponchatrain. Exiting with me were Kate Major, Heather Gollnick, Linsey Corbin and some other speedsters.  In one way, it was great to get to ride with so many women, but it made the ride very challenging since we have a 10 meter drafting rule and we only get 25 seconds to move through that zone and complete a pass of another athlete.  That may sound like a lot of time but we are all riding around the same speed and for me to go from 35 km/hr to 36 km/h to complete a pass requires so much energy.  When I was trying to pass another woman, I would see my watts jump up to about 280 watts.  That is huge for me!  By the time I got past the athlete, I was so tired, that my watts would drop to 150!!  My normal time trialling watts is around 200 watts. Oh yes, it is fun to have women to ride with, but  it was tough work!  I did have a great ride though in spite of losing 2 bottles of my electrolyte drink and my salt pills on a huge bump at 5 km into the ride. I finished the bike in the general area of Kate Major and Heather Gollnick – both great riders – but I had lots of fast women still ahead of me that needed to be caught.   

I started the run about 20 seconds behind Kate thanks to her blistering transition and I gradually bridged that gap and moved passed her into 7th place.  I felt pretty good running and I was careful with my nutrition since my lack of run training meant that I was likely not as efficient with my calorie burning and I might need an extra Power Gel (I usually take 2 Power Gels) on this half marathon.  Kate caught back up to me at around mile 3 and then we ran the next 7 miles together exchanging the lead.  Kate has placed 3rd in Hawaii several times so I was quite pleased to be running with her given my lack of run preparation. 

At about mile 9, I had already taken in my 2 Power Gels and I knew that I would need one more.  Kate was gradually gapping me and I got pretty desperate for some calories.  I usually carry all of my nutrition with me even though the aid stations stock Power Gels.  But when I yelled for a Power Gel at an upcoming aid station, they didn’t have any!!!  Uggh – I guess not all the aid stations have Gels!!  That is lesson number one that I give to any athlete that I coach – always carry your own nutrition – don’t give that control away!  And here I failed to ‘practise what I preach!’  Finally at either mile 10 or mile 11, I got a Power Gel and I felt a great surge of energy.  I ran as hard as I could to the finish line but I just couldn’t catch Kate or any other women for that matter!  I ended up running 1:29 for the half marathon which is about 5-8 minutes off of my usual pacing but not too bad considering that I am in the re-building phase of my run training. 

The best thing about this race and this season so far is that my heel is pain-free which it has not been in over 5 years!  And I am finally back to running in my favorite racing flats – the Saucony Fastwitch – which I have not been healthy enough to run in for 2 years!  These are small victories but victories none the less!!

When I returned home, I did a day long photo shoot with one of my new sponsors – Hydropool  Hot Tubs and Swim Spas (www.hydropoolhottubs.com).  They are launching a brand new swim spa equipped with wide stream swim nozzles that project a non-turbulent water current allowing swimmers to swim and do other aquatic exercises against the resistance of the current right at home!  It was a long day (which began with a 3 hour computrainer bike session first) but a great day!  The Hydropool team is passionate about their latest aquatrainer and I am so proud to be able to work with them!!!

This weekend, I will be representing Saucony at the Oakville Running Company meeting people and promoting Saucony!!!  So stop by if you are in the neighborhood this Saturday around noon!

My next race will either be the St. Croix 70.3 or Florida 70.3.  Our dog, Brunswick, has been ‘less than 100%’ for the past 3 months and I am not sure if I can leave her for 5 days while I go to St. Croix.  We are working on making her as comfortable as possible but there have been many sleepless nights and lots of tears.  She is not suffering – we are making sure of that – some days are fantastic and she is chasing squirrels and licking dishes in the dishwasher and other days she is lethargic.  But I will be racing at least one of these two events.  If I don’t race St. Croix, then I will race the Sporting Life 10 km run in downtown Toronto.

And lastly, in terms of my health, I am still doing my inhalation therapy to get rid of that nasty pseudomonas bacteria.  It is quite time consuming – 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening but I have just bought a car adaptor so that I can do it while I drive or while I am a passenger.  I have always been a great multi-tasker.  One side effect is that the breathing burns calories and makes me very hyper and so I have lost 5 lbs since February 23rd when I started the treatment!  Now before everyone signs up for this therapy in an effort to lose that last 5 lbs, I must now take that calorie burning into account when I am training and racing.  It is all one great big life balance, isn’t it? 

In the meantime, training is going well – I am pretty tired from all of my training sessions – my running is progressing nicely – when I finished my 3 hr computrainer interval ride today, I got off and ran hard for 15 min and then did 5 x 1 km repeat – ‘just for fun’. 

I will be updating my website with a similar note to this one and with some photos if you are interested.

Take care and thank you for your continued support!

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

Dave and I were meant to go on a holiday last week to the Outer Banks but that has been put on hold.  Dave is going for back surgery in Boulder next week!  After a whole summer of being in agony, Dave and his completely herniated disc are going to Boulder to be fixed up.  We leave on Friday with surgery on the following Monday.  This won’t be a training camp for me. I will be in full nurse and loving wife mode, but I am sure I will enjoy a few group swims and hopefully a run and bike workout.  I do plan to have a Retul bike fit done  by the guru of bike fitting right there in Boulder.  Stay tuned for that!

A big congratulations to Jen for racing to a PB in a recent half marathon, to Tyler and Steve for great races in Clearwater and to Gary for a 2nd place overall at Miami Man! And back tracking to Austin, well done Emma and Jason for being so determined and racing at your best.  A big good luck to Kurt racing his first Ironman in Arizona in 2 weeks time. 

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

Let’s see, my season ended with Longhorn Austin 70.3 and from there, we went to Hawaii. I did some fun media stuff for Fuelbelt and Saucony and PowerBar and then, on race day, I teamed up with Graham Fraser and we did the on course race commentary for the Canadian TSN televised version of the race. It was quite exciting to be able to watch the action and yes, I did wish that I was out there racing!!

From there, we entered ‘real life’. Dave had a badly herniated disc since July that required surgery. The Canadian health care system is quite overworked and slow and despite getting rushed along thanks to many of my sport doctors, we had to wait quite a few months to get in to see a surgeon (meanwhile, our original referring surgeon hadn’t even called us back to make an appointment 4 months after the request). In the meantime, in Austin, we met the neurosurgeon who had fixed Simon Lessing’s back a few years ago. Dr. Villavicencio (Dr. V. for short) wanted Dave to send his MRI to him for his assessment. Dr. V. concluded that Dave needed surgery immediately because the disc was sitting right on the nerve and would cause further and more permanent damage if this surgery wasn’t done as soon as possible. Dr. V. gave us this diagnosis on November 3rd. By chance, we got in to see the Canadian surgeon on Nov. 4th. He concluded that the problem would rectify within the year and that Dave should just live with the pain and his numb leg until it came right. Needless to say we were confused because, heck, we would have loved to have avoided surgery! Thankfully, we have lots of great minds within our reach. My physiotherapist, Steve Hill, and my ART doctor, Mark Scapaticci, both recommended surgery 100%! So off we went to Boulder, Colorado on November 15th in search of good back health and the return of Dave’s smile and active lifestyle!!

The trip was amazing – well, as amazing as a trip can be when you have to have surgery. If you are going to be afraid, you might as well be afraid in a gorgeous place like Boulder! We arrived on Friday and Dave had his surgical assessment and signed the paperwork. He was in agony after a full day of flying and the stress of the whole thing. Whenever he was nervous about the surgery, I would remind him about the pain he was in on that Friday! By Saturday, we were enjoying the sunshine and I was enjoying the great running trails! On Sunday, I went to the famous master’s swim workout at Flatirons outdoor pool. I went with Dr. V. – he is, after all, a triathlete and was doing one of his final swim workouts before racing at Ironman Arizona the following weekend. How cool is that?

I loved the workout – not so much for the swimming – which I loved – but I loved the group dynamic. The pool was packed – at least 5 athletes per lane – maybe more. The neat thing was that when the session was over, many of the athletes picked up their children from the child care at the pool and brought them into the indoor pool and hot tub for some family time. It was so beautiful to see how sport was so well integrated into their whole lives. Boulder is truly a sport lifestyle community! Yes, I could live there!

Monday was Dave’s surgery day! He was bumped up to 8 a.m. surgery. Like a good triathlete, Dr. V. invited us to swim first before the surgery (yes, even Dave) but Dave was way too nervous for that and I could not leave him!

The Minimally Invasive Surgical Institute was amazing. The staff was brilliant. Dave did great – he was scared out of his mind – but he was a trooper! Once he had the “I don’t care” drugs, he was just fine. One hour later, he was done and he was awake. The disc had adhered to the nerve and it took Dr. V. a lot longer than normal to finish the procedure. But it was all a success!

By 5 p.m., Dave walked out of the surgical center and he was snug as a bug at our rental house shortly thereafter! We were so impressed with the professionalism of everyone – Dr. V., Malcolm, the anesthesiologist, Bob Cranny the local physical therapist and the surgical center all phoned to see how Dave was doing.

We stayed for the week in Boulder so that Dave could recover from the surgery. I enjoyed some beautiful runs and swim and one short bike ride. My focus was on taking care of Dave, although he will still tell you that I left him too much. The running was amazing and I would have run every day if I could have!! I did have a Retul bike fit while I was there. On Thursday, I was fit by Curtis Cramblett – he was amazing because not only is he a competitive cyclist but he is also a physical therapist. So he gave me a full biomechanical assessment – you know, the usual – tight hamstrings, tight hip flexors, tight everything – and then he suggested exercises to help these which would then help my bike position. He then assessed my bike position and set out a plan to raise my seat and lower my handlebars so that I could achieve maximum power and aerodynamics within the scope of my current but improving biomechanics! He gave me gradual suggestions for these changes based on how diligent I would be with my stretching and strengthening!!! He lives in San Francisco but was in town to help with the bike fit of the Garmin – Chipotle team. How lucky was I to have been fit by him!

By Friday, Dave felt fantastic – relatively speaking. He was now up for a full 30 minutes of walking. I will never forget when we strolled down the famed Pearl St. and Dave said that he could not remember the last time he could walk without pain. On that Friday, Dave was not in pain!

A huge thank you to Dr. V. and his crew for taking extra special care of both of us all week. By the way, Dr. V. raced to a sub 10 hour Ironman Arizona on that Sunday after the surgery!

Next challenge – recovering enough for our trip to New York City on November 28th!

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

I guess it took a few months, but I have finally found my stride! Now that my long run is only 90 minutes long and all of my other runs are speed work, my heel feels better than ever and I put together a very solid swim, bike and run to win the Austin 70.3 at the beginning of October.

We had heard such great things about Austin and since Austin is home to football’s University of Texas Longhorns, this was a must-do race according my sport nut husband! The people of Austin were most accommodating and hospitable. We made the pilgrimage to Jack and Adams Bike Shop and we saw why it is the choice of many athletes. Jack was brilliant and he and his staff ensured my Cervelo was lightning fast!

The non-wetsuit swim was a bit short – thank goodness – because I had the worst swim of my season missing everyone’s feet in the first 100 meters. I must have been looking for the Longhorn because I was all alone desperately trying to swim as fast as possible. But, my bike ride felt amazing. It was a great course for me – rolling hills and windy – so I rode hard and found some the strength that had been lacking in Muskoka. It was now 6 weeks post Subaru Ironman Canada and my legs were much fresher than in Muskoka and that was a welcomed relief. I managed to only loose 3 minutes to the fast cycling Michellie Jones and Tereza Macel – two athletes who usually gap me by much larger margins.

I started the run about 6 minutes or so behind Tereza and Pip Taylor but I felt like magic. The Ironman fatigue was out of my legs and my painful heel was fully functional and relatively pain-free as I charged into first place at mile 10 of the half marathon. I managed the day’s fastest run and won the race by about 3 minutes over Pip Taylor.

It was a fantastic race day festival with a games for the children, a live Longhorn for photos and a big screen TV showing live football for Dave!

Unfortunately, it is my last race of the season. I say ‘unfortunately’ because I am feeling so fit and healthy at last. My chest infection is gone and my heel feels so good. It was untimely to be sick for Subaru Ironman Canada and to be tired at Subaru Muskoka 70.3 but life is a test of character and integrity and I still feel very proud of my season. My goal was to race without anti-inflammatories and I managed to be kept healthy with Eico Pro Fish Oil which kept the inflammation at bay! I am keeping my eye on perhaps running a marathon in the next few months. For the past two years, I have had to run in modified shoes but for the last two weeks, I have been able to run in proper shoes for the first time! And this makes me excited to run!! The great news is that unlike the last two years, I have not smashed my heel beyond repair which means that my off season can involve strengthening and fun running and revitalization instead of daily physical therapy!

And so I finish 2008 with two victories – Rhode Island 70.3 and Austin 70.3 and top five finishes in all of my other events. This is the first year since 2000 that I have not won an Ironman event. And so I will celebrate my great consistency, my 11 Ironman wins to date and another two Ironman 70.3 victories in 2008. Here is to number 12 in 2009!

My first race in 2009 will be the Pucon 70.3 in Chile, South America. I have won that event 6 times in a row (2002-2007).

Happy off season!

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

I am so proud to write that statement – “Craig Alexander – Ironman World Champion”. Before I tell you about my exciting past few weeks, I just first have to comment on the great victory by Crowie!

Dave and I were in Hawaii and we had front row seats as Craig took the highest prize in our triathlon world. I was doing some work for TSN – our Canadian version of ESPN – and I was able to watch the race unfold. At around 15 or 20 km into the bike ride, Craig yelled out to me on the side of the road, “Hey Lisa”. That is typical Crowie – down to earth and very social – even while racing. A bit further along, we were excited to see him right in the thick of things and we cheered for him and he said, “the race hasn’t started yet”. He said with almost a devilish streak as if to say, “don’t cheer yet – we haven’t rolled up our sleeves yet.” About 40 km from the end of the bike ride, Crowie was working hard – yes the race had begun and he was now ‘at the office and doing his job’. Out onto the run, I was so excited to see him running so light on his feet and with an ease which I had seen when we trained together. By 14 km, it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when” he would take the lead. But the realization that our dear Aussie mate had won triathlon’s prized possession did not come until Dave and I saw him cross the finish line. Dave and I were both teary eyed and overwhelmed with a happiness that you feel when someone dear to you has had a wonderful day. Over the past few years, Craig has become our dear friend, my training partner and Dave’s sport fanatic ESPN watching buddy. I was honored to interview Crowie on behalf of TSN – the caring friend in me wanted to give him space but I knew I had to get a comment. I was a blubbering fool – I don’t remember what I even asked him – I didn’t want to ask him about his day because I never like those ambiguous questions – I think I called him ‘beautiful’ about 100 times before I finally asked anything of note.

Craig Alexander is the Ironman World Champion. He is the most gifted athlete and the most unselfish athlete I have ever met. He usually travels with his wife, Neri and his daughter, Lucy. They are his life and he refuses to prioritize triathlon over his family. He tries to get his training done so that he can spend a large chunk of time with his family in the afternoon. Crowie came to Hawaii with me in 2006, as my Tri Dubai teammate, to help me prepare for the World Championships. Meanwhile, he was preparing for the 70.3 World Championships a month later. Every day, he trained with me and pushed me to get that last 1-2% out of each workout. When we swam, he swam with a band around his ankles so that he could go my speed. When we biked, he would ride with me and then supplement his training with some tough computrainer intervals after the fact. For running speed work, I would get a head start and for long runs, he pushed me to run 4 min/km pace. We would train hard and then by afternoon, he was in the pool with his daughter Lucy and wife Neri. But he gave his time and effort to me for my race even though he had to prepare for his race. That is a special gift that is rare in our sport.

Craig is the most refreshing athlete – he is the honest athlete – he is our best ambassador for Ironman. I am so proud that he has raced in Canada and won both the Subaru Muskoka Chase and the Subaru Ironman Muskoka 70.3. I think that makes him an Aussie Canadian in which case, I think we can say that a little bit of Canada was on the podium in the Hawaii Ironman 2008.

Way to go Crowie – from all of your Canadian fans! And way to go Neri and Lucy. Craig could not have trained and raced and won without you!

Lisa Bentley

www.lisabentley.com

By Brom Hoban
AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT
Monday, October 06, 2008

Australians figured prominently in the international field headlining the second annual Longhorn Ironman 70.3 Sunday, as Richie Cunningham outlasted Joe Gambles to win the half-ironman length race at Decker Lake.

Cunningham set a course record of 3 hours, 49 minutes, 44 seconds.

In the women’s division, Canada’s Lisa Bentley came from behind in the run to catch Aussie Pip Taylor and win in a course-record time of 4:20:15.

Cunningham, ninth out of the water and ninth in the bike leg, turned in the fastest run split of the day. Mark Van Akkeren, a Boulder, Colo.-based triathete, led out of the water (18 minutes, 28 seconds) with Aussie Joseph Lampe and New Zealander Kieran Doe on his heels (both clocked in 18:50).

Doe scorched the hilly bike course surrounding the Travis Expo Center, turning in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 41 seconds, the third-fastest split of the day, which put him in front entering the run. But six miles into the run, Doe, who was beginning to fade, had company.

Cunningham, Gambles, Italy’s Alberto Casadei and Britain’s Simon Lessing had worked their way into contention. Halfway through the run, Cunningham and Gambles caught the struggling Doe and ran together for the next several miles.

“I worked pretty hard for the first six miles of the run,” said Cunningham.. “And I suffered the last six.”

Gambles, who has gone head-to-head with Cunningham before, hung with him.

Part of the Longhorn course was on trails, and coming off the trails onto the pavement at around eight miles, Cunningham finally shook Gambles, who finished second.

“I managed to get a little gap on him when we hit the road,” said Cunningham. But I’ll tell you, the heat, the hills on the course, and the headwind all start to add up, and made for a somewhat tough run.

Casadei ran a strong half-marathon (1:17:29) to take third.

Four-time world champion Lessing, running his final race before retiring, held on for fourth place, while two-time Ironman world champion Tim DeBoom, of Boulder, rounded out the top five. Brandon Marsh was the first Austin finisher, seventh overall in 3:54:37.

Like Cunningham, Bentley scrambled up the shore of Decker Lake in ninth place (22:15), well behind Taylor, who was first out in 19:39.

But it was the Czech Republic’s Tereza Macel, with a blazing a 2:26:52 bike split, who was in first heading into the run.

Bentley caught Taylor at mile 10, making a point of motoring past her at a pace she couldn’t match.

Taylor, who held on for second in 4:32:49, collapsed at the finish and was escorted to the medical tent.

Canada’s Annie Gervais came home in third, a step behind Taylor in 4:23:50, with Kelly Handle, the first Austin woman, in fourth with 4:28:12.

Some 2,000 triathletes competed in Sunday’s event, which served as a qualifier for the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater Florida on Nov. 8.

View Original Article

Lisa Bentley

www.lisabentley.com

It has been a busy few weeks since Subaru Ironman Canada. First on the agenda was recovering in time to race at Subaru Muskoka 70.3. This was a bit more challenging than I expected since I was also recovering from a nasty chest infection which had been lingering since late July but by the time the race rolled along, I felt pretty good. Dave and I were involved with Trisport North and the running of Subaru Muskoka 70.3 so I had much more to do than just race. But I loved every single minute of it. Dave was in charge of the expo and merchandise and I helped him with a bit of that on Thursday and Friday pre race. On Friday evening, I was the MC for both of the welcome dinners. This was a bit highlight for me because I was so proud of the event which Mitch and Janet had produced and I was so proud to be involved with different bits and pieces of it. On Saturday, I had quite a few race and sponsor obligations which I again loved. From 11-12:15, Craig Alexander, Simon Lessing and myself did a televised Q and A in Huntsville. Then from 1-1:45, I did a PowerBar autograph signing and from 2-3, I did a Subaru autograph signing. It was fantastic being reunited with the athletes from our Subaru Muskoka Training Camps and meeting some new and old friends. As busy as it sounds, I truly did enjoy every role which I played on the weekend.

There was no waking up on race day morning – I never slept a wink – and trust me, that makes for a long race day!!! Years ago, when I would lay awake excited about a race, it did not seem to bother me but lately, after having not slept the night before Subaru IMC or Muskoka, I am thinking that it might just wear me out a little bit! And it is certainly not much fun!!

It was raining on race day. We had anticipated rain but I had truly hoped that we would all be able to tackle the twisty bike course on dry roads. I had a terrific swim and got off onto the challenging ride I being a bit more cautious than “Lisa the racer” would have liked to be. I felt quite good on the bike – I felt as if I chose my gears well and I climbed well – but I did lose a bit more time than usual given my ‘fear factor’ negotiating the blind corners at race speed. Off onto the run, I felt a bit sluggish at first but I soon found my stride and I built strongly over the 21 kilometers. By around 10 km, I felt fantastic and I had the spring in my step that should have had for at Subaru IMC. The run was very challenging but fun. Yes, I am probably the only athlete who loved the final 5 km on the golf course – I played it like a roller coaster and loved it. Over the last 1 km of the run, I caught and passed Cynthia who had beaten me a few months earlier at the Subaru Muskoka Chase. That was pretty nice but even nicer was the fact that I was racing, not surviving and that feeling was very sweet indeed. My 5th place finish certainly doesn’t sound stellar but I truly did love every minute – even my scary minutes and the tough minutes – and that to me is success! I remember saying to Mitch Fraser last year when we drove the bike course – “there is no way that I am racing on such a technical course – thank God I will be an organizer and not a racer” – but then, I just couldn’t miss racing on what is truly the greatest and toughest 70.3 course around. And how could I not race and only watch our athletes labor over our course! No way! The very best part besides racing and feeling like a racer was finishing in time to cheer and greet athletes at the finish line. Seeing the joy (and relief) in the eyes of the athletes was a race highlight for me.

Now the super excitement begins. The next morning, I left Muskoka at 4:30 a.m. en route to Toronto airport to catch a 9 a.m. flight to Cranbrooke, B.C. I had the honour of being the keynote speaker at Manulife’s Western Canada Sales Team Regional Conference on the Tuesday morning. It was a fantastic 2-day mini trip and I enjoyed sharing my “Be a Life Champion” story. Of course, I found the pool as soon as I arrived at 3 p.m. and I managed to do a water run and a swim session in the tiny hotel pool on both Monday and Tuesday. My body needs to be moved and I needed to get the “Muskoka” out of my legs! I was home on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, I did the television commentary for TSN’s Ironman Wisconsin with Vic Reuter. And yes, by Thursday, I was pretty much exhausted! But by Friday, I was back at my training preparation for my next upcoming race at the Austin 70.3 on October 5th. My heel is finally feeling the way it did back in June when I thought I could conquer the world and I have toyed with the idea of doing a winter Ironman. But, the reason my heel feels so good is because I am not running over 90 minutes. I am training 100% quality and no long miles and my heel loves it! So I will stay focused on the 70.3 for the short term.

The highlight of my week last week – although I must say the mountains of B.C. and the tiny little 18 seat plane from Calgary to Cranbrook was quite spectacular – was running the 1 mile kids run at the Kinetico Caledon Running Festival on Sunday. Mr. Bensen from Bensen Steel in Caledon paid for all the children’s t-shirts and associated fees so that each child could run for free! It was so wonderful seeing all of the beautiful children take off like 100 meter Olympians in the first 60 seconds and then work so hard over the next 10 minutes to cross the finish line. And the joy of their accomplishment was written all over their smiles. I got to run with my niece Brittany and then with my nephew Braedan and then I turned back and ran with as many children as I could. And then I found this delightful little red head girl who was so happy and I wanted to run with her all the way to the finish line. I have included a picture with this note. Sport is so important for children and I was so honored to have been invited to this festival.

Training has been a bit tough this week. I have been focusing on re-gaining my run speed and I am hoping it might sneak up on some of my competitors on Sunday in Texas. After racing the Austin 70.3 next Sunday, Dave and I will go to Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships. I will be there representing my sponsors at a variety of events and I will be doing some commentary for Subaru Triathlon Television and maybe a bit of work with Ironman Live.

And as for finishing 5th – well – I’d rather be racing a little bit unhealthy and finishing 5th, then not racing at all. Besides – my favorite little quote that I picked up about 20 years ago says it best – “Use what talents you possess. The forest would be a very quiet place if only the best birds sang!” I hope all of the children in the 1 mile fun run can be the best birds they can be with whatever talents they have!

Thank you for your cheers and support!

Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com

When this year started, I did not even know if I would race an Ironman. I had rehabilitated my heel enough to be able to run, but running a marathon was a big question mark. As the year progressed, I kept getting faster and fitter and Subaru Ironman Canada became a reality. My swimming and biking were both better than ever in my entire career. My run was no longer my ‘weapon’ but I was executing some fast quality workouts and some longer runs that helped to build some confidence. Last year, I “participated” but this year, I was going to “race”.

I did not sleep a wink that night before the race. I was nervously excited – sort of like Christmas morning. I had the swim of my life thanks to the fact that there were about 60 pros and so I had lots of fast feet to draft. There was a big pack of men just a body length ahead of me at about 800 m into it and I tried desperately to grab on. I finally got onto that pack at the turnaround and I finished the swim close enough to Belinda Granger to hear her name on the loud speaker and only 90 seconds behind Andrea Fisher. I was over the moon. Now the plan was to use some of my newly found bike strength to minimize the gap to Granger.

I worked as hard as I could on the bike – I never let up – I pedaled hard up the hills and hard down the hills – but I was still losing huge amounts of time to Granger. It was as if I was on a mountain bike and she was on my Cervelo P3C!

I worked my way past Andrea Fisher on Ritcher’s Pass and began to gap Sarah Gross and some others, but the deficits were growing the harder I pushed. I reminded myself of my little ‘life thoughts’ – anyone can keep going when the going is good, but a true champion keeps going when the going gets tough – well the going was very tough and I maintained my charge toward the end of the bike.

I got off the bike 30 minutes down on Granger – it was as if I had spent the whole season watching T.V. rather than pedaling hard up and down the hills in Caledon. Trust me, I have worked very hard on my cycling to take a bit of pressure off of the running but obviously, Granger’s cycling was approaching Tour de France quality with her new 4:52 course record! Wow!

I headed out onto the run believing that I could run everyone down. Truthfully, I never really felt great on the marathon but I told myself that I would still run fast and get as close as possible. But, my body was saying ‘jog’, my brain was saying ‘race’ and my heart was saying ‘do your best at this single moment’. And so, I ran the best that I could. I stopped looking at my watch because that wasn’t making me happy and my goal is always to race with joy. I was gaining time but that didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to get to the finish line. I could not push any harder. I challenged myself constantly to run faster and I tried so hard, but my effort was far greater than the output. Somewhere in the last hour of the run, my heel started to fail me – I had no spring – my foot was hitting the ground with no toe off. I have run through that feeling so many times before and continued to push trying desperately to get to that finish line and maybe snag 3rd place. But it was like I was trying to run as fast as I could with a leash around my waist and I wasn’t going anywhere. It was so frustrating for me to not be able to race with the speed and intensity that used to just flow so easily. So, I returned to basics – just do the best you can do with what you have. I raced with heart and I finished what I started.

I crossed the finish line with a mixture of disappointment, joy, gratitude and pride. I was disappointed that my racing performance did not reflect my training efforts. I was happy because I was true to myself and I never let my ego in the way of finishing. I was grateful for this incredible gift of sport which has enriched my life with so many blessings and given me a way to touch people’s lives. And I was proud of myself for persevering and finishing what I started when I so desperately wanted to crawl under a tree and cry. I am human. I am not a machine and my race on Sunday was very human.

I would like to say that I will train harder and come back stronger but I think that my body is sending me a very clear message that my foot does not want to run longer than 2 hours at the moment. That sounds so sad but then I remember the absolute joy I had when I did my first pain free 30 min run this year. I said to myself that was all I needed – I just wanted to run. I love smashing out sub 3-hour marathons after 180 km bike rides but my body won’t let me do it right now. And because that it all I know and that is how I race, I declined my spot to race at the Hawaii Ironman this October. I cannot ‘jog’ the marathon. I am a racer and I will be back on the big Island when I am ready and healthy to ‘race’ every inch of that marathon with the same determination I did when I placed 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th there.

The good news is that since I can still run a fast half marathon, I am good to go race Subaru Muskoka 70.3 on September 14th. But for now, it is time for some recovery and some long dog walks with Dave and Brunswick and Madison.

Thank you for cheering. If I could race on good wishes alone, I would win every race in record time.

Lisa Bentley