Happy New Year (sort of...)

Well at least it is still January, for at least a couple more hours. Obviously keeping the blog up to date wasn't one of my New Year's resolutions. This could be a long post, so feel free to read it in sections, or just tune out right now ;) I always wonder how many readers I lose after the first couple of sentences!! Anyways, December came and went. Had a great Christmas with the family and spent a couple of days up at the cottage. Unfortunately the weather decided to warm up for those few days and getting in some skiing didn't happen. Ran the Hamilton Boxing Day 10miler and froze. The temperature combined with the wind coming off the lake made the conditions brutal. Add to that I wasn't paying attention and at the second aid station spilled most of the cup of water on my hands which then froze my gloves solid and then froze my hands solid. Good run though, and felt good burning off some of those turkey calories!!! The New Year has brought some big changes. Instead of heading to Alabama for training camp as I have the past two years (I really miss you guys) I decided instead to head west to Tucson for my, ah-hum, "Training Camp" ;). I of course left the packing up until the very last moment and spent the first week of the new year stressed out, add to that my IT Band picked that very week to say hello so I ended up taking an unplanned very early season week off. I tried not to let it frustrate me as it is going to be a very long season, but it was very frustrating. All packed up I started the drive Jan 11 under clear blue sunny skies. My Dad had warned me that I should get on the road early and get as far south as quickly as possible because of a storm warning. Hmm, well that didn't happen, storm.. what storm. Cruised across the border in Port Huron no problem, still clear blue sky. Rolled through East Lansing and as soon as I-69 turned south, voila, huge storm. White out conditions by Fort Wayne and death grip on the steering wheel all the way to Indianapolis. I had hoped to make it all the way to St Louis the first night but had to bail on the far side of Indy. Day two brought another hell day of driving with more trucks and cars in the ditch that I have seen in a really long time. Finally arrived in Tucson after four long days in the car, eating horribly and barely working out, feeling pretty beat up and glad to be done. And here I am, enjoying the beautiful Tucson weather and great training environment. I am staying with good friend Kathryn Bertine and hubby George while I get my own living arrangements worked out. I'm slowly getting to know my way around and getting into the swing of things. Biking up Mt Lemmon, MTB in Tucson Mountain Park, running in Sabino Canyon, the training here is really unbeatable and so different from what I am used to. Hopefully just what I need to take my racing up another notch this year. So the adventure has started... leap of faith to say the least. Training is back on track with two big volume weeks and the race season is just around the corner. I am now much closer to my coach, so Gareth and I will be able to plan some better testing and training sessions together and really get everything dialed in for a great season. I am still finalizing the sponsors for the year but very excited to have Extreme Endurance, Maxxis, Nineteen and Rudy Project returning and super excited to be riding Fuji Bikes this year. I have been out on the trails on my new DSR 1.0 and it totally rocks. (Now it is just up to the legs to get that bike split down where it should be!!!) I have never been one to make New Year's resolutions but I do have great hope for this year. Excited to make new friends, renew old friendships left by the wayside for far to long and keep old friends close. To everyone, I hope 2011 brings great things!!

Getting Back Into Shape

Hurts a lot!!! That seems to be the common thread going around the social networks these days and I have to agree. Sat down with Gareth and have planned out the year, in detail up until the end of April. With ITU hosting the first ever Cross World Championships April 30th in Spain, we needed to get a bit more focused this December than years past. Week one is in the books and the evil SRM has not been friendly. My run and swim feel pretty good, but the bike legs have vanished like the good weather. Definitely need some new music on the mp3 player to get through the next couple of weeks.

Took a page out of the 'Mel McQuaid's book of offseason racing' and entered the Egg Nog Jog 10.8km race at the Terracotta Conservation Area on Sunday, dubbed the hardest 10km road race in Ontario. True to Mel's rules I headed out to my Birthday Party, oops I mean Tom's Birthday/Christmas Party:), and had way too much to eat and a couple of glasses of wine the night before. Sunday morning arrived with a severe weather watch for most of the Great Lakes area. Unfortunately the temperature was sitting just above freezing so instead of nice snow flurries and a hard packed running surface it was raining and a mix of slushy, icing roads. Got warmed up the best I could and headed to the start line already pretty much soaked. Tried to keep things under control for the first bit of the race but still went through the first mile in about 5:30 and really hoped that is was because it was straight downhill and not that I was going to suffer for the remainder of the race. The rest of the race pretty much felt all uphill which is really fun on ice!! Except for the calves protesting a bit at the end, I felt really great and took the win and 10th place overall. Thanks to everyone at Georgetown Runners and all the volunteers for putting on a great race for the sell out crowd of 600 crazy people who thought it would be fun to race in the middle of a storm.

Woke up Monday feeling like, surprise, I had just raced on no training. The legs definitely letting me know that they were not happy. So just for fun I decided to sign up for the Boxing Day 10miler in Hamilton. Hey, why not, especially since you get these really cool mittens in the race packet!! One has to look for any kind of motivation this time of year. Otherwise it is back to base training. I have jumped in with the RTC group here in Guelph for my swimming and am really enjoying the company. I have been told a couple of them keep some pretty interesting blogs, http://www.iandonald.blogspot.com/ and http://www.dominikajamnicky.blogspot.com/. Perhaps a couple future top Canadian triathletes. Of course Ian will have to work on that bi-lateral breathing and stop inflicting penalty kick 50's on the group before then!!! Next up, weekend Ironman viewing/Christmas Party at James' and Tom will be doing the frozen beer mile, awesome !!!!! Later :)

Winter Riding

Feeling a little couped up and have decided to brave -2C and go out of a ride, lots of time to ride the trainer in the weeks to come. Made me think of a funny article I came across a couple of years ago. Enjoy.... PETE'S WINTER CYCLING TIPS I am a commuter who cycles year round. I have been doing it for about twelve years. Winters here in Ottawa are relatively cold and snowy. Ottawa is the second coldest capital in the world. The following comments are the results of my experiences. I am not recommending them, only telling you what works for me. You may find it useful, or you may find the stupid things that I do are humorous. PRELUDE Me: I am not a real cyclist. I just ride a bicycle. I have done a century, but that was still commuting. There was a networking conference 110 miles away, so I took my bicycle. There and back. (does that make two centuries?) I usually do not ride a bicycle just for a ride. Lots of things I say may make real cyclists pull out their hair. I have three kids, and cannot *afford* to be a bike weenie. People often ask me why I do it.... I don't know. I might say that it saves me money, but no. Gasoline produces more energy per dollar than food. (OK, I suppose if I would eat only beans, rice and pasta with nothing on them.... I like more variety) Do I do it for the environment? Nah! I never take issues with anything. I don't ride for health, although as I get older, I appreciate the benefits. I guess I must do it because I like it. Definitions Since words like "very", "not too", etc. are very subjective, I will use the following definitions: Cold : greater than 15 degrees F Very cold : 0 through 15 Degrees F Extreme cold : -15 through 0 degrees F Insane cold: below -15 degrees F Basic philosophy I have two: 1) If its good, don't ruin it, if its junk you needn't worry. 2) I use a brute force algorithm of cycling: Pedal long enough, and you'll get there. Bicycle riding in snow and ice is a problem of friction: Too much of the rolling type, and not enough of the sideways type. Road conditions: More will be covered below, but now let it suffice to say that a lot of salt is used on the roads here. Water splashed up tastes as salty as a cup of Lipton Chicken soup to which an additional spool of salt has been added. Salt eats metal. Bicycles dissolve. EQUIPMENT: Bicycle: Although I have a better bicycle which I ride in nice weather, I buy my commuting bikes at garage sales for about $25.00. They're disposable. Once they start dissolving, I remove any salvageable parts, then throw the rest away. Right now, I'm riding a '10-speed' bike. I used to ride mountain bikes, but I'm back to the '10-speed'. Here's why. Mountain bikes cost $50.00 at the garage sales. They're more in demand around here. Since I've ridden both, I'll comment on each one. The Mountain bikes do have better handling, but they are tougher to ride through deep snow. The 10-speed cuts through the deep snow better. I can ride in deeper snow with it, and when the snow gets too deep to ride, its easier to carry. Fenders on the bike? Sounds like it might be a good idea, and someday I'll try it out. I think, however, that snow/ice will build up between the fender and the tire causing it to be real tough to pedal. I have a rack on the back with a piece of plywood to prevent too much junk being thrown on my back. I would *like* to be able to maintain the bike, but its tough to work outside in the winter. My wife (maybe I should write to Dear Abbey about this) will not let me bring my slop covered bicycle through the house to get it in the basement. About once a month we have a warm enough day that I am able to go out with a bucket of water, wash all of the gunk off of the bike, let it dry and then bring it in. I tear the thing down, clean it and put it together with lots of grease. I use some kind of grease made for farm equipment that is supposed to be more resistant to the elements. When I put it together, I grease the threads, then cover the nuts, screws, whatever with a layer of grease. This prevents them from rusting solidly in place making it impossible to remove. Protection against corrosion is the primary purpose of the grease. Lubrication is secondary. remember to put a drop of oil on the threads of each spoke, otherwise, the spokes rust solidly, and its impossible to do any truing Outside, I keep a plastic ketchup squirter, which I fill with automotive oil (lately its been 90 weight standard transmission oil). Every two or three days, I use it to re-oil my chain and derailleur, and brakes. It drips all over the snow beneath me when I do it, and gets onto my 'cuffs'(or whatever you call the bottom of those pants. See, I told you I don't cycle for the environment. I probably end up dumping an ounce of heavy oil into the snow run-off each year. Clothing Starting at the bottom, on my feet I wear Sorell Caribou boots. These are huge ugly things, but they keep my feet warm. I have found that in extreme to insane cold, my toes get cold otherwise. These boots do not make it easy to ride, but they do keep me warm (see rule 2, brute force). They do not fit into any toe-clips that I have seen. I used to wear lighter things for less cold weather, but I found judging the weather to be a pain. If its not too cold, I ride with them half unlaced. The colder it gets, the more I lace them, and finally, I'll tie them. Fortunately, wet days are not too cold, and cold days are not wet. When its dry, I wear a pair of cycling shorts, and one or two (depending on temp and wind) cotton sweat pants covering that. I know about lycra and polypro (and use them for skiing), but these things are destroyed by road-dirt, slush and mud.(see rule 1 above). I save my good clothes for x-country skiing. An important clothing item in extreme to insane cold, is a third sock. You put it in your pants. No, not to increase the bulge to impress the girls, but for insulation. Although several months after it happens it may be funny, when it does happens, frostbite on the penis is not funny. I speak from experience! Twice, no less! I have no idea of what to recommend to women in this section. Next in line, I wear a polypro shirt, covered by a wool sweater, covered by a 'ski-jacket' (a real ugly one with a stripe up the back. The ski jacket protects the rest of my clothes, and I can regulate my temperature with the zipper in front. I usually take a scarf with me. For years I have had a fear that the scarf would get caught in the spokes, and I'd be strangled in the middle of the street, but it has not yet happened. When the temp is extreme or colder, I like keeping my neck warm. I have one small problem. Sometimes the moisture in my breath will cause the scarf to freeze to my beard. On my hands, I wear wool mittens when its not too cold, and when it gets really cold, I wear my cross-country skiing gloves (swix) with wool mittens covering them. Hands sweat in certain areas (at least mine do), and I like watching the frost form on the outside of the mittens. By looking at the frost, I can tell which muscles are working. I am amused by things like this. On my head, I wear a toque (Ski-hat?) covered by a bicycle helmet. I don't wear one of those full face masks because I haven't yet been able to find one that fits well with eye glasses. In extreme to insane cold, my forehead will often get quite cold, and I have to keep pulling my hat down. The bottoms of my ears sometimes stick out from my hat, and they're always getting frostbitten. This year, I'm thinking of trying my son's Lifa/polypro balaclava. Its thin enough so that it won't bother me, and I only need a bit more protection from frostbite. I carry my clothes for the day in a knapsack. Everything that goes in the knapsack goes into a plastic bag. Check the plastic bag often for leaks. A small hole near the top may let in water which won't be able to get out. The net result is that things get more wet than would otherwise be expected. The zippers will eventually corrode. Even the plastic ones become useless after a few years. RIDING: In the winter, the road is narrower. There are snow banks on either side. Cars do not expect to see bicycles. There are less hours of daylight, and the its harder to maintain control of the bicycle. Be careful. I don't worry about what legal rights I have on the road, I simply worry about my life. I'd rather crash into a snow bank for sure rather than take a chance of crashing into a car. I haven't yet had a winter accident in 12 years. I've intentionally driven into many snow banks. Sometimes, during a storm, I get into places where I just can't ride. It is sometimes necessary to carry the bicycle across open fields. When this happens, I appreciate my boots. It takes a lot more energy to pedal. Grease gets thick, and parts (the bicycle's and mine) don't seem to move as easily. My traveling time increases about 30% in nice weather, and can even double during a raging storm. The wind seems to be always worse in winter. It's not uncommon to have to pedal to go down hills. Be careful on slushy days. Imagine an 8 inch snowfall followed by rain. This produces heavy slush. If a car rides quickly through deep slush, it may send a wave of the slush at you. This stuff is heavy. When it hits you, it really throws you off balance. Its roughly like getting a 10 lbs sack of rotten potatoes thrown at your back. This stuff could even knock over a pedestrian. Freezing rain is the worst. Oddly enough, I find it easier to ride across a parking lot covered with wet smooth ice than it is to walk across it. The only problem is that sometimes the bicycle simply slides sideways out from under you. I practice unicycle riding, and that may help my balance. (Maybe not, but its fun anyway) Beware of bridges that have metal grating. This stuff gets real slippery when snow covered. One time, I slid, hit an expansion joint, went over the handle bars, over the railing of the bridge. I don't know how, but one arm reached out and grabbed the railing. Kind of like being MacGyver. Stopping. There are several ways of stopping. The first one is to use the brakes. This does not always work. Breaks can ice up, a bit of water gets between the cable and its sheathing when the warm afternoon sun shines on the bike. It freezes solid after. Or the salt causes brake cables to break, etc. I have had brakes work on one corner, but stop working by the time I get to the next. I have several other means of stopping. The casual method. For a stop when you have plenty of time. Rest the ball of your foot on top of the front derailleur, and *gradually* work your heel between the tire and the frame. By varying the pressure, you can control your speed. Be sure that you don't let your foot get wedged in there! Faster method. Get your pedals in the 6-12 O'clock position. Stand up. The 6 O'clock foot remains on the pedal, while you place the other foot on the ground in front of the pedal. By varying your balance, you can apply more or less pressure to your foot. The pedal, wedged against the back of your calf, forces your foot down more, providing more friction. Really fast! Start with the fast method, but then dismount while sliding the bicycle in front of you. You will end up sliding on your two feet, holding onto the bike in front for balance. If it gets *really* critical, throw the bike ahead of you, and sit down and roll. Do not do this on dry pavement, your feet need to be able to slide. In some conditions, running into a snow bank on the side will stop you quickly, easily, and safely. If you're going too fast, you might want to dive off of the bicycle over the side. Only do this when the snow bank is soft. Make sure that there isn't a car hidden under that soft snow. Don't jump into fire hydrants either. ETC. Freezing locks. I recommend carrying a BIC lighter. Very often the lock will get wet, and freeze solid. Usually the heat from my hands applied for a minute or so (a real minute or so, not what seems like a minute) will melt it, but sometimes it just needs more than that. Eating Popsicles Something I like doing in the winter is to buy a Popsicle before I leave, and put it in my pocket. It won't melt! I take it out and start eating it just as I arrive at the University. Its fun to watch peoples' expressions when they see me, riding in the snow, eating a Popsicle. You have to be careful with Popsicles in the winter. I once had a horrible experience. You know how when you are a kid, your parents told you never to put your tongue onto a metal pole? In very cold weather, a Popsicle acts the same way. If you are not careful, your upper lip, lower lip, and tongue become cemented to the Popsicle. Although this sounds funny when I write about it, it was definitely not funny when it happened.

New Job.....

It's tough to make a living at this triathlon thing, perhaps a new career.....

Position: Surveyor

Salary: $200 per hour (tax-free)

Qualification: Must be fast on your feet

Isn't it comforting to know that when you are about to become a bear's breakfast your buddy is standing there taking photos?

Thanks to JR for sending this to me last year :)

My other life...

I often tell people I feel a bit schizophrenic. On one side I have the triathlete, trains lots, eat well, gets lots of sleep and generally hang out with others that share a very healthy active lifestyle. Then there is the other side, construction. While I am technically a landscape architect, I work for a construction company and well the above mentioned characteristics don't really fit into this side. With the season now over I am spending the bulk of my time in construction mode and while I haven't taken up smoking or fast food, my language has significantly deteriorated with the added exposure, especially since we are rushing to beat the weather to get the last few projects in the ground and everyone is just a little stressed. As it stands right now there is one small frontyard completely ripped apart (yep, the homeowners are always really happy at this stage) and another thankfully unoccupied new home that needs a whole yard. Not likely to happen before the freeze sets in but hopefully at least the patios and walkways, maybe some plants and grass if we are lucky. On the design end just wrapping up two more custom homes that should be ready to go first thing in the spring.

This is a project I designed earlier in the year that I really wanted to do the construction on. It was going to be this fabulous pool with a raised spa and rock waterfall. Unfortunately they ended up going with a different contractor, boo!!

I did indulge my healthy side this weekend with what may end up being the last good mountain bike ride of the season. I have wanted to check out the trails up in Collingwood/Blue Mountain but was a little hesitant to just head up there solo as there really isn't any trail maps. After meeting fellow Xterra athlete and Collingwood local Katie Button in Maui I decided to invite myself up for a day of riding. We met up with Canadian National MTB Team member Amanda Sin and hubby Kaesy for a great, although slighty muddy, ride at 3 Stages. The riding up there has some really good climbing to get you up onto the Niagara Escarpment, then a whole series of fun winding trails that criss-cross along the top.

With the area being almost exclusively hardwood forest and the leaves all off the trees it was a much different feel that what I usually ride which tends to be much thicker and full of evergreens. It also was helpful in following Amanda, as she and Kaesy (on his singlespeed) continually dropped us!! Finished up the day with some great oven-fired pizza at Blue Mountain Village before heading back home.

Starting to feel like getting back into some training and will likely ease back into next week (I do think I said that last week to a couple of people) and I have officially set December 1 as get back in the pool day. Hmmm, not sure I am looking forward to that one. I have also been indulging in some pretty good sleep-ins!!!

Lest We Forget

In Flanders Fields

written May 3, 1915

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

1872 - 1918

In the first world war over 620,000 Canadians fought and over 60,000 perished serving this great country of ours.

Take a moment today to remember those that have and continue to serve

Xterra World Championships Race Report

It's been over two weeks since the Xterra World Championships and I am still pretty excited about the race. Leading into the race all things were pointing towards a great result. I was healthy, injury free, and super fit. After my last hard week of training Gareth emailed me telling me to start expecting a great performance, top 3. I'm not sure I truly believed that was possible, especially with the incredible fire power in the women's race, but improving on my 5th place finish two years ago and being back on the podium was something I really wanted. Being picked by the Xterra TV crew as one of the top 5 pro women to look for definitely gave the confidence another little boost. My first year, 2008, I had no idea what was headed my way and really had no expectations for the race. A year later, with a surprise podium finish under my belt, I remember getting to the start line with a sense of dread and uncertainty about whether I could pull off a good race so it was a pleasant surprise that race morning arrived and I got through setting up transition and warm-up with a strange sense of calm confidence. I never feel great warming up before a big race so I have stopped worrying about it and just do what I need to do trusting once the gun goes off and the adrenaline is pumping everything will fall into place.

The swim start was much better set up than last year giving everyone more space across the start line, unfortunately it didn't help me and I had one of my roughest starts. It seems either my front end swim speed is lacking or everyone else has upped their game. Heading into the beach for the first lap I was fighting just to stay somewhere in 10th to 15th place and Julie Dibens was swimming right next to me. Not what I had planned. I hustled the beach run and jumped back in for the 2nd lap hoping to feel a bit better. One by one I picked off the guys in front of me until I ended up on Seth's and Craig's feet and headed into T1 in 3rd hoping I had put some serious time on the rest of the womens field.

If Ironman had taken anything out of Julie's legs it certainly wasn't apparent as she came flying by me in about the same spot she had the previous two years!! I didn't feel great but I don't think anyone does heading straight uphill right out of transition. My first panic moment came as I tried to get a drink out of my camelbak and got nothing. With only one bottle of electrolytes on my bike I really needed to get it working. After a bit of a struggle I figured out if I waited to a relatively smooth flat section and pulled it off one shoulder and swung it around to the front I could get a drink out of it, so at the first occasion I put back at least half of it and thankfully the stomach didn't seem to have a problem with it. Wasn't an ideal situation (and I likely looked like a complete amateur), but I would have lost a lot more time blowing up at the end of the bike. After Julie, Shonny was the next one to go by and was absolutely moving!! I was riding well, staying on my bike for a lot more of the climbs and rocky sections than previous years and taking the downhills with confidence. Mel passed me sometime after Heartbreak Hill (yes I had to walk - maybe next year!!) but wasn't looking sharp and I was able to hang with her. I was down into fourth place but still feeling pretty comfortable with my position until Suzie Snyder came by me. In just her second or third race as a pro she wasn't one of the girls I had expected to be at the front of the race. I remember thinking I hope she is having the race of her life. (She was!!!) With Suzie and Mel riding just in front of me and now in fifth (last podium spot) I admittedly was fighting to stay positive and keep my head in the game wondering who would be the next one to ride by, the downside of being the fastest swimmer. After the plunge, the section past the Oil Tanks is the rockiest part of the course. You don't carry any momemtum and have to fight with every pedal stroke to keep the bike moving. It's also the last mile or two before the downhill into transition and with the end of the bike in sight I was not going to loose another spot before then. Into transition and quickly into the shoes I headed out onto the run still in 5th listening to Jamie Whitmore, who was helping Xterra call the race, announce I was just 45sec down on Suzie and not much more to Mel. I heard "She could easily run herself into 3rd" and decided that was exactly what I was going to do. I got some added motivation as I headed out the chute and saw the entire fleet-footed crew rolling into transition right behind me. Nothing like having Marion Lorblanchet, Carina Wasle, and Lesley Patterson lined up on your heels to get you moving. Panic moment number two came as I hit the road and got into my run stride only to have both quads and calves cramp. I had gotten in both my bottle and camelbak of electrolytes, all 3 drop water bottles, my gels, and 3 salt tablets and I couldn't believe that wasn't enough. My Atlanta training partner Mark Rudder running right in front of me totally saved the day handing me 2 of his salt tablets which I immediately dry swallowed not sure where exactly the next aid station was and afraid I might drop them. Problem hopefully solved and back to the work at hand - 3rd!! I passed Suzie back as we turned off the road and started up the longest hill in the world (or at least it feels that way) I was hoping I would just run right by her without a fight but she was having the race of her life and decided to hang tough, grrr. I finally gapped her and set my eyes on Mel, who was unfortunately not having the day she was hoping for. Moved into 3rd at the top of Cactus alley wondering how long I could hold off the surely approaching runners. Unless you are leading the race a hovering camera can only mean one thing, you are about to get passed!!! At the bottom of cactus alley before crossing the road onto Big Beach, the dreaded motor bike appeared and it was only a matter of who and how many were right behind me. Marion and I headed out onto the beach just a couple of feet apart. She took the high line in the deep soft sand while I headed straight to the waterline hoping to find some firm sand. I closed down the space between us and was moving ahead when she noticed and joined me. I tried to hang on to her heels but she was just too fast and the elastic band snapped heading into "spooky forest". I was desperate to know if I had anyone else right behind me but was afraid to look back. Scampering across the last section of coral before the finish line someone gratefully let me know there was no one in sight and I got to enjoy the run up to the line, indulging in some high 5's with the cheering kids lining the path. Sure top 3 would have been nice, but 4th was still pretty amazing!! Shonny had the race of the day taking the win less than a minute ahead of Julie, then Marion and myself in 3rd and 4th with Suzie having the surprise race of the day out-sprinting Carina at the line for 5th!!!

Mark Rudder - thanks for saving the day!!!

As always a big thanks to everyone; coach, family, friends, and sponsors,(Rudy Project, Maxxis, Extreme Endurance, Rocket Science Sports) who help out and make it all possible, I couldn't do it without all of them. It is now time for a break but it will be next season before you know it, CAN'T WAIT!!!!