A little extra motivation

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

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

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!

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

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...

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

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

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.