Preliminary Race Schedule

So here is the race schedule for 2011. This is subject to change.
January and February possibly a couple of the UMS races
February 27 - Really Chilly 5k
March 6th - Western Splash and Dash
April - Queen's Spring Fling
May 15th - Rev3 Knoxville Olympic (a)
June 6th - Woodstock tri
June 19th - Guelph Lake I Olympic (a)
July 16th - Gravenhurst Olympic
End of July - Sarnia Olympic
August 8th - Coburg Olympic (a)
End of August - Chatham Sprint
then starting in September I will hopefully make the University of Western Cross-Country team

Recovery Week

It worked out nicely that this week ended up being a recovery week so I'm not spending my whole break training and I have some time to relax with the family. I've been doing some easy swims and runs with Colin before he heads back to Kentucky and its nice to have some to do the easy stuff with and make it go by a little faster. I've been emailing my dad's friend who coaches a cross team in Holland and he gave me some great workouts to build my strength on the bike. Christmas was great getting to see all the family and where it used to be all running presents it has been switched to tri stuff so I'm officially a tri geek with the aero helmet all I need are the $2000 wheels and a $2000 powermeter. No New Years plans as of yet, but I have a long run scheduled for Saturday so if nothing happens maybe I'll do a midnight run.

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas/happy holidays. The fam is all coming over tonight so its going to be a packed house with grand parents aunts uncles and a couple cousins. Went for a run today with Colin and I am done with the Newtons. Now my Achilles is flaring up and the only thing I can think of is the shoes. I enjoy the shoes because I feel faster but the way you are positioned on the fore foot seems to aggravate my ankles/Achilles. I was a fore foot runner prior to wearing them, but I think the lug system doesn't support my foot enough because now I have had problems with both sides. My right ankle problem I think started with an Achilles strain and now my left one is done. I had been doing most of my running in them since October and it has been one injury after the other off less running than before. I have an old pair of 2130s that can get me through the next couple weeks until I can get a pair of new shoes in my size. No run tomorrow and I'll attempt my long run on Sunday.

Happy Holidays Everyone

The pain is gone

The first pain that is gone is that I am finally done exams after a long two and half weeks. I think they went pretty well but there were a couple tricky ones. I'm glad I can finally relax a bit and not have to worry about much else besides my training. I'm going home on Thursday and can't wait to see everyone and have some home cooked meals.

The second pain is that I did a 12k run today and had no pain in either of my ankles. A couple weeks ago I was doing a fartlek in the ice and the bad footing caused my right ankle to get pretty sore. This is the opposite ankle from the one I hurt during the cross-country season so I was worried I might have to take some more time off running during my base building period. However, I skipped my long run on Sunday with the hope that a little break my due the trick and it seemed to work. Hopefully I can stay injury and pain free for the a while now.

So for now PARTY !!!!!!! I have to be in bed by ten at the latest though.

Terrible TV Shows and training update

So being that it is exam time and I have self-diagnosed add I struggle to study for periods longer than an hour. Luckily this works well with training eating and naps. However during this time I watch a lot of tv online while eating and riding the trainer in the pain cave. I have stayed caught up with all my favourites like How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, and Criminal Minds, but I only get one of those every week. So I have had to find some new shows to watch and they are just terrible. The last couple I have watched are Chuck and Nikita and both are about spies and the government. They are probably two of the worst series I have watched but hey its better than nothing.

My right ankle has been bothering me a bit running in the snow (opposite one from what I injured in the fall) so the running hasn't been quite what I wanted, but I did a 25 minute tempo yesterday and went like 6.6k on snow covered sidewalks and roads. The cycling I have been feeling like I am crushing some good workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays but no accurate way to measure. The swimming is getting there yesterday I did 15x50 all sub :45 and Thursday I did 10x100 all under 1:40. I'm heading to the pool now though for a solid 4k.

Happy Holidays Everyone

I love my bike

My bike doesn’t make me have a garage sale. 
I can ride my bike whenever I want to. 
I don’t have to ride my bike if I don’t want to. 
I don’t have to pretend I enjoy riding my bike. 
If my bike gets too heavy, I can take off some parts. 
I can ride my friend’s bike. 
My bike doesn’t have a mother. Or a sister that doesn’t like me. 
My bike doesn’t care if I have another bike. 
My bike always wants to go where I want to go 
I can get rid of my bike. I can trade my old bike for a newer bike. 
I only have to pay for my bike once. 
My bike doesn’t care if I l leave my bike shoes lying around. 
My bike doesn’t snore. 
I can upgrade my bike. If my bike doesn't look good, I can paint it or get better parts. 
My bike is ready when I am. My bike doesn’t take an hour to get ready to ride. 
Bikes don't get pregnant. Or moody. Or bloated. Or…..
I can ride my bike any time of the month.
My bike doesn't whine unless something is really wrong.
My bike doesn't care how many other bikes I've ridden.
My bike doesn’t compare itself to other bikes.
My bikes doesn't care how many other bikes I have.
My bike doesn't care if I look at other bikes.
My bike doesn’t care if I look at bike magazines.
I’ll never hear, "Surprise, you are going to own a new bike" unless I go out and buy one myself.
If my bike is too loose, I can tighten it.
You don't have to be jealous of the guy who works on your bike.
If you say bad things to your bike, you don't have to apologize before you ride it again.
I can ride my bike as long as I want and it won't get sore.
I can stop riding my bike as soon as I want and it won't get frustrated.
My bike doesn’t get headaches.
Bikes don't insult you if you're a bad rider.
My bike never wants a night out with the other bikes.
My bike doesn’t care if I’m late.
I don't have to take a shower before I ride my bike.
You can ride your bike the first time you meet it, without having to take it to dinner, see a movie, or meet its mother.
When in mixed company, you can brag about what a great ride you had the last time you rode your bike. 
If you say bad things to your bike, you don't have to apologize before you can ride it again. 
My bike sets quietly in the corner until I’m ready to ride it. 
My bike will never want me to take pottery lessons. Or dance lessons.


I stole this from someone else. Plagiarism is key to success.

Attention all sugar mommas

I'm 5'7" blonde hair blue eyes. I am comfortable in a speedo and feel I could be an excellent pool boy. I'm not exactly tan but I think that is a positive since my whiteness can also be used to light up room. I can do all this and more for someone to pay race entry fees and transportation to races.

A One Sided Relationship

Everyone has been in one. You feel like you are putting more into the relationship trying to make it work while your partner just doesn't seem to care that much or when you see I love you and it is followed by an awkward silence. Well this is how my relationship with triathlon is feeling at this time. I know its the winter and this is probably why I feel this way. I have been putting more and more time into this new relationship trying to give it that spark it needs, but she just is not giving back. I've been in the pool quite a bit working on my stroke technique as well as swimming hard, but I am just not seeing the quick improvements I was hoping for. On the bike I have been feeling stronger, but I don't really have anyway to measure that on my trainer (no rear speedometer or power). Running is well running it seemed like I was starting to come back from the sprained ankle, but with all the snow paces have just dropped. It also doesn't help when you read stuff on the internet saying you are not good enough for her. People saying you need to be tall to be good, or your power is to low for your goals. Oh well, I am not giving up on this relationship and like it or not triathlon is stuck with me for life. Hopefully, this summer she will give back to me for what I have given her this summer because I would love to see some good results and there is no way I will lower my goals no matter what people say.

SNOWDAY

So school has been cancelled two days in a row now and my car is almost completely buried in the snow today. Planned on going swimming today but since the pool was closed. Hopefully I can get out the door today for a run or else it will be another day on the trainer. However, with all this extra time I have been able to sit on slowtwitch all day. Someone posted this youtube video about training for an Ironman. I can't wait till I set my goals on doing one of these it sounds like so much fun.
You can find the video here: Training For An Ironman

Snow Snow Go Away

So we got absolutely dumped on today. I think we got around a foot of snow, and I am ready for it all to melt. I have been riding on the trainer now for a couple weeks, and its been hard to stay focused. Morning tv just is not what it used to be. I have watched a couple of decent movies though. First, I watched Breaking Away and then A Sunday In Hell. Breaking Away is a great movie and I have watched it a couple of times before. Its about a kid who wins a bike and falls in love with cycling. A Sunday In Hell is about the 1976 paris-roubaix spring classic (i could be wrong on the date) but features Eddy Merckx. It starts out pretty slow but starts to pick up as it the race starts to pick up. Some other great movies people may want to watch while riding the trainer are Without Limits, Chariots of Fire, The Long Green Line, and Road to Paris. Road to Paris and The Long Green Line are the next two I plan to watch if I can find them somewhere.

Movember comes to an end.

I am currently procrastinating because I don't want to study for my cell bio exam. It is kicking my ass all over the place. The professor gave us the exam ahead of time so we can prepare our answers to the three questions, but the one question is just ridiculous. It involves two signalling pathways for cell proliferation and you have to manipulate these for the use of a drug to fight cancer and enhance chemotherapy. Isn't that what people get paid the big bucks to do, and if you could figure it out you would be a gazillionaire.

Anyways, Movember is over and the mustache beard thingy I had on my face is gone. I was not on a team that was trying to raise money, but doing my part to raise awareness for prostate cancer . . . How many students have money to donate and 90% of my interactions are with other students. I only grew mine for about half the month and I'm glad its gone. My face was getting so itchy especially when wearing a helmet or something over my face to stay warm. I don't think I will ever grow an awesome beard again but for next Halloween I'm thinking of being the great Steve Prefontaine and for this I will rock that 70s stache like its my job. The blonde is tough to see so it was a great surprise when people got close enough but the red on the bottom and sides was pretty nasty.