What is Going On This Week.....

Hi, Well it has been a busy week and this is the first chance I've had to check in. Training is starting to get more intense as the season gets into swing. There are so many opportunites these days to push yourself especially as the women in our group have stepped up their training. We have grown from a small group with a few commited athletes to a group who is not only pushing the limits on distance but are now branching out to compete nationally and internationally. So who are the other women that are going to worlds besides me? And what other amazing things are the Women's Tri group doing? Tese will be the topics in my next couple of blogs. Meanwhile I am going to give one more plug about our raffle fundraiser. I will be selling tickets up until the drawing on May 9th. I can always be contacted here at this blog and I will be selling tickets at the Chico Sports Club on Monday, May 4th, from 4-7pm. The drawing will be Saturday, May 9th at 4pm at Chico Sports Club Deli area....but you do not have to be present to win. Lastly if anyone has any questions or wants me to discuss anything in particular let me know.

A Day In The Life..........

It is approximately 4 months until Worlds now and the actual training for this event is beginning. Every year has been a bit different for me depending on what part of the year I have an injury of some kind. This year I injured myself in late winter which has made my spring training a bit on the slow side. Also this years injury is more serious so it will take longer for me to get into swing. It has caused me some worry that I will not be able to prepare the way I would like to for Worlds. This is when discipline is really important. I have to be able to let myself heal and build up slowly. I have raced and trained for many years now so I trust that my body knows what to do if I don't get in my own way.

So right now I am swimming three mornings a week doing 3,000+ yards and cycling three days a week putting in around 100 miles. I have to be careful with the cycling not to over do it which is hard when all your friends are tearing around and whooping it up! I spend a lot of time riding alone...it is a good thing I find myself very entertaining! At this point you may have guessed that my injury is related to running. I have not run now for three months and am just now beginning to jog for 5-10 minutes once a week.

And as if that were not enough on top of a full time job in education, a family, a house, pets, garden, other interests, friends, there are still more components of my training. I have realized over the years that both strength training and flexibility are as important as endurance and speed so while race training I put in one day a week of core/muscle training and try to stretch every day (I will admit this is my weak link). In my busy schedule I will tend to give this up and that is my hugest mistake...I believe it is what causes me injury problems. The cherry on top are the appointments for Active Release Therapy, Chiropractor and Massage.

Lastly one of the most helpful elements of training is mental. It is hugely important to maintain my normal life. Spending time with my husband, children, and friends and doing the other things I love makes me a better athlete because I am relaxed and happy. Visualizing myself racing in top form, actually visualizing the entire race and how I am doing it enhances my abilities and puts it all together....and the best part of this is you can do it lying down!! Till next time....................

A Little Help From My Friends...

So you know the basic story behind getting to compete in Australia. Now the story is how do we get there. For myself I knew that financially it would be difficult but I knew I wanted to go. Since I work for the school district I immediately thought fund raiser! This is when I truly found out what a supportive community I live in. My co-workers were the first to jump on the wagon and helped me generate ideas and even raised the first sum for me to get started. We came up with a raffle of a flat screen TV and just expanded from there.

As it stands now the raffle is in full swing. Here are the details: tickets $5 a piece, Grand prize 42"Flat Screen Plasma TV from Panasonic. The other prizes include massage, foot reflexology, Outlaw baseball tickets, 5 hour housecleaning, Astrology reading, Chico Sports Club membership, Gear from North Rim, Fused glass jewlery, Wine and many more. The drawing will be Saturday, May, 9 at Chico Sports Club Deli area at 4pm. You do not have to be there to win. Tickets will be on sale at the Wildflower Century registration Saturday, April, 25 from 2pm-6pm and at the Chico Sports Club on Monday, May 4th from 4pm-7pm. Otherwise you may contact Gabrielle (that's me) at this blog or the email above.

As I said when I began this fundraiser I found out what a supportive community I live in. Virtually everyone I have come in contact with has either donated a prize or bought and sold many tickets. I feel so incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support. It is one of the reasons I started this blog. I wanted to give people a chance to be involved in the process of me and my team going to the World Championships. In future posts I will talk more about training, personal trials and triumphs and the general legistics of this whole process. Until next time......

How the Long Road Began......

Hi, I am Gabrielle Walters a 50 year old triathlete who is now competing in my first World Triathlon Championships! I am a member of the Women's Triathlon Club. The club has been around for over a decade and I have been involved almost that long. In that time I have had the pleasure of getting to know and training with many amazing women who have accomplished many amazing things both athletically and personally. Following is a brief description of how myself and the others have found ourselves going to a World Championship.

In 2007 the Women's Triathlon Club had the opportunity to go to the National Triathlon Championships. It was the first year in many that the championships took place on the west coast. Around 16 women from the club went to Portland, Oregon to compete against hundreds of other women from around the United States. We were the largest contingent there. Three of us at that time qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Canada. In 2008 Nationals was in Oregon again and this time we sent 20+ women to Nationals. Again we were the largest contingent. We went this time better prepared and better trained and 6 of us qualified for the Worlds in Australia for 2009.

Worlds this year will be in September of 2009 so we are now gearing up for the big event. My hope is that this blog will be a forum to share the story of this journey. Look forward to my next post and some photos!