School!!!

As a kid you always dream about the day where you no longer have to go to school, i got close but then decided to postpone it so I could spend some time training. I am now back at school and in the final straight. I never took more then 3 classes but this year I am taking 5 it is going to be tough but I know I can manage it.
With my time off, i have been able to catch up on a few social activities as well, it may not be that good for training but this is the time of year to do it, sometimes you just need to go out and have a little fun to help get your mind off things!!
It is only 2 more months until Krystal is home, the first 6 months were tough but it seemed to go by pretty quickly, she came home for her mid-semester break and I got to see her for a couple of weeks. She has been back a couple times for weddings but only for a couple of days and with all her comitments we did not have much time together. These last 2 months are going to be tough but when it is over she will be home for good and things will get back to normal!!
I am still trying to get over my knee injury as well, I am currently seeing the physio at school and go see the magician Robert Taylor on friday to try to get ahead of this thing.
Well that is about it for now

Decision time

The last week has been pretty stressfull with finding a new house to live in, moving into my new house, getting registered for school, picking classes, deciding whether or not to do Muskoka 70.3, as well as trying to train. But I feel like everything has fallen into place now so I can settle down and get back into a routine.
I decided not to do Muskoka, it was a tough decision because it is such a big race within a couple of hours of my house, but my knee was just not getting any better and although I had planned on only swimming, riding and playing the run by ear, I really did not want to sacrifice the cross country season because I believe that it is more important for future development.
I see a doctor Wednesday and start physio on Thursday so hopefully things get back in line soon.
As for everything else, Nat Faulkner my training partner for the year just had an awesome tune up race for Hawaii, he did Ironman Wisconsin and was leading the entire race including the pros after the bike. He started 10min back from the pros and was 2nd overall off the bike, he was 9 min back from the leader which put him 1 min up on him as well. He was only planning on running 1 of 2 laps to not kill him self too close to Hawaii. I think with a couple more good weeks of training that he has a realistic chance of placing top amerature.
I know that next year is going to be a good with with both of us putting in some god training miles!!
Saw Alexisonfire on the weekend, there was a free concert at Mac which was awesome!! I wish I knew more of their songs I think that would have made it more enjoyable.

The Last Month

I kind of forget where I left off with my last post, but I will start with Cornerbrook 70.3. This was the first race of the year that I truly felt ready for, leading into every other race this year I had always had setbacks because of my knee but I had been running regularly for the last month and was starting to feel confident in it. I had a pretty easy flight getting in late friday night, and getting settled into my host housing.
The race it's self went pretty well to plan, I made one mistake in the swim and let Brent and Paul Mathews get away so I ended up doing the whole swim on my own. I had a good transition and started out on the bike, within the first 10km Richie and Craig caught me so I tried to pick up the pace and keep them close. Craig was on a mission and he was setting a pace that Richie and I could not match. Richie and I rode the rest of the way together eventually getting caught by Chris Legh. Onto the run I started out pretty well but hit a bad patch at around the 8km mark. I was able to pull out of it but needed to find a portajon and fast, luckly there was one at about the14km mark and I made a beeline for it. After the fact, I was feeling a lot better and was able to really pick up the pace. I was holding it pretty well until about 2km to go, I struggled through it and crossed the line in 4th, it was the first time I was able to really let it all hang out all summer and it felt good to cross the line without any what ifs.
After getting home I was really excited to put in some more speed work to get fast for nationals. But as luck would have it after a workout of 6x1km, 90min tempo bike, 20min tempo run, my knee started to feel tight and the pain was back. This hit me really hard, I was finally starting to pick up some momentum and excitement for the rest of the season then I get hit with the injury again.
I did not run for 2 weeks leading into Kelowna and knew the only chance I had was opening up a big gap on the bike. This almost came true as I was in a lead group with McMahon and Wells but we just did not have enough to stay away from a motivated chase pack with a lot of other Canadians. So you can imagine where my motivation went when we got caught, but I still managed to be first out of transition onto the run!! I still ran hard but did not have the little extra push.
Right now I am sitting in my basement room in Hamilton after finishing my first day of classes in the last 2 years, having battles in my head about whether or not I should race the Muskoka 70.3.
Other then that I am looking forward to seeing Krystal in less then a week, although I know it will be very limited it is still better then nothing

Has it been that long?

I can't count the amount of times that I have said that I was going to finally write a new post, but every time I just either just forget or become to lazy to actually do it. So where do I begin? I guess I will start off with the Muskoka Chase. For those of you that were there or I have talk to about he race you would know the monumental collapse that occurred.
I started off pretty well and had a pretty good lead over the other top contenders I put in a solid ride and got off the bike with around a 3 min lead. I took the last part of the bike easy because I knew my run was lacking fitness. Well to make a long story short I caught the lead girl got cramps in my hamstrings got passed back by the girl and Wolfgang, ended up finishing 3rd overall and 2nd male. I was a little upset because I knew I could easily have won but concidering the amount of running I was doing I guess I did not perform that bad.
I started to train well after the race and 2 weeks later I raced the Half in Peterborough. I had a lot more run training under my belt and had a great race. I ended up winning as well so that is a bonus!!!
After another good week of training it was off to Geneva New York for the points race. I was not planning on racing it but I decided to go and help out my team mates have a good race to help them get Quest for Gold. My goal was to pull Yorke and Woegerer to the lead pack so they can have the best run they can from the front. The plan went pretty well, Yorke who was supposed to have a slower swim then Woegerer beat him out. I ended up pulling Yorke to the front and he ended up having a good run finishing 6th. Unfortunitly Woegerer was too far back off the swim and was not in position for me to bring him up to the front. I just cruised the run and finished 15th.
After a couple more weeks of good training, well I guess it was pretty good, I am so paranoid about over pushing my knee that I feel like I slacked a little on the running but maybe I played it right and kept myself from getting injured. You never know I guess.
So now I am almost up to date, the last thing to happen was a race in Corner Brook the 70.3. I was not that confident going into the race, I don’t know why I just did not feel good all week going in. The race however turned out to be a good one. Everything went well, although on the bike I could not grab water for the life of me, I had 4 bottle fall out of my hands. I felt the lack of water by the end of the run but I was still able to hang on for a solid 4th place behind very solid athletes.
I guess I am caught up now, I know these are very much coles notes there is a lot more going on in my life even though it may not look like it. I will try to update more often, this way I can tell everyone more of what is going on in my life and keep all the blog readers from telling me to update!!!!!
Talk soon.

Milton Triathlon

I guess I am more fit then I thought, going into the race I was questioning my fitness a little because of the recent knee injury that I have been taking care of. The night before was spent at TL's new house, being there just makes me want to get my own house. Living in student housing is alright but I am getting older and the want to have a place of my own. I should start training harder so I can win more money, or maybe finish my degree!!!
Back to the race, I have been swimming really well the last couple of weeks so I was hoping to get away right from the start. When the horn went I put my head down and was able to get a good gap right off the bat. I pulled away throughout the swim. I got to the bike knowing I had a pretty good lead and heading out on the bike knowing that on this course you can easily get out of sight out of mind. Going up the 6th line hill I held a back a little knowing that if I went too hard this early I would pay for it later. After the hill I just hammered the rest of the bike knowing that my running is not at its best right now. Getting off the bike I started running and listening to the spectators around the transition to see what kind of lead I had. I knew that I had an awesome bike when I was out of hearing range and had not heard any sign of anyone else. I ran hard until the 2km mark where I saw my dad and asked him how big my lead was, when he said 3 minutes I felt a lot more relaxed and enjoyed the run a lot more knowing I could get a good hard run in without the pressure.
There is a bit of bad news from the day though. Later in the night when my legs were starting to tighten up my knee started to hurt again so the last few days have been spent rehabing with the help of the magic hands of Nigel Hudson and Robert Taylor.
Tomorrow is a brick workout which will include a hard swim and bike and I will play the run by year, but most likely it will be an easy run off the bike.
My next race is in 2 weeks in Muskoka and based off this result I think I can have a great race!!!

Another big week

Alright that was a really big week, not as big as some of the weeks in Tucson but the biggest one since the injury. It started off on Saturday with a big training day in Caledon, 100km hilly ride that ended up being pretty fast because we thought it would be fun to sprint for every sign, not just town lines. We followed that up with a solid hour run through the hills of Caledon. It was supposed to be a mod run but leave it to Yorke feeling good and that pace can get pretty fast.
Sunday was the annual Kinetico Kids of Steel, which was a lot of fun, we did the duathlon in the morning, which was my first bit of really fast running in a long time, it hurt but I am now feeling a lot better.
The next couple of days were typical training days, swimming lots with some runs and rides thrown in there as well. But I am getting ready for the Milton Triathlon, a race I have not done since 1999 where I finished a great 21st place, hopefully I do better this time!!! haha, I really want to win this one and I am pretty sure I have a good chance!!!
I will keep posting.

Another week done

Just finished up another big week in the hammer. Things are really starting to get back on track with my training, running is feeling better by the day and I am riding better then I think at any time in my life. Swimming is about where I would expect as well. Although for the first time ever my younger brother Mark beat me in a set for the first time ever. It was not a matter of me not swimming well but of him really swimming well. I know that he has done a lot of work on it over the winter and it is really starting to pay off. The set was 30x100 2 steady 1 fast, 2 steady 2 fast, cont. that until 4 fast then back down and the last one was from a dive, we were going about 1:15 for the steady long course and I was going 1:07 for the fast and Mark was going around 1:05-6. So good on him and I am glad his hard work is paying off, lets hope that he can translate that to a medal at the world age group champs in the 19 and under.
Wednesday we also had the annual C3 golf day in support of the high performance team. I think the day was a good success despite the crappy weather (10 degrees and rain) I think everyone had a good time. I golfed with one of my main Sponsors Philip from Kinetico Canada. ( www.kinetico.ca ) and one of his employees Ed. We golfed pretty well all day long with everyone hitting there share of good shots, but the shot of the day probably by anyone in the tourny was done by none other then Nat Faulkner. On the tenth hole after only playing 4 holes of golf in his life (we stared on the 7th) takes a 5 iron from 150 yards away bounces it in front of the green and it rolls up and green and goes in the hole, score us an eagle on the hole and Nat with pretty well a once in a lifetime shot 4 holes into his golfing career. That night was the dinner where we had an auction and Harold Mah as the keynote speaker. We also got all our 2xu gear with the new race suits. Today while we were getting massaged we hear Brit yelling upstairs we don't know what it is about so she comes down and shows us her new suit. Here is a pic, note the arching letters which is what she was yelling about!!
It is now Friday my rest day and I am again sitting in the Hamilton house waiting for the swim later in the day then I am heading back to Caledon for a big training day tomorrow and then the C3 Kids of Steel race on Sunday.
Thanks for reading!!

Sitting in Hamilton

I guess this is the first time I have actually updated soon after another post. Not much has happened in the last few days I have been able to train hard again which I am really excited about, I am actually feeling better then I thought and had a good couple of workouts in the rain yesterday and today and I am really getting sick of the rain. but I think the next couple of days are going to be better and I should be able to get in some good training.
We had a big day on saturday of training that started early so the night before Dave "pre" Sharrett and Nat thought it would be funny to take pictures in the girls bed while they were away at races. So I got roped into being the photographer. Here is a pic. I don't know how I get into this.
Well tomorrow is another big day, a good long run with some pickups and long tempo and a nice long endurance ride. I hope it is sunny.
Wednesday we are back in Caledon for the C3 golf day so I hope it all goes well, I kind of want to golf but I don't think I will get a chance too.
I know that was pretty boring to read I am sorry about that I am really bord sitting in the house with just Nat again, haha no offence Nat.
Oh yeah, so Nat moved in the house with what seems like most of his life posessions and have not been able to fit a bed in his room so the last few nights he has been sleeping on a mattress in the kitchen. I think he might be able to sleep in his room tonight but I guess if he gets hungery!!!

Long Time

Alright I know it has been a long time and I know that I seem to start every entry with that, I knew when I started it that this would happen and I am sure that everyone that knows me knows that this would happen as well.
A lot has happened over the last few months. In my last post I was talking about the first week training in Florida well it turns out that knee injury ended up being a lot worse then I thought. I tried hard to get it better before the Oceanside half and thought that I would be ok but sure enough about 3km into the run it started to really get tight so I decided to call it a day. After the race we headed back to Florida where I started to train again, doing a lot of water running and elliptical combined with lots of swimming and riding, eventually I got a cycling injury and couldn't even ride my bike. This can be big trouble for me because since I was a swimmer for 10 years before tri's swimming is not my favorite thing to do, and since it was the only thing I could do, I was really started to get depressed and was having a hard time finding motivation. The last 2 weeks in Florida were really tough, all I wanted to do was go home and get better.
When I finally got home, I was able to get regular physio work with the magician Nigel Hudson and after a couple of weeks of work and little training I am starting to feel a lot better and getting back into some good training again.
I have reciently moved into the C3 house in the Hammer (Hamilton) and preparing for the next couple of races. I plan on doing the Milton race and the Muskoka chase. I have not raced Milton since my first year racing, I think my best placing there is 21st so I hope to do better then that!!! and Muskoka will be a pretty big race for me and I hope to be in pretty good shape by then.
Oh yeah, this was my bike for the St. Anthony's race, you can't find a cooler looking faster bike then this!!!!!! Thanks Nat for letting me borrow the wheels.

Oceanside!!!

Hey, just realized that this blog that I thought was lost is actually still there, so I am sorry if having it out of order but I may as well post it.
Just got back from my first race of the year in Oceanside California, it was an eventfull trip to say the least. It started at the airport where we were suprised to see that the airline increased the price for bikes from $50 to $100 for oneway. So we got to Cali and rented a car and drove to Nats friends home just outside of San Clamente. They had just moved into the house about a week ago and did not know the rules of the subdivision so the next morning when we woke up we were all suprised to see that someone had towed our car, although Nat and i both hoped that it was stolen so that we did not have to pay the towing costs.

We eventually got the car back and headed to San Diago for some helmets then to the race site.

The day before the race was pretty uneventfull and I got ready for the race.

Race day was like everyother, woke up had some food I tried some new things that I learned from our talk with Lisa Bentley then headed to the race site.

The race started off well i got out infront of the group and had a fairly clear swim. I got onto the bike with the first group, minus Potts. From what I had heard about the course is that the second half is a lot harder and that you really don't want to go to hard and I made a decision to drop it down a little. I know now this was a mistake because the way the wind was blowing I should have sucked it up and stayed with the guys until the hills because I know that I can ride the hills with all of them. It is just learning for next time.

Once I got onto the run I was feeling really good, I had done a hard ride but when i started running I still felt fresh and had a good turnover right from the start but that pesky knee was starting to get sore I tried running a few more km's but it was just not loosening up and I thought that I should stop so it does not get more injured then it already is. I was really bummed that I could not go on but I think it will get better soon and I will be good to go for my other races coming up.

Florida

So I know it was a long time since my last post things have still been really busy. I am now in Clermont Florida, the T.I.T (triathlete in training) of the world.

The drive was uneventfull Nat and I did the drive in 2 days staying at one of his buddies house in Houston.

I have been there for about 2 weeks now the first week was with the personal best training camp with most of the juniors from our C3 team. I always like training with the juniors they are full of energy and it always seems a lot easier to get up for the workouts because of their energy.

I had my first race of the year 3 days after I got to Clermont, it was called the Florida Great Escape, 2 days before I finally got my new bike, I knew it was going to be a good race as soon as I saw it.

I ended up winning the race and felt pretty good, Nat had a hard fought 3rd, which was awesome concidering he had not done a triathlon in 13 years.

Since then Nat and I have put in more big hours, I just did my first 100km running week summed up by a mock half ironman at lake louisa where Nat, Tyler Lord and I hammered out a big day. I was fine until about the 14km mark when I started to get tired. At the end I had some type of knee tightness so there has been a lot of water running in the last few days.

Well that is about it for now, I leave for Oceanside Cali, in a week for the half ironman, I think it is going to be a good day based off the mock race, I really think I can challenge for a podium spot. I will keep you posted.

Hey, so I know it has been a while since I last updated but we have been so busy training I just have not had the time or the energy to write anything new.

I just finished 3 weeks of 30+ hours of training, by far the 3 longest weeks of my life but I feel great now having done it. I am at the lightest weight of the last 4 years at around 164 and I am able to run for 2 hours without having to take a few days off, something I have never been able to do.

We have put in a couple of epic days, we did one ride to Mammoth with 4x10km hard efforts with a total ride of 127km then immediatly into a 90min run. I have done that type of day a few times including the 'make Yorke hurt' ride up the infamous Mt. Lemmon where by the end Andrew Yorke was in pieces with his lights out.

So I am really happy with where my fitness is right now as we are prepairing for our trip to Florida tomorrow with our first race of the year this sunday at Lake Louisa State Park.

Oh yeah I am also getting my two new bikes, the specialized Transition and the S-Works Tarmac. Can't wait!!!!!!

Why do i get myself into this

Since the last time I am healing up from my running crash, although the other day I was running across the wash byt the house and did not see the wire across the trail and completly did a face plant after being tripped up. I guess when you are prone to falling you can do it where ever when ever!! I am always finding new ways to go down.

On friday Andrew Yorke, Steve Hewick and Rachel O'Reilly came to Tucson. It was mine and Nats job to make them suffer for the week that they are here. The first day we took them on a 100km ride with the 3 miles up mount lemmon at 80km into the ride. This, in the words of Andrew turned his lights out, it was funny.

Today was a good day as well. It started off with a good swim with the main set being 16x50 2 easy 2 hard then 4x400 on 5 min I went 4:35 for all of them, not killer by pretty strong, followed by another16x50. The bike was where the most fun was, we did 2x20min up mount lemmon we ended up going about 4.5 miles each one and it was a lot of fun going up a mountain hard like that it can really make you strong and efficient. Nat and i were going about the same speed, Andrew did what he does best, that is go strong on the first one but fade on the second one, but he always tries hard. To cap the day off we did a 70min run through the trails.

Tomorrow is going to be probably the biggest day of my life we are starting with a swim at 6:30 then later in the day Nat and I are riding 130km just stready then I am heading out for a 90min run so I think the day might be getting close to 8 hours so hopefully I will be around tomorow night to update on how the day went.

talk to you all later

Epic Run

I will start off with the training yesterday. It was a really long day but went of pretty uneventfull. In the morning we did a 105km bike with the wednesday group that basically does the shootout loop backwards. After the bikeI went right into the 90min run on the trails close by. It was by far the warmest day I have felt here and by the end i was really tired. Then we did the swim (5k) later in the day.

Today though was different there was not as much training just a 90min run and a swim. For the run Nat and I decided to go up this road over Reddington Pass to some 4x4 trails that go up into the mountains. It was an awesome run, it was through the grasslands because we were up at a higher altitude so there were no more cacti. There were times where we were running through herds of cattle and running around mountain lakes. It was very beautyfull.

At one point though I tripped on a rock and went down pretty hard, I ended up cutting up my leg and my hand pretty bad. It looked a lot worse then it was because I did it 45min in about as far away from the car as we could have been so it bled a lot as I was running. The loop ended up being 95min and 20km.

Wow big day

Today was the longest day of the year so far which is awesome, the bad part is that it is not even the longest day of the week!!! oh man.

The day started of at 5:40 when our alarm went off to go to swimming. That plan quickly changed and the new alarm was set for 7 so we could head out riding around 8. It is nice having someone else that hates morning workouts as much as I do, haha!!!!

So we started our ride around 8 and decided to head up mount lemmon. It was a gorgous day and starting early there was hardly any one on the road. We did the intervals that we were supposed to and with my new toy ( a powertap ) i was able to really find the zone I wanted. I think it is going to be a very usefull training tool for the rest of the year. We got to Summerhaven after about 2:45 then started to head down. I have never had as much fun heading down this mountain before, Nat and I did our last interval down the mountain and I could not believe how fast we were taking it. Nat is an amazing decender and I was getting nervous around some of the corners because we were heading into them so fast, but I made it and I feel like I am better having done it. The total ride was 4 hours and 110km.

When we got home it was right into an hour run through the wicked trails right out our doorstep. I felt good during it which is good concidering the length of the ride.

We had a couple of hours off then headed to the pool for the last workout of the day. We did a total of 4500 yards with a main set of 8x(200swim, 200pull hard) . I was surprised at how good I felt swimming as well and it is making me feel a lot better with my fitness because after being sick I was not feeling that great about it.

Well that is about all for now tomorrow is another big day. 100k of riding 90min run with some tempo stuff and a swim later in the day. Should be a lot of fun.

later

The first month in a nutshell

I have been in Tucson Arizona for just over a month training with the Canadian national triathlon team the first month and now with a ex-pro cyclist turned triathlete named Nat Faulkner.
I drove down early January with my girlfriend Krystal Jeffs who decided to come along for the journey because she was leaving for teachers collage in Australia and I would not get to see her for about 6 months. We had a great trip, took the scienic way through Colorado and Utah. There is some awesome country out there, 12000 foot pass where I did not think my car would actually make it over to awesome canyons cut by the mighty Colorado river. It was quite the trip. Eventually the day came and I had to say bye to Krystal then I went to say hi to my Grandparents who spend their winters in Mesa, a suburb of Pheonix. After a day with them it was on to Tucson to meet up with the rest of the triathletes.
The camp was a lot of fun, although I was not in the greatest shape when I got there I slowly get better and better as the camp went on. After 3 weeks the Canadian camp ended and I was left to fend for myself for a couple of days before Nat arrived.
Nat had organized for us to stay at a house in the east end of Tucson close to great riding and running and it seems to be working out really well now.
For the last few days I have been really sick sith some kind of stomach virus and have lost lots of weight so I am already down to my race weight and them some more below it. My coach and I are having a contest as to who can be the lowest come time for my big races so although I did not like being sick if I can keep it off I am sure I will beat him.
Well that is about all, I know it is a lot crammed into a short entury but I did not feel like spending hours writing about my trip so far.
I will try my best to update is as much as possible.
Talk to you later

Giving In

So I have finally given in to the blog game, I figured it was about time because with spending more and more time away from home there is added pressure to keep in touch. This way I can do it a lot easier. I will try my best to keep it updated and I think once I get into a groove I will be fine. I hope you all like it.
Later