RBC Olympic Training Week

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

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?

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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.