The Start

I was looking thru some race photos from last year and came upon a number of start photos. As you step up to the line to start a race so many things are rushing thru your head: start fast, stay relaxed, find the right feet, good T1, the list goes on. Then there seems to be a lull in those thoughts and all of your senses become heightened. The adrenaline is kicking in! The moments between "athletes take your mark" and the horn either happen so fast, or so slow, but when the horn goes everything goes out the window for about 20s. It is fight or flight mode until some clean water where you can then begin to think again and settle into the race.

The start is different to ever race. Each venue has a different beach run in, different chop, and different field size. The long run-ins offer a 4th discipline to the triathlon. A lot of time can be lost or gained here. I personally like the short entries, get it over with and swim. If it is a shallow entry then its gonna be a long exit for lap1 and lap2. Running in knee deep water is so painfully slow.

The start, so important yet so minute in terms of the race as a whole.

ho Ho HO!

Word on the street is that Santa is planning an early visit to Beaver Lake this Sunday.

Mincemeat and Egg Nog

The best selfish aspect of christmas I find is not the gifts, but the food associated with tis the season. December brings all sorts of seasonal foods out to eat and two of my favourites are egg nog and mincemeat. I think this is because both have quite a heavy hand of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

I've taken the endulgence of these two favourites to a new level this year with two improvisations to my regular gourmet diet. Try substituting egg nog for milk in your morning riser oatmeal, delicious. If your more of a pancake person than toss some mincemeat into the recipe. I tried these yesterday and I ate the whole 4 person serving with syrup. Mincemeat can get tossed into muffins or cookies as well and is the bomb warmed up and then put on top of vanilla ice cream....speaking of which it is about desert time.

I bid you adieu.

Bode

This is unbeliveable. He is racing Super-G probably at about 110km/hr when this happens.

Balance is the essence of Beauty

Cinquanto

Five workouts tuesday makes a cinquanto, which is half french half spanish for "Five Workouts". Sorta like El Nino, spanish for "The Nino!"

I don't think i've had a day like this before your all three sports are worked plus a couple others to balance everything out.

5.5km in the pool with a sneaky set Neil made up that logged some decent kick but it went relatively unnoticed:

4X (3x100kk on 2:00, then 1x100 dr/swim on 2:00, 400fr on 6:00 dec1-4)

400's went 5:13, 5:08, 5:03, 4:56

After the swim Stevo and I finally reunited for a cross ride. We rode 2.5hrs in the parks of victoria, with a great tough loop in Mt.Doug. We talked about how the cross seems to really improve your pedal stroke and balance on the bike, it's true!

Back home for lunch and some errands to do, then out to UVic for the group run. 1hr30 with a long 40min effort at steady state. Running thru the uvic trails at dusk was great but near the end i was dying and Kirsty was turning up the heat. A couple times i felt like just bee-lineing it back to the stadium so i could pass out.

The other two workouts tuesday were core and strength. Along with the yoga we are doing I have noticed my balance, strength and core recruitment have steadily been improving. This is a more versatile approach to becoming the best athlete you can and tudos to Patrick for adding these disciplines to the program.

This week i've also noticed that I seem to have made it thru the first stages of feeling tired with the increased training load. This takes a little while but once you get thru it by having your body adapt you feel much much better.

The 4 hour swim

Yesterday I had the intention of swimming just 5k but it ended up being much more than that.

After swimming I set out on a CX ride thru the elk lake trails, up to ross-durance road where I plunged down the Gowland-Tod Provincial Park McKenzie Bight trail. This trail leads down to a small scale delta that looks across finlayson arm. Once you get down there it almost looks like a fjord. On a side note, this past weekend victoria had a storm pass thru like most of western canada. As a result this trail was litter with leftover snow, windfall and a network of overflowing creeks cris-crossing the trail.

Once down at the bight I had a plan to look at a loop which I thought would be a serious work out with some huge climbing. Well once into the loop I began hiking my bike more than i was riding it. I was getting frustrated with the tough conditions and the pelting rain and wind. When i finally got to the top of the hike and got back on and began riding when i reached a "lake" on the trail. I was fed up with walking it so i gunned it not realizing how deep this sucker was. The water kept rising as i mashed thru it. Then i must of hit a submerge boulder or something cause next thing i knew I was sent ass over tea kettle into "the lake". I remember looking back at my bike and only seeing a handlebar poking up out of the water.

At this point I had had enough I was entirely soaked head to toe. Now I'm not easily flustered and don't usually make it verbal but at that point i let loose the biggest bellow curse of my life.

I finished the ride and actually some taunting sun come out as i neared the parking lot.

yup, thats how she goes.

Scottish Sense and the beginning of cyclocross

I've been trying to switch my summers wheels to winter the last couple days but have found them incredibly hard to get off. The VW wheel design is a tight fit to begin with and then the added corrosion/oxides that build up make it harder to get off each year. I almost gave in today to taking them to a garage, but when i was quoted with $60-70 to do it my scottish blood kicked in and i became determined to get them off.

In the end what worked to a great display of onlookers was a sledgehammer and a 2x4. The combination of hitting the 2x4 up against the outer perimeter of the wheel did the trick. Our group heads up to Mt.Washington this weekend for some alpine sports and hot tubbing.

Last weekend I bought a cyclocross bike from oak bay bikes. I've had a couple of good rides on it this week getting dirty and building leg strength. It's funny how riding a bike with slighter bigger tires, more tread, and bigger clearance brings out a lot of macho in you. Anything seems possible and a sense of invicibility rides thru your veins. A couple of tim allen grunts here and there make the rides very enjoyable. It must be the same feeling guys get when jacking up pickups with monster truck wheels.

PPB&J

What I ate on a 3hr ride today:

2x cliff gels
2x Water Bottles (plastic included)
2x Vega Power Bars
1x Pancake with Peanut butter and Jam

Cold Pancakes with PB&J make a great treat while riding. I've started having pancakes every second day and making lots so on the days inbetween I have a stash. Pancakes I figure can be eaten at any time of the day. Breakfast with syrup, lunch with cold cuts, and dinner with soup. Ron Burgundy often eats waffles, steak, and scotch in his aquajet 5000 so there you go.

Papier Mache

Today I had a biomechanical assessment done by John Hamilton. I've been experiencing some mild plantar fascitis pain in my left foot and wanted to mitigate it before it gets any worse.

After drawing on my feet and telling me that my left leg is half an inch shorter than my right John cast my feet. This was pretty cool. I lay on my stomach on a table while my feet hung over the back and he wrapped them up in plaster. While waiting for them to dry i fell asleep, but once he started to take them off i woke up. Next week i'll go back and get the orthotics.

This week marks the end of a long hard training block that was big on swim and bike volume for me. A couple more days and then some regeneration!

Kick-Swim

I've recently learnt how effective kick-swim sets are. A set we did today for instance was:

10x100 as 1-4 50k-50swim, 5 kick hard, 6-9 50k/s, 10kick hard

This type of set i find allows you to work at a high effort all the time without accumulating fatigue as if you were doing 10x100 fr or 10x100 kick on a quick pace time. The switching from kick to swim lets you focus on your legs and then your upper body. One half is always recovering while the other is worked.

Here is something I heard in the news today that might interest you:

A middleaged scotsman fell into a shark infested tank at the Glasgow aquarium. THe man somehow miracoulsy escaped unscathed. When asked how he escaped the man-eaters he had no comment. Later sources however are reporting that the sharks noticed the man was wearing a "Scotland for World Cup 2010", and even the sharks couldn't swallow that.

Water Immersion

Steve and I were talking the other day about swimming. More specifically how you feel in the water day to day. Swimming is the sport I've found to be very finicky in how you feel, some days its awesome other days you're in the gutter.

What I have found out this last year swimming is that for me there are two levels to my swimming. "In the gutter" and "In the penthouse". There is no inbetween for me and often the switch from the gutter to the penthouse occurs in seconds...weird.

To get from the gutter to the penthouse requires a spark. Something to turn the switch on. This could be someone beside you who is pushing you in a set, or just a great set that you enjoy. THat's why it is best to swim in a group. Not only is it more enjoyable but your teammates help you along by pushing you. WHen swimming on your own I've found that the whole workout is either in the gutter or in the penthouse. Usually by yourself you need a good hard set with fast pace times to get you up the elevator to the lofty suite.

Gorgeous Gorge

Is it November? Really, cause today I was sure it felt like May. What a beautifull day here in Victoria. Days like this when i am at work down in the Harbour I don't think I could anywhere more beautifull. Right on the water watching aircraft landing/taking off, the Johnson street bridge opening for tugs hauling huge piles of gravel or even houses sometimes. Seals swimming around the docks chasing schools of fish and the Coho manuervering ever so carefully in the tight channel.

Here are some photos of two gorgeous planes that came in today. The first is a regular Kenmore flight and the second was a chartered amphib plane.

Napolean

Here are a few photos of Napolean, Joel's dog who I have watched a couple times this year while Joel has been away at World Cups. In the photos it looks like he is sticking his tongue out at you but he actually has a really long tongue and can't fit it into his mouth sometimes. A lot a personality in this little guy.

Napolean ala Michael Jordan


Napolean leading the troops


Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Some TT's

Today at swimming we had two time trial efforts on the board. 100m Fr and 400Kick.

Both went fairly well i think. Out in a 30.0 back in a 32.4 for the 100 and the kick went off in a 7:53 LCM. The last two days have been 5.5k in the pool and the shoulders are now saying ok we are ready for the heat, bring it on.

I am house/dog sitting once again for Joel, national team coach, up near christmas hill in victoria. Napolean, a chiwahwah, is a fury ball of excitement and intensity. We are just back from a walk where we encountered many dogs. Napolean not so good with other dogs so i had to either pick him up or keep him in tight with the leash. If you could cross the furociousness of napolean with a big dog like a german sheppard you would have one hell of a police dog.

I'll see if i can't get some photos of him up here soon.

Boo!

So yesterday I went for an oil change. I wish i knew how to change my own oil cause i think i got ripped right off at this place. The mechanic lured me into putting premium oil into the car thru making me feel guilty about neglecting my car. Reminded me of a Seinfield episode where Jerry's mechanic does the same and eventually kidnaps Jerry's car.

Anyways the mechanic also was trying to get me to have my transmission fluid changed and to have somesort of extra cleaning done. I declined, he persisted with the guilt trip but i stood strong and said no thanks. I remember seeing his expression he wasn't happy with me. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as i could, who knows what there doing under your car. Anyways today i go down to my car and i have a flat tire! I tried changing it but as is the usual case the tire is ceased on to the drum. So I do the patented Russell family move of putting the wheel bolts just loosely on and preceed to drive around hoping it loosens. Nope! Then i pumped it up and realized it held air alright, slow leak. I am convinced the mechanic did this, out of spite or whathaveyou he put a slow leak in my tire to get me back for not blowing $200 bucks at his shop.

On a more positive note last weekend the BC cross country championships were held in victoria. I didn't race but watched instead. With all the racing I do i've forgotten what its like to be a spectator. For this race it was awesome. A lot of fast running and good battles.

I think my first run may be as a part of a relay around Thetis Lake on rememberance day. later in November there is a swimming hell week planned...

Patrick has organized some Yoga for us which we just had today. Last year i didn't go to the yoga sessions, but this year i think i will continue to go. THe body is noticeable limber and relaxed after, well so far anyways.

What an off-season

Well, most professional sports have a 3-4 month offseason where they relax and get fat. Not triathlon folks, try 3 weeks of offseason. I did manage to gain 10lbs in those three weeks though so it was enjoyable.

The other day I was looking back to where i was a year ago. See last year after racing the summer I took 2 or 3 weeks off totally...did nothing athletic. Then at the end of those 3 weeks i did one hard run and then entered into a ridiculous cross country run in Kelowna. Not only did i blow up and drop out from the race, but i also cramped up for days afterward just out of the blue. This year however i am one year older, one year wiser and have a coach to keep me on track. During my break i did some light swimming to keep the body active but no hard efforts. This makes the transition back to training volumes much easier...and no racing for a while!

This week I swam 5 times cycled 3 and ran 3. Next week will be similar and then I'll get into the full program. There will be big swimming volume coming up soon, i think i heard 35k/week possibilties.

It's great to be back with my teammates training again!

Moose Transplant

Moose Transplant

Yesterday I went for a bike ride from Revelstoke. One of my favourite routes is down Highway 23 south. Great rolling ride with some good climbing as well. About half way thru i spotted a female moose on the edge of a swamp just off the road. Beautifull creature and quite a hunk of beast.

That got me thinking.....what i need for next year is a moose muscle transplant. What better way to boost my power on the bike than a slab of moose muscle added to my match-stick quads and while your at it throw some on my glutes as well. Grade A Canadian Moose, its gotta be legal.

Boy was i tried after the ride.

Drove down to Victoria this morning and got in a run around Elk Lake this afternoon.

Turkey for me and Turkey for you...lets eat some turkey in a big brown shoe.

The smell of turkey is filling the house, not long before a feast with the one and only Turkey Lurkey draped with bacon, deeeelish.

Last night I started to watch the canucks game against calgary but went out after the 1st period. So just before i went out i thought i'd tape the game and watch it later. Our tv is funny in that you have to have the tv on and on the channel your taping the whole time so i left the tv on wasting power, but we've got a massive hydro dam up the columbia here eh, so powers not a problem.

I made sure when i was out that no one told me the score or I saw a tv that had highlights. A word of advice, when your taping something don't let people know that, otherwise they'll go out of the their way to deliberately tell you the score. So i kept the taping secret and it worked well..no leaks about the game.

This morning i remembered that i had taped the game and still didn't know the result so i put it on. What-a-game! That is some good early season puck. 3-1 canucks only to have calgary come back to tie it in the 3rd. Into OT and a PP for the flames...no worry..kill it off and then a break away by kesler but he's stoned by kipper. Then with 45s left in OT out of nowhere the screen goes black....click tape starts to rewind....noooooooooooooooo the end of the tape!

What luck, turns out 40s later sedin wins it for em....geeeez!

Enjoy your turkey and wine everyone.

Blows my mind!!!

Check out this article from age group worlds

Don't let his dentured smile fool you...

Hong Kong Photos

View of Hong Kong Centre from across Causeway Bay

The tallest building in Hong Kong, International Finance Building, 415m tall and has double decker elevators!

Chinese Night display in Kowloon

Me...on an urban outing

Chinese Doll Display in Victoria Park

At the Start in Plover Cove

Me..and others on the steep climb

T2 with Nikitenko

After the sprint finish

Me with The two Great Hosts...Ikko and Erika!

HK Plover Cover Race Report

Got up this morning and heading downstairs for a short run. On the building door it says *#1 Typhoon Warning Has Been Hoisted*...hmmmmmmmm

#1 is the lowest typhoon warning but nevertheless a typhoon. High winds and rain woke me up pretty quick. Breakfast, tatoos on and out the door to plover cove to race.

The swim was in a cove as you might have guessed. The ocean felt great, warm but not too warm and seemingly bouyant. It was raining pretty hard at the start but i like racing in the rain

One false start and then the real thing. We are off , head down, great start pull over to my right and get on some fast japanese feet. First bouy was about 350m. Between 200m to 350 i lost some position and was about 10th into the first bouy. 200m to 400m is an area i need improvement on, threshold swimming. At the first bouy i accidently almost dunked a guy but backed off from doing it...then this guy grabs the back of my suit, pulls me back and dunks me, i proceed to get swam over by 2 or 3 guys from behind and a lung full of water...should have dunked that mother. Get going again and now there is a gap to the pack. I put my head down and tried to bridge up but could not. I swam the remaining 1km on my own with two other guys on my feet. I came out disappointed i wasn:t in the mix but freaking angry and ready to rock the bike.

Out on the bike and straight up the first hill i could see a grp probably 30s ahead on the hill. I caught up to them after the climb on the technical downhill sections...turns out it was the lead girls pack....geeez! After the first 5km of me and a Jiang from china we got caught by a pack of about 8 from behind. THe remainder of the bike went well, felt good on the climbs and it was an incredible course to ride. I think coming in T2 we were about 2:30 back of the leaders.

Good fast T2, thats something i have done well at this year, and out onto the run. Flat run of four laps. Jiang and a kiwi ran about 20s ahead the entire time and i couldnt get them back. Now on to the battle between me and Nikitenko (KAZ). We had a good battle...he was about 10s ahead going into the last lap as i slowly closed in. I am not kidding when i say that Borats anthem...

...Kazakhstan greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls. Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium. Other countries have inferior potassium Kazikstan...was singing in my head as I chased this guy.

The last lap had this extension of about 1km and with about 300m left i moved past him... but he hung on....and it came to a sprint finish.

I think i was just telling steve the other day that i hadnt been in a real sprint finish this year and perhaps ever. Well i started to sprint and could hear him coming...the crowd picked up and we ran stride for stride to the tape, he took me...by a nose length. Good battle. It turns out that Nikitenko is ranked 206th in the world and i am 207th. He races on a completly different continental series than i do yet the rankings speak for themselves...pretty darn accurate!

That is it for my racing this season. I think it has been a great season for me with many improvements and good results. Time for some down time and then begin focusing on building from this season.

Thanks for everyones supportive emails and encouragement they give that extra push when im battling it out on the course!

12hr flight home to Good old Canada.

Go for the Cup

Tomorrow will be my last race of the season, I hope to make it the best yet. Im feeling pretty good and fully recovered from the bug i caught in mexico.

The race meeting was very extravegent for the race. So many cameras and media, and for this race they have a big trophy cup! looks sort of like Lord Stanleys actually.

For me i think it is going to come down to whether or not I can climb on the bike for the first lap with the big boys. Its make or break time there and i need to ready for it. The mother of a climb comes basically right out of transition, very little time to put the shoes on and then your standing in your biggest gear for this sucker.

Friday i got a flat tire. Normally this would be routine to fix but i am traveling with tubulars...got it done in the end and tried it out this morning on a 30min Hong Kong crit course I whipped thru. Its odd though the new tire seems to very very slowly leak.

Did some sight seeing today as well. Around some markets and went right smack downtown HK with Ikko touring me around. Apparently there are some people that live here.

Ok, off to bed.

Hong Kong Arrival

It feels great to be here and to finally be feeling 100 percent. I almost didn:t come over to race my last race of the year because I had been feeling pretty lousy since bringing back a sickness from mexico. But today I had some training and it felt alright, i think by sunday i will be ready for one last kick at it.


Ive only been here one day but quickly ive found out that many of the generalizations or assumptions i had of Hong Kong were wrong:

1) Hong Kong is not an Island! Well it is many islands, hundreds of islands and actually, part of hong kong is on mainland asia.

2) Ive always heard that Hong KOng is overpopulated and tremedously crowded. Not so much, there actually is breathing room on the streets and the trains are sometimes almost empty!

3) I didn:t realize how far south Hong Kong is, it is not far from the Phillipines. Being this far south the vegetation here is very jungle like and the islands features and much like a sterotypical tropical island.

Today I did something that i think may have been a first ever by a Canadian! I wanted to check out the bike course so i got geared up and rode to the metro station. I then took the train with my bike far enough so i was out of the city. Being white here gets enough looks, pair that with tight spandex and a 4000 dollar racing bike on a subway train and your a geniune circus freak...some eyes i don:t think ever left me.

I navigated, getting lost once on my way home, around the bike course which is one of the most beautifull courses i:ve ever seen. The bike goes up over this dam and then into a national park. The roads are smooth and quite narrow and the jungle bush encloses you in this crazy world where you feel like the only one on the planet. The course has two climbs, one major of 400m at 11 percent and another which is probably 1km at 4 or 5 percent. This is going to be tough for me to hang on to the group(s). Climbing is not my forte right now and especially steep grades.

Really glad i made it to this race and my friends here and taking great care of me. Tonight we walked along the water watching a lazer show projected onto the hong kong skyline. Great dinner which included shark fin soup.

all for now.

Hong Kong Phooey.....Number 1 Superguy!

Getting things organized here for a trip to Hong Kong tomorrow. Where is that passport?

I'll be taking a 12hr flight tomorrow night and be staying Ikko, a friend of Marty's that I have met and had some good times with.

This photo here shows where Ikko lives (red dot) and where the race is held (blue dot). The airport is down in the bottom left corner. Click on the photo for a larger view



This will be my last race for this season and it looks to be quite competitive. Many different top athletes for all over. There are 5 Uzbekistan athletes, i'll have to beat those guys for Borat!

After this race I will be heading home to Revelstoke for 3 weeks or so before coming back down to Victoria to begin training for next year.

I'll try and give an update in Hong Kong before the race!

Check out Hong Kong Phooey. This song will no doubt be running thru my head during the race.

Some Veracruz Photos

pretty fountain

The port at night

Some boats waiting to go out

A marketplace along the water in Veracruz

2 for 1

Today i've got a deal for race reports.. 2 for 1.

I made my way over to vancouver labour day weekend to race in the vancouver triathlon in stanley park. This has been one of my favourite races mostly due to the killer bike course the event has. At what other time would you get to race around stanley park in practically your underwear?

Nolan P was grascious to have myself and felipe vande wyngard stay with him. Felipe had just finished training over here in victoria and was headed to veracruz to race the following weekend. I had this race and then would race in veracruz as well.

The tide was right out for the swim start and i made a very bad mistake of trying to be sneaky which cost me alot in terms of having a good start. My swim was not what it needed to be to have a shot at the winning the race so i was constantly playing catch up until it was too late. My bike felt strong as a positive and well the run was a gong show as the volunteers were not yet out on the course. This got people placed 2nd to about 10th i'd say lost on the run, but that is part of racing i guess. I felt bad for paul krochak who was in 2nd when things went wrong. The results are not an indication of the proper placement of the athletes. I ended up 2nd and felt it was a great prep for veracruz in 5 days.


Veracruz,

I flew down to veracruz which is located in the southern part of the gulf of mexico. One of mexico's largest ports, it escaped the hurricanes relatively unscathed. I arrived late wednesday night and quickly realized that I was more in mexico than i had ever been. The previous race i had in mexico was in a resort town, this was 'real' mexico and at night there i was honestly a little spooked.

When morning came the ghosts had disappeared and got to see some of the historical city. I got in the water as well which was very very warm (28). I enjoyed the cuisine with no glitches and come race day i was feeling recovered and ready to race.

The swim went well and i came out just off the front group. I put my head down and went ALL OUT on the first kilometers of the bike and managed to catch the lead group. The group was 4 mexicans, 1 can, 1 costa rican, 1 argentian. The mexicans would not work and were actually trying to slow the group down so that there compadres would catch up. The other three of us did all the work and actually gained time on the first two laps before losing time on the last two. We came into T2 with just over a minute on the chase pack. THe run was a brute struggle where i was so close to stopping. The heat and humidity were really getting to me. When i crossed the line i was so proud of myself for hanging in there and getting a quality result. I finished 8th scoring some valuable points.

After the race I caught a case of the taco bug and battled flu like symptoms for 5 days upon getting back to victoria. The rest of the week I have felt tired and the motivation to train is dwindling...one more race ...one more race.

Big Block

Recently I've been training pretty hard. Begining thursday last week I started with some long base rides and runs with some intensity and then this week added some more intensity.

On the weekend an hour run turned into two hours by getting lost at stewart mtn near Thetis lake. This morning was an ow swim in thetis. 1 big island loop warmup and then one loop TT effort (17:10 non wetsuit). In the afternoon I had my first track workout of the year and perhaps the last with the season almost over. Andrew McCartney took me on a WU around UVic and at the end of it i realized I had lost my car keys! There is a hole in my pocket! Oh no....well total fluke, cause I retraced my steps of a 5km loop for only about 30s when i found them laying right in the middle of the trail...geeesh.

On to the track I did a set as follows:

2X(4X400) on 2mins (Consistent with 1:09's)

3x1.2k on 6mins, 3:48's

4 strides

2k WD.

This weekend in vancouver should be an interesting and competitive race. Then I am on to veracruz for a race which should be hot hot.

I've also finalized my trip to HONG KONG for an asian cup! that's gonna be weird, but in a good way.

tasty apples

The Kelowna Apple triathlon rounded off 3 races for Steve and I in three weeks. Arriving in Kelowna was a great feeling and seeing how prepared the race crew looked was very reassuring that this race would go well, unlike others...ahem...Longmont.

Friday and Saturday were race prep workouts in the Lake and on the bike loop before our meeting saturday afternoon. The Juniours raced saturday as well. An NTC sweep was in order with Jeff 1st, Aaron 2nd, and Matt 3rd. Nice job boys!

Race day was raining and probably only about 18 degrees or so. Warmed up on the bike and then a swim warmup with the wetsuit on. This was a good decision as the water was around 20-21 degrees. I kept the suit on until seconds before the start to keep warm. Great start! One of the best all year..Tichelaar was on my hip for a while..thats right my hip. I could see Dano and A-Mac cruising over from the left so i hopped onto dano's feet and rode that train around the first bouy and then fell off the pace. I hung into the main group though and exited in good shape. Heading to T1 was interesting, 2 americans bailed HARD on the wet wood going into the fence. Got on my bike feeling good, then it was a hammer sesh along the first flats to the hill where my race blew apart. I still do not have the leg strength to hang in on hill accelerations. Tom Evans attacked on the hill and i was sput out the back....just like edmonton i watched the main pack creep away in desperation. I TT'd for about half a lap when 3 others caught me. The rest of the bike i felt strong, but our pack was caught by a group behind on the last lap which i didn't like.

Onto the run I had the fastest T2 of the race and quickly settled into a good rhythm. Serrano, McKenzie and Burwash, all from the group that caught up on the last lap were running strong. I dug deep i was able to finish 13th with a PB on the run (33:09).

After seeing the results it was frustrating and actually i could barely sleep sunday night knowing what could have been. If i could have hung onto the main group on the first lap I would have been battling for a podium spot! Just makes the wolf hungrier...

Next up Vancouver Tri Labour day Monday and then hopefully Veracruz on the 8th. Hurricane Dean may have caused this race to be cancelled though so we'll see.

Kelowna or Bust

Back from Quebec and Colorado, but only for a few days. tomorrow i head off for Kelowna to finish this set of races.

Quebec went very well, Colorado not so much. I had a decent swim/bike but onto the run i could feel the heat getting to me so i pulled the plug about a mile in. I am pumped up for this kelowna race, probably the most ever. Hopefully i'll have some adoring fans there to get me thru the tough spots. I hear there is a beer garden afterwards....what better way to finish off 3 races in 3 weeks.

Longmont

Longmont is just north of Denver and that is pretty much all i can say. We (steve, grant and I) are staying at a hole in the ground just off the I-25, basically a truck stop. Feeling sluggish today, not sure if it is the altitude or the heat.

Have seen the swim/bike/ and run courses. Nothing special, the run is on dirt which i like though.

Just back from the meeting and the race director is a clone of Jon Gruden, aka Chucky, who coaches the Tampa Bay Bucs FOotball team. About the same tenacity levels too.

This race is not well organized, it will be interesting to see how things go off tomorrow.....

Round 1 A...Now Round 2

Sitting here to report on this last week in beautiful quebec eh. Steve and i arrived last thursday with no worries and were set up with a great homestay that spoke english so we were in the clear. As i say great homestay with the lapointes they had a 6-star hotel going on and mccartney missed out!

The race in Drummondville almost as well as i could have wanted. Great swim coming out in the main bunch with ticchelaar,bryden,plata and AP. Hung in on the first furious kms of the bike and then actually made a litte noise on the 3rd lap with an attack (didnt amount to anything), but it brought a smile to mccartney face when i was swallowed back up. The run in some heat went well but it would have been great and earned an A+ if i could have stuck with bechtel and tache on lap3 and had a shot at the canadian podium. I placed 8th in the race and was the 5th Canuck.

After the race we came down to montreal to stay with some of steves family in Lachine. We have done some training highlighted today with a swim in the 2005 FINA pool, outdoors 10lane 50m, nothing better.

Now the bags and box are packed and we off to colorado for some high altitude madness. The race looks uber competitive with big names all over the start list, its gonna be tough!

O'Hare Airport

Here is a story from my trip back from New York a while back.

Sitting in the chicago O'Hare airport getting hungry. Venture about and find what looks to be an authentic american bagel shop, sure looks good. The bagel was giganormous, twice the size of our normal bagels. So a normal bagel equals 3 pieces of bread so this was 6.

After bagel had to use the facilities. So head to the bathroom stalls, check for no pee on the sit and then whooooooooooooosh! I almost fall right thru the seat and into the water. The toliet seat hole was huge, cause im not that skinny. I had to actually spread my legs a bit to hold myself up on it. Looking back perhaps I got the special "aka fat" stall or something.

Moral of the Story: A bagel looks like a toliet seat and I should have keyed off the subliminal warning.

Some photos and This week of training

Firstly here are some photos from the Squamish Triathlon this year won by Peter Reid

Out of Alison Lake in the Lead

mmmmmmm...gel..... mmmm

Does he look familar?

On to this past week which is in the books as a very good week for me. After my week of rest it took a couple days to get the body activated once again, but by the end of the week i felt strong on some good efforts.

Tuesday: 5.5km swim in the am with 20x100 (3hard,1Easy) on 1:30. Was in the neighbourhood of 1:12-1:14's. Some aerobic longer efforts and then a 90' bike which was filled with attacks...base ride turned evil by tour mania. At 2 we ran at Cedar hill GC for 3 loops, 1 WU, 2 tempo on the flats easy on hills. To finish off the day we helped set up the splash and dash at elk lake and made up relays.

Wednesday: Open Water at Thetis with 4xsmall island(1000m). 1 WU, 1 race effort with wetsuit, 1 race effort sans wetsuit, 1 CD. 60' Base run on the lake trails. Then we geared up for the Newton heights crit, but it got canceled so we had our own mini Tour with a team TT, crit, and indv. TT followed by rootbeer floats courtesy of Richard and PK.

Thursday: 4km aerobic swim at Commenwealth and a light 30' run in the afternoon.

Friday: 5km swim with 12x50 (1Hard/1Easy) and then 3x300m in Draft Packs. Scotty had had a night he couldn't remember on thursday so this made the 300's a good match for me. Felipe, a chilean, who is up here training for 5 weeks was also in our group. We went 3:45, 3:41, 3:39 i believe. In the afternoon we had a great brick workout at Comosun college. This workout was a good indicator that i have recharged the batteries. The setup was about a 7km bike loop and a 1km run loop. We did 2x (2 bike loops followed by 2x1km) and then 1 X (1bike loop with 1 run loop). On the seconder doubler stevo rocked on by me on the bike after starting 20' back and put on another 30' on me, he is killing it these days. Once that swim gets him in the chase pack look out! The run splits were good on the doublers we went out as tempo then race pace so 3:30 then 3:15. On the last repeat we nailed down a 3:05! on a technical 1km loop. This is the work that will give us good results in drummondville man!

Saturday: A "light swim" at thetis with "reduced volume" seemed a little harder than light and 4k but it's all good...was nice to swim up to the upper lake under a bridge. A 3hr base ride around lands End finished the day.

Sunday: 1.5km Open Water Thetis HtO MS Charity swim. Went well felt strong and almost held on to a 14 year old swimming phenom's feet. A good interval run session at Lochside with 5x1km. First two as build, 3:07,3:07. Next 3 stevo set the bar and I followed as best i could, 2:58,3:07,2:59.

Coach says that is the work in the books for nationals. This week a couple key sessions, 1 of which will be a swim/bike brick at Durance. This will be key as it is an area i need to pump up to hang into that front pack.

This is it...3 races in 3 weeks....time to let em know who i am.

Mid-Season Report Card

I thought i'd take some time to review and grade the season i have had up until this point, which is essentially half way....

This winter marked the most serious training i have done in my short triathlon stint, no schoolwork to do so it was 100% focus on sport. I think not having to concentrate on classes really is an advantage when training. You have more time to train and more importantly more time to recover!

Throughout the winter in Victoria there were numerous great training sessions but in particular a few have stuck in my head. After adjusting to the increase in swim volume I started to feel better in the pool, grabbing more water and increased efficiency. One Sunday we had a bouy workout setup with a 400m triangular course. This was my first realization as to how far my swimming had come when i was able to hang on the feet of the front group, scotty and Julien, i think. The couple times where we swam with Island Swimming also i can remember pretty well because they were not fun. 5km in 90minutes doesn't go down well, especially when over a 1km of that is kick. Pretty much no rest the entire workout and the feeling of worthlessness when 16 year girls leave you in there wake.

I can't count how many rainy rides there were but you came to expect it and ride thru it except for a few occassions.....a group ride into metchosin quickly disintegrated to stevo and I battling mother nature thru colwood hitting every freakin red light and dealing with flat tires. Near the end of the ride I was getting so angry with MN that I felt like the harder i pedaled the less pleasure she would get from the rain and wind she was throwing at us. Without a doubt a ride that was perhaps the hardest i've done was a 3hr ride which included 6X up the back of Willis Point Hill. This after a 6km swim and another 2hr ride in the am made this ride feel soooo much easier.

My first 2hr run was memorable but i think what takes the cake was 8x1km on Lochside. I think i held close to 3mins and under for the first 6 thinking that was it, but coach had two more planned that made it what it is today. The TC 10k was another run that i'll remember. I ran well and the wind was so hard that the race was very strategic.

Triathlon racing began with the Sooke Sprint and a memorable ride back to victoria afterwards with the group. Perhaps my best race, start to finish, ever was in Wasa Lake this June. I swam well, held the damage on the bike and ran out of my shoes!! Getting my first world Cup start in Edmonton two weeks later was quite an adventure and a good whoooooping. My last three races Edmonton, Squamish and Geneva I have noticed a similar trend. The swim goes well and then progressively i get tired to the point where on the run i don't have the spark in my legs like i did in May/Early June. Thats why i am where i am today, taking a good rest before the meat of the racing begins.

My racing for the next two months looks something like this i think:

Aug5 Drummondville ITU
Aug12 Longmont ITU
Aug19 Kelowna ITU
Sept 3 Vancouver Triathlon
Sept 8 Veracruz ITU
??Sept 23 Hong Kong ITU

This week i have had 5 days completely off with an easy swim thrown in there and a theraputic hot springs visit. I am heading back to Victoria tomorrow or Monday to start getting some training back again.

Geneva ITU Reporto

Last weekend I had the pleasure of lining up with 55 others in the warm waters of Seneca Lake in Geneva, NY for an ITU Pan-AM Cup race. The field looked strong with many top americans and canadians ready to rip.

I flew over on Wednesday from Vancouver and took that week very light. I have recently been feeling tired, sluggish and looking forward to a break from racing and training. But not yet, for this race i would have to put everything into it in hopes of scoring a good result. I was put up with two other athletes with a perfect homestay, Noel and Sandy, who lived right in Geneva. They were the best homestay i've had and made our stay very comfortable.

Race started at 3:15 and a good crowd was on hand to cheer. The swim start was pretty bogus, they didn't have a pontoon set up so it was a choatic, no ranking required, deep-water start. Needless to say when the rope was lifted I got off to a great start and was like 5th into the first bouy. The rest of the swim was choppy and i battled to hang on some good feet of DJ Tache. Very similar to Edmonton i exited at the back of the pack (front pack this time) and couldn't hang in on the first 2km of the bike. Really gotta work on that. Luckily another athlete was in the same boat and then a couple others caught up and we started to work. Hats off to Sean Bechtel who did the majority of the work and by the 5th of 8 loops we were in the front group. THis was a new experience for me and as a result i felt pumped to try a break away, but i held back and just did a few pulls cause i knew it would be an all out run. A break did end up going on the last lap and they got about 30s on the main group.

Onto the run I immediatley noticed i didn't have the spark in my legs like in May/June. I felt similar the week before in Squamish as well on the run. Its like i settle into a grinders pace and just try to fight it out, whereas before it was easy and i felt light on my feet. Anyways, the run wasn't gracefull but i ended up 14th, not bad not bad. One funny note was i missed the finish chute so i ended up having to run about 150m extra and actually ran backwards thru the finish to stop my time. Should have seen the faces on the officials when this athlete comes dodging thru a crowd of athletes who are in the finishing coral to run backwards thru the finish, they had definitely not seen that one before. They didn't DQ me because they felt i didn't gave an advantage by doing so, YOU BET I DIDN"T!!

Now i am at home in Revelstoke for this week and taking what i think is essentail half way thru the season, a good break. Im planning on watching the TDF, helping out around the house and maybe hitting up some local hotsprings this week. No training whatsoever.

Sounds like its time for beer(s)....

LOok for a Mid-Season Report tomorrow or the next day

This Week = Nuts

Here i am after finishing off a couple two cumin bean fajitas and kokanees. I needed the beers cause this week has been nutty. Not just because of the training, but i had a whole lotta "other stuff" to be done between the workouts that wore me out.

Here is a recap of this week in training.

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: Good swim, 5k with a main set as follows: (50m Med, 100m Race, 50m Med, 50m Race) X 8 I did this set well, holding 1:10's and 34's on the races with JP on my hip to boot. That night Stevo and I did the first of the Sidney Velo TT's. 18km in 25:55 but ending up getting Dq'd for not staying in the cones on a corner. I did the TT with nothing aero, i was in such a rush to get ready i didn't even have time to get my aero bars on. We also ran 50' on the treadmill at Crystal for a plentyfull day.

Wednesday: Open water swim at Thetis, around 4km in total with a TT loop of the big island (1375m) in 16:30 with wetsuit. Introducing more heat work for Geneva we rode 90' in what seemed a hot hot room. I drank over 2L of fluid and still lost 1lb in 90'. Later on a run at my favourite location, Cedar Hill GC. 3 loops, 1WU, 1Base, 1Tempo. The tempo lap was somewhere around 12:30 i think.

Wed night i watched the FIFA U20 soccer here in Victoria. Good matches and afterwards Participated in some Nigerian Hoopla.

Thursday: An early easy water run first thing to get things activated. I've discovered water running to be quite theraputic in ways. A few athletes here have stress fractures and need to keep their run fitness by water running. I recommend it to anyone who finds running hard on their joints. THe 5km swim that followed was a surprise and i struggled thru it. An 45' base run on the treadmills at Crystal pool finished the day off.

Tomorrow: A speed session in the pool with a motor pacing bike workout to follow. Then boot it to make the 1 Ferry and truck it up to Whistler.

This weekend racing Squamish with Geneva, USA ITU the following week. I am really looking forward to taking some time off following Geneva.

Forest Gump Eat Your Heart Out

Me Exercising the Essentials to Canadian Jogging Attire

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Sex Bomb

Tom Jones is an undiscovered talent that i haven't been a part all my years but i'm starting to make up for my lack of Tom Jones in a big way. My new favourite track is....you guessed it.....sex bomb Cause isn't that what lifes all about? Being the best sex bomb you can be.


Back in the pool this week feels good, i can't remember the last time i swam 5k but on tuesday it took forever. Training in general is relaxed this week, with little or no intensity at all. On Sunday this weekend i am running the HBC 10k in victoria. Convinced Marty to run it as well, together its a two member Hyack Air team. Haven't decided whether to run it steady and giver and race the heck out of it.

City of Champions Race Report

Edmonton World Cup

50 men toed the startline on sunday for the last ever Edmonton World Cup. I was ranked right at the back and was lined up on the far left beside A-Mac and Dano Wells. I had a great start and found myself right on Andrew's hip thru 50m. Then i think i let up a little to early into my race pace. I should have hammered it right up to the first bouy, about 300m in. First bouy absolutely insane, as coach said it picture a bunch of frogs in pond crawling all over each other and that was us. Battled thru that and from then on it wasn't too bad. Exited the swim at the back of a pack of around a dozen. Mistake #2 was exiting at the back of the pack, not the front. Being at the back of the pack made for an incredibly hard first 1km on the bike. In that km was the hill where i got popped and the race basically ended for me there. My body was on fire and i felt like i was on some hardcore drugs or something, dizzy, shaking...but i hung in... I ended up riding the bike with one other athlete who thank god also got popped. We shared the work but found ourselves losing minutes left right and centre. Two guys vs. 15 = K.O.

The run was not too bad considering the effort done on the bike. I tried to get some air time on cbc when the leader blew by me..cross the fingers for that. I finished the race 3rd last but really feeling that i learned some valuable things and will be able to spot them out before they happen next time:

#1) Go hard on the swim until the acceleration out of the first bouy
#2) Coming to shore to exit try to surge to the front of the group
#3) Need to work on climbing skills and first few km on the bike
#4) Run as if it were your last race

I can't see myself doing another world cup until my swim improves another notch to be able to make the second group. A swim focus in the fall is what coach has in order i think. Continental Cups is where i belong really and i've got a few a those lined up and looking forward to the next couple of months.

Thanks for everyones support and for my dad who drove all the way out to Edmonton to see the race and the fun ass kicking.

Sunday........

All the training i've done up till now is going to be tested this Sunday. It's the equivalent to being called up from the farm team to dance in the big show...my first World Cup!

Once chance to prove something, one chance to see what i've got...

Tune in to www.triathlon.org and click on live event coverage to see me race the Edmonton World Cup sunday at 2:45pst.

I'll need all of you cheering me on...trust me.

Durance Dash

I seem to be saying this a lot but today was my new favourite workout. Thursday and Friday a part from training Steve and I were given the task of building two Transition racks for this workout and future ones. The racks turned out pretty good and the workout was killer.

Started off with a perimeter loop of the lake (about 800m). Then a couple of fast 50's and we were into the main set of 2x600m, 2x300m race pace. On the last 300m we exited the lake and did a T1 onto our bikes (hung nicely from the crafty racks). We then cycled about 2km which included a steep hill similar to the one on the course at edmonton. Andrew McCartney got away off the front and took the win with AP and I about 10s back. We then did a second one sans wetsuit. COld water made for a short 100m swim and then the same bike. Same result, A-Mac took it easily this time.

This workout was sooo fun and I hope we do some more this summer!

Just before dinner i did a 40' run oyo on my favourite loop to run in victoria, cedar hill golf course. It is about a 15' loop on cedar mulch chips. It feels like your running on a couple inches of foam, so springy. The loop, done CW also has a few short lung busters which keep you puffing. I did 20' WU, 12' tempo, 8' WD and a stretch.

Tomorrow is a longer base ride with a short run to follow. Should be a big group with all the athletes here right now from different countries before heading to edmonton.

The Des Moines ITU WC is tomorrow with the biggest cash purse ever in triathlon. $700,000 and a hummer H3 to the winner!

Good Looking Podium

Wasa Lake Top 3 ( L to R Krochak,Russell,Jensen)

UBC Camp

After Wasa we drove back right after the race to Vancouver back along the crowsnest highway. Lots of wildlife and turns later we arrived at UBC around midnight to meet Patrick.

Monday and Tuesday we trained at UBC with Juniour Team BC. Was nice to swim in the outdoor pool there and hit up some of the training routes i used while i was at school.

Monday

5km regeneration Swim, easy aerobic efforts
2hr Ride with some Steady state efforts (medium hard right!) thrown in.

Tuesday (My 25th Birthday)

4.5km Swim with some speed work (20x50 Easy/Hard) Paired up with Sharpie We swam neck and neck the whole set. We were able pull out a 29.8 on #8 as well.

90' Ride with 5 times up the spanish Banks hill.

B-lined it to the ferry and gorged out at the buffett. Between the 8 of us we dominated every aspect of that buffett.


Wednesday

Today i showed up at the OW swim at thetis without my wetsuit. Well i swam, but it was frigidly cold. I basically didn't stop swimming the entire time cause if i stopped i would freeze. I didn't realize how cold i was until i got out and downed a thermos of tea and jump in the car to crank the heat! Looking back it was a blurry swim and for some reason i remember doing a cool down. Why the hell would i need to do that!

A 90' ride followed and this helped. I threw on 5 layers and within half an hour i was warm and sweating.

This afternoon it was run time. Speedwork on lochside. 8x1km these felt good for just doing a race this weekend. I was holding 3:04-3:08's. 3x 200m and a cool down the day is done.

Big weekend ahead of training, i will keep you posted.

Wasa Lake Triathlon Report

I raced for the third year in a row, the wasa lake triathlon out in Cranbrook this past weekend. This race is probably my favourite BC tri series race. It isn't the course that i like so much as the atmosphere and vibe the whole event has. The community really gets involved and they put on a great show.

This year I was gunning for the win, but knew it would be a competitive and hard race. Steve and I drove up on friday and arrived into Kimberely late to stay with a very good buddy of mine, Mr. Smurph, at his pad in the wilderness. Smurph and his family put us up to the nines and i'd like to give a big blog thank you to them all.

Saturday we checked out the swim loop and did a short bike and run with a few accelerations just to keep the blood moving. Steve had to have his campy cassette switched over to his race wheels which we almost ended up going to a bike mechanics dad house to have fixed but figured that we'd get it down just before package pick up.

Sunday was race day and it wasn't raining so things looked good. My swim went very well. I broke off the front after the first bouy and swam solo for the remainder coming out in just over 18'. Out onto the bike the legs felt strong and i got in the aero bars and gaver. Out and back bike, so when i made the turn around i realized why i felt so good on the way out. There was a good headwind behind me pushing my bony butt along. On the return leg, it was grind it out against the headwind. It fatigued me a bit and some of the stronger riders in the race caught me. Coming into T2 I was in 3rd spot and knew the run ahead of me would be hunting season. I pinned the first k and actually caught both of the guys (Paul krochak and Adam Jensen) ahead of me. The remainder of the race i ran for my life like a crazy chicken legged freak. I held on for the win and was so pumped when i crossed that line. My time set a new course record to boot which was a nice surprise.

My parents also made it out to watch the race which was great!

Trot and a Swim

After a tough friday i was feeling pretty good this morning and recovered. We met at 8 at thetis for a 75' run in and around the lakes. Julien led the way thru some single track stuff which passes the time quickly on a base run.

Quick bite to eat and then we plunged into the lake for a ow swim workout. One small loop (700-800m) warmup, 2x75m starts and then 1x150m start Hard! Then it was a TT effort around the big island. This one went in the books as 16:04 for me with some navigational errors to boot. Very happy with the effort and found a good rhythm coming back. The big loop is somewhere around 1350m or so.

THat is it for today. Time to enjoy and the sun.

NST pictures

Couple of photos from the north shore triahtlon this year.



On the 5km run



Scotty and I laying down the bike

another day in paradise

Weather has been great this week...today was another tough day. I think this week in general has been hard and i am tired.

5km swim this morning with a main set of:

500m Even Split
10x50m (25! 25E)
500m Harder (even split)
5x100 on 1:25
500m Hard Effort

the 500m times were 6:30, 6:22, 6:11. Feels good in the water. Recently coach and Neil have been working on my catch. Catch earlier and a higher elbow to initiate it.

After the swim it was a 20min sauna and then onto the bike workout. 3hrs total with 4x15' motorpacing with Steve Lund (New cycling coach). He set his bike on 50km/hr and we hung on for dear life. Wow, tough! Definitley hard when rotating thru and catching back onto the back of the paceline.

A short fartlek run just before dinner #1 of 20min WU, drills, 6x90' with 1'' easy between, 10' CD.

Now for dinner #2 and meeting up with some old friends.

Shredded Cheese

Shredded cheese is what i felt like riding home at 9 last night after the wednesday night crit. Coach had stevo and I make the jump to A group and well...I got shredded. Shredded but explains it because anything shredded looses its shape and is no longer able to stand up. Well thats was Me! After 6 laps or so I got dropped and rode the remainder with different groups of others who had the same fate. It makes you realize how fit bike pros are on their bikes. What i need to improve is my climbing. This crit was hilly and i couldn't hang on the hills. Next time i hang in a little longer...and a little longer. Steve did well, i think he was 7th, nice result!


Since being back tues and wed were tough days. Tuesday had an interval workout of 8x1km followed by 3x 200m. Scratching my head i believe the km's went like this. 3:07,3:15,:04,:09,:04,:10,:05,:12. Coming back had a constant slight uphill while out was slightly downhill. Wed morning we had an open water swim in thetis. These workouts are quickly becoming a favourite. There are two islands. Looping around the small island is about 700m, while the big is around 1400m, Just right for olympic racing

This weekend some motorpacing, more open water, and a brick on sunday.

my race schedule for this summer is pretty much finalized now but may be altered slightly, here is what im gonna do:

June 10th Gerricks Wasa Tri (cranbrook)
June 24th Edmonton WC
July 8th Squamish Tri
July 15th Geneva ITU Cup
Aug 4 National Championships Drummondville QC
Aug 19th Kelowna ITU CUp
Aug 26th Veracruz ITU Cup
Sept 3 Vancouver Tri
Sept 15 Duathlon Championships (perhaps)

wedding bells

Well my sister got married last weekend in Revelstoke. I came home for the week and had a great time seeing everyone and helping out with what i could.

Congradulations Mhairi and Tim!

North Shore Elite Race Reportado

North Shore was NOT raining surprisingly although the weather forcast said it would be sunny, it just couldn't happen so it was overcast and grey.

Short warm-up and it was time to get it on. A pool swim of 750m in a pool of like 37.5m long. Came out in 9:10 which im happy with but was gunning for 9'. Bad T1 as the right out of transition you go up a hill and my shoes slipped and i lost all my speed looking like a fool. Once i got my feet in my shoes i saw scotty way way way ahead. He hammered the swim and had 30s on me at least. It took 2 of 4 laps to pull him in and near the end of the 2nd he let up a bit. Two more laps with him and then into T2. That went fairly well and out onto the run. My run was solid, not sure of the split. The results should be up sometime today i think. Got the win in the end with scotty grabbing second, stevo third, aaron fourth and Kerry in her first race back from injuries easily won the womens with a fast time, may be a course record i think.

Speaking of injuries i have got some bad blistering on my feet. worst i've ever had. They started at ixtapa and haven't had time to heal. I think i may have to take some time off to let them heal properly.

The gears have been turning

Its been a day since the motorpacing bike workout and i've thought about it eversince. I have figured out that the style of workout is deceiving because of the following:

Lets say you are traveling at 55km/hr behind a scooter on a bike. You are gaining quite an advatage over whether you were riding with no scooter, due to less wind resistance. Therefore the heart rate effort is reasonable, i think i was hovering around 150bpm yesterday. However your wheels are still traveling at 55km/hr and therefore you must turn a gear big enough gear so that you don't spin out (ie. get crazy fast spinning legs). This big gear is also being spun at a higher cadence than if you had no scooter to draft off of.

In conclusion your legs do more work and get toasted while areobically it is not terribly taxing due to low wind resistance.

Am I totally wrong here?

That is all.

The Good Apples

Couple of really great workouts these past days.

Thursday was an adaptation day or recover with a 4k swim followed by 15' of core and an hour easy easy run around the lakes.

Friday:

Swimming in the morning with Neil's young kids. Getting lapped by those bugger on kick never gets less demoralizing. We had a set of 3x400's which i held comfortably at 5:15. I am finding that my efficiency is really started to improve now. I can hold 1:20/100m pace and it feels almost at a base effort.

The bike of friday was real fun and new for me. Motorpacing....this is when coach is on a scooter pacing the bike workout. For us (steve, carolyn and I) it was about 45' worth of motorpacing around a 9' loop. There were split into about 12' blocks with 4' recovery between each. The first two we were held pretty steady at 45km/hr, but the last two Coach said we were up at 55 km/hr. My legs were done by the end. And then coach Patrick tells me a story of how he motorpaced Peter Reid quite regularly when he was on top of his game for hours straight at 55...WHAT! This will become a regular workout for us on fridays.

Today we had an base run of an hour around thetis lakes with 8x1min pickups. Then we had our first open water swim of the year!!! A little cold to begin with but once you got going it was a nice temp. We did about 3 to 3.5km of swimming with some stretching in between. With a wetsuit the shoulders take a few workouts to strengthen up so we took it light today. On the last effort i was able to hang on to brents feet for about 2/3 of it before following off. Getting in regular open water workouts with the group will be very rewarding for the big races.

Monday...North Shore Tri... results should be up on www.raceheadquarters.com later on that day.

After that i am heading home to revelstoke for the week for my big sisters wedding!!! Can't wait.

Back to Work

Arrived home to victoria on tuesday morning. We ended up sleeping at yvr, wow worst sleep of my life quite possibly. Since being back here is the training i've done.

Tues:

Went to crystal pool and swam 4.5k.

main set#1 20x50 on :55 Hard/Easy
Main set#2 4X(300steady, 100kick, 100back)

Later that afternoon we ran at beaver lake doing 2x8' med tempo and some drills to end a loooooong day.

Wed:

Big day. 7hrs total.

6.5km Swim with a main set of 4X:

6x50 Band only on :50
300 free (3:48,:46,:43,:39)

This set felt good, the feel in the water was good and no waves to deal with!

90 min spin afterwards and then a 3hr ride in the pm which hosted 3x10' hill climb up Willis Point Road. I felt tired after the day was done but a good tired.

Thur: (today)

Swim: 4.3km mostly recovery sets and drills with a few activation 50's at the end. Didn't feel great today in the water. Heavy and tired.

Run: 60' easy run around the lakes. My new Brooks Cascadia shoes are great, and bost some pretty obnoxius colours.

We are racing the north shore triathlon on Monday in vancouver. It always seem to rain at this race but not this time, this time it will shine!

Taco Bell Post post race report

Funny how it takes one day for the race blisters and sunburn to kick in. Both stevo and I have unbeliveable burns and im not joking when i say i put loads of sunscreen on. Chaffing too from all the sand going in the suit.

Last night the post race party was ridiculous. It puts any canadian race to shame shame shame. First off the thing was totally free and had about 15 booths setup with different taco, burrito, fruit stands. My favourite was the fish tacos with chilli sauce...mmm. Did i mention that booze was free too. Oh yes booze was free! Along with good music and live performances like fire jugglers and circ du solei actors this party was off the hizzle for shizzle.

The race results are up at this site:

http://www.asdeporte.com/index_inlife.html

it is all in spanish but i think elite varoni is male elite.

Ixtapa race report.

SUCCESS!!!

In the lobby of our hotel here to give a report on my races today. Notice how races is plural. Let me explain:

The triathlon got under way around 10. The surf wasn}t bad where our swim start was and i got out resonably well. The usual elbows to the head were occuring all the way to the first bouy. The first lap I think maybe i didn{t push hard enough, as on the second lap I was able to bridge up to a pack just before exiting.

Now, T1 was a journey. You had to run about 300m along the beach and then you entered into this hotel. You ran right thru the lobby and past the front desk out to transition. The T1 times were all around 3mins!!

Out onto the bike I put my head down and caught up to a pack of 5 or so. I didn{t get my feet into my shoes until about 3km. This pack grew and grew over the bike course, probably ending up at about 20. Horrible work in the pack, no organization and a lot of people just sitting in. I was yelling VAMOUSE quite a lot at the mexicans were the most lazy. The pack stayed together with some attempts to break away but everything was pulled back in.

Into T2 i made sure to get up near the front of the pack. T2 did not go well for me. Shoes were sticky and i had forgotten to take my ipod out of one shoe!

The run was were i felt best. I quickly pulled most of the guys who got ahead of me out of T2. I built the first 2.5km and then started to put more effort in on the last 5km. My run split was 34 high which in this heat and humidity is great.

I finished 9th and scored some itu points! Very happy with this race and now its time to relax.

About an hour after the tri steve and I had signed up for the World aquathlon championships which were also going on here. 2.5k run 1k swim 2.5k run. This was a bonus event and we had fun with it. steve had some interesting transitions.

All in all good times!

Ready to GO

Starting to get things packed up here for tomorrow. Going to be a long day with a red eye flight leaving vancouver around 6pm and getting to ixtapa 11am the next day.

Monday i took totally off, had a great massage from Gibson. Great to have him back, really great! I feel like a million bucks when i come out of there. Sometimes im so lazy and out of it, i think it hinders me driving home.

Today had a good swim this morning with some fast 50's. A short 45' run with my shoes (Brooks Burn) and then another interval run in the afternoon. The pm run was 30' warmup with buliding the last 10'. 3 sets of drills. Then 1x2k, 3x1k.
The 2k was build to tempo. The 3 1k's were descending. 3:05, 2:55, 2:50. Really felt great on the last two, good leg speed.

Time to get things organized here and can't forget the passportio.

This week in short-long form

Here is this whole weeks training shrunk down to a couple paragraphs...microtraining.

Sunday: After the race Steve and I ride rode Colwood to Jordan River return at base. Very tough going out with a strong headwind, steve pulled probably 90% of the way with me hanging on for dear life. Coming back after a big sugar intake in Jordan river was much better. 4.5hrs total.

Monday: Easy 3.5km Swim, a recovery nap and an easy hour spin

Tuesday: 5km or so in the pool. Two runs with first a 35' treadmill and then an hour base at Mt. Douglas.

Wednesday: 6km swim with some band work and fin 400's. Steve and I then did a 90' heat ride. In the afternoon we had a large group ride which was tough!! 4x 14' at race pace. I was paired with Andrew McCartney, we work quite well together as we are similar strength on the bike. THe last lap was a solo pursuit effort followed by a 10' run which scotty lead us up willis point hill, a big mother.

Thursday: About a 4km swim with about 800m kick. Four of us (scotty, jenny, steve and I) went to cadboro elementary to talk with students about triathlon and how they can get involved in the sport. We also put them thru a mini triathlon. One girl after finishing was like "i am not tired" so i said i'd race her. Steve was counting us down for how much time we had left on the run. In my head i was thinking ...comon steve when are we ending.. she had a huge smile on her face and so did steve, i think he knew what i was thinking so he kept us going. Lastly I did a short treadmill run at crystal pool in the afternoon

Friday: THis was the possessed swim workout day. I got my first taste of what it would be like growing up swimming in a winter club. Thank god i swam summer club or i think i would have been turned off swimming. We did 5km in about 80'. No rests, and the main set was 8x300's (kick/swim/kick , swim/kick/swim by 100) When i saw this set i knew it would be hard as the kick was HARD effort and i am not a coniseur for kick. With two reps over i started to get angry at the set. I started trash talking to it and became possessed to finish it as fast as possible. After the swim we did a brick workout which was at steady state. 3x a 10' loop with about a 4' run after each. We practiced T1 and T2 which is good because i think it helped my T1 a lot. A 45' treadmill run finished the day.


Saturday: Was supposed to be our first OW swim but the lakes are still to cold for that. Would have been nice to get some OW practice but we got the next closest thing when we had to swim 12 of us in 2 short course lanes. It was choppy and tight. After the swim i had a 90' base run which i did on the treadmill. All of these treadmill runs are not my favourite but it helps with preparing for the ixtapa heat.

Sunday: Today we had a great brick workout at UVIC. After a good warmup we did

4x {(3laps of ring road) followed by a 1km run}

At UVIC there was us, a kids of steel triathlon camp, a plant sale and a youth field hockey camp all going on at the same time at 9am on a SUNDAY!!! It was interesting but the workout itself was probably one of my favourites since starting to train here. A hot/cold session capped off a great week of prep for Ixtapa.

Well, a few paragraphs later and that is it. A day off tomorrow and we leave on wednesday. I'll post before i go and try to get one or two in while down for the race.

Weekend Wrap Up and TC 10k

Great weekend.

Friday was back into full training with an eye opening swim:

Main Set

300 Pull
3x100 on 1:25 (1:11's)
6X50 on :50 (31's)

Steve and I then hit up the sauna and then a 90' heat ride. There was no time to go home before the afternoon run and i found myself borrowing some baggy shorts and wearing a bike jersey, it was a great outfit. It was the perfect workout for the 10k race that was coming up on Sunday. We did 20' warmup, drills and then 2x(90'',60'',30'') with equal rest. High leg speed loosened the muscles up.

Saturday we had a group base run of 45' and then a 5km areobic swim, followed by a hot cold. I then went by and registered for the TC 10km.

GOing into this race i was hoping to run under 33'. Race morning we met and did a group warmup. Could have used a bit more intensity as i didn't feel totally activated at the start line but there was no time now...

The first mile felt sluggish. I then found my stride on some slight downhills heading to the 4km turnaround. There was a strong head wind from 4k to 8k so i made sure i got into a group. Drafting in running really does make a difference. In the group we took turns pulling except for one guy who wouldn't budge from the back. At 7km I was like this sucka gotta go..so i made a strong surge to drop him. I was able to bridge up to another group and then the sheltered last 2km was a gun show. Laying it on the line the whole way. I had a strong last k reeling in 2 or 3 guys who faded.

FInished in 32:28 a PB by almost 2mins!!!! With the headwind to deal with it was suggested that another 30-40s could be taken off this time. Under 32' is something i didn't imagine myself running this early. It gives me a lot of confidence going into Ixtapa next weekend.

What you say? Its getting hot in here?

With just less than 2 weeks away from the race in Mexico, Patrick has wisely introduced Steve and I to some heat training. Both active and passive heat training. So every morning, pretty much, after swimming we hit up the sauna. Today we did around 35mins or so. Progessively i have noticed a better tolerance but today, wow, i felt it. We did 15mins then a cold shower followed up with a tough 20' more.

Actively we have done two trainer workouts in 30-35 heat. THe temperature and time will both increase i suspect, you have to ease into it. Stevo and I were talking with AP who is one of the top U23 athletes in the country and he was saying how simons W's group did heat training in close to 50 degrees!!!

Mon-Thur has been adaptation days, so slightly easier. Swim each morning of 3.5-4km with usually a light run or bike in the afternoon. Tomorrow we get back into the swing, with sunday being the Times Colonist 10km run. Im interested to see how i'll do. Its been about 3 months since my last 10km of 34low.

will keep you all posted.

Kyle Marte

I also forgot to mention a great triathlon story about a week overdue....

My good friend Kyle Marte and I both studied materials engineering at UBC. Kyle saved my butt in many classes and is highly educated. My triathlon obsession rubbed off on Kyle in our last year at UBC. He competed his first triathlon at UBC and became so hooked that with just over 3 triathlons under his belt Kyle didn't want to mess around any more with the short distance stuff and signed up for Ironman Arizona.

This race was just last week in Scottsdale. I forgot all about it somehow with this busy training schedule until a training partner mentioned it last sunday. When i came home that day i quickly logged onto ironmanlive.com to see if i could follow Kyles race. I could, but after what seemed like a while, and when i would have expected Kyles second bike split to come up it didn't. I started to dread that maybe the heat or some mechanical problem had cut his race short. It wasn't until later that night when i thought to check again that i found kyle had finished the race! There was a big lag in the split posting and probably while i was enjoying a fried egg and turkey sandwich Kyle was gutting it out on the marathon.

Kyle you amazed me and I am very very proud of you!

11:30:10 In his first ironman...awesome!!! Being a man of iron has gotta score the honeys.

Thinking of putting the career on hold for a few more Kyle?

Sooke Sprint Race Report

Quickly recapping friday and Saturday....Friday we had about a 4k Swim in the am with a main set of 4X400 in draft packs of 2 or 3. I swam with Jessica Kirkwood switching lead by the 100 and we held 5:05-5:15 throughout the set. After the swim Stephen and I had a lengthy chat with Patrick about finalizing a race schedule for this summer. It now looks like Stephen and I may travel to Japan in June and July to do 2 asia cup races in Gamagori and another location (can't remember the name). After the chat 4 of us racing Sooke had a brick session where we do a bike loop of about 10' then transitioned into our runners for a 3' run. Three times went Med-Fast, Fast, and then Race Pace.

Saturday was a light 45 min run with some drills and strides followed up with an easy easy 3k swim, then a hot/cold session.


Sunday was Sooke. Got a ride out there with matt sharpe and his mum and met up with the rest of the boys and Patrick. Went thru a good warmup and then the race season began! The Pool swim was 700m, my turns and streamlines were poor but my stroke felt strong and efficient. Came out in 8:20 or so and made it uneventfully through T1. The roads were dry, sun was out, time to rock. Head down, right up the first climb then settled into a good cadence and went to work. There were some strong wind gusts coming off the ocean so i made sure to really stay compact and low. The bike course was the highlight of the race, scenic roads quiet and well marked. My new easton tempest Carbon tubulars made a world of a difference on the rolling hills and climbs. When standing the tires accelerate like a dream. Rolled into T2 and slapped on the runners. The run was not the greatest course. I felt good but it was hard to find a rhythm with the steep downhills and uphills. Just when you find your rhythm there is the finish line waiting for you.

All in all was a great first effort for the season. I won the event and Patrick was pleased with my performance. Full results can be found at www.raceday.ca

until next time..GO CANUCKS GO!!

Thrusday - two songs forever

Its sunday but i wanted to try and trick you all by pretending to post as if it was thursday. I have done this before a couple times and unless your sharper than a marble you'll have noticed the post date is a couple days later....anyways the secrets out so no mo tricking...or treating for exactly another 192 days.

So on thursday had an easy swim in the am, about 3.5km and then a run around the lake with my ipod shuffle. I just purchased this lovely piece of electronics. Never before have i given into the ipod cult but now i have. The new shuffle is great cause it clips onto anything and is minuscule. So as i am running two songs came up, Like a Prayer(Madonna) and 'Hair of the Dog' (Nazareth), that brought back memories of a fine fellow...Jesse Berton.

For those of you who don't know Jesse Berton let me briefly introduce him to you. Jesse Berton, born and raised in the heartland of Prince Rupert, came into my life in my first year of university. Quickly he became known as "Berton". Berton was a man of many wonders...skilled in the dark arts of incredible fashion sense, a rapist's wit, trained in ballet and tap dancing, and the intellect that got him through chemical engineering by being able to not go to a single class, then read the entire text book the night before the exam and score a higher grade, baffling everyone, than those studying until the cows came home.

As i was saying, Berton's wonders in dance allowed him to marvel the crowds at pit wednesdays. THe moves coming out of this guy and the choregraphy improv would dazzle the best dance with stars judge. When Like a Prayer came on, usually requested by someone who knew Berton, the show began. There were many other numbers in his ensemble but Like a Prayer was the one for me.

Hair of the Dog now was a song that took place in an entirely different setting. Hair of the dog was a regular number on any given day of the week, so pretty much at any time in Bertons room of 5th Dene. Bertons room was the gathering place for all of us kick back, play some crib, drink tea and other delicious beverages. These nights could lead anywhere....

Heart breaker, soul shaker
Ive been told about you
Steamroller, midnight stroller
What theyve been saying must be true

When the Chorus kicked in I will forever remember Bertons Face, eyes squinted shut, nose crinkled, and a quick head jolt in the backwards direction as he sang...

Now your messing with a....a son of a bitch

Berton is a man that everyone needs to meet and have a dance with.