Northern Life Article

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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.