The Rest Of The Trip

Dec 10,

After my visit with Bryan I was back home with the boys, doing two back to back long rides I needed the day off. I did what you do on holidays kicked back watched breaking bad and made sure the boys were taken care of so they could focus on studying. It took me a while to develop some flow but of course by the time I was leaving I had a routine started. Figures.

I was going to leave to Montreal today but it was the teams wine mixer and I got an invite! I know hockey teams can be a tight knit bunch but Paul pulled some strings and they let me squeak in. I made one of Kelcies delicious sangrias, and it was a hit. It was nice, party I fit right in a lot of the team related to me. I like to think that I keep well red and I can have a decent discussion on a variety of topics.  Its university level hockey so the egos are faded and they are focused on school. They are grown ass men. I had to go downstairs with the girls when they did there secret santa gift exchange as some kind of penalty. Here take your drink and go hang out in the basement with all these girls..........Ok.  Actually there was one other guy down there. His name was Evan, we got talking, asked him if he played hockey and he said ya but for a couple years he was on the U23 cycling team!!! What are the odds. We really hit it off great dude, I don't think he expected to meet another endurance athlete at a hockey party haha. It was cool to hear what its like on the inside of elite level cycling. He said he rode on team Team Garneau, but didn't want to commit for another year he had, had enough. Although he said some of his friends were riding pro, in Europe this year. The night ended well, didn't drink too much wine, but I did have a few too many cookies.

Dec 11.

Woke up groggy with a red wine hangover, toughed a run which was good got most of the booze out of the system before the train ride. Before I knew it I was packed up and headed down town to catch the VIA rail to Montreal.

Trains are awesome! Enough said right there. Easily the best form of travel, round trip was $88, and I couldn't believe the amount of space I had in there. On board free wifi, and 4 hours went by like nothing. Got tons of work done, booked my hotel, and some reading done as well.

I turned to the guy beside me and what are the odds,  but he's going for his PHd in nutritional sciences at McGill.  I thought perfect I can figure out why I keep gaining weight. It turned out I knew almost more then he did. He was really just getting started in nutrition, his main background was chemistry. Long distance triathlon should be a prerequisite for nutrition. He was still a nice guy we exchanged numbers.

I was in the hotel by 9 and I finished up some work in the room and then headed out for a walk. It was a nice night so much nicer then Winnipeg. I thought wow you don't need to go to Florida to get away from winter WTF am I doing in Winnipeg. Walked through old Montreal very cool, but it was Tuesday night and everything was pretty much dead.

I walked back up St. Laurent and walked into a Hookah bar. Thought why not. Had a read and a lemon hookah what was absolutely delicious. Read my book for a bit and just hung out.

I was out of there by 1 and sleeping by 1:30 or so. It was a laid back evening.

Dec12.
 My day in Montreal I needed to seize it. But I was having some lower leg pain. So running was out I needed to find a pool. The first order of business was a nice french breakfast. There was no way I was going to eat at anything remotely franchise like so I walked around until I found a nice little cafe and grabbed some bacon eggs fruit and a crepe. It was fantastic.

From there I took the subway to the old velodrome which in now the Biodome. Yes the biodome like the movie with Paully Shore.  Great experience and a good bang for your buck at $25. I cant say anything really stuck out I just took a lot of pictures and took it all in. I did learn however that there are no penguins on the north pole. So the Coke commercials with polar bears and penguins are 100% false.

Included in my entry was also a ride up the elevator in the Sportex. As I walked in I could smell the pool, and sure enough it was open to the public, so I knew I needed to get back here for a swim. After getting a sky high view of Montreal I ripped back to the hotel did a 180 and got back into the pool for a swim. It was a really nice pool, duh. But everything about it, nice big lanes, perfect temp, and everyone had great pool etiquette.

After the swim I needed to refuel. What better way to refuel in Montreal the with a poutine. The bartender at the Hookah bar had recommended La Banquise a 24h place so I made it a mission to get down there. During the walk I started to think what I was going to do for the evening. I also managed to find a little pastry shop and blew $25 on a small box of french pastries. Which was well worth it. I figured get a bottle of wine eat some chocolate head downtown and see where the night takes me. I got to La Banquise  and ended up getting a chicken and pea poutine. Phenomenal. Great service I was in and out of there quick.

On the way back I grabbed my wine and chocolate along with a pile of vegetables to wash down my poutine. Got back to the hotel and had a quick chat with a friend form Winnipeg that ended up suggesting a few places to check out. So that was a start.

I ended up heading out but it was still only Wednesday, and still not much going on. I went from bar to bar having beers and just talking. Saw a cool art display downtown with some musical lights that you controlled by walking in front of them. At 1 AM I decided it was time to get to bed.

Dec13
This was a pretty uneventful day and can be summarized fairly quickly. I woke up grabbed breakfast walked around McGill campus, tried to get some shopping in and then was on a train for the next 7 hours until I was back in the apartment at around 8. And I think I got to bed around 10.

Dec14
Back in Toronto and back in the routine. Hit the pool nice and early, because the guys team was playing the girls team as a fun christmas event. So I got back in time for that.  At the game I talked to the team AT and she agreed to come check out my leg to see if I had any injuries to be worried about. So she swung by later on told be I needed to start stretching more because my lower leg muscles felt like guitar strings. I will attribute some of that to sleeping on a couch for 2 weeks. But nothing serious and she said it probably wouldn't hurt to try running.

Dec15
This was another filler day. Just focused on getting my sessions done and reading. Paul had his final exam tomorrow.

Dec 16
This was it Paul was finished today. It was an exciting day for him. I went for a run early and felt good I had been taking an Iron supplement and I was able to get my heart rate up and my legs felt good.

Paul finished his exam around 8 and we made the trek into downtown Toronto and hit a bar called Tattoo. For Sunday night it wasn't bad. We had fun, Paul was just relieved to be finished exams. I know the feeling. It was nothing special we spent too much money and drank too much. Grabbed late night falafel to soak up the booze and crashed.


Dec 17

Well they say you save the best for and that couldn't be more true for this trip. After a good Sunday night out in Toronto I kicked Paully out of bed and we were rollin by 9:30. We were just going to go to Yorkdale mall but once we were on the subway we were in one, and decided to go all the way downtown.

We got down to union and did a coffee comparison Paul got Tims I got Starbucks. I still find Starbucks has better quality and service compared to Tims. Not to mention they also keep you hooked with the Starbucks card, which if you only drink black coffee like me it ended up making Starbucks the same Price.

Once we had coffees we walked over to the Eaton Centre, and just soaked up downtown. During the walk we came across a Bixie station. All I have to say about Bixie is WOW.  What an awesome concept. It was a super smooth super fun experience and definitely deserves its own post with an in depth look at the experience.

We got a solid shop in at the mall and found a place that serves all day breakfast. Just what the doctor ordered. By that time we had done some good walking and had a half our of riding downtown. Absolutely perfect way to spend an afternoon. Besides the mandatory Christmas shopping it was also a fairly cheap afternoon. From there we snapped a few pics at Dundas Square and hit the subway home for a quick nap before the late night flight.

Pauls captain Jesse Messier drove us to the airport. The guy is a absolute gem. He was also studying Kinesiology, and we started shooting the shit. Asked him what he was going to do when he was finished. He was in the same spot as me, a little unsure. He mentioned he had some friends that were working with high level coaches, which I thought was  pretty cool.  We also started talking about fitness testing he was telling me he did a VO2 test and scored 86!!!! Thats insane. I don't know if they messed up the numbers, but if thats legit the guy needs to start doing some endurance stuff.

The airport was pretty standard we saw some family friends Paul went and had a drink. I just couldn't take it any more, and wanted to be home. Flight was standard and we were sleeping by 2.



Next up Christmas...... Brace yourself


D

Swagger Cap.

Swaggercap.com what is it? Swagger cap is a new website that allows any athlete to raise funds for anything by offering any unique skill they possess. I think it is an absolutely brilliant idea. There are limitless possibilities for how much you can raise and what you can offer. The only catch is you have to be able to deliver.

Being a relatively shy person I was hesitant of the idea of self promotion. But I knew at someday if I want to have more time to train I need to start selling myself, and put value in what I am doing. When I first heard of swaggercap.com I was immediately intrigued by the idea, because I am someone with a wide interesting range of skills. I just needed a confidence boost to get me started and start telling people about what I am doing.

 I was more then eager to get a fund up on swagger cap. So I pushed myself way beyond my comfort zone and made a video wrote some lines and sent it in.  I had no idea what to expect there were no examples to even base my fund off of it was totally new and totally exciting. To my surprise I received a personal email with personalized recommendations on how to make my fund better. I was totally inspired and went further out of my comfort zone to make the fund even better.

As a result I now have swaggercap.com's first fund! It is a product I am proud of and happy to call mine and promote to the public. I want to take this time to thank the starters of swaggercap.com for creating a platform that made this possible, for getting me inspired to be proud of what I am doing and put some "swag" in my step, and for helping me learn how to more effectively promote myself a field in which I had no experience. Truely grateful for the opportunity, and already thinking of bigger and better things for the next fund! So what are you waiting for! Get over to swaggercap.com support the athletes, support a great site, and start funding you purpose today!

D

My Visit With "The Captain"

The week of Dec 3-7 was uneventful, I laid pretty low at the apartment and just smashed episodes of breaking bad. A secret thing I have been wanting to do for awhile. The weather was the shits and I wasn't really intrigued by the idea of venturing into downtown, which like any other big city is an insane money pit. I still have my hopes and my money saved up for Montreal. To top things off on my high intensity run on Monday my heart rate did not want to come close to AET. Since I am working on knowing when to rest this year I took 2 days off and RESTED, didn't fill it with other crap just rested. The only thing I did do was go for some osteo on Wednesday, which was very relaxing. It was nice to see that the diagnosis and procedures were consistent with Winnipeg.  Come Thursday I felt pretty good and got back into it. My HR was a little resistive but one I got it up there it stayed up there.

 On Saturday I had planned to make my way over to my Uncle Bryan "The Captain" Payne's and do a bit of riding. For those of you who don't know the Captain, hes a 10x Ironman finisher and a beer Cono Suer. Unfortunately he has had some recent health problems which can be read about at trainingpayne.blogspot.com. I do not feel obligated to talk about other people health. Due to his current health hes on doctors orders to abstain from drinking, and high intensity training for 6 months. Talk about a lifestyle shift.

I was going to use Toronto transit to make my way over there as an adventure but being the full time beauty that Bryan is he came and picked me up. The ride back gave us time to catch up on a lot. I cant say everything, but it was a good start. It was +4, -3 with the wind in TO. Don't forget it was raining too. Well it might as well be a hot August night for a Winnipeger. So I kitted up pretty good and went and earned some kilometers.

After the ride Bryan insisted I take a pull from his fresh keg of Amstel light that he cant drink. He says it gives him great pleasure to give it away. The beer was followed by a nap. When the evening rolled around Bryan was kind enough to invite me to his neighbors Christmas party. It was really nice, mid 30`s couple, good food and of course some beverages. Once I was out of there I pretty much fell asleep on the walk home, it was straight to bed.

Sunday

Sunday`s weather was suppose to be shit, but I dodged a bullet and it turned out better then Saturday. What can I say the universe is working for me on this trip. Little colder, but it wasn`t raining. Huge difference. Bryan came with me on this ride it was good to spin together for a bit. He lead me to a climb I wanted to do. Its called rattlesnake. I am not sure all the details on it but I did it four years ago, and I owed it an ass kicking. It still hurt but it was good hurt, so I didn`t mind.

That hill definitely snuck up for some late ride punishment. For the first time in a while I got Da Bonk. Its been a long time since I last bonked. Its not even painful you just know your in the bonk. I loaded up on chocolate bars to get me home and just smiled at the fact I was riding my bike in December. Bonk or no Bonk.

After the ride I had a recovery beer and Bryan drove me back to the GO train to get back to York. I deeply thank Bryan and his family for having me it was an absolute pleasure to catch up, and it made for a really great weekend logging miles.

Toronto

November 29,

My birthday!! Flew out to Toronto at 5 am was here by 9 in time to log a 13 mile run. Legs felt like they had been on a plane for a couple hours but the work got done non the less. It was a decent run here got to hop back into shorts which was nice. The route wasn't great but it doesnt have to be you just need to get the work done, and when your traveling that's half the battle.

After the run my bro picked me up to head to York University to see watch his game and find out where the exam was. Him and his roommates left early, which gave me a couple hours to hit the books and take a nap.

Despite the 10-5 loss my brother had a good game he was +1. It was  good to see him play, after the game we just hung out and shot the shit, and Paully drove me back.

November 30,

Standard exam prep. I was up early logged a few hours on the books before taking TO's fantastic transit system over to visit my brother. I was able to sneek into the York gym facilities. This gym was straight out of the 1960s. Weights all over the place and everything was just weathered. But again the work got done. One thing that was cool was I got to run on this really neat treadmill. It was motorless and called the woodland curve. Very natural feel and the time really flew by on it. I looked it up later too bad its $6000.

Dec 1.

Exam day
The reason I am in Toronto is to write my CSCS certification exam. Today is the day of the exam.
I had a terrible sleep. Even though I was not really nervous I still was tossing and turning like the night before a race, waking up every 2-3 hours. I know this is a sign of doubting my ability. But I knew I had done the work and I just needed to stay calm. I actually woke up at 5:55 before all my alarms, I had everything laid out so the morning could be fairly automated and it could just smoothly get to the exam stress free. It was a nice surreal walk at just after 6 over to the subway in the mall which is normally packed with people. I did not see one person. It amazed me how people work as a whole, in unison. I was in there the day before and it was hard to move. Here it is, same place, and its empty. 

The subways do not run as quick in the morning which made me sweat a bit but it was a good thing I left myself a big buffer of time. Plus I was able to use my flashcards as I was waiting.  I got to the exam room at 7:45 and the exam did not start until 8:30. As more people started to gather around the room, I actually felt a bit better. I dont know why. There was a brief feeling of jealousy and nervousness about the other people but I realized that I am just as qualified as all of them, and there is no need for those feelings.

I dont want to bore you with detail about the exam. But its a 2 part exam, and I felt I was more in the groove on the second part then the first. I started off a little shakey but I was able to gain confidence throughout the test. Overall it was fairly stress free all multiple choice.

After the exam I felt good, a lot more energized then I thought. So I took that energy quickly stopped and vested my brother before his can and shot back over to the hotel. Since I was feeling great I hopped on the bike and smashed through a session. It was a shitty hotel bike but it did the trick, and the bottom line is that the work got done.

I capped the day off with a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant and was in bed early so I was able to get up and run the next day.

Dec 2.

Move in with Paully day

I got up at around 9 although I was in the sleeping zone could have easily slept well past noon. I was pretty good about getting straight down to work and nailing my run despite it being rainy and shitty out. I couldn't really complain after some of the run I have been having in Winnipeg. The run actually turned out to be really nice, and I was able to find a building I had wanted to go to without even having to look for it. I it ended up just being on the running route. Now thats flow. The run was timed really well and gave me just enough time to pack up and get out before my already adjust late checkout time.

Me and Paully grabbed a quick breakfast in the mall and then headed over to York. Its tight living here, but only for a short period and we are gonna have a blast.

My afternoon consisted of finding the North York YMCA and getting over there for a swim. Talk about packed what a mess that pool was. You have people double arm back stroking in the fast lane. I just did my shit and got outta there ASAP.

After that picked up some good healthy clean food, and headed back to the apartment to call it a night. Just hung out with the boys and got to bed early. The life of an athlete fairly simple.


Until next update..

Get Honest

Everyone talks about how many miles they rode or how many hours they put in this week. Or how they toughed it through a session. No one likes to talk about when they HAD to rest. When they woke up and the felt like a bag of assholes and had the balls to say I cant put in my best effort today and it will do me more harm then good. I say HAD to rest because you never really HAVE to. Its a choice and as a more is better thinker most of the time you will push through and do a shitty workout rather then get honest and rest up. For the last few seasons I have always based my progression on how many miles I was putting in or how many hours I was logging per week. But what is the quality of those hours? This season I am focusing on being honest. Its one of the harder things I have done. Its harder for me not to do a workout out then it is to tough one out and write it down.  There is a time and a place for it. Sometime you have to push though to make the break through but sometimes pushing through will break you. It has the potential to wreck the rest of your week.

If we were all the highest level of elite we could wake up get a blood test, check our catecholamine levels and we would know exactly weather we were over trained or not.  But as an age grouper you have to base it on how you feel, and what else you need to get done in the day. For me the big thing is food. Nail the big workout and get to eat a couple extra calories. But when you just need to physcailly rest what do you do?

Stratagies:

• Catch up on LIFE!!! 
• Yes we all have them outside of training watch a movie with the misses, or stack some firewood just stay busy.

•  Do the stuff you usually ignore.
•  Foam roll, stretch, bulk meal prep, etc

• Write it down
• up date logs 
• reflect on your training 
• realize its all going to be ok

So the next time you wake up in to fog get honest with yourself maybe its a sign to rest up and catch up on the other things in life!

Write It Down

When completing any kind of training your looking for a result. Weather its to get faster, stronger, slimmer, smarter it can be anything really. How do you know if you have actually achieved any of your goals?

In sport there are competitions which act as a form of test. Are we winning more games? Swim times? Bike times? Run times? Thats great, but maybe race day your not feeling your best, or the weather is shits. You need to account for that. People will get down on themselves for a shitty performance and not look at the whole picture. Or the make excuses. Maybe you weren't as fit as you thought?

 Its also not uncommon to be nervous on race day. Why is that? Because you have doubts in your ability. If you were confident in your ability you would not be nervous.

So the question is how do you KNOW how fit you are? How to your create that confidence in your ability? You keep RECORDS!!! Test yourself regularly, and know exactly where your at. If your not where you want to be ask yourself why and how do I get there? Is it realistic? This way when the race comes your not guessing. You know you have done the work, you know where your at, you know what to expect and, NOW all you have to do is go get the best from your self.  The records can also be used as motivation later to see how far you have come. Or to quickly solve a re-occuring problem.

So quit just doing the work to do the work. Write it down, keep track,  be proud of what you have accomplished. So when the race doesn't go your way you can look and know weather or not you gave your full ability. Then from there you can learn and keep moving forward.

Until next time write it down and have FUN!! Happy Training

D

Deeper Recovery

Ever since this accident things have been weird. Yes weird. I managed to dodge a lot of serious injury and I am grateful for that. I have never experienced whiplash before. It is a rather unusually acting injury.

In the beginning I had mild soreness along the front of my body which was to be expected. It wasnt until weeks later that the real full body soreness began to set in. This is where I was spending a lot of time just laying down to avoid pain. From there I began to crack..... a lot as the joints began to re align. And the most interesting of all....Weight Gain. I have put on 12-14 pounds in 3 months. I have come up with three reasons I belive may be causing it.

1. Honest Reality

Although I feel I am eating in accordance with my reduced activity level, the only person I may be cheating is my self. Maybe I am overeating, and not being strict enough on my choices. But 12 pounds is overeating by 392 calories everyday since the accident. Which is possible, but unlikely because I do track calories. And have been able to regain some of my activity level.

2. Water Retention

Inflamation of  muscle tissue  and a bodily respone to healing to inflame to reduce movement and retain water to repair cells. But should have subsided by now I would think.

3. Most Recent Suggestion. Nerves???

The possibility of pressure being applied to a spinal nerve therefore creating an over stimulation in a region of the brain that would monitier digestion. I found this one to be the most interesting because it would be happining at a subcontious level. Consiously I have being doing everything I can to make it easy for my digestive system. But it is possible that there is a problem beyond my conscious control because I have been experiencing digestive issues. Coincidence? This reasoning came from an osteopath who had suggested there was a malalignment of two lumbar vertebre causing overstimulation of the hypothalamus. It sounds like pseudo science hodge podgem but, stack that with an assessment from a physiotheripist comfirming tesnsion in the specifc aera of the malalignment, and an unusual onset of depression, leads to evidence that my weight issue may be controlled beyond conscious control. Either way I am intrigued and have began to closely monitor performance mood and weight in correlation.

For now I am treating the depression, and focusing on reliveving tesnsion for the low back muscles to see this may be the link to where this creeping weight is coming from. My goal is to be back to normal by Christmas, which through moderate caloric restriction should be a non issue.  I will keep monitiering laxitiy of the back along with mood and weight to see if there is any corilation. I am also under the belief that I need to just relax and let the body auto regulate.

Please feel free to comment and discuss the topic. I struggle with the ability to organize all my thoughts at the moment. But would be more them happy to discuss any questions you have further.

Post Season Blues

Ahh yes the post season blues. You know its coming and we all get a little taste of it in some form or another. You have been racing and pushing your self all summer meeting with friends, setting PRs, making bets against your friends, whatever! Now there's a gap, you know you need the recovery, but training has become so ingrained in your life you don't know what to do with this awkward situation of "free time." Going into my 5th year of competitive triathlon I think this year I have dealt with it fairly well for a few reasons.

One, this season I developed a stronger belief in my abilities. It was a season packed with adversity from flat tires to car accidents. But through it all I still managed to make some progression. I now have at least 6 more so relaxed months until my next race. What can I accomplish with that? That thought now excites me.

Two I LOVE TRAINING. Period. I have developed a sincere love of training. Not just the getting fast part. But the knowing yourself part as well. For years I would push myself so deep down the rabbit hole of over training and stress, and by the end of the season I hated triathlon and would binge myself up on thanksgiving until I registered for a race to light the fire under my ass. But its the "off season" now. That doesn't mean slack off it just means enjoy the work you have done and you don't need that intense focus you need during race season. The brain is a muscle to. Give it a rest, it will give you more later. Trust that.

That said I still felt a little bit of a hole. But its ok theres another race coming and I will be bigger faster stronger regardless of when it is. Because that's something I want, and I am confident in that. But for now enjoy this anomaly people call "free time" read a book, try a new recipe so you have it on speed dial when training kicks up, spend time with the family who has only seen you in spandex for the last 5 months, and go eat a doughnut. Then get back to work, but dont forget to get back to work. You will feel better about it.

D

First Endurance PreRace

After the whole sodium issue from Florida, I have really started to "dial in" my nutrition. Experimenting with different sodium and calorie levels to try and get it just right. By the end of the season I was able to get something down that was working for me at the HIM distance. I took my new knowledge and also put together a decent Olympic distance race.

After gaining confidence in my nutritional judgement I decided to look at other products which I could begin to incorporate to enhance performance further. After reading many good articles on First Endurance PreRace I decided to give it a try. I used it in training to see how I would react and all went well. No shakes jitters nothing of the sort. Was able to comfortably take it, workout, and had no issues getting to sleep at night.

This past weekend was my first real test with it, where I raced a half marathon. Sure enough I PRed with a time of 1:23:54. I took in 1 heaping scoop of First Endurance PreRace 30-45 mins before the race mixed with water. Felt light and felt good. What I noticed with the product is it mixes with just about anything and it doesn't even taste that bad straight up with just water. My personal experience with the product if I had to put it into words, would be that it makes the "hurt" less. My heart rate was still up and I was still working but our best friend pain had a little smaller of a voice. I was able to stay calm cool focused and in control of the race.

Overall I am a big fan of First Endurance PreRace. I believe that it does live up to all of its claims increasing both performance and focus. That said don't take this product and expect to turn professional, that's not its intended purpose. But it will help you to achieve your best on that big day!!

D

What a Ride

Well I haven't posted in a while and for good reason. So lets look over the rest of the summer. As we can see from my last post liberty went well. Still beat up by the heat but better none the less. I came out of that race fired up I was confident and ready to go for Morden on July 11. But sometimes the mistress of endurance racing just does not want you out there that day.

Although its September I remember that race clear as day. I was pumped up I really wanted to go out there and smash it. I swam good comfortably off the front with a time of 32:07. Nothing spectacular just a good hard effort.

To the bike!! Nice flat course new bike rocking a disc ready to crush and...........flat tire right out of T1. Its ok stay calm fix it and hammer down. All is well untill about 35 miles in and....... another flat. I could not believe it I was ready to be picked up day was over. After about 20 mins on the side of the road another athlete threw me his spare tire and I was able to ride into town and get running. Bike time 3:12:59.

By the time I hit the run mentally I was out of it and my nutrition was all off because my effort was so varied. I jogged through the heat with a 1:46:17

Total time was 5:31:22

Whatever I was over it, on to the next,  but life had other plans. I had raced Morden on the Saturday and was back at work on Monday. All was normal, but then on Tuesday minding my own business driving my tractor I was rear ended on the highway by van moving at high speed. This send my tractor rolling into the ditch. I had my seat belt on and did not suffer any "real" injuries. But because of the momentum of the impact I did suffer a fairly severe case of whiplash. That pretty much finished off my race season. For the rest of the summer it was just doctors, physios and massage. Just battling to get back to the basics of swimming biking and running. Talk about a set back.

So with a full 1 year season ahead of me its time to make it happen. Time to over come this setback and rise to the top. The dream is still alive, I dodged a bullet there and its time to move forward once again. Keep in tune for the progress of recovery and the path to my full potential as an athlete.

D

No Rear Veiw MIrror Liberty 1/2 Iron Race Report

Coming off Florida I was hungry to get back after it. My recovery didn't go as well as I would have liked it but there were lessons learned in the process. I still managed to get in a couple of solid training weeks between Florida and Liberty which I raced last weekend. Liberty was a fun race I went on a whim, and I was fortunate enough to have my brother join me and split the 8hr drive. We hammered out on a Thursday after work and got to the hotel around 2 am. I crashed instantly and was up again at 7:15 to do my race prep session. After that it was legs up and really kick back and just take in nutrition. Stayed low key and was in bed early.

Race morning I was up at the crack of 4am ready to rock! Since Florida was a bomb it was time to change up the system. I was up early enough so I had breakfast which consisted of:

1 bowl organic oatmeal
1 banana
1 cup of coffee
1 500ml NUUN solution
and water

Not to much not to little just enough to get the gut working. got to the race site at around 6 am which left plenty of time to set up and warm up. I took it real easy. It was going to be hot so a big warm up wasnt needed. I also slammed one more power gel before the swim start.

Swim:

Couldnt have asked for a better day to swim. It was a nice fresh water lake, standard rectangle course, and I was in the first wave. I started out to the side again found my pace and then moved into the pack. Mentally I just focused on swimming. Tried to stay smooth. It was a lot less cluttered then Florida I was able to get really dialed in. Coming up out of the swim I saw that I was in the lead pack!! At most 1 min off the leaders. Thrilled with my swim I stayed focused as I sprinted to T1.

30:51
1:29/100yrd

Bike:

I was on my bike quick and as always went out hard. I needed to remind myself to just ease into it. I took on water and packed some electrolytes this time to avoid a Florida disaster. At about 35-40mins is when I really got locked into my groove. Nutriton was flowing and the pedals were turning. Everything was peach and cake until where the second aid station was suppose to be...... there wasnt one. There ended of only being one aid station on the whole 56 miles. I came pretty much prepared but an extra 500ml of water would have been a real treat. Despite the missing aid station it was still another PR ride on a much harder course.

2:23:48
23.4mph avg

Run:

Ahh yes the run. My love hate relationship continues with the run. I started out and saw my bro running by in the bush, made me smile for a good couple miles after. I started out better then Florida right on pace with a couple sub 7 miles. Then I could feel the cramps tiring to start again. This time I was prepared for the bastards I slammed more sodium tabs and was able to get them to subside. The course map that was given to us showed a series of 10 foot hills across the 13.1 miles. These were not 10 foot hills. Maybe 45 foot is a better guess? Either why I am not going to bitch about that I messed up again I had my sodium under control but my legs were running on empty. I was running on pure coca cola. I understand what pros are saying when they have nutrition dialed in I am getting closer but I am still not there yet. I pushed out to 6 miles and then hurt for 6 miles digging as deep as I could and running to the point were my legs could simply no longer fire. Again a run that was not matched with my ability but better then Florida and there were more lessons learned.

1:40:57
7:43 min/mile

With 2 more races coming up in July and a mountain of new knowledge. I can say that after to races that were far from perfect I am more excited then ever to race again and apply my new knowledge. Its only been 5 days from race day and I have already recovered much better then Florida. So bring on the next block and I will see you at the start line in Morden armed with more new knowledge, looking forward, and chasing a dream.

Liberty total

4:38:12 PR

Florida 70.3 Race Report

Its only been 2 weeks since I raced in Florida but it feels a lot longer then that. Its probably because instead of mulling on what went wrong I moved forward and entered another race. I am racing a Liberty Half IM next weekend.

The race in Florida ended up being a total bust. Here is my recap.

Despite being more prepared then ever for this race I still managed to not get that perfect race. It is becoming evident that I am at the point where every little miniscule piece of my race day nutritional puzzle is crutial to a complete race. Not just a swim just a bike or just a run. I have proven to myself time and time again I can do any of these three individually very well. I can even bike run very well. But it seems when I put all the training together on race day it all comes unwound.

Swim:

For this race there were no nerves. I was at the start line ready to race all of the 70.3 miles ahead of me. I know from the past you need to respect the distance but I have never been more focused, and more planned. The gun went off and I started wide of the swim pack. Found my pace and slid in. It was a crowded swim and I remember thinking that I was getting slowed up by just how crowded it was. This was confirmed when I came out of the water and Kelcie told me I was 2 minutes off pace. No sweat I felt in the water it is a lesson learned. Crowded swim stay outside, the "draft" isn't worth it.

Swim: 32:31

Bike:

The Florida 70.3 bike course was peach and cake. I really dont think you could have gone slower then 40k/hr in the first 25 miles if you tried. But with a plan burned into my head I held back and was saving all the power to go hunting on the run. I made it through with no penalties despite the very flat course and a few obvious packs.

Bike:2:27:45 

Run:

Racing in Florida I knew heat was going to be a big factor I took in more sodium then I normally do including an electrolyte beverage in the morning and salt tabs on the bike. But I learned this was not enough. I have never had a sodium issue before. For me it has always been sugar, which is easily solved by some good old coca cola. I had that. but sodium is a whole new monster. I started out running great adrenaline pumping I was running sub 6. I knew I needed to back off and settle into my pace. Early into the run I was slammed with 2 hills I powered up the first one and then slowed up to let my HR come back down. This is when it happened my quads locked up. This was not a mental game this was my body rejecting. My day was over. I can not explain the feeling of disappointment. But there is no rear view mirror here. I could have walked off the course right there. But I wanted to go and hurt. The goal now was go sub 5. So I went I suffered and I finished sub 5.

Run: 1:49:00


Total: 4:53:54
I finished and was immediately thinking about another race because this race did not reflect my ability. So next week I race Liberty HIM. My mental state is what I am most proud of with this race. I didn't let the downward spiral ensue I kept my head up and moved forward with a positive attitude. Feels better that way I have to say.  Next week we will see what I can do. Until then keep doing work!!

Is More Always Better?

Well this is it, moving into my final 3 week building block before tapering for IM 70.3 Haines City Florida. I have to say I am getting pretty excited looking back at the last few months. At Christmas I was at the peak of off season laziness, sitting at about 10 lbs over weight with almost no motivation to train. With a little push from my aunt I signed up for 70.3 Florida shortly after the registration opened, and like gas to a fire my motivation came back. Literally the next day I was designing a building block for the next month.

I have been running a new program in this race preperation. Its the first time I have had an in-person coach. The last few programs I have followed have been online. I find having someone to communicate with on a daily basis to be extremely helpful.

In the past I have gone through training blocks and two things have happened; I end up hating training, and I over train myself to exterme . I have over trained myself many times from the old school ways of thinking. More hard work you do the better the results. I guess this is true but there is a key point missing from that statement. More "quality hard work"you do the better the results.

The first thing I noticed about this race prep was I was putting in the same amount of hours per week but I wasn't exhausted. I was enjoying the process. Which got me thinking, I have been doing triathlons the last three years with one goal, which is to Race Hard!! Racing hard is always good you always want to bring your best. But I have realized after reflecting on my past results its about racing to what your maximally capable of on that day. Do your best on that day. In my opinion what people for get about "there best" is that it is not an subjective definition. Your best is always changing it is subject to other events. For example your best 10k run after a full taper and prep will be much different from your best 10k after a 40hr work week. Or what about your best 10k coming off of a flu? In all three situations you are giving your best, but due to the other factors they will change your best. Yes OK you want to keep improving that's fine. But if we reflect back to enjoying the process that's where you make all your improvements. Its not on that one race day that you become a faster athlete. Its the all the weeks prior, in this block I have set PRs in training. Thats the way it should be consistant quality good work day in and day out. Enjoy the process.

D

Nice Weather Nice Run

Well winter decided to end today, and it went with a bang. Yesterday was a normal spring day around -10 or so, but it was nice to wake up this morning to +12! I swear if you live in Winnipeg you cant be effected by weather because you would have mental problems. I went from running in tights and a winter gear last week to running in shorts and a tshirt today. For kicks I even ran the last 2 miles shirtless. I dont remember the last time it was this warm at this time so seize the day!!

This was my first build week back off of a rest week and I was a little sore coming into this long run. I was unsure as to how it was going to go. I always get nervous before the long runs because if they start to go bad you are usually far away and it can be a painful drag back if the bonking sets in. I have been getting more consistent though which is nice.

Today was more then consistent today I capitalized on the energy from the day. I started out strong and got my heart rate up and settled where I needed it, and then its time to start playing the game. Playing with strides and cadence to get the perfect balance dialed in. I was feeling really good, and I wasn't over sweating, despite the sudden change in weather. Coming up on 40 mins is when I really locked in a nice flow, I took on a little nutrition at about 50 min and enjoyed the ride back. I say ride because when you got flow like that, thats how it feels like your just riding your legs back. I wasnt really paying much attention to pace and I just brought it all the way home calm cool and controlled.

After stopping I looked down and I had knocked out 13 miles in 1:31!! Thats 7:05/ mile pace. Needless to say I was pretty stoked, considering last weekend I was bagged. I guess it was the sugar bender I went on last night. Who said pastries aren't good for you!

I capped off the day with a great meal at Kelcies place and now its time to get to bed early so I can make the most of my early morning swim session.

Out


D

My Valentines With An Itialin Beauty

Most people spend Valentines with there significant other, or out looking to be struck by cupids arrow. Where did I spend mine? In sin city Las Vegas, riding $7k worth of beauty Italian engineering. My date was a 2011 Pinerello Paris with Campagnolo chorus 11 speed, and it was love at first sight. The night before was a typical night in Vegas, gambling, drinking and not sleeping so needless to say I woke up feeling a bit off at 8:30 am. But work still needed to be done, so I hope on the bike and headed for the hills... literally.

Starting out it was all levels of bad sweating, nausea, and my heart rate was through the roof. All of which was self inflected so there were no excuses but to keep going. I was doing a route called the blue diamond loop on the west side of the city which included a loop through red rock national park. By the time I got to the park I was warmed up, which was good because the first 5 miles I climbed 100o feet. I was definitely hammering through all 22 gears.

This being my first experience with campy, I have to say I get it now. It just feels better. Its smooth, its firm, its everything you want. There attention to detail is top notch. The way hoods were shaped for your hands, and the numerous positions of the front derailleur. It feels solid, not tingy. Maybe its all in my head but I enjoyed the ride.

After I sweat out all the booze I really started to feel good. I was able to maintain high cadence and stay smooth. I stocked up on gels and bars at the local bike shop, plus all the sugar from the booze the night before I had tons of energy.

All in all it was a great ride I am really glad I did it. Next time I am in Vegas I will definitely do it again. In is much cheaper then gambling and you feel like a million bucks after!

Cheers

Davis

Making Good..Better

The energy at a large triathlon event is like no other. The athletes, the hard bodies the feeling of competition, and of course the bikes! If your into triathlon you know its all about the bike. Its one of the biggest purchases you will make on your road to the finish line. If you graze the bikes at your next event I am almost willing to guarantee you will see a Cervelo. They have dominated the bike count at Kona by a overwhelming margin. What the reason? They make the fastest and most affordable triathlon bikes on the market. Unlike other bike companies who make tt bikes and market them to triathletes Cervelo, has made an effort to rise to the top and show commitment to the sport of triathlon. With the P3 being a staple in triathlon/tt frame design and the P4 rocking the tt world with a controversially integrated bottle, its no surprise that the release of there newest triathlon bike was one of the most highly anticipated releases in the bike world this year.

In 2009 when Cervelo released the P4 with an integrated water bottle, other bike companies were shaking in there shoes. The P4 was substantially faster then almost anything else on the market. Even though the general public didn't take much of a liking to the integrated bottle it still made the frame faster. Many people converted the bottle to a storage container. But the ice had been broken for frame integration, and this was the beginning of a new realm called 'super bikes".

From the P4 bike manufactures have now progressed to things like nose cones, preparatory handle bars, hidden brakes and of course accommodating electronic shifting. People got the drift that less is more and integration is the way of the future. But Cervelo didn't sweat the new bikes coming out. They did what they always do, they were patient and meticulous in there engineering.

As you watched a new super bike come out from just about every other bike line out there Cervelo did not even speak of anything new in the works. But did the really have to? The P4 was still putting up competitive wind tunnel numbers, even still beating some of the new "super bikes". So when there was talk of Cervelo putting out a new super bike the anticipation was almost unbearable.

Last week Cervelo released the new P5 to a small group of triathlon journalists. In my opinion it was everything it was cracked up to be. They incorporated all the newest technology, fixed prior issues from the P4, and made it look really sweet to!

We can break the major upgrades down into sections.

The prepriatory bottle:
The P5's slogan is "simply fast", they have come up with one of the fastest bikes and they have simplified it for the general public by removing as many of the pesky prepriatory parts as possible. One of them being the water bottle. Although it made for a good aero frame fairing, it was impractical to use. So they kept the fairing but ditched the bottle.

Legality:
A lot of the new super bikes are not UCI legal. Great for triathletes not so much for cyclists. Specialized was the first company to release a two versions of the same bike one being UCI legal and one not. Cervelo followed suit with both a UCI legal and illegal bike. We will get to the differences later.

Storage and Hydration:
After ditching the p4 bottle Cervelo opened up tons of storage options on the P5 including top tube mounts, bottle mounts and handlebar bottle mounts.

Fit:
As you know with tri bikes its all about with fits you in the most aero position. This can be a challange while maintaining all the aero fixin's. The P5 comes with a variety of different extenders and aero spacers to give you a wide variety of fit options and still maintain aero efficiency

Brakes:
With everyone tucking brakes in the smallest of spaces, riders are noticing a reduced amount of stopping power. Cervelo found the solution with there new partner Magura. Again leading the way in innovation the P5 is the first tt bike to feature hydraulic brakes. With a sealed system these are the strongest and easiest brakes on the market. All while maintaining a weight under 500 grams. For the triathletes there is a brake cover, and for those needing to follow the rules there's a separate fork for that.

Di2:
With the breakout of electronic shifting, people have been getting creative with ways to hide the battery. For the P4 a clean way of doing it was in the seat post, or in that pesky bottle. On the P5 with no bottle that is a perfect space for the di2 battery. It opens from the rear wheel well and slides right in.


In conclusion Cervelo came through with an impressive new bike. Taking notice to all the problems on the previous P4. It comes in reasonablely priced at $4500(frameset)-$6500(bike) uci legal and $6500(frameset)-$10000(bike) for the tri specific

To see pictures and geometry charts without breaking copy write laws check out

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/The_Cervelo_P5_unveiled_2538.html

or the Cervelo launch site.
http://www.p5simplyfaster.com/

http://cervelo.com/en_us/

New Year New Place

Well I made it out of the twilight zone. It was rough couple weeks, but was easily drowned out with the alcoholidays. There are families that drink and families that don't, in my family however we have been blessed with the gene which not only requires you to drink but also allows you to consume large quantities of booze.

So between the overnight shifts at the post office and the binge drinking at Christmas I needed to get out of Winnipeg. Which is why for the last 3 years I have the perfectly timed trip to banff for new years. It was a little different this year because we ended up driving out in a convoy of 2 pick ups and 2 vans, due to the low number of people signed up. But it was still a blast none the less. I was able to regain my discipline and get in 4 runs (running runs) after the days of riding. I guess all those long nights at the postoffice helped me to tap into unknown energy sources, because I was also able to drive the whole way there and the whole way back 16hrs solo.

Once back in Winnipeg it was pretty much back to the norm... with a little twist. I moved out. I was just getting sick of the house, too much negative energy. But it feels good to be out now! I am calmer and have become much more organized. It will be interesting to see what happens in training.

Shoulder update:
Well I have been through physio, massage, deep tissue massage, acupuncture, reiki and nothing seems to be working. I have not swam in over a month and I am not getting better. I have now been referred to one of the top shoulder specialists in the city to get a more concrete answer to what is going on with my shoulder.

I look forward to the month ahead with a little bit of freedom and a lot of training!!