Buddy Green - Swim, Bike, Run, Breath

New Website

2010-06-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

For everyone who supports me and takes the time to read my blog please from now on go to my new website. http://buddygreen.ca/ There's still lots of stuff that has to be added to it but for now there's a few things and you can continue to follow me on my new blog.

Lasalle Hall of Fame

2010-05-31T15:31:00.001-07:00

New Pace Clock? Happy Anniversary!

2010-05-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

I think I better start this one off by saying Happy 1 year Anniversary to Lea! I can't believe that it's already been a year since we got married. This year has seemed to just fly by with everything that has happened.
So for the past 3 years and a bit I've been doing all of my swimming out of the YMCA pool where I work. It's just been the easiest since I'm already there and I don't have to pay anything. The only thing is though that the pool is only a 20m pool and there's been no pace clock. So to do a 100m's I have to do 5 lengths instead of 4 or 200m's I have to do 10 instead of 8. That hasn't been the end of the world even though I am training long distance and the shorten lengths aren't ideal. Then the no pace clock has meant that I have to judge how fast I'm going just by feel. Lucky for me the years of swimming have given me a good idea but doing sets on a pace time has been almost impossible other than the few times I've managed to get Lea away from her work for a few minutes while I'm swimming to use a stop watch and tell me when to go each time. So I'm happy to say that last week after over 3 years of asking I finally have a pace clock that I can use!! It was like x-mas in May! So with this I must say that I'm pretty happy that I've been able to stay one of the best swimmers in the sport when most people have either a 25m or 50m pool, training partners, pace clocks, coaches writing practices...etc.

Lasalle Secondary honours former student-athletes

2010-05-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ten former Lasalle Secondary students are being honoured for their athletic achievements at the first-ever Lancer Sport Hall of Fame ceremony.At 7 p.m. on May 26, former Lasalle Secondary School student-athletes, who have played for the national program or have been all-Canadian or all-American in their respective sports, will be honoured.The athletes being honoured at this ceremony include:
Brady Bolan (basketball)
Tessa Bonhomme (hockey)
Paul Boyce (basketball)
Rob Esmie (track and field)
Buddy Green (triathlon- swimming/running)
Brad Hann (basketball)
Norm Hann (basketball)
Lisa Labrecque (Oullet) (cross country/track and field)
Kristine Lalondde (basketball)
Al Lekun (football

Happy Birthday Molly!

2010-04-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

A BIG Happy Birthday to my little sister Molly!! It was nice to have her over for supper last night to celebrate her birthday. We had a really nice supper thanks to our good friend Sig who brought over steak and shrimp for the BBQ!
The swim meet on the weekend went really good...my kids swam great! It's kind of funny to see a 10 year old swimming as fast as some of the "elite" triathletes. They have another swim meet this week here in Sudbury again. This is a big one for them with about 500 swimmers coming!
I got some good news yesterday when I found out that the Y were I do most of my swimming will be getting a pace clock. I've had to make due without one for a long time now. Thank god for all my years of swimming and being able to 30x50's at pace all within .5 of a second. It's helped because I can pretty much tell how fast I'm swimming just by feel. Sometimes I have someone on deck timing me but regardless I'm pretty excited about the pace clock!

Old Man Winter

2010-04-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

We've seemed to have got one more blast of winter. Just as everything was starting to turn green and the flowers were coming out in the gardens we get dumped on with two full days of ice and snow. Last week I was wearing shorts, biking in nothing but my bike shorts and jersey for 3-4 days and yesterday and today I'm wearing my winter coat into work. It looks like starting tomorrow the temperatures are going back up and it should melt pretty quick which is a good thing.
I was asked my friends of ours this week if I will take their son to the Hedley concert here in Sudbury on Monday. I can't say I'm a huge fan but I'm sure it will still be fun.
Today was pretty much a day off for with just an easy 30min spin indoors on the bike and a 1500m easy swim right after. The pool was already pretty busier than usual when I got in but I was able to swim without any floaters bothering me. I don't know why but people just kept coming in and really don't understand why someone who already has a hard time swimming would want to get in right beside me when they would they could go in another lane with other people who are doing a form of side stroke. Then you get the ones who try and keep their hair out out of the water so that they don't have to redo it afterwards. Today was just one of those days in the pool and all I wanted to do was swim for less than 20minutes and get out!
On a different note I'm having a beard growing contest with one of my students at school. We let it grow for a week so that it was long enough and then everyday we have to do something different to it and then the person who comes to school without changing it to what we agreed on the previous day is the loser. Today was only day two of changing it so we'll see how long it goes for. I have a feeling though he's going to win because I'm already getting tired of it but it does make for a few laughs every morning.
Tomorrows plan is a 75min swim followed by an easy run after I get out of the pool and then weights. Then Sunday is a big 4.5 hour brick before the swim meet.

Damn Cold

2010-04-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

Last week I was having a great week of training until about Thursday when I started to cough. It wasn't too bad at first and I decided that I would still do a workout Friday morning before leaving for North Bay to visit my aunt and uncle for Easter who just returned from Florida. By the time I got to North Bay my cough was much worse and I had a hard time sleeping that night. I ended up taking all of Saturday and Sunday off because I knew my body needed it and training would of only made things worse. I'm feeling much better now and yesterday was a double run with a swim in between. My visit in North Bay was really nice like always! I always enjoy getting to see them whenever we have a chance.
I'd like to say congrates to my best friend Jesse who decided to call me while I was sleeping last week to tell me that he's been accepted into teachers college. Now he has to decide which school he's going to go to by the 15th. Not much time to decide I think!
Through work we are planning a weekend triathlon camp in June. It's sounding like its going to be a lot of fun staying at the camp, training and helping others learn the ropes of the triathlon world.
My sister's birthday is in about week and she's going to be 21! I can't believe how old she's getting...it seems like just yesterday we were kids playing in a tree fort or swimming in the lake. I need to think of something for her b-day quick cause I'm running out of time!
This early spring has been great for getting outside for biking earlier than we are used to. This week looks like rain for most of the week but after that right back to run and temperatures in the low teens which is great for training. I find it funny though to see some cyclist dressed like it's still winter out. I passed a group of them last week and the only thing extra I had on were some arm warmers and all 8 or so of them had jackets, pants, booties over their shoes...I had a good little chuckle as I rode past them.
This week will just be getting back to 100% healthy again and getting my training back up. This weekend there's a Top Fish swim meet for the little kids in town that will be a lot of fun. It's always really cute to watch the 4 year olds compete for the first time doing their 25 Fr and 25 kick.

A little extra motivation

2010-03-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last Friday came and went just like every other day. Thanks to some help I'm starting to realize that it's a time to remember the good times and not so much the negatives of the day itself. Thursday night last week we had a really nice supper with some close friends at our place. On the weekend Lea went to North Bay for a funeral so it gave me the chance to hang out with my best friend Jesse for a few hours Sunday evening.
Training has been going really good this past week. I'm feeling really strong in all three individual sports. I think I have to credit that to just being healthy the past month since Ottawa and I've also started adding in some weights to my training and I can already feel a difference. In doing so it's also made me realize something pretty scary that although my shoulder feels 100% when I do certain arm exercises I can right away see the difference in strength and stability between the two. It's a work in progress though and even though I thought it was back to full strength I've found out otherwise.
I've been getting in some longer runs lately 15-21km's. Last night was a really good 7km tempo in 24:10. Biking has been a ton of fun lately since being able to do all my rides outside. Some of the better sets I've done in the pool over the past week have been:
4x500 Paddle @6:30 holding between 5:50-5:55
5x400 @5:15 D1-5 from 4:55-4:28
6x200 @2:30 2xP/PDD 2xP 2xswim all under 2:20
20x100 @1:20 1xFr 1xFly
The extra motivation towards my training has come from some of the change in feelings I've had towards my dads death. Also things have just been going really good lately and I've been finding that I'm just happier and very excited about whats to come this summer. Tomorrow is also a big day and we will be getting some pretty big news tomorrow evening!

Five Long but Short Years

2010-03-18T07:14:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow marks the Five year anniversary of my dad's car accident where he was taken from all of us way too early. It's been kind of a tough week to say the least. I've only been up for about two hours now and already this morning I've found myself in tears over pretty stupid things as my emotions seems to be running wild. It's hard to think that it's already been five years and yet looking back at those five years so many things have happened. Unfortunately so many of those great things that have happened in my life and those that were close to him I've wished he had been there for. He was truly someone I looked up to and I try and mirror so many of his characteristics. He was the best dad to my sister and I and I can't wait to be the same to my child. He supported my sister and I to the best that he could in everything and was our biggest fan. Dad we miss you from the bottom of our hearts but you are in a better place now and there isn't anyone more suited to be up there looking over us. I love you.

Sunday Long Run

2010-03-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Training has been going really good this past week. I've been getting in some good workouts all around and I finished off the week today with my first bike ride of the season outside. It's hard to believe that there has been people riding for at least a week now outside but I decided to give it a little bit longer just to let some of the salt and sand wash away so that I didn't have to completely clean my bike after getting home. This afternoon I met up with my friend Jocelyn that I was talking about who I'm helping train for a marathon and we ran one loop of her course for a good 21km's. The wind though today was really bad, almost stopping us dead in our tracks once. We got it done though and after a little stretch it was time to get some fuel in the old body.
This week I have off from teaching in the mornings at the high school as it's March break this week. It will give me a chance to work on a few other things around the house and put in a big week of training!
I'm still waiting to hear back from the meet manager if they will take my short course times for a long course meet at the end of the month which is the 10km open water world championship qualifier. I'm hoping they do because I feel pretty good in the pool right now and I've always wanted to do just an open water swim where I don't have to bike and run afterwards so why not start with 10km!

Opps...I guess I'm way over due!

2010-03-09T19:49:00.000-08:00

So after getting crap from just about everyone for not posting for so long I figured I'd get my butt in gear and get something up. I think this was my longest stretch since I started blogging that I haven't post anything.
Things have been going great the past month, I've been keeping crazy busy with just about everything!! After coming back from Florida I was feeling great in training and I went to a swim meet in Ottawa. For some reason though I didn't swim the way I wanted! A few things contributed to my poor performance but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I came away from the weekend learning some new things that will only make me faster in the long run so it wasn't a total waste of time. The best part about the weekend was that I got to spend my time that I wasn't at the pool with my grandma. She is 86 years old and anytime I get to spend with her is very special. She's one of the few relatives I have left and I think about her a lot especially since on the 19th will be 5 years since I lost my dad who was her son.
It's a rough time right now with a lot of memories that come back. I'm just trying to stay positive and spend some time with my little sister who isn't so little anymore and other close friends!
Working at the high school the past month has been great! It's been a totally different experience and I'm loving every minute of it. I've also been working with someone I met at the Y who was looking at running a 1/2 marathon in May but since I've started working with her we've decided that she's going to run the full marathon. Jocelyn is a supper hard worker and she's been doing great with all of her workouts. She's really dedicated and has gone from never running a 1/2 before to running the full in about a month and a half. I'm supper excited for her and I'll be running the second half of the marathon with her on race day just to push her a little!
I might be heading to Quebec in a few weeks for another swim meet. The World Open Water Championships is there this summer and they are having the trials for it in a couple weeks but even though its been really nice out lately we still cant swim in the lake anytime soon so we are going to have to do 10km in the pool! I'm a little scared about swimming a 10km race in a pool...not too sure what I'm getting myself into but either way it will be another great experience.
Today I had a photo shoot at the mall for their upcoming add campaigns. It was a lot of fun! Brenda is a great person and I love working with her. There was about a dozen different people there for the shoot and we took so many pictures!! I got some taken with my bike though which will be really cool.
So since I've been getting harassed about my blog lately I will be posting more often so stay tuned for more regular updates.

Long Weekend

2010-02-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'm back home now but I'm not to sure about this cold weather. I guess it's good for the Pond Hockey Tournament this weekend on Ramsey Lake. I will be there Saturday morning for a few hours helping out as a member of the Skate Exchange Committee. We will be giving out used skates that we've collected throughout the year to those who need them. This is our 5th Skate Exchange this winter and we've already given out hundreds of skates to families.
This weekend being family day weekend is free ice fishing so after coaching Lea and I are planning on heading out to Skead where I used to live and do a bit of ice fishing for the afternoon.
Before I went away to Florida I had been going in to the Lively High School every morning and working with a couple students who will be doing their co-op with the YMCA as a "trainer". I had a meeting with the teachers at the high school today and it looks like everything is good and we will be starting on Tuesday for their official co-op. I will be spending the first two periods of the day with them in their weight room working with other students in their school and creating workout plans for them.
My brother in law got an interview with the Sudbury fire department coming up in about a week. I think it's pretty cool and it would be awesome if he got the job as it would be nice to have them closer and around more.
My trip home from Florida was pretty uneventful except for the lady sitting beside me who wouldn't stop talking to me even after I put my ear phones in to listen to the TV. I just want to thank all those who support me and made it possible for me to go down to Florida and take the time off work to train. I had a great coach while I was down there that I learnt a lot from. Thank you Lea for taking care of everything while I was gone...you did a great job!
I did get some bad news though on Monday before coming home. I was talking to my little sister and one of her very close friends was killed in a snow machine accident on Sunday. I felt really bad for her as she literally got off the team bus after their oua's swim meet and spent the rest of the night in the hospital with his family. 17 is just too young and my thoughts go out to his family.
I'm excited to see my grandma next weekend in Ottawa while I'm there for my swim meet. I never do get to see her nearly enough and it will be exciting to see her now that she just recently found out she's going to be a great grandma!
It was great to get back to coaching last night. I missed all the kids. I always look forward to working with them everyday and being part of their development and seeing them grow as athletes and young boys and girls. Except while I was gone I think they decided to forget everything I've taught them so there was a little bit of restarting of sets yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow morning they will have had time to remember everything.

Only a few more days...

2010-02-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

I only have a few days left in the sunny south. It's been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I've had a mixture of weather from tornado warnings to bright sunny days where I got some nice sun burns. I've had some great training at an amazing pool with a great coach who has pushed me really hard and even finished off today's workout with a 400m LC Fly which I came in at 5:20. The area that I'm in has some of the best places for cycling in the state with some amazing things to see. We've done a little bit of travelling around visiting some friends who also spend the winter down here. Played a game of mini put on a pirates ship with real live alligators around. We even managed to get in a little shopping today.

I'm excited for my last few days here before heading home to the snow and cold. I am excited though to get home to Lea and my puppy Cricket who miss me and have had a rough go at things since I've been gone with the furnace breaking four different times and having to wait for someone to come fix it while the house gets colder and colder and then the fire department coming to our house because the CO detector went off because of the work being done. I wish I was there to help her with this especially right now

Just under two weeks now until I head to Ottawa for swimming nationals. I'm excited to see what I can do after this little training camp. I have some goals in mind but I will keep them to myself until after the meet.

Good swim and a little lost in Florida

2010-02-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today I had a great swim at the GT Bray Aquatic Centre. It's a great facility with a 8 lane 25m pool and 6 lane 50m pool. All of my swimming has been done in the 50m pool though. My coach is great and is really pushing me hard. He used to swim for many years with Mark Spits and put 6 people to Olympic Trials for swimming for the last summer Olympics so he really knows what he's doing.

Today my practice was:

300Fr

3x1000 1xkick 1xPaddle and band 1xswim

5x50 A.O. + 150 mod @ 2:50

100 easy

12x50 Fr @ :40

100 easy

400 A.O.

400CD

After that I went for a bike ride in a part of that I didn't know very well but I thought I could find my way back alright....was I wrong!! I went up and down this long street a couple of times because I was sure I was on the right street and there was supposed to be this 4 way stop and it just disappeared! I was getting pretty frustrated and it was a good thing I had my cell phone with me. So I got directions but I was still having a hard time finding my way back and then I came up on a cop who was stopped behind a broken down school bus so I thought I would ask him directions. Bad idea...don't ever ask a cop in North Port for direction. You would think I interrupted a homicide investigation or this cop was just having a really bad day!!

Tomorrow I have a run in the morning then its back to the pool for 11am and then I'm meeting a cycling group at 4pm for a hard ride. Should be a good day!

RBC Bio

2010-02-02T07:06:00.001-08:00

http://www.rbc.com/sponsorship/olympics/bio/buddy_green.html
Here is a link that will bring you right to the RBC Olympians website and my bio. This years athletes were just put up on the website.
Training camp is going good. The weather could be a bit better but you gotta take what you get! I'm just heading over to the pool in a few minutes and coach says were going long today so we'll see what that means when the first two swims were 6000m each.

2010-01-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

Florida

2010-01-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

So it's definitely been awhile since I've done a blog...since I got back from the torch relay basically which is pretty bad! Not too much is new since then...it was Jesse and Sig's birthday that we celebrated this week. At work I was asked to go to Sears and give a presentation to a bunch of pregnant ladies about physical fitness while you're pregnant. That was a little different!
I'm now in Florida for a little while getting some training in. I got in last night and right away put my bike together. This morning I went for a 2.5 hour bike and it was so nice to get outside and off the trainer in the basement back at home. The pavement was so nice also compared to back home. There isn't potholes every 10 feet that I have to dodge! We just have some eggs and ham for breakfast and then I'm heading over to the pool for noon to swim.
I'm going to keep updating my blog while I'm here so keep an eye out for some more post of how training and everything in Florida is going.

Home Sweet Home

2010-01-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken on my last morning on the relay in Winnipeg before heading to the airport. This was truck we were travelling in!

I had a good trip home even though it was a long day a travel. It was nice to get picked up at the airport by our friend Sig who drove me home and then had supper with us.

As fun as the trip was it was really nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed and back to my regular schedule today. And after limited training over my trip it was good to get in a solid 3 hours today. Tomorrow I will be back at the pool coaching as it seems like forever since I've seen the kids I coach with the holidays and then being gone the first week back. Jack stopped over tonight while his daughter was had cross country skiing practice at the trails by our house. It was nice to see him and he gave me a few tips on the room we are remodelling.

Last day on the Olympic Torch Relay

2010-01-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day on the Olympic Torch Relay before flying home tomorrow. It was a great day over all as we didn't have to travel too far with only about a total of 3 hours of driving. This morning we were in Steinbech Manatoba. They bussed in about 50 bus loads of kids from local schools so Jared, Jill and I were none stop signing for over three hours. The whole time though we were really looking forward to the evening celebration in Winnipeg as it was supposed to be one of the biggest of the relay.

Winnipeg sure didn't disappoint tonight as the number of people that turned out was incredible. We each also got to take turns going over the hotel that was next to the celebration to mingle with a bunch of RBC clients at a party RBC was putting with food and drinks. I got to see my first protesters tonight! They were pretty innocent though tonight as they was just a small group of them and they were just yelling some stuff at us but they got moved along pretty quick.

It's been a great trip on the Torch Relay but I'm tired and it will be good to get home, get some rest and see Lea. I just want to thank you to Kat for taking such great care of me while I've been on the road. Kat has gone more than out of her way to make this one of the best experiences ever and I hope that her and I can keep in touch. Also a big thank you to RBC for giving me this amazing experience.

Day #3 Olympic Torch Relay

2010-01-04T21:39:00.002-08:00

Well we got the disappointing news on the way to Dryden this morning that our celebration wouldn't be on the lake and that it made been moved indoors because of the wind shield factor. It was kind of upsetting because I had really been looking forward to be on the Ice Road but ever since a couple days ago when they had to bring 6 people to hospital because of the cold they aren't taking any chances. I was really surprised at how big both Dryden and Kenora are. I thought they were going to be really small communities but there was a lot of people at both celebrations and the cities were very nice.

Lea told me yesterday that she was talking to her aunt who lives in Hearst and she was saying that there's this really cool store on the side of the highway that we should stop at where everything is made of sheep fur. So I told everyone about it and next thing you know I've got a whole ton of RBC and Coke SUV's and Transports stopping at this little store to check it out. Some people were spending hundreds of dollars on clothes, mits, hats, boots...you name it! All because of Lea's aunt who said I should stop if I can.

Tonight's celebration in Kenora was outside and as you can see in one of the pictures they made these really big hollow ice cubs and put candles in them. There were hundreds of them and they marked the way for the torch. It was really cool!! A couple thousand people turned out tonight in Kenora which was great considering it was so cold and there were so many young kids. And that is the real reason why I'm doing this is for the kids and to see their faces when they see the torch and the few seconds I get to spend talking with each one trying to inspire them to reach for their dreams in sport or whatever they do in life.

Tomorrow is my last day on the relay when I end in Winnipeg tomorrow night before flying home the next day. It's supposed to be a huge celebrations in Winnipeg tomorrow and I can't wait.

Day #2 of Olympic Torch Relay

2010-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Today started with a 3:30am wake up to be on the road at 4am. Before we got on the road we were informed that one of the trucks travelling during the night hit a moose and was pretty much totalled. The first part of the drive was done in the dark as we went through Wawa. After that the sun started to come up and we were able to see all around us. I've been to some pretty cool places around Canada and the World but there is nothing like good old Northern Ontario. It was some of the nicest country I've seen and it made for a great drive! I took a couple picture as we got into out first celebration town of Marathon. The people of Marathon were great and were supper pumped about us being there and really enjoyed the show. After is was back on the road and this time I took a turn behind the wheel to Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay sure knows how to have fun as thousands of people came out for the celebration. I'm pretty sure I didn't stop signing autographs the whole two hours we were there.

The food on the road has been lets just say AMAZING!! We have full buffets everynight in the hotel just for us. You can pretty much have anything you want! My kind of a meal for sure....

I know I said today one of the celebrations was supposed to be on a lake but I was wrong and it's actually tomorrow when we get to Dryden. Then we finish off the day in Kenora. Looking forward to travelling to this great places I've never been before and getting to meet the people of these towns.

My first day on the Olympic Torch Relay

2010-01-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Wow, what an experience! Today was my first day on the Olympic Torch Relay. It started this morning when I was picked up by my team in our fancy Yukon Hybrid. From there we headed straight downtown to the celebration. As you can see from one of the pictures I have my own little tent where people can come and meet me and I sign autographs for them. It's been such a great experience so far as the celebrations themselves are something else with all the music, performances and stories.

After we were done in Sudbury our team packed up and before we left Sudbury they wanted to see the Big Nickel so I took them over and they all got their pictures taken beside it. After that it was on the road to the Sault.

Tonight's celebration was indoors at the arena which was nice because I didn't have to worry about my hands freezing while trying to sign every ones autograph. Tonight the final person to carry the torch into the arena was a girl I know from the Sault who used to swim and went to the 2000 and 2004 games.

This torch relay is such a great experience for me and really every Canadian because it gives everyone the chance to be part of the Olympics that are going to be happening in Vancouver in just over a month from now.

Tomorrow we are on the road at 4am but I believe it's tomorrow that one of our celebrations are on a lake!! Stay tuned for what is going to be lots more great adventures.

Gel Kayano 16

2009-12-31T09:06:00.000-08:00

Introducing the new Gel Kayano 16's from Asics. I just picked up these shoes that were special ordered for my from Asics. Thank you to Robin at Bioped for his great support and getting me into the best running shoes available and actually not even available yet to the general public. They've made some really cool changes to the 16's which I'm going to love when I'm putting in some of the longer miles.

I got hit this week with a little bit of a flu bug but I was able to get rid of it really fast which is good especially for me because it seems usually once I get sick it last forever!

Tonight for New Years we are heading over to a friends for supper. I don't know if we will even make it to midnight because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow but it is a new decade so maybe I'll stay up past my bed time tonight. Then Saturday is the big day when the Torch comes to Sudbury. One of the cars in the relay is coming to my house early to pick me up and then I'm gone with the torch relay until I get to Winnipeg on January 6th.

There's also a picture from x-mas in London of me with my brother in law and his girlfriend.

Christmas in London

2009-12-26T18:07:00.000-08:00

I will be heading home tomorrow after a couple great days in London visiting with my in laws. We showed up on Wednesday night and surprised Lea's parents as they had no idea that we were coming. We all had a really nice Christmas together and went out for brunch on Christmas day at the Delta hotel for an incredible buffet. I even managed to get in a couple workouts while I was here at the YMCA.
Today we did a little bit of Boxing Day shopping, nothing to crazy though! Just a few little things! We stopped at a new triathlon specific store that they have in London. It's called MultiSport Zone. They have an unique idea of not only selling some really nice triathlon gear and bikes but have made it into a training center as well. They have lots of options from the endless pool to many computrainers. They also offer training programs, bike fits, athletic and massage therapy. Check them out at http://www.multisport-zone.com/ZOM/
I'm looking forward to getting home tomorrow as I have a big week of training coming up. This week I have a training camp for swimming. I'm going to hop on the bike tomorrow night and then I have my first of five 2hour swim Monday morning followed by a 100km skiing that I'm doing with a friend at the Naughton ski-a-thon.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

The big day that all the kids wait for every year is almost here. Only 3 more sleeps as some little ones may say! Lea and I will be leaving tomorrow after work to head down to London for a few days over Christmas and it's going to be a surprise for Lea's parents.
Things have been busy around our house as usual but especially with the time of year. We've been trying to get to see everyone at one point to wish them happy holidays. Saturday we had my sister over for supper, Sunday was the swim club party, last night we stopped in to see Jesse then spent the evening at Jack and Amanda's house. Tonight we're going out for supper with some more friends.
Yesterday I did my first cross country ski of the year and I'm going out again today. It's really good cross training and it takes some of the pressure off of the joins from the running. I'm going to try and get out a lot more this year than I have in past years.
I was approached yesterday by Science North asking if I would be interested in doing some testing in the new year. They want to use the results from my testing as an example for when other people or kids go in and try the test as a comparison. I felt pretty honored that they would choose me for this. I guess this just means that I'm going to have to be in tip top shape for January! Does that mean I'm only going to be able to eat 3 plates at turkey dinner?!?
We started redoing one of the bedrooms in the house. There was wood paneling on one of the walls that I took down and replacing. I'm also painting the room and putting in a closet door.
Well I wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas and I will try and post some time after the big day and let everyone know how London is going and how stuffed I am.

New Car...almost

2009-12-09T06:44:00.001-08:00

On Monday Lea and I and my sister headed over to North Bay for the day to pick up my car. They did a good job fixing it and with all the new parts it looks almost new. We also went over to my aunt and uncles for a really nice supper with everyone!
It's an exciting time right now with Christmas coming soon and tonight is our Christmas get together with our good friend Sig.
I should also find out this week or next if I win the Community Award of Excellence which will be very exciting!!
Today is our first big snow fall of the year so it looks like it will for sure be a white Christmas which is always nice.
I have some really, really, really big news but I've had to promise not to say anything just yet so everyone is going to have to wait until the new year....sorry:(

Long overdue pictures!

2009-12-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

As promised here are a couple pictures from the last little while...The one of me dressed up is from a gala I went to a little while back and same with the one of Lea and I on the side. One picture is from Lea's birthday party and she is being closely observed as she opens one of her presents. Maybe she will share....

The other two are of a future star...Spencer who was with me on the weekend during my accident. The pictures are from a triathlon he did at the end of the summer. He's a great athlete and an even better kid!

Rough Weekend!

2009-12-01T13:26:00.001-08:00

This weekend I went to North Bay to coach a swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. I had a really good time staying at my aunt and uncles house Saturday night with Spencer. Sunday after the meet Spencer and I went up to the cottage to check on a few things and I had to empty out the fridge and freezer. While we were up there is started to snow quite hard! So on the way back I slowed down because the roads were snow covered. We had just crossed back into Ontario and were about 30minutes from North Bay when a car came up from behind me very fast and passed me. As he was coming back into the lane he came in too soon and I had to use my brake so that we wouldn't hit. As I braked I lost control of the car and did a couple 360's before going off the road backwards down a side of a hill. It was very scary but somehow neither of us were hurt. As we climbed out of the car and got back up to the road we noticed the other car was nowhere to be seen! To make things worse there is no cell phone service on that stretch of the highway. I waved down a car that drove us back to the gas station in Eldee. I asked the guy if there was a towing company in the area and he said there was only one guy who worked for himself. So I called him and he said he would leave right away and that he only lived 5minutes away. Over 2 hours later he shows up...I reported it to the police as well and they showed up as well. After my car was pulled out of the ditch the tow truck guy said the car was "drivable" as soon as I changed one of the tire and put my spare tire on. Not too sure what made him think it was drivable but after $140 charge for 5minutes work to pull me out I didn't want to know how much it would charge to have him bring it to North Bay. We made it to North Bay though alright and we stayed at my aunt and uncles again. I owe both of them BIG time for everything!! The next morning I brought it over to the dealership and after finding out I need two new rims, two new tires, two new bumpers, an alignment and they still haven't looked under the car I decided I had to go through insurance. So after the $140 tow or should I say "pull out of the ditch" and the $500 deductible it turned out to be a not so good ending to the weekend.

On a more positive note it was Lea's Birthday last week and we had a nice party at the YMCA with a bunch of friends. We went swimming and then had food and cake. I got some good pictures of the party that I'll have to upload soon.

Not too much else is new...I did another school presentation last week which was a lot of fun! My new shoes and orthotics are on order from Robin at BioPed that I should be getting any day now. Robin and his team over at BioPed are great and they've helped me out a lot with shoes and orthotics which has saved me bit time!! Other than that training is going good...I'm really focusing on swimming right now and have been swimming fast and I have a few goals for some big swim meets after Christmas. I'm still running and biking though but it's just been a lot of base work. My aunt and uncle who I stayed with in North Bay this weekend are going to Florida for the winter and have invited me down to do some training in the nice weather. I'm going to try and take them up on it this year and try and get in about 10 days of some really good training.

Christmas is coming soon and I just want to remind everyone after my accident this weekend to be extra carful while travelling over the Christmas time and just be aware of the other drivers on the road as well because it could of been a lot worse on Sunday!

New Construction

2009-11-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from where I grew up of the new house that is being built from the people who bought our place. I have a lot of really good memories from growing up there from skating on the ice, fishing, making forts in the bush...the fun was endless. I'm fortunate that our old neighbour and one of our best friends still lives there and I can go out to visit when I get a chance.

Training has been going really good lately! I've been swimming probably the fastest I've been in a very long time. Today my main set was:

10x100 @1:20 holding 1:09-1:10

5x200 @2:40 1-2:19

2-2:19

3-2:17

4-2:17

5-2:12

On Sunday I had a big work out as well...I did an hour run +stairs in the morning. Then later I did an hour and a half hard swim and had my bike set up on pool deck and did an hour on the bike. It feels good to get back into the hard training after a little bit of down time and some lighter training.

I have to say a Big Thank You to Josee who is the owner of Gagnon Opticians and a very good friend for my new glasses! They look really good and even though I have pretty good vision I still find they make a big difference especially at the end of the day when I'm tired and I have trouble to focus.

Early Christmas

2009-11-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Friday was almost like an early Christmas for me. First I received a big package from RBC with all my Olympic clothing with shirts, sweaters, vest and a really nice winter coat! Next was my new racing bathing suit from from Omni Swim that arrived a little later in the day. It's a speedo FSPro. I had to get a new racing suit because of all the new rules to the suits. It kind of sucks when you have all these suits worth a lot of money sitting in your closet that are no good anymore. Last but no least Lea had ordered me a book back in August when I crashed so kind of inspire me and all that but it was on back order and it didn't come in until Friday. It still looks like a good book and even though I'm not a huge fan of reading I'm sure I can find some time for this one...there are pictures so that always helps:)

2009-10-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture that I was just sent from the photo shoot I did while I was in Toronto for the RBC Olympians Conference. We just finalized everything today for their website so my profile should be up in the next little while on the RBC website.

I received some exciting news yesterday that I've been nominated for the Community Builders Award Of Excellence in the category of Sports and Recreation. The description of the award is: The award goes to the individual or group that has contributed to the strength of sport in Sudbury. They have inspired people (a coach), established a program (a league or playground), mentored a team or an individual to extraordinary accomplishment, or set an example for many to carry in their hearts.

So many things...so little time...

2009-10-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little crazy around the Green house as of late. We have a swimmer from the Sault who is going to be staying with us for a while. We've been trying to get things figured out with him as far as getting him into school and such.
Lea's uncle passed away last week after a short battle with cancer. Lea just got back last night from London where the funeral was.
This past weekend my sister and I and Josh the guy who's staying with Lea and I went up to my cottage for the weekend. It was a beautiful weekend with all the fall colors and we had a really good time and even caught some fish.
I've also been busy with work and my training has kind of taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks. Although it's a big frustrating for me it's also a good thing because it gives me kind of a break after the season before I start training for next year. I've been swimming though almost everyday and I'm starting to swim pretty fast again so I know my fitness is still there. I have a swim meet this weekend here in town but I'm only swimming one race.

Sault Article

2009-10-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2103412

Check out this link from my trip to the Sault this week to do a presentation.

RBC Olympic Training Week

2009-10-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

I got back last night after four days at the RBC Olympic Program Training Camp. It was a great experience all around. There was about 30 athletes there who are all past, present and future Olympians. I got to meet some very interested people from all over Canada and from all different sports. It was a lot of fun and they really treated us well! Yesterday we had a photo and video shoot and I got to hold the Olympic torch. They had a make up artist there and unfortunately even the guys HAD to have their make up done...that was an experience in itself!
I was told about a few of the cool events that I'm going to get to do over the next couple months. I get to go to the World Under 17 Hockey Championships and I get to spend 6 days on the torch relay as you goes through all of North Eastern and Western Ontario and right to Winnipeg. It's sure to be and excited time and some experiences I'll never forget.
I'll get some pictures up from the photo shoot as soon as I get them!
Tonight Lea and I are going to the Northeastern Ontario RBC Gala at the Holiday Inn. I have to give a speech to about 300 RBC Employees which will make for an interesting evening.
Unfortunately this week I've been feeling a bit sick...no full cold or anything but just something lingering around so I've tried to rest this week and my training has been pretty limited but I'm sure my body needed the break.
This Thursday and Friday I'm in the Sault for a torch relay school presentation. They have a bunch of activities planned so it's sure to be a lot of fun.

Feels Good

2009-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

Today was my first "real" swim since my shoulder injury. I did a full 1.5 hour swim practice with the team. Up until now the most I had done was about 45 minutes and all on my own. I didn't want to push it to hard to early so I'm glad I wait but it's good to be back.
Warm up was 1500m with a mix of swim, kick. Next we did
400Fr + 300Bk
400Fr + 200Br
400Fr + 100Fly
10x100Fr holding 1:07's
I have to put in a few hours at work now and then I'm going to a run before I coach tonight. The days are starting to get shorter and not as warm so I'm trying to get as much riding in outside while I still can. So tomorrow morning I'm going to do a bike workout in the morning then drop Lea off at work and head out to Skead and help Sig work on his pump house for his water.
I'm getting excited about going to Toronto all next week for my training for the RBC Olympian Program. I'm sure I'm going to get to do lots of exciting things and meet a bunch of past, present and future Olympians.

Career Change?

2009-09-24T05:56:00.001-07:00

So Lea and I decided to plant some vegetables this summer and here's a few of them we took out of the garden yesterday. I don't think we did to bad for our first go at farming. Maybe next year I'll have to go into production....ok maybe not but I can't wait to eat our goodies!

London

2009-09-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Things in London have been going good. Unfortunately we have to go home tomorrow but not before some training in the morning. I had a good swim yesterday at the London Canada Games Centre...I think I have a love hate relationship with that pool. I've raced in it many times. I don't think I can remember one time though where I actually had a good race but it's such a nice pool to swim in and enjoy training in it whenever I come here.
Lea's appointment went good on Friday. The doctor said that it is healing very nicely and she would be back to 100% within another month or two.
Yesterday I got my suit for the RBC Gala that's coming up. I look really sharp and am looking forward to the evening.
Spencer raced today in Lakeside. He had a really good race against some of the best kids in Ontario. He was 3rd out of the water, 2nd after the bike and finished around 5th.
Since I've been here I had a good swim yesterday morning and then a run in the afternoon. Today I got in a good 2 hour bike after we got back from the race. Tomorrow I'm going to do a bike with track workout off the bike which should be interesting. There a track at one of the high schools close by so I'll run to it after the bike and do my workout there.
This week will probably go by pretty fast and then it's off to Toronto for a week of training for the RBC Olympians Program.

Post Muskoka 70.3

2009-09-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

So I never did write a race report for my race on the weekend...I think mostly because I went there with the intention and focus on qualifying for Worlds which I did but after talking it over ended up giving up my spot as it was just too much money right now.
The went pretty good though for the most part. The thing I'm most happy about is my shoulder! It held up even better than I could of hoped which means it was a successful recovery and as of right now I can barely feel it anymore. On the bike I went to take a drink around 10km's into the 94km's and my one and only bottle slipped out of my hand. I kept going for a second thinking I could get away without it and just get some water from the aid stations but then woke up and went back and got it. So that ended up costing me a couple of minutes for sure. The only other thing was my quads started cramping about 2km into the run which made for a long painful run. I think it's just because of the inconsistent training over the past month and a half with close to two weeks off from being sick at the end of July and then well over a week after I crashed.
I feel like I'm in a good spot though now being healthy and being almost fully recovered from my should injury so I will use that in my next block of training. I don't know what's next in terms of races this fall...there will probably be a couple 5km running races and I'll see how my swimming goes over the next couple of week as I'm thinking about entering into a 1500m in a swim meet at the end of October if I think I'm ready to challenge my PB.
Today Lea and I are leaving to go to London for the weekend. Lea has an appointment with the Dr. regarding her ankle. We are also bringing Spencer, one of the boys I coach so that he can race in a kids triathlon on Saturday just a couple minutes outside of London.
I think that's about all for now that's new, I will try and post something while I'm in London as to how things are going. I usually have some pretty good training there so I'm looking forward to it.

This is it!

2009-09-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's finally here...we are leaving in a couple hours for my race on Sunday. I haven't been keep my blog very up to date as of late as I've just been so busy with everything. Here is a picture of me last night on the street in front of my house trying out my new wheels. Thank you Token! I'm really excited to race this weekend...I think my shoulder is going to hold up and I've set some goals for myself for the race. I post when I get home Sunday night with how I did and hopefully it will be some good news!

Getting Better!

2009-08-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

So my shoulder has been getting better and better each day and I'm able to do more and more each day. I've started swimming again which is great news. Each time I increase the amount that I do by a little bit. I haven't tried swimming hard yet and I think that will just come with time when I feel like I'm ready to start pushing it again in the water without hurting myself. Now that I know I can swim next weekend at the race it won't be a matter of can I get through the swim but being surrounded by my competitors and not letting that get the best of me at the start in the swim. I know I'm going to have to hold back...how much though, that I don't know yet. I've been doing a lot of biking though over the past weekend and a half and I've had Brent to push the hell out of me so it's been great. I'm really looking forward to racing next weekend and seeing what I can do on the bike and run.
Lea's parents were here just for the night on Friday on their way up north to visit their relatives. We had a great supper with them and Molly and Sig came over. We celebrated Lea's mom's birthday with my favorite...a strawberry frozen yogurt cake. Not too much else is new...I'm working quite a bit over the next two weeks so I will really have to find time to get my training in before the race. We are just waiting to hear back this week if Lea got this new job that she applied for. Today I did a long run while I was waiting for my car to be done at the dealers as it went in for it's semi annual today. I just got back from the lake where I did a little swim and now I'm biking into town to meet up with Lea and then going out for dinner.

My mind is made up!

2009-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm going to race Muskoka 70.3! I decided today on my way into work that I'm going to be stubborn and no matter what even if it means swimming one arm I'm going to race on September 13. The doctor told me yesterday to go ahead and try swimming a little bit so today I got in the pool and I could definitely feel it but I must admit it was a little bit better than I expected. As I was getting changed I could see myself not getting across the pool and getting out really pissed but I managed to swim 400m non stop and then got out. I proved to myself that I can do it and I will take that and build on it.
My biking and running has started to come back though and I went out for a 2 hour bike ride on Saturday with Pro triathlete Brent Poulsen who is in town for a few days. We had a good ride minus my flat tire down Long Lake.
Sunday was the day I was supposed to race in Kelowna BC at Nationals so I decided to get my racing fix anyways and race in the Beaton Classic with my sister. We decided or should I say my shoulder decided that she would do the swim and canoe and I would do the bike and run. The swim was first and Molly came out of the water first with a really good swim. On the bike my legs were feeling it from my ride the day before after not training for over a week but I was still able to have the fastest bike split over a couple of strong cyclist from the cycling club who were on other teams. Also to make it even more interesting was that there was a huge black bear in the middle of the road on my second bike lap! Molly had just over a minute lead heading out into the canoe but there was a strong cross wind and paddling is not something she does everyday. Actually probably the last time she did was at last years Beaton. She did good though but the second place team had a really strong paddler and there runner had at least a 5 minute lead heading out onto the run. I ran hard but it's a hilly course and each hill just hit me like a ton of bricks and felt like I was coming to a dead stop. As I got to the top though and started going down hill or on a straight I felt really good which seemed wired. Usually when you feel like that on the hills the rest isn't all that much better. At the turn around I could tell I had made up some good time but there was still a couple minutes lead between me and the lead runner. I pushed hard the second 2.5km and it wasn't until the last km that I could start to see her up ahead. I decided that I had to go for it and I finally passed the leader with about 40m to go before the finish. It was great to be pushed like that and me and my sister had another great day racing and it felt good to get that in.
It will be a big bike and run focus from now until Muskoka so that no matter how the swim goes I'm able to hammer the rest of it. The swimming will come along and I know I wont have the fastest overall swim split this year by 2 minutes but I will have a smile on my face race morning just because I'm there.

Northern Life Article

2009-08-21T04:26:00.001-07:00

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/sports/2009/aug/triathletes200809.aspx

Here is a link to an article in the Northern Life about the kids that I coach and how good they did this past weekend!

Recovery

2009-08-18T11:38:00.001-07:00

It's been a week now since my crash and I'm on the road to recovery. I'm trying to stay positive about everything with everyone around me racing it's hard because you want to be out there with them. I'm waiting for the results from the tests on my shoulder to find out exactly what tears we're dealing with. For now I've started my own rehab on it and things are going alright i guess. I did a 45minute bike on the trainer yesterday and a 10minute run with Lea. The bike was done with one arm and the run was painful. I've also been in the pool twice now doing some arm movements and exercises. My goal right now is to just be able to be on the start line for Muskoka 70.3 on September 13 and have my shoulder feeling good enough to get through the race. I know my swimming will be really affected but if I'm even able to swim at that point I'll take it and if I can suck it up for the rest of the race and just get my spot for Clearwater I'll be happy and then I'll deal with things from there.

A little/big set back

2009-08-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I was at cycling practice and we were onto our second set of sprints and I was actually starting to feel good and I said to myself that it was a good confidence builder after being sick leading into Nationals. Then next thing I know the guy in front of me is going down and there was nothing I could do. I went right over top of him and landed on my head and shoulder. I laid there in shock and pain until the ambulance got there and took me to the hospital. Nothing is broken but there is a lot damage to my shoulder and I still have no movement in it. It's still very painful and I'm sure it will take another week or so to really determine how long this will affect me for. I've cancelled my trip to Nationals next week as there is really no way I can compete let a lone get through one stroke on the swim. My new helmet that is only about a month old got cracked in 3 places when I hit the ground. I guess that's what happens when you crash at around 55km/h. My next race after Nationals was Muskoka 70.3 so we will see if I am ready to race or even just go out and finish.

Getting Sick Sucks!

2009-08-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm finally starting to feel better and get back to some training after close to two weeks of almost no training. After the race in Bala I had some good workouts on Monday and then woke up Tuesday morning really sick. I tried everything to get ride of it but nothing seemed to work. It suck all the energy out of me and I decided that if I was going to get better I couldn't try and "train" until I was feeling better. Unfortunately it lasted much longer than I wanted and with less than two weeks left until Nationals I'm worried the damage might be done and only time will tell if I can get back to where I was before I got sick. I started training again on Friday and decided not to race this past weekend but yesterday I went over to the lake and did two of my own mini tri's back to back. 2x 500m swim, 10km bike, 1.5km run I felt pretty good but I was still coughing up parts of a lung from time to time.
Last weekend we went up to the cottage and had a great time! We had some not so bad weather for a change and were able to get outside and get lots done. We cut a couple tree's down, sauna, swimming, tubing, fires and just a great time with some great people.
This weekend we are going to Sundridge for a Triathlon. The main reason for going is because they have a kids race there and I'm taking a couple of the kids I coach. The kids race in the afternoon and they have an adults race in the morning that I'll be doing. We have a site at a campground booked and will be spending Saturday night in the tent as long as the weather holds up.

Bala Triathlon

2009-07-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went to the Bala Triathlon. We left Saturday afternoon and were staying at a hotel in Gravenhurst. The hotel was really nice and there was only one other person staying there so it was nice and quiet. They even made the continental breakfast earlier so that I could eat there before I had to leave in the morning to get to Bala. Saturday night we ate at the Rib Fest in Gravenhurst. It was perfect because we couldn't find a restaurant to eat at in Gravenhurst then we come across the Rib Fest and of course I love to eat ribs before a race so it was meant to be. It started to rain though and it didn't stop the whole night...I went to bed just hoping that it would stop by morning.

Sunday morning it had stopped raining and looked like it was going to hold off for the race. A bunch of top guys ended up showing up and I knew it was going to be a good race. I did a little swim warm up and then we were off. I felt good in the swim and pulled away right away. I came out of the water with a bit of a lead but transition was a MESS! It was in a grassy field and the puddles from the rain were halfway up your shins. I had a bad transition and struggled with my wetsuit. Running out of transition you had to run through a pile of mud and as I get on my bike I look down and my whole leg is covered in mud and dirt! There goes my nice white bike shoes...lol It was an out and back bike course and I pushed hard on the way out because I knew the guys would be coming hard behind me. I was really surprised that there was no lead car or officials on the road for the traffic and to watch for drafting. So sure enough I do the turn around and what do I see but a train of 5-7 guys that sure looked liked they were drafting to me. I kept pushing hard and figured if they are going to cheat there's nothing I can do about it. Back into transition I was still ahead of them and after rolling around in the mud in transition again I was out onto the run course. It was a crazy hilly run course...probably one of the more hilly ones I've ever done. One of the guys caught me about half way through the run and I finished in second. I was a little upset though as again there was no officials on the run course at the corners telling people where to go. It just seemed like it was a poorly organized race and the rules and safety weren't enforced very well.

Overall it was a pretty good race and it's back to the grind now. I've already got three workouts in today with one more to go. I did a run with a client this morning, had a nap, went out for another run, drove Lea to work and went to the pool where I did 15x100 @1:20 holding under 1:10 for a main set. I feel great today after racing yesterday and am right back into the training.

Lea leaves tomorrow for London for a follow up on her surgery with the doctor and then her parents are bringing her back on Thursday. This weekend we are going up to the cottage for a much needed cottage break! It will be great to get away for a couple days and see everyone up there as it will be our first real trip up there this summer.

A few recent pics

2009-07-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Things have been going great lately....last weekend I ran a 10km and was leading it for about 9.95km's until I got out sprinted in the last couple metres. About two hours later was the Island Swim. I felt good in the 1.6km swim and came out a couple of minutes a head of the next person. This week I've some more good training and even though my legs are a little tired I'm ready to do battle this weekend in the Balla Triathlon on Sunday. Today I got a few goodies in the mail. One was a couple of new bike shorts from Blue. Lea thinks it's kind of funny that they are a size XS....the other package had my ITU draft legal bars for my road bike from Profile Design. I put them on the bike right away and went for a ride and they are pretty sweet. Other than that things have been going along pretty regularly at work and home.

What a week!

2009-07-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

This week has seemed to just fly by. I had a couple great days of training in London and Lea's surgery went good and it's now just waiting for it to heal. I got some great riding while I was in London and 4-5 hours each day of training. I came home Wednesday by myself as I had to coach Wednesday night and then work Thursday and Friday. Thursday I went for a run and the last part of run brought me down the Kingsway and I don't know why just I could really tell all the pollution from the cars, trucks and buses. It hit me pretty hard and with all the talk these days about being Eco friendly and driving cars that don't produce all those fums I could really see why.
Yesterday was really busy with work, I got a good swim in and I pretty much had to time trial it home on the bike yesterday afternoon to get a pair of shorts to go running with a client. So after getting back I did my run and then it was off to coaching before finally heading home for the night. Last night was a lot of fun with Lea and her parents getting here. Sig also came over and we had a really nice supper and after supper the boys did some work on the new shed installing some of the electrical.
Today was the most exciting though...I went to work this morning and while driving down Lasalle I see this big line outside of Henry's but I keep going and go to my next event to do my cut in. So then I'm heading back up Lasalle and something tells me maybe I should stop and just see what was going on, I thought maybe it was a big sale. So I walk in and one of the employee's is standing there with all these envelopes and she tells me that inside each envelope is a gift certificate from $10-$500. There must of been at least a hundred envelopes that I had to pick from so I choose one and it says $500! I didn't know if I was looking at it right so I go back over to her and she's OMG you won the only $500 gift certificate that we are giving away. I couldn't believe it! Right away she goes to get the manager to help me and I got a Canon Rebel! It's a really nice camera and it's going to be great for getting some cool action shots.
So some local racing tomorrow and some more training. Some more work on the shed and then back to work on Monday.

London

2009-07-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

I guess it's been awhile since my last post and there's been quite a few things happening over the past couple weeks.
We managed to get the garage taken down last Saturday and then the new shed built on Sunday. I didn't know if it was all going to get done in the two days but everyone worked really hard and we got it done! A big thank you to Sig and Jack for their help...without them there would of been no way. It's definitely changed the whole property now that the garage it gone. It's going to get some getting used to but it was for sure worth it.
This week we had the truck inside the New Sudbury Centre on display and 105.3 EZ Rock was broadcasting live. We had some prizes and it was a great day getting to meet everyone. A big thank you to Brenda at the NSC for all of her hard work and Erin and the whole crew at EZ Rock.
Right now I'm in London for Lea's surgery on her ankle that's on Tuesday. I had a great day of training today and it's funny because anytime I go somewhere knew it just seems to be so much more exciting. Every time I travel somewhere and go out biking its so much fun getting to see everything. This morning I got up early and was on my bike by 7am for 2.5 hour ride and about 100km's. My ride took me into some beautiful area's outside of London. After my ride I had some breakfast and Lea and I headed out to a local fruit and veggie farmer to get some fresh fruits and vegetables. After that we headed over to London's huge festival called Sun Fest. There must of been hundreds of vender's from all over there with music and tons of food. We found a couple neat little things that we picked up for a few people. This afternoon I went to the London Aquatic Centre for a swim. I had a good swim with a lane to myself until the last 5minutes when two old ladies decided that my lane was the lane for them except that all the other lanes only had one other person in them to...I just don't understand some people. A good steak dinner tonight and just some relaxing the rest of the night.

Happy Canada Day

2009-06-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Canada Day and I can't believe July is already here. With things being so busy time just seems to fly by....
This past weekend started off with a Yard Sale at our house. We got rid of most of the bigger stuff that we didn't want to have to bring back into the house and the little things that are left over Lea is bringing over to her friends house this Saturday and putting it in her yard sale. After that we headed over to one of the house of one of the parents on the swim team who lives on the lake for an end of the year party. We had a lot of fun and I got to go tubing for the first time in a while but while I was doing it I realized it probably wasn't the best idea the day before I had to race and it's true as my arms and shoulders were pretty sore the next day. After that we headed over to North Bay to stay with my uncle and aunt for the night.
Sunday morning I headed over to the race site nice and early as it's a small transition and it fills up fast. There was already a ton of people there and I didn't get the best position for my bike but then again it wasn't the worst. I went for a little run to get warmed up and then got my wetsuit on and heading down to the lake. The way the swim is the sun is right in your eye and while I was warming up I couldn't see the first marker at all. I felt alright in the warm up just a bit sore from the tubing. The gun went off and right away Len and I took off and he jumped on my feet. By this point the sun had gone up enough that I could see and I got into a good pace. I went around the first marker and he was still just hanging on my feet so I decided to slow down and let him lead so I wasn't doing all the work. So I slow down and he doesn't move...I slow down again and he doesn't move...by this point I'm at like a cool down pace after a hard practice so I turn over on my back and start doing back stroke....still wouldn't go around me. The rest of the swim went like this and right before the shore I sprinted in to get a few meters lead going into transition. Out onto the bike I could tell right away that my legs just weren't fresh at all and when Len went by me I had nothing to respond. I decided to just keep going and keep hard pace and just get ready for the run since after two races having horrible runs I wanted that one to be better. Getting back to transition Len had a couple minute lead but right out of transition my legs felt like they were turning over good. I felt much better than I had in the first couple km's but still not quite there. At the turn around though I pushed it a little more and really started to think about my technique and it seemed to work as I negative split the run and over I was with that part of the race.
Tomorrow I'm at Science North all day with the radio station and then I'm going to be running a 5km road race in Lively in the evening. This weekend is the big tear down of the garage and the building of the new one and it's sure to keep us busy and working hard all weekend.
Training has been going good...yesterday I did a easy 30minute spin on the trainer, swim at LU with 10x100 @1:20 holding under 1:10 and then a 8km run with a few pick ups. Today was a swim at the Y with 8x200 and then tonight it's cycling practice which always is a killer.

Update

2009-06-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted since my ITU race because since I've been back it seems like there is a never ending list of things that need to be done. The race went pretty good though. The swim start was pretty brutal with people on top of other people and a big group of guys got out to the front and I had to play catch up once I found some open water. I came out on the first lap with four guys still in front of me and I picked another couple off right away on the second lap and then with the leader right in front of me I just settled in and stayed there for the rest of the swim. It was good to know that I was able to make up so much ground on them and if I had a clean start of been way out in front. I had a really good transition and got on my bike in the same place as I came out of the water. On the bike we were a group of about a dozen for the first couple laps until one of the chase groups caught up to us. It was my first race ever drafting so I really wanted to pay attention and learn how things worked. I was really happy though with my bike as I stayed right with the lead group the whole bike. Onto the run though I just wasn't feeling it again for the second weekend. I don't know what's going on there as I had a great run in London just two days before and then Sunday after the race I went for a little 5km easy run and I'm sure I was running twice as fast as I was the day before. There were lots of positives though that I was able to take away from the race and overall I was happy.
I just picked up my new Kayano 15's and new orthotics from Bioped. My orthotics are a new technology and I'm kind of testing them out for BioPed and so far I really like them. The support I get from them is really amazing and just after two days of wearing them I can feel a difference in how my legs feel.
On Saturday this weekend we are having a Yard Sale at our house to try and get ride of all our old stuff. Once we have that it will be time to start taking down the garage and building our new shed.
Sunday I'll be in North Bay for a triathlon and a little visit with friends and family there. Last night we headed out to Skead for a swim and a BBQ with Sig. It was so nice to jump in the lake after such a hot day. I did a run yesterday right in the middle of the day and I'm pretty sure the last two km's were done in total survival mode.

Race Day

2009-06-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Race day is here for the ITU Pan American Cup in Couteau-du-lac, Quebec. Yesterday I rode the bike course and it's six laps of 6.6km. It's pretty flat but has a couple of corners that are probably going to be interested if we get in a big pack. The run is four laps of 2.5km, again pretty flat out and back. The swim is in an in closed area off the big river with two laps of 750m. There's a couple of fast swimmers in the group so the plan is just to stick with them, have a clean transition and make sure I'm in that lead pack on the bike. Now I'm just going to pack my bag and finish getting ready then it will be time to head over to the race site.

In London

2009-06-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Monday night Lea and I had a few tri people over at our house for a Pot Luck after an open water swim. It was a lot of fun and the food was really good.
Tuesday morning I had an appointment with one of my sponsors Robin at BioPed foot care for some new orthotics and shoes. We decided to try a new orthotic that is kind of a new technique when it comes to making orthotics. Robin is really excited about finding out how I like them. I'm also looking forward to my new Asics Kayano 15's that should be in soon.
After that it was time to do a quick pack and get in a 45minute bike before the trip to London. We got into London kind of late Tuesday night around 10:30 since we left after work and made a couple stops. This morning I went for a swim at the London Aquatics Center and their debit machine wasn't working so I got to swim for free! After my swim I had to hurry and eat a power bar and a bowl of cereal and it was off to Lea's appointment. She had her appointment today at the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic for her ankle. After two and a half years of trying different things to fix it we were really hoping to get some good news. The doc looked at everything and after seeing how many things it prevents her from doing and how long this have been going on he agreed to do the surgery. So then we figured it would be a long wait and it turns out we were wrong and she is coming back to London to have it done on July 14th!! I'm really happy for her because after this she will not only be able to do the simple little things but also everything else that she wants to do.
After that it was a quick lunch at Cora's and then some running around in the afternoon. Tonight we had some steak on the BBQ from Costco and it was really good! I'm going for a run in a little bit once I've digested some of my food. I also got a new pair of Zoot racing flats that I may try out tonight and if everything goes good I'm probably going to race in them this weekend. The big race is coming quick and tomorrow we leave tomorrow for Quebec. It's going to be another 7 hour drive that I'm not really looking forward to...we found a really cheat hotel though for $65/night so I can't really complain about that! Saturday I race at 3:30pm so hopefully I'll get another post up before the race about how I'm feeling.

Muskoka Sprint

2009-06-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a really fast race report and I'll give a better one after I get back from the ITU race this weekend.

The swim and the bike went really good but I had some major problems as soon as I got on the run. Hopefully it they wont happen again this weekend and I'll have a better finish to my race.

Here's a couple of pictures from the weekend.

A little story to think about

2009-06-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:'
When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.
Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.
'Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to theplate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over..The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!'
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team'
That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.
So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:
Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?
A wise man once said, every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

Small change in plans...

2009-06-05T06:21:00.001-07:00

This week there's been a bit of a change in the plans for the next couple of weeks. Originally I was told by race organizers that the ITU race in Couteau-du-Lac was cancelled so I was going to race the long course in Muskoka then go San Francisco in Jule. Now this week I find out it's not cancelled anymore so I'm signed up and now I'm only doing the sprint in Muskoka. The race in the Couteau-du-Lac is the next Saturday so not even recovery time if I was doing to do the long course on Sunday.
I went in the lake this week and it was actually warmer than I thought it would be. I've had to swim races in water colder so...I just went in quick as I just wanted to try it out and it was getting dark so this weekend I'm going to head back and get a workout in with the wetsuit before my first race. I though with all these cold nights we've been having that it would of taken longer this year for the lakes to warm up.
So just a quick update today... I think we're going to the Relay for life tonight for a little big and then tomorrow after a massage in the afternoon its a dinner and movie date with Jesse and Sarah.

Great weekend with great friends

2009-06-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

Now that it's been a few days since I've had my new truck it's been great having it! It's already come in handy a few times. This weekend was a little on the cold side but it was still a lot of fun. Friday night Lea and I went out for supper to Mr. Prime Rib with Drew and the kids. We had a really good supper and it was nice to spend some time with them.
Saturday morning Lea and I both had to work until 1pm but after that we decided to get a few more quotes on sheds. After that we went to Home Depot to see there sheds that they already had built and you just buy the kit and build it yourself. After some thinking we decided it was the best way to go and we bought a new shed that we are picking up tomorrow after work. We're going to tear down the garage and replace it with the new shed.
Sunday after coaching we headed out to Skead to spend the afternoon with Sig. I got meet the new people who bought my old house that I grew up in and see all the work they've done to the property to get ready to build. It looks really good and in a way it felt good to see that and how beautiful it looked looking out over the lake. After that we went for a ride to look for some cedar trees that we could transplant and bring home with us. We found a bunch on an old road up to an abandoned diamond and gold mine. We had a really nice supper together back at Sig's house and then it was time to head home. We planted the trees when we got home and then it was off to bed.
Today I did a 1.5 hour bike with two hard intervals. After that it was over to the pool for a 1.5 hour swim with some hard 100's going 1:02. The speed is good and I'm glad I'm feeling it in the water. This week is another big week for me getting ready for my first race of season next weekend in Muskoka. Last week was a big run focus week and this week I hope to build on that with some speed work in the run and some big bike rides. I also want to be swimming under a minute for 100's in practice before next weekend. I'm looking forward to the pain!

My new Truck

2009-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of my new Truck from EZ Rock, New Sudbury Centre and Crosstown. Thank you guys so much, it looks great and its a super fun ride.

Birthday Weekend

2009-05-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Today is my 23rd birthday!
This weekend Lea and I went to North Bay on Saturday afternoon and met up with my sister at my aunt and uncles house. We had an awesome supper follow by my favorite, strawberry ice cream and some lemon muffins for my birthday. Thank you guys!! We got all the pictures from the photographer before we left so we were able to show everyone those and my aunt downloaded them ALL onto her computer. She probably has over a thousand pictures now...
Sunday I had to coach in North Bay as the younger kids on the swim team had a swim meet. They all did really good and were swimming really fast. After the swim meet it was back over to the house where my uncle had cooked us a huge brunch that was really good! Jenn came over and we loaded up a couple things into the truck to bring over to her house. After a quick stop at Jenn and Marc's house it was time to head home.
I went out for a bike ride as soon as I got home but I think I ate way too much over the weekend and I wasn't feeling all that great during a few of the harder efforts. For supper last night we picked up some pickerel from a little meat shop just outside of North Bay and we cut the fillets into strips and wrapped them in bacon and put them on the BBQ. They were so good I had to stop myself from eating them all. I finished them off for lunch though today:) Today I had a much better run on the treadmill at the boxing club and later I have an easy swim and then a bike ride before supper. I have a couple of big weeks coming up for training before my first race of season at the Muskoka Chase.
I started my little summer job last week at the radio station. I'm going to be going on air Thursday and Friday mornings at 7:55 and 8:55 talking to different businesses and finding out how they are trying to go green. Then on Saturdays I'm going to different local events and find out whats going on and I'll be on air at 8:45, 9:45, 11:45 and 12:45. My first week went really good and I got to meet some really cool people and I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer.

A few more wedding pictures

2009-05-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

It has come...and it has gone.

2009-05-18T13:27:00.001-07:00

The wedding has finally come and gone and it now time to relax a little bit. It was a busy few days with all the excitement going on. Lea's parents got here on Wednesday last week and it has a big help having them here with the last few things that needed to get done. They stayed at our house Wed. and Thurs. night along with my best man Jesse. Wednesday night we all watched the game and had a few drinks. Then someone got the idea that we should prank call a couple people at like 10:30 at night. So Jesse ended up calling my mom, my sister, her boyfriend and my aunt in North Bay. Everyone got a different story from my sister's b/f being told that Molly had been picked up downtown and was in jail to my aunt being told the wedding was off. We got a few people pretty good and there were definitely a few laughs all around.
On Thursday Jesse, Moe (Lea's dad) and I tried to go golfing at Timberwolf but as we got to the second hole it started to hail so that was the end of that. Of course though by the time we got home it had pretty much cleared up. Thursday night a whole bunch of us went over to my mom's for a big supper. Thursday was an early night though as we knew Friday was going to be a long day.
Friday there were a bunch more people coming over to our house with my aunt and uncle, the whole wedding party, Lea's brother and g/f and a few other people. We got a bunch of food and drinks ready for the next day as we were inviting everyone to our house between the church and the reception. There was also all the set up at the golf course to be done for the reception which actually went really smooth. Then we all went over to the church for 4:00pm for the rehearsal but it went so fast I think everyone left there even more confused as to what they were supposed to do the next day. Back at the house we had a huge BBQ with everyone before everyone went back to the hotel for the night. Lea and her girls that were standing for her all went to B&B for the night and left Jesse and I home all along....we had our own plans though for a good time. I think we drank a few pops Friday night and at midnight we set off the fire works we had bought at the store that day. It was a lot of fun and Jesse I thank you for that!
Saturday morning came and after only a couple hours sleep we were up but again no golf as we had planned because of the rain. Thankfully though the rain let up around 11:00am and the rest of the afternoon the weather was pretty good. Drew, Caelan, and Moe came over and we had to be at the church for 1:15pm and it kind of snuck up on us and it was a little bit of rush at the last minute to get all dressed and ready. Our make up and hair did take a quite a while after all...
I started getting really nervous once we got the the church and I was actually even shaking a bit as 2:00pm got closer. Finally it was time and Lea looked absolutely beautiful and her dress made her look even more like a princess. The church part went really good, I only messed up a few words and we didn't walk out in the right order...oh well no one knew.
The wind was a little bit cold but we toughed it out and we got some really nice pictures outside by the lake out in Naughton. The one's I posted below are only from my camera that I had given someone so I didn't get all that many pictures but once I get the one's from the photographer I'll make sure to put lots more up. After pictures we had a little bit of time so we stopped at our place and visited with everyone for a bit.
The reception went perfect as well. The place looked absolutely beautiful and we couldn't of asked for more. The food was the best we've ever had and with it being a buffet everyone ate way more than we should have. Every one's speeches were really good and I have to thank everyone who gave a speech. Thank you, Josee, Jesse, Mark and Bonnie, Richard, Lea's parents Lucille and Moe, my mom and of course Lea. There were some tear shed I think in almost all especially whenever someone talked about my dad. The power points were great and the pictures turned out really good and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing the two of us from little baby's all through the years growing up.
Everybody danced all night which was great to see, there was hardly a time when anyone was sitting in their chair. Even the people I didn't think would dance were dancing! I think we decided to leave around 11:30pm but then of course everyone wanted to say by so it wasn't an easy escape. We stayed the night at the same B&B as the girls had the night before and after a little hot tub we both fell asleep catching up on nights action of sports on Sports Centre.
Sunday morning everyone met at Culpeppers for breakfast and the opening of the gifts. The got some beautiful presents and both of us can't thank everyone enough for the things we received. After breakfast a bunch of the guys were finally able to get out and play a round of golf at the Lively golf course. It was a fun afternoon of golf and Lea and her mom stayed home and started cleaning from everyone being in the house. Sunday night it was one last dinner at the hotel with a bunch of the guest but we snuck out pretty early as we were pretty tired.
I need to thank everyone who was involved in some way in the planning and organizing, just for being at the wedding, and everything else. Jesse thank you so much, I couldn't of done it without you. Lea I love you more than anything and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.
It's back to the grind now for sure and today I got in a little bike-run and I'm planning on getting on the trainer for another bike as I watch a movie on our new Blue Ray player. Check out the pictures below and there will be more to come over the next or so. Oh and just throwing it out there....one week today till my B-day! ;)

Wedding Pictures

2009-05-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

The countdown is on....

2009-05-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

With only 5 days left before the big day things are starting to get pretty busy and it's definitely crunch time. We've had a couple of people tell us in the past week that they can't make it now so we are down to about 63 people that will be there. Lea's parents are getting here on Wednesday which will be nice to help us out with the last few little things. On Thursday Lea's dad, Jesse and I are going golfing and then everyone is going over to my mom's house for supper. Saturday we have to go to the golf course and set everything up, get everything ready for all the guest that will be at our house between the church and reception, then we have the rehearsal at the church, then it's back to our place for supper with everyone. It's for sure going to be a busy week and I'm sure it will go by fast but I woke up this morning kind of wishing that it was already here.
Training has been going good the last few days, this is going to be a rest week leading up to the wedding with everything that's going on. I've had a couple of really good swims though in the last few days. Yesterday the main set was: everything 2x
6x200 @2:45 5xFR 1xFly For the Fly I went set #1 2:30 set #2 2:28
75kick @2:00
8x50Fly Dive @1:00
75kick @2:00
I just got back from a 15km run with a few pick ups and tonight I have a 2.5 hour ride. With an easy this morning today will be a nice 4 hour training day. Good way to start off a recovery week...

I'll try and get one more post up before the wedding but I'll have lots of pictures to upload after the weekend!

Congrates Josee!

2009-05-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

I really need to dedicate this entry to Josee for her marathon run yesterday! She ran an incredible race and even negative split it by about 1 minute. Josee has been working so hard the past few months and it really paid off with a great 42.2km's yesterday. I tagged along for the second half to run with Josee and Drew. It was really inspirational to be there and to have been a small part of it. It seemed like at almost every corner there was somebody cheering for Josee and Lea was out on the course with Cricket and got a few pictures.

My weekend was more relaxing with Saturday being a day off and only running the half marathon on Sunday. Today I had a good day though with tough swim this morning with 4x800FR @10:00 as the main set. After that it out for 1.5 hour bike with some hill repeats. This week is going to be a big week for me for training as next week with everything going on with the wedding I'm sure I'll be busy so it will be a good time to get in a recovery week.

Only 16 days left...

2009-04-30T05:24:00.000-07:00

As of today there is only 16 days left until the wedding. It's pretty scary how fast these last few weeks are going by and how much stuff there is to do! It's not that we aren't ready or there's things we haven't done it's that we have to recontact everyone and confirm everything with them and lots of last minute little details that couldn't be done until now. It's a little stressful but things are getting done and we are still having fun doing them so that's the main thing.
This weekend is the Sudbury Rocks Run but I don't think I'm entering in any of the distances but instead Josee is running the full marathon and I'm going to run the second half so 21.1km with her to keep her company and motivated!
Tuesday I went out again to the cycling clubs practice at DD Track and this time I actually knew what the workout was so I found it a lot better. There are some really strong riders in the top group and even a Pro cyclist who's raced on some big Pro teams over in Europe. When we were doing are hard riding the group was moving at over 50km/h around that track. Our practice was:
Warm up: 5min easy 5min mod. 5min hard 2min easy 2minutes All Out 2min easy 2min All Out 7min Easy
Main Set:
1:30 All Out - 1:30 Easy
1:15 All Out - 1:15 Easy
1:00 All Out -1:00 Easy
:45 All Out - :45 Easy
:30 All Out - :30 Easy
Then we did 10minutes recovery and then 20minutes at about 80% but guys really started pushing and were going over 80%. It hard workout and a solid 2 hours of riding.
All my other training has been going good also, I've been swimming everyday this week and have got in 2 hard runs as well.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Yes I know it's been awhile since I've made a post...things have been a little busy as of late. Here's a couple of pictures from yesterday's bike. I was trying out my new

So early last week Lea calls me while she's at work and says there's this little dog in the bargan hunter and that maybe we could go take a look at it. So Wednesday night we drive out to Azila and meet this little old retired couple who has this little toy poodle but has to get rid of it because they want to be gone for a few months at a time travelling and can't bring her with them. Of course she is the cutest little thing ever and weights all of about 7lbs at the most. We played with her for a little bit with them and then we went outside to "talk" about it. So that lasted all of about 2 mintutes at the most and we decided that we were going to take her. We told them though that we were going away for the weekend though and could we pick her up when we got home early this week and that was perfectly fine with them and they wouldn't give her to someone else. That didn't last all that long though as that night we decided that we wanted to pick her up before we left and that we would bring her with us. It tured out to be a good decision though as she was so good in the car and the easiest dog to travel with. She listens very good, as soon as you say her name she comes to you and sits. She has completely taken to us already and we can barely leave the house without her and she always wants us to hold her and play with her.

Like I said this past weekend we travelled down to Brantford for a swim meet. I didn't swim quite like I want to but I still won the 1500Fr and in the end I think I was just having a bit of an off weekend as I'm already back to swimming fast in the pool.

This week has already started off with lots of training...Monday was probably the easiest day with a 8km run and then hoped on the bike right away for an hour ride. Tuesday was an hour and a half in the gym doing weights, core and little bit of plyo work. Then it was off to the pool for a 3500m swim LC with a main set of 15x100Fr @1:20 holding 1:12 After that it was an easy 45minute spin on the trainer after supper. Today started off with a big swim, 5000m total and 10x300FR @4:00 holding under 3:30 for all of them. After that was 40 minutes on the bike with the last 15minutes at race effort and then a 10km tempo run off the bike. I finished off with a little bit of core and then called it a day.

Today was 22 days until the wedding...it's coming so fast and there seems like there's so much to do! It's going to be a busy last 3 weeks that's for sure and I'm looking forward for the day to come and then relax afterwards.

Why do we always eat too much?

2009-04-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just got the proofs for my race suit for this season and a jacket with my sponsor's logo's on it. I think they turned out pretty good and I'm excited to get them in!

This weekend Lea and I went to North Bay on Saturday and first met up with Lea's cousin who is going to school there and we went to look at a place for her to rent for next year. The house was great and she put her deposit on it. We then went over to Mark and Bonnie's house for Easter dinner. It had been such a long time since we've seen everyone so it was great seeing them. We had a really nice dinner and visit with everyone. Ate way too much though this weekend!! Stayed the night in North Bay and then Sunday picked up Lea's cousin to bring back to Sudbury with us. She stayed the night at our house and then went back on the bus this afternoon.

We are leaving mid day on Thursday to head down to London for the swim meet this weekend. This week will be more of a taper and rest week than anything so there wont be too much to report regarding training. Swimming will mostly be a bunch of springs and working on a few small things like starts and that kind of stuff. Biking and running will be just kind of easy and get out there and do it as opposed to any intensity.

RIP Fuzzy

2009-04-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

So today was a very sad day at our house for all of about 3minutes when Fuzzy died in her cage. Not sure why she died...she was making nose like usual when we left the house this morning and then by the time we got home Fuzzy was gone. Other than that today was a great day...

We got up fairly early even though we both had the day off. After some breakfast we heading into the gym to do some weights. After that we played a little bit of basketball in the gym with Hayden and Tayte and then we did a core class. After that it was into the pool for a swim. It's one week today till the swim meet so I started working on some sprinting to get my speed up with some 25's and 50's all out.

This afternoon it was so nice outside that we spent most of it out in the yard doing some spring work. A little raking some leaves, washing down the deck and getting the patio furniture out. Then it was time for some nice pork chops on the BBQ.

Now I'm off to do a run while it's still nice out. Tomorrow it's off to North Bay so I hope everyone has a great Easter Weekend!

Maybe a bit of bad luck?

2009-04-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to wonder if going out for a bike ride on Sunday was a bit of bad luck with all this nasty weather we are getting this week. I woke up this morning to more snow on the ground and during my run found it very slippery with the ice under the fresh layer of snow we got. This morning was a 7km run when I got up. Then it was over to the pool for an hour swim and some core afterwards. Tonight I have an hour bike with a 4km hard run off the bike. Monday during my swim I did a 800m hard and went 9:18. Wasn't too bad for the middle of practice and pretty tired from two bikes and a run the day before and 10km run right before my swim.
Last night we got to have supper with my cousin who lives out in Edmonton and was in town for work. I haven't seen him since I 10years old so there was lots of things to get caught up on! It was great to see him again and to be able to have a really nice supper together at our place.
This weekend looks like it's going to be a busy one with it being Easter and trying to get to see everyone. Right now Friday both of us are off of work and haven't decided yet what we're doing on Friday. Saturday we are going to North Bay to pick up Lea's cousin who is going to school there and spend the day with her. Then it's over to my aunt and uncles house in North Bay for supper and spend the night. Sunday I think we are bringing Lea's cousin back with us to Sudbury. Sunday when we get back into Sudbury I think I'm meeting up with Drew, Josee and maybe Jack for a long 20mile run. Sunday night I think we are all going over to my mom's for Easter supper. My cousin is supposed to still be in town so I think he'll come over also and Lea's cousin. Then next Wednesday is my LITTLE sister's 20th birthday! I can't believe she's already going to be 20...
Yesterday I was put in contact with the president of the Sudbury Boxing Club and had a very interesting conversation with him. I found out that they are also a national training centre which is kind of cool to have that here in Sudbury! He said he would really like to work with me and have be able to hold fundraising events, have me go and give talks to his boxers and even offered me to use their gym as a place to train if I ever need it. I'm really looking forward to to this interesting opportunity and it definitely sounds like there could be a great relationship built there for years to come.

First Ride of the Year Outside

2009-04-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend was kind of an interesting one...Saturday Lea and I went to the Sudbury Arena to check out the Aboriginal Festival. We checked out all the arts and crafts and watched the Grand Entry. After that it was over to LU to get in a swim. There was a swim meet going on this weekend at the pool so the only time I could swim was if I sneaked in during warm ups. It was different trying to swim a practice with like 50 other people in your lane...good thing it was long course! I did 15x100 D1-5 starting at 1:12 down to 1:04 on 1:30. It felt good as it was only my 3rd time swimming long course this season. My swim meet in two weeks the finals will be all long course so it was good to get that in.
Last night I had planned on doing a bike with a run off the bike so around 6:30 I got on the bike and not even 5minutes into my warm up my pager went off. So I jumped off the bike and headed over to the station. It turned out to be that we had to pull out an elderly man who had somehow drowned in the water in his basement. After we got him out several of the guys who have been at the station for a long time recognized him that he was a fire fighter at our station for 31 years and had retired in 1997. It was kind of sad that there was that connection and we gave him a moment of silence.
By the time I got home it was almost 9:00pm and too late to start a bike-run so I waited till this morning and when I got up I got in my hour bike and 12km run off the bike. After that it was into the pool to work for a couple of hours at the swim meet. On the way home I saw a couple of people out riding their bikes so I said enough was enough that I'm going out. So I when I got home I got all my stuff ready and headed out for my first bike ride of the year outside. It felt so good not to be on the trainer in the basement watching TV like all winter and to be out on the road. It wasn't too cold and I felt really strong! I just went for a short 45minutes but seeing how today was supposed to be a day off that turned into almost 2hours of biking and a 12km run off the bike I figured I wouldn't push it. Don't know how happy coach will be....
My cousin who I haven't seen in probably 10-12 years is supposed to be getting into town tonight for a couple of days for work and we are planning on getting together with him. It's crazy how I used to see him every time I would go to Ottawa and then he moved to Calgary and I haven't seen him since...
This weekend is Easter Weekend...Lea and I have the Friday off and hopefully we can get to see some friends and family over the weekend.

Recovery Day

2009-04-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a great and much needed recovery day. After a hard two days, Monday and Tuesday coach gave me recovery day with an easy 45minute spin this morning when I woke up and a 40minute steady pace run followed by a 30minute easy swim. It felt great to just relax today and get ready for what's coming my way tomorrow.
Yesterday I had a huge swim the morning with the team. Those early mornings seem to be getting harder than they used to be when I was younger. It seems like you just went to sleep when your alarm goes off at 4:45am! Once I'm up I'm not bad it's just that first getting out of bed and convincing yourself that the alarm wont get shut off on its own. So after a 1500m warm up the main set was 8x400 @5:00 holding 4:50 They were 2xPull/Paddles 2xPaddles 2xPull 2xSwim It was a good 5500m logged.
I also had a big run yesterday...it was a 2km warm up and then 8km where ever 2km was an increase in pace until the last 2km were at race pace. With a couple km's cool down it was a good 12km.
Today is our long day of the week because after work I have to go and coach and then I have a couple hours off then I have to be at LU to work again from 8-10. I think tomorrow after work we are going to be having supper with Jesse and Sarah which should be fun. I'm looking forward to this weekend for some down time as last weekend was pretty busy.

So much going on!

2009-03-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

There just seems to be so many things happening all at once and I barely keep up! All good things though...
This weekend was definitely not an ordinary weekend...it started out with some great training with a hard swim with the team. The main set which was 4 times the following
400Fr @6:00 D1-4 4:57, 4:51, 4:45, 4:38
300BK @6:00
100FR Fast @3:00 1:03, 1:02, 1:03, 1:01
It was a great set and with a good warm up and cool down it was a solid 4500m logged. Later it was a 55minute run and some core.
Now finally I guess I can talk about Saturday night...I've been having to not saying anything about it because it was supposed to be a total surprise but Lea and I had known for a while that there was a bunch of people planning a Stag and Dow for us. Well it turned out amazing!! I can honestly say that it was probably the best party I've been to. Everyone there was great, everyone was laughing and having fun and the games were a blast! It was also nice to see some of Lea's family that came from out of town.
Sunday was a planned day off already which was probably a good thing. We spent the day though with Lea's parents and got a bunch of things organized for the wedding which is coming up in a month and a half.
Sunday was also the draw for the canoe raffle that the Walden Old Timers Hockey League was holding on my behave and the proceeds went to support me. I stopped by a few times throughout the weekend and was there Sunday for the draw to say a few words. The winner of the canoe just happened to be from Wawa and he had just finished his last game and had left only about an hour earlier. I'm not quite sure how they are going to get the canoe to him in Wawa. Also Lea's mom won a DVD player. Kind of funny because they already have a dvd player for their tv's and so do we so I'm not sure what she is going to do with it.
Today I had another awesome swim and after 1200m warm up it was 4x650 with 2minutes rest all at 1500m pace. I also had a weight and core workout this afternoon and I'm about to get on the bike for 1.5 hour ride of 4x15min. 90% intervals. Notice how I keep writing and putting the bike off...I'm going to do it though!
I also found out at work today that I'm going to be putting on a triathlon clinic every Monday night for a group of adults. It's going to run every Monday for 8 weeks and will include all kinds of different things gearing up for their first triathlon.
Also this weekend on Saturday Lea and I were in the Dollar Store picking up something for Lea's mom and all of a sudden we hear my name on the radio and it was like STOP...LISTEN! So I heard the commercial on EZ Rock about the Ford Fusion and they talked a little bit about me...it was so cool! It was my first time hearing it and since then I've heard it like 4-5 more times and everyone seems to be hearing it!
A big thank you to everyone who came out Saturday night and made it so much fun and to all that helped make it happen. I'll get some pictures up soon!

Looking for a Fridge?

2009-03-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

So I have this bar fridge that I bought about a year ago from Home Depot for $250 while I was living in my apartment. The thing is I only ever used it for 2 months and since we've been in our house it's been just sitting in the basement not being used. The bottom 2/3 is the fridge and the top 1/3 is a freezer. It works great, it's energy efficient and there isn't a scratch on it. My asking price is $175 so if you or anyone you know is looking for a really nice bar fridge let me know!

Canoe Raffle

2009-03-24T15:37:00.001-07:00

I got some very exciting news yesterday from one of my sponsors. Robin White, the owner of BioPed here in Sudbury who gets me all my running shoes and orthotics put me in contact with the Walden Oldtimers Hockey League. They are having their annual hockey tournament this weekend at the Lively Arena which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will be having a raffle for a new canoe and all the proceeds will be donated to me for this upcoming race season which is fast approaching! This is great news and I really appreciate them doing this for me. I'm going to have some promotional material there as well so if you are in the area and you have some time stop by the Lively area and pick yourself up some tickets to win a new canoe!!
Yesterday was a little bit of everything day...started out with some core work and straight into the pool for a 45minute swim. There was no real main set to the swim, just some odd stuff. Then it was a 10km run, nothing to hard just a steady pace. 40minutes for the 10km and I was feeling good. Later lastnight I did 45minutes on the bike...the first 30 were just easy spinning and then the last 10 where some 1minute intervals at 350watts.
Today I headed over to LU for my swim which turned out to be long course and after a 1000m warm up it was 1x400 @5:00 2x200 @2:30 4x100 @1:15 8x50 @:40 all at 1500 pace. After that it was some more core and tonight I have a big bike with 4x15minutes at 90% efforts.
Lea's parents will be here on Friday and both of us have the day off. Time to get the house nice and clean though before they get here:)

An old and new pic

2009-03-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of a few weeks ago(I know it's a little late) of when I went to the winter carnival and we set up the aerial for the kids. The other picture is just me with some of the SaltStick stuff they sent me. Thanks guys! Yesterday I had a good run...after a good warm up it was 2km hard, 3km easy, 3km hard and then a cool down. Solid 15km in total and was holding 3:30 pace for the hard. Today is my day off and Lea and I are heading into town to do some stuff then over to Drew and Josee's house for supper. Tomorrow I have a hard bike in morning then heading into the pool for a main set of 4x450 @6:00 all at 1500 pace. Should be a good time!

Salt Stick Goodies

2009-03-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a nice package full of all kinds of goodies from Salt Stick. It's really great to be sponsored by them this year and be part of their Team. Their Salt Capsules are by far the best out there providing your body with minimized muscle cramping, heat stress and fatigue due to unbalanced electrolyte blood levels.
Training has been going great! I've been having a great week so far and my legs are really feeling the burn. Yesterday I did a good swim with a main set of 20x100Pull on 1:20 holding under 1:10. Later on the day it was some core work then 1hour on the bike with 2x15 minutes at 90% and then a 10km run off the bike with 3x1km at 90%. The other 7km was just nice and easy and relaxed and I still came in under 40minutes for the 10km which included my warm up and cool down.
Today was a 2hour strength and core session in the gym at Boreal with Coach. Those stairs burned!! After that it was some stretching and I have an easy swim later today and that will be about it. Tomorrow I have another big day!
So today is the 4 year anniversary of my dad's death. It one way it seems so long ago but in another it seems like just yesterday I got the call from my sister that dad had been in an accident. A lot has happened in those 4 years and I still really miss him. From time to time I think about the guy who was driving the other car and caused the accident who is only 1 year older than me and what goes through his mind and how it's affected his life. I know my dad is very proud of me though for everything that I've done since then and that he watches over me all the time. Dad we love and miss you so very much.

Awesome weather

2009-03-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had some great weather and it was so nice to spend the weekend outside. Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of the weather with my training as I hurt toe pretty good and was kind of forced to take two full days off. It's feeling better now and that's what's important and in the end the two days off was probably good for me. I didn't just sit around though all weekend...I was still outside for much of it. One of our huge trees in our yard over the winter much of shifted to one side and caused one of it's big branches to lean on our fence which caused our fence door not to shut properly. So yesterday I got out the chainsaw and took down the branch that was leaning on the fence. To give you an idea of how big this tree is...the branch was so big around I could just barely rap my arms around the branch and have my hands touch. I cut it up into a few 12inch sections and then split them for fire wood. I did a few other things outside so I was definitely still active enough though I didn't do any training.
People have been asking us what we would want as a wedding present and we haven't been able to come up with much because we pretty much have everything we want already for our house. So we haven't done any kind of gift registry and the two things we've thought of we know people have already kind of taken care of. Then my sister Molly was over on Friday night and was telling us that my mom wasn't sure either what to get us. So Lea and I started thinking...the one thing we've talked about since we've moved in is our garage. It's been the one thing about the house that wasn't in very good shape. We can't store anything big in it because the garage door doesn't work so if it doesn't fit through the side door we can't put it in there. So we started thinking what it would cost to replace it but with something a little smaller. We don't want to use it for a car so we thought of maybe having double doors that open for bigger things. So this weekend we took some measurements and got kind of an idea of what we would want. So we went to a few different places to get some quotes. Rona was the most expensive, Home Depot was second and not that bad $2800 for everything but then the lumber store in Lively could get us everything we would want to build it, all the wood, shingles, siding, doors, window...everything for $1550 plus tax. That seems like such a good price for a 16x12 shed! It was pretty exciting.
This week will be a big base week with lots of hours and then next week I have a few Time Trials planed. Lots of fun:) Today I did a swim this morning, nothing crazy just 3000m. Later I have 30minutes of core, 6km run followed by another 3000m in the pool and then 75minute bike tonight on the trainer.

Time seems to fly when you're busy!

2009-03-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an awesome swim and hit some great times in practice. After a big warm up my main focus was on 3x400Free @5:00 Numbers 1 and 3 I had to be at 90% of 1500 pace and number 2 was just make pace time. Number 1 hit 4:35 and was feeling great. Number 2, I came in at 4:57 so just enough time to turn around and GO for the last one. I was even able to negative split it and came in at 4:34. I was really pumped afterwards and with come core and an easy run it was a good day.
Today was an hour of weights and then a total of 670 different sit ups. I've been doing a lot of core and strength training these last few weeks and I'm finding a big difference just in my posture when I run and my core strength in the water. So with some stretching it was a solid 2 hours in the gym. Tonight I have a workout on the bike to do with some high cadence and power. 90%-70%-90% all over 100rpm.
Last night Dr. Stauber did a presentation to a group of women about what he does and what exactly an Upper Cervical Doctor is. I was able to be there and got the chance to share some of my experiences receiving care from an Upper Cervical Doctor and what it's meant to me. I've added his website on the side with the other websites. Check out the testimonial page and it has a couple of pictures of me on there.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with Jody Narozanski the manager of Belanger Ford who is getting me my new wheels. I can't wait to see my new Hybrid Fusion!!
It looks like Kiwami Triathlon is going to be my race suit sponsor for this year. Olivier Mouyau over at Euro Multisports Distribution in Ottawa has set me up with their top suit, the Amphibian. It feels great and I can't wait for Olivier to get it printed with sponsor logos and everything. It's going to look sharp on the new car!
Lea has been busy with the planning of the wedding which is coming up fast. It will be only two months next week! It seems like the majority of the work takes place within those last two months though. She just read off a list of things to do over the next little while and it seemed like quite the list...it is going good though and we seem to be on track with everything.

The man on the bike...

2009-03-08T15:03:00.001-07:00

I've had a good week of training. Friday was a swim, weights and a bike. Saturday I did a big swim with 15x100FR as the main set with the first 5@ 1:15, second 5@ 1:20 and the last 5@ 1:15 again. Today was a good 14km run and I had the chance to meet some guy on his bike while running down the highway from Sudbury towards Lively. I could hear someone behind me so I looked back and he was just there! First thing he says to me is "you must be an athlete". Turns out he ended up riding right beside me for almost 20minutes chatting away. I learned that he had biked from Sudbury and was going out to Naughton to the reserve to buy smokes. I asked him why he just didn't get them in town and he said that it's a good was to kill time and they are much cheaper. It was also kind of sad when he told me all he has is his bike.
I had a very exciting meeting on Friday with EZ Rock and the New Sudbury Shopping Centre. Everything is a go now for the GREEN MACHINE. I'm going to be getting a Ford Hybrid Fusion from Belanger and EZ Rock and the New Sudbury Centre are going to be the other two big sponsors. I'm really excited about this opportunity to drive this car and has my picture on it. It's going to bring lots of awareness and I think many good things are going to come of it. The car is order but wont be ready to go for about another month and we are going to have the big unveiling at the New Sudbury Shopping Centre and I'll keep everyone posted with what date and time.
Today was our clubs swim a thon and it was great to see some of the kids in my level who are only 10-12 years old swimming almost 3km non-stop. They've come along way since the beginning of the year as most of them this is their first year swimming and were just learning the basics of the strokes at the beginning of the year. It was really great to see them just want to keep going and going.

Training is the name of the game

2009-03-05T09:50:00.000-08:00

This week has been a big week for training. Yesterday was a 2hour workout of all core and weights! Coach kicked my butt and I was pretty tired by the end. Later on in the day I had a 5km TT to do. Wasn't sure how it was going to go since I was doing it on the Loaches trail between LU and Loaches Road which is snow packed and it was dark out when I was doing it so with no lights it made it a little tricky. Each way is exactly 1km so I had to do 5 laps. I felt pretty comfortable and was happy overall with the run. I had an average 173bpm heart rate and each km was split almost exactly the same with only a 2-3 second difference. I finished with a 17:55 for the 5km. Not to bad for this time of year and in the middle of a hard training week.
Today was a 45minutes swim this morning. Some core work and then a 3km run-1hour bike-3km run. The first run is at 80% then hope on the bike for an hour with 2x15minutes at 80% and then the run off the bike is 70%.
Today Lea and I went to court as Lea was told to be there as a witness for the accident she was involved in during the summer. The girl who was charge had the charge dropped and was only charged $180 for causing Lea to be in the hospital and then 4 months of physio and $2000 damage to her car and $7000 damage to another car. I just can't understand how this court system of ours works. It's like lets let everyone who does something wrong off and then they can do it again. Lea or the driver of the other car didn't even get a chance to speak and the facts that this girls lawyer presented weren't even close to be correct. I guess I should be all that surprised at what I saw with the court case and how the guy who killed my dad basically got off with nothing....very frustrating!!

Rolling right along

2009-03-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

Things have been coming right along the last little while. I've been feeling really strong and healthy which is great.
Things went as good as could be expected last week at the funeral in Blind River. I got out for a good run Thursday morning before breakfast on a nice back road with some rolling hills. It's always so much more exciting biking or running somewhere you've never been before. We got back Thursday night right before the big storm...what's one more big snow fall this winter.
Lea's parents stayed with us Friday night and we got some stuff done for the wedding. I did get some bad news though about the wedding...I got a letter from my grandma this weekend that her doctor said she's not well enough to travel so she wont be able to come. I really wanted her to be able to make it so it was some disappointing news!
I also had a meeting with Matt Mooney at ShotCrete Plus last week and he has made another donation this year to help me out with cost. I also received a letter and cheque in the mail from a complete stranger last week. I was very surprised but very happy and very thankful!!
Tonight I have a big workout with a 3km run, hope on the bike for 1hour had hard and then another 3km run off the bike. With a little swim, core and some stretching it should be a good day!

Tough Week Ahead

2009-02-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a lot of fun with the winter carnival in the morning and early afternoon then Sig came over and brought us our house warming present which is really good. He got us a really nice stereo system and speakers that seems to do almost anything. Then we had a nice supper together and then Lea and I met up with Jesse and Sarah at the movies to watch The International. Not sure what to think of the movie, it was good but there were some twists in the movie that were hard to follow.
Late Saturday night though we got a phone call fro Lea's parents that Lea's cousin had passed away. He had been fighting cancer for quite awhile...he is going to be missed by many and this week Lea's parents will be coming up to stay with us and then we will all go to Blind River on Wednesday and Thursday.
The diet is going good, I'm almost done phase one and am pretty excited to start phase two as it has quite a bit more variety. I'm now down to 148.2lbs today. I don't think I weighed this much since I was 12.
Yesterday the YMCA Youth Triathlon went really good with 9 kids participating. I gave a little presentation afterwards with my bikes and all my other gear.
Training is going really good also...I'm getting in some hard bikes with a lot of 15min. intervals at 90%. The weights and core are really helping also as I feel stronger already. This morning I did a swim with the main set of 8x225m Fr @3:00

Feeling Much Better

2009-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Training has been going really good the last couple of days. I feel completely over whatever it was that I had on the weekend and I'm back to 100%. I've been doing lots of core training lately and I don't think there's been a day in the past two weeks where it hasn't hurt to laugh! On the bike I've been doing this set where I go for 15minutes at 90% and then 15minutes at 70% and I do that 3 times. It's a hard hard workout and yesterday I was able to up my watts on the 90% so I know I'm getting stronger. My running has been great also and I just think my overall strength has gone up. I've lost some weight also and it wasn't even on purpose...I'm not 153lbs and I actually start my new diet tomorrow that my coach is putting me on. The first four days are supposed to be a pretty big shock but then after that it's more of cutting out what I don't need to be eating and eating the foods that are going to help maximize my body's performance.
This weekend will be another busy one...Saturday I'm volunteering at a winter carnival with the Fire Department. I have to bring the Aerial truck over and set it up for a few hours. Sunday the YMCA is having a youth indoor triathlon that I'm helping out with and then at the end of it I'm going to be giving a little presentation to the kids. I'm going to be bringing in my bike and some other gear to show to the kids so it should be fun.
Hope everyone is enjoying all this snow we are getting...not exactly the best kind of weather for running outside. Can't complain though because it's really the first snow we've had since also x-mas.

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

Great Weekend

2009-02-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

Back now from Ottawa where Drew and I had a great weekend! I wasn't feeling to good all weekend but being able to just relax and let my body recover was much needed. Here are a couple of pictures I took while at the races this weekend. The one where Drew is standing straight up is before the start of the Classic race on Saturday. The other of Drew is him finishing on Sunday the skate ski. He did awesome in both races! Just the fact that he raced 53km's each day is impressive. The third picture is the winning guys on the podium from the skate ski on Sunday. The winning time for 53km was 2:06! The guy who won is from Germany and right now is ranked 4th in the World...it was pretty cool watching him ski so I figured I might as well get a picture of time to.

Saturday we got to go and visit my grandma who I haven't seen is a long time. She is doing really good for turning 86 pretty soon. She showed us all around her apartment building which is only about 5months old and it is just beautiful! They have everything there, pool, hot tub, workout room, movie theater, games room, huge dining hall...just everything!

We had a really good trip to Ottawa overall but it was also good to get home last night and Lea and Josee had a awesome supper waiting for us when we walked in.

For valentines day for Lea I decided that I was going to completely redo her closet for her. I took out all the old wood and rods and painted the walls and then totally replaced all the wood with new pine. I think it looks really good and she seems to like it.

Today was a 1000m time trial in the pool. Even though I'm feeling better my body is still feeling the effects of being sick but I was still able to fight through it and post an alright time of 11:15 I also have some core work to do today and a easy spin on the bike with a run off of it.

In Ottawa

2009-02-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

It was a good drive this afternoon to Ottawa with Drew, it was uneventful which can be a good thing. I've been feeling a little sick the past few days and as soon as I got here I had a nap. Drew went over to the race site tonight while I had my nap to check in and said that course is almost dangerous fast. Should be interesting to watch as I've never been to a ski race with top skiers from around the World. The hotel we are staying at has set aside one of their conference rooms for all the skiers for waxing for the weekend so that's where Drew has been for the past hour. I don't think I would have the patience to put on coat after coat of wax on my ski's...Drew said he's spent like 10 hours in the past two weeks waxing his ski's getting them ready for this race! Crazy!!
Tomorrow we will be up early as his 53km race starts at 9am. In the afternoon I'm going to go and visit my grandma who lives here in Ottawa. It's been awhile since I've seen her and when I called her earlier this week she was so excited that I was coming! Sunday Drew is back at it with another 53km's. Tomorrow's is a classic ski and Sunday is the skate ski. It will be different this weekend because I'm so used to being the one racing and other people watching me and now I'm going to be the one cheering and doing whatever I can to help Drew's races go smooth. I think it will be fun.
Happy Valentines Day tomorrow to everyone and especially to my fiancee Lea who is back home in Sudbury. Love you

2009-02-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

And I'm home....

2009-02-08T20:10:00.001-08:00

Another swim meet has come and gone. There has been many over the last 16 years but I'm still putting up some good results even though my swimming is only a 1/3 of what it used to be. Tonight I have the 200Free and 2:00.75 and was good enough for 1st place. Ten minutes after that I was up again and swimming the 100Fly. I can see my sprinting skills haven't improved any over the years and was only able to go 1:02.18 and 3rd place. Overall it was a really good weekend though and I'm really happy that I went. I had some very positive swims and even walked away with a 1st in the 200Fr, 400Fr, 1500Fr, 200Fly and a 3rd in the 100Fly.
We made it home safe and sound and tomorrow it's back to work at 8am and back to training! This week will be a busy week...even though every weeks seems like a busy week! I will be getting my new shoes, getting the results of the blood test on Tuesday, meeting with a possible new sponsor, getting ready for this weekend in Ottawa and trying to fit some kind of a valentines in before I leave. Should be lots of fun with all the other usual stuff. That's all for now since I better get my butt in bed and get some rest.

Another Good Day

2009-02-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Today I had the 200Fly and 400Free. This morning in prelims I felt alright, a little tight. This afternoon I just relaxed in the hotel room and had a little nap to get ready for finals. The 200Fly was first and I knew it was going to the race that was closest as there's a couple guys who really wanted to beat me! I was really focused going into the race and I went in with the same game plan as I did in Guelph back in December. I had another good 200Fly with the same time as Guelph, 2:14. The 400Fr I knew there was a pretty big gap between me and the next guy and a 4:17 was alright. So far 3 races down and 3 first places. Tomorrow is more of some sprinting races with the 200Fr and 100Fly. I've never been able to sprint to save my life and there's a couple fast guys so we'll see how it goes. Give me a 1500m any day over a 50 or 100m!

Good Start To Weekend

2009-02-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I swam my first race of the weekend the 1500m Free. I felt really good and unfortunately I had nobody to push me as the next closest person was 2minutes behind. A 16:30 is a good time and I'm very happy with it for this point in the season with coming off some really hard training. Tomorrow I'm swimming the 200Fly and the 400Free.

Swim Meet Time

2009-02-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

This week has been a rather interesting week. It started off on Monday with a 1.5 hour hard swim in the morning with the team. Then in the afternoon I did a 3hour work out at LU with my coach and another girl he is trainer who is one of the top ranked sprinters in Canada. There was a lot of core and weights done with some speed work on the track that almost killed me. Well it killed my hamstrings anyways because I've been suffering since then. Tuesday, Wednesday and today have been more of recovery and taper days as I get ready for my swim meet that starts tomorrow in the Sault.
Tuesday I had a meeting with Robin at PioPed and he is ordering me my new shoes that will be in next week with new orthotics.
I also had a meeting with Natalie on Tuesday to get my blood work that I had done today. It was just so much fun...the nurse seemed to think it was quite funny that I was afraid of needles and that I wanted the butterfly so it wouldn't hurt as much. I got to see Natalie's new office downtown which is going to be really nice once she is all unpacked and she is even going to have a stop on one of the walls just for me and whatever I want to put up.
Yesterday I got some more good news as someone has offered to pay for another 3months of training with my coach. So now that makes 6months already paid for. A BIG thank you to Helen Bobiwash who is also a local triathlete here in Sudbury. A Big thank you also to Dr. Stauber for the first 3months.
Next week on Tuesday I have a meeting with another possible sponsor that may be willing to help me out financially this year with all the travelling and what not.
So this weekend it's off to the Sault for my swim meet. Tomorrow night I'm swimming the 1500m Fr and then there will be 5 other races throughout the weekend. Next weekend it looks like I'm going to be going to Ottawa with Drew so that Josee and the kids can stay home and I can keep Drew company. Drew is racing in a World Cup cross country ski race where he has to ski 50km's on Saturday and then if that wasn't long enough Sunday he has to ski another 50km's. Crazy guy!
Well that's all for now, hope this weekend goes good and I'll try and report on my races throughout the weekend.

2009-02-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a couple pictures of Dr. Stauber and I. Dr. Stauber is my Upper Cervical Doctor who has been helping me out so much! He's really a great guy and great doctor and I owe a lot to him.

Busy week done and another coming

2009-02-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

So the biggest news of the week is that I am now working with a coach! I was working with one last year for a couple months around this time but he lived in Ottawa and it was the whole long distance e-mail thing and it just didn't work for me. I'm really pumped though now because he lives in Sudbury and it will be great working one on one with someone who really knows what their doing. He's worked with some really big name athletes and even some Olympians. We started this week and I'm already dead. The other big thing also was that I found someone has paid for my first 3months worth of training with my new coach. I was so happy when I found that out because it was really the only thing holding me back. I'm going to be trying to see if I can find other companies or people who will maybe pay for a month or two once I'm done these first three.
Thursday I did a whole bunch of strength training test that just killed me. After that it was an easy run on treadmill and an easy swim.
Friday morning was a 1.5 hour swim with the team and then a hard bike later on in the day. 10min warm up, 15min. at 90%, 15min. at 70%, 15min. at 90%, 15min at 95% and a 5min. cool down!
Saturday was some circuit training and then a hard swim with 4x250mFr as the main set. 2:50, 2:48, 2:48, 2:46.
Today was just an active recovery day with an easy 40min. run outside except that even though it was warm out the wind was almost pushing me backwards.
This coming weekend I'll be in the Sault racing. Hopefully I wont be too tired and I'll be able to put up some good times. Today we are having my sister Molly and Sig over for supper for Sig's birthday and I'm sure the Super Bowl will be on.
Last night Lea and I went to the ORN thank you party and they had some draw prices. I got some movie passes and a $50 gift card to a sea food restaurant in town. Then at the end of the night it was time for the big draw for some really nice patio/lawn chairs that were worth $400 and Lea's name got pulled!!! We couldn't believe it! It was pretty cool.

2009-01-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

I am going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well I will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But I am not going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process I will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.

A little need for speed work

2009-01-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple pics of me running from the Y Tri last Friday.

Last night I bike a bike workout on the computrainer with 6x1min at 350watts with 1min recovery between each. After a bike warm up and cool down it was a good hour on the bike. Today I did a run on the treadmill at work with some speed work. 4x1min. at 10.0 with 1min. recovery and then 4x2min. at 11.0 with 2min. recovery. After that it was some core work and then off to the pool for a hard swim workout with the team. The main set was 16x100 @1:20 holding under 1:10 for all of them. A couple of them were 1:05's. Right after that was a 100 easy and then 16x50 @:40 and I was holding 32 and 33 for all of them. Tonight I'll probably just spin on the bike while watching some tv for a solid 4hour day.

So this morning on my way into work I stopped at the gas station for some gas and as I'm on my way back to my car after paying this lady in her huge SUV says excuse could I help her find her latch to open her hood as she wanted to put windshield washer fluid in. So I go over and I found it right away so she said thank you and I went back to my car. As I'm about to pull away I look over and she's having the hardest time opening her hood. So I pull out from the pump and go over to where she's parked...So I'm trying to find her latch...still trying....still trying...finally she tries again and still can't figure it out. So I give it one more go and finally figure the thing out! So then I hold the hood open for her as she pours in her washer fluid and she starts laughing...she goes, "ya everyone in the drive through at Tim's is probably laughing right now watching you help the cute lady get her hood open". I didn't even know what to say, because here I am just trying to be a nice guy and she whips out this comment....I mean ya she was still pretty young and I'll admit it she was good looking. Well I did my good deed for the day and got a laugh out of it also.

Training

2009-01-21T05:38:00.000-08:00

This morning was a killer swim with the team with a almost 6000m swim.
4x200Fr +50Fl
2x[1000Fr P/PDD on 13:00 (11:40 & 11:45) + 4x200Fr +50Fl on 3:30 holding under 3:05]
long cool down
Later I have some core work and a long run.
Yesterday was a big day also with a 45min. swim, weights&core, 45min. run and 1hour bike hill work.

Y Tri and Cottage Weekend

2009-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

So on Friday I did the Y Tri at Work. There was only 8 of us that did it and it was a 500m swim, 20km bike and 3.2km run. I knew it would be a good chance for some fast all out training to get those muscles moving at a race pace. The swim felt good and I did the 500m in 5:20 which is like 1:04/100m. The bike was done on one of the Y's stationary spin bikes but I was still able to average about 305watts for the 20km. About 3/4 of the way through the bike though I was kicking myself for not bringing a watter bottle as my mouth was so dry. The run felt good also and for the 3.2km I was a little under 12minutes. Saturday morning I did a good bike session on the computrainer anf then Lea and I were off to the cottage with Jesse and Sarah.

We had a lot of fun together and Sunday was my first day off of training in a couple of weeks so it was a much need day of rest although we did go for a walk in the bush with snow up to our waist(litterally) for a good hour so we all had a little sweat going by the time we got back. We played some games, watched some movies, had a camp fire and just overall had a good relaxing day and a half.

This week will be a big training week for me with a swim/bike focus. I have a swim meet I'm starting to get ready for as well coming up in 3 weeks. I'll try and report later in the week about how the training is going. Also a big Happy Birthday to Drew who's birthday was last week!! Drew's been working hard lately also getting ready for his big cross country ski races coming up soon in Ottawa were he has to ski 50km on the Saturday and then 50km again on the Sunday!

Flying!

2009-01-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Today I had an appointment with Dr. Stauber who did some more work on my back and we had a good talk about why I may be experiencing these stomach problems. It was a much needed talk and I really appreciated him taking that time out of his day.
For the past couple of days Lea's aunt has been staying with us while her uncle is recovering from surgery. It's been good, usually we come home and we're both so tired that we just through stuff together and these past few nights we've had some really nice meals.
Training has been going awesome lately. I just can't complain about anything and now my right hamstring is feeling much better after it was bothering me for a day or two. I've been able to get in some good long runs and bikes in which has been great for lots of base mileage. Doing all this extra weights and core has been really good also and I know I've said this before but I'm supper excited to see how it works out down the road. I've been swimming lots also with two 1.5 hours today, one before work and one after. Both were killer workouts and my arms are dead tonight writing on the computer. This morning was 1000m warm up and then the main set was 400FR+200Fly
300FR+150Fly
200FR+100Fly
100Fr+50Fly
50Fr+25Fly
All the FR's were meant to be at about 85% so like 4:45 for the 400 and then the Fly's were A!O! and I was hitting some wicked times...2:25, 1:43, 1:05, 29 and 13.8 I think for my next triathlon I'm just going to do the swim all Fly.
This weekend will be another busy one as they all seem to be. I'll be getting in some good hours of training and Lea registered up for a wedding show tomorrow and then it's off to the mall so she can pick out a new suit for an interview. Sunday we have an inservice at the pool, then it's practice, wolves game, sushi with Jesse and Sarah then finally home...I might as well just work all weekend and I wouldn't be as busy!

Sudbury Rocks

2009-01-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Just a really quick post for right now just to let everyone know to go and check out the Sudbury Rocks website at www.sudburyrocks.ca
It's the 3rd one from the top and I'll let everyone go look at it and find out what it's all about without me saying anything.
I'll post later with other updates and what's going on as I have to go get my swim in while I got a break at work!

Go Canada Go!

2009-01-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made for the first time ever Pickerel and Bacon Kabobs. I got a picture of the before and after they were cooked just in case they didn't come out to good but they did! For anyone who likes fish these are a must try. All I did was cut the pickerel down the center length wise, place a piece of bacon on it and roll it into a ball. I put some garlic and herb seasoning on them with some lemon juice and put them on the BBQ for about 10-12minutes on Medium heat.

Today I did a 1.5 hour swim in the morning with the club followed by a 1/2 hour of core. Tonight is the gold medal game for the Canadian Juniors so I will be doing a bike while watching the game.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

So New Years has come and gone and we are now in 2009. I have my new calendar up already and I'm looking forward to what this year has to bring. I'm sure it will be full of it's ups and downs but I know I have a great support team around me and we will make it through anything.
Lea's parents just left a few minutes ago after a nice visit for a few days. Lea and I got some very nice Christmas gifts this year from many different people and they will be much appreciated and we are very thankful.
My little sister is in Florida right now and the temperature has been over 30Celsius everyday and I am so jealous that I am not there training right now in that weather. I was trying to arrange a trip down in March to Florida for a little training camp and stay with my aunt and uncle but I don't know if I will be able to do it as I'm still trying to find some sponsors for this year.
Training has been going really good though lately especially for the time of the year with the holidays and everything that goes on at that time of the year. The computrainer that Dr. Therriault is letting me use over the winter has been great and I'm been able to get in some really good bike rides indoors. Running has been good also with some longer base work out getting done and now with the help from Robin at BioPed that has agreed to give me 3 pairs of shoes and 3 pairs of orthotics per year I wont need to worry about getting new running shoes anymore. Swimming has been swimming lately, this week I did a main set of 30x100FR @1:20 and then the next day 16x300FR @4:00 The biggest change to my training has been the addition of the core and weight training that I've added in the past two weeks. I'm going to be putting in about an extra 3-3.5 hours every week of core and weight training.
Overall I'm just so excited with how my training is going and now all I can do it hope that the sponsorship packages I made pay off and I'm able to get the funding I need.
Not too much else is really new around here...Lea and I are thinking of maybe going up to the cottage for a weekend in a couple of weeks but not positive yet.
Hope everyone had a great New Years and some good holidays!