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!

Local Veggies

Here are some pictures from Carley and I's veggie collection from the Sudbury Farmers Market. They have a Coop program there that sells local produce. So if your in the area check it out.

Training has been super tough, but boo-who right? Muskoka is just around the corner so i have 3 weeks to stay super focused, i need to redeem myself from my 6 place finish at Calgary 70.3 with the poor swim/bike i had. The last couple weeks i have found myself lying on the couch by 7:00pm reading, here are a few books i have read and that i really have enjoyed.

1. Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

2. In Defense of food by Michael Pollan

3. The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and Jb McKinnon

4. What to eat by Marion Nestle

I have learned alot of valuable information from these books but i am not going to start replacing powerbar's/powergels during training for anything i might find while i am out riding or running on trails. However i will start to really pay attention to what i am eating and where it is coming from as i feel being an athlete is more than just putting in the work. I think the healthier we can become with all of the choices that we must make day to day the better off we will be.

If you have some time to do some reading the books are great and if you have a chance to have an apple from a local farmers market you will see the difference. The weird thing was all of the fruits/Veggies were cheaper than the grocery store!

Triathlon Recovery News!

A little Latte News to make you SMILE!

Have a super Saturday night and a rockin' Sunday!

Facts not really worth knowing, yet staggeringly interesting!

-Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

-On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.

-American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.

-Not all Golf Balls have 360 dimples. There are some as high as 420. There are also all different kinds of dimple patterns.

-Olympic Badminton rules say that the birdie has to have exactly fourteen feathers.

-Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

-A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

-Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

-Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

-Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color.

-If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

-Hot water is heavier than cold.

On the Lighter Side

A guy shows up late for work. The boss yells "You should have been here at 8:30!" he replies: "Why? What happened at 8:30?"

-Two snowmen are standing in a field. One says to the other : "Funny, I smell carrots too".

-For every mile you jog, you add one minute to your life. This enables you, at the age of 85, to spend an additional five months in a nursing home at $5,000/month.

You know you are a triathlete when ... this post explains it!

Off to bed,

Cheers!

This sort of describes my last two weeks. Off for an ice bath now! I will hopefully give a better update on things soon, but for now its swim,bike,run, nap, stretch, ice bath, epsonsalt. On a good note i just had a 50watt increase in power for a cycling Time Trial. Things are coming along but i am going to remain in the pain cave to get ready for Muskoka.