Awesome weather

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!

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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.