The Good, The bad and The Ugly

Two weeks ago I would have gone as far as saying I was in the best shape to date and ready to roll. However, this past week i have been fighting with allergies and some lower back tightness that was making me question if i should race or not. The problem with allergies is you wake up feeling like death and often i would be awake half the night for the week leading into the race. I was so excited to start my season that Carley and I went to Galveston for Texas 70.3 and US Pro Championships and i was going to give it the ol' college try even if i had to carry tissue and nasal spray with me.

Starting off in the swim i felt good, i blasted myself off course(oops!) and took some others with me and then exited the water about 30-45seconds down where i needed to be, my back was starting to hurt but i figured it would be okay once i got on the bike. Looking back i lined up on the wrong side and should have positioned myself with the guys i knew would be out in the lead, plus i should have been paying more attention to the winds and the current.

It just gets uglier from here. I ripped off my speed suit taking my # belt with it, okay jog back into transition and get the number as everyone passes out onto the bike. I hop on my bike and land on one shoe as it flies off, okay more time being lost. I felt completely loopy, the sort of feeling you get when you have had to many antihistamines, ibprofuin and nasal spray and not enough coffee.

As i smashed myself up the road, i noticed that there was something wrong, i rode the first half the bike being passed left and right just to notice at the turn around that my wheel was rubbing ever so slightly making it very difficult. The last half of the bike i was clearly out of the race and i rode in with some back tightness, very stuffed up from my allergies and i headed home. The funny part is after a 5hour car ride i felt pretty good, oh well life goes on. My back is better today, however i will be having everything looked at just to double check. Rather than dwell on the situation i have decided to keep moving forward knowing that my fitness was there but my health was not.

I would like to thank everyone for there kind messages over the weekend. I will make sure the next time i start a race i am ready to go. Also a special thanks to Ron for loaning me his wheels. I learned a big lesson- Don't use a 1080 front wheel in hurricane winds! Thank you Colonels, KSWISS Canada, Powerbar, 7 Systems, SLS3, and all my other supporters. Congrats to everyone for finishing the race and battling the winds. Also a special mention to Lance who placed in his age group, William, Jarrod, Cody, Anthony, Brian, Alison. It was great to meet lots of new people! And last but not least thank you to Carley for having to spend 5 hours with me a in a car after a DNF:(.

Domestique Diaries- A Triathlete’s Christmas

What’s a triathlete’s equivalent to a kid on Christmas morning?..... Receiving PowerBar Sponsorship nutrition and clothing in the mail!! Or as Brent and I like to call it "Fuel Day", No joke, the anticipated week of it’s arrival I heard about it so many times that I was having PowerBar dreams!

Brent was named to the PowerBar Elite team this season and the minute he heard the news he was on the website placing his orders. Every night we studied the PowerBar website over dinner and Brent talked about it endlessly. He even knows all of the staff at the PowerBar headquarters because he has called them so many times! I can honestly say that I have now memorized the nutritional composition of every PowerBar product. I even find myself talking about it at work to co-workers!

The day the first load of product arrived at our doorstep was more exciting to Brent than Christmas morning. All plans that we had scheduled for that night automatically got pushed to the back burner, new focus was to study, and organize all his PowerBar product.

Below are some pictures of Brent and the PowerBar product

He studied the product for so long he even got tired, however continued to study the product in supine.

That night we even went Target to buy storage containers for all his product. He wanted everything organized and to have it’s own home. He looked at the expiration dates of all the products and organized two cupboards based on product use and expiration date; he used the containers for extra product and to be refilled upon use from the cupboards.

It’s been two weeks since Brent has been using the PowerBar product and we still talk about as much as we did while waiting for the product to arrive. Nutrition is a key factor in a triathlete’s success and Brent is elated to be using PowerBar products. Brent restocks the cupboards every second day from the storage bins. He wants the cupboards to be full at all times.

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-Your calendar contains a "Fuel Day"

-You store most of the contents of your cupboards on top of your fridge because your cupboards are filled with training/PowerBar products

-The only cupboards that are organized immaculately (all the way down to expiration date) in your house are the “training cupboards”

Merry Fuel Day,

Carley

Update and New Sponsors!

First off I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Time fly's by when your training alot and working alot. I am excited about two new sponsors i have for this year. The first one is 7Systems which Jasper Blake introduced me to back in Victoria. This stuff is amazing. Click on the the right logo on the side of blog to go to their site. I have been able to train myself into the ground on these vitamins and minerals and my immune system and body has stayed strong. I am also happy to announce i will be part of the Powerbar Elite Team for 2010-2011 season. I would like to thank Frank and everyone at Powerbar as i am very grateful to be part of this program.

Training has been rolling along lately with Lonestar 70.3 coming up in a few weeks. It will be my first race of the season so i am excited to shake off the rust and get back in the competitive mode. Training has been going great but it's so early in the year to really tell so i would rather wait till race day to evaluate where i am at for this time of year. It should be a big start in Galvaston as they have also made it US Pro 70.3 Championships. I hope everyone had a safe Easter weekend and good luck to everyone racing over the next few weeks.

Domestique Diaries- Soap......... it does a triathlete’s body well!

Showering is a difficult task if you are triathlete. Maybe, it’s because triathletes spend countless hours wet whether it’s in an ice bath, a contrast bath, the pool or just drenched with sweat their bodies are just...wet. When it comes to showering, it’s in their control whether or not they are going to have to get wet and after living with one I find it’s usually a no go. In it’s defense triathlon isn’t really a stinky sport, like hockey where you have to put on raunchy equipment every time, and triathletes do spend a lot of time in pools which contains disinfectant properties, so maybe this is another reason to opt out of a shower. Anyways, here’s how I tactfully have gotten Brent to shower everyday for the last week!

First let me explain to you, that Brent never stinks however recently I have been noticing that the chlorine is not washed out of his hair because it stands straight up on it’s own, and it has tangles in it.

Early on, I tried to ask Brent to shower and here are his list of excuses:

-I had a shower on deck after swimming

-I sat in the hot tub after swimming

-I just iced my legs I don’t want them to get warm

-I have another workout later, what’s the point

-My hair is easily styled with this residue in it

-I just swam this morning!

Then I started to demand a shower (or no sleeping in the clean sheets), which seemed to work until we both tried to outsmart one another. I would hear the shower running but when his hair didn’t change it’s appearance I grew skeptical, so I set up a soap trap. I would place the soap in distinctive positions either leaning against a bottle, or up against the wall at a precise angle, to prove if Brent had touched it or not. Brent failed this soap trap 4 days in a row. I asked him and here are the excuses i got:

-I’m using the shampoo as soap too!

-I ran out of hot water

-It makes me smell like a girl

- I just swam this morning!!

I even fought with him about scrubbing certain body parts here is what he said:

-the suds from the shampoo on the bottom of the tub clean my feet

-deodarant is soap for my armpits

-I wash my face before bed

-And the infamous, never old, I just swam this morning (It cleans my whole body)!

Turns out Brent was stretching in the shower, and he never even had intention to wash.

I started to really grow frustrated with these excuses and lack of soap use. So I set out to Target to find some sort of remedy. The simple solution to this problem hit me in the pharmacy section.....swagger.

Swagger, the name sold me immediately as I was positive it would have the same effect on Brent. And did it ever!!! The first time he used it I heard him singing Little Wayne in the shower! He loved the man pouff, he even read the directions to understand what both sides were used for, and the fact that it’s called Active Clean was even better!

This is now what I hear from Brent about “lil’ Wayne showers”:

-I even scrubbed my feet with the coarse side and it felt good

-I like the pouffy part, it’s lathers well

-I wonder if Lil’Wayne uses Swagger?

-It smells good all day long

So it’s been a week now, and he is addictive to the man pouff and Swagger, i’ve even heard him tell some friends.

You know you’re living with triathlete when:

-you have heard the excuse “I just swam this morning” at least a dozen times and for many different reasons

-you know what a deck shower is

Happy Sudzing,

Carley

The Shack 10k

Another good week ended with the Shack 10k. The weather was supposed to be nice but turned ugly and Texas "cold" just in time. Congrats to all who raced the different distances! Carley threw down a 10k while representing with Canadian Colors.

For me on tired legs, cold weather and being February I am happy. William's GPS measured the course long (Bonus!), and on my watch at the finish I had 33:20, i will take it. I ran with William and Andrew, Andrew eventually dropped me a little over half way to take the win while William got caught by Carley (long story). The last 1.5 miles were very challenging heading up 7Th into down town for the finish. The pace averaged out to 5:23 pace for the 10k (ish). Next up is more training and.. more training and some serious Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with Carley. That game is addictive!

Let's A GO!!!

Rest of Camp and Hatley 8k

The rest of camp was rough but it went well. Thursday was an uber day starting with a 5k pool swim with a main set of 10x400; followed by a hard run interval workout with 3x2.1k and 5x2min hill repeats best average. I am excited my tempo running is getting faster holding around 5:15per mile. After those two sessions we had a bit of a break before a 90minute trainer session with a fast run off the bike. Friday being pretty tired we hit the pool for another good swim session and then we headed out with Brent McMahon for a 4hour bike workout. Saturday involved a run session at Elk Lake and a Recovery swim. By this point in the week i was pretty tired but i knew we had one last hard 8k race left. The race went well, it was super hilly and off road at Hatley Castle. I was thinking of the race as another chance for tempo work since walking was a bit of a challenge and stairs were extremely difficult to walk up. The race was well known in the area for being super hard and hilly. I ran in a small group with Erik Findlay, Nick Walker, Shawn Nelson with 2 other Nice Kenyan runners off the front. At about 5k i decided i wanted to push the pace and try and catch the second place runner as we were closing the distance down. Needless to say my fatigue legs caught up with me with about a mile from the finish and i ended up coming 5th not being able to sprint when Erik and Nick made there moves. I was super excited to race this well as the leader was roughly a minute up the road and i knew i could have been up there if i didn't have the lingering fatigue. Mags through down a great race winning it and Dan Smith had a great run as well. After the race it was one last ride along the water before packing up. I want to thank Doug and Cathy Noel for hosting me in Victoria while i was in town!
So the biggest week of the year was logged, I am looking forward to another good week and a 10k run race on the weekend. Now its time for some Carley time, and some how i need to make up for missing Valentines Day!

A few photos of hydration/sodium testing

Here are a few test shots from the hydration/sodium test. These shots were calm as they were taken during warm up. It was rather a tough day for me, and i learned that high concentrate Gatorade and power gels weren't a good mix for me. My body really needs water to help wash the gels down. Day 1 started with a hard interval run session of 6x1mile(which was awesome for February!), a hard 5k swim set, and another aerobic run. Day2 was pretty solid with lactate bike testing and a longish muddy run. Day3 was a good long 2hour run with lots of hills in MT. DOUG, followed by a ice session and another 5k swim set. DAY4 i cracked a bit with a 5k swim set, not enough food, followed by a long sodium test. DAY5(today)- was an easy bike/run session this morning, followed by a recovery swim. Tomorrow its back to some hard work for the rest of the camp. When i receive more photos and test result's i will do individual posts on the different testing protocol and the results and data i can now use in training. I can't believe the energy in B.C right now with the Olympics going on, GO CANADA GO!