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About Brian - Blog10/30/2008 6:16:35 AMya buddy 9/23/2008 1:00:26 PMSo I'm a week into my 100 Runs challenge and I was thinking about it today; why the hell am I SO obessed with running? You ask my buddy Wes and he'd tell you that a few years back I would refuse to run a few laps around the little track inside the YMCA as a quick warm-up before crushing the iron! Now I can't get enough of it. I've ran 9 times in the past 7 days. Ya, I ran in the morning, went to work, came home and ran again. I think about it sometimes and ask myself why? So many people my age have seemingly much simpler, stress free lives. They work, party, train a bit, maybe and just have a "fun" time, while I'm out running. I ask myself is it worth it? I ask myself why? Why not just be the average dude that likes to have a good time and just live. I ask these questions all the time, and they're answered every single time I go running. I lead a stressfull lifestyle, there's no doubt about that. With all that I do I'm always looking for something else to take on. Moving to Huntsville for the summer just to move back in the fall. Doing this while in the middle of fundraising for the CDA and training for my first Ironman and working 40+ hours a week. Whenever I have a few minutes to sit still I get the itch to be busy. I stress over what I SHOULD be doing right this minute to keep my life on track and stay on top of things. Right now it's all about working as much as possible while coordinating everything to move to Australia for Teacher's college, moving Julia back to Stittsville and this running thing. It's stressfull, but the only time where none of that matters, is when I'm running. Sure, it can be stressful to find the time to committ to getting out there and running, but I know that once the shoes are on and I'm out the door that nothing else matters. This is my time. All that I think about in that time is how great it feels. I appreciate nature, the sun, the air, sometimes the cold, but I appreciate this time where there's no sense in worrying about being somewhere or doing something because there's nothing I can do. Sure I think about my pace, how I feel, how much further I'm going to go and what route I'm going to take, but that's fun stuff. The runner's high kicks in almost immediately for me. I love the feeling of putting one foot in front of the other and locomoting myself through the streets or along the trails and just being out there, day or night, rain or shine and seeing what I'm made of. Running is like going on an adventure, I start out at my house and end up at my house, but I go all over and see all sorts of stuff that's going on. I see other runners who are out there experiencing the same joy as me and we share a brief moment of acknowledgement that we understand each other. I love that point in the run where it seems effortless, or when a great song comes on and I feel the urge to just run as hard as I can. I've got ADD, that means I have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time. This made school just a little bit tougher for me than everyone else, but I survived. Running demands my full attention, and this is one of the only times I'm 100% focused, and in the moment. My new favourite song is "Right here, Right Now", by Fatboy Slim. Originally because it was the song playing at the swim start of IMC on the athlete video, which still gives me chills, but now when I here it, the "Right here, right now" mantra is what my experience with running is all about. It's right here and right now and nothing else matters, I'm 100% consumed by it. There's few other things that bring me this sort of joy. Family and friends provide me with love and comfort and emotional (and financial!) support, but this feeling I get is different. Is it just me? What do you feel when you run? What's your "running"? What is it in life that you love and that you feel 100% connected to the moment when you're doing it? All of Dr. Orlick's lectures are starting to make sense. 8/26/2008 9:18:23 PMIronman Canada Race Day The plan was to get up at 3:30 in the morning to start getting ready for this super long day. Well I woke up at 3:00 and knew I wasn’t going to fall back asleep at this point so I got out of bed and got everything going. I ate my oats and protein and had a Powerbar and a bagel, and lots of water. Oh and some coffee, to get everything going. I now have a general morning day plan that I go through for all of my races, and sticking to it helped calm my nerves of what was facing me in the following hours. We were to meet up with a bunch of the other Team D participants in the lobby of the hotel and walk down together. Pre Race We got to the race site around 5:30 and it’s crazy. You walk down this street (athletes only) and drop off your special needs bags in the allotted box so that they can be easily organized and located when that time comes... and it will, eventually. Then off to body-marking, two volunteers mark you in a matter of seconds and you’re on your way to transition to finish up anything you need at your bike and get ready to race! I dropped off my nutrition on my bike and another volunteer came by with a pump and pumped up my tires to 110psi, beauty. Afterwards I walked around the transition for a bit and finished up a few things, slowly got my wetsuit on, while some dude with a big camera took pictures. At 6:30 they have us all walk across the timing mats to activate our chips and down to the beach we go. We watched the pros go off at 6:45, then had the national anthem at 6:50 and then waded in the water for another 10 minutes. Luckily I found Christine, as a familiar face was great to see at the most nervous point of the day. Finally, BOOOOM! Peter Reid lights off the canon and we’re just flailin’ away. Swim Arms and legs hitting you from every direction, but I like the fight, it’s fun. Typically, you’ll find some open water in 10-15 minutes, but this is Ironman Canada, a mass race start of like 2500 athletes, that didn’t happen until EVER! There was pretty well body contact the whole way though and I was just trying to find people’s feet to hang onto. It was a very typical race swim for me, just longer. I came out of the water in 1:18xx, pretty well right on what I had expected, so I was satisfied. T1 Wetsuit strippers are awesome, they take all the work out of it for you. I got to my T1 bag and as I was running up to it, I could see that the change tent was full and people were changing outside of it, so I plopped down right at my bag and started getting my bike stuff going. I carried my shoes to my bike as it’s a helluva lot easier to run that way than on cycling shoes with big ass cleats. On the bike and on my way. Bike This was great. Wow, this was amazing. I had no idea of the course as I didn’t even drive it, but whatever, it’s some hills and some flats and some rollers and some big mountains and some CRAZY down-hills, nothing I haven’t seen. I get to riding, telling myself to let my heart rate come down and just spin away for the first hour or so. Well in that first hour I was averaging like 33.5k/h, but it felt so easy! There’s one short climb a little ways in and then lots of rolling stuff all the way to Richter Pass, the first significant climb. On the way there, I got to know some names of dudes you keep passing or getting passed by, it’s great that way as it keeps us all motivated as we’re clearly all around the same bike fitness so we can keep each other on pace. At Richter we start climbing, and I’m like “what?” this is Richter Pass, this ain’t shit! And it wasn’t, just gradual. Sure I was only going like 15km/h, but it doesn’t put the hurt into your legs like a muskoka bike course. The best thing about the climbs are the people. WOW. So many people lined the roads near the tops of the climbs cheering like animals, just like in the Tour de France. People with crazy signs “You’re a Sexy Bitch” “Smile if you peed on the bike”... And they have staff up there yelling out athletes’ names over the loud speakers as we approach the top of the hill. Amazing stuff. After the top, BOOM! 75-80km/h down hill for a while, scary downhill, but I’m not hittin’ the brakes for nothin’. You’re at the bottom of the other side of Richter in no time, and from there it was a countdown to special needs at 120k. At special needs you get your own bag of whatever the hell you wanted to put in it. I threw in a spare CO2 cartridge and spare tube just in case I got a flat in the first 120 and had to use what I had on bike. I also had my second bottle of concentrated eload, a redbull and some gels. After than, Yellow Lake is up next, another climb, but this time it’s supposedly harder ‘cause well, you’ve already biked like 140 or so kilometres. Not so bad again, and AGAIN mad support from spectators, it truly blows you away. Like nothing I’ve experienced before. Same deal at the top with the announcer and same deal coming down, in a flash! But this time you’re literally “coming down” for like 20k right into town. I finished the bike in 5:33:xx. T2 As you come in, a volunteer takes your bike from you and racks it and you just run for your “Bike to Run” gear bag and get ready for the marathon. This time not many people were in the change tent, and a volunteer (recurring theme here, THE VOLUNTEERS ARE PHENOMENAL!) helped me out getting my stuff organized. Run I love to run, if you know me, you know that. I love to run straight up and I love to run after swimming and biking, whatever distance. I got out on the run and for the first bit had some mild stomach cramps due to the more jostling nature of running as opposed to cycling. The nutrition I took in was having a little harder time getting digest and was givin’ me some minor issues. No problem, I was still EASILY running sub 5:00/k. At 10k I walked an aid station. Then it got harder, there was a MAD headwind running out along the lake and soon I was walking EVERY aid station. No problem, I was still catching people so I was ok comparatively speaking. At aid stations they had water, Gatorade, fruit pretzels, cola, and soup. I ditched my eload and was just doing Gatorade/cola and water. I was looking forward to special needs at the halfway point as I was dying for that second redbull and some Vaseline and my treat (sportbeans). Finally I got there, grabbed my bag and pulled over to the side of the road to rifle through it in a mad furry and grab what I needed. I see this piece of paper, I knew I didn’t put that in there, and I’m meticulous in my preparation. I yank it out real quick and read it. “I love you Boozy!” and on the flip side “I’m so proud of you! Keep Goin’!”. Wow, I started to tear up and it was JUST what I needed at the point. It kept me goin’ for the second half the marathon, moreso than that damn redbull. On the way back I had a tube of Vaseline in one hand and a bag of sport beans in the other, a sight for sore eyes, but hey, you can only make fun of me if you’re running faster, and most of you aren’t! And some dude with a thick accent asked to borrow my Vaseline, but I thought he said sport beans, so I offered them up... haha that was a funny moment. So I keep truckin’, aid station to aid station. Stomach is a mess, legs are gonzo and I’m running on fumes, probably the little Gatorade and cola I was having every mile wasn’t enough calories, but I couldn’t stomach much. The closer I got to town, the bigger the crowds got, and the more I could run on pure emotion and adrenaline and less on simply surviving until the next aid station. So this 28 year old catches me with like 4ish k left and was running strong (clearly his strength). He knew I was 25 and ran past me looking strong, so I said screw it and hung with him for a couple k but he eventually lost me, though that helped me catch a 27 year old and he tried to go with us and was right on my ass coming down the last k when this other broad caught up to us and was running like 4:30ish so I kicked it with her and I think it broke his spirits. Then I saw the finishing chute about 500m away and it was all over, I sprinted and just gave ‘er to the finish, coming up closer behind that other 28 year old. SUCCESS! I finished in 10:49:xx Wow, you cross the finish line and are treated like a superstar. The volunteers (2 of ‘em) grab you and walk you over to the recovery zone, after giving you your medal and finishers hat/shirt of course. Then you have your pictures taken and proceed to PIG OUT on pizza, cookies, chips, gtorade, powerade recovery drinks and anything you could get your hands on. I just wanted to see Julia and my parents though so I grabbed some pizza and walked around til I spotted ‘em. A big hug from everyone and they all told me how proud they were and I was super proud of myself also. I did it, and in great time! I couldn’t be more proud, and tire and wet and cold, but proud, so none of that other stuff mattered. I got my stuff out of transition and we headed back to the hotel to clean up. My parents went home with their friends and after a bit, Julia and I went down to the finishing area to watch some people finish. This was truly the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Better than any rock concert (and I’ve seen the like of Metallica and Britney Spears), sports game or any other event I’ve been to. We were right there, along the finishing chute, against the railing banging away on the fence to welcome home hundreds of finishers and we were there for well over 3 hours, right til the last few came in. Even after the 17 hour mark we cheered in three more, a 70 year man, 78 year Ironman Legend, Sister Madonna Buder missed the cut-off by like 2 minutes. This woman is truly amazing. I can’t explain to you the excitement, the electricity and energy that was there last night. I had been up since 3AM and raced my ass off for just shy of 11 hours and I was wide awake with all sorts of energy. You’ll most likely see Julia and I on TV when this thing comes out as we were THAT close and when the winners (Rhodesy and Granger) came out and were partying with us, the camera man was shooting them RIGHT in front of us, so keep and eye out. ;) I didn’t expect this whole experience to be this amazing. Honestly, I was so wrapped up in my own race and my own nerves that I didn’t truly soak it all up until last night. Last night was something I will never forget. The people who finished in 15, 16 and 17+ hours are just as amazing, if not MORE than the rest of us. There covered the same distance, and did much of it in the cold, dark and rain. It was so inspirational to see what people can endure and overcome to finish. And these were no spring chickens, we’re talking many 50, 60 and some 70+. If you know me, you know I’m not “one and done” and this morning I’m already looking at my numbers and devising a plan to shave off another 20 minutes (for now ;) ) for my next race. Maybe swimming more than 3 times a month could help? Who knows, I guess we’ll find out in the next couple years. 8/26/2008 9:18:04 PMSo today was all about getting my bike back from the repiar tent, hopefully fixed, then do a quick workout and get it to the check in. Everything was great with my bike and I went for a 10 minute ride and a 10 minute run. Everyting felt fantastic. We toured around... I SAW HEATHER FUHR IN THE EXPO AREA... though didn't have my camera with me... DAMNIT! Chatted with Dave Cracknell (Lisa's husband) real quick and then came back to the hotel. I finished up packing my stuff and getting my bike ready to go to transition for check in. We went back down there and I got all checked in. I'm so excited about my spot. I'm super close to the exit and on the end of my lane. So I'm far from the tent, but close to the exit. Now you're not allowed to leave your shoes clipped to your pedals, but I asked if I could run barefoot to my bike with my shoes in hand and throw them on when I get to my bike and that's ok, so that's what I'll do. Also, my transition bags should be pretty easy to find as my #182 is pretty close to edges of bag lots.... From there we went to the Bike Barn and I grabbed some sport beans and shot blox as a treat in my run special needs. Now we're back here at the hotel. I'm gonna just chill out and watch the Oympic Marathon (which I think is on at 4:30PM here in Penticton time) and go to bed super early... tomorrow my day starts at 3:15AM. I'm excited. I'm nervous. Tomorrow I'm gonna be an Ironman... whether in 10:30 or 16:59:59... tomorrow I'm gonna be an Ironman... 8/26/2008 9:17:46 PMIt's Friday here in Penticton and the atmosphere and electricity is intensifying! We went down to the expo and wandered around for a while. They had the pro pres conference with Jonnyo, Jason shortis, Lisa and Belinda and a couple others. Just basic questions, some joking around and such. I met Sister Madonna! This woman is incredible, she's done Hawaii something like 25 times... un-FREAKIN-believable! I got a sick deal in the NA Sports Merchandise tent. Buy 30 units of powerbar and get a free zip up fleece! So I bought a box of gels and a few bars. Siiiiick. Apparently there will be great deals to be had on Monday. So I'm walking around and see this dude sitting a table outside a tent... Hmmmm... I walk up and BOOYAH! Peter Reid! This dude is one of my heros! He's won Hawaii 3 times and is a legend in this sport. I've watche "What it Takes" easily 100 times, or at least parts of it as I put it on almost EVERY single time I'm on the trainer and flip back and forth between that movie, a VHS tape of some old Ironman and regular cable. Pete was an incredibly nice guy and turns out he went to High School at Hilcrest in Ottawa! Neat! So now we're back here at the hotel and waiting for the carbo dinner and athlete meeting later in the evening. I gotta go pick up my bike in the AM and hopefully the tire thing will be good to go. This place is incredible. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm a part of this. I wish I was leaner. :) 8/26/2008 9:17:25 PMSo we left home in Huntsville around 3:40AM and booked it to Toronto for our 9:25 flight. Everything went smoothly. flight was a little oer 4 hours and I just watched TV and chilled out. Got to the airport and went to get my car, which had been reserved for like 3 months and guess what... THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!!! And I was WAY down on a waiting list to boot. Luckily Auntie Linda and Uncle Claude were there to take care of us! They live like 3 minutes from the Airport and lent us their Acura TSX to borrow until we get a rental. So here we are in Penticton. Checked in. Holy. It's hitting me! We're here! I bought 6 powergels and a mug. Sick. Now we're gonna go get groceries and settle in here. It's been a DAMN long day. Oh, and they've had the driest summer EVER. Though it rained today. Haha I'll be throwing up pics probably tomorrow evening. brian 8/20/2008 7:40:45 AMHOLY! Today is Wesdnesday. I race Sunday. It's starting to hit me! :) We leave early tomorrow morning to go to Toronto and get to Kelowna arud 11:30AM their time. This is going to be amazing. I don't think it will TRULY hit me until I get to the race site and see everything there! :) All this resting drives me insane. 8/15/2008 6:23:00 AMToday Tunes and I are driving to Toronto! We're goint to drop off my little baby (bike) at D'Ornellas to be shipped out to Penticton and I'll see him again in a week! Next time I see this machine I'll be two days from race day! One week and we'll be in Penticton! This all so exciting and NUTS! I'm in a taper and the usual brain stuff is going on... worrying about how ready I am and such. I really need to focus on my nutrition and make sure I don't binge or drink (alcohol :) ) at all this week. Less volume means I don't NEED as much food, so I must control the cravings! 8/12/2008 5:13:49 PMJonnyo Gordo Jasper Blake Kyle Marcotte Scott Curry Wolfgang Guembel Courtney Ogden Bryan Rhodes Jason Shortis !!!!!!!!!!!! Lisa Bentley Belinda Granger Desiree Ficker Andrea Fisher WOW!! Men's field is deeeeep! Go Lisa! 8/10/2008 3:04:43 PMSo this past weekend Lisa Bentley was back for another training camp, which means another dose on inspiration for me, 2 weeks from IMC. She is such a great competitor, coach and all-round person. Her energy is incredible and her smile is contagious. Just having her around and seeing her interact with her athletes gave me a ton of motivation for my own training and preparation for IMC. I'm feeling great going into these final two weeks of training. It's go time people. 8/4/2008 6:07:19 PMSo since the golf thing we've gotten another $180 from Julia's family and Friends! :)! And the whole Ironman thing is starting to sink in... I'm going to do this... no more races between now and the big one... it's the only thing to focus on. 8/4/2008 6:05:47 PMNational Capital Olympic Race Report So I came into this race not really in the "mood" to race. High volume training and crazy work schedule didn't really allow me to get into the mindset of racing this sort of distance. I did some mild speed work on the bike and run this past week but wasn't sure how'd it all go. We got into Stittsville around 6:30 and got unpacked, ate and tested out our bikes to make sure everything was cool. Got everything organized for the AM and then hit the sac around 9:30. Race day morning I'm pretty well on auto pilot now. Coffee, oatmeal, protein and vitamins and slowly pack everything and get ready to go. So we get to transition and get everything set up. Saw my Team Overdrive Tri Teammates Alex and Carley and chatted a bit and then took care of all prerace business. Julia was all set up too for her big du. I had a pretty great spot in transition, first rack on the far end. Headed down to the race start and did my usual quick warm-up then went and found Alex and Carley. We chatted a bit and then Carley went more to the front as she's a super strong swimmer. Swim went really well for me! Didn't seem all that crowded ever and I just seemed to keep finding some good feet to hang onto. I was swimming alone for a bit and DID do my usual zig zagging. So came outta the water in about 27:35! Which is sick for me, but still only 22nd overall. It's a super long run up to transition and this run plus T1 is included in you overall swim time, but I was still under 30 mins! IN T1 I saw Alex just ahead of me so I knew it was a great swim! And obviously Carley was long gone by now. I decided to pick my bike right up with one hand and run with it, as per last year's T1 falling debacle. This was an awesome idea as I passed a couple people just running to the mount line (another longish run) I got there just behind Alex. He was more efficient at getting his feet in his shoes and got a little ahead of me but I was determined to catch him and try to hang with him on the bike as best I could as he's also a pretty strong cyclist. So I caught him and we proceeded to pace each other for much of the bike, all the while trying to catch up to Carley, who probably had a kilometre or 2 lead on us to start the bike. This pacing last about 25k and then we were in a big pack of strong cyclists. I took off to the front and didn't look back assuming they were all still there. Eventually I started wondering if anyone was gonna jump up and do some pacing so I looked back and nobody was there! Cool! Did I go too hard? I guess we'll find out! So I kept givin' 'er hard and finished my bike averaging (on my bike comp) 38.0km/h! HOLY SHIT! This means I had about 44 mins to get through transition and run 10k to get my sub 2:20 goal. I again picked up my bike and ran all the way in with it, super smart. Was pretty efficient in T2 and got out quick. I now know to ignore the feeing of the first few kilometres of the run as they're gonna feel like crap no matter what. I start out and just ran, not really thinking of my sub 2:20 goal, and not thinking I'd get it. First 2.5k went well and did it in around 11 mins or so. Soon my average pace was down to around 4:11 and I started doing the sub 2:20 math. For the last 4k I could average 4:30 and still hit it! Well even though that was the case I kept my pace up as much as possible. Going hard until I saw Carley, or Alex or Julia or Yarrow or until I passed this person or that person or until the bottom of the hill etc etc etc. Well once I got to the top of the big hill for the last time I also knew I was about 3 minutes from the finish chute. I can suck it up for 3 minutes! So now it's all Glory, I love running hard on dead legs and adrenaline. Primitive like, haha. I finished in 2:18:36! Wow! WAY under my goal! I was 4th overall in the bike and 7th overall in the run! I ended up placing 7th overall and 2nd in my AG! What a great race! Congrats to my two teammates who also rocked the course, especially Carley for being first female overall! Little Julia did awesome in her longest ever event, the international du (5k-40k-10k) and on relatively little training! Oh the potential! 7/25/2008 6:22:21 PMWhat a day! So today this golf thing finally happened! We got grat weather and a super busy day out on the golf course. Well over 100 people took part in our contest and we raised a total of $676 dollars! Very exciting stuff... and MORE exciting, I'll be on the trainer for 4 hours tomorrow! Ironman motivation at it's finest. :) 7/10/2008 8:30:41 AMOK so another while since my last update... FUNDRAISING: Staganant (deadline was yesterday!) but am starting to iron out details for Drive Out Diabetes at Deerhurst. Racing: SUB 5 HOUR HIM GOAL ACCOMPLISHED AT PETERBOROUGH!!! Peterborough Half Ironman Race Report 2008 This year I was hoping to go under 5 hours for this race. Last year I raced it as my first ever Half Ironman and finished in 5:22:56. So I had to take 23 minutes off my time from last year in order to hit this year’s goal, but was pretty confident I could do it as last year I really died on the run, something I was more confident about this year. We got to Peterborough and things were seemingly mirroring last year. We got lost for a while looking for our hotel, then went down and grabbed my race kit and then retired for the evening. I got all my stuff organized and rested my body and mind, watched some Tour De France on TV and went to bed around 9PM. I woke up around 4:30AM to get my brain and body ready to race. Had my coffee and oatmeal and went through my normal routine to get ready to exercise for HOPEFULLY less than 5 hours. 1 cup of oatmeal with some dried cran, eaten cold with vanilla protein powder and two cups of coffee and some multi vitamins. We left around 6:15AM and got to the race site in good time. I got all set up as per usual, went pee a few hundred times, as per usual and headed down to the waterfront for the start of my race. SWIM: The new trick: Pick the wave that is SLIGHTLY fast than your expected time and start at the back of it. Everything in this swim is colour coded based on expected swim time, as it is a mass beach start. So I took the coloured swim cap that was SLIGHTLY faster than I was expecting to do and just hung out at the back of that group and in front of my group. I figured it was better to get passed than have to pass! So swim started and I got out in a good little rhythm, not too much hassle. Got to the first buoy with nothing really to mention but then got booted and knocked in the head and my goggles came RIGHT off my face, forcing me to stop and adjust them. Lap one was 18 minutes! I was expecting 20! So lap two again was uneventful, just the normal contact around buoys and such. Finished in 38:12! A PB by close to 2 minutes! That was awesome! BIKE: The bike ride was my highlight. I got out and got into a groove and just kept GOING AND GOING AND GOING! I never seemed to get tired the whole way through the 90k. Hills seemed to be no problem and this is where I did the majority of my passing. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m up here in “Hillville” but I was kicking ass out there. Nutrition on the bike went great, pretty well stuck to the plan. A bottle of 3 scoops of eload each of the first 2 hours with some gel for extra carbs and then just water in the last 40ish minutes with some more gel. Finished the bike in 2:34:53! (34.9km/h!) RUN: I love to run, but no on grass. That’s the story here. I’m not a huge fan of the whole running on the grass thing, even if it’s shaded. I feel slow and just don’t like it at all. I did like it after getting out onto Ashburnham road and just pounding the pavement. I passed so many people it was ridiculous. Felt strong the whole way through. I have the perfect strategy here for nutrition. Gel flask with 3 scoops of eload. Every second station it’s shot of eload with 2 waters, gulp water, dump on head repeat, other aid stations water and Gatorade, same deal with water here. My average pace seemed to stay around 4:35 for the majority of the run but dipped a little towards the end (more grass running) and finished at 4:39. So my final run time was 1:37:59. AWESOME! OVERALL: Overall I couldn’t be happier with my results. I Set PBs in all three disciplines for the various distances and was especially happy with the 38:12 in the water. My finish time was 4:54:24, 5 minutes to spare for my goal and 28.5 minutes faster than last year! I’m already devising ways to take off more time for my next Peterborough Half Ironman. I’m also very confident about my nutrition strategy now, especially at such distances and I also found a new love in wearing a visor to race instead of a full hat. 6/23/2008 4:32:07 PMOne more update... In terms of fudraising, I'm going to HOPEFULLY be doing something with the Deerhurst soon to raise some money on the golf course with "Drive out Diabetes"... UPDATES TO COME! 6/23/2008 4:24:46 PMOk so it's been a while yet again! I've been settling into my new place here in Huntsville and getting ready for the Muskoka Chase that took place on the 15th of June. I ran the course a bunch of times and tried to get some swimming in before the actual race and was feeling ok going in. Here's my race report from that spectacular day: $1Muskoka chase 2008 Race Report Morning I woke up at 5AM, had my coffee and oatmeal/protein right away and then around 5:20 headed over to the Centennial Centre with my bike to drop it off in transition so as to get a sweet spot on the rack. Well I’m pleased to say that that was a fantastic idea as I was right on the end of the row, super easy to find and super easy to get out of transition quickly. I then went back home and continued my morning routine, getting ready mentally, hydrating and going to the washroom etc, then left for the race site again at 6:45AM. Did all my stuff and was 100% ready with everything in perfect timing. A OK to start. Swim Went down to the swim start about 15 minutes before I was to start, got my wetsuit on and got in the water for a little warm-up action. I started well to the back of my wave, so as not to get my ass kicked right out the start, and that proved to be a decent idea, no big problems with that at all this year. The swim felt great for the most part, no problems with my goggles and I felt as though I was in a good rhythm throughout the whole thing. I did stray pretty far off-course on the home stretch which may have cost me a little time, but not horrible. I was considerably slower than last year, coming in at 43:15 (2:10/100m), about 3:15 slower than last year, time I would have to make up! I was 29/45 in my age group, and 385/777 overall. T1 T1 went smooth, got everything done in a controlled and orderly fashion and got out quickly, left the shoes pre-clipped to the pedals as planned and got my feet in ASAP when I got on. T1 time was 1:39. Bike The bike was really good. At first I thought my tris would be burning the whole time as they felt overloaded from my aero position, but that went away after a while and I just felt more or less strong the whole way through. Climbing those hills is never easy, but I kept up with the guys around me on all of it. I did lose my damn yellow sponge thing out of my aero-bottle again on South Portage, I guess I’ll have to figure something out for next year. My bike felt really strong the whole way through and I felt like I finished really strong and still had a lot left in the tank! I consumed 2 bottles of: 3 scoops of eload and some BCAAs and glutamine and 1 accel gel on the bike, and had one caffeine tablet around 40k marker. This year’s bike was 1:42:01, 32.3km/h average speed, 19/45 in my age group and 192/777 overall! T2 T2 was very smooth again, feet came out of my shoes as I was coming into transition and hopped off and ran my bike right in. This went really well and I was in and out in 1:04. Run This is where the magic happens for me. I had a plan of starting the run out easy because I remembered killing myself last year and felt if I just start slow (5:00/k) and see how that feel s and I could speed that up after a couple kilometres if I felt good. I started out feeling pretty wrecked coming out of transition, but as per usual, that is to be expected so I figure I would come out of it. Around 2k in I was feeling better, more like a runner going for a run. I felt looser and things starting feeling easier. I started just getting into a rhythm and got my pace to around 4:30 and just held onto a guy that seemed to be doing that. I kept mindful though of when and where things fell apart last year as I DID NOT want to walk at any point during this run. I never really “pushed it” throughout as I kept expecting things to start feeling really tough, and THEY DIDN’T! I felt absolutely amazing with that 4:30 pace the whole way through and I really didn’t ramp it up until about 2k out, then I dropped my pace to like 4:10 – 4:15 and eventually down to around 4:00 for the home stretch! Final run time was 1:06:09, 4:25/k! 14/45 in my Age Group and 108/777 overall. Overall Overall the race was awesome, and I’m not even wrecked the next day. My swim was bad, yes, but I will work on it and feel confident I can improve significantly for Peterborough. Overall my time was 3:34:06, 18/45 in my age group, and 166/777 overall. More importantly it was a huge improvement over last year and still leaves some room for improvement for next year! I’m very happy overall. Weather this year was more or less PERFECT, around 22 – 26 degrees and mostly sunny throughout. I never felt overwhelmed by the heat, which was a big problem last year. Eload is awesome. The focus now is on finishing up this last $1000 or so of fundraising and training training training getting ready for all my races this year. I love the feeling of racing, the excitement, the effort I have to put in and the self of accomplishment in finishing and finishing with a good time. My next goal is to go under 5 hours in Peterborough in a couple of weeks. :) 6/2/2008 3:42:20 AMI'm back in taining with some pretty good volume, working away at getting my cycling and swimming back asap. I've biked the muskoka chase course once and hope to do it a few more times in the next coupla weeks before the race to "get used" to the hills. I start the new job today and am excited to get that underway and get settled into a rhythm over there so it's not really taking all of my attention and energy. I've been in contact with a couple people now over at the Deerhurst to see about doing something for fundraising, one with the golf department, which is looking promising for July and one with the resort in general which I'm waiting to hear back from the lady. 5/26/2008 7:41:36 PMwell here's the deal. I ran my first marathon in 3:22:41 officially. 12:41 slower than I was hoping for. I was RIGHT on track through a whole 32k and then got smoked. I crumbled and ran/walked the last 8 or so kilometers with a lot of discomfort. Walked a bunch of aid stations and really had a mental battle with myself to start running every time I did. I was pretty disappointed when I finished, but family and friends helped put it all in perspective. I will qualify for Boston soon, no crazy rush! I saw the Team D aid station at about the 22-23k mark and it served for a quick shot of inspiration! I'm now back in Huntsville and am going to get going on some fundraising up here as soon as I can. A golf thing I think will work well and I will see what I can work with the Deerhurst resort for that. Up next is the Muskoka chase! 5/21/2008 7:53:38 AMAnd the countdown to Sunday continues. I find myself struggling between the stress and hopes of qualifying for Boston and the comfort of knowing that this is my first ever marathon and JUST FINISHING will be a huge accomplishment for me based on where I've come from in the past few year. A little over 2 years ago I had NEVER run more than absolute necessary, now I'm about to run a marathon, and then an IRONMAN in August. So finishing will be huge, but finishing in 3:10 will be huger, so I'll keep the pressure on until mid-morning on Sunday. :) 5/21/2008 7:49:33 AM"PAIN IS TEMPORARY. IT MAY LAST A MINUTE, OR AN HOUR, OR A DAY, OR A YEAR, BUT EVENTUALLY IT WILL SUBSIDE AND SOMETHING ELSE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE. IT I QUIT HOWEVER, IT LASTS FOREVER." - Lance Armstrong 5/20/2008 11:37:15 AMWell I'm down to the last few days before my first BIG race of the year, the National Capital Marathon here in Ottawa. I'm HOPING for a BQ time of 3:10 but of course finishing my first marathon will be the primary target. I feel pretty good going in, and with the planning in terms of pacing and nutrition, I'm feeling pretty confident that I CAN BQ. God knows I've told enough people that I plan to, so I'd hate to have to tell 'em all otherwise! :) This is my major concern at the moment. I did TRY a fundraising event on the weekend at the early bird tri but was massively unsuccessful, but it was a learning experience nonetheless I guess. I will keep trucking there also. :) Hopefully I can post some pretty good news in a week or so! 5/6/2008 5:29:09 PMWOW. Almost a month and no entry. Here's a quick update. Nothing really in terms of fundraising. The draws I set up at the stores aren't working at all so I'm going to have to figure out something better to do with the goods I got. Training is great. Now pretty well settled in Huntsville, RIGHT ON THE MUSKOKA CHASE RUN COURSE! I've been out a couple times on each bike and run courses and can't wait to get back here after the marathon to pound out daily workouts on them and really learn them well. The run is what hurt me last year and based on the two I've had on it this week, things are looking better! Though my legs were freshed vs 55k of hilly beat into them. :) I'll get it all done! GOAL 1 IS A 3:10 MARATHON! 2.75 weeks to go! :) 4/9/2008 8:43:40 AMAnother few weeks have passed since I've updated this so here goes. Fundraising has been going pretty well! Next up is a draw at each Popeye's store where people will donate a minimum of $5 and get their name into the draw to win prizes graciously donated by some distributors we deal with. Aaron also donated $20 gift cards to the stores! Hopefully this will raise a good chunk of change and then I'll figure out what's up next and keep plugging. :) Moving is coming closer and closer! We've now both got jobs, got a place, got a truck and got friends to help! Now is just the countdown and organization. I'm trying to slowly move stuff that's going to Stittsville TO Stittsville now so it's out of the way and less to do later. I'm really looking forward to an adventure up there. I really want to take advantage of my surroundings up in Muskoka, with Algonquin park right there and all the wilderness surrounding the area and all the stuff we can do for free/cheap at Deerhurst. Training. Interesting. Training has been all over the map. Running WAS going well, but now I have some sort of weird GI issue right now that I need to figure out. I think it's Lactose intolerance or some sort of virus/parasite, either way it's really affecting my running. I've slowed down on the cycling and swimming while training for the marathon as I want to be able to recover as much as possible between runs as I'm at 6 a week right now and long runs are up to 32k. I'm a little depressed with the GI problems as my legs and joints and everything else were A OK even after long runs, which is RARE! :( I'll figure it all out and get on track... hopefully sooner than later! 3/20/2008 6:49:56 PMSUCCESS! The dinner raised $3053 in total, between tickets and the auction. Wow. That's almost HALF of my total goal right there! :) I can't thanks Barb and Chris enough for all their help. So next up is a spinning event, HOPEFULLY. I need to find a gym around that can help me out, many have already done so and aren't willing to do another this soon, or at least that's their excuse. Training is ship shape, running is great and swimming is back, sorta. :) 6 weeks to Huntsville! :) 3/14/2008 7:45:42 AMOK! So today is the Dine For Diabetes event at Coasters! It's been a busy couple of weeks here, going on the AChanel, TD meeting, rushing to get more tickets sold and organize all of this, ie, details of what's going on tonight. I can't believe how much Barb and Chris have done and am overwhelmed with their help and hard work for this event. I feel as though I should be doing more, but they have everything covered already! I hope we get a good turnout because there is so much stuff in the silent auction to bid on that I fear there won't be enough people! Training is also going well, at the pool twice this week and running lots. Though got an ITBand scare earlier this week so hopefully it's not a big deal, though will find out today! 2/26/2008 7:02:07 AMI guess it's been a while! I've been super busy lately with training and fundraising and stuff. Barb and I (ok, especially Barb) are getting a ton of stuff for the silent auction, but not selling a ton of tickets! Hopefully we can get some of those tickets sold in the next coupla weeks! I will call the A channel today, something I should have done a while ago, and see what they can do for me. Training has been great, lots of running and lots of overal bike/run volume. The weaknesses are the usual... swimming and dropping weight. Work has me busy 6 days a week right now, going all over the city, though I'm enjoying it! And my BodyPlus sponsorship has me doing some demos and such as well, so I'm damn busy right now. Looking forward to the racing season like mad and I really want to get this fundraising goal met so I can focus on training for the Ironman and all the other races this season. Hopefully this event will be a success and raise a good chunk of cash and I will try one more event (probably a spinning event thing that another lady did) to finish off the $6500... 1/28/2008 12:34:53 PMFundraising is on the up and up. Ticket sales have begun and we're still working on getting auction items which will be huge for generating more money towards the overall goal. Barb has been an unbelievable help thus far, it's really incredible. Training is going well though i think my shoes that I bought 3 months ago are already done for. they say a pair of shoes has about 800km in 'em, I've up to 775km and have major pains in my calves (partly because I'm a turkey and ran when it was already bothering me). Maybe now I'll get in the pool… 1/17/2008 3:24:11 PMUpdate: I made a facebook group for my Fundraising venture and about 20 people have joined! It'll be a good way to promote things that I'm doing to raise money. Also, it looks like I'll get some exposure for the Dinner event on Hot 89.9's website! That should be awesome! I am also going to buy some red bracelets to sell at the store and to whoever wants one to raise a few more $$. Training is going awesome. I've done 3:30 of cycling and 3:46 of running this week. Pool tomorrow and Sunday for sheezy. I'm going to limit weight training for now as I feel it's making me hold onto too much bulk. Never thought I'd say, er type, those words. I AM doing some yoga though, starting tonight, with Tunes, hopefully it's a regular thing, at least a couple times a week would be sweet. 1/13/2008 9:39:37 AMBIG NEWS! I have a Dine for Diabetes event set! I will be forever indebted to Mrs. Mireault (Barb) :) as she has blown me away with what she will be helping me with! The event will be March 14th (dad's birthday!) at 7PM at Coasters Seafood Grill in the market and we will also be having a silent auction! Success! Hopefully if this does well (which I'm sure it will!) I will considerable close to the goal and can focus more on training and less on fundraising! I also dropped a couple classes at school and am working on figuring that all out so for the time being I have a little more "free time". In terms of training/tri specific stuff, I'll have a nice 10+ hour week of training, about 5 hours cycling, 4-5 hours running and 40 mins at the pool. ALSO I bought a new saddle off ebay today! A Fizik Arione Tri (super comfortable/high end) and it matches my bike colour (the blue)! Pumped. 1/10/2008 11:25:46 AMOK... so back at school... between school, work, training and fundraising. I HAVE NO TIME! :) Everything is sort of moving along pretty well though. Training is going well, school isn't intense just yet and work is great. Slowly putting together plans for a Dine for Diabetes thing. Most importantly is that I'm trying my best to make time for Jubs! It's all about organizatoin and staying on top of things early and often. Get training done early and get routine tasks out of the way early in the day! NO PROCRASTINATION! 1/3/2008 3:28:49 PMHappy New Year! I finished out 2007 with some serious run training and overall volume late in the month. I got a few more donations from family! And will hopefully be starting up a Dine For Diabetes event in the near future. Right now focus is on swimming and running everyday and getting in some cycling still and then at the end of the month my marathon training starts. School's lookin' to be hectic so hopefully I can manage all of this! 12/16/2007 4:47:07 PMTraining is going awesome! I got my tattoo and love it! Mom, not so much, but oh well. I met with Melanie at the Diabetes Association Office on thursday and that was really helpful. I'm up to $1050! All through personal donations from very generous family and friends! I'm also working on getting something in the store in the way of a monthly draw for a prize with a minimum donation of like $3. I hope that can work because it's simple but will raise money for sure. I'm also pumped about my training this past week. I swam twice and wouldv'e done more but can't now for another week or so because of the tattoo! My running though is back to full which I'm REALLY pumped about. I've done about 4.5 hrs of running in the past 6 days and about 1.5 hours cycling. I'm excited to get into serious training of all 3 and get goin' workin' towards Ironman Canada! 12/12/2007 7:23:40 AMIT'S MY BIRTHDAY! 25! Holy geez... I'm celebrating today with a nice outdoor run (already did that) this morning, 33 minutes, 6.75km and then going to the pool around noon. This aft, I'm going to get a tattoo to express my passion for my sport, and that will represent my most important values, "hard work, determination, perseverance, dedication, pushing your limits and enjoying life". That is what I see is representative of fitness, long distance triathlonand running and proper nutrition. Anyways, I also used my bday as a shameless plug for fundraising, sending out an invite to a "party on facebook". The party? Just to get people to donate whatever they can in honour of my bday. :) Ended up with $60! 12/11/2007 9:54:27 AMSo yesterday I got to the pool! It was about a 32 minute swim, 1300m. Nothing too strenuous as it's been a loonnnnng time since I've been there. My goal was 12 swims in December, so if I go every second day from here on out I should be good. 11 to go! Today I also ran pain free, 31 mins, OUTSIDE! 6.5km. Felt great, not even a hint of pain. Tomorrow is a big day! My Bday, gonna swim, get some "artwork" done and see the fam! In terms of fundraising, I should be getting a donation or two tomorrow :) 12/9/2007 9:59:40 PMSo I started running Dec 1 and have had some issues (I've deduced it to a minor-moderate tear in the rectus femoris (front of thigh). Going to rehab it hard and get back slowly. In the meantime, lots of swimming and weight training. Just found a sweet gym really close so I'm pumped to start, hopefully tomorrow! Still waiting to see what happens with the Fulcrum thing. And surprise surprise, Issac's new grand opening is a little behind so i won't be able to get that going anytime in the immediate future. I'm also trying to get sponsored right now, not really to do with diabetes, but one more thing on my plate, just for fun. I have an exam on Tuesday too, and my bday on Wednesday! 11/30/2007 8:52:03 AMThis past week was spent training and getting ready for my new job and then starting at Popeye's. I was off for a whole week and got some really solid training in, but then worked the past 4 days. As with the rest of November, it was prety much all cycling. Today is the last day of november and then tomorrow a swim focus starts! I got a $20 donation from a coworker of Annie's! Thanks to Stella! :) I'm also going to be featured in the Fulcrum (U of O Newspaper) with my story! That should be great. I'm also trying to get sponsored. I'm emailing and sending letters to a bunch of companies to see what happens. You never know, nothing ventured, nothing gained right? Off to class then 1.5 hours on the bike. :) 11/21/2007 9:20:12 AMHow can the last week be summed up? OUCH. Fundraising is still in limbo, really just waiting on Issac's and Khalid to ge that Dine for Diabetes thing goin'. I have lots of time though. The ouch part involves a lot of trainer cycling! Another 6 or so hours spent on that thing, with a couple transition runs of ten mins or so a longish run of 40 minutes and a long run of 60 minutes on Monday... This week is reseved for resting a recharging as I'm off all work and just have 3 hours of class. The goal as always is to get into the pool, hopefully tomorrow morning. I'm pumped about these winter running pants i got, Pearl Izumi, top quality stuff. Got 'em on sale at Bushtukah, but still like $105, so I better put 'em to good use this winter! 11/12/2007 6:30:52 PMAnother pledge! $150 from Mrs. Mireault! Thanks so much for your support! Today's training was a simple 60 min tempo ride on the trainer, yesterday I did my usual 2 hour long ride. Legs are coming back. Tomorrow morning will be a run (hopefully) as I have to work 10 - 6ish and then go straight to the Team Diabetes meeting at the A Channel studio... 11/8/2007 8:06:08 PMThis high volume cycling is getting tiring. I did a 30 minute ride this morning immediately followed by a twnty minute run and just completed another 2 hours on the trainer tonight. I got a new pledge! WOW! $100 from Mr. and Mrs. Dawson! I thank you so much for your donation and support! 11/8/2007 8:04:19 PMFirst entry in a while! I've been super with everything and have neglected (forgot) to make an entry in here. November is a major bike focus so I will be puting in a record # of hrs on the trainer (so far 8). It's great and convenient but rough on the butt! I will continue to put in whatever run miles I can as well as the weight training and I want to get back to swimmimg ASAP! I'm going to a Team Diabetes meeting next Tuesday to learn about everything and meet other team members. I also contacted Khalid regarding the "Dine For Diabetes" idea and he seemed interested so I will go talk to him in a few weeks when they are settled in the new place. 10/19/2007 8:40:49 AMYesterday's workout consisted of chest and arms weights. Lots of volume, medium to heavy weights. I normally do stuff where I reach failure in the 12-20 rep range and have little rest between sets to keep it at least a little aerobic. So I did that for about an hour yesterday morning before work. Today's workout was a little longer. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike 9not my favourite) at the gym, then a 30 minute run right after. Then I did 45 minutes of weights (all back, lots of lat pulldowns and some abs). After that I did another 45 minute run on the treadmill. Total was 15km of cycling in 30 mins and 16.5k of running in 1:15:00. It all lasted from 6:30 - 9:45AM. I'm pretty tired and now have to go work from 12:30 - 9:30! 10/17/2007 4:26:08 PMA quick training update as I haven't written anything since Sunday! Monday I rode two hours (61.4km) on the trainer while watching knocked up. This is after working 9-5:30. Then Tuesday I got up early and ran 35 minutes (7.5k) and did 45 minutes of weights before working 10:30 - 6:30. Today I did another 2 hours (62.0km) on the trainer, this time watching Transformers. I then went to class and did some running around. Now dinner and then off to the gym for some weights and such. Tomorrow I will be also starting to collect $$$ for a draw at GNC. A $3 donation to Team Diabetes gets you into the draw to win a 2lb IsoFlex PB. Not a bad deal I think. Hopefully I can make some dollas off that. And I really want to get a Dine for Diabetes thing goin' somewhere! I have a few Ideas, West end and DT. :) 10/14/2007 2:53:08 PMWell yesterday Jupes and I ran a 10k race here in Ottawa. And since our trip, I haven't felt the fittest and decided not to go for a PB, but rather run the race with her and finish with her. It was cold and rainy but somewhat enjoyable too, the last 1/2k I got an uncontrollable urge to take off on her and I just sprinted for the finish :) We both had fun and she had a great race. Today I ran another 15.2km and will PROBABLY do an hour on the bike. I'm back to tracking my food so hopefully I can get lean as a bean here in the next little while. That's all for now... OH! And Macca won the Ironman World Championships last night which was awesome to watch live! 10/12/2007 5:48:31 AMYesterday I ran for an hour on the treadmill at home in Stittsville. the thing I like about the treadmill is that I can force myself to run slow, often outside I don't realize how hard I am running and turns out sometimes I need to slow down and work more on LSD than my normal anaerobic efforts. I'm now just getting ready to do a 2 hour ride on the trainer, outside looks like rain is coming and I need to work on my fitness! Again, nutrition needs to be a focus for me, I need to get organized with my journal asap. 10/9/2007 7:53:27 PMPS - I'd like to thank my sis Annie for settin' up this kickin' website! :) 10/9/2007 7:53:02 PMOctober 07, 2007 Well, we got back from Vegas on Thursday and I'm back in the groove of training. Yesterday I did 2 hours on the bike and today I did an hour run along the canal and then some weights at Mont Petit. It's Thanksgiving Sunday so I won't be dieting today, but after today I plan to get real strict with the diet. Today's run was 60 minutes and 13.5km, along the canal from Ottawa U almost all the way up to Hog's back and then back. I was a little tired and tight, but it's meant to be at a good, easy pace for this part of the season. I also got the good news today that Nanny Adie donated $100 to my fundraising efforts! 10/9/2007 7:52:49 PMOctober 08, 2007 Today I planned to do another hour on the treadmill at mom and dad's in the basement while watching the hockey game. ended up doing 12.6km, again pretty easy but the legs are getting sore from the higher volume after a week off. My diet is getting back on track, but I really want to start counting everything again and getting back into that routine. I also really need to get back into the pool, which should really be my focus over the winter, but I feel like I need to get back into shape before hittin' the pool. I'm getting excited for the Ironman World Championships next weekend, just to see what happens. |
