New This Week

My latest Ipod download this past week...the newest addition to my Ipod running tunes...




The latest book I started reading this past week has kept me glued to the pages for the past few days - "Racing Through the Dark, The Rise and Fall of David Millar". My favorite part in the book so far talks about riding in the peloton at the 2000 Tour de France...."The US Postal Team was coming up the right side of the peloton, bringing Lance back up through the riders. As Lance came by, he looked at me and called to his team to wait. 'Dave, what are you doing back here', he asked. 'Chatting to the boys, just a bit of a calm moment', I said. 'Dave, this is the Tour de France', he said sternly. 'I know, Lance, I know'. 'Well, Dave, at the Tour de France you have no friends. Ride at the front'. It wasn't a suggestion. It was an instruction...capturing exactly how he saw the Tour de France. It was war for him."



And saving the best for last, my new Trek frame for 2012! I'll have it built up and ready to go in the next week or so while I work on installing the motor over the next few months...

Seasons Change

You know you're having fun when times flies by and before you know it January is gone in the blink of an eye and it's February. Since I'm more of a math/science, black/white, problem/solution person, and writing is not on my "favorite past times" list, I made a goal of writing one blog a month, and up until now I've been able to stick to it. However, January has proven to be the exception, and not because of procrastination (ok, maybe a little), but because the month flew by and I honestly don't know where it went!

So what have I been doing over the last month? Pretty much spending the majority of my time on the bike - well, that's what it feels like anyway - building up a base for the season ahead. And I can't complain, I LOVE riding my bike. This is the time of year when decisions about the year ahead are made - whether to stay at home, go to training camp, plan races for the season, try out new products/equipment, figure out a training schedule and training partners that work for you, etc, etc. It's the path that we pick at this time of year that often decides where we'll end up down the road in July, August, September, and beyond.

For the past four years, I've spent the winter months and the majority of the summer away from home at a training camp in either Asia, Switzerland or LA. I recently decided that I would go down a different path and stay at home this year where I have a great group to train with and access to a great swimming program five minutes from home. I'm happy to not be living out of a suitcase for a change, and I'm super excited for the season ahead since training is going better than ever. Change is sometimes good, and better late than never. I never want to look back and have regrets for the things I didn't do or didn't try. As one of my favorite quotes reminds me, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time. It is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012!

December is always one of my favorite months of the year, and this year has been no exception. At the beginning of December, a few days after Ironman AZ, I went back to Canada to visit my brother and his family in Nova Scota for a relaxing eight day "indoor vacation". Well, relaxing when my one year old nephew wasn't running around or trying to jump on the treadmill with me.;-) By the time I got back to San Diego, I was itching to get back on my bike for some long easy rides. I love long rides and I've been having a blast building up my base again on the bike. Riding inland San Diego two days before Christmas in 70 degree sunny weather is better than any gift I could ever ask for. 2011 has been a great year, and to all my friends, family and sponsors, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2012!

IM AZ, Thanksgiving, and the Off Season

This past triathlon season has gone by faster than any other year that I’ve been in the sport. It’s the first year that I haven’t traveled outside the US, but I’ve probably spent just as much time on the road.

I came back from Kona in October, and being the sun seeker that I am, took off for Phoenix a week later to continue my build up for IM Arizona. I have some awesome training partners in Phoenix, and with the temps in San Diego cooling down, it seemed the best place to do my four week build up before IM. I also needed to continue getting some PT on my ankle injury which I could do at Endurance Rehab in between my long desert training days.

I had some of the best swim and bike training I’ve ever had in the few weeks leading up to IM AZ, and my run kept building up week by week. Everything was going great, but I knew in the back of my head that I was rushing to get the run miles in my legs to run a marathon on just four weeks of running since my two month lay off. So the discussion I had with my coach a few days before the race left me with a decision to make. Either run the marathon with my ankle still not quite 100%, risk re-injury and accept that I might be forced with another two month lay off. Or only do part/none of the run, continue my build up for next year, and make this the first off season ever that I’d be uninjured and running before January, leading into the kind of running base that I needed to make 2012 a great year. In the end, we both agreed – any pain running through transition and I would not head out on the run.

The swim and bike at IM AZ were both close to what I expected. The water was a frigid 61 degrees, but I swam close to my usual IM swim time, 55 minutes. It was 53 degrees at the start of the bike, and it took me a little longer than usual to warm up, but eventually I got going and with each of the three 60km bike laps, my times got faster. I finished the bike in 5:06, my fastest IM bike split, and now had a decision to make about the run. Running through transition barefoot, my ankle was feeling ok, but not great. I had a flashback to IM Louisville at the end of August when I was in a similar situation, took a chance because I had a run base in my legs and could place well, but spent the next two months injured. In the end, I made the decision not to run, thinking about 2012 and the opportunities that lay ahead. So although I was disappointed not to finish, I’m also excited that for the first time ever, I’ll be running in November and December, laying down a base for next year and for some early spring races.

I drove home from AZ earlier this week, and had a quick 48 hour turn-around of unpacking summer clothes, re-packing winter clothes, and pulling off a quick Thanksgiving dinner thanks to Whole Foods down the street. I’m now officially on an off season break, aboard a plane to visit my brother and his family in Nova Scotia, with my parents flying over from Newfoundland for a mini family reunion/early Christmas/late Thanksgiving ten day vacation.

A big THANK YOU to my family, friends, coach and sponsors for all of their support through out the year. Looking forward to a great 2012!

Kona Memories

After spending the last ten days in Kona, I flew back home to San Diego yesterday. I hadn’t planned on going to Hawaii this year since I didn’t start racing until June and was too far behind in points to qualify for Kona (with the new points system, 5 races throughout the year count towards your world ranking as a pro, and for women you have to be ranked top 30 to qualify, for men top 50). However, a cheap flight and an invite from a friend to stay in her rented Kona mansion, had me suddenly planning a mini Hawaiian vacation/training camp.

The last 10 days were jam packed with training, a few sponsor obligations, meeting up with friends I hadn’t seen in a month to ten years or more, and of course enjoying a bit of Kona coffee drinking, and breakfast eating at Lava Java.

I had mixed feelings about being an Ironman spectator. I was happy to support my friends, and motivated beyond words by so many of the athletes. But in the end I’m still a competitor at heart, and a good spectator I do not make. Whether because of my inability to sit still longer than 5 minutes, my desire to be racing, or the temptation to do a long ride in the Hawaiian sun, I found myself doing what I love most - taking off on my bike for most of the day – and getting back just in time to see the second half of the marathon.

There are different reasons behind people’s decisions to live their lives the way that they do. A friend of mine who was a rower in the Olympics once told me that you should live your life so that you have the most memories to look back upon. To see athletes from all over the world training/racing in Kona, living life to the fullest, and happier than the average joe, made me realize that neither money nor material possessions can buy true happiness. I think a more accurate measure of happiness are the great memories that we make along the way.

So a big Congrats to all of my friends who raced Kona and came away having met their goals and given it their all. I hope like me that they have great memories to always look back upon.

Ironman Louisville and My 2011 Road Trip

I’m heading home today after my three week road trip which started when I left San Diego August 11th and flew to Michigan for the Steelhead 70.3 in Benton Harbor on August 14th. I stayed with Mike and Katie Jones on this first of three stops on my road trip. What luck to have a homestay who owned a bike shop and looked after Aussie Christie Sym and I like we were pro cyclists…I wish everytime I flew to a race I had someone waiting to put my bike together, pick me up on a ride when a thunder and lightening storm suddenly strikes (out of nowhere!), and then proceed to shuttle my bike into the shop to prep it for the next day’s race! Unfortunately, the swim was canceled at Steelhead so it turned into a 90km timetrial start followed by a half marathon. I had developed tendonitis behind my ankle a couple of weeks earlier, and with IM L’ville two weeks down the road, I decided to skip the run and make it a bike TT day. I was happy with my 2:27 bike split, packed my bags and it was time to move on to my next stop.

The next destination on my road trip was Indianapolis so I rented a car and headed south. About 4 hrs later, I dropped off the car at the airport in Indy and was picked up by next homestay, Catherine LaCrosse. Catherine is training for Hawaii and graciously opened her house (and cereal cupboard!) to me for the week, showed me some great training rides, introduced me to the local masters swim team, gave me her Prius for the week, and became my mapquest to Whole Foods and the best coffee and frozen yogurt in town. While I was in Indianapolis, I also had the chance to visit Zipp twice, take a tour of their facility, and join them on a couple of their lunch time rides. Amazing to see the work that goes into making the best wheels in the world! Before I knew it, my week in Indy was just about up, and it was time to head south again. Unfortunately, my ankle was still not a happy camper, and I was on the fence about whether on not I’d be able to run a marathon in Louisville. If there’s anything I learned from staying with Catherine, it’s “If there’s a will, there’s a way”! In less then 24hrs before I was due to leave, she had organized for me to see a well known Podiatrist in the area and a PT with six years experience on the LPGA Tour. So my last day in Indy began with a cortisone injection, followed by physical therapy, and then I was in the car being chauffeured by Catherine to Columbus, IN (the half way point to Louisville) where both Catherine and my next homestay offered to tag team my ride to L’ville.

I arrived in Louisville on Tuesday before Ironman, and stayed with another amazing homestay, Ann Gaines, who treated me like royalty. How many times do you find a mini fridge stocked with drinks in your room, a basket of pretzels, cookies, fruit and other goodies awaiting you, and I’ll skip ahead to the three cans of Pringles and a dozen yellow roses at the IM finish line!! Ann is also a body builder and I learned how much hard work and discipline goes into training for these competitions. I’m not sure if I could give up my Pringles, cereal and ice cream to do what she does!

So after almost three weeks on the road, race day for IM L’ville finally arrived and I was still not sure how my ankle would hold up during the race. I made a deal with my coach the night before – if I was out of the money or in pain, I’d pull the plug. The swim was a fast one in the Ohio River and I came out of the water in 4th place in 54 minutes. For the first 50k of the ride, my legs didn’t feel great and I wasn’t sure that I was gaining time on any of the three girls ahead of me. By 60k, my quads finally woke up, at 120k I moved into third place, and at 160k I moved into 2nd place. I finished the bike in 5:21, about 3minutes back from Nina Kraft and with Jackie Arendt coming into transition behind me. With my not so speedy transition, I started the run in 3rd place. Heading over the bridge on the first out and back, my ankle was not feeling great and I told my bike escort that it looked like I would have to drop out when I came back near transition at the two mile mark. So it was a pleasant and welcoming surprise to me when somewhere around a mile and a half, my ankle stopped complaining. I stayed in third place until about 15miles when the lack of run training in my legs began to take effect and I was passed by a fast charging Stephanie Jones. For the last eleven miles, my pace was slowing, but I was determined to hang on to fourth place and happy to finally cross the finish line in 10:01.

My summer road trip is now over and I’m heading back to San Diego for a couple of weeks of recovery before part two of my 2011 race season. Lots of great memories from the last three weeks, but time to head home and unpack, and see what else awaits around the next bend in the road. Thank you to all of my great sponsors, my family, friends and coach who never stop supporting me, and to all of the wonderful people I have met over the last few weeks.

Top 5 Running Songs

I love listening to music when I run, and it's rare for me to head out the door for a run without my Ipod. A few people have asked me recently what type of music I listen to, and it's a bit of a mix between some old songs that I never get tired of, and some new songs that will be here today and gone tomorrow. A bit of everything really! But if I had to pick my top 5 most listened to songs (some that end up being replayed over and over if I'm doing a hard workout), I would narrow it down to the 5 below. Metric is one of my favorite Canadian bands, Pumped Up Kicks is the latest song I've downloaded, All Fired Up will be on my running list til I'm 80, and I've been singing Adrenaline in my head for more track sessions than I can remember.

If you see me running down the road with my ipod, singing in my head (so I don't shatter any mirrors or glass!), there's a good chance that I'll be listening to one of these songs...