Domestique Diaries Returns with The Better Half!

Well it's been forever since I've blogged and for that I apologize, time got in my way! However, in my absence I have learnt how to video blog (and even edit them) which is a definite time saver, well after the learning took place!

So, prior to introducing my first video I want to first explain to you the amount of veggies and fruit Brent eats in one day. To put it plainly when we eat at Jason's Deli and Brent gets the salad bar at least three people say something along the lines of "save some veggies for us". This is how much veggies I used to cut every night. Cutting veggies and fruit were consuming me, so I changed to cutting them on Sunday afternoons. I would stand in the kitchen for two hours preparing and chopping 4 huge bowls of veggies and fruits that Brent would eat for the week. It freed up my weeknight time, but put a damper on my Sunday afternoon chores. Then one early morning at the gym I saw the info-mercial for the Salad Chef Genius and went right out to Bed Bath and Beyond to get it! This along with our Vitamix has saved me so much time. Now, on Sundays I chop the fruit and veggies and make a batch of hummus in no time at all and Brent fuels like a champ all week with no hassle from me! Below in the video are the best kitchen tools at work!! And the song is also so fitting! :)

Happy chopping,

Carley

K-SWISS KANSAS 70.3

K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 Triathlon Update

This Sunday I raced the K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. It was a fun trip traveling up to Lawrence with my good buddy Travis Thomason. Other than getting caught in a Tornado/Hail storm in Wichita on Thursday, and getting lost on Friday we made it safe and sound. I have been slowly increasing my Iron levels and have started to feel good; so I was pretty excited to race.

RACE DAY
Luckily the nasty weather held off but we were forced with an unexpected choppy swim.
Thanks to my Xterra Vendetta wetsuit I was able to come out in the lead group that had all of the race leaders (Matthews, Kahn , Bell, Umphenour, Guillaume, Castillo, Rhodes, Anderson) in a time of 24:55. At this point I had a few calf cramps while exiting transition and I lost the lead group. Afraid to push the pedals too hard the first 5 minutes and make things worse I waited until my calf better, and was passed by a few others (Rix, McDaniel) who were riding well and made it up to the front. Looking back that was my opportunity to ride off those guys and pace myself up to the front. Luckily I was able to ride with Gavin Anderson most of the ride and make my way into transition.

It was my first time racing with power(big thanks to Mark Howard) and that kept my mind going and my attention span in the present. My bike split was a little weak but looking back I could have pushed harder (2:19:59) based on the wattage I have been training at lately.

Off the bike I ran 1:16:58 (thanks to my K-SWISS K-RUUZ) to finish 7th overall (4:04) and cap the day with a bit of prize money and WTC Points for the 70.3 Championships in Vegas in September.

Now it’s time to recover and get ready for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in a couple of weeks time. Congrats to Paul Mathews and Chrissie Wellington for taking the overall W’s as well as the other athlete’s who made it to the yellow brick road at the finish line. It was inspiring to watch everyone.

Ironman 70.3 Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
June 12, 2011
D 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 ni.

Men

1. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:49:44
2. David Kahn (USA) 3:55:46
3. Luke Bell (AUS) 3:56:13
4. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 3:59:17
5. Joe McDaniel (USA) 4:00:53
6. Andres Castillo ( ) 4:03:22
7. Brent Poulsen (CAN ) 4:04:18
8. Joe Umphenour (USA) 4:05:18
9. Tony White (USA) 4:05:56
10. Torsten Abel (GER) 4:06:33


Thanks to my Coach Cliff English, Spring Valley Spine and Sport, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Xterra Wetsuits, Powerbar, Louis Garneau and Colonels Bikes for getting me set up to perform at my best!

See you in Lubbock,
BP

Visit with Cobb Cycling

A quick visit with Cobb Cycling, and now it's time for Kansas 70.3 this weekend!

Florida Rohto 70.3

Florida 70.3 Quick Blog Post in Pictures.
I ended up 9th with some bike issues. I wasn't happy with the placement or the fact that i biked a 2:20 ( in 2008 biked 2:12:00). I am happy that i was able to keep fighting and run my way from 20th to 9th with a 1:17:00(second fastest run) half marathon. My health is slowly on the up and up and i will now get ready for a big June/July of racing. Thanks to Carley for making the one day trip down to watch, and thanks to my sponsors for making all of this possible.

70.3 US PRO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Texas 70.3 Pro Championships


This past weekend I raced the 70.3 US Pro Championships in Galveston, Texas. Going into the race I knew my Iron levels were extremely low and that I was not at 100%. However, something about a race in Texas, my home state, that I didn’t care and I was going to give it a go regardless. Not to mention I still need to accumulate 5 good performances before July to secure a spot for World Championships in September.

Race week flew by in a blur with recovery, and work. The field at this race was hands down stacked because it was US Pro Championships with over 55 pro men. The start of the swim was chaos, mainly due to the size of the start line, but by the time we hit the first buoy I was in the mix that looked to be the lead group with maybe one or two swimmers just ahead. Coming back into shore the pack that I was swimming with let a gap open up to the rest of the field and I found myself trying to pickup the pace and kick hard trying not to lose too much ground. I came out of the water with a pack that had Mike Lovado, Chris Leito and a few others. I knew I had lost roughly 30 seconds to some of the top contender’s but it was a long string of guys so I knew was still in the race.

Getting on the bike I saw Carley and she was smiling and screaming her head off, so then I knew for sure I was in the mix. Just after blasting up the road out of T1 something happened to my quad. It seized and swelled up and felt as though I had been kicked by a donkey. I wasn’t sure what to do, in a panic I got off my bike, did a couple stretches, tried to flex my knee a few times and hopped back on praying my leg would work. For the next few miles up to the sea wall I did the famous one-legged drill as my right leg was frozen. Athletes were passing me left, right and center and I hadn’t even hit the windy part of the ride yet. I got off my bike one more time, had a strict conversation with my leg while trying desperately to make it work and noticed I was able to get some range of motion out of it now. Mentally, I knew I had to fight through this and just finish after my last race in San Juan I would be devastated with another DNF. More importantly however I told myself I wouldn’t be able to listen to Carley for 5 hours in the car about the race so I decided to persevere. After a majority of the men’s packed passed me while I tried to get my leg going and fight off mental thoughts I saw my two fellow Canadians (SK, and MN) and started pedaling through the pain. Finally I made it to the turn around and I was now feeling a bit better. I managed to pass some athlete’s, well only the one’s that had already decided to call it a day (Paul Amey and Richie). Then more thoughts crammed into my head…Just ride back easy with these guys so you’re not the only one coming in with the woman… No keep riding I still won’t be able to deal with Carley. Then I passed Cotter who also decided to call it day and finally started to pass some other pro men who were at least still in the race. However, my bike split was not one to write home about.

Getting out onto the run my quad was so swollen I felt like Arnold and my thoughts went sort of like this…Hey where’s the beach?.... Yeah it’s that way.. Just felt like I did a squat workout with Arnold at Gold’s Gym. Up the pace and catch some of those people… okay your passing people…. Maybe you can finish this race… okay lap 2… each lap at a time Poulsen…. Okay lap 3.. Take in some liquid and a gel so this doesn’t get ugly… Saw Cotter and thanked him for coming with me for a long run… lap 4.. All right lets just run fast… you have some other athlete’s coming up behind you… ahhhhhh finish line… Time for New Orleans’s so re-group… limp limp, okay maybe no New Orleans’s!! 118 run split with taking it easy most of the time… thank god I could do something out here today that was half decent!

It is so funny how the whole week leading into the race I was worried about my Iron level’s and feared having a poor swim or GI problems on the run because of the Iron, and luckily none of this happened which would have made matters even worse. I don’t think I would have been able to think myself out of that much bad luck!

Life goes on, and as sad is it seems’ to finish mid pack I was very excited just to finish a race and remind myself I can still do this sport at a high level as my swim/run splits were competitive within the top 10.

I would like to thank K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Clean Bottle, Xterra, PowerBar, 3Bar, Louis Garneau, Colonels Bikes and my coach Cliff English for getting me ready. And of course Carley for the pics and the quiet ride home! I will now work on getting back to 100% so I am ready for some races in May.

Thanks for reading,
BP

Tuscon in Pictures

I recently returned from Tuscon, AZ where I put in some good training with Cliff English and the squad. Below are some pictures.

I also had to opportunity to get dialed into my new RTS bike with Nick White. Thanks to Timothy Carlson for the great photos. Also, thanks to Cliff English for helping to get me ready for my first race of the season in San Juan!

Brent

New Bike Sponsor

It's time to start blogging again after a long delay. First off i would like to welcome and thank RTS Bikes for helping me out this season with amazing bikes and wicked fast race wheels. I am just finishing up a training camp in Tucson and i will have lots of great photo's and updates from the past couple of months as well as a post with my 2011 race schedule. If you have any questions about RTS Carbon Bikes please contact me anytime! They are unreal!
www.rtsbikes.com