Engaged at the Olympics

After watching the BMX finals yesterday Lisa was able to get a day pass into the Olympic Village to check it out. On the way to the village we made a quick stop to the Summer Palace to see what that was about ... it is a massive place with a big lake in the middle. We wanted to get to the Village so we did not spend too much time there.

Getting Lisa throuh security and accredited for the day went smoothly and we were in the Village and into the Caffeteria for lunch before we knew it.

After a good meal I showed Lisa around and we went for a walk and found a quiet shadded place to sit down and rest. I told Lisa that I went to the market to try to find her something that showed her how much I loved her. I said that I think I found something that she would like and that I got a good deal on it. She then hopped up all happy and said "lets go see it ... I want it now." I told her it was in my pocket and I pulled it out and opened a small box and she immediately jumped on me all in shock without me actually saying anything. After I got her to calm down and sit back down I went down on one knee and asked if she would marry me ... she said yes and jumped back on me again.

Lisa has made me the happiest guy at the Games ... no gold, silver, or bronze could be better than this! I am so excited to be spending the rest of my life with Lisa.

on my way to move into the olympic village

I am typing this blog on my new smartphone that the COC gave us while we are at the olympics. it has been great to be able to contact family and friends back home with it.

so right now I am on in a van on the way to the olympic village where I will be staying for the rest of the time that I am here. I am really excited to immerse myself in everything olympic for the rest of the time.

the race yesterday was incredible ... was actually the whole day was. the race went as planned and we succeeded in what we set out to do. it was a great feeling knowing that the team of Simon and I went out with a mission and stuck to our guns and came out on top.

after the race I went to all the media stuff with simon and got to see what happens immediately after you win a medal. we went to the canada house and had a reception there with dinner. afterwards we headed to the IBC (International Broadcasting Centre). Wow. that place is amazing. I got a tour of the CBC offices set up there and where they do all the editing and broadcasting from. I did and interview with the Inside Track (the only podcast that I suscribe to) which was neat! and then we were off to where CBC does their live shows. the view from the studio was amazing. the backdrop that you see on tv is for real. at night all the olympic green area is lit up and it looks stunning. the water cube and the birds nest looked fantastic all lit up. I did a live interview with the french CBC with simon and then got to sign the canada flag that they have set up there that all the athlete that come through sign.

so far my whole olympic experience has been incredible. I want to thank everyone who has sent their congrats and kind words over the past 24 hours. it really means a lot to me to hear the amount of support that we have back in Canada!

well we are just pulling up to the olympic village now! First stop - the food court.

The Games Have Started

My Olympic bike was finished being built yesterday.  It looks awesome.  Gabor (our team mechanic) stayed in the shop late in order to get it finished.  It is already packed up and on its way to Beijing.  Our bikes are flying over today to make sure that they arrive before we do.  If they get lost then we will pack our backups and take those with us.

If you want to see pictures of it you will have to wait because Slowtwich is doing an article on it.  It should be up very soon and I will put a link up to it.

The little send off for the triathletes at Fort Street turned out not to be so little afterwards.  The bike shop was packed with the local triathlon community coming out to wish us good luck.  It was a really fun night with some good snacks and some good drinks.  There was a Q & A session and afterwards we signed some t-shirts that Fort Street was selling (the one above that I designed!) with the proceeds going to charity.

There was actually no watching of the Opening Ceremonies at Fort Street.  It was just too packed.  I was able to catch a little bit of it on my computer before I went swimming and was able to see Canada march out.  I caught the highlights of it later on that day and they looked spectacular.  It would have been neat to be there but there are more important things to take care of here!

We do not have a TV here in our apartment so we are only able to watch the sports live on www.cbcsports.ca/olympics.  They have some good coverage on there of all the sports but it is without commentary.  I would still rather watch it on CBC in HD on a big screen!  Like Coach Joel does.  He is lucky.

I wrote another blog for Slowtwitch.com the other day.  You can check it out here.

Training is going good.  I was/am getting a little sick.  I think that I am on the mend today but I cannot be sure.  Training has decreased which means that we are in taper mode.  I should get better really soon with lots of rest.

The weather here could be better though.  It has been cold and raining lots, just like fall weather.  I do not think that summer has started here in Victoria, or that it will ever get going.  This has been the worst summer since I moved here.  WHERE IS THE SUNSHINE!?

Here are a couple pics from the Fort Street gig.

Everything going good

Short recap on how things are going since NYC ... point form for maximum efficiency:

• NYC race was tough, may have gone into the race a little tired from training that week.
• since Des Moines I have changed my diet slightly. Really starting to show now. Feeling awesome in training and have lost some weight.
• starting to piece together my Olympic bike with parts arriving daily for it in the mail. Need to get that together by Sunday as that's when it is going to be put on a plane to Beijing.
• we are doing a piece on slowtwitch about the bike ... stay tuned for that.
• we are leaving for Beijing on the 13th (one week today)
• I am starting to get really excited about the Olympics now ... media is picking up on it more and more now.
• was interviewed on CBC Newsworld today ... anyone see it?
• knee is getting better all the time from hitting the car. I am able to run now but still keeping it minimal to maximize swim and bike energy
• coming into the best shape that I have ever been in. Breaking training records here and there ... good to see right before I leave.
• I have done a couple more blogs for CBC since I last wrote on here. You can check them out here and here.  I will be writing another one in the next couple of days.
• on Friday our local bike shop (Fort Street Cycles) is having a little Opening Ceremonies party for us.  We are going to get some Chinese food and watch the show on TV with family, friends, and supporters.
• Simon just got me a cool ice vest for Beijing from Nike.  I posted a pic of it below ... looks like an armor vest ... I am going to war after all!
• I have been away from my girlfriend for way too long!  I cannot wait to see her in Beijing!  Along with my mom, dad, my sisters Andrea and Claire, Lexi - a friend from university, and my aunt and uncle from England ... yes I have a big support crew going!
• I got a lotto 6/49 ticket tonight ... I did not win :(

I think that is all.

Racing in America

My America trip is coming to an end soon ... but not before the most exciting part ... we are off to NYC today for the weekend! I have never been to NYC so I am pretty excited about going there. We are staying right beside Central Park so the location should be awesome. We are only going into NYC today because the hotels there are a fortune, we can only afford a couple nights there considering that each room is going to be over $1200! OUCH!

For the time between the Mineaplois race and going to NYC we have been staying in a small city called Plymouth. It reminds me of being back home in Ontario with its hot and humid weather and the endless country roads. Plymouth was also just named the #1 City in America to live in for 2008. Quite the accomplishment!

Everyday we have been training out of the Life Time Fitness gyms that roam Minnesota.  These gyms are unreal!  They are massive and have everything you would want in a gym.  Hopefully Life Time will expand into Canada sometime soon.

We also got to meet a cycling legend a couple days ago.  After a ride that we did with the local triathlon club we were invited to a BBQ that Greg LeMond was at.  He has won the Tour de France three times in the past.  If you do not know much about him you should read up on him.  He is a pretty incredible guy and has accomplished a lot!  He was also shot with a shotgun in a hunting accident, lost 75% of his blood and survived to come back and win the Tour de France another two times.  WOW!

Time to finish up packing!

Another day survived

Yes, we endured and persevered through another day in the heat chamber. Today I came into the session "severely dehydrated" as I was told by Wendy after she analyzed my urine. I have been getting a little worse each day ... I just have to stay on top of it tomorrow and keep a bottle of water with me to get myself topped back up.

The session in the trailer was not too bad today. I felt better than yesterday and was able to keep my heart rate nice and controlled for the 90 minutes. Today we watched the movie "Jumper" which was entertaining. We try to watch a movie with a lot of action to keep our minds off the fact that we are in extreme temperatures. The other movies that we have watched in the other three heat workouts have been Terminator 2, The Incredibles, and Gone in 60 Seconds. Anyone have a suggestion for the last two sessions?

This morning I tried to go out for a run. I woke up with no discomfort in my knee but I was not able to get far without it starting to bother me again. So no running again for me. Just more Motrin and ice for me.

After the failed run attempt I headed down to Bastion Square for the Vancouver Island Olympic athletes sendoff. There was a little ceremony with a couple dragons for the 30 or so athletes that showed up to the event. It turns out that about 20% of the Canadian athletes heading to Beijing this summer train on Vancouver Island. We signed autographs for the kids that were there and the not so little kids (adults) that were interested. Pacific Sport even had made some Vancouver Island athlete training cards that the kids had for us to sign. Very cool!

After all that excitement we headed over to Thetis lake for an open water swim. This weeks training has been far from ideal for me with missing all my running and a fair bit of riding at the beginning of the week. I wanted to salvage this weeks training by having a good swim. During the big island warm-up loop I decided that it is about time that the big island loop record be broken and that today shall be the day. With the previous record of 14:50ish in my mind I went for it from the start. I was fading a little near the end but was able to come through in 14:34 for the new record. At least something this week went well.

Half way done heat training

3 days down, 3 to go.

Heat training has been going good.  The first day was really tough, yesterday felt like a piece of cake but today I felt like death again.  It does not help that I went into the session dehydrated this afternoon ... it makes for a miserable 90 minutes.

These next three days should be much easier than the first half.  Our bodies will have started to acclimatize to the heat and be better adept at cooling itself in those conditions.

So in the 4.5 hours that we have been in that trailer from hell, I have lost just a little under 27lbs of sweat (12.2kg).  Thats over 6 two liter pop bottles!  No wonder my body hates itself in there!  It  would be great for someone who wants to loose a couple pounds!

After every session I down a V8 to replenish some lost salts and head down to the ocean to ice the legs and cool down a bit.  Last night when Jordan and I were icing (we went a little later) we could see fireworks going off in Port Angeles, Washington across the Juan de Fuca straight for the Fourth of July festivities.  It was neat to watch and made the time go by a little quicker.

As for the knee buisness ... it seems to be getting better.  A little stiff, but other than that no real pain.  I have not tried to run on it yet since I put myself in a hole from that Tuesday run.  I did 60 minutes intensity on the bike today and it felt fine.  Maybe tomorrow I will try to run a little on it.  We will see what coach Joel says.

New blog and heat training begins!

My new blog is up on CBC.  You can check it out by clicking here.

My knee is getting better.  I took it easy again yesterday and went and got some graston and ART on it.  Feels better.  It may be stemming from a tight hip, or maybe not.  Not really sure.

Yesterday was also the first day of heat training.  I was not sure if I was going to be able to ride but I made through the 90 minutes of torture.  My knee was a little stiff but it got better as the ride went on.  Or maybe it was because I was not really pedaling the last 45 min because my core temperature was too high.

The first day is always the worst when we do this heat training.  We are doing it the same way that we did before the Cancun World Cup last year.  Pacific Sport has modified a trailer to make it a heat chamber.  We monitor our core temperatures by having rectal probes in us.  This makes it much easier to know when our cores are at its ideal temperature and when to back off when it gets too high.  The feedback is immediate and makes for a much more enjoyable session than not knowing how high your core is and not knowing when to back off.  As you can bet, none of us like to back off that much, we all think if 39 degrees core temperature is good, 41 is better!

This morning we have a swim workout at Crystal and I may try to run a little, seeing how the knee holds up.  Then later on in the afternoon it is back into the torture chamber for 90 minutes of misery.

Knee Pains

It seems like that little accident with that car has left some damage.  My left knee feels like it is getting a little worse everyday.  For the first couple days afterwards there was no pain, maybe a little soreness at the end of some workouts.  But since my run yesterday, the pain has not gone away.

So today I took some precautions to try to get this thing healed as soon as possible.  After the swim this morning, Joel and I decided that it would be best to take the rest of the day off and let it heal itself (I had a three hour ride and 60min run).  I got a massage, iced in the ocean, took some motrin, and put ice packs on my knee all day.

I am glad that it is not a sharp, localized pain.  Just a general soreness which I cannot seem to pinpoint where it is coming from.  It seems like the pain is coming from under my knee cap.  That is the best that I can do when describing it.

I am sure that this will settle down in a couple days ... maybe I should have gotten that idiots information when they decided to slam on the brakes in front of me!  I have to miss my work  because of this ... plus my pain and suffering has to be worth something!

Blog List and new header picture

On the right hand side of this blog you can now see other BAMF athletes blogs and when they last updated their blog and the title of their last post.  VERY COOL!  Check it out!

I also changed the header picture above.  That picture was taken about a month ago at a Teck Cominco Kids of Steel camp in Trail, BC.  I flew into the interior BC for a day to help out at the camp.  I had an awesome time and all the kids were great ... there were some future stars in that group!  WATCH OUT!!!

Some blogs and a bad driver

Jordan Rapp (my roommate and training partner) wrote a good post today on his blog about what it means to be a "team" in this individual sport.  Click here to check it out.

I also wrote another entry for the Slowtwitch series "Road to Beijing" in which I write about my journey to the start line in Beijing.  You can check that out here. 

Training has been going well lately, if you do not count me getting hit by a car today.  I ended up on the rear hood of the car ... luckily no bad damage to the body (other than a couple cuts and a sore knee) and more importantly no damage to the bike!  I always say that it would be cool to get hit by a car and sue for millions ... well it is not as cool as it sounds anymore and I did not even sustain permanent damage.  I will not be saying that anymore!

A trip back in time..

A couple of days ago Lisa and I went to check out Craigdorrough Castle.  I'm not really sure what its all about but it was owned by a rich Victoria couple.  The castle has been used for many purposes since it was built in the late 1800's.  One of the uses was an early home for Victoria College, now known as the University of Victoria.  It was neat to go and check it out considering it is literally less than 2km from where I live right now and I never knew that it was there.  Yes I know that is pretty pathetic.

Lisa has now gone back to Ontario and the training has started to ramp up again.  Saturday and Sunday were solid training days including riding 5 hours on Saturday with 60min steady which I averaged 336 watts.

Today is a easy/rest day of just a swim and bike.  I am not sure what the rest of the week is going to be because I am supposed to be racing in Des Moines this weekend but as I am sure you are all aware there has been some major flooding in the area lately.  On top of being flooded, most of the bodies of water are polluted from the runoff of all the rain.  As of now the race organizers still have not said anything about what is going to happen.  They have changed where the race is being held and changed all the other races to a duathlon that weekend which is what I think will happen to our race.  Duathlons are not my thing so I doubt that I will be making the trip to Iowa and instead get some solid training in.

Click here to check out this guys sign that he made for Worlds ... pretty awesome!  

Vancouver World Cup and a ticket to Beijing

I will not write much about the Vancouver race ... it was very hard and pretty cold.  The week leading up to the race I was never feeling "on" and just thought that I would come around on race day, but that never happened.  The whole race I felt like I could not relax and that I was always at full throttle and could not recover.  Even when the paced slowed at times the recovery just seemed to be nowhere.  This just made for a very painful 2 hours but the crowd there was absolutely amazing!  When I was out there running (not very fast or near the front) the crowd was cheering so loud that it was deafening.  I remember thinking "don't these guys know that I am so far back ... do they think that I am winning?  Oh well, I will just imagine that I am winning and take it all in!"  It definitely gave me some much needed energy out there and made the run just a little more manageable.

So a couple hours after the race I got a phone call from the High Performance Committee to come meet with them in their room.  I went up in the elevator all nervous about what their decision would be and as you all know, I got the nod.  It was just an amazing experience to hear that I will be representing Canada at the Olympics, something that I have been dreaming of since I started sports over 15 years ago.  All the hard work that I have put in since then has paid off!

Of course none of this would have been possible without all the support and encouragement from my family, friends, and sponsors.  It is amazing how many people have been behind me all these years and I am glad to show them that it has not been all for naught.

Most of the thanks should be going to my girlfriend for putting up with me moving away to pursue this dream and putting her goals and aspirations on hold so that this moment would be possible.  YOU ARE AWESOME LISA!

My training partners and coach should be getting just the same amount of credit for my success.  It is easy to say that all my success is because of me, myself, and I but that is simply not true.  Our squad is the best in the world and all of our success is because of how much we push each other everyday day in and out.  We have built a certain attitude and "code" over the past three years that we are all accountable to and because of this we are all better.  BAMF.

Now comes more of the same ... lots of hard work because there is only just over 2 months until we line it up in Beijing.

I have also been writing a blog for CBC that you can read here.  I will be doing regular blogs for them as well as for Slowtwitch (I will get one up there soon).

Thanks again to everyone who has sent their congratulations and encouraging words over the past couple days!

The Resurrection of the Blog

Only a couple more days until Worlds.  I am heading over on the ferry tomorrow morning and then picking my Dad, sister, and girlfriend Lisa up from the airport who have all come over from Ontario to watch me race.  After the race they are all heading back to Victoria with me to visit and hang out for a couple days.

Here is a video that I found on the web today.  So funny to hear Paul Regensburg commentating (or trying to).  I think that they just ended up cutting his microphone because he was just babbling away (none of us would have done any better in that position ... it was a very exciting time!).

If the video does not work below try clicking HERE.

The Road To Beijing: Part 3

Here is the third part to the series.

Go on over and have a read.

Training lately = hard = good  :)

The Road To Beijing: Part 2

Check out my second installment from Slowtwitch by clicking here.

I am going to try to be writing for them every week or so, that is why I have been blogging less frequently on here.

Interview from Ishigaki

Here is an interview that I did with Barrie Shepley before the race last weekend in Ishigaki, Japan.

The Road to Beijing

So I am starting to write a little bit for Slowtwitch.  In case you have not heard about Slowtwitch, it is basically an online multisport magazine with a massive users forum.

The first installment is up on the site already.  You can check it out by clicking here.  I will be doing regular updates so check the site out for the next segment.

Cheers,

Colin Jenkins

www.slowtwitch.com

end of camp, been on plane, seen on news

So the training camp in Flagstaff has come and gone.  Starting the camp I was thinking how was I ever going to have a good workout let alone have a successful camp up there and be ready for a World Cup in four weeks when I could barely do a easy workout without feeling exhausted and out of breath.  Well I got over being exhausted after every workout and recovered faster but I think that I just got used to being out of breath after every effort no matter how long even if it was just 10 seconds long.

I am now in beautiful Mooloolaba, Australia for my favorite race of the year (I think that it is just because I like the city here so much).  It is the first World Cup of the year and I am well prepared for the race.  I arrived late afternoon yesterday and having done a couple workouts down here at sea level, it feels great.  I am not huffing and puffing after my efforts and everything feels really easy...exactly why we go to altitude in the first place!

On the flight down from Vancouver to Sydney we all got upgraded into business class and got seats in the "pods".  That helped out a lot for sleeping because you can lie completely horizontal and make your seat into a bed, although not the most comfortable bed I have ever been in!  We missed our connection out of Sydney because we were late getting in but were booked on the next flight only 60min later than the original.  Then we had to wait a couple hours for other athletes in Brisbane to pick up because we were all booked on the same shuttle that the race organized.  It made for a long day.

So we have done 5 workouts since we got here and they all felt great.  I am really looking forward to racing this weekend.  The weather has not been as good as last year, a little rain outside as I type this and thunderstorms in the forecast for the rest of the week including race day.

The local news (Channel 7) came and interviewed us today at our hotel.  I have uploaded the "sit in front of the TV with the hand held point and shoot camera while trying to keep the camera steady and being very quiet" version of it to You Tube and posted it below.  We should be getting the DVD version of it later on this week if the TV station drops it off.  I will post that version on You Tube which should be much clearer and steadier.

Do The Test

Now this is how you edit a video

More on training and other stuff soon.....

Who thinks 2 spots is better than 1 in the Olympics?

It seems like a very simple answer...the more athletes from your country at the Olympics the better.  Yea, yea...I know...it is not about participation but about performance here in Canada, but when we are talking about a developing country I think that it is very important that they qualify as many athletes as possible.  This increases the countries exposure to the world and increases the sports exposure within the country.  The National Sport Governing body would also probably give the sport more money in the future if more athletes represent their country at the Olympics.  We all know that the Olympics are the pinnacle for many sports including triathlon and most kids involved in sport dream of one day representing their country in the greatest sporting event in the World.

OK, so why am I making a big deal about all this?  Well yesterday was the African Triathlon Championships.  Every continent has a Championship this year and the winner of each race earns their country a spot on the start line in Beijing.  Well it just so happens that South Africa has a exceptionally fast athlete that is ranked in the top 25 in the Olympic Rankings which guarantees him a spot on the start line without winning the Continental Championships.  BUT no athlete can earn their country two spots in Beijing, only one spot per athlete.  

So when this athlete went ahead and won the African Championships by 10 seconds ahead of HIS OWN COUNTRYMAN it made absolutely no sense at all.  If he let his countryman win the race, that would have guaranteed South Africa two spots in Beijing if that athlete kept his ranking high enough throughout the rest of the year up until Worlds in Vancouver (last race for qualification).  If he was worried about maybe getting injured later on this year and falling way down the rankings and not earning a spot on his own, I bet that South Africa would have choose him over his countryman who earned the spot to represent South Africa at the Olympics because he is a much better triathlete.  I just do not get why he wouldn't let the other guy finish ahead of him, he was just 10 seconds behind.  Surely their National Federation talked to him about this beforehand, it would have been in their best interest.  Maybe they just did not know about this rule, but can they be that ignorant about something so big?  Maybe he wanted money and the other athlete or the National Federation did not pay him?  But could someone be that selfish towards another athlete from their country?  I bet that other athlete had the same dreams as him growing up...in fact, I bet he has the same dreams as that other athlete NOW!  Maybe this athlete wants to be the only male triathlete from his country at the Olympics because he likes all the attention and fame?  But can someone be such a prima donna when so much is on the line?  Maybe he just likes winning...then who could blame him!

I feel sorry for the athlete that came in second, actually, I feel sorry for the whole country of South Africa.  When someone has an opportunity to do good for their country it should be second nature to take that opportunity and use it.  I invite this athlete to come and train with our group sometime to see what being a teammate is all about.  The offer is always open.

Quarterlife

Today was my 25th birthday and I celebrated it by doing a tough treadmill workout of 5x3min with 2min rest.  Then I had a nap and went to the pool to do a 200 for every year since my mom spat me out.  Afterwards we went to the Outback where Joel treated me to a nice steak dinner and then off to Coldstones where the ice cream was on them because it was my birthday.  Then we played the game Catch Phrase.  Not a bad day.

Week one is done here in Flagstaff...2 more weeks left and then off to Australia for World Cup #1.

I AM SKELATOR!!!

20 Questions With Yours Truly

Lets just build into it guys...

The last couple days have been rough up here at altitude.  I have been getting some altitude headaches on and off and trying to drink as much as I can as it is very easy to get dehydrated up here.

Joel's idea when we got here was to go easy the first couple days, just to flush out the system from the race and get used to the altitude.  Then we will gradually increase the intensity from there so we do not overload the body.  Well the first day was flush, the second was rough, and the last two have been pretty damned hard.  I guess that is Coach Joel's idea of building into it.

Yesterday we started the day out with a set of 3x100 fast, then 3x300 sub threshold all on 1:30 per hundred pace.  We had to do that 3 times.  The first two rounds were pull paddle on the 300's and the last round was swim.  Thats where the altitude hits you like a ton of bricks.  I had to pull the 2nd 300 to rest my legs or my heart would have probably exploded.

From there we had a quick lunch and went for a 2.5 bike with the last 60min steady.  The group of us did that working pretty good together in a pace line, we were smoking!  Then we hopped off the bikes, did a quick change and ran 40min (10 steady, 10 easy X 2) on our Mooloolaba course.  Lets just say I hope I run quicker in the actual race.  Day done.

Today was a bit more manageable.  I started the day out with a 60min spin on the trainer (pic above) and then off to the pool for a recovery swim.  Later on in the afternoon we did a 70min run on a muddy, red dirt road.  Oh, and it was filled with potholes everywhere.  Perfect place for a 30min tempo run.  So we did 30min WU, 30min tempo, 10min cooldown.  Running tempo at altitude is tough but it went by quick and the day is finally done.

Now Joel is coming over to watch Lost.  It starts in 3 minutes so I am out of here.

Team BAMF Documentary

The most important athlete did not get an interview...what's with that!

Jasper is a DAD!!!

Congrats to Jasper Blake and his better half Jude for their new arrival into the world..."On Saturday February 23rd at 1:51pm, Finlayson Dundas Blake karate chopped his way out into the world and weighed in at 6lbs 5oz."

Welcome to 7000ft

Here we are for round 2 of our training camps. Back to Flagstaff, AZ. We were here for 3 months last year and it is good to be back...back to the suffering.

We are set up nicely in a hotel for the 4 weeks that we are here. We have a stove top, living room, and a bedroom so there is lots of space in each of the rooms. My roommate is Dano...best one to roommate with out of the group!

We raced the Desert Du again this year. Duathlon's are not my specialty...it takes out my best aspect and doubles my worst which usually makes for a painful race of trying to stay as close to the leaders as possible. This year a couple more good guys showed up and it was fast...well at least it felt fast. The times were slower than last year because the weather was not as good. After the race we drove the 2.5 hours up to Flagstaff and got in a 3km swim before we went to Picazzos for Joel's birthday.

Today was an easy recovery day. A 4km swim in the morning and a 90min spin. I also went to the Chiro and had a massage today...my hip has been bothering me ever since I got here, probably from the plane ride.

Here is a pic that Dano took before the Desert Du of Paul and I. Paul went on to win the race. He is the man.

What is an average week of food around the world?

Made it to Phoenix.

Check this out....a photo essay from TIME on what families eat around the world.  Pretty powerful.

The official unveiling of the new team BAMF logo for the year

Jet Plane Rides

Im off to Phoenix tomorrow to race in the Desert Duathlon on Sunday.  From there we are driving up to Flagstaff for a 4 week training camp leading up to the first race of the season in Mooloolaba, Australia.

Training has been going OK these last couple days.  The body is tired from the long hours but it will be recovered for this weekend.  I just got back from an awesome massage with Kim and getting adjusted with Rob before I go.  It helps to have a great support team here in Victoria to look after us.

The CCES were at the pool again this morning.  I do not like seeing them.  The least I have to see them the better.  The testing did not take too long though and I was able to get to breakfast shortly after.  When I got home I was surprised with a big package from New Balance, well I was expecting it but I did not think that it was going to get here before we left.  I tried on all the gear and it is cool stuff.  All of it is coming with me on this trip...it is all much needed gear!

I am off to bed now.  I fly out tomorrow afternoon.  Of course I have not started to pack yet...I will leave that for tomorrow...it's the only way I do it.

Ishigaki World Cup 11 Years Ago

so what's been going on....

I love it when people say "so it's been a while since my last post" or "I promise that I will update this more often" when writing a blog.  It never happens...so I will never say those things!

Training this past week was really tough...a different kind of tough that I am used to though.  I put in just over 30 hours (an no that does not include time to get to swimming...time in the shower...time on the massage table....time recovering by eating....etc etc etc....we know there are athletes that do that...."oh put in 40 hours of training this week".....BULL_H_T!  Although there are some who do put that many hours...many do not!) of solid training.  This included 31.3km in the water...425km on the bike...60km running.  Half of the time was on a saddle...oh yea, saddle sores here you come!  The rides outside were usually miserable because it is only a couple degrees and raining.  I curse Victoria for this.  The past Tuesdays ride a cold front must have come through with 40min to go and it started to pour.  Yea well, I was physically shivering on the way back home...took a couple minutes to get the keys out of my back pocket...my hands had no feeling in them and not working properly.  I get inside and just want to undress and get in the shower....well I could not get my helmet unbuckled to take off.  My fingers would just not work.  I was about to jump in the shower with all my gear on (including shoes) when the thawing started.  Wow, PLEASE GOD STOP, PLEASE!!!!  IF I COULD HOLD A KNIFE STRAIGHT I WOULD CHOP THESE F'ING FINGERS OFF TO STOP THIS PAIN!!!  I had to pace around the apartment, drenched in wet dirty clothes and pray that the thawing would end.  Five minutes latter the pain subsided (I was happy to have fingers and not resorted to chopping them off) and jumped in the shower!  Ahhhh, I just went from hell to heaven in just minutes.  Again, I curse Victoria.

This week is another big week.  Yesterday was a solid 5000m swim and a 100km HILLY ride...and you guessed it...IN THE RAIN (for most of it :D).  Last night was also the Pacific Sport Gala.  Three from our group were nominated for awards (Joel, Kirsten, and Simon) and Kirsten was the only one who brought home the hardware.  I went for the free food...it was good!

Tomorrow I have 6 climbs of the observatory...fun fun fun.  I cannot wait!....(maybe I can).

I am a Clean Air Champion

I recently joined the organization Clean Air Champions to help raise awareness to the many issues that are affecting the declining air quality all over the world. You can check out my profile by clicking here that is posted on their website.

I LOVE CLEAN AIR!!!

Unger VS Gomez

Some of the Numbers from Tucson

Total Milage from Tucson training Camp (21 days):

Swim - 87, 500 meters

Bike - 1062 km

Run - 150 km

Camp 1....done

I am just chilling out in a coffee shop in Fairfield...I am staying at Adam Campbells place but of course he does not know the password for his wireless internet so I had to come here to check it.

The flight back yesterday was uneventful.  We got in OK and Adam was there to pick me up!  Saves me some big $$$ not having to take a cab.

This week is a really chill recovery week.  3 swims/bikes/runs to recover from the big block that we just put in.  Tucson was awesome but I am glad to be back in Victoria...although I would rather the sun...it is cold and raining in Victoria right now.  Same old story.

Here is a picture of the last swim of the camp.  I celebrated by jumping off the 10m platform.

A Local Legend

I first saw this guy on the first Shootout ride here in Tucson.  At the end of the ride I saw this guy dressed all in grey with sparkles all over his clothes.  The next week at the same place at the end of the ride I saw him again dressed all in pink.  Apparently he likes to color co-ordinate.

Last weeks Shootout he started riding into on coming traffic and ended up getting us pulled over by a cop while he took off.  He only eats junk food before and during rides, doesn't drink water because it "weighs too much" and doesn't wear a helmet because "it does not look good and looks are everything."  He is a LEGEND!

Some info on the Grey Wolf.

Some solid days in the bank

The training camp is coming to an end in a couple days.  We have been in Tucson for three weeks and have gotten in some great early season training.

Yesterday we started off the day with a 5000m swim practice...I am trying to think what we did but cannot remember.  All the practices and days blend into one...don't know which day we did what.  We then got all ready to climb Mt. Lemmon for the third time.  The first couple times we went up to mile 11.  This time we climbed up to mile 14 to which an amazing view was waiting for us.  I was able to get into a really good rhythm and climbed pretty good.  I had Simon and Johnny in tow and it was good to have some people to get up the climb with.  it took us 65 minutes to get to mile 14.  Drink and chocolate was waiting for us at the top from our sherpa joel.  We bundled up for the cold decent and rode easy home, got into some run clothes and finished the day off with a easy run.

This morning was another 5000m swim set.  A bunch of 800s neg split.  Then we did a fartlek run along a wash for 70min and finished the day off with a 60min spin.

Wow, my computer just shut down my internet browser and I thought that I lost all this...thank goodness for automatic saving!  I thought that I would have to type this all over...it would have been a much more condensed version....trust me!

Ok so here is some cool videos of crazy weather on mt lemmon.  It is taken from one of the University of Arizona webcam's.  Click here to check it out.

Also click here to check out pictures from the camp that coach joel has posted.  He has taken quite a few photos so there is lots to look at.

what is this blogging that people talk about?

OK, so no more seeslim....a new post.  There we go.

It is Kathy's last night here...so after the swim this afternoon we went out for dinner to an all you can eat buffet...well we all came out there feeling sick and people's bowels were being over active in producing gas.  The ride home was a stinky one thanks to Kyle and Dano.  I think that it was all that hot brownie earthquake dessert that they kept piling on.  I hate buffet's.

This morning was a hilly base run in the canyon.  It hurt.  Did not feel good.  The swim felt much better though.  That seems to be the theme the past two weeks.

I think that we are going to play a game of Catch Phrase before we go to bed....if we can pull some of the guys away from the football games on tv.  It is a fun game.  Probably not good for recovery since all our heart rates are in the 150's while playing it.  Having a bunch of competitive athletes playing a game gets a little rowdy.