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

Race Day

Race day today. It is clear skies and sunny….going to be a hot one for sure. I just got back from a short little run and had breakfast. The Womens race starts at 11AM, the Mens at 1:30PM. Live coverage is going to be on triathlon.org…don’t know what time it is all going to start at back home.

Yesterday I did my swim in the ocean…wow….big surf. Going to be a rally choppy swim and hard to get out there. They changed the swim from 2 laps to 1 big one. Should be a lot smoother that way…less fighting. I went for a short ride and run afterwards to make sure everything was ok. The rest of the day was spent in front of the TV and eating.

I have a flight to Sydney tonight…I get picked up 2 hours after I finish the race…so I basically have to get right back to the hotel, shower up, and pack quickly to make it. Not the most ideal situation but I do get home early. I have to overnight it in Sydney and my flight to Vancouver is early in the morning.

Well time to start getting ready for the race…oh yea…by the way I love tim tams...mmmmmmmm!

A Race Meeting and Some Pics

This morning I woke up to a torrential downpour…hopefully we do not see anymore of that around here.

Yesterday went well. We woke up, went to the internet café, had breakfast and then went for a swim at the outdoor pool in Cotton Wood. We did a little bit of race pace stuff…felt pretty good. Afterwards we went for a ride on the bike course with some pickups and then an easy run after. I went to the ocean in the afternoon to practice some race starts and exits out of the surf. The waves were pretty big so it is going to be interesting trying to get out of the surf fast during the race.

Late afternoon we had the race meeting at Underwater World. That was pretty cool….we got to check the place out before the meeting started. Lots of neat things there. After the meeting there was a 5km road race on the race course. It was 3 laps and there were some really fast running going on. The winner went 14:22 in a course with eight 180 degree turns and having to dodge loads of people on the 2nd and 3rd laps….fast!

For dinner, Kyle and I cooked up some chicken on the BBQ with some salad, potatoes, and pasta. Good eats. After cleaning up it was lights out.

There is not much going on here to report on. A lot of sitting around watching TV. My bike is in working condition and I am starting to feel rested.

I am off to the Internet Café now to fire off this blog.

Till next time….and these are some pics I took yesterday.

Cotton Wood Swim Pool

Beach where we start our race

Our Hotel

Paul getting eaten at Underwater World

Walk Through Fish Tank

We got to see a couple REAL SHARKS in the tanks!

The rest of the Canadian Boys

Some Fish in the Massive tank with the Sharks

Hanging out

Paul said thats what Fred Flinstone would use for a saw

Pile up

I didn't know Claire was in Australia! Hi Claire!

Another Pic of Claire

This Turtle has a freaky long neck

Some Otters....they like to play follow the leader

The Start of the 5km race

Lounging around and some good eats

Wow, I am popular...I looked at the last post and already 6 comments on the first one...I am a super star! G&G, I borrowed a wheel from a friend in Victoria....it worked out well.

When you are at a race you usually become really good friends with the television in your hotel room. The TV here is not that great but it passes the time. When we were not in our hotel room the workouts for the day were a 40min run with some efforts, an easy ride and a good swim. We did the run on part of the run course which is going to basically be running up a hill and down the other side and turn around and back up and down. It is on the same part as the bike course….going up and down that hill 16 times (8 laps) and 8 times on the run (4 laps) is going to take its toll.

We did the swim in a 50meter 8 lane outdoor pool….I think that it was called cotton wood swimming pool. It was a really nice pool. They also had a 25meter pool under a canopy to keep shaded.

When putting together my bike yesterday I found out the my big chain ring got bent in transit…had to go find a bike store that could sell me a new one. We found a great store that gave me one for a cheep price since they could not find the real price anywhere…glad I went there! So my bike will be good to go for today’s workout.

Today we have got a workout to do in the pool, then practice some starts and run outs from the ocean. We also have a ride with some pick ups and a easy run. I think the weather is getting a little worse this weekend as they are calling for rain…hopefully it holds off.

Last night Kyle and I went out for dinner at a restaurant across the road from our hotel. The meal was amazing….it was the Aussie BBQ Mongolian night. Basically you filled up your plate with as much stir fry stuff as you can and then they fry it up for you. It was really good and filling. Well worth it.

This weekend in addition to he world cup is going to be a weekend of races. Tonight there is a 5km road race. Tomorrow is going to be a open water swim race and a bike crit. We will go check out the run tonight…should be good.

Nothing else to say…we have a race meeting this afternoon at Underwater World….we will maybe go check that place out before or after the meeting….maybe we get a complementary access.

Bye for now!

PS - Sorry for no pics...I promise tomorrow!

The reincarnation of the BLOG

I haven’t done this for a while but what people want, people get.

I just finished a two and a half month training camp in Flagstaff, AZ, which is at 7000ft. The purpose of the camp was to train at altitude and get us ready for the upcoming race season. Although it was freezing there, we got some great training in.

Just before I left Flagstaff to come back to Victoria I received a new frame and race wheels. They are wicked nice. But in the flight home on Friday from Arizona to Victoria I opened up my bike bag to find that my rear Zipp 808 was trashed…got all dented and cracked. Got to be more careful next time.

I was in Victoria for 2 days and then I was off to Australia leaving Monday. I made it to Australia with no problems. I did miss my flight in Sydney but I was able to get on the next flight out 30min later and made my shuttle when we arrived in Brisbane to take me to Mooloolaba. I met up with Kyle at the Brisbane airport and the shuttle took us to our hotel about 60min away.

So far Mooloolaba has been awesome. Our hotel is nice, there is a grocery store 2 min away, the race site is right down the road and the ocean is very warm. Kyle and I went for a 30min swim in the ocean yesterday, got some groceries, went for a 30min run and just hung out. There is a lot of surfing in Mooloolaba. Running along the ocean yesterday and there was loads of surfers in the water. Another cool thing that we saw on our run was wild parrots…beautiful colours, just hanging out in the trees. When we went to get groceries we both noticed that most people do not wear shoes here….or shirts for that matter. If they are wearing anything on their feet, then they are all wearing thongs (as in sandals).

There is no internet at the hotel but there is an internet café where I am right now just on the waterfront. There are tons of little cafes and restaurants along the water…all outdoor seating. Tonight we will be going out for dinner to one of them. Last night we just bought a chicken and buns and had that for dinner.

Ill take some pictures and post them up later on. Bye for now.