Here are some pictures taken over the past week. I had an awesome week for training with a lot of km's logged. I'm off to the gym right now so more to come later.

Well that time is almost here with only a couple of sleeps left before Santa comes I'm sure all the kids are very excited. I could tell this on Friday at practice when I was working with little kids and I'm not sure if it's the teachers gave them way too many candy canes or just because it was the last day of school but I'm never seen them that crazy! It was all good though and we still had some fun.
Saturday was pretty much a recovery day for me as it was spent with good friends and a great supper! Sunday I did a track workout at Laurentian with some hard sprints. After that it was right down into the pool for a swim. The main set was 5x200Pull D1-5 from 2:30-2:17 on 2:45. Then it was 5x100 holding just under 1:10 on 1:20 and then 5x50 on :45 hold 30-31. With a good warm up and cool down it was good 4000m.
Today was a little bit of everything...I started out with 30min. of core work. Jumped on the bike for a 30min. spin with a 45min run on the treadmill off the bike. Then it was into the pool for a good zone 2 45min. continuous swim.
We don't have much planned over the holidays other than trying to get to see some friends and family, not eat too much stuffing and put in some hours on the computrainer. If I don't get another post up before Thursday I want to wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!

Swim Meet & EZ Rock All the Way!!

This past weekend I was in Guelph for a swim meet and I knew it was a good chance for me to see where my swimming is at this point in the season. Friday I swam the 200 Fly and in prelims I went 2:23 and qualified for finals in 4th. Friday afternoon I just rested in the hotel room as 200Fly is one of my favourite races and I wanted to have a good swim that night. I went in and based on my time from the morning and how that felt I had a feeling I could do around a 2:17-2:18 but it order to win it I would have to be around 2:13 which is my best time. I decided that I would start out hard and see if I got a bit of a lead if they would give up on me and just race for second. So that's what I did...I started out 28 at the 50m and 1:01.8 at the 100m. I knew I went out fast but not that fast and now it was just try and hold on and not die! In the end my plan almost worked but I came second and was just out touched and my time was 2:14.12 which is only about 1/2 a second off my best time. I was very happy with my race and couldn't of asked for much more.
Saturday Lea and I went home to London for the day to visit her parents. We did a little bit of shopping in the morning while her mom was still sleeping after just getting off a night shift at the hospital. We went to Home Sense to use our gift card and got ourselves a new bed set and it looks great on the bed! We had a good visit and a great steak dinner.
Sunday was my 1500Free and I was really looking forward to this race and really hoped I had a good race. There were a couple of guys who were really fast, like one who just set a Canadian Record 3 weeks ago fast...We were at the pool for 8am and figured I would be swimming around 11am but it turned out that my race wouldn't be until after 1pm. It was a long weight and I wasn't prepared food wise and about an hour before the race I could feel it in my stomach. It was also hard to be still warmed up after such a long weight. It started out alright and I was with the two leaders for the first couple hundred meters but I knew the pace we were hold I couldn't keep that up for too long. I dropped off and settled into a comfortable pace, I look back and think that it have been a little to comfortable at some points but there was no catching the two leaders. I finished in 16:52 which is just under 1:08's per 100m. I was over excited about the race but then wasn't disappointed either. I know I can improve on that over the next couple of months and will be faster the next time I swim it at the beginning of Feb.
So yesterday I had a meeting with the managers and owners of EZ Rock because they said they had an idea of how to help me out in terms of sponsorship but wouldn't tell me what over the phone. All weekend my mind was trying to think of all the possibilities...so I went in yesterday and was completely blown away!!! I could never of dreamed of something like this! I can tell exactly what it is or any of the details because they still have to work a few little things out first but it's big and I can't wait!!
Training has been going good since I've been back. 3 hours on Monday and 2.5 yesterday and today I have another 3+ hours to put in! I also got my computrainer on Monday from Dr. Theriault which I can't wait to get set up and will help my riding so much this winter! Well I have to run as I have to get my bike ride in now before I have another client.

Don't answer the door in your Underwear

So I can officially announce today that Profile Design will be one of my sponsors for 09. There is no question they are the leading brand when it comes to bike parts and I can't wait to start using them.
Well the snow just hasn't seemed to stop and also everyday there seems to be some to shovel. I think it's going to be a great year for skiing and I think it's safe to say we're going to have a white Christmas. We have most of our shopping done now and only a couple of small things left to get which is good because usually I don't mind going to the mall but not now when it takes 20minutes just to find a parking spot and you can barely move in stores.
Last night the real estate agent who sold us our house came by with a house warming gift that she said she has had in her car for months now. She handed me a nice picture frame and a gift certificate for Home Sense and I didn't open the gift certificate right away and just said thank you. After she left Lea opened it and it was for $150!! We will definitely be able to get something nice with that.
This weekend is my swim meet in Guelph and we are leaving tomorrow after work. I am swimming six races starting Friday morning and have two each day. There will be $125 prize for each race this weekend so hopefully I have been swimming enough and can get enough to at least cover the cost of the trip.
On Monday night I was downstairs and I had just had a shower and all I had on were my boxers and someone knocked at the door and I yelled for them to come it and they didn't so I went up and I figured it would just be just someone I know so I open the door and it was a police officer. I was a little embarrassed at that point and wondering what he was doing here. Well it turned out that he was just letting us know that Lea has to be in court in a couple of weeks for her accident back in August because the girl who hit her was charged with careless driving and is fighting the charge.
So if I have internet in the hotel room on the weekend I'll post how the meet is going otherwise it will have to wait till I get home.

Christmas is coming

Well about 23 sleeps and Santa will be here now. It seems like November just flew by and we're into December now. Lea and I were in North Bay overnight this weekend as I was coaching at the swim meet. The kids awesome and everyone had lots of fun and it was great as always to see Mark and Bonnie.
Saturday before we left I did a run with Jack early and then I had a quick shower and we were on the road. Sunday when we got back Lea and I went skiing with Jack and his family for about an hour and then I ran home from the ski trails. Yesterday I did some core, weights and tried spinning for a bit by my legs were feeling it so after only about 30minutes of spinning I decided to his the pool and give the legs a break for the rest of the day. Today will be another swim trying to get ready for my swim meet next weekend and then a brick workout.
I found out today from my doctor that my stomach problems that I had been having were being caused by an ulcer. This is already my tired one but it had been also 4 years since my last one and they aren't fun. So I'm on some medication for it and hopefully it will go away sooner than later.
Tomorrow we will be installing a carpet runner than we bought for our stairs going down into the basement. It will look really nice to finish the stairs off and it will also help to make them not slippery so when I come in the house and try and walk downstairs with my bike shoes on I wont end up on my back like I already have once.
All this snow we've got so far has been pretty crazy...it looks like we could be in for a long winter as it's barely stopped snowing for two weeks now. Hopefully everyone is driving safe and taking their time as we adjust to the conditions.

Ironman...?

So Jack is a really close friend of mine and the guy who got me started in triathlons but hasn't done any for awhile and keeps talking about wanting to do another Ironman but Amanda his wife didn't want him doing another one because the training took too much time. So on Tuesday I'm over for supper and I'm teasing Jack that he should sign up for an Ironman next year and we both started getting the look from Amanada....so then on Wednesday I see Jack and he hands me this piece of paper and I open it and it's a receipt for entry into Ironman next August and Amanada signed him up without him even knowing. I think this is so exciting and I can't wait to start training with him and now he can come out with Drew and I sometimes also.
On a not so good note, I was at my Fire Fighting practice last night and one of the guys who is involved on with the Naughton Ski Trails where I do my cross country skiing told me that earlier this week someone broke into their garage and stole their trail groomer. It's about 15thousand to replace and they need one or else they can't keep the trails open. I don't understand though how someone can just drive away with one of those and nobody see that! It's really unfortunate that these things happen because it affects so many people.
Lea's birthday was good yesterday and she enjoyed her presents that I gave her and tonight a few friends are coming over for supper.
So far everyone that I've given a copy of my sponsorship package to really likes it and I even think a few companies are going to give me some money for next year so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

26 Years Old!

Well the snow is definetely here and it looks like it's here to stay. Lastnight was my first time this year getting out and doing some cross country skiing. Jack and I did about an hour together at the Naughton Trails. Last year I got out skiing a little bit but this winter I want try and get out even more because it's a good way of doing some cross training and still getting in a good workout. The rest of my training is still going good and I'm swimming everyday now trying to get ready for the swim meet in a couple of weeks. This weekend I have to go to North Bay to coach at a swim meet on Sunday with the younger kids.
Thursday is Lea's birthday and she is turing 26! Going to have a few people over on Friday night for supper which should be fun. Anyways I'm just at work right now and I kind of have to get going so I will write more later when I get the chance.

Santa Parade/Raptors Game/New Bike

So things have settled down now that my trip has come and gone. I've been getting some good base workouts in with some longer runs and bikes inside on the treadmill and on the trainer. I've started doing a little bit of strenght training as well which I think will help with my cycling and I've even started going to a few classes like yoga. My swimming is going great, I'm getting in my swim everyday now getting ready for my swim meet in Guelph. It will be fun again to get up on the blocks and race.
This past weekend we were really bust first going with my Aunt Bon and Jenn to watch Jordon play hockey here in town. It was great to see him play and he scored a goal and was named MVP of the game! After that we went out for lunch and then it was time for Lea and I and Jesse and Sarah to get ready for the Santa Clause parade. We actually had a lot of fun the whole night and I was so surprised at how many people came out. After the parade Jesse and Sarah came over for the night as we had to get up early to catch the bus to Toronto in morning. Sunday the four of us went to Toronto to watch the Raptors game. It was my first time seeing a professional game like that and we had all had fun. I even caught a little ball that they were tossing into the crowed and brought it home for Daisy to play with.
Last week was also exciting because I finally got my new bike that I ordered exactly a year ago! It's a Blue T-17 and it looks awesome, although I don't think I'm going to get the chance to get out and ride it now as the snow is already here. I also sold my race wheels to Drew as Blackwell gave me a Pro Deal on a new set that I also got last week. I can't wait for next year to try out all my new goodies. And congrates to Drew for an awesome Ironman two weeks ago in Las Vegas on one of the hardest courses there is and his 3rd Ironman this year.
Not too much going on this week other than work and training like also. This weekend is our x-mas staff party on Saturday night. Friday we got free tickets to the wolves game so Lea and I will be going to see that on Friday. Not much else new, that time of the year and just trying to stay healthy now. Looking forward to the x-mas season and hopefully seeing everyone!

More pics

San Fran Pics

Recouvering...Mentally

So San Francisco has come and gone and I guess the good thing is I'm still here and still kicking. The didn't go as planned and it's something I'm going to have to accept and deal with. In 15 years of swimming and about 30 triathlons over the past three years I can't say I've ever had a race quite like this one.
After our swim warm up we were all put in a holding tank where we waited for about 10minutes. It was quite cold, the water temperature was only 58 degrees and it was the only day that we were there was wasn't sunny and there was a fine mist coming down. It was really one of my first races where I had no idea what to expect. The top 5 guys get an introduction and their World Ranking and just returning from the Olympics in Beijing...I think at that moment I was like OMG what am I getting myself into. They moved us down onto the starting dock and it was going to be the first time that I do a dive entry in a triathlon. I think I was so used to at the start of the swim being able to swim without anyone right on top of you...well not the case with time. There was 37 other guys who were all bigger than me and seemed just as fast! I was able to pull up a little big from the group but knew there was someone on my right and a bunch of guys right on my feet. I lead the first 500m and then someone came up beside me and tried going around. We swam side by side for the rest of the first lap and then going around the buoy he cut inside of me and he did a breast stroke kick I guess to get around it and I took it in my side. It took the wind out of me for a second and he pulled away and two other guys tried going around me. Now I was back in about fourth or fifth and not where I wanted to be. I swam really hard and passed a couple of them pack but the first place guy had a good 10-15m lead on everyone else. The rest of the second lap I swam in second with a guy right beside me. I got out on the pontoon dock and right away felt sick. I exited the water with about 6-7 guys within about 5seconds behind me and then there was about a 20-30second gap before the next group. Everything though just seemed to go down hill even more as I got out of the water. Running to my bike I got the top part of my wetsuit off but as I got to my bike I struggled getting it the rest of the way off(I knew I shouldn't of used my new wetsuit for the first time at this race). The group of guys that I came out with had taken off. I stumbled getting onto my bike as the toe of my shoe got caught on the ground. I tried catching that lead group through the first half of the lap but they were all working together and I just couldn't. The rush of getting out of transition now I think had worn off and I could feel my stomach and it wasn't happy. I think from getting kick I felt sick and the next group of about 10 guys went flying by me and I pushed hard to catch one of there wheels but I was only able to stay there for a few minutes . I biked the rest of the first lab and half of the second lap by myself and after feeling part of my breakfast coming up I made one of the hardest decisions to pull out.
I've never been faced with that decision before and it was really hard to handle. I got my stuff back in transition and after a minute of whipping the tears away I went to catch a cab and get out of there. I was very upset at myself and had very mixed feelings. I had that split second of not wanting to do this anymore and then I turned my anger to how am I going to come back from this. The next morning I got up early and went for a 75minute run on the treadmill in the hotel and killed myself....the whole time planning on how to come back strong and what I'm going to do over the next little while. I had told myself before the race that if I had a good race I was going to take a week or so off and do nothing but I'm not doing that now and I'm right back into it. I'm going to be training harder than ever this winter and hopefully get a running partner to push me on at least one of my run every week. I'm going to be doing a big swimming phase over the next little while also as I will be going to a swim meet in December where I can win some money. Also this winter one of my goals is to beat my 1500m personal best time that I swam when I was 15 years old and at the time was good enough to rank me number one in Canada. I can close when I swam for the university a couple years ago and only missed it but less than 2 seconds but this year I'm going to prove it to myself that I can still do it and I'm getting faster.
I got a lot of good pictures from San Francisco and will post those later and will talk about the fun I had while visiting San Francisco like going to Alcatraz!! That was sooo cool!

4 Hours to go....

So I'm less than 4 hours to go unstill the start of the race. Nervous as hell!! The breifing lastnight was going good until they asked, "is this anyones first ITU race"? I looked around...nobody was putting up their hand so I said what the heck and I put my hand! Their response was, "you sure picked a hell of a course to start on"! I've biked the course and I went in for a swim yesterday. Little wired swimming in water with sea lions. Something doesn't seem qiute right about that. The water was very cold at first but I warmed up after a little bit. Well I'm just off to grab a bite to eat and then hit the tub to shave down. It's time to GO!

My first Professional ITU Race

It's been awhile since my last post and things have been pretty busy lately. I leave this week on Thursday for San Francisco. I can't believe that's it's almost here and in five days I will lining up on the start line next to the best in the World along with Olympians that were in Beijing only two months ago. I think I'm going into this race though with a good attitude though that no matter what the outcome and what place I finish it will be an amazing learning experience for other races like this to come. I know I'm not where I want to be with my training from some health issues over the past month with being in the hospital for my stomach to being sick and run down for almost two weeks. My training had to be cut back in order to recover from these things but going into this race I know no matter what I can swim with these guys so I know I will come out of the water with the leaders. On the bike it will be my first race where it's a draft legal race so I know there will be lots of things to learn about how these guys race races like these. I know coming out of the water with the leaders I will be in the lead pack on the bike and it will be just not to do anything stupid and I should be able to stay with them. After that once I get to the run the top guys will be running between 30-32 minutes for the 10km and I'm just not there yet. There will be so many things to learn though from this race that I know I will be able to find all the positive aspects and build on those for my next one.
Work has just been work lately, nothing new and exciting. Last weekend Lea and I went for out weekend course of marriage prep. I went into it with a pretty negative attitude and that the whole thing was going to be really boring but I was very wrong. I learned quite a bit of stuff from the couple that was giving the course and many things that Lea and I can use in the future. The wedding is only about 6 months away now and we are starting to put invites together to get ready to send out. We're working on a few other things also in order to get ready and we are getting pretty excited. Last weekend on Saturday night I got went to a big structure fire at a family home where the family just barely made it out. It was a big fire and the house sustained a lot of damage. It was my first house fire since Lea and I moved into our house and it really hit me how scary it must be for the people who's house it was and how I have no idea what I would do if that ever happened to us.
Things have been going good though at our place and we've been getting lots of work done. We finished the base boards in the basement around the floor we put in and we installed a door to separate the rec room from my work shop and laundry room. This weekend my aunt and uncle from North Bay came to visit. They got here Saturday afternoon and after doing some shopping into with them we went to the pool because my sister was swimming in a swim meet. After that we had a really nice relaxing evening back at home and my sister came over and we all played some cards. It was good to have Mark and Bonnie here for the weekend because we never get to see them enough and it was a chance for them to see our new house for the first time.
So I guess I'll post after I get back from San Francisco with some pictures. I leave Thursday morning and I'm pretty much ready to go. I've got the race wheels on the new bike, my new wetsuit from Xterra because I'm sure that ocean is going to be chilly and now I just got to show up and race my best.

Cottage pics

Here are a couple of aerial pictures that Jenn took while on a plane ride over our lake at the cottage. The first picture is of our two cottages, they are the two on the left. The second picture is of our whole bay and you can see where it goes out into the rest of the lake. I thought they were some really cool pictures and you can even see the deck build a couple weeks ago on the one cottage. Anyways that's all for me for now, I'll try and write more later when I'm not feeling so under the weather.

Back in the swing of things

Things have been back on track this week as my stomach has been feeling much better. Tuesday was a swim and bike, nothing to hard just trying to get things moving again. Wednesday was more of the same with a swim and run on the treadmill. I pushed it much more though on the swim with my main set being 10x100 on 2:00 holding 1:05's. Today I did a hard brick workout with the bike on the trainer and running on the treadmill again. I did 45minutes on the bike, 45min run, 30min bike and 30minute run. It was a solid 2.5hours and I felt great at the end.
Yesterday I had another appointment with Dr. Stauber and he said my lower back is starting to look really good and he is happy with my progress. It's something that's good to hear because with back pain like I was having was making for uncomfortable rides.
This weekend will be my last weekend heading up to the cottage again to get some work done. I've done a lot of work this fall on our other cottage. When my parents and my grandpa bought the land 30 years ago they built two cottages, one for my parents and us and one was for my grandpa. The one for my parents got finished first in order to be able to stay in it while they built my grandpa's. After my grandpa died his cottage just became starage and was never finished inside and wasn't maintained properly. It's a beautiful cottage with huge windows over looking the lake but over the years very little has been done to it. So we decided that it's time finish it so this fall I've tore down the old deck and built a new, reshingled the roof and replaced all the sofit and facia. I'm going up with weekend to do a few more little things and then in the spring we are going to replace all the windows and do the eletrical. We hope to have it all done within 2-3 years is our goal. I'm so excited to finally be working on it as it's been a goal of mine for many years. I told myself that one day I would finish what my granda and dad started.
I'm going to make sure to get my training in though also this weekend and next week will be a big week for me as I only have a couple weeks left before San Francisco. The start list came out the other day and looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me. There's a few Olympians and a guy who was ranked number 1 in the world back in 2006 along with some other big name guys. I'm really going to go into this though as a big learning experience and don't want to get down on myself if I don't place good. I know I have my strenghts and weaknesses and want to see where each of them measure up. I'm almost looking forward to the training that's going to come after the race as I am the race itself. This winter is going to be huge for me as far as training goes. I had a good winter last year and I want this one to be even better and get in even more hours.

Hospital to Race

I hope everyone had a good safe thanksgiving weekend with friends and family. I got to spend the first part of the weekend at the cottage with Lea and my mom. It was a busy weekend with more work getting done on the other cottage. I didn't get much training done though as I found myself to be in quite a bit of pain for the majority of the time. My stomach just didn't seem to like me very much this weekend and it seemed like no matter what I did nothing helped. It was also good to get up to the cottage this weekend as yesterday would of been my dads 60th birthday and it was nice to spend some time visiting where he lays.
Lea and I left the cottage Sunday afternoon and stopped in North Bay to visit my Aunt and Uncle for a nice supper with them. We never get to see them enough and any chance we have is always nice. After that we stopped off for a few minutes at Jenn and Mark's house to see all the work they've done since they moved in this summer. It was so nice, they've done such an increadible job.
Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night in even more pain and it just kept getting worse and Lea took me to the hospital. Exactly what I didn't want to have happen. Hospitals and me just don't seem to see eye to eye on a lot of things. Well we walked into the emergency department and usually it's full and it's a couple of hours wait before you even get seen well I'm not even kidding there wasn't one person in the waiting room. I walked in and thought they were closed and was ready to leave. Well turns out that if you ever have to get sick and go to the emerg, then go on thanksgiving. I was seen right away and had blood work done. It tured out to be nothing serious and just that I had way to much acid in my stomach and was eating everything that I ate and that's why I wasn't going to the bathroom for almost a week. The doctor gave me some medication and I'm starting to feel better now.
So Monday morning I was originally supposed to do a run race at 10:00am. Lea said I shouldn't do it but me being stuborn like I am went but I only did the 3km as I didn't think my stomach could hold out for anything longer at that point. After two whole days off of training because of my stomach I didn't know how I would feel but I wasn't to bad and I ran away from the 50 or so other people pretty fast and won the 3km by a good few minutes.
Today I'm feel even better, I think the medication is starting to kick in and I plan on getting some training in today and tomorrow will hopefully be back in full swing.
Don't forget to vote today!

This weekend was a lot of fun and we got a lot accomplished. The plan was to get the flooring that Lea's parents bought us for christmas installed but we had no idea how long it would take. Saturday morning Jack came over to help me instal the floor and Shaylin came with him and kept Lea busy all morning. I do have to thank Shaylin though for the nice pictures though. The floor went in really nice and smooth and after getting a good start on it Jack headed into town to watch Tayte in a race at Delki. This kid can fly and I know he's going to do great things in the future. While Jack was in town I went out for a run, nice and easy 13.5km. In the afternoon we got back to work and by about 5pm we were 2/3 done. Drew and Jose came over for supper and the roast we had put in the slow cooker was amazing. After supper my mom and Randy came over and we work some more on the floor.
Sunday I had to be at LU for 11:30am to coach so I left early and got in 90minutes on the bikes. On the way home I just biked straight home for another 40minutes as I had to meet my mom and Randy again to help finnish the floor. The floor got finnished and looks so good. It totally changes the rec room downstairs and tonight Lea and I are going to pick out the base board to finnish it off. While I was working on the floor on Sunday Lea went to this girls house that she works with and they printed all our wedding invites. They look really good and we will probably be starting to send them out in the near future.
Yesterday I did a swim the in the am with the club. My swimming feels so good and I know that I will be breaking some of my PB's this year. In the afternoon I did a 90minute bike and a 6km run after. Training is still going, I'm just going to try and not get sick like everything seems to be lately. This weekend I'm heading up to the cottage for thanksgiving but will be back for Monday for the Turkey Trott run. Hope everyone likes the pictures of Jack and I working on the floor and and then the floor all done. There's a nice shot of Tayte also running like the wind.

Here's a few pics from this weekends project and Tayte putting on a clinic over at Delki on Saturday. I'll blog more tomorrow because I'm off to bed now as 5am comes early for practice.

Training going good!

This week has been pretty low key for the most part. I've been putting in a lot of time putting together my new sponsorship proposal that Mark Simmons is helping me with. Mark is a great guy from Toronto who introduced me to the owner of Shot Crete Plus back in the spring who paid for my trip to Vancouver. Mark was a very successful boxer and qualified for the Olmpics in Sydney at the Olympic Trials in Mexico with a broken hand. He's a great guy and has been helping me out a lot!
My training has been going good this week. I've been getting in a lot of running which I think is good because I better be running fast in order to keep up with any of those guys I'm going to be racing in San Francisco. I checked out the results from last year and a few of the top guys in the race all were at the Olympics this past summer. I've also started swimming with the swim club again in the mornings. There's a good group of top guys there with about 5 of us and it can get pretty competitive at times which is good because it pushes us and we can't hold anything back. My swimming has been great all summer, right where I've wanted it to be and over the next month leading up to San Francisco this will get me swimming even faster. My new Devinci bike has been great also. That's going to be the part of the race that I'm the most nervous about just because I've never raced in a draft legal race before where I'll have guys inches from me at all times on the bike.
Well there doesn't seem to be much else that's new going on. Jack is coming over tomorrow morning to help Lea and I with the floor downstairs.

Never Stops

I guess it's been about a week since my last post....things have just been so busy lately I have barley anytime to sit down for 5minutes anymore. Training has been going good though, I've really started increasing my training to get ready for San Francisco.
Thursday and Friday last week I was in a training seminar for public speaking. I was asked earlier in the summer to be part of the Esteem Team http://www.esteemteam.com/ which is made up of high performance athletes from all over Canada and we go into as many of the schools as we can to talk and inspire kids. It's a really great program and I had so much fun during the two days of training. I now just have to finish working on my speech and then I will be going into the schools pretty soon.
My wetsuit that Xterra is giving me is going to be here tomorrow so I'm excited to try that out and I'm glad it's getting here now because it's starting to get pretty cold during the nights and it wont be long until the lakes are too cold.
Friday I drove up to the cottage just for the one night because Saturday I built a big deck on the front of one of our cottages. It's 8 feet wide and 46 feet long. Next summer my mom wants me to build a stairs coming off of it and a second level. Finishing the other cottage is coming along great and it's really starting to look good.
Like I said, training was good last week, yesterday I had a big day with a solid 5.5hours. In the morning I did an easy 75min. run and then I jumped right into the pool for another 75minutes of swimming with some fast 100's. Then I had a break while I coached the kids and then Drew, Jack and I went our for a 3hour ride with the winds from hell. We really pushed the pace for most of it and by the end I was totally spent. This morning I did a work out on the treadmill. By my last interval though I was getting pretty dizzy. I think I'm still feeling it from yesterday! Later I'm doing a swim up at LU at lunch time and the rest of the day will be spent recovering at work and then some nice steaks for supper that Lea's parents are bringing.
I think that's all for now...this week will be just more training, followed by some more training with a little bit a work between. This weekend I think we are going to be putting in our laminate floor down stairs so that will be another busy weekend.

Roofing not for me!

So it's been just over a week now since Muskoka 70.3 and I'm really feeling good. I can actually say I don't feel like I have anything wrong with me. I took Monday off after the race and then Tuesday I started with some active recouvery. The rest of the week went pretty much the same with some easy swim, bikes, and runs. Thursday night I went up to the cottage to begin replacing the shingles on the roof. My mom hired this old guy who lives up there to help because eventhough he's retired he still works 7 days a week building things for people. This guy is 68 years old and still carrying bundles of shingles up the ladder on his shoulder like they were a pillow. I don't even know how to describe this guy! So from Friday to Sunday we were able to remove all the old shingles, reshingle the whole roof, cut down a couple dead trees, and poor the footings for the new deck that I'm going back up to build on Saturday this weekend.
I got some good news yesterday when I got home...Triathlon Canada has approved my application for my International Competition Card based on my previous results to that I can start competing as a "Pro" internationally. My first race on the World Cup circuit will be November 8th in San Francisco.
So this week I will be back at it, training hard! I did a 1hour swim this morning doing some pace work with 200's, 100's and 50's. This afternoon I'm doing a one hour bike with a one hour easy run off the bike. It will be a solid first day back to the grind with an hour of each.
Xterra sent out my wetsuit today so I should have it in a couple of days to try out and if I like it then I will have a nice contract with Xterra Wetsuits.

What A Race!

This weekend was the Muskoka 70.3 Half Ironman held at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville. Drew and I drove down Friday afternoon to Hunstville, picked up our race kit and picked up a few things from the race expo. After that we went and checked into our hotel, unloaded the truck and I went out for a quick 30minutes on the bike. We then headed back over to Deerhurst for the pasta dinner for the athletes. The food was incredible!! Drew and I ate so much pasta and chicken! Then it was back to the hotel to rest and get some sleep.
Saturday morning we went to a bike store downtown that was having a sale and I got a hard shell bike case for my bike when I travel instead of the soft one that I have now. We then took our bikes over to the race site to check them into transition where they would stay overnight. After picking up some lunch it was back to the hotel room to rest some more before the rest of my family showed up at around 3pm. They did some shopping downtown and then we all went out for supper. When we got back to the hotel I got a really nice foot massage from my aunt and then it was bed time.
Race morning we were up at 4:30am to get some food in and start packing. We left at about 5:45 and there was a light mist of rain. We parked where we were told at the air strip and got our shuttle over to the race site. Drew and I got body marked, set up our transition and were ready to go. I was racing them race as an Age Grouper and not Pro as it was only my first Half Ironman ever. I was in the 5th wave with 6minutes between waves. From the start I pulled away very fast and by the first turn I was already passing people from the wave in front of me. I continued passing so many people and even had to slow down at some points. I came out of the water and looked up at the 300-400m run all UP hill to transition.
Out onto the bike now at only around 5km in my water bottle cage some how breaks off and I loose my water bottle. I thought to myself, "this better not be a sign of how the 94km bike is going to go". So I still had my aero bottle but I had to make sure I slowed down at each bottle exchange and pick up a new water bottle. I was kind of nervous of how the bike was going to go with my back pain that I've been getting while doing long rides. I've been going to see Dr. Stauber now at the Health Coach and he's been working on my back and I've seen some major improvements so far. He has been able to level out my hips because one was higher than the other and it was very noticeable when I would run and even looking at pictures from yesterday I look like I'm not running to one side now. And he's figured out that the lower part of my back is basically straight and has no curve at all and that's where my back pain is coming from. So we've been working on that and yesterday I definitely saw an improvement! So the rest of my bike was pretty normal...I was able to hold the exact same pace through out. I held back though on the bike because I didn't know what to expect and I know I still had a 21km run ahead of me. This bike and run coarse will definitely be known as one of the hardest courses of any half Ironman there is. I can even describe to you all the hills on both the bike and the run. I have never got out of my bike ring on the front while climbing hills before in races and other guys just can't understand how I do it and today was the first ever I've had to drop down to the little ring. So onto the run I felt great, my legs felt light and I seemed to be holding a good pace that would of put me at around a 1:25 half marathon. At about 12km though I started feeling that I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to stop though because I knew it would cost me a couple of minutes. I ran past one set of bathrooms and then another but then at about the 15km point I couldn't wait any longer and I ran into the bush, pulled down my race suit and well the rest I don't need to describe....So I ended up loosing at least 3minutes and I wasn't happy about that. Back on the run I found myself behind about 4 people that I had already passed. The last 5km though I was in pretty bad shape and really slowed down. I was only able to pass one of those people back again. I finally crossed the line and was so happy to be done. Having Lea and my family there was really good to see me finish my first Half Ironman. Everyone was congratulating me and kept telling me not to worry about my overall time that if I was on normal course it would of been at least 30minutes faster just because of how HARD this course was.
I was feeling pretty drained and week and it felt good to get some food in my stomach. I won my age group and was 29th overall. A couple of spots back of were I could of been if I didn't have to make that bathroom stop. So overall though not a bad first ever half ironman and the fastest swim split of the day by almost 2minutes over the best from all over the World. We stuck around for the awards and I got a really nice trophy. When I got home last night I went on trhe computer to check my e-mails and I have this email from Xterra Wetsuits. I thought it was just some promotional junk mail but I opened it anyways and it was this guy from Xterra Wetsuits saying congrates and my race and an amazing swim and if I don't already have a wetsuit sponsor that they would like to sponsor me. I couldn't believe it!! I don't even know how he got my email address and yes I had the fastest swim but he could of picked any of those guys like the winner and World Champion at that distance from Australia Craig Alexander.
Well overall it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again and next time I will be racing as a Pro now that I know that I can at the Half Ironman distance. I'm just at work now but I'll get some pictures up later tonight when I get home.

Productive Weekend

It was great not to be on call this weekend and be able to get a whole bunch of things done. Saturday I picked up Drew and Jesse and went to Moores and we got measured for our suits for the wedding. While we were doing that Lea took Molly and Josee to a dress store to pick out their brides maids dresses. It all seems to be getting more real now that everyone in the wedding party has what they are wearing except for Sig who doesn't know yet and I'm surprising him after work today when I take him to go get sized.
After that Lea and I went to Rona and after shopping around we finally found the flooring we wanted for the basement and Lea's parents bought it for us as our Christmas present so we are supper excited. After that we went out for Sushi with Drew, Josee and the kids and then we hurried to get home so I could get a short bike in before it got dark.
Sunday was a busy day again with a hilly 10km run in the am and then it was out for the day again for Lea and I. I found a new pillow at Sears, got some groceries, picked up the second half of the flooring and stopped at Staples to get some pricing on invites for the wedding. After all that it was off to the pool for a 1 hour swim. Busy, busy weekend!
This week will be spent just getting myself ready for this weekends 1/2 ironman in Muskoka. I will be tapering a little bit, figuring out what I'm going to be taking with me on the bike for nutrition and a visit to the chiropractors to see if we can figure out this lower back pain that I only seem to get after about 2hours on the bike.
Swimming starts this week also, so I will be coaching with the swim club now as well. Other than all that it should be a pretty normal week...looking forward to tonight with Sig though!

Another Weekend On Call

So this past weekend was my last weekend on call for the summer for the fire department and it's to bad it had to be this weekend because without a doubt it was the nicest weekend of the whole summer! I don't think I saw a cloud all weekend and it was in the high 20's. Even though I was on call I was able to get some good training in, work around the house and catch up with an old friend.
Friday I did a swim at LU with the main set of 6x300 @4:00 holding under 3:30. My swimming in the pool is feeling awesome and I can't wait to race this winter in the pool at a couple of meets. I really want to get a best time in the 1500 before since the last time I went 16:20 was when I was 15 and other than that the closest I ever came was in University when I went 16:22 at OU's so this year I know I can do it. After my swim I did a 40minute run outside then straight onto the treadmill for 5x1minute at 12mph with one minute recovery and then a cool down for for a good 60minutes in total. Later that evening I went out on the bike for a 75minute spin. Overall a great day of training with about 3.5hours. Saturday I took the whole day off and got some work done around the house.
We bought a pressure washer that was 50% off at Crappy Tire and we pressure washed the deck. After we were done that we went to Home Hardware and picked out a stain to put on the deck. It's a dark color that they "Twig" but yesterday I got half the deck done and i think it looks pretty good.
Sunday I did a 1.5 hour ride on my little loop around the fire hall that never puts me more than 2km from the hall in case I got a call I could get there fast enough. When I got home Lea was ready with her bike to pace me while I did a run off the bike. I did just over 10km but it was HOT out and I was glad that she had a water bottle. Later in the evening I did my usual 2km run up to Meat Bird Lake for a swim and then 2km run back home. It works out good because I can use the run there as a warm, get in a good swim and then I run Hard on the way home while Lea drives in her car with my pager...just in case. Another good day of training logged.
Monday was another just over 10km run with one of my clients who is training for a 1/2 marathon at the end of October. Then I did another 1.5hours on the bike of hill work. I've found a good spot again not too far from the fire hall with a good climb, flattens out for about 30 seconds and then you go down the other side, turn around and repeat...and repeat. So after doing that a few times I was feeling the burn in my legs which was a good sign. I've doing all my riding lately on my new bike and I just love it. It's so smooth and it absorbs all the bumps I feel like I'm riding in a car.
Last night my best friend from high school Jesse and hid girlfriend came over for supper. The four of us had a really good time and spent a few hours just talking and getting caught up. They brought this fruit cake dessert that was really good also that I'm going to have to get the recipe for.
So eventhough I was on call this weekend, a lot got accomplished and it was a really good weekend overall.

Welcome Fuzz to the family

So here are some of the pictures from the Beaton last weekend of my sister Molly and I and also a picture of Fuzz....our new ginnie pig that Lea decided to bring home as a pet. I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet, it's definetely an interesting creature. Anyways I'm off to bed, I had a really big day of training and I'm pretty tired but I should have time tomorrow to write a better post and let everyone know what's new and exciting. Oh and before I forget a big congrates to Drew, Donna, and Lise for completing the Ironman yesterday in Ottawa. Way to go guys!!!

Beaton pics

Beaton Classic

So Sunday was the Beaton Classic that was held again this year at Moonlight Beach. I had to take desperate measures to find someone to canoe for me so I asked my sister...she said she would do it but has never been in a canoe by herself before so two days before the race off we went out to the lake where I used to live in Skead to practice. We were using my old neighbours canoe from when I used to live out there and first it was picking which one she wanted to use since he has three of them. Once she was out on the water though it didn't take long and she was getting the hang of it! So Sunday morning it was really nice out, not to hot but there was a big of a wind just to make things interesting. Last year the bike was up through the conservation area so you had to use a mountain bike so everyone assumed it was the same this year so I show up with a mountain bike and they tell us of ya, changed the bike route and it's now on the road. So Lea rushed home to get my road bike and just made it back in time for the start. My swim was good, bike was alright except that the road we were using is very rough so dogging and slowing down to avoid and big bumps or holes in the road so it was hard to get a good steady speed going. Then it was the canoe and Molly did awesome, she stayed right on coarse the whole way and kept our lead. We had at least a 5minute lead and I only had to do a 5km run and I felt good again on the run so it would of been nice to have someone to push me. It's definitely not a flat run and some good sharp hills and I ran a 18:20 so it wasn't to bad. It was a fun race and I'm glad I could do it with my sister. Thank you to Sig for helping out and letting us use your canoe! Not to much else is new, I did a quick trip up to the cottage after the race to take some measurements of the roof as we will be redoing it in a few weeks after my race in Muskoka. This week is going to be another big week of training getting ready for the half ironman. Lea got some nice pictures from Sunday of my siter and I so I'll try and get those up soon.

What a race!!

What an amazing race that was the other night watching Simon playing with the other guys on the run and wait for the right time. It was an incredible performance and it's good to see that out of a fellow Canadian.
I've been training hard the past few days all around 4hours each day. Yesterday I picked up my new Devinci bike and did my first ride on it this morning. I went out with Drew and we went out to Skead, overall it was a good 2.5 hours and I was pretty spent by the end. On my way back after I left Drew I was coming down Bancroft and I had my head down for a second and all I hear is this loud BANG! I look up and there's this guy going flying over his handle bars of his motorcycle after running into the back of a car. The bike landed on top of him so I right away stopped and called 911 while I lifted the bike off of him. He should be alright with only a couple broken bones hopefully. It was a good ride though other than that and I love my new bike. I'm still getting used to different handling of a road bike vs a tri bike but the SRAM components were really nice. Later is a hard swim in the pool and it will be another solid 4hour day.
This weekend is the Beaton Classic here in Sudbury and I'm still looking for someone to do the paddle part otherwise I'm going to end up having to do it and I'd prefer not to just in case I was to pull anything in my upper body. My swimming is just going so good right now I'd hate to have to take a few days off because of a pulled muscle or anything. Anyways not to much else new, just trying to get lots of training in around work and still enjoy a little bit of this nice weather we are finally getting.

A couple BIG thank yous

So there's a few people that have been great lately and I owe a big thank you to. First there's Robin a BioPed here in Sudbury who I went I to see on Thursday for some orthotics for my feet. He said he wants to help me out and I'm getting an awesome pair of orthotics that were molded to my feet and a new pair of running shoes. I'm so lucky that Robin is doing this for me because that would of been hundreds of $$$. THANK YOU Robin and BioPed!! I'll let you know how they feel when I pick them up this week.
My second thank you goes to Adrian at Pinnacle Sports and Devinci for my new road bike that should be in on Monday that I can't wait to get. It looks like a sweet ride and thank you to Adrian and Devinci for knocking some big bucks off of that for me.
My third thank you goes out to someone really far away in the town of Nacogdoches, Texas. Bruce Partain who is the President/CEO of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce sent me a message a few weeks ago about one of my blogs when I said I helped out at the Blueberry festival here in Sudbury that my sister Molly was running. It turns out that he is in charge of the Blueberry festival down there and just came across my blog through some Google search of Blueberry festivals or something like that. He asked if he could send me some T-Shirts that I got in the mail this week, one for me and one for my sister. They are awesome and I wore mine of Thursday. I'm a huge Texas Long Horns fan so pretty much anything from Texas is cool. But the shirts look awesome and it was really nice of Bruce to do that. Thank you!
Training has been going good this week. I've been putting in some good hours all around. Those swim workouts that I've been doing are killing me though. On Wednesday I did a hard treadmill workout of with some intervals, my last one was 45seconds at 14.3 Yesterday I a 2.5 hour ride with Drew, 1 hour swim and 1 hour run. I pretty much died on the run, I think I was just over tired and was feeling exhausted. I'm on call this weekend again for the Fire Department so today will just be spent relaxing and doing some work around the house and as a recovery day. Lea is gone all weekend to a resort near Huntsville with her parents. I'll have to get everything done around the house that she doesn't want me doing before she gets back. Anyways today will probably just be a recovery run and then tomorrow I have a bike ride in the AM and then a hard swim later in the day once I'm done being on call.
Again thank you to all those people who I mentioned above, I really appreciate all that you've done!

Not a good start to the week

So today I'm at work teaching a Bronze Med class when someone tells me I have a phone call and it's an emergency...Lea was in a car accident after she left work today and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Someone talking on their cell phone wasn't paying attention ran into the back of her while she was stopped waiting for the person in front of her to turn. She's going to be alright, I think just really sore and shook up. There's no serious injuries luckily.

So this weekend we went to New Liskeard for a little triathlon with Drew and his family as well. It was raining when we left Sudbury but stopped on the way so we thought we would be alright until literally 5minutes from the race site it just started to poor!! It never let up after that and we raced in the poring rain. It made for an interesting bike as there were some technical parts to the course. I was pretty cold to start the race, no wet suit. My arms felt heavy but I still came out of the water with a good lead. I was frozen on the bike though and never really warmed up and my legs felt really tight. I the run was going to be the same way but as I left transition I felt amazing and I just kept going. I know I said that I ran good in Timmins a month ago and I haven't raced since then but but my run didn't even compare to that. It was one of those runs where you wished you had someone on your heals to push you even more because you knew you had so much more in the tank and I just could of kept going at the finish. It was an awesome feeling and I'm looking forward to upcoming races. Drew was 3rd in the same race. Lea raced also and was the top female in her race. She has been training hard the past month and I'm very proud of how she did especially in the crappy conditions.

After the race it was off to the cottage for some relaxing. It was great to see Bonnie and Mark, never get to see them enough. The weather continued all weekend though which sucked. I got to try out there new turbo engine sea doo. I went out on Saturday with Bonnie on it and I wasn't even at 3/4 throttle and we were doing 67mile/hour. Sunday morning I went out before breakfast for a 75minute easy run while Lea got some more sleep. We played lots of games, don't think I won any and then between thunderstorms Lea and I got out for some water skiing. Lea did awesome, up on her second try and I think the picture of me is cool as I'm finishing coming into the dock I sprayed the guys standing on the dock. oopps

So I have just over a month now before my 70.3 half Ironman so I said to myself enough is enough and it's time to really start training. I pulled out swim workouts I had written down from 2003 training camp in Florida and can't believe how hard I used to swim. So yesterday and today I did two of them and today at the end of the main set I threw up a little bit in my mouth. I definitely wasn't ready to hit it that hard right away but that's ok and I'll get through them. Yesterday I did a 60minute spin on the bike and today was a hard bike with 2x30minutes at race pace effort with 10minute recovery between.

Well I'm off to watch some of the swimming on TV and then it will be off to bed again for a good nights sleep.

Pics from the weekend

Had an awesome weekend of racing and relaxing at the cottage. Here are a couple of pictures from the race of Lea and I and of us water skiing. I'll write more tomorrow while I'm at work when I have more time as now I'm off to bed for some much need rest.

Short but Long Week

Isn't it funny how whenever we get a short week because of a holiday that the week feels even longer....I don't know why but the weekend just never seemed to get here this week. My training was good this week. I got a swim in everyday so I was really happy about that. Two big runs, one on Monday and the other on Wednesday with one of the other trainers that I work with. We dropped off his sister's car in Garson and then ran back to the Y. I got a flat on my rear wheel on Tuesday but it was a slow sleek because I didn't notice it while I was riding. It turned out to be a staple that I must of run over and was stuck in my tire. So on Wednesday I spent the morning stretching a new tire and glueing that on. Thursday was a 90minute easy spin except that the easy part was missing. It was raining pretty hard for most of the ride and just couldn't get into any kind of grove. This weekend Lea and I are of to New Liskeard for a race. After the race we are going to cross over into Quebec and make out way to my cottage from there to spend the rest of the weekend. Hopefully the rain holds off for the race and we can have a nice relaxing weekend at the cottage.

It looks like I'm going to be getting my first ever road bike from Devinci thanx to some sponsorship from them. It looks like a sweet set up and I can't wait for it to come in. It's a full carbon frame with the new SRAM components.

Good luck to Billy and Peter who are doing the Kids of Steel Race in Barrie this weekend along with Lise and Ken who are doing the tri. I'll try and get some good pics of the race this weekend...more so of Lea since it's a rare occasion that I can actually get some pics of her racing. Good luck to all the Canadian's over in China, kick some US butt!

Terry Fox Van and a Good Long Weekend

Last Thursday we went down to Bell Park for a few minutes to see the Terry Fox Van that Ford had completely re-done. It was really cool to see and there were some awesome pictures of him inside as well and the shoes he used to do his in. We made a little donation and got a bite to eat and we were on our way.

Friday I had a good day of training. The focus was on the swim with and a bike before and a run afterwards. The swim was a 1000m warm up and the main set was 20x100Fr @1:15 holding 1:10 and then a cool down. For my bike I went from work up to Delki and did some intervals on the track. After about 30km on the track it was time to head back to work for a bit so in total it was about a 40km ride. My run I hooked up with Jack and we ran along Ramsey that lasted about 45minutes. In all it was a good day of training for about 3hours total.

This weekend I was on call for the Fire Department starting Friday night at 6pm and goes until today at 6pm. So I wasn't able to leave Lively all weekend so it made it tricky for training but I got paid $400 just for staying here. Saturday was kind of a rest day for me. All I did for training was a run up to Meat Bird lake with a short 1200m swim and then run back home. It made for a nice easy 45minutes in total. Sunday I got in a bit more training. In the am I did a bike workout where biked over to the Fire Department and then from there I would go 2km in one direction and then 2km in the other. So a loop worked out to 8km. I had to be creative because I had my pager with me and if it went off I would never be more than 2km from the hall and I could sprint over and be there in about 3minutes. So I did a few loops, a couple of them at race pace and then biked home. When I got home I went out with Lea for her 40minute run. So that was nice to get all the lactic acid out of the legs. In the afternoon I did the same thing as Saturday where I ran up to Meat Bird but I did a bit longer of a swim, 2000m and then run back. This time though I did my run there and back hard at about 3:30/km pace. Today is even a bigger day of training. After breakfast this morning I went out for a run and Lea paced me on her bike. I did 60minutes averaging 3:45/km pace. It was hot out also because we slept in and I was running right around noon so I was feeling it on the way back. In a little bit once I'm done being on call I'm biking in to LU for the open swim from 7-9 to get a good swim workout in.

We did a bit more work around the house this weekend. Cut the grass...it groes like crazy! We put up a couple pictures and a big mirror, stained the front porch and I worked on my personal project....over top of my work bench down stairs I put up a sheet of plywood and I hung all my medals, trophies, ribbins, race numbers and all that sort of stuff from all my years of swimming and now triathlon. I think it looks really cool and it's something I've always wanted to do once I owned my own house and I did it!

Time Trial and Training

So yesterday was my first ever time trial on the bike. It was a 20km TT out on Valley View Road. I wasn't sure how I was going to do and how my legs would feel after four days off after my crash but I went out anyways with a positive attitude and just wanted to do my best under the circumstances. Right before we started it looked like we were going to get a good down pour but it held off for the whole TT. It was a learning experience for me how it worked, we all started 1minute apart and they placed everyone from slowest to fastest. There was about 15 riders there and they placed me second last to go with only Mike Hay behind me. I got off to a good start and felt like I had some power in the legs in the first few km's. I could see I was making up some time on the rider in front of me. I caught him just after the turn around at around 11km. Drew was next rider in front of me after that but he had a 2minute lead and I couldn't see him until almost the end so I ended up riding the second half of the race pretty much by myself with no one in front to chase. My right calf, the leg I feel on cramped up with only about 1km to go so I had to kind of stretch that out while I kept going. My time ended up being 30:08 which works out to averaging 40km/h so that wasn't too bad with the turn around and one good hill with a couple other rollers. Ryan beat me though by 10 seconds. I really would of liked to have had someone pushing me or people in front of me that I could chase down. I guess I can't complain too much after taking 4 days off with no training at all. It was a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to the next one. Jack come out with Lea and I and also had a really good TT. Afterwards we went out with Jack and Hayden to East Sides for supper.
Today my legs felt fine after yesterday which was good so this am I went out for my first real run since my rash. I did 60minutes at just kind of a steady pace. I felt "ok". I definitely felt slower than usual. I still have a bit of swelling on my leg so hopefully that will be gone soon and I'll be back running like I was. This afternoon I'm biking into town to do a swim at the beach with Lea when she's done work. After that we're going to Bell Park because today Terry Fox's brother is there doing a fundraising BBQ with the original van that he spent 6years tracking down that they used when Terry was running across Canada. He had it all fixed up and back in running condition and turned the inside into kind of a museum about Terry Fox and is going across Canada again raising money for cancer. It's really amazing how much money has been raised over the years for cancer because of what this one man started.
Anyways this weekend will be pretty low key for Lea and I, it's my weekend to be on call for the fire department so I have to stay in Lively. I'm sure most people from Sudbury have heard about the accident that happened here in Lively the other night were the 17year old girl was killed. I was at that accident and it's really sad that people don't learn that drinking and driving kills. It's too bad you can't bring all the people who choose to drink and drive to an accident like that to show them what happens all to often and what her body looked like in her upside down car.
Well tonight it should be interesting to see the Terry Fox van and maybe get some cool pictures. Well I better get some stuff done now around the house on my day off before Lea comes home tonight and I'm in be trouble...

"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".

Good party but now back to buisness

Like to thank everyone who made it yesterday and for everything they brought. Lea and I appreciated everything very much and it was just nice to spend some time and see everyone. The food was great and I definitely ate way to much especially with not doing any training because of my leg. I think I enjoyed my days off a little too much and pack on a few pounds from all that good food. That beer chicken on the BBQ that Lea and I had on Saturday was one of my favorites I think.
So Dr. Therriault convinced me to go into the hospital yesterday morning to have her check out my leg and make sure there was no dirt left in it. Just in case anyone doesn't know how much I hate hospital, well it's probably the last place I would ever want to be. Like I pass out from needles pretty much. So agreed to go in and let her LOOK at it. So it was alright, she only picked at my scabs a little bit and said everything looked alright from what she could see so I guess I must of cleaned it pretty good.
Today is my first day back at it. My leg is still a bit sore and bruised so I only did about a 75minute bike this morning and I'm going to try out the pool later after work. I think running will still be another couple of days so it will be a lot of biking and swimming as much as I can for now.

My leg...need I say more

Hackett still has it

Being a long distance swimmer in swimming myself I looked up to probably the best 800m FR and 1500m FR swimmer of all time Grant Hackett of Australia. He went undefeated in the 1500m FR from 1996 until the 2007 at the World Championships. This article shows how he's swimming faster than ever now leading up to the Olympics and will make for some fast swimming in another couple weeks.

Grant Hackett Crushes 800 Free World Record Over Short Course:

Grant Hackett downed his seven-year-old world record in the men's 800 freestyle over short course meters at the Victorian Championships.
Hackett ripped off a time of 7:23.42 to eclipse is previous record of 7:25.28 set in Perth, Australia on Aug. 3, 2001.

Here is a comparison of the splits: 2008: 25.39, 52.92 (27.53), 1:20.76 (27.84), 1:48.55 (27.79), 2:16.47 (27.92), 2:44.62 (28.15), 3:12.83 (28.21), 3:41.02 (28.19), 4:08.99 (27.97), 4:37.22 (28.23), 5:05.43 (28.12), 5:33.75 (28.32), 6:01.92 (28.17), 6:30.09 (28.17), 6:57.29 (27.20), 7:23.42 (26.13)
2001: 25.05, 52.68 (27.63), 1:20.67 (27.99), 1:48.78 (28.11), 2:16.92 (28.14), 2:45.19 (28.27), 3:13.46 (28.27), 3:41.84 (28.38), 4:09.95 (28.11), 4:38.33 (28.38), 5:06.65 (28.32), 5:35.01 (28.36), 6:03.02 (28.01), 6:30.91 (27.89), 6:58.56 (27.65), 7:25.28 (26.72) Hackett also topped the men's 400 free in a near-world record time of 3:35.16. He owns the standing global record of 3:34.58 set in 2002 in Sydney.

Those splits are unreal!! He's slowest 100m split is like 56seconds! I was never a sprinter by any means but my fastest 100m FR ever was a 56 and that was only one of them not 8 in a row....

Going down hard!

Yesterday the plan was to go out for my bike ride and get my workout in and then when I got back I was going to go out with Lea for her bike ride because she doesn't like going out on the highway yet by herself. So my bike ride went awesome, I was doing some short time trials at all out effort and I was feeling so excited because I've never felt this good and this fast on my bike. I got back home and picked Lea up and we started out and about 10minutes in if that I was watching her and how she was riding and I stopped paying attention to the road in front of me for a second and next thing I know I'm flying through the air. There was a little chunk of pavement missing and I much of hit that and lost control. My bike went flying out from under me and I landed hard on my right hip. I landed in the gravel and I knew right away that it was going to be hell cleaning it up. I only got one little cut on my hands, guess I didn't get them out in front me fast enough to brake my fall. I got a good one on my for arm but the majority of the damage is on my leg. It starts about halfway up my calf and runs all the way up to my hip. the whole section of my leg got cut and scrapped pretty bad but the worst of it is definitely my hip. My hip swelled up pretty good, looked like it was sticking out about an inch at least. Last night I think once the shock wore off I could start to feel the pain throughout my hip and not just where it was cut. When I got home I sat on the side of bath tub wondering how I was going to clean this. I refused to go to the hospital and let them scrub it. I'm a baby when it comes to stuff like that! I pass out when I get needle... So I just took a wash cloth and ran it under cold water and would place it on one part of my body, let the burning go down a bit then try and wash and scrub away as much of the dirty as I could. While I was doing this Lea went up to the drug store just up the street to see if they had anything that I could use to clean it with but wouldn't sting. she gets back and the first thing she tells me is the pharmacist is a biker also and the first thing he ask was is my bike ok?! Who cares if I'm alright...just worry about the bike. Any yes for everyone who is wondering I think the bike will be alright. Or is that a bad thing because if it was broken well then that would be horrible because then I would have to get a new one. Wasn't that your excuse Drew?! Anyways I'm still alive and will hopefully mend quickly.
I was reading the blog of James Loaring a Pro triathlete from southern Ontario who has been racing on the world cup circuit for a few years now and came across his race report for Muskoka and this is what he had to say about the beginning of the race..."The gun finally went off and immediately it was a very fast opening pace that reminded me of an ITU race (thanks to Buddy Green who is a sub-16 minute 1500m swimmer). " I had a little chuckle after I read this because it definitely was a fast pace that I set and those two guys who were able to hang on to my feet and draft me for the whole 2000m swim right until the end were I pulled ahead a bit can thank later.
So not much else is new, still painting and getting a few things done around the house. We're looking forward to having a few friends and family over on Sunday for the BBQ. Maybe tonight I can get Lea to take a picture of my battle wounds and I can put a pic up of the damage. Hopefully I'll be back training very soon, I'm thinking Monday and for the weekend I'll get some good rest and I'll do some tubing instead of swimming.

"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down."