SeeSlim.com

Check out this website and help support a good friend of mine. Sean was a training partner of mine and suffered a severe brain injury in a tragic car accident in 2004, and is now unable to speak and is confined to a wheelchair. They are selling t-shirts to help support brain injury research.

In the sun

Hola everyone!

Just about to go out for a swim to check out the race course. We are really close o the race course so we are going to swim from our hotel over...check it out and come back. The water yesterday was insane...REALLY CHOPPY! It was pretty windy out but calmer today so the water should be calmer.

The hotel that we are at is really nice...the food is good and the rooms are big. On he menu for today is a swim, clean the bike, go for a ride, and relax for the rest of the time.

Here are some pics from yesterday....AUDIOS AMIGOS!

Getting ready for Cancun

For the past week we have been poked, prodded, beaten, and put into hell....literally. Well at least it felt like hell. For 6 days straight we were put into a modified 5th wheeler for 90 minutes at 36-38°C at 70-80% humidity to bring up our core temperature to 38.5°C and then "maintain" that for the remainder of the time. The idea was to try to get the core up as fast as possible so you are at temperature for as long as possible. So we would get in there and do some 1 min on/off till we got our temperatures up. It usually took around 20-30min for the temperatures to get up there. Then all we really had to do was spin REALLY EASY for the rest of the time. For the first couple times our core would get too high (40 degrees) with just easy pedaling so we would just have to get off and sit down till your temperature got under control. It was neat to see how well your body could adjust. By then end of the week we were able to maintain our core's to the right temperature and still be able to pedal with higher watts...our temperatures would not sky rocket out of control like the first couple days. We also noticed that we were sweating more, sooner, and our sodium levels in our sweat went down...all purposes of why we did this.

How did they get all this data? Well everyday we had to put a probe up our butts which Wendy (the databot) could connect to a little computer to get our core temperatures...they would slide out once in a while....fun to stick your hands down your soaked bike shorts and digging around to adjust the probe....hahaha....Kirsten would love to see the boys do this! Every other day we would have patches put on our arms to get our sweat for analysis. We would also get our weights pre/post to see how much liquids we lost (I would average I think about 4kg or 9lbs for the 90min) and we would keep track of how much liquid we would ingest (about 3 litres for the 90min for me). Heart Rates were also taken with core temperatures every 5 minutes.

I find it really fascinating that just a one degree celsius change in your core temperature can throw your body into a panic. You start sweating uncontrollably and you just generally feel like ass. Just one degree....it is amazing. The body is a very cool machine, fun to do these tests once in a while to see how well humans adjust to the conditions around them.

We were the first group to use this modified 5th wheeler. It is right outside the offices at Pacific Sport and other sports plan on using this too. This is just one of the many ways that we are going to get ready for Beijing. Nice to test it out now to work out the kinks and to be prepared and know what you are getting into for next time. This is A LOT more controlled then blasting the heat and humidifiers in Joels little room in Flagstaff....those were good times....NOT!

Pictures below:

colinjenkins.ca

You can now access this blog by going to www.colinjenkins.ca.

Yea I know, I am the coolest guy alive.

Check out this video of some wicked fast running.  Awesome.

The Power Of Belief

Ask yourself this...How important do you think belief is?  Do you believe in yourself?  Do you have belief in your teammates or co-workers?  Do you have complete belief and confidence in your coach or boss that what they are doing is the best thing for you?  The power that believing has can not and should not be underestimated, it has the ability to make a mediocre athlete GREAT, and a great athlete MEDIOCRE.  Without having complete confidence and belief in yourself and the people around you, then oneself will never reach their true potential.

Of course every now and then you have that little devil creeping inside your head telling you that "You are doing too much, you are going to burn out, there is no way that I can do all this work" or "You are not doing enough, next race you are going to get demolished, pummeled, mutilated, flattened, pulverized, etc. etc."  When those thoughts come digging in, thats when you tell the little devil to F&%K off and remember that there is a reason that you have a coach that hopefully knows what is right for you at the time.  

Belief is a big thing in our squad in Victoria, without the belief and committing 100% to our program, there is just no room for you.  There is no room for the half assed athlete, or the pick and choose athlete.  It is all in and believe or go take a hike!  With saying that, I have complete faith and BELIEF in our coach, Joel Filliol.  It really is a no brainer when you have someone like Joel working for you.  All you have to do is show up and he tells you what to do.  I love it when Joel comes out with a crazy ass set and not one of us complains or peeps up to say WHAT THE!?!?!?!  We might smile to ourselves but the set is said and all Joel has to say is "Ready, go" and we are off.  Some great examples of this is we show up to a swim workout like any other morning and Joel says, "OK, 50x200, 10 swim, 10 pull, 3 IM, 2 kick twice through."  Instead of us questioning Joel's mentality, the first thing said was "We better get started" and we were off on the next top.  Another example was that Joel had a favorite saying last year when it came to certain running workouts.  On the schedule all it would say was "400's".  Ok so we know it is speed work.  We show up, "Hey, how much are we doing?"  Joel's reply would be "N+1."  N being when you think you cannot take another step, then you do one more.  We all think 10, maybe 15 since it is a speed workout.  We take it out hard, 10 comes along and you are thinking "I am glad that this is finishing soon."  We finish 10, then Joel says "ready go".  15 comes along "ready go".  20 comes along "ready go".  24 comes along "ok this is N".  After 25 we are done for it.  When you are coming in expecting only to do half as much work as you did the last half can be torturous.  I don't know about the others, but I wanted to throw my water bottle at him but it was my BELIEF in the program that kept me going.

I have tons of examples like that...one being we were doing running hill repeats up Mount Doug here in Victoria with finishing the interval by coming down the other side fast and then recovering around the base.  Well my hamstring was sore and tightening up when we had a couple more to go.  "Joel, I think that I might be done, my hamstring is starting to get pretty sore and I don't want to make it worse."  Joels reaction was priceless.  Without looking up he says "OK we are leaving in 20 seconds" and not acknowledging what I said at all.  I took this as him saying "Suck it up and stop being a wuss!"  That may not be the best example but it was a time when I thought that coach knows best and I should do what he says.  BELIEF IN BELIEVING.

I know that I got carried away with these examples but I think that it is extremely important that an athlete has complete faith in everything around them (coaching, equipment, sponsors, etc) and BELIEVE that they can achieve the impossible.  BELIEVE that what they are doing is the best thing for them and better then what anyone else out there is doing.  BELIEVE that they have the smartest coach, that their group is unique and works the hardest then any other group in the world.  Having this mentality during training and bringing it to the start line thinking that you are better prepared than every single one of these athlete standing beside you means that you are already half way to accomplishing your goal.  Have no doubts, just believe, BelievE, BELIEVE that you can do it and you will be amazed at what you are capable of doing.  When those doubts start creeping in, you are FINISHED!  Thats why in the picture above I have the Olympic Flag with the words "BELIEVE" above my bed, to remind me of why I moved out to the other end of the country and leave my family and friends behind.  It reminds me of the belief that I have in myself and in our training squad.

I BELIEVE THAT THE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE and that I will be on that start line in Beijing or die trying!

Here comes the winter

Just got off the trainer/rollers.  It is getting to be that time of the year when I would rather sit on my bike for a couple hours and stare at a blank wall than brace the cold and wet conditions outside.  I am sure that soon enough I will just suck it up as I always do but for now...indoors is just fine with me.  Plus I am in need of some winter training gear so not being properly dressed and equipped just makes it that much worse.

I rode the rollers for an hour then switched to the trainer for the second hour...just to mix it up a bit.  Bit more comfortable on the trainer as I can move around a lot more freely compared to being somewhat at attention of where you are on the rollers so I do not fly though the sliding door window.  It wasn't too bad as I was listening to an audiobook...Brother Fish by Bryce Courtney.  It is starting off to be pretty slow and boring....hopefully it picks up a bit and gets more exciting.  I cannot really find any more of his works to be better than the first book he wrote and still my favorite, The Power of One.  Read it if you haven't.

Lots of swimming and riding this past little bit with the occasional run thrown in their.  Next week we are starting some heat training sessions to get ready for the Cancun World Cup coming up fast.  They ended up changing the race venue without telling anyone so we had our hotel booked on the other side of Cancun in a non-refundable hotel.  We thought that it was going to be a lost cause and money well wasted but out travel agent got it changed for us to the proper side of Cancun.  No worries now.

Dinner is calling my name.

Beijing Architecture

Check out these videos to see what kind of buildings Beijing is building for the Games.  Pretty incredible stuff.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

Some pics from Greece

Rhodes World Cup - Lessons learned

Wow that was a strange race...many lessons learned though!

So the trip started out not the greatest.  My bike got lost on the first flight from Toronto to London.  The strange thing about it was that the flight was only half full, I checked in plenty of time before the flight, and I had PRIORITY tags on the bike.  So when I got to London and there was no bike there, I knew that the chances that it would be found were slim to none.  I checked everyday about the bike but all I was getting (and still get) is "TRACING CONTINUES.  PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER."  So no bike for the race.  My bike box had all my bike stuff in it with my running shoes.  Lesson learned...bring all shoes, pedals, one set of training clothes, and race stuff with me in my hand luggage from now on.

So on Friday I contacted the local bike shop and they lent me a loner bike.  It was a 55cm (I am a 58-60cm kind of guy), a little on the heavy side with bad components (it had a triple front chain ring) but I was still happy to have a bike to ride.  They also gave me a helmet and a pair of cycling shoes that were 1.5 sizes too small!  I was able to borrow race wheels from Carolyn Murray after her race so the bike was the best that it was going to be.  I was not sure what my measurements were from my old bike, so I had to guess and adjust my position on the fly to "what felt ok".  Lesson learned....bring bike measurements to races.

Race time.  HOT HOT HOT, oh yea it was a HOT HOT HEAT (which I am going to see tomorrow night in Toronto with Lisa :D).  It was a run in (beach) start...I had a great start, right at the front, got in control fast and in the zone.  Second or third going around the first buoy, oh yea!  The I started to get swallowed into the pack.  People grabbing my feet, hips, back and shoulders which shot me back a few places.  "OH MY GOD, IM FEEL LIKE I AM DROWNING.  RELAX.  RELAX.  GET THE F*%K OFF MY BACK YOU A$$HOLE.  OH MY GOD, IM LITERALLY DROWNING.  RELAX COLIN, RELAX"  So that was the commentary going on in my head as I was getting swallowed up.  Thank God the first lap was over, now I can start to swim.  NOPE. Still getting beat up, and it was not a great feeling.  I am a very confident swimmer but when you are in the middle of something like that, swallowing buckets of water, fighting for space, it can get to be a very panicky situation, I DID NOT LIKE IT ONE BIT.  Well 3/4 into the second lap of the swim we started to swim into shore.  I was on the inside at that point trying to find open water.  GET THE F*%K OFF ME!  YES! OPEN WATER!  WAIT, THIS IS TOO MUCH OPEN WATER...WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?  I stop, put my head up and S*%T!!!!!!!!!!  The rest of the field is 25m to the right of me going around the last buoy!  OH MAN, OH MAN, JENKINS YOU ARE AN IDIOT.  THATS RIGHT, AN IDIOT!  YOU DESERVE TO BE STERILIZED THEN DROWNED FOR SWIMMING THAT FAR OFF COURSE!  Well anyways, I sprinted back to the last buoy and hopped into the pack.  At least there was still some people around me.  A couple minutes later the worst swim of my career was over.  THANK GOD!  So I was 2nd going around the first buoy, got put into a washing machine for the rest of the lap and came out after the first lap in 17th.  Decided that it wasn't fair for me to be so good in the water that I thought I would make it a bit more fair and swam a little extra on the second lap, just for fun.  Finished the swim in 57th.  Thats right!  I lost 40 places doing my little stunt.  Lessoned learned...know the swim course (don't go into panic mode, stay calm when in a washing machine) and ALWAYS SWIM AT THE FRONT!

Got on the bike, rode HARD HARD HARD for 2 laps to catch up.  YES!  It came together.  Now I know what it feels like to have to chase for that long....it sucks.  For the rest of the bike I tried to stay out of trouble and conserve as much energy as I could with the Stallion that I was riding.  A couple of breaks went off the front, some successful, others not. Only if I was on my LITESPEED bike!!! :(  I found it hard enough just to stay in the main pack.  DAMN BIKE, JUST DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, AND STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.  OK.  Bike done.  THANK GOD THAT IS THE LAST TIME I SEE YOU MY SORRY EXCUSE FOR A STALLION!  YEA YOU ARE MORE LIKE A PONY, A MINITURE PONY AT THAT WITH ONLY THREE LEGS, A DRINKING PROBLEM, AND THREE PACK A DAY SMOKING DIET!

Off the bike and into a pair of borrowed running flats that were 1 size too small.  DAMN YOU, YOU SIZE 13 CLOWN FEET!  I tried to stay in a pack for as long as I could.  Running with people is a lot easier and more encouraging the running on your own way off the back.  So I ran with some people for most of the run, I did not run that great but I was happy to get that far after all the set backs that came flying full speed at me this week.  I finished 43rd.

So there were some highs of this trip (ummm, maybe not....cannot think of any....oh wait there was.  Warming up in the water I saw schools of fish swim by in the crystal clear water and thought that it was "pretty cool to be here"), and then there was many lows or things that did not go my way.  But out of those lows and mishaps I learned some valuable lessons.  I know that it sounds funny but I grew as an athlete from this trip, a better prepared and smarter athlete...next year I will be able to use these experiences and prevent the mistakes that I faced during this trip.  

Now it is dinner time.  Then time to pack...HECK YEA I DONT HAVE A BIKE TO LUG AROUND!  AP and I are on a 1:30am flight out of Rhodes tonight to London, then onto Toronto from there.  Belly says "STOP TYPING, ME HUNGRY!"  OK BELLY, LETS EAT.

Expiration World Record Attempt

As promised...here is the video.

The land of the rising sun....oh wait...isn't that Japan?

So I could not get onto blogger yesterday...but I found out a way to post blogs but I cannot view my blogs or anyone else's.  Too easy to get around the Chinese censorship.

Well the rain stopped here and the women are getting ready for their races.  I think that the race will be live on TV here...but who knows.  Training has been going good...everyone looks ready.

Not much to do here...just watch a bunch of 24 episodes and trying to beat each other in respiratory tests.  I am the champion with a lung capacity of 9.54 liters....Brent took a funny video of it.  I will try to post it on youtube later on.

BLOGGING FROM BEIJING!!! (SHHHHHHHH)

Do not ask me how I was able to get on blogger from here (Joel the computer hacker must have got around the firewall that blankets the country to censor their citizens) but I hope that tomorrow I am not blogging from the inside of some Chinese prison!  I'll just say that it was JONES!!!

The trip so far has been going well....I am sleeping good and we have a full support staff which is seeing to our every need.  We are staying in a wicked cool villa at the race hotel.  Our villa is basically a small hotel with lots of rooms.  It is good except that we have a bunch of Chinese sitting at our door (like a doorman) but all they do is sleep and sit there bored out of their minds...useless jobs.

There is a big sports complex on the grounds here....bowling, ping pong, badminton, 25m pool, treadmills, archery range, virtual golfing range, virtual kill and blow up aliens with big badass guns (which we are going to check out tonight!) after dinner.  Speaking of food we have been cooking most of the stuff in our villa although tonight I am going to check out the dinner in the hotel which I have heard mixed reviews about.  We went to the grocery store to get some foods with a camera man following us around and some guards at the entrance and exits.  Lots of the food in there was sketch....especially the meats.  Mystery meats are my favorite! mmmmmmm.....

We have checked out the course here....I like it a lot.  The swim course is one lap....WIDE OPEN with long stretches.  Bike course is hilly and a little technical and the run is mostly flat with little rises exiting and entering the dam.  Going to be FAST!

As you can see their english translation is not that great...they call it CHINGLISH.  Loads of it around and they are starting a massive crackdown on it before the Olympics here next year.  After the race we are going to a big market in Beijing to get our hands on some cheap Chinese knockoffs like these sandals!  I cannot wait!

Off to Beijing

This upcoming weekend is going to be the test event for the Beijing Olympic games next year.  They are treating this as if it were the actual games having the women and men race on different days and at the same time of the day that the race will be held next year.  We are also racing on the same course that will be used so it will be good to actually see what kind of race we can expect next year at the Games.

The field is virtually identical to last weekends world champs in Hamburg except that the conditions and course is going to be opposite.  Hamburg was cold and flat...Beijing is going to be hote, humid, and hilly which I am looking forward to...hopefully string out the packs a little more.  Unfortunately we just got an email saying that the water was 18.8 degrees celsius the other day which means that if it stays below 20 degrees then it is going to be a wetsuit swim.  Either way it does not matter too much to me but with a non-wetsuit swim usually people are more strung out in the water which means better chance for front pack to get away and stay away...it will take longer for other packs to form and get going.

I think that I have been recovering well since last weekend.  I got a couple massages last week and had some good sessions with coach Joel.  Joel has done an amazing job this year...just look at our squads accomplishments this year and you can see just how good he is.  Every year we are all improving and stepping up from the year before...next year with the Olympics...people should watch out!  All the pools in the area have been closed for yearly maintenance...WHY WOULD EVER SINGLE POOL CLOSE AT THE SAME TIME!?!?!?!?!  STAGGER A LITTLE PEOPLE!!!!  So....we have been swimming open water everyday this week and by the third day I was sick of putting on my wetsuit and getting in cold water....I was just thinking "Oh wouldn't Crystal pool be so good right now...it would be sooooo warm with all the old people peeing in the water keeping it at a nice bath temperature....oh how I miss you dirty, discusting, urine filled, old people shedding crystal pool!"

Well time to get going as Joel is picking me up soon for the airport.  If you want to watch last years Beijing World Cup race you can find the mens race HERE and the womens race HERE.

ENJOY!

Not many hamburgers in Hamburg...lots of sausages though

do race reports that come out this late still count?  or do they still matter?  will anyone read it?  ha...well I don't care...read sucka's!

I did the Hamburg race last year...I love this race because there is just so many people lining the whole course cheering for your, it can be deafening at times!  AWESOME!!!!  I had a great start again even though some guy beside me clearly left early (I was thinking "oh no you just didn't do that!" while I was in mid air and he was already entering the water) so as soon I got to the surface and got ahead of him I tried to squish him over to the other guys beside him.  THAT WILL TEACH YOU NOT TO LEAVE EARLY!  I felt pretty comfortable for the rest of the swim and exited around 6th place.  Hopped on the bike and started to chase down some early keeners that did not bother to wait for me getting on my bike.  It took a lap and a half to catch them and then it ended up being a big swarm of bikes.  The pace was on the whole time...hard to try to stay near the front out of trouble.  Fun bike but not nearly as fun as the run would be (if sarcasm could be shown through the computer then it would be smacking you across the face right now).  I did not feel that strong and fell off pace pretty quickly but the crowd still was giving me the pity cheer which was cool.  Even though I was far off the front I still received loud cheers....I could not imagine how loud it would of been at the front running with the Germans.  So that was that...to be honest I have not looked at the results yet so I do not know how I finished.  But that was my first worlds as an Elite (not any different than any other world cup...just a bundle of fun!)

Next up is the Beijing World Cup next weekend.  We are leaving this Monday for the infinite feeling flight over to China.  I have been looking forward to it all week....so exciting.

Jordan Rapp is a SUPER STAR

I was in front of my computer screen a lot today seeing how one of my training mates was doing at Ironman Canada.  It was funny, Jordan just decided on Friday that he was going to do the race so he got a flight booked that morning and was on a plane for Penticton by 2PM that day.  I was all for him doing it as I think that he is an awesome athlete...very talented...some people disagreed with his decision BUT he ended up having a SOLID race and finishing 5th in his first Ironman.  I think that there is still lots that he could have improved upon in that race but considering he did not train for this race....AWESOME JORDAN!

Training this week has been going OK.  We are starting to get into the short prep style workouts as we are tapering.  WORLDS is in less than a week.  Half the team left today to Hamburg (the ones racing Saturday or earlier) and the mens elite team is leaving tomorrow.  Hopefully I get upgraded!  I still have not used any certificates this year...by help from lady luck and coach Joel giving up his seat one time for me.  Packing is almost done...if there is one thing in the world I hate, it is packing.

The last four nights I have been in the altitude tent...sleeping better than previous times in the tent thanks to AP letting me borrow his generator from AltitudeTech which is much quieter and easier to set up than the CAT's which I have been previously using.  Last time I was using the CAT's I was going way too high the first couple nights because it is near impossible to get it to stay where you need it while sleeping....you just set it to a number between 1-10 and hope that it is somewhere close to the altitude you need it to be.  AP's gernerator lets you set it to the exact altitude you need on the generator and it actually stays there all night long...no worries!  Tonight is my last night in the tent...I will be sleeping somewhere between 11,500 and 12,500ft.

This week we also saw one of our BAMF members temporarily leave us to go back to Ontario for a couple months.  Dano is going to be joining us back come January wherever we may be at that time.  I challenged Dano on his last workout to beat my big island non-wetsuit record.  I had the record from last year swimming it in 15:50.  Dano went 15:44 and earned himself a BAMF cap in his last workout....GOOD JOB DANO!  I still hold the wetsuit record for that loop from last year and the year is ending FAST!!!  Will anyone break it before year's end?

Speaking if BAMF caps...guess who just got one!?!?!?!  Thats right...I did!!!  I had a pretty solid run workout yesterday on Lochside doing some km repeats and some 400's.  By the end I had a BAMF cap in my hand...I was happy with that!

One last thing before I go to bed...I just added one more World Cup to the schedule three weeks after the Beijing World Cup.  I will be racing the Rhodes World Cup in Greece in the beginning of October.  Im excited to be going back to Europe for the third time this year...hopefully the fires there do not hop onto Rhodes Island.  I know that AP will be joining me on that trip to race the World Cup also.  Should be good.  I also took the Eilat World Cup off the schedule.  Going all the way to Isreal that late in the season does not make too much sense.  By that time I will be in my down time getting ready to start rocking the training come January.

Off to bed now to wake up early...get in a short swim and run...finish packing and then off to the airport and onto Hamburg!

Man this week has been tough...

Just finishing up the final prep stages for Worlds that are coming up in two weeks.  I have had an OK past couple weeks.  Training hard, getting dropped in some workouts but pushing it in others.  You also know that everyone is tired and a big race is coming up when there was almost a UFC fight in lake this week.  Lots of screaming, tempers high, adrenaline running lead too a solid second half of the swim.  Everyone was on like Donkey Kong.

This morning the group did 4x harder than hamish loops in the rain....well light rain...still got wet.  Everyone was running really well which means that I was running on my own at the back wishing that my legs could move faster to have someone to run with.  ICE in the ocean and then went out to Brunch with some of the boys.  Before I know it, it is time to get my swim stuff ready and head over to the lake for a afternoon session there....gotta get my stuff ready now.

Almost a month

So I was going to wait a month to update my blog...just thought that it sounded like a good number but I have been recieving death threats from my mom if I did not post something soon.  "IF I SEE REST DAY AND A SLUG ONE MORE TIME...." hahaha

So since the last post I have travelled to England, raced in the Salford World Cup, visited relatives in England, went back to Ontario for a bit to see my parents and I am now back in Victoria.  The plan was that the weekend after Salford I would be racing in our National Championships in Quebec.  I was going to drive there with my parents and they would be able to see me race live for the first time this year.  BUT I ended up with a sore shoulder the week before and had to make the decision to not go.  I was disappointed but not injuring my shoulder more before Worlds and the Beijing World Cup that are coming up in less than a month was my top priority.  But I am happy to say now that my shoulder is healing up nice and I am able to swim now...I was getting worried there a bit before hand not being able to swim for 8 days.

So far this week training has been going well.  I have got a solid workout in each sport this week so far.  This morning we have open water swimming which Dano is going to be picking me up soon for so this is it for now.

Rest days and a slug

The training group got smaller today as Simon and Kirsten left for Austria to race this weekend in the World Cup there.  Jones got back today and will be doing training/recovering here for a week before heading off to England with me to meet Joel and the other two for the Salford WC.  We have been pretty lucky this year as our BAMF training group has not been split up that often going to different races as it usually does at this time of the year.  After this stint of races we will all convene back in Victoria to train as a TEAM and get ready for the World Champs and Beijing WC.

These last couple days for me have been recovery (easy swim yesterday, easy swim this morning followed by a 2 hour trainer ride watching the tour because it was raining outside and I melt in the rain).  I also got a 2 hour massage today to help with the recovery.  I have been having some pains in my shoulder this past week so Kim worked good in that area and it feels much better already.  We will test it out tomorrow in the open water swim workout.  Although the start of this week is recovery based, Joel said that the end of the week is going to be SOLID.  We will see how solid SOLID actually is... ;)

I will leave you with a tale of a slug that I have been hunting in my suite for some time.  Well a while ago I noticed that there were these weird marks on my wall by the sliding door.  I thought that they were just water marks from a big rain storm last year that flooded my suite a bit and I had just not noticed it.  Then I noticed the same marks on the ceiling coming from the sliding door.  So I followed the trail along the wall, on the ceiling all the way into my living room, down the wall and behind the TV.  That is where I lost the trail and there was no sign of the slug anywhere.  Well yesterday when I was vacuuming (yes I do clean once a year) I noticed that there was a little trail on the carpet in-front of the DVD rack coming down the wall.  The trail went into a little crevice beside the TV stand and lo and behold there is a really hard shriveled up crusted onto the carpet slug.  Let me tell you that the journey it went on must have taken it at least a week...it went a pretty long distance for how slow they move.  It must of made its journey when I was away at a race.  Well I just got a knife and cut of from the carpet and chucked it outside.  Maybe during the rain today it plumped up back to life and continued its journey...

I am quitting triathlon for this....

blog blog blog

I could write a lot of what's been going on these last couple weeks but I will keep it short...my bed time is coming up quick.  Last time we talked I was sick.  Well I got better, had a wicked week of training, and so far this week has been just OK training.  And that is it.

I am confirmed for Salford to be my next World Cup.  I head over the Atlantic to a little island known as UK.  Lisa is coming with me also, I meet up with her in Toronto for the flight to Manchester but I will be in First Class enjoying the high life while she is in the back with the rift raft.  We are staying with some of my family while we are over there.  Should be a good time.

Other than training I have not been doing much.  I could clean my suite...but that takes away from recovery and watching HEROES.  I am half way through the first season...it is a good one!

OK, its bedtime...and oh yea, yesterday here in Victoria was the hottest day on record.  It got up to 36.3 degrees Celsius...HOT HOT HOT.  It felt like I was in an oven when outside.

"you PLAY, you PAY"

That was one of the favorite sayings the coaches at McMaster University used to say come morning swim time when half the team would come hung over from a night at the pub.  Well after the race last weekend in Edmonton a group of us went out for a bit and ended up at a karaoke bar singing with the Aussie team.  The next morning my throat was sore and scratchy...I just thought it was because of my awesome singing the night before.  Well it turned into a sore throat which has evolved into a head cold and today I am not feeling so hot.  I am not sure if it was because of my once a year going out stint but boy oh boy I feel like I am paying for it now.

We started back into some hard sessions today.  The swim this morning was a 6 rounds of 5x100 descend by effort and pace time.  I felt like a bag of smashed apples but was trucking through doing OK.  Others were doing much worse then me so after 4 rounds the coach made us throw on paddles and pull buoys and we did a 1000 straight to finish off the workout.  Got some breaky in me and hit the hay for 90min before I headed to Commonwealth for a treadmill run.  30min WU then the set was 8-6-4-2-1 descending pace.  I barely made it through the 8min'er, then on the 6min'er.......KABOOM.  Done..."wow you really do look like a bag of smashed apples" says coach.  "Just warm down and get outta here!".

I AM POOPED!  rest rest rest sleep sleep sleep drugs drugs drugs and some more drugs to make me feel all better and salvage this week with some wicked ass training this weekend. 

VIRTUAL OLYMPIC SPOT!

Heck yea I now own a third spot for Canada for the Olympics...although it does not mean squat right now I still think that it is cool!  I moved up in the Olympic Rankings after these last couple races to be ranked 52nd.  Only 8 countries can have three athletes represent their countries next year in Beijing...and I have now earned Canada that last spot to have three athletes.  We are fighting with a couple other countries to keep that 8th and final spot to send a full mens team.  This next year is going to be tough to keep it but the Canadian Men are doing good right now.  You can check out the Olympic Simulation here.

A quick recap of the last couple races:

Des Moines World Cup - Lisa made her way to meet me in Des Moines for the weekend to watch my race and be my support crew...it was great to have her there with me!  Other than that Des Moines sucked!  The city is dead on the weekend as everyone lives in the suburbs (Joel calls it Urban Rot).  It was hot, hot, hot!  I never really felt that good right from the start.  The swim I was able to hang in but my turnover was getting really slow on the second lap.  The bike was tough and the run was tougher...pretty brutal!  Not pretty.  But then again a third of the field dropped out so but I ended up finishing.  The run felt like a jog...hard to keep moving forward.  I felt like I was melting out there!

Edmonton World Cup - After Des Moines I flew the next day to Edmonton and stayed at Paul Tichelaars condo for the week.  He let me have the whole place to myself and he stayed at his girlfriends place a couple blocks away.  Over the next couple days my recovery seemed to be taking forever.  I was feeling really tired all the time and my workouts were sucking.  But by Friday I was able to have a good treadmill run which gave me hope for the weekend!  In this race I felt a lot more sharp then last.  The air and water were pretty chilly so it took me a while to get the feel for the water but I kept strong for both laps.  Hopped on the bike and made it to the front pretty quickly and a group of about 18 formed and worked pretty good for the remainder of the bike putting 2 minutes on the chase pack.  I ran the first loop of three with a group of runners that were much faster than me.  I just wanted to last one lap with them and see what happens from there.  I got dropped from them after that first lap and suffered on the second lap from the fast pace of the first.  By the third lap I had recovered a bit and was able to finish strong in 13th place.  I was happy with my performance on the day.

So far I have done 7 out of the first 8 World Cups this year.  I knew coming into this year that I would be doing quite a bit of racing to get as many points as I can.  Last year my best placing at a World Cup was 21st.  So far this year I have four top 20 results with one of them being in the top 10!  I am really pleased with how this year has panned out for me.  BUT there is still lots of work to do to get ready for the next block of races.  BRING IT ON COACH!

Quote

"Our lives are inspired by the dreams we have from the earliest stages of our youth. When we combine passion and hard work, then success is always possible. While no road is ever straight, dedication and persistence will always lead to your dreams."

Chillin in Des Moines

The temperature here is hot. The lake water is hot. Des Moines World Cup Triathlon is going to be hot! And my new HUMMER at the finish line looks even hotter!!! Especially with $200k in the back seat! hahahaha...i wish. So far this race has been first class. The committee has done a great job of getting everything ready and looking good.

Today we did a little bit of everything. I ran in the morning on the treadmills, rode the bike course in the heat of the day and finished it off with a swim in the lake. Later on we had the athletes meeting and then hopped on a bus that took us to the pasta dinner. We had to wait a little while for the food but when we were allowed to dive in it was very tasty! Especially the dessert. mmmmmmm.

Here are a couple pics from the last couple days:

This was on my bed when I got into the room...seems like I was the only one to get it...I guess they do not like anyone else and are treating me extra special because I told them that I was going to win this weekend and that I was a big deal back in Canada. They asked if I was better than Kirsten...I said she isn't even close!

Pounding the pavement...or belt I should say.

My new race suit that I will be wearing this weekend...wearing the BG colours hoping that they will like that and sponsor me for $100k...you listening big BG executives!?!?!?

Kyle getting caught trying to steal the HUMMER

I took this one for Dano...he would have been all over this!

1 Down...2 To Go

Last weekend I raced in the Vancouver World Cup. It was awesome to go to a race and not have to get on a plane and travel for a full day or two to get to the destination. All it took was a quick ferry ride over and we were there. It couldn't get any better than that! Before the race I was worried that this was not going to be a good race considering how the race course was laid out...wetsuit swim, no sharp corners on swim, 1 big swim loop...all these factors usually mean everyone exits the water together and the bike packs come together fast. Well needless to say, I could not have dreamed for a better outcome to the race.

I had an awesome start to the swim. It was a run in start...a couple quick strides, dive in and flail the arms around like you are posessed by the same demond as Kirsten and hope that you are faster than the others around you. Well Kirstens demond sure helped me and after a couple strokes I had clean water and was heading towards the first buoy in the lead. Andy Potts came around me after the first third and I hopped on his feet and it stayed that way for the remainder of the swim. I exited the water in second...ran to transition as fast as my chicken legs would take me and hopped on my bike in third. Potts and a young Russian got away immediately and by the first time up the big climb (8 laps), 5 of us had quickly formed a fast charging chase pack. There were two Americans and two other Canadians (Whitfield and Tichelaar) in the same pack as me and by the end of the second lap we caught the leaders and immediately started gel and work like a well oiled machine. We would get time updates at the top of the big climb each lap (25 seconds, 45 seconds, 1:15, 1:30....) and by the end of the last lap we had made about 2min on a duo and almost 4min on the main chase pack. Wow...wow...wow...wow. That is probably the biggest lead that a mens field has seen in a World Cup in who knows how many years but that is very rare. Lots of time means that no one will be catching you on the run (I hope not!!!!) and that the race was between the 7 of us. Well lets just say that my skinny legs do not move as fast as the other 12 legs in the pack when we get on land. I ran as hard as I could for most of the run....was able to stay with one other athlete for half the run with a couple others just ahead. By the last lap of three I slowed up a bit to not take everything out of me on the run (still have two more races in two weeks to do) and finished the race in an awesome seventh place! Man I was excited....my first top ten in a World Cup! Holla!!!!

That result moved me up around 15 places in the Olympic Rankins. I am now ranked 57th...still need to move up a lot more to secure Canada a 3 man team to Beijing. Right now we are fighting with Spain for the last spot to be able to send 3 men to the games. There is still a whole year left of races so lots can happen between now and then.

After the race we jumped on the late ferry back to Victoria and I was able to sleep in my own bed after a good effort. It was wicked not to have to pack up and hop on a plane all sore and tired. Love it! A couple old friends showed up to the race to cheer me on. Gord and his brother that I met while at school at LU (on the swim team) were at the top of the hill cheering me on each lap...it was wicked to see them both again...thanks for coming guys! Also one of the support staff was a friend of mine that I knew from doing triathlons in Ontario back in the day....Jenn Turner. We used to be coached by the same guy when I first started the sport.

Well now I am all packed up and ready to go. We fly out of Victoria at 5:40am and start our trip to Des Moines, Iowa. I am meetin my girlfriend Lisa in Des Moines...she is flying out to be on my support team! A VALUABLE member of the team! This is one of our Olympic Selection races and there is $700,000USD on the line (the biggest prize purse in ITU history). The winners each get $200,000 and a H3 (Hummer). Lots on the line! There will be live audio and video coverage of this race on Sunday. My race starts at 4:30 local time (2:30PM Pacific, 5:30PM Eastern, 10:30PM BST for all of you in England following me) so check out www.triathlon.org for all the coverage.

Off to bed now...it is going to be an early morning!

P.S. Here are some pics from the race last weekend in Vancouver:

He didn't want his crown jewels falling out...

Not the bike race I thought I would see....

So I was just in the hotel room watching some Prison Break (great show by the way) on my laptop when we hear some shouting outside...I thought maybe there is a fight breaking out or something so we run to the balcony and what do we see....a bunch of naked people riding bikes down the middle of the street! Sooooo Funny! We saw on the news later on tonight that it was International ride your bike naked day or something like that...there is a couple more rides happening around the world today just like the one here in Vancouver in protest about the amount of cars on the road and commercialization. My mom asked if I jumped in and joined! hahah...not quite. When I got downstairs naked they were way down the road. Just missed them. The worst part was walking back through the lobby naked after charging out the door. Some people were looking and me strange, others looked away and covered their eyes, and some of the men were smiling at me....we are in the gay district in Vancouver by the way. hahahah...that would be funny if that actually happened but it didn't. Got you going there I bet!

Vancouver is awesome. I love big cities and racing through them is even better. APBSmith and I are sharing a hotel...we have been making our meals in the room....we have a full kitchenette which has been great to cook our own food. There may be some others that are not enjoying Vancouver as much. Some Kiwis were having coffee inside a shop with all their bikes stacked up outside the window....well a guy in a hooded sweatshirt came up and took one of the bikes right in front of them and took off. Well they all went for the chase but could not catch him...bike stolen right before the race....OUCH! Hopefully he gets a replacement right before the race. Too bad that happened here because this is a great city.

We went swimming at the race course this morning....wow, wow, oh wow it is cold. Swimming in English Bay in 13 degree temperature and rain is not my favorite thing in the world to do. Too bad the weather has not been cooperating. ITU puts on World Cups all around the world in exotic hot places....I guess they had to throw in a cold race to put the canucks in an environment that we are used to! They are calling for rain...no wait...clouds....no sun...or is it rain now? Who knows...the weather changed every 10 min here so who knows what it is going to be. It is going to be a little chilly though...thats for sure.

Well it is time to go watch some more Prison Break and put my feet up....maybe go get a little dessert before bed...mmmmmmmm!!!! I need the insulation for tomorrows race! That can be my excuse.

Ill leave you with a little cartoon that I found. I found it really funny...it happens to me too often!

Week in Review

A good solid week of training has been put in the bank in the last week. Coming off a nice break after the last two World Cup races I was ready to get back into the swing of things head on.

Monday - open water swim workout at Thetis Lake. Two times around the big island...just swim. We found out that a couple of trees have been knocked down into the water and are now in our way....adds a bit of a challenge trying to get over, under, or around them when we are doing the hard efforts. Later on in the day was a ride with efforts in zone 5, zone 4, then 30sec pick ups...times three. Nice hard ride except for the fact that my seat collar broke and I was having to get off my bike every 10-15min to re-raise the seat because the replacement that I put on was not the right size (holiday today...no bike shops open).

Tuesday - wicked hard swim...2x100 start speed, 8x100 MRP....then do it all over again. Arms were not in it all the way but still able to push out some ok times. Then after getting a seat collar that took ages (no one has a 31.6 in the city!) I was off to do some motor pacing around the W Dog. Joel and I did 2.5 loops motor pacing then I did .5 lap TT on my own. 5min recovery...the 1 loop TT on my own. Able to push out a 11:52...im sure that I will revisit that later on in the year. A 30min run off the bike with some tempo effort on the treadmill to end the day.

Wednesday - Speed swim workout in the morning. Some 200's to start then a bunch of 50's to end. Nothing special this workout...check done. Then it was time for the treamill workout of the year (well so far). 12x3min with 90sec rest. #1 @6%@10mph #2 @ 4%@11mph #3 @2%@12mph...repeat 4 times. the first two efforts speeds were supposed to be faster...lets just say that they were a tad ambitious! I was just glad to be able to get in all 12 efforts. An easy 60min spin on the rollers and a 90min massage to end the day.

Thursday - Easy swim with drills in the am. Then at noon I went out the door for a 3 hour base ride with a 30min run off the bike. Legs were feeling the treadmill workout from yesterday.

Friday - easy 40min run at elk lake to wake up. Then it was off the Thetis to do some more open water swimming. This time we did 1 loop big island WU. Then 1 big island loop at effort. Rest. Then 1 small island loop at effort. The arms were a burning going head to head with dano and simon...yea I took them! Round 1 in open water goes to me! Many more battles will be fought here this year. Then a easy 60min spin on the rollers to end the day.

Saturday - Lets call it UVIC day. I rode to the university as a WU for the workout which was 3 rounds of 3 loops pack riding right into 2 loops TT. Everyone was riding strong...fun to mix it up a little and get rolling with the boys (and little kirsten who was beating some of the boys). Bike done, shoes on. Right into a run workout at the track. 4x1000 on 6min going just below 3min's. Then a 3.5km build effort around campus. Im spent. Ride home, eat quickly, go to ocean to ice legs. Take a little nap...head over to Commonwealth for a 30min easy tradmill run and back to the ocean to ice legs again. Legs felt good after the flush and ice.

Sunday - then today we all meet at Elk lake to do our long run. 2 loops of elk building with some strides at the end. Surprised that my legs did not feel that bad (must of been the ocean soak). Got home and hopped on the bike right away at watched an episode of the shield for a 60min spin. Layed on the couch all afternoon and headed over to Crystal pool for the last workout of the week. 5500m swim done and done....in the bank.

Almost 26hours of training in this week. Week one done...week two here we come.

Home was a nice break

Just got back to Victoria after taking some down time after the last couple of races in Hamilton at my parents place. Little training was done to recover and get ready for the next block of training and racing. I did my swims at McMaster University, and the rides and runs I did in the country side just outside my parents door. It was good to be back home and go on some of the old routes that I used to ride.

I went to McMaster on Saturday about noon to swim. I get there and there is a sign in the change room that the swim is canceled. I ask someone why the swim was canceled and they say "DON'T YOU KNOW!?!?!?!?! THE JASPER BLAKE IS IN TOWN AND HE ONLY DOES HIS SWIMS IN PRIVATE SO WE HAD TO GIVE HIM THE WHOLE POOL TO USE." Wow, Jasper...has the IM Canada win gotten to your head!?!?! Actually Jasper was putting on a triathlon clinic in Hamilton and I think that they were using the pool at that time. So because of Jasper I had to miss one of my swims. I think he owes me the 5000m that I was slated to do.

Today was the first open was session of the season. We slipped on our wetsuits (mine still damp from Lisbon...impossible to put on a damp wetsuit!) and did two loops of the big island (about 1300-1400m each) at Thetis lake. Going around the island we ran into a couple trees that decided to fall into the lake over the winter. Joel is going to have to bring his axe next session and start chopping some wood if he wants the record to be lowered!

There is going to be some really hard training going on in the next two weeks leading into Vancouver WC. Got to get my recovery in so it is time to hit the hay.

Two races later

Lisbon - DONE
Richards Bay - DONE
What came out of them???? A lot of hard effort without much result. The packs came together in both races which does not suit me well. Too many fast runners...I need to be in a small group off the front killing it to get some time on the runners. In Lisbon the Canadians were at the front of the bike pushing the pace for the first half...nothing much came out of that...just hard efforts and the same people sucking wheel behind. In Rich Bay I broke away on the second lap...a weaker cyclist came with me...that did not last long. The pack caught us a lap and a half later and counter attacked us...DAMN, I was in the wrong break.

It is hard to take travelling so far to these place only to have the results that do not show what you are capable of. It is always a risk travelling to all these places spending thousands of dollars to get there and trying to make happen what you need to do well. I have to put in a lot of hard efforts in the swim and bike to try to have that gap on the runners coming off the bike...I cannot rely on my running and just sit in the bike packs...it is frustrating at times but I know it is always a gamble and every race is different and poses the possibility to have that perfect race I need.

Well the first half of the Olympic Qualifying is over...one year to go. Seven races done and nine more to go to count towards your points. Big improvements still need to come for me to get a consideration for the team...what does a year from now pose??? Only time will tell. But in that year there is going to be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that make this Olympic Journey worth every moment.

Its been a while...

since my last post when I was on my way back to Ontario for a visit. Lets see what I can remember what happened since then. I did some basic training at home...the weather sucked...seems like the cold, rainy weather from Victoria followed me so there was some trainer and treamill workouts to enjoy. From Toronto I hopped on a plane to Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday to race in the third World Cup of the year. The race is on today...later on this afternoon. I am staying with Brent, Simon, and Kyle at a homestay of a local triathlete. They live in a really nice home and then mom is a saint. She has been cooking some meals for us and makes us feel at home...all without saying a word of english. We sometimes try to communicate...we think "maybe if we speak slower she will magically understand what we are saying"...nope...same old gibberish coming out of the mouth.

Joel and our local guide Paulo who has been driving us around everywhere went to the womens race this morning and left us on our own with getting down to the race site. Well they forgot to give us directions on how to get there...we went downt he past two days but driving here is a whole different ball game than back home...plua we live about 30min away. So there was three of us last night trying to get directions and find out where we live on Google Earth, Google maps, Map Quest, and Yahoo Maps. Well about an hour later we locate where we live on a map and agree on a plan of attack on getting to the race site...90% chance getting lost, thats my prediction. I think we should leave a bit early.

Here are some pics from the past couple days in Lisbon:

On the way into town.

Waiting for something to do.

I win in the sprint finish!

View from our room.

Kyle being Kyle.

Is this balsamic vinigar? Nope..wine vinigar!

Simon in hos usual place in front of a computer.

Local Pool where we have been swimming.

The Group with some locals.

Red eye flights make your eyes red

Right now I sit in the Air Canada Lounge at the Vancouver Airport waiting for my red eye flight to Toronto. Like coach Joel always says "Milk that lounge for everything its got!" And that's what I plan on doing! Not much to milk though since I am not a drinker. Oh and if I was...it would be game over!

Since getting back from my last race the training this week has been so so. Nothing great...mostly below par but the efforts are still there. Banking the miles, swimming the laps, doing the work. You do not want to hear the specifics or times...then you will be telling yourself "My 90 year old grandmother can go fast than him...and she's got only one leg, arthritis, and watches Y&R 24/7!" I'll spare myself the humility of all the comments and keep quiet.

The CCES (Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport) were on us this week. They are the ones that do the drug testing...they just show up unannounced to anyone of your training sessions or home and take a urine sample from you. On Friday morning they showed up at the end of the swim workout and tested Jill and myself. Jill having a magic bladder pipes up just after jumping out of the water "I can go now"...then there is me thinking a lot of words that are not appropriate for this blog towards her. I say to her "thanks for leaving me all by myself while I drink water like an alcoholic would drink booze if prize money was involved". Jill was done everything including paper work within 8 minutes of getting out of the water. Well done Jill! It took me a little longer...75 minutes and 5 bottles of water later...SUCCESS! I hate that process.

Nothing else exciting has happened over the last week...just living the life of a poor triathlete.

Back to rain rain rain

Made it back home to Victoria in one piece. Can't complain too much about the flights...all of us got bumped up to first class from Tokyo to Vancouver...we rock! It was a bit of a ordeal but well worth the 75min begging the lady to give us seats up there.

I was able to sleep well last night. At swimming this morning everyone looked like zombies, only half awake. They were all up at various points of the night wide awake...lucky me was able to sleep easily all the way through without waking up. I could have kept sleeping much longer but the alarm shouted "get up you lazy wanker! Time to swim!". I made up for it with a 2 hour slumber this afternoon...i love naps! I also put together my bike, went for a 90min spin, easy 30min jog and had a nice Epsom Salt bath...all to aid in recovery for this weeks upcoming training.

The new rankings are up and I have moved up 8 places to 68th in the Olympic Rankings...lets keep jumping higher because I still have a long way to go! You can check out the highlights from the Ishigaki World Cup race here.

Time for a good dinner, House and more sleep!

And a shout out goes to LISA

I own 19th Place

Another restless night trying to sleep after a race...can never really sleep well...just toss and turn all night. It just after 5am here, breakfast starts at 6:30am so thats what I have to look forward to! A shuttle is coming to pick me up at 7:50am and I am flying out of here at 8:55am. Should be back in Victoria before I know it!

So another hard race in the bag...equalled my performance from three weeks ago in Australia finishing in the top 20 again. That means that I get a couple World Cup points...something that I was not able to do at all before this year...the improvements are coming...little by little.

Coming into the race I was given the number 12 because of the race in Mooloolaba. High number means good start position! Usually I have a number way higher than that...it was a change to be able to pick a position before 65 other guys. BANG. Wicked start, head down, pounding out some strokes. I look around me and I have a body length on the rest of the field after 50 meters...badass start speed. I led the field for 700 out of the 750meters first lap. First one after the first swim lap gets the swim prime of $500US...so Marco Albert from Estonia comes flying by me in the last 50meters to steal my money...next time it is mine! The second lap I just stayed in the front pack getting tossed around with the swim current...came out of the water in 4th.

Out of the water ahead of me were the three that broke away and had a awesome bike. I got swallowed up by the pack that I stayed with the rest of the bike. This pack included Whitfield, Tichelaar, and McMahon all from Canada. Good to have some teammates up there with you. The pack worked OK not giving too much time to the three ahead of us, and we were distancing ourselves from the massive pack of guys behind up. It was crazy windy in some sections of the course...and with my 808's (deep rim wheels) I was getting blown all over the road...I had to really concentrate on stearing the bike...a little scary at times. I was glad to be getting off that bike after 40km.

I had about a 90 second cushion on the 40 or so guys in the bike pack behind us after the bike starting the run. I knew that if I was going to get another top 20 that I could not let them catch me. I never really felt good on the run, I had to really dig deep to keep the pace high and stay with the 2-3 other guys that I was running with. The run was 3 laps of up and over a big bridge, turn around at the bottom, come back over and down, then two out and back flat sections and repeat. The hill (bridge) was not my friend. I tried to warm up to her, run softly on her, seduce her...but she was a cold hard bitch of pavement that gave no mercy. I ended up running ok, finishing in 19th again after giving everything on that run, going through a world of hurt for 35min. Crossing the line I was so close to puking...I didn't want to move so I was taken away by the medical team, and put on a table. I played it up a bit that I was out of it so they would give me a IV cocktail. Sweet! Only got about half a litre in me and then they wanted to bring me to the hospital...UP I GOT saying NO and that I was fine.

All in all it is a good start to the 2007 season. Our squad I going to be working hard to keep the momentum going for the rest of the year. Next up on the bill is another World Cup race in Lisbon, Portugal in three weeks and then the weekend after that in Richards Bay, South Africa for the 4th World Cup of the year. On the way to Lisbon I stop off in Ontario for a couple days to see the family and on the way back from South Africa I have another 5 days with them...I am excited to spend some time back home in the Hammer.

Thanks for everyones support and encouragement!

Race day in Ishigaki

Woke up this morning to some dark clouds and a little rain. Apparently it was raining quite hard last night...too bad the rain had to come today...we have had great weather up to today.

Just went for a little jog with Kyle and Simon when we woke up...had a cold shower and now it is time to go get some breakfast in me. We have a long wait today till our race. We start at 3:45 local time. Ill just be watching some episodes of Lost to past the time.

It is going to be a tough one with the humidity, heat, and wind...its going to play a big part in the race. You can catch the action on www.triathlon.org starting soon. I think they have quite a few cameras on the course that they are going to be streaming live to that website.

See you after the race.

Recover Recovery

Well getting in a shuttle, on a plane, overnighting it on hard concrete, getting on another 18 hour flight and a puddle jumper to Victoria may not have been the best thing to do for recovery right after the race last weekend. Now I have been spending all week playing catch up for that great idea.

Getting off the plane in Hawaii and trying to walk a little I knew then that it was going to be game over this week. Both calves were like rocks. So what have I been doing this week to recover? I've been playing in the barely above zero Pacific Ocean, water running at the Commonwealth Pool, sitting in a tub of ice, rolling on a foam roller, roller pinning my legs like they were dough, and putting endless amounts of any ointment that will sooth the pain and loosen them up a bit. Now that it has been a week since my race they are starting to loosen up so they should be OK for next weeks training block. This upcoming week I will be doing all the same as last week and add in some massages and ART sessions to help get me ready for the next World Cup in Ishigaki and for another trip across the Pacific.

I have also been having to take care of a wicked blister that formed on the bottom of my foot during the race...usually I cannot feel the blisters during the race but I could feel the skin start to loosen up when I was pounding the pavement in Mooloolaba...so I knew that it was going to be a good one when I took off my shoes after the race. I was going to try to let it be for as long as I could before popping it but the hard run session on Friday did the trick for me.

With the water running that I have been doing, I have been able to get in some good workouts outside and on the treadmills. On Wednesday I did a easy 60min run with AP. Friday had us doing some good speed work down at Beacon Hill (6x90sec, 6x60sec, 6x30sec, 6x15sec...all with equal rest). Today I did a 1hour 40min run on the treadmills at Commonwealth. I have been happy with being able to get in these main runs this week...I was worried that I would not be able to last Monday.

Other then that I have been getting in some good swim and bikes in. The weather in Victoria has been holding up since we got back...no rain but threatening all the time. I still have bags and suitcases all over my apartment floor...still not finished unpacking...don't see the point now...may as well leave it all in there since I'm off in another week.

Time to hit the tub again for a nice Epsom Salts bath and then an early bed.

A Race, A Flight, and Back in Vic

It has taken a while to get back to this blog and get writing again. Adjusting to the new time zone and training makes me tired and not wanting to spend too much time in front of a small screen typing away.

Mooloolaba was awesome. Its a small town right on the beach with great shops and cafes along the water. The race went pretty well there. The men’s race started at 1:30 to hot hot hot temperatures. The start was a beach run in with some good surf in the ocean. I had a lackluster start which saw me side-by-side with 5 guys all going nowhere fast drowning each other in our wakes. The front swimmers were pulling away to the right and the first turn was coming up so I put a surge in to get ahead of the men beside me and get a good position into the turn. I basically held onto the spot that I had coming out of that turn and tried to follow the feet in front of me to not get lost. I finished the swim in about 10th place, less than 10 seconds back from Walton and Potts who lead the swim. I had a good run up the beach and into transition, got on my bike quickly and put my head down for the first 1-2km to get onto the back of the main pack. Feet in shoes, a quick drink, and I was ready to rock. All the main contenders for the race were in this pack of 13, minus Brad Kadefelt who was in the chase pack. Our pack worked well together up and down the 16 climbs and had made 1 minute over the chase pack with 1 lap (5km) to go. Well those suckers decided to give Brad a chance at the win (how nice of them) and sat up to wait for the chase pack to merge with our pack as we rolled into transition. Run shoes on, helmet off, and I was on my way into the 10km run. I tried to take the run out conservatively knowing that 8 big hills and 30 degree heat will take its toll by the last lap. I kept my head down the whole run not knowing what place I was in. I faded a bit in the last half of the run and finished in 19th place. Maybe I should have been counting what place I was in during the turn around’s but I was just thinking "make it to the finish line strong...don’t bonk".

I was happy with my finish and how the race went. Of course the race could have been better...we could have kept that 1 minute lead over the chase pack...but having my first top 20 performance at a World Cup is pretty cool.

Now I am back in Victoria after leaving on a shuttle for the airport 2 hours after I finished the race, flying that night, sleeping on the floor in Sydney airport, flying 18 hours to Vancouver, having 30min to collect my bags, clear customs, check my bags again, clear security, and run a mile to my gate made the trip that much more enjoyable. NOTE TO SELF: NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!

Training has been going well since I have gotten back...I have been having some troubles with my calves being tight, but I am swimming good and riding ok. Just over 10 days until I am crossing that damned Pacific Ocean again for my next World Cup in Ishigaki, Japan. Hopefully I can keep this momentum going and improve on my 19th place finish