Friday, June 30, 2006

Speedy the Dragon

Brandon reminded me that i left one important member of the family out in the last blog. Speedy is his pet bearded dragon and no one messes with him.

Got a good look at the swim course last night and tonight. One big loop in a spring fed quarry pond. there are a lot of those around here. This one is clean and tastes like chalk.

Went to the briefing afterwards and got sign in etc...we did get lost looking for the place though.

Got in a short spin on the way the home and got in just in time before the acid rain started to fall. suffered a few minor burns but nuttin serious.

the mens field is looking deep 60+ elites including whitfield and courtney atkinson from aus. they're televising the event and it will be on tsn in a couple weeks. #39 will be me hopefully not too far behind.

tomorrow in the relay and my host family is in it so i'll be out cheering and watching it.

Next blog wiill be after the race with some good news.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

East is East

arrived out east and have settled in with my homestays. Great family. The dad sells fitness equipment and high performance testing for hockey players. Two kids one 11 one 15. The mum i'm not sure what she does cause i've only seen her once since i arrived for 5mins.
A nice running trail runs right outside there house and beautifull rolly riding around in this area. Erin is the town near caledon and brampton.

yesterday, went for an easy run on the trail with 15wu 25 mins mid-tempo followed by 10cd. the trail smelt like dill pickles, quite good to run to.

got the bike reassembled and out of the box and went riding for an easy 1hr30. It is a farming communinty so tons of small roads and not too much traffic.

went down to look at the swim course last night but we were too late to swim. today we'll get there in time.

then the dad drove around with me for what seemed like ages showing all sorts of different bike routes around Erin. super-enthusiast with sports i tell ya.

next update probably tomorrow after the race meeting.

Friday, June 23, 2006

The Reincarnation of Loaf

You thought i was dead....gone...blogxtinct, but i've made a voldermort resurgence to avenge the nahsayers and bisbelivers in my meaning.

I am back baby! and ready to blog.


There is no way i can recap almost a whole month off from this blog but i'll try anyways.

After i left vancouver I came home to the stoke and had a few solid swims and runs before heading to Provincials in WAsa.
The resort that had cabins literally right on the start line had gone into receivership so that put a bummer on what was otherwise a good race.

We stayed in Kimberely at the North Star Motel and we watched the oilers beat the canes in game 3. Boy Don Cherry if there is one thing that i'll remember about the '06 playoffs apart from the oilers getting so close and then to have Ward and a prehistoric ape (canes captian) snatch the cup, it is DC's suits, WOW!

The race.......swim...most chaotic start i've ever had....the first bouy was too close and everyone was jammed into the first turn. swallowed too much water and got kicked in the kidneys. Came out slower than i wanted and had a mediocor transition.
Got on the bike and found myself in 3rd. Not for long though as Mike simpson came tearing by with disc wheel and all. Held the bleeding to a minimum on the bike and came into T2 in 7th.
The run felt horrible but in actually fact i was running pretty well. passed 2 and grabbed some coke at an aid station.
In the end i was 5th and 100$ in the back pocket. It was probably the hardest race ever for me...see photo below.

From then on I had my 24th birthday. Saw many friends at big bear and have been training steadily.

Dad swallowed a fly and got an infection, i had water in my ear for 5 days and felt like Kramer in that one episode and its finally starting to get warm.

One little sneaky thing i've been doing, well not that sneaky, is i've put in some sauna sessions. No not with the swedish swim team JP, but 1hr sessions at 40+ celsius and full humidity on the bike trainer. hopefully this will help with the heat at nationals i'm expecting.

speaking of those, i am heading out tomorrow. Doing a duathlon in kamloops on sunday then flying out on tuesday. Have a homestay hooked up down which will save a lot of cash.

I don't know how a whole week in the T.O will go. I can't stand the yuppies who come out of there to come to UBC let anyone going and staying in their natural habitat.

Will try to keep you posted on how things onfold there.

th-ht-th-th-thats all folks



Trust me...it is hurting right about now



The smurph himself made an anticipated appearence



See what i mean about it hurting

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Stoked

back home in the stoke and it is nice nice!

easy track session this am.

15min WU
6 strides
2x800 (2:26,:29)
4x400 (1:09,1:10,:11,:11)
3 sets of strength
6 strides
short cool down

had a modern muffin, some lunch and then headed to willamson's for the first open water swim this year.
lake was surprisingly warm, just worked on some sighting with fogged googles and did some interval stroke work. 50mins total followed by easy spin to Lee's and then back.

Pad Thai hot hot mama

so pumped for gerricks, gonna kick some ass!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

blog break

Took a break from blogging here, call it laziness or whatever.

Last weekend raced the sooke to sambrio road race. 80km challenging course but it suited my climbing strengths. Felt good and strong the whole ride and finished in the front group. Ran 30 minutes off the bike throughout sooke getting chased by a boxer, not so fun.

Sunday took the day off and hung out with marty. We watched parts of the pro crit at bastion square and saw XMen 3 later that night.

Monday - took the 9 ferry and rode back home. Went up to ubc for a swim and then did a run of 10 min WU, 6xstrides, 20 min steady and 10 CD.

Tuesday - Swam in the Morning, then it was my GRADUATION. The last detail to end a long 6 years at UBC. Felt good to shake hands and get my diploma. My parents and sister were there to see me and it made me proud to have them there. We had a faculty lunch on granville island and went out downtown that night. I rode the tuesday nighter as well. As per usual got blown out in the sprint. Tried a breakaway but it didn't materialize.

Wednesday - Went with my family over to sydney to do some sailing. Unfortunately there wasn't any wind. We motored over to salt spring and stayed the night.

Thursday - Double Run day . First run on salt spring was solid. A lot of good hills there to work on so i did 10 min WU, stretch, 15 min steady, 4mins hard, 12xhills (45s) with 1:30 recovery. 10 min CD. Second run was an easy 40 mins in sydney along Lands End road. Again no wind so we had to motor back to Sydney

Fri - Got up early with Var and swam at the Commonwealth pool. Main set of 6x200 on 3mins averaging 2:45. Felt good. Did about 3km distance. Ran just before dinner of 15min WU, 15 min steady, 4x3min race pace with 2min recovery, 10 min CD.

Sat - Come back over to Vancouver with Mum and DAd and went to pick up my new BIKE!!! It had finally arrived. Rode out to Horshshoe Bay and back , WOW I like it. Alot of response and the power transfer feels amazing!! Partied hard saturday night as sort of a going away birthday bash.

Sun - the usual hung over breakfast at Sophies saw Hui eat the following:

2pancakes
5 eggs
2 sausage,bacon,ham
hashbrowns
Toast

I don't know how he does it.

had a needed nap and then rode 1hr 40 easy up around UBC

Swam at kits pool (137.5m) in the evening

550 WU
550 Pull
550 Drills and kick
10x125m (2stroke, 2pull, 2stroke, 2 pull, 2 stroke)
7 x (25 easy/ 25 hard)
400 CD

4150m Total

Whew, now i;m caught up to date