Texas and an Update

First off I must apologize for my lack of posts lately. Since Muskoka not too much has gone down that is not the usual training/recovering routine. However, in terms of geographical location, I'm currently back in Texas for the long haul. It's perfect timing too as football season is just kicking off and the boys seem to be off to a pretty good start to the season so that is exciting. You can't live in Texas with out being a football fan!

This past weekend I raced a local 26.5 mile TT in Glenrose Texas. It was called the Texas Time Trials and it was an extremly hilly windy loop. I had a bet with the race director that I could hold over 24 mph with the climbs. I got lucky and did. I backed up Sunday with a pretty solid Bike/Run session so training seems to be rolling along.

I'm pretty excited to be back in Texas as the weather in Canada has turned to Winter very quickly. Carley has been working like a madwomen getting all her certifications and paperwork in line in order for her to move down here as well. She will be here tomorrow for some interviews and then it looks like she'll be here for the long haul with me.

Other than that training has been going well. After my race in Muskoka, I was left with the eagerness and determination to complete another race before worlds in November. And there happens to a race very close to my new home in Texas, the Longhorn 70.3. So I plan on racing that in a few weeks and then focusing on World Championships in November.

Cheers,

Pictorial of Muskoka 70.3

En route to Muskoka,

We stayed at the Pow Wow Lodge resort on the other side of the lake from the Muskoka swim start. It was awesome! I even caught a boat ride across the lake in the morning, with the owner, as oppose to having to sit in the traffic, park and take the shuttle down. It was a definite benefit.

Exiting the swim. It was nearly a 250m run to transition area from the beach exit.

Starting the bike off in great position, less than 1 minute back.

Right before I got off the bike and also minutes before I received the penalty.

Starting the run after a 4 minute penalty and an extra 1 minute thinking I was serving the penalty in transition area.

Finishing the run, not too pleased but accepting.

On the golf course with Carley attempting to ease my mind from the race.

Lessons learned! Thanks for viewing.

Muskoka 70.3

Yesterday I raced Muskoka 70.3 triathlon and finished 11th. I was off to a good start during the swim in the lead group (I know this because I could see Craig Alexander's fancy wetsuit underwater) but falling off after the 3rd turn buoy. I am not sure what happened but a gap formed and I exited the swim 30-40seconds behind the leaders. Out on the bike I was in 6 or 7th place and rode down a couple people but was then again passed by some stronger athletes. Coming into transition area i was in 7th place just behind Andrew Russell who i just caught towards the end of the bike ride but he had gapped me into transition area. Going into transition i crossed the dismount line and received a 4 minute penalty. I started to wait it out with 3 officials in transition thinking I was serving my time while I made sure my shoes were nice and tight. Finally after what felt like 1.5 minutes an official piped up and said you better make your way to the penalty tent where your penalty will start. In the penalty tent I ran into Andrew Russell who was serving the same penalty. I was pretty mad because i thought i had already been serving it in the transition area and i further had to sit another 4 minutes. Also, this matter was never discussed at the pro meeting the day prior to the race and I have never seen such strict laws enforced about this violation. I watched a lot of athletes come and go through transition area and out onto the run course. I also felt my legs start to seize as I stood there. Upon exiting the penalty box, I made a big racing error of trying to run angry and after the first 5km's where i had been out in just over 16 minutes I started to fade as I had Wolfgang and Russell in sight. My fancy Garmin had me at 121 for my half split which was alright for a bad run but results had me over 126 meaning I lost around 5minutes in transition. I learned some important lessons which i will take into my next series of races. I made the best of the day and the situation. I am really looking forward to Clearwater and i need to remember that each race is going to provide an opportunity for race strategy and execution so i can get everything down for the big race in November. Overall, I think the best parts of yesterday were my great chat with Andrew Russell in the penalty box, who is a super nice guy, and my awesome 70.3 key chain Carley bought me from the expo during the race.

I would like to thank Aquasphere for providing me a great wetsuit and a great swim split, as well as Frank from Powerbar for keeping me fueled, as well as Tino from K-SWISS for outfitting me in great shoes that felt great yesterday. Also, Colonel's for providing me with a great bike, and of course LifeSport. It is now time to go golfing with Carley in hopes of keeping my mind off triathlon and the errors i made. I will post some photos from the race as soon as i have them.

Last Push!

The 6 x 1 miler! Thanks to Buddy Green for hittin' em with me.

Sad to see all the litter on the high school track!

Post workout capture!

The timer/runner for the last 2 laps when it gets hard!

A beautiful morning and a stellar hill for hill repeats! This is the steepest section, it curves slightly to the left at the top and continues for what seems like miles!

Hill-peats! And below Carley blasting the steep section!

The last Few days have been pretty hard but really fun. I have recruited some great training partners that are up for anything, and it has really helped with the last few hard days of training. Thanks to Mike Coughlin and Buddy Green for coming out. And Special thanks to Carley for timing me and doing some pretty hard workouts with me. Some good sessions of hard hill repeats that are almost 3/4's of a mile long and some hard mile repeats, as well as some hilly long runs. 2 more hard days and it will be time to get ready for Muskoka.
Have a great long weekend!

Preparation, Determination, Motivation!

First of all I would like to thank Lino Durante from Northern Sports in Timmins, ON and Frank Lucarelli from PowerBar Canada. Lino sent me the above Dopers Suck socks and Frank sent me the below PowerBar nutrition. Both will come in extremely handy while I prepare for Muskoka. These products will also help me stay motivated and determined!

Muskoka race preparation is going very well. I am super excited for next weekend. Below is a picture of me doing some over gear intervals early this afternoon.

I kept my Calgary race number in plain view on my bike to motivate me through these last challenging weeks before Muskoka.

After my session, it was time to cool off in the backyard lake.

I am currently on the last few pages of the novel Once a Runner by John Parker. It is truly an inspirational, motivated must-read athlete book. I have to admit that I have been on the last chapter for the past two days because I REALLY don't want the book to end. I have a good theory on how the book is going to end and I know it's going to be good so I'm saving it! I may finish it the night before Muskoka to further pump me up.

I have a pretty big week ahead, and I heard a rumour Mags was on the cover of Triathlon Canada mag so I"m off to Chapters to check it out!

Catch ya soon!