AWAD triathlete

Defi Sportif 2011

2011-05-05T15:49:00.001-07:00

In the weeks before my first UCI race, I went from nervous to calm and back to nervous again. I knew that some of the athletes I would be competing against race Cat 2 on the road. I knew there were some National and World Champs in the mix. After reassuring myself, knowing I had a great coach who had prepared me well, and the fact that I have a decent pedigree in triathlon, I felt better.

TT Race day: I arrived at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal about 5 hours before my race. I wanted to get an idea of what I was in for. I took a few easy laps and felt great. The course had a long straight section with a wicked headwind. As race time got closer, the butterflies came back. I chatted with a few people as they arrived, ate my lunch, and checked in for the race. As I wandered around, I ran into a few familiar faces. Two of the guys I knew are paratriathletes from Quebec that I went to Budapest with. They were also doing the TT but on their handcycles. I saw one of the few UCI classifiers in the world who happens to be from my home province of BC. She was going to do my technical evaluation while I did my TT. I also met a couple of the US National Paracycling Team that I knew via Twitter. Social media is awesome!

I was hanging out by the registration tent and a guy rolls up in a Guinness kit. The only place I had seen that kit was Portland, so I introduced myself. Turns out Mark Gyulafia is from Portland, is a Cat 2, and works at River City Bicycles. I had no idea there was another paracyclist in Portland. Looks like we might be doing some rides together.

Anyway, race time rolls around, with riders off every minute. I started right behind a Colombian, an above the elbow amputee, and right in front of a fellow Canuck. My two minute guy was US National Team member, Sam Kavanagh. He is in my paracycling category, C4, but he's a Cat 2 (I'm a Cat 5). I had two goals, not to get passed by my one minute guy, and catch the guy in front of me. I achieved both goals, however, I was passed by Sam towards the end of my last lap. The headwind on the long straight had turned into a tailwind which made my first lap approximately 7 minutes. The headwind caught up with us at the only elevation on the course. My speed never dropped below 20mph which was another small goal of mine. It turns out, during my first lap, I took the wrong lane, and it might have been a little longer than it should have been since my second lap was 6:30.

I was very happy with my performance. I finished the 17.6 KM in 26:53, averaging 39.27 kph, which is 97.68% of the national standard. All of the times were compared to the national standard and listed on the results in the order of highest percentage instead of the time. I finished 6th in my category, 18th overall, which was not where I wanted to be but not much I could do, I had the road race to think about. The winner was Sam, who started two minutes behind me. He's a fast kid.

The road race was a little more stressful for me as I had not done many prior to this. All 23 riders, regardless of classification, were racing together. The C1, 2, and 3's were doing 11 laps and the 4's and 5's had to do 15 laps. The first lap was pretty slow and we only hit 20 mph because of a tail wind. The next five laps were like a typical Tuesday night 4/5 race at PIR. Every time someone took a flyer, everyone would chase it down. The peleton yo-yo'd every time but I hung on. The advice from Coach Abers was to stay at the front so when the accelerations came, i could drift back but still have wheels to follow, then make my way closer to the front again. The US National team worked well together and every time I tried to grab a wheel belonging to a red, white, and blue jersey, i would lose it because they would open up a spot for that person to come in. At the end of lap 8, after going around the 180 degree turn near the start finish, the speed went from 15 mph up to 32 mph. I was caught without a wheel to follow and was quickly gapped. I tried to chase but even at 30mph, I couldn't get back on. I slowed to a more manageable speed and was able to catch another rider that was dropped and we worked together for the next two laps. Since he was a C2, he had to do less laps than I did but I did get him for one extra lap as the officials forgot to pull him after his 11th lap. I did the last two laps on my own and finished with an average of 23 mph.

Overall, I was happy with my performances on the weekend. I had a PR for my TT average speed and I felt that I did well in the road race, considering I had not done any road races other than PIR. I had a good chat with the National Team Development Coach, and I know what I need to do to achieve my goal of being a team member. With the coach I have and my desire to succeed, I think my chances are good.

"The first-a rule of Italian driving........

2010-11-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

.........what's-a behind me, is not important". My favourite line from the movie, The Gumball Rally (1976). Right as he is saying that, the driver rips the rear-view mirror off and tosses it out the window.

I was-a thinking about that as I was taking my first ride with my new coach, Brian. We were talking about training, his philosophies, power meters, etc, and he said, you can have all that data (ie looking in the rear-view mirror) but the only important thing is when you cross the finish line. It's not whats on the computer on your bars or stem. It's not how many watts you're putting out. It's not how many beats per minute your heart is pumping. It is only about when you cross the finish line compared to the other guys.

It is not that he is against having that data, actually, he would like as much input as possible, its just that he feels there are more important things on race day. Having said that, I cannot wait to get a power meter. I'm anxious to find out how many watts I actually put out during a 20k TT or triathlon. I feel like I'm hammering, putting out huge numbers but I am betting that its not as big as I think. I am working on a product sponsorship or pro deal from one of the companies that makes power meters but as of yet, no answer. Worst case scenario, I borrow one for a few rides to find out what my 1.5 legs are capable of.

We are working on some strength training ideas too. When I did my initial evaluation with the strength coach, my leg strength and balance were not that great. I'm a little worried about lifting on my own without a spotter, especially with the squat. The overhead press and dead-lifts should not be too bad though.

I'm in for a wild ride for the next few months. I know I will make some positive changes in my riding. The first TT of the season will be Jack Frost in February, somewhere between 20-24KM. This will give me an idea of how well my training is going. Usually when I do Jack Frost TT, I am not as prepared as I plan on being for the 2011 edition. After that, my next test will be at the end of April in Montreal, at Defi Sportif. There will be a road race, a TT, and a crit, and this will be my first time competing in paracycling and my first opportunity to obtain UCI points.

I'm very excited and nervous about the upcoming season. I know I'm not getting any younger but I'm determined to work hard. Although I have represented Canada in international competition, my goal is to be fitter, stronger, and faster as a paracyclist than I have been as a paratriathlete, and proudly represent the red and white in London in 2012.

Budapest World Championships Race Report

2010-09-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Budapest World Championships Race Report

After a short training camp with some very cool and inspirational people, all with different stories, I was very ready to race on Sept. 11, 2010.
My alarm was set for 0400 but I was awake at 0300. I lay in bed thinking about what I had to do. I was pretty much finished my preparation and only needed to mix my morning breakfast drink and get my kit on.
We met in the lobby at 0445 and had cabs waiting for us. When we got outside, it was drizzling a little. Enough to be called rain I suppose but what could we do, it was race day and as I have been saying, “it is what it is”. We were dropped off right at the entrance to the Expo/transition area and had a 200m walk to the main transition area.
Wandering through massive puddles and muddy grass, we finally arrived at our bikes and began the prep to get our T1 and T2 gear ready. I brought two large bags from the hotel and they were very handy. I asked the nearest ITU person if my ‘handler’ would be able to get my gear out of my bag for me after I finished each leg of my race and was told normally no, but today, yes. By this time it was full on pouring too, making our wet transition area even soupier.
I could not find my handler, MC, who said she would be at the TZ by 0530. I was getting antsy so I asked our coach, Carly, to help me find someone. I feel bad that I cannot remember his name but he was an ex-pat Brit. I told him my needs and everything was in order. I only needed him to yank off my wetsuit and then pull my gear out of the plastic bag so I could transition with somewhat drier gear. There’s nothing like pulling on wet shoes.
I was already soaked so I just got my wetsuit on and put my jacket and shirt into a plastic bag and began the 100m trek to the start of the swim. My helper was right next to me the whole way. I looked at my watch to see that I had only 15 minutes to the start and I debated making a short trip to the porta-potty. I quickly decided that it was probably a good idea and I ran over, unzipped my wetsuit, and did what I needed. As I was walking back toward the start, I pulled my wetsuit zipper up on my own (before, my helper did it for me). This would come back to bite me as I exited the water.
I went down to the pontoon for the start. We would have a deep water start so I was kind of bummed that we couldn’t dive in but I guess some of the para’s wouldn't be able to. I sat down next to my team mate, Kimberly, gave her a hug, wished her luck, and slipped into the water……DAMN it was cold! I only had a short sleeve suit. I had been in colder water with that suit but I knew it was going to be a torturous 13-15 minutes.
They counted us down from 2 minutes every 30 seconds or so and before I knew it, 87 paratriathletes were off. Man, there are some fast swimmers in the paratriathlete division. A couple times I felt someone pulling on my thigh and hitting my feet, probably trying to draft me, but either they went around me or I dropped them. Either way, after the first turn, I had free water.
I finished the swim in under 14 minutes but by the time I cleared the water and hit the timing mat, it was an even 14. I was happy with that but not ecstatic. I sort of “gorilla hopped” (to me, somewhat sideways with my weak leg to the back) to T1. As I was running, I was attempting to undo my wetsuit zipper. Apparently, my tri-top zipper lanyard was stuck in my wetsuit zipper and it was not going well and my transition time was slower than I would have liked.
By the time I got to my bike, I had undone the zipper and had it off my hips just in time for my helper to yank it off me. I quickly dried my feet and put my shoes and helmet on and I was running out of the TZ.
Running in the wet grass with road shoes wasn’t too bad however, we also had a 50m run on pavement. With the grass and mud plus the pebbles on the pavement it made for a difficult time clipping into my pedals. On the way out, I almost got hit by a handcycle and while I was trying to get started, two others passed me, one guy in my category.
By the time I was clipped in and up to speed, I had caught one of the guys and was gaining on the other. Within five minutes, we were at the first 180 degree turn. I got to the turn immediately after the guy directly in front of me and I stood up and powered out of the turn, passing him and never looking back. My next mission was the handcycle but man, those guys are FAST!!!
I picked off him and 5 other handcycles before the next U-turn and passed numerous others. I got passed by two tandems but otherwise, held my own. Coaches Carly and Vincent later told me I looked great on the bike and was flying which made me feel pretty good.
On my last lap, with about 2km to go, my buddy Joel from Portland passed me and I didn’t see him again til the finish. He did well but there were a lot of fast guys in the arm injury/TRI4 category. He said he was happy with his bike and run but said his swim and transition put him back a bit.
By T2 the rain had all but stopped. I got to my chair and my helper had all my run gear out, ready for me to have a fast transition. I'm not sure how long it took but I felt that I had a quick transition. As I left T2, I was passed by 2-3 others, one I know was in my category. Charles and Jody passed me around 2km and Pierre rolled by at 3km. A few others passed me, mostly people in other categories but there were at least two TRI5’s as well. I felt great for the first 3.5km or so then I started to fade but after I got on to the bridge leading to the finish, I upped my pace and had a very good last 750m.
As I was on the downhill portion of the bridge, I looked back and saw a few age groupers coming up behind me. I wanted to beat them to the line so I picked up my pace again. There was a 180 degree turn around 75m from the finish and when I made the turn I all but sprinted as only a 1.6 legged man can sprint, very awkwardly.
I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch. I was too exhausted to look at it. I was given my finisher medal and wandered out of the finish area to find my friends that had already finished. I found Joel, Craig, Jody, and Devin. No one knew where they had placed but most people were happy with their performance. Devin said he cramped on the bike but he felt good overall.
I finally looked at my watch…..1:27:20. Wow. I had started my watch around 20 seconds before the swim so I figured I was sub 1:27. I had never gone that fast before, even before my injury. I beat my Nationals time from 3 weeks before by 8 minutes and my previous PR was 1:31:58 at Blue Lake in 2002.
Overall: 1:27:01
Swim – 14:00
T1 – 2:19
Bike – 34:22
T2 – 3:45
Run – 32:36
I cannot complain too much. I had a good race and even if I was classified as a TRI3/Les Autre, I would have come in 6th. I need to re-read the rules and see if I can get classed as a TRI3 for next time. While I might have quicker transitions than most of the BK amputees, I surely cannot keep up with them on the run as most of them (warning, stereotype ahead) have strength all the way to their stump, including their knee and hip muscles while I have some weakness there.
The description of the lower limb categories are not those of amputations but rather “moderate” or “severe” leg impairment. Given that I have weakness in my hip flexors, knee flexors, and knee extensors, I feel I fit in with the AK’s more so than the BK athletes. My run and bike seems to be more on par with those guys.
Anyway, as I said, I'm happy with myself and my performance, I believe I did my best and represented my country well.
I hope to post some pics later so if you are reading this and want to see some, check back at a later date.

Budapest 2010 ITU World Championships

2010-09-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

After a long flight and then a 6hr wait in Heathrow but I made it to Budapest Hungary around midnight. I got a very expensive cab ride to the hotel where all the other Canadian paratriathletes were staying. I was pretty wired so I unpacked all my gear. I thought I was going to be sharing a room with another athlete but when I got to my room, I was the only one in it. After unpacking, I realized I had forgotten my pedals and my swim goggles in my other back pack. I frantically searched twitter and facebook for people that I knew were coming to Budapest and messaged them. I received a message from a friend from Portland and he was already en route but he had an extra set. Whew, one thing already fixed. I went to sleep happy after that.

We had a meeting at 9am to head out to swim. The pool was very interesting. It was not very obvious what we were supposed to do. Most people don’t speak any English and none of us speak any Hungarian. When we finally got to go inside, the change room was co-ed but with individual stalls. Our pool was outside and the place was so huge that we had a difficult time finding a 50m pool, hard to believe I know. We had rented 4 lanes plus had to pay for each of us and the bill was somewhere around 20,000HuF which is around $100. Nothing is cheap here, especially food. Afterwards, myself and a team old timer went walking around. I got a few pics of some of the old buildings and some of the scenery. Lunch consisted of a bun, some yogurt, some almonds and some water. We were supposed to have a meeting to talk about some mental skills but I got a message from a friend about lending me his spare pedals. I figured that was much more important.

I asked my hotel front desk where the Marriott was and they gave me directions and I decided to walk. It was a little longer than I expected and my hip was starting to bug me. I got to the Marriott and found out it was the wrong one. I got directions to the next one but I decided to cab it. I was able to run in, grab the pedals, and get in the same cab, and get back to my hotel, right around the tune of 5000HuF. That was one less thing I had to worry about.

In the later PM, we had a one on one session with our coaches, Vincent and Carlie. We talked about our goals for this event and our camp. We also discussed any help I might need in transition or any motivational cheering along the race course. I am pretty self-sufficient so I really don’t need anything but I always love a little cheering.

We had a great team dinner that night and it was nice to get to know my fellow team mates. Towards the end of dinner I was starting to fade due to the face that I just arrived at 1am and had 6hr of sleep in the past 48hr. When I got to my room, however, I turned on my computer and watched some videos til almost midnight.

Wednesday was supposed to be an 8AM bike to run transition practice but at dinner the night before, we decided to ride at 6AM as there are fewer cars on the road at that time. We rescheduled the T2 practice to mid afternoon. The ride down to the TZ took a little longer than normal due to the hand cyclists and some of the obstacles we had to go around to get there.

Three of us went on our own way mostly due to the fact that we lost the others. We met up again at the TZ and looked around. We rode part of the bike course but the traffic was starting to pick up so we headed back.

After breakfast, a group of us went back to the event expo. I found everything to be much more than I was willing to spend on an event tee shirt so I went home empty handed. We were able to watch the men’s 40+ Aquathon and one of the competitors took almost 45 minutes to do the 1000m swim so we stayed at the swim exit to cheer him on as he exited the water. I think all of us knew what it was like to finish dead last at least one time since our prospective challenged athletic career so it meant a lot to us to be there for him. He was an Aussie and he made a point of smiling and thanking us as he went to his run transition.

Afterwards, I went back to the hotel for nap time and a 6PM mental skills session.

Most of the others had eaten before that but I wasn’t hungry so I went afterwards. The mental skills session included visualization practice. I had not done this since I attended UVIC in 1987 and I remember how well it worked.

I went back to dinner at the same place as Tuesday night. I brought my lap top but it was for not as they had no wireless. I ate a great dinner called “paprikash” which was veal in a spicy sauce and what looked and tasted like the German pasta type dish, spatzle. The dinner was great but it seems that everyone in this town smokes. Two ladies next to me at the restaurant lit up as soon as they sat down and continued to do so all throughout my meal. It was kind of disgusting but I guess we are lucky at home where it is not allowed in bars and restaurants anymore.

When I was done, it was pouring out. Luckily there were many overhanging ledges that offered a little protection from the rain but I was essentially soaked when I walked the 3 blocks back to the hotel. I watched more videos and then had a great sleep.

More to come.....

XTERRA Vashon Island, July 2010

2010-07-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

This was my favourite race of last season and i was really looking forward to it this year. I went up early and got to the transition area in time to pick up my race packet and kit up for a pre-ride of the bike course. I figured it would be the same as last season but wanted to be sure. I met up with my friend Alexia and we headed out. I was convinced I could ride the first section no problem but alas, it was not to be. I hit the first switch back and pulled my front end off the ground, then hit the ground. My bike landed on the drive side and after a few minutes of trying to put my chain back on the crank, I realized my rear derailleur was stuck in my spokes. This would have been a good discovery before I reefed on my crank to get what I thought was a stuck chain.

Anyway, some new road rash to add to my already dinged up legs. I walked the rest of the way up the hill which was some pretty fun single track and went I went to ride again, I realized either my derailleur was bent or the hanger was bent, either way, it was skipping a lot when I went into granny gear and the next two so I ended up walking again. I tried to fix it but my mechanical ability is limited. I was able to get it to the point where I could pedal in some easy gears but the course leveled out and there was limited climbing after that.

I fell again, not sure why, but I suggested Alexia and our other companion go on without me and I would just see them at the camp site but they said they were cool with a slower pace. Anyway, two falls, and 45 minutes of riding later, we go back to the cars. I wanted to scope out my camp site so I headed straight to the ranch, paid my fee, and then went back into Vashon for some food. I met up with a few friends and ate with them.

When I got back to the campsite, I ran into another buddy that is a bike mechanic and I talked him into checking my bike over and seeing if he could fix it. As I was taking it off the car, I found my rear tire was flat. If its not one thing its another. I had a spare tube but then I wouldn't have one for the race so I borrowed one from one of Alexia's MelRad team mates, Jo. Jeff was able to sort out my shifting problem pretty easily but he did say I needed a new bike.....I concurred since my beloved Rocky is 15 yrs old but its just not in the budget this year.

I didn't get much sleep in the back of a Passat wagon and I was up and rolling at 530am. I didn't have much to do so I went to the transition zone and got the best parking spot for a speedy getaway. I got everything set up and went for a short ride with Alexia. I had seen a guy with a BK amputation and wondered if he was in the race. I lost track of him but after the ride I was able to talk to him only to find out he was just pulling his boat out of the water. I was disappointed because I had hopes that I would not be the only PC athlete in the race.

At the pre race briefing, I found out I would be racing with the clydesdales and the over 40 men. Everyone made their way out to the dock where we would be starting. I dove in and swam around to where the start was, probably around 150m warm up. The first wave left just as I got there and I floated around for a bit.

My swim was uneventful, but save for the long run out of the water to T1, I had a good time. the long run to transition was very muddy as the tide was out, and it had heaps of shells embedded.

I had a very slow T1 which has been the case lately, I'm not sure why. Unlike XTERRA Solstice, I didn't forget my amelback this time but I did neglect my gloves which would come back to haunt me later.

I got out of transition and immediately dismounted for the switchback climbs section. I tried to run up but my HR went up into the 180's so I walked. By the time I hit the top of the climb, I was out of breath and immediately felt the need to stop and rest but kept on. I rode more of the course after that first section than I had in the past couple of years. I used my wicked cyclocross skills to mount my bike after walking and made a little bit of time up vs walking those sections. My shifting was working OK but I was unable to get into a few of the top gears and this only came into play during climbing.

I love the single track sections of this course, lots of roots and stumps to make it more challenging. After the first single track section, there is an old road section. This is where the gloves would have come in handy. It was warm and I was sweating a lot. I kept wiping my hands on my shorts but obviously, they were still wet so it was for not. Since I was on a "road" I went to grab a gel packet that was taped to my stem. In the middle of it, I changed my mind and started to grab my handle bar but in the blink of an eye, my bars went sideways and I hit the ground. My front tire went deep into a sandy pothole. I think if I had my gloves on, this wouldn't have happened but alas, that wasn't the case and I sat on the ground, stunned.

I got up and immediately felt a sharp pain in my knee. I looked down and was bleeding profusely around my knee cap. I got on my bike again and started riding the somewhat flat section but as soon as I hit the and increase in elevation, the knee pain became very intense. Thankfully, there wasn't much of it and I made it through the rest of the lap, spinning at a higher cadence than I would normally to see if I could get over the knee pain......I dont know why I thought this but it must have worked because when I got to the paved section that wound around to the beginning of the next lap, I stood up to test it again and the pain was gone. Endorphins?

Anyway, I rolled through the next two laps with no further incidents but really regretted not having my gloves. I got to T2 a little more tired than I should have been and while walking through the TZ, I heard a rubbing sound. I looked closely at my front brake and noticed the rotor was bent. That would explain my increased fatigue. I guess I rode the remaining 2.5 laps after my crash with a rubbing brake. Oh well, no time to worry about it, time to run.

I had forgotten about my knee as I left T2, thinking only of my stupidity for crashing unnecessarily but one of the volunteers asked if I was OK. She had a very pained look on her face as she looked at my knee. I looked down and my shin to my sock was bloody and dirty. Hmmm, I thought, that doesn't look good. Oh well, Im fine, I said, thanks for asking, and I went about the business at hand, getting up this hill to the flatter section of the run course.

I felt pretty darn good, impressed with myself as I ran slowly up the hill to the single track. I actually passed another runner. That made me feel very good as I don't often pass anyone during this part of triathlon. More than one volunteer asked if I needed help when they saw my knee but I was just happy to be still running after my bike mishap and riding with a rubbing brake.

The run course wasn't as dusty as I remembered it from 2009. There were a couple of sections that I recall sliding down, through a bit of deep loose dirt but they were not that bad this year. I ran down the hill, onto the pavement, across the road to the trail and through the finish line. I can't explain how great it felt as I saw my time, quite a bit faster than 2009.

I went directly through the transition area to the back of the ambulance that was sitting there. I asked if the medic could clean up my wound. He said, and this part blew me away, "if I work on you I have to do a bunch of paperwork". I then asked if they could give me some thing to clean it with. He then said, "they should have something over at the race trailer". I kept standing there, stunned, looking at this guy thinking he was kidding. Apparently, he was dead serious and I walked away. I had my own wet wipes and water in the car.

I went to my transition area, packed up my gear, and left. I drove straight to the ferry and cleaned myself during the short ride to the mainland. My wound was not as serious as all the blood may have indicated but I did have a pretty good sized gash just under my knee cap. Not enough to require stitching but it would have been nice to have a surgical brush to get the dirt and rocks out of it.

Overall, other than the crash, I had a great race. Forgetting my gloves was a negative as was crashing while pre-riding (and bending my rear derailleur) as well as during the race but everything else was a positive. Looking back, the only thing I would have changed was staying around after the race and talked to the race director about the lack of medical care. I understand that the medics were likely there for emergencies but a lot of races have a medic to take care of things like road rash and other non-life threatening issues and have an ambulance on standby. I also would have been able get my award. They ended up mailing it to me. One of my favourite awards to date. A home made trophy with a cassette cog embedded in a piece of 2x4 and a chunk of chain with an engraved plate. Very cool trophy.

XTERRA Solstice, June 19, 2010

2010-06-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

This was a race that I was intimidated by for the past three years. I always wanted to do it but there was always some excuse. The website for the race let you know that it is not an easy race and there are always DNF's and the course is not for the faint of heart. Lots of ankle breaking rocks along the run course, a steep downhill called "Suicide" hill, and a swim that will take your breath away, mostly because its so cold.

I signed up on the Monday before the race and just so I wouldn't wimp out, I posted on Facebook that I was doing it.

I talked to a couple of pro guys that wanted to do it so we ended up car pooling together. They had just done Boise the weekend before and I was surprised that they wanted to do this one. We got to La Grande around 4pm and went to pick up our race packets. This was the first time I had ever done packet pick up in the garage of someones home. I thought that was very cool.

After a quick stop at Safeway, we headed up a very steep road to Morgan Lake. I was intimidated AGAIN. If the climbs were anything like this on the bike course, I was in for a very long day.

We found a spot to camp and rode a little of the course. We ran into a few others that Damian knew from Bellingham. We went to town for dinner then back up the long, scary hill to our campsite. I got all my things together for the next day but realized I only had a little water. The guys wanted to head into town for hot coffee in the morning anyway, so I figured I was safe. Our start time was 9am. We would have time.

I set up my gear in the back of my truck and packed it in for the night. I read for a bit but mostly just thought about long, steep hills. I finally got to sleep but was woken up a few times by some people partying on the other side of the lake.

I set my phone for a wake up call but didn't really need it. I was wide awake at 5AM. I got the rest of my gear ready then we got coffee. We still had almost 2 hr before the start when we got back and that time was spent setting up transition and chatting with people about how cold it was and whether I should bring my arm warmers and long sleeve jersey.

the last thing I did before locking up the truck and finishing up transition was fill my Camel Back with water. I had a very concentrated bottle of First Endurance EFS, Grape flavour. My plan was to have my calories in that bottle and dilute it by drinking from my Camel Back.

Keep that tid bit in mind for later

I got into my wetsuit and wandered into the very cold water. I heard it was 54F but I'm not sure of the official water temp. It didn't matter, I was wearing a very nice Blue70 wetsuit provided by my team sponsor, Athlete's Lounge. I had borrowed a neoprene cap from Scott at AL but didn't end up wearing it as it was a little small and was choking me. I went for about 20m out and back again then stood on top of a large rock with only my lower half under water. I heard them say we had to line up between the two buoys behind me so I went over and chatted with Damian and Chris. I jumped on top of the buoy and floated for a while til they said 1 minute to go.

I heard what was probably an air horn but it sounded more like a sick elk, then we were off!

My swim was uneventful, I concentrated on a steady stroke and was under my goal time of 20minutes, 19:15. I believe that at least 1-2 minutes of that was me trying to stumble my way out of the water, tripping over rocks and other athletes, but they didn't mark my time til i was completely out of the water.

I got to transition, easily shed my wetsuit, and sat down to put on my socks and bike shoes. On the road, I rarely wear socks but because of the mud and the fact that my MTB shoes are a hair big, I chose socks for this race. Unfortunately, some thoughtful person had dumped their wetsuit on top of my shoes and one of my socks was already soaked. Thankfully I had another pair for the run and grabbed them.

I grabbed my lid, my glasses, and forced my bike out from between two others and took off. I pulled my gloves on with my teeth as I was riding down the easiest part of the course; the first 400m. I was about 2km into the ride when I saw someone go by me with a Camel Back and it was then I realized I had forgotten mine. I wasn't sure where the aid stations were but i was hoping that it wasn't very far away. My new plan included drinking my First Endurance EFS and then topping off with water at the first aid station I came to. This didn't happen either. I am very impressed with the FE electrolyte drink. Even though it was very concentrated, I didn't get any GI distress. When I came to the aid station and just grabbed a couple cups of water and it was perfect.

There was about a 1K stretch where we went on some single track, a bit of road and a wicked downhill section called the "pipeline". I found that out on the way back when I had to climb back up it. Anyway, after the long downhill, there was a 5K section of uphill. It was probably average of 6-8% but had a few short steep sections. The dirt road was fairly well maintained til the top section but overall, it was better than some roads I have raced on. After the road came an uphill section of single track which was pretty tough in sections due to the ruts and rocks on the path but I cleared most of it on the bike. Only when I let someone go past me did I have to unclip.

I was keeping my eye out for a section called "suicide hill"; a treacherous bit of downhill that I was not particularly looking forward to. It certainly lived up to its reputation. I got to the top and as I was beginning the descent, I decided that I wanted to live. I walked it down which was no easy feat either. There was an ATV at the midway point and he said that I was about 1/3 of the way through the bike course and about half way down the hill but I just did the hard part...... um, not from where i was standing it wasn't. There was still a lot of loose steep downhill left. I came across a photographer and i was bummed because I wanted to be on my bike when she took the photo, which I told her, but then I said I was just going to flex for the camera. Right after I passed her, I got on my bike and rode the rest of it. The downhill was still tough but not as steep.

For the next few miles i rode with another gal, Robin from Bellingham. I let her get ahead of me for the single track ahead. We wound around a little meadow, over a cattle fence, through a lot of rocky sections, and out to an uphill section. We both walked up it, I walked faster, and figured she would catch me later. I hit the road section that we came up and went down it as fast as I could. I tried to use that section to rest but it wasn't much of a rest. I hit the pipeline climb and just decided trying to ride up it wasn't worth it. I started walking it. I turned around and Robin was riding up behind me but after we hit a steep pitch, she was walking too.

There was a gal in front of us, I watched her leave the trail. I figured she was just going to find some privacy to attend to the call of nature but when i got up to where she left the course, I saw her walking up the hill. She had cut the switch back section of the course, missing about 200m of it. I pointed her out to Robin and we both were wondering why she would do that. The climb she did may have taken less distance but it was much harder than the switch back section she cut. Oh well, we just pushed on.

robin ended up passing me walking up the steepest section and I said bye. At the top of "pipeline" it was only a short ride back to T2, going back in the same way we came out. There were also runners on that section. I didn't get slowed down by any, some of these guys were pretty fast and they maneuvered that section faster than I could ride it. I thought about trying to catch Robin so I wouldn't have the slowest bike time but I felt I needed all the energy I could muster for the run.

T2 was slow for me. I sat down and washed off my left leg so my ankle brace didn't have too much grit to grind into my skin. I hit T2 at 3hr on the nose and 4 minutes later, I was on the run course. I ran past the truck where Damian and Chris were getting cleaned up. I ran past them, they wished me good luck and asked if I needed anything but I was all set.

I looked at my watch and with a plan of run/walking at a 2min/2min ratio, I started walking. It was mostly a gradual uphill all the way out of the Lake area and I got to the first water station. I filled up my water bottle and started running again. I ran most of the way down a steep road and then had to walk again. I settled in to walking and figured I would run any down hill or flat sections. I was pretty tired. I had 2 gel packets with me and a water bottle. I ate at 630AM so I was starting to get hungry by this time.

I passed the second water station and passed through without stopping. The road went down the side of a hill and sort of degraded into a barely used cart path. I was looking around at where the trail might go, foolishly, and rolled my left ankle. Without my ankle brace I'm sure i would have hurt it to the point where I would not have been able to continue. I didn't stop because I knew the pain would subside in a few minutes. I started walking with my left leg rotated outwards so it would be more difficult to roll it again. At the bottom of the hill was a jeep and a guy wearing a skirt, a wig, and holding pom poms. He cheered me on and warned me about the next section which was basically a path made by one of the ATV's and the 60+ athletes ahead of me. He also told me I was OTB which really sucked but hey, I was out here and I was going to finish. I think on the day, there were 4 DNF's, not sure why but I knew I wasn't going to be one of them.

The man/machine made trail had a few sections of mud, lots of rocks, and I passed an elk rack, or half a rack actually, a leg and hoof, likely off some sort of deer or elk, which was stripped clean, and a large snake which slithered across the trail in front of me. I didn't see much of the snake but it was bigger than any type of snake we have near our house. Do they have rattlers in La Grande?

It seemed to be longer than 10K but then again, I had not done 10K since the US Championships in September. I climbed up some switch backs, got onto a road, and got back to the water station I had passed almost an hour before. They refilled my water bottle and I took a gel, said thank you and started jogging down the slight hill towards the BIG hill I had come down.

After the last aid station, I jogged again to the trail that led back to the TZ. I walked most of the single track trail section and when I got to where I could see the finish line, I started running again.

the announcer saw me and I was cheered in by all the folks that stuck around for the awards. Damian and Chris were right there and after I crossed the finish line, they helped me back to the truck with all my gear. They said they had calculated how long after I left T2 and when they would come and find me should I not be at the finish by a certain time. Just as they were about to venture out to rescue me, I came in. Good guys to travel with!

I finished the run in 1:46, longer than any 10K I had ever done, and overall, just under 5 hours. I was satisfied that I had finished given my limited MTB training but it just served to show me how much more I need to train for XTERRA Nationals in Sept.

It was a fun race and I look forward to doing it again in the future. Thanks to Mary Ellen and the XTERRA Solstice crew of volunteers for a great but tiring day.

Classification 101

2010-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today is my classification evaluation. To let you all know, its only an examination on where to place me in the paracycling classification.

I have been previously classified in triathlon as "les autre" which basically means they dont know where else to put me. Unless you are an amputee or in a wheel chair they have a category that puts spinal cord injuries (SCI) with athtletes that have MS, CP, and things like that. With

Cycling its a little different. Even more different than last year. This year they have 6 total categories (except hand cyclists) for all disabilities. Last year they had 2 sub with four sub categories each. I used to be very familiar with the categories and had a good idea where they would place me but now, Im not so sure.

Depending on the outcome of this evaluation, I will have a rough idea of the minimum standards that are necessary to become part of the paracycling national team and with this new information, I will be able to figure out if those times are within my grasp.

I usually dont let a little thing like meeting a goal stand in my way but Im 44 now and things like dropping 20 seconds MINIMUM off my kilo time might be tougher than it sounds. Not that Im not going to try but those are things I have to contemplate whilst working on my new practice and training. I have a wealth of experts around me that I can consult with to help me attain such goals but first, I need to finish this eval.

Hope that clarifies the classification process for you. Have a great day.

PS I love being in Canada while the Olympic games are getting started, there is a huge amount of patriotism, flags on cars, people clad in Team Canada jerseys and this will go a long way to making me strive to meet my next challenge.

One step closer

2009-12-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas, I had a meeting with one of the tri coaches I am contemplating working with. I told her of my tri goals and by the end of it, we both thought we could work well together. Just before we departed company, I talked to her about my other cycling goals and how I had little luck getting in touch with people at Canadian Cycling via email and she asked if I had called them.....um, I never thought about that. In the electronic age, I have always relied on email.

So, when I returned to the office after lunch, I called the person that would probably be classifying me. I spoke to her for about 20 minutes and while I was on the phone with her, I sent her an email, and she sent one back and by the end of the day, we talked about my coming up in January. So, hopefully my next update will be about my quick trip up to Vancouver and have an official classification for cycling. Wish me luck.
Merry Christmas to all.

2010 Goals, what are they?

2009-11-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have been researching races for next year and trying to figure out my focus so I can have my training peak at appropriate times......hehehe, Im laughing as I write that, I can honestly say, I am not sure I have ever peaked at any time, let alone appropriate times. So, with the comic relief out of the way, I truly want to do well this year but Im not sure where I want to do all this peaking. I want to do XTerra, I want to race on the track, I want to PR at a 70.3 race, I want to PR my 20 and 40km TT's, and I would like to go to World's for ITU Olympic distance as well as XTERRA World's.

To accomplish any or all of these items, I require TOTALLY different training. Power training for the track, a maximum race time of 1:25minutes, endurance training for 70.3, a maximum race time of 7 hours (hoping for 6.5hr), a mixture of the two for XTERRA races, average race time of 4 hours, and I would like to get my TT times to around 31min for the 20km and 1:03 for the 40km.

I dont think I can do all of it.....well, I CAN do all of it but something is going to suffer. If I can get classified sometime late this year or early next year, I will have a goal time to make for the track and I will most likely just focus on that and making the paracycling team. If I cannot, I suppose I will more than likely work on the Oly distance/Xterra races, which in turn will help my TT speed (my thoughts, not one of a coach, perhaps I can be schooled on why or why not that is a good idea). The 70.3 would probably be a June race so if I choose to peak for that, there are also a couple of XTERRA races around that time that i might be able to do one as a training race. Im waiting for the XTERRA CUP schedule to come out sometime in the next thrity days to finalize my decisions.

I have been told that if I am going to be a kilo track rider, I need to focus on nothing but however I am a challenged athlete and I can do more, just need the direction first. If any of this makes sense, great, Im still confused, hasta la vista baby.
Happy American Thanksgiving to all my peeps south of Canada, gobble gobble.
DS out

Cross Crusade at PIR

2009-11-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

What I did on my bike today was not as much fun as looking forward to it. Like all 43 year old boys, I love play in the mud and today was a perfect day for it. It rained almost an inch over the last 24 hours so the course at Portland International Raceway was soaked and muddy. I had forgotten to pick my cross bike up at the shop yesterday and didn't think I would be able to race but thanks to Twitter, my good friend Gary from Athletes Lounge let me know he would be there early.

I picked up my bike around 820am and made my way to PIR. I got dressed, signed in, paid my money, and did a little warming up then lined up to race. Because of my number I started in the back. This suited me fine as I wasn't feeling all that great about my fitness anyway. The horn sounded and we were off. Around 55 heavy weights rumbled out of the starting chute and onto the course. Each lap was 2.5 miles and pretty flat. There were two or three run ups, depending on your bike skills, but that was it for hills.

My legs were tired quickly due to the amount of mud that made up the course. There was a nice puddle section which got deeper and deeper each successive lap. I tried to ride that section on the bank of the puddle but I ended up riding through the thick mud.

Upon starting the second lap, I began to realize that I was DFL, dead freakin last, and I wasn't even half way through that lap when I got lapped. I was having a lot of trouble getting back into my pedals when I had to remount after clipping out. I have ridden with these pedals a lot but have not raced with them until today. I also had not been on my new bike in a race yet either.

Upon trying to remount after a short run up, I tweaked my ankle again, rolling it on the soft surface. I got on again but wasn't able to clip in on the left but I did manage to swing my crank around, smacking my tibia with it. I started walking again, along the course but kept rolling my ankle.

I decided to pack it in and walked across the course in time to see the finish of the race.

On the drive home, I was thinking if I should even be doing this. I have fun, to a degree, but its no picnic. I enjoy the time on the bike but not so much the getting on/off all the time. Too bad Stacey isn't taller, i would just give her my bike and I would stick to events that I don't have to mount/dismount as part of the course.

Falling asleep, guess that means I should sign off. Not too exciting and I know I had more to say but for now, that's it.

Cross Crusade Series, Races 1 and 2

2009-10-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last year, after finishing a long season of training, I hung up my bike. I really didnt want to get on it again after Ironman Canada. I did, however, continue running and I thought I might attempt a marathon (without having to swim and bike beforehand, what a concept!). After a couple of weeks of that, I decided I didnt want to continue with that either.

Sooooooooo, at the beginning of October 2008, I got this great idea of stripping my rain bike of its fenders, the bottle cages, and computer and putting cyclocross tires on it with the intention of doing some of the Cross Crusade races. Cyclocross is very popular in the NW and the kids at Cross Crusade put on a great show. I posted an email on the Oregon Bike Racing list asking what category I should race in: Beginners, Clydesdale, C, or Masters C. Various people said Beginners so I signed up for the Alpenrose race as a Beginner, took my converted steed out for a couple rides on the trail near my house, and decided I was ready to race.

My first ever race was Alpenrose, Cross Crusade #1 of the season. It was a 2.1 mile loop around the velodrome and other parts of the dairy. It was also the biggest turn out of all time at a CC race, something 12oo riders all day and over 130 beginners. I finished around 80th, had a blast but after I saw the clydesdales racing, I decided I wanted to ride with the heavy horse!

I did 3 races last year and didnt train a lick between each race. It was not a good idea but doing a 35-45 minute race at very close to my AT took a lot out of me considering how many years I had been doing road triathlon and not going much near AT.

Fast forward a year. October 4, 2009. I revisited Alpenrose Dairy for the 2009 Cross Crusade series. This time, I felt better prepared. Only two short weeks before, I had raced XTerra USA Championships and had been mountain biking most of the summer. Something a little closer to cross racing than Ironman training had been plus I wasnt burnt out from riding my TT bike for hours on end.

This time I entered the Clydesdale class. Last year we max'd out at around 40 guys, this year at Alpenrose, we ended up with 58 starters. I finished in the mid 40's, one lap down from the leaders but I felt great and was passing guys on the last lap. It was a great course for me with a lot of flats and some technical stuff but not a whole lot of climbing.

I was excited because I felt so good and of course I wanted a cross bike afterwards. I had a busy week after that and didnt get to train much. I had one road ride and one 5 km run as well as a stress test that I had to run on the treadmill.

Yesterday I paid for not training. The CC#2 was at Rainer High School and it had a few hills. I dragged Taggy out of bed at 630am and we did some racing. My race lasted 3 laps and after getting passed by the leading Clydesdale, I packed it in. I thought they would give me a DNF but they scored me as dead last (except for the one DNF) and gave me 3 laps (winner had 4).

Taggy and I waited around for his race, ate some fries, watched some racing, and talked to some peeps. He finished his fries, wiped the ketchup from his face, jumped on his bike and did some laps of the kids course. He was having trouble with the barrier given that his bike was abouut 25lb but he was dismounting and getting back on like a champ. When the time came for his race, the kids were given the choice to do a lap of the adult course or a few laps of the kiddie cross circuit. He chose to do a full lap.....

I tried to keep up with him, running alongside but I was beat from my race and I didnt have my ankle brace so I tried to cut the course and see him along the way. I got a video of him coming down a hill and then I ran over to the start/finish so I could help him through the second section of hills. I saw him coming out of the trees, he had a bit of a pout on his face and I could see him covered in dust. I asked him if he crashed, he nodded, almost crying, but then I asked him if he wanted to continue and he nodded again. So, I jogged next to him, helped him over the two barriers, and encouraged him along.

It was time to start the next wave of adults so they had us cut the course, missing the last climbing section, and turned the rest of the kids towards the finish. I gave him a big hug, told him how proud of him I was, and took his picture. One of the adults that was helping out, came over to me and said he had crashed HARD but he got up and finished off. They said he got 10/10 for his crash and that made him smile a little.

Afterwards, we went over to the area he went down and he described his crash. Apparently, a rock got in his way and he washed out his front tire. Right abouut that time, the B's came through and I could see how easy it would be for Taggy to go down right there as it was loose and rocky as well as downhill with a turn at the bottom.

He is looking forward to next week as am I. Oh, and Im getting a new Scott CX Team cross bike next week, so excited.

XTerra USA Championships, Sept 26, 2009

2009-09-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

"You can quit, and nobody else will care, but you will always know"
John Collins, Ironman creator.

I read that quote about a week after I finished one of the hardest races of my life. I had thought about packing it in many times during that race but although I had never seen those words, I had the same feeling, no one would probably think less of me but I would always know that I DNF'd.

I felt prepared for the US Championships as I got into Coach Grant's SUV and settled in for the long ride to Ogden Utah. My training had gone well in the weeks leading up to the race and I felt that I would have a good showing. We stopped for the night in Boise and thanks to Dr. and Mrs Folske, we departed the next morning well rested and very well fed. My other two traveling companions were Rob Jackson and Justin Bernard, the race directors for XTerra Portland.

We got to Ogden, checked into our hotel, and I went for a short run. Ogden is a pretty cool little town and I was able to check out some restaurants for later. Dinner, TV, bed. Not all that exciting but it was a Thursday.

Friday morning, Grant and I went up to Snow Basin to ride part of the course. This was when I realized just how much climbing I would be doing on Saturday. The single track at the base of the mountain was a lot of fun but it was basically all uphill. We rode for 30 minutes, went down to the reservoir to check out the swim area, then hit this bike store for some supplies. It also had a cafe attached to it and I had an awesome lunch.

That night was the "Night of Champions" dinner and along with 158 others, Justin and I were honoured as NW Regional Champions of our respective divisions. We were lei'd and got a shirt with our new title on it. After dinner, I finished preparing my gear and nutrition bottles and watched TV til around 11pm.

As usual on race eve, I didn't sleep well but felt pretty good when I got up. I changed my tri kit 2 or 3 times. I wanted to wear my Challenged Athletes Foundation kit but having just received it, and it being a little tight, I didn't want to chance some major chafing during the swim. In hindsight, I should have worn it anyway as I chafed something fierce from my wetsuit and it was nothing to do with my choice of jersey.

We headed up to T2, left our run gear, then drove down to T1. I had not done a point to point race before and I was nervous that I had not left something that I may have wanted later. Oh well, too late. I didn't end up needing anything extra but I hate that feeling .

Race time was 9am so I went for a short warm up ride around 815am. I got back and someone had taken my spot on the bike rack. Once I pointed out that my swim stuff was right there, he left.....no one takes my spot on the rack, no one.

I got suited up and realized I left my body glide in Grant's truck. We were told we had to put all our swim gear and any other items into a bag before we left T1 so I put everything I didn't need for swimming or biking away.... another reason I am not enjoying point to point racing. I borrowed some glide and went down to have a swim warm up. I ran into a couple of the other PC athletes, Andy May and Megan, both are BK amputees. The water was cool but just fine for a short sleeve wetsuit.

At 9am, the horn blew and everyone, including the pro's, were off. All the pro women were wearing pink caps so I guess for the first time in my triathlon career, I was responsible for ripping someones goggles off. Sorry for that pro woman triathlete, I didn't mean to do it.

I was feeling great physically and after checking my time right as I got out of the water, it read 27:20. There were no timing chips in this race and they included T1 in my swim time so I officially had a 34 minute swim. We had to run up a long boat ramp and part of the parking lot to get to the TZ and that obviously took me a while. I was happy to see people I knew coming out of the water behind me and shouting encouragement because on a point to point, I wasn't likely to see them again.

I got out of the TZ, jumped on my bike, and departed on what turned out to be a very long day in the saddle. They teased me with a mile on the flats, then we entered Wheeler Canyon and began to climb, climb, climb, climb, and did I mention climb??? Holy crap, it was tough on me. I think I still hear "on your left" or some derivative of that in my sleep. I think I can honestly say I climbed for 1.5 hours before I hit the first of only two downhill sections. The first downhill was fun but my body was so tired I almost cooked a few of the turns a little too hot. After that downhill section, the course climbed up to Snow Basin Lodge parking lot and turned into a cool single track section that Grant and I had done the day before. After that, unbeknownst to me, the course went up the ski hill, following part of the chair lift. I was exhausted and I didn't want to go on especially after the previous 2 hours of hell I had just experienced.

This is where my day got longer. I hit a very steep pitch and got off and started pushing my bike up the hill all the while trying to dodge the top age groupers that were flying down the hill on their way to finishing the run. Through the haze, I spotted an Ironhead jersey steaming full speed towards me. I high five'd Matt as he ran his way to a 3rd place finish.

I pushed myself harder, still hiking uphill, and crested the steep part of the climb and I sat down, stared downhill and for the second time, I talked myself out of quitting. While I was sitting there, one of the XTerraTV guys ran up to me with his camera. "How tough is this course?" he asked to which I replied, "a lot tougher than Vegas"....WTF I said that for, I will never know. I was so exhausted, I had nothing better to tell him.

Right after I embarrassed myself on XTerraTV, I got up and pushed on. I got on my bike, granny geared up, and slowly climbed the next pitch of about 6-7% (last climb was at least 18-20%, I'm sure of it!). Justin's dad passed me on his bike, giving me words of encouragement, Rob passed me, running on his way back to the finish, asking if I was OK. I smiled, gave them big props and stopped again. I stopped again, leaned on my bike, looked down the hill towards the finish line, and slowly my vision went bright white and I felt like I was going to fall over. I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, drank some water, and waited for my sight to return. It seemed to take forever but it came back.

I wandered slowly to the medical tent at the top of the hill and told them of my symptoms but they just told me to walk around a bit. They didn't seem to concerned. I was actually hoping they would pull me from the course for medical reasons but I'm glad they didn't.

I got on my bike again for the last bit of climbing, looking forward to going downhill again. The rest of the bike ride was uneventful. I loved the downhill except for the fact that I was so exhausted, I almost bit it on some of the switchbacks.

I rolled into T2 after about 3:10 on the bike, convinced that I was going to pack it in. I got my running gear on and walked out of transition. I stopped at the timing area and asked where the medical tent was. I was pointed in two different directions. I started up the hill towards the run course and I looked over and saw the med tent. I walked over to it and stood there for a couple of minutes before someone asked if I needed anything. I again, told them my symptoms but no one seemed concerned. If someone wandered into my med tent at a soccer tourney telling me they were dizzy, seeing stars or other visual disturbances, or any other heat injury type symptoms, I would have had them sitting down and getting some ice on them and some water or IV or other electrolytes into them. I almost had to guide them to what I thought was wrong with me. I wont bore you with details but eventually I just got up and walked out (something else i would not have let someone do).

While I was in the med tent, I heard them announce the other 3 PC athletes finishing. I walked over, congratulated them, and told them I hadn't even started the run yet. I also saw Grant, Kaytee, Matt, and Rob in the food line. I told them I wasn't sure I was going to finish and without hesitating, Grant said no one would think any less of me if I DNF'd because of the toughness of the course. That was all I needed to push me on, I knew I was NOT going to DNF after that. I saw Justin while I wandered towards the run course, he said "its not that bad". I had doubts again..... I found a shady spot, sat down, put my head in my hands, stared at the cones that marked the run course, and cried (yes, I did, call me what you will but that's the kind of day I was having). I told myself that if I didn't finish, I didn't deserve to wear the Regional Champ shirt I won the night before so after getting control of myself, I got up and walked up the hill.

Most of the course volunteers were coming down the hill. I got a couple cramps on the way up the steep section but otherwise, I must have gotten my second wind, because I felt pretty damn good. About the 5km mark, I ran out of water and food. My stomach was growling and I was wondering where the next aid station was. A volunteer on a MTB came towards me and said the aid station was only a quarter mile away. I believed him but HE LIED!!! By my calculations, it was at least a mile but it was something to look forward to.

I got to the downhill section, the way home! I walked down the steep part and I could hear Whit announcing winners from the Sport race. He said there would be a 5 minute break and then they would present the pro winners and AG winners from the USA Champs. When I heard that, I broke into a jog. I really wanted to come across the line before he started announcing again.

I came into the finishing chute and Whit spotted me and it was really cool. He had the whole crowd up and cheering for me. It was very emotional, not because of the crowd so much but for the few members of the crowd that came to the finish line to greet me. All the other PC athletes were there, Andy, Craig, and Megan, all my Portland peeps, Grant, Justin, Rob, Matt, and Phil. It was so awesome. I timed my run at 1:50, but with all the messing around in the TZ and the med tent, my official time was 2:15.

I have to say, I will never attempt that course again. Its just too much climbing for me, my size, and my weak leg. I learned from this course and will benefit from doing it. Next season, I hope to win a Maui spot in Vegas so I don't have to try and make it on points plus I can skip the USA Championships which will be in Utah again.

Almost three weeks later, I am still sporting the sunburned arm tattoo of my number so I have something else, besides pain, to remember the race by.

Cyclocross season in full effect! Having fun at that, Im wondering if I will ever grow up.

Apple Triathlon 2009

2009-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

For starters, I almost didn't get to race but my good friend Meyrick worked his magic and got us both in (he was a late registration too). Its good to know Meyrick, not only for getting me late entry into races, but he's very good at motivating people.

Stacey, the kids, and I, spent most of the week in Salmon Arm with my parents and celebrated Taggy's 7th birthday at a fun park in Scotch Creek. I had not been there in at least 15 years and it has changed a lot. So, I trained, did a little water sliding, a little lake swimming, and had a few cold beers between Tuesday and Friday.

On Saturday AM, we got up early, sent the kids out fishing with Grandpa, and set out for Kelowna, a mere 90km away (or maybe 100km, I don't recall). After stopping in Vernon and eating at one of the worst choices for restaurants we could find (The Pantry), we made it to our destination. I had forgotten to look up the details of the check in etc and we had to wait a couple of hours before packet pick up was open. In the meantime, I rode part of the course with Meyrick, Ashley, and Chelsea, some Innovative Fitness athletes from Vancouver. About 4 km into the lap, Meyrick blew a tire. I'm talking a huge gaping hole in the sidewall of his spendy Specialized tire as well. Of course, a little flat turned out to be an ordeal as Meyrick had misplaced the extender for the valve, a very critical component for the type of rims he has. Thankfully, Ashley had a patch kit, something I haven't carried for years (but will start), and he patched the tube and the tire. It took three times but he finally got it right.

We finished the bike course, got to packet pick up, got our stuff, and Stacey and I went to our host's house. Marni was a professional cyclist for years and I worked with her team last year. She retired this season but her and her boyfriend, Corey, are part of Total Restoration Cycling. Actually, Corey is the director for the team. They usually do local BC races but have come to the Pacific NW for some as well. Their garage makes mine look empty, of bikes that is.

We got settled then went out to eat at the Pheasant and Quail, a little pub near the lake. After that, I dropped my bike off at the TZ and we went back to our house for a rest. It was very strange to have the quiet. No dogs, no kids, just us, our books, and a fan.

Had some pasta for dinner at Mama Rosa's then back to prep my bottles for race day. I tried to go to sleep at 10pm but it was hot and the fan we had in the room didn't seem to work all that well.

Alarm went off at 5am, I drank my usual 700 or so calories and ate a banana. I didn't have my usual race day GI upset which was strange. I was very relaxed for this race I guess.

Got to the TZ around 6:15am, stood in line for about 15 minutes to get body marked, then set out my gear. The TZ for the paratriathletes is separate from all the other athletes. I kind of like this and kind of don't. I like that we have so much room and we get chairs and helpers, I don't like that we stand out I suppose is the easiest way to describe it.

Anyway, our coordinator, Tabitha, met us in the TZ and she explained the Tri Canada rules to Stacey regarding what she can do for me. Mainly I wanted her there to help me on the boardwalk so I don't fall down like I did last year but she was told she could help me on the entire run and help me pull my wetsuit off, pretty sweet deal as that part can sometimes give me troubles.

We were off at 740am. The water was perfect for a short sleeve but the wind was about 20kph at least which made for a choppy swim. The course was two laps of 750m. Last year I did it in 26 and change, this year, 31 min. I didn't think I was that much slower but then again, last year i was swimming a lot more in preparation for Ironman Canada. I swallowed a lot of water and got swam over a few times after some of the age groupers caught up with us but I survived.

T1 was pretty typical except I didn't have trouble getting my wetsuit off since Stacey helped pull it off. I think it was almost exactly the same as last year, around 3 minutes.

Unlike at XTERRA the week before, I felt great when I first got on the bike. Right as I got into aero position, I passed Marni and Corey and it was great to hear them cheering for me. Around 1km into it, you hit Knox Mountain. Its not that steep but its challenging. I think its a little less than 750m long around 6-7% grade but I could be wrong. This year they had timing mats on the hill to stop cheaters I guess. I had a few people pass me on the hill but I passed my share of the sprint racers that had started around 25 minutes before us. I don't care that they were on MTB's, I passed someone dammit!!

The bike course was the same as last year and on each successive lap, the wind gradually died down and I made around the same time for each lap. I was aiming for 25 min or less and I got 25:20, 25:15, and 25:04, for a faster bike split than last year. I ave 31.2 kph, almost 1k faster/hr than last year. Marni and Corey were on Knox Mountain for my last lap, the cocky kids had ridden their cruiser bikes up the hill. I would be lucky to get half way up to where they were but anyway, it was very cool again to have someone cheer me on personally.

T2 was faster than last year and I had motivation this year. Stacey was running with me. We had talked the day before about my run strategy and discussed run/walking. I wanted to run the first 20-25 min then walk if I needed it. She pointed out all the obstacles and although I already saw most of them, I appreciated the heads up. Just before we got to the board walk where I fell the year before, there was a ramp which Stacey said she would run around it, making a joke about not wanting to be on it at the same time as me (guess it didn't look stable), and she almost bit it, catching her toe on the lip of the stair. Being a good husband, I didn't laugh...hard.

We got to the board walk and I grabbed her left arm. I guess people must have thought I was blind, they cheered our "team" a little more than the other athletes. I hope I was inspiring to them regardless. I ran around 37 minutes for that lap, felt pretty good. We ran past the transition area and back on the course for lap 2.

Around 1.5 km into it, we started walking and some guy from behind us, asked if we were both in the race. I said I was and Stacey was my helper. He said she couldn't do that and I would be disqualified. As he passed us, I said, yes she could, he said no you cant, its against the rules, and to this Stacey held up the badge she was given and yelled, "Paratriathlete Assistant, YES I CAN!!". Of course, he kept running but he turned around and very sheepishly said sorry. I wanted to run after him and call him a few names and tell him to mind his own freaking business but I was polite. It did however give me a little more energy to begin running again, sooner than I was planning.

Again on the boardwalk, I held onto her left arm, apparently I sweat all over it, and we made it to the finish area where I ran on my own across the line. Unlike last year, I didn't start to hyperventilate or become short of breath, I calmly walked straight out of the finishing chute across the the Athletes Village, and tore into a PBJ and a coke but not before giving my "handler" a big kiss and a thank you (had to do it before, shes allergic to peanut butter).

My run was almost 20 min faster than last year and I placed second behind Meyrick but since he is in a different category, I guess I won my division, Les Autre. My total time, 3:09....last year, 3:16. I'm hoping to break 3 hours next year. I couldn't stick around for awards which might have been a good thing because they couldn't find my results so I would have waited around for no medal or podium. They have the correct info now.

Its a fun race and I plan on doing it for as long as I can. I qualified again for World's in Hungary next year. Hope I can make that one. Right now, I have to concentrate on getting my MTB legs under me so the TT bike is put away until after XTERRA US Championships, Sept 26.

XTERRA Vashon Island

2009-07-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I did my second XTERRA event on Vashon Island. Unlike the Las Vegas XTERRA, this was not part of the Cup Series so there is no automatic qualifying for Maui by winning this race, only points. I have two more XTERRA races scheduled this summer and I should get enough points to get to Maui should I be able to go. I have pictures and will try and post them later.

I had never been to Vashon Island but I do want to go back, not only for the race, but its a great place to bike around, sight see, and get eaten alive by mosquitoes....okay, that last one is not on the list of good things about the island but nonetheless, its a nice place.

I drove up in about 2.5 hours, drove right on the ferry minutes before it left the dock, and spent 15 minutes on the boat before it reached the island. I drove to the race site but the people from BuDu Racing had already packed up. After talking to a couple of people, I was a little nervous about the first part of the bike course so I parked and walked up the first 500m or so. I quickly realized that, although their description was fairly accurate about the conditions of the trail, they weren't very MTB savvy. It was steep in sections and it had some sandy sections but it was definitely ride able (except the first part with the switch back to the 26% hill).

Satisfied with my reconnaissance mission, I drove to my accommodations for the night at the AYH Ranch. I chose, poorly I might add, to sleep in one of the dorm rooms of the hostel. I was going to be sharing with 5 other guys. I dropped my overnight bag off in the room and found out only top bunks were still available, this was not good for me but I could do it.

I went back into the town, ate dinner then drove back to AYH for a late packet pick up. The people of BuDu were great. I was going to be their first PC athlete ever in one of their events so they were not sure if they needed to do much else for me but I assured them that unless something drastic happened on course, they wouldn't have to worry about me.

A hostel is a very friendly place. I was chatting with a few other racers and got cornered by one guy from Portland that was either drunk, stoned, or both but either way, he was a bit of an ass. I was rescued by another guy from Arizona that was a former Pro in Motocross. Turned out he was also in my dorm room. During that time, the rain began to fall and I was wondering about the sandy part of the race course and if it was a good or a bad thing that it was raining.

Everyone seemed to be disappearing and going to bed so I went to my room, grabbed my book and came back out to the common area to read. Another mistake as when I went back to bed, there were 4 other guys snoring very loudly. I should have gone to sleep sooner then I would have been one of those guys snoring loudly. Around 11pm I went to bed and shortly after that, our 6th room mate, the guy right under me, came in. He smelled like campfire and cigarettes. Within minutes, he was snoring even louder than anyone else in the room. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Its amazing how much heat 6 guys can throw off. It was probably 80-85F in that room.

I didn't need my alarm, the one I had set for 6am, as I was wide awake due to the person showering at 5am right next to our room. The walls were basically just plywood so there was no insulation from the sound. I drank my breakfast, packed my gear, and just went out to the race site. The mosquitoes seemed to be less prevalent there.

My plan was to organize my TZ, then go back and rest in the truck. My start time wasn't until 9:07am and it was 7am when I got there. I got there, set up, then chatted with my new friend from AZ. I was on the first rack, closest to the bike exit, with two others. When I got there, they were just leaving for a lap of the course. I know its only a 5 mile loop but doing a pre-ride 1.5 hr before the start of the race seemed to be a little crazy. I decided to go on a short road ride at about 8am. I rode to where the bike course comes out to a paved road and back. I was looking forward to this part of the bike course as it was all downhill and it would be a good stretch of road to spin out the legs before the run.

The race course had changed since the day before due to some pissy neighbours. Instead of two 7 mile loops, we were doing 3 laps of 5 miles. The run course had also changed but since I didn't usually get concerned about a run course, I didn't know what the first course had looked like let alone the new one.

I had my short sleeve wetsuit on and in looking around, so did a lot of others. The water was around 62F, maybe a hair warmer but not much. The course was supposed to be 800m but when the turn around point was pointed out, there was no way it was going to be 800m. I swam it in 13 minutes and change which correlates to 1:40/100m if it truly was 800m and I know I'm not that fast. I only swam twice in the month prior to this race so I was looking at 1:50/100m or slower.....anyway, the water wasn't that cold and other than the few jelly fish that I saw, it was uneventful.

The exit point for the swim was onto barnacle covered rocks but luckily only for a few meters before the stairs then the grass. My typical slow T1 ensued and I was off to the bike part, my favourite.

The first lap didn't not go as I expected. I had to walk the entire first 3/4 mile or so. It seemed that each time I tried to mount my bike, my shorts got caught up on the saddle and I was not able to get clipped in and with the lack of momentum, I couldn't get going. Once I finally got on the bike, my legs were DEAD! It took about 20 minutes of riding to get them moving at a decent pace. One section of the course was not well marked and I went off course. Three of the lead women followed me, silly girls, but the race director was already aware of the problem and he was steaming towards us on his MTB yelling to turn around. There was some cussing from the ladies (bad girls), and it was back on course. I have to say, the bike course was so much fun that I wouldn't have minded doing another couple of laps. It was almost entirely single track and just technical enough to be challenging. I'm sure the pure road tri geeks were not as happy as me but I could look at this as an area I excelled in compared to them.

I pulled over for the fast people that were lapping me and the not so fast swimmers that were faster bikers and only had one fall during that. On the last of the three laps I felt that I was going much faster. I guess my legs were finally warmed up. I hammered that lap and caught a gal that had passed me earlier. About 2/3 of the way through the lap, it began to thunder and rain. The thunder was very loud and I think the race organizers were concerned about the lightening because as I went by the rent a cops that were directing traffic, they were shouting to us that we needed to get back to the TZ, no more laps on the bike.

T2 was shorter (according to my official times) than usual for me. I used a different ankle brace than any other race I had done and apparently, it was faster to get on than my lace up.

Leaving the TZ, the course went uphill for the first 3/4 mile. I actually ran some of it before dashing into the bushes to pee, then I decided to walk the rest of the hill. After emerging from that first uphill section, you went on a paved road for 20m or so, past the aid station, then back into the bush for a rolling trail run. I surprised myself and ran most of it. When the second lap was finished, all we had to do was run back down the hill..... not so easy for me but it was a fun little trail. Would have been more fun on my MTB but I survived. I had to carefully walk down some steep stuff but otherwise, I sort of jogged down. Didn't trip once I am happy to say. Well, now that I said that, I had to sit down rapidly on the last part of the trail, just before we got back to the paved road. It was extremely steep and pretty much sand. I got ankle deep, started to fall, so I just let my knees give and sat down til I slid to the bottom. After that it was a quick run down a dirt road, then across the finish line.

All in all, it was a great race for me. I had fun and I only fell down once. Since I was the only AWAD/PC/paratriathlete, obviously I got 1st in my division but as in all my races, my goal was to finish with a secondary goal of not being last....I'm not sure that's a good goal to have but they are my goals not yours.

Track fun

2009-05-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

Got my new track bike a couple of weeks ago. Its a KHS Flite 100 with custom built wheels (Miche hubs, two sided, and some sturdy rims, not sure the kind), Tufo S3 Pro tubular extra sticky tires, FSA carbon track hubs with a 49 tooth ring, Deda Pista track bars, Ritchey stem, Terry saddle, and Speedplay pedals. Soon, I will be getting the Speedplay track specific pedals, that is providing I am good enough on the track to justify the expense. I have been fitted to the degree that the seat height is pretty good but I am heading out to the track to have the final fit done while being watched while actually riding versus doing it on the trainer. Not only are these tires extra sticky (my opinion, not something they advertise) but they are pretty spendy too so I would rather not do the fit on the trainer anyway.

I have spent approximately 2.5 hours on the track so far. The first ride on it was a Friday night, the first "Fast Twitch Friday" of the season and we did flying 200m sprints....2 laps, then the third lap was timed for 200m. I thought I was going much quicker than my time showed,16:19, the fastest was 13:26, novice my ass ;) Oh well, I beat the fastest novice woman. My trusty mechanic, Dean, the one that built my bike for me, said he should have flipped the wheel to the smaller cog for the sprint (vs the warm up cog) but c'est la vie, next time. Normally on FTF, they have 200m sprints where you go head to head with someone else. I am a little nervous about this but I would love to try it. If you have ever seen it done, its pretty much a chess game for the 2 laps preceding the actual sprint then you can use your opponent (if you are near enough) to draft and launch around them....in theory. My nervousness is only due to my inexperience and the fact that someone else would be on the track when I am and I don't want to crash or have the opportunity to crash. I must say, it felt a whole lot different than when I went to Burnaby (wood track, shorter straights).

Last week, I went out to the track twice. On Wednesday I spent an hour out there getting used to the bike. I didn't have a clear plan when I got there and mostly it was going around and around. I warmed up for 20 minutes, timed my average lap which was not very good, around 30 seconds, then took a short break, drank some water and pondered my next moves. My coach had told me to try and do my sprint intervals on the track and see how I felt. The interval entails riding at my 40k TT speed for 1-4 minutes then sprinting all out for 30 seconds. Attempting to sprint while trying to hit the buttons on my watch was not in the cards so I just went for it after the watch hit 4 minutes and figured I could gauge where 30 seconds was in my head. Um, NOT!!! The first sprint I did 3 laps. I know my lap speed was falling off towards the end but this gave me an idea of how I need to race the kilo, when I get to that point. My HR was up around 189 (after I DL my data from my watch, I will have a better idea of the actual BPM) and I was breathing very heavy. Another thing about a fixed gear bike, you cannot really rest after the sprint, your legs have to keep going even though they might be going slower. Not to mention the fact that you need the speed to stay on the bank or go onto the apron with more speed than you might want.

I rode on the track instead of the apron and kept my speed up just enough so I didn't fall off the bank but all the while watching my HR come down. Unlike being on the road, my HR came down ever so slow because I still had to put out the effort to stay on the bank. I rode for 5 minutes like that then ramped up for the next TT/sprint interval. I decided to only do two laps for this one but that decision was made during lap 2 and I felt I didn't have the gas to do three. Again, I have no idea what my time was but again when I looked at my HRM, I was pumping 186bpm. Another cool down for 5 minutes then another sprint session, this time only 1 lap. I did that one more time but with less rest for the last one.

I noticed a scary thing that I did on a couple of the sprints. I was trying to do the "dog humping a football" thing that Jeremy told us at the Burnaby track, and in doing so, I pulled the front end off the track. At whatever speed I was already going, pulling the wheel up and slightly sideways was very dangerous. I didn't lose control at all but it really made me nervous. I talked to coach and she gave me a few pointers as well as directed me to a video showing the proper technique.

I went out again two days later without a plan again but I just wanted to get used to the track and the bike. I did a long warm up, around 30 minutes, and then some 200m sprints. The HR got up there again in the high 180's, but it came down quicker this time, not sure why.

The track thing is fun but I still have heaps to learn. Tomorrow, I hope to get all the fit items sorted out and learn some techniques from some salty veterans of the velodrome. The folks at Bike Central are cool enough to let me come out to their track time/practice and I am eager to play.

Nothing new to update on the classification side of things. I was hoping to go to Nationals and get classified but as was suspected, the French seem to have the clout with the CCA and they swiped track nats from Burnaby. What is truly interesting and almost makes me want to become a US citizen....almost, is the note I sent to USA Cycling regarding classification was replied to in 3 hours, inviting me to US Paracycling Nationals a short 3 hour drive from me and it also included an email address for one of the US team docs who is an international classifier. I emailed him and got a response from him the next day.

I know there are more athletes etc in the US but I found it sad that in all the things i have sent to people that can help me within the Canadian system have been all but ignored (one response from a classifier back in March but nothing since). I will head to the US Nats, not to race but to get classified, then I will work on the new coach/manager for the Canadian High Performance program.

I often wonder if I am putting too much effort into this classification thing. I mean, I will be 46 by the time the next Paralympics comes around, is that too late? Ciao for now.

XTERRA Las Vegas, West Cup

2009-05-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my first XTERRA triathlon. I have raced MTB for years and although courses longer than 15 miles were not my favourite, I endured them. I got to Las Vegas on Thursday and headed straight to the bike store to rent my bike. It was a Santa Cruz Blur, full suspension, XT drive train and Fox shocks. Pretty sweet ride.....for a TANK!! In its defence, I have beed riding my steel hard tail that only weighs 22lb for more than 10 years so I am spoiled. I think this thing weighed in at very close to 30lb. I dropped the bike off at my mom's place then went out to the race hotel to get things finished and go to the race briefing.

I orginially signed up for the XTERRA Cup race and after the race briefing, I was still convinced that was what I was going to do. I hoped I would get one of the Hawaii spots for the World Championships in October.....not that I can afford it right now but you never know what can happen in a few months. Went home after that, had dinner, got my stuff prep'd for the following day, then had a much needed good night's sleep.

I got up early the next day and went out to the race site to pre-ride the course. There were loads of people in the parking lot and being the friendly lot that most MTB riders are, a few of us chose to ride the course together. I had orignially planned on riding about 2-3 miles of the course and skipping the hard climb and just checking out the bike and its nuances but peer pressure and all got me to ride the whole thing. I rode all the down hills and walked up some of the steep stuff. The toughest down hill was around mile 3 and it was steep and loose. I made it down 75% then locked up my front wheel when I was trying to turn, hit a big rock and over I went. I landed mostly on my right side (I know this because of the numerous scratches and abrasions on my right side). As I was getting up and moving my bike off the trail in case one of my riding partners was bold enough to ride it, I heard the air escaping from the front tire. The rock I hit caused a pinch flat but thankfully I had a spare tube and quick fill cartridges.

I had the front wheel off and was changing it when the others made it to the bottom. A long time ago, when I raced MTB, I could change a tire in under 5 minutes but it took a while longer. After I put the front wheel back on and headed down the hill, I could hear the disc brake rubbing a bit but not so much that I was worried about it.

After that little mishap, I told my cohorts I was going to head back to the car, which I could see from my crash site but once again, peer pressure and all that had me riding the course again.....the hard part was over we convinced ourselves. The course, by the way, was very wide open and you could see most of it from the transition area.

After my crash, I took it very easy and tried not to push my effort too much. There were two other hills I ended up walking up and I skipped the last portion of the single track. I had to leave my Chamois Butt'R at home because I took everything on the plane with me and I didnt want to give it up when they searched my luggage and I was beginning to regret that BIG TIME. My nether regions were sore and I knew the next day wouldnt not be happy after the race.

After the ride, I went inside to the registration area to pay for my USAT one day licence and decided that one lap would kill me and I didnt think I could do two laps and still walk the next day. It was a tough decision as I most likely would have got a spot for the World Championships in Hawaii if I could have finished (there were not many AWAD/PC/Paratriathletes entered).

I got back to my car around 11am and headed back to Mom's place. I had originally planned on stopping at REI and buying some trekking poles but since I had changed to the shorter course, I skipped that idea too. I went back to the house, put my Skin's compression pants on and fell asleep. The pre-ride really took a lot out of me.

5pm, Mom wanted to go to Red Lobster for dinner.....otay Mom, sounds good. Had some scallops, rice, and chicken, drank a lot of water and skipped desert. We went to Target on the way home to get the boys something. AFter that, went home, got stuff ready, watched a movie, then went to sleep.....

I didnt really get much sleep. I kept reviewing the downhill where I crashed and my decision to go to the Sport race instead of the Cup race. Over and over, I kept thinking about my line down that damn hill. I woke up at 4am and downed my usual 720 calorie liquid breakfast and a banana. We were out the door by 5AM and at the race site by 540AM.

The transition was about half a mile from the swim start so after dropping my bike and run gear at the TZ, Mom dropped me off at the Hotel for the swim start then went back so she could take pictures of me getting out of the water. I made my way to the swim start and chatted with a couple of people from Boise that knew one of my team mates then got in the water for a warm up. The water was probably 67-68 F but everyone was saying it was colder....they should swim somewhere other than Vegas Im thinking, it was nice enough for a short sleeve.

I didnt expect my swim to be that great considering my lack of swimming over the past 4 months but I did expect to be able to get through the 750m fairly easily. Apparently, I did OK after seeing the results but it wasnt great by any means. I think it was longer than 750m but by how much, I dont know. My time was around 19 minutes. The wind picked up and after we turned broadside to it, the chop made it hard to breathe to the right.

My T1 time was slow as the TZ was set up on dirt and running from the water along that surface made me take a couple minutes longer to clean my feet and put my socks on (road tri's I never wear socks). Because of the amount of walking I was going to have to do, I debated whether to put on my ankle brace or not but adrenaline was surging and I just wanted to get on my "tank" and ride.

The bike ride was tough, coming straight out of the TZ into a lengthy climb then a short downhill followed by the climb called "Dave's Outhouse"....not sure why. It was around 23-28% grade and even some of the pro's had to walk it I heard. At the top of that 200m section (might have been 50m but it seemed long), you got to mount your bike for a short DH section then back up a 20% grade then down another short hill, very loose, to a 110 degree turn to the right and back up another hill.

This was the section I had been up all night dreaming about. Should I ride it or shouldnt I? I got down most of the hill then saw heaps of people going SLOOOOOOOOOOOW down in front of me and I decided that I would walk the steep part which I think was around 20-22% grade.

AFter that section, the really hard part was over and I settled in for the pain of the rest of the ride. A couple of steep hills which were rideable, a river bed which I didnt ride, and some fun single track right next to the lake. I wish they would have had more of this type of riding as it is what I am best at, technical single track with some rocks and roots, but alas, we were in the desert and that wasnt an option I suppose.

T2 was slow. I changed socks, put my ankle brace on, and tied my shoes while standing ( I usually sit down but I didnt feel like sitting down in the dirt and my back was beginning to seize). I left T2 and was running but it was down hill so it was easy. I ran for less than 200m then walked up, up, and more up. The run course was pretty much up hill to the turnaround then all down hill to the finish line. It was pretty uneventful except I got to see some of the pro's and the fast age groupers descending one of the hills on the MTB course. They made it look easy. I walked from the turn around, down a steep hill, then started jogging down the less steep section, up another hill, then all down to the finish. There wasnt much fanfare at the line (at least not as much as I expected) but since there were only 350 or so competitors, I guess it was OK. I crossed the line, got my finisher medal and went back to the car. I dropped my MTB off with the place I got it from; Im happy they were a sponsor so I didnt have to get dear old mom to haul this monster back to the shop in Vegas.

The host resort let the competitors use their pool which was very nice, so I got my gear, left mom with a book sitting in the shade, and I went swimming. The water was cold but welcoming as my feet were on fire. I had some gravel rash from the day before and this gal asked if I was OK.....truth be told, I was feeling very lightheaded and a little dizzy but I just smiled and said something about falling down while playing on my bike. I sat in the water for a few then sat down on a lounge chair and the dizziness was not going away. I got up, got dressed, and went and found mom. I needed food apparently.....first time this year, racing in heat and dry weather caught up with me. I thought I had enough calories in me but it wasnt til after I ate and had no more strange feelings, did I realize I was wrong.

Things I learned from my first XTERRA: a short MTB ride can be one hell of a lot harder than a long road ride; running up hill with foot drop, not so easy, running down the same hill with foot drop and a leg that doesnt catch up very quickly, really hard; racing in the desert requires more fuel intake than you think, especially if you train in the rain forests of the Pac NW; riding a rental bike isnt so bad unless it weighs 30lb but it was lots cheaper than bringing my own bike.

I highly recommend it to all triathletes..... come on Meyrick, you know you want to try it. The only other PC athlete in the race was BK. He did the bike course twice in 1:40, I did one lap in 1:15.

Racing 105

2009-04-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote, Racing 101, so in the spirit of higher learning, the next course, entitled Racing 105, is not too advanced, but another learning experience nonetheless.

Got to PIR a little later than last time and still had to get dressed. Had not even put my number on. I got geared up and went out to sign in only to find a massive line up. I finally got to the front, after one of the officials called all of the Cat 4/5's up as our race was going to start in a few minutes. I found out that the team got a pass for the season so I wont have to pay for anymore races at PIR this year.

I got my bike and was going to do a quick warm up but they were staging us so I went to the line with "cold" legs. I started out at the front but before the half way point of the first lap, I was at the back. I tried to make my way up through the group but every time I got to where I wanted to be, there would be an acceleration. I took my coach's advice and started anticipating these surges and it worked great. On the second, third, and most of the fourth lap, I stayed on the wheel of the same guy who was on his team mates wheel. They looked like they knew what they were doing. The front guy kept making sure his buddy was behind him and he wasn't letting go of that wheel for nothing. Unfortunately, this guy, and a few other Cat 4's were using this race as a warm up for the Cat 3/4 race and before I knew it, the wheel I was following pulled off and I was on my own.

Like last time, I hammered with the little gas I had left but to no avail. I looked around for others that got dropped but apparently, all the people that hung out at the back of the field with me were all Cat 4's and they were staging for their next race. I finished my second Cat 5 race of my career albeit last again but it was another learning experience. Today's lesson, follow someone you know is a Cat 5.

Racing 101

2009-04-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

So, March 29, my first road race of the year. It was called "Piece of Cake". They should name it "Stay with the pack or have fun riding by yourself in the WIND!". It was fun and all but I probably wouldn't race with the Masters 40+ again. The category is deceiving. These are just fast guys that got old I think. I am definitely not one of those people. Race was slated for 3 laps of 17 miles. On the advice of coach, I tried to stay in the front of the group but each time there was a corner, the front people would accelerate and I couldn't hang onto a wheel so I would keep losing my place in the group. About 13 miles into the first lap, with our average speed ranging from 16-30 mph, I looked behind me and heard the guy next to me say, "yep, we're last, but don't worry, its only the first lap...." Um, OK. Then we turned right onto another road that had a short slight downhill. The group accelerated to over 40 mph and I lost the last wheel of that group and that was the end of my race. I looked behind me and saw one other guy 20 yards back but he was losing ground too. I chased by myself for 2-3km at over 50 km/h but somehow kept losing ground. I crossed the finish line for the start of lap #2 and kept putting out to try and catch the group. I waited for the one guy behind me to catch up in hopes he and I could work together, maybe get closer. I followed his wheel for about a mile then I took my turn..... no sooner did I start my pull when I looked back, he was already 100m back. I said screw it and just went out on my own.

It was a windy day, did I mention that? I was maxing out my HR and my legs were burning. I just kept going. AT one point, I could see the group but it was at the most windy spot that I saw them, maybe half a mile up the road. I also turned around once because I didn't think I was going the right direction and found the guy I lost back at the start of lap 2. He seemed to think we were going the proper direction so I turned around again. I then looked back and could see the women's field catching us. I told this guy I didn't want to be caught by the ladies before the finish of lap 2 so I took off, hoping I could stay away for 7 more miles. With about 4 miles to go, the Cat 1/2/3 women's leaders passed me. One of my friends, Lindsay Fox, was in the lead with one other gal and cheered me on. Their chase group passed me and I tried to latch onto them but realized I probably wasn't supposed to do that and even though i was going to DNF anyway (a third lap on my own wasn't going to happen), I didn't want a DQ. I stayed about 100m off the back of the group til the finish line, then I went back to my truck. I saw another one of my teammates and she DNF'd too. It was a good training experience. It proved I wasn't ready to race at that level just yet but I think I will give it another go at that race next year and with more training and more experience racing, I will do better.

Last Tuesday I did another race. It was at Portland International Raceway, our local auto race track, 1.9 miles long. This time I went with the regular Cat 5's (versus the Masters 40+ Cat 5's). Actually, it was a 4/5 race. My hope for this race was to finish with the group. The race was 6 laps and it was tough. I lined up at the start right at the front of the group. I looked back and there were maybe 40 other guys and a few women. I figured there were enough people that I could draft for the whole race and finish in the middle. Wow, was I wrong.

Right from the gun, I went from the front to mid pack in less than 100m. For the first 1K, I was just getting used to riding in a huge group and being very tentative. I tried to stay on a wheel at all times. After each corner, the group would accelerate and I would lose a few places. I had a lot of trouble with each acceleration and I struggled to get back on. My HR was spiked the whole time. I averaged 179 for 20km and it was over in 27 minutes. We were told we would get a bell to let us know we were on the last lap and I had lost track of laps and went to the front at the start/finish line when I though we were heading into lap 6.....I was wrong again.

When I got to the front of the group, I slowed right down, hoping others would follow suit and I could try and stay up there for the finish straight, 3km down the road. By the end of the front straightaway, I was already being spit out the back. I looked back and one more guy was behind me so I kept on my pace and rode the last lap and a half on my own. I finally finished a road race, learned a lot, and didn't come in last. I was going to race this week too but it wasn't in the cards.

It was fun and I am looking forward to doing much more racing at PIR over the next few months and I am having a track bike built. Even if they aren't able to give me a para cycling classification, I am still going to go balls out on the track. Speaking of classification, should CCA not get back to me soon, I'm looking into the British Cycling Federation. Maybe they can help a brother out, I am a dually you know. OK, ciao for now

Last week........ reality sets in

2009-03-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

You ever have one of those weeks where you just want to put your bikes on Craigslist and eat bon bons instead of training? I usually don't have weeks like that but I often have days like that and I dislike the feeling.

I have lofty goals this year, the biggest one being the national para cycling team. If I can be classified, I think I can make it. The only problem with it is I cant seem to get a return call or email from the only person I know that has the information for the two classifiers in Vancouver. Sent two emails and left a voice mail but to no avail. Yesterday, I emailed the British Paracycling team to find out if I can get on their team. Haven't heard anything yet but I'm patient. I was browsing through old emails and found one from 2003. It was a response from the same guy I have been trying to get in touch with from the National Cycling Center. It too said he would be in touch with me after finding out something for me..... still waiting for that one too. I knew I heard his name before, just couldn't figure out where until the weekend.

Anyway, over a week has passed since I began writing this so I forget where I was going with the first paragraph but I'm hopeful as I keep writing, I remember......

Oh yeah, the bike thing. Last week, I only got in 108 miles over 6 hours. I felt pretty crappy about it. This week, however, started very well...... It started with a day off, HAHAHA. Well, I'm doing intervals now, unlike before when i was just riding to ride so my time on the trainer tonight wont be as boring.

Still don't remember where I was going with this post but it will come. until next time, bubye

Track junkie

2009-02-23T14:00:00.001-08:00

I think I am officially a track junkie. Short, fast races (for para cycling anyway, 3-4k max), and its what my body was meant for. I have been doing triathlon for almost 5 years since my injury and until last year, I only competed against myself. Granted, I did okay in my age group but I always wanted to compete against other athletes with disabilities. Having said that, I have yet to find another spinal cord injured athlete that isn't in a wheelchair. Triathlon is great but I'm loving going fast, even if its just for a few minutes.

Last week, I went to Burnaby BC to ride in their velodrome with some athletes from the National Cycling Center in Calgary. All of these athletes are disabled in some way or another. We had four amputee's, one head injured, and me, spinal cord injury. Only two of us had been on a track before, me being one of them, and I had not been on a fixie for almost 7 years. I must say, the first look at the banking on this track was a bit worrisome and I was nervous. We were told, any less than 30km/h and you will fall off the track. One of our gals did just that on her first lap. Right before that they said there are two kinds of bike racers, those that have crashed and those that are going to crash.... I went over, knocked on the wood track and said, I haven't crashed yet. That's not altogether true either, I crashed a lot while racing my MTB, but so far, not on my road bike.

We had three days, two hours per day, on the track. I have to say, I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Our first day was just getting used to the track. Out of two hours, I probably only rode for a third of it not because I was tired but because we were still learning and we needed some alone time on the track. I took some time out to evaluate the knee of one of the other riders. He had fallen the week before and his "good" leg was hurting to the point where he had to come off the track. He definitely should not have been out there, he couldn't even pedal hard due to the amount of pain he was in. When I did a cursory exam and brief history of his problem, it was apparent that he had some meniscus damage and possibly some patellar injury as well. He was having an MRI, scheduled after his fall last week, today so I'm dying to find out what the official diagnosis is.

The second day was a lot more fun. The only thing was my not feeling well. I woke in the morning and felt crappy physically. My legs felt great but my GI system was not happy with whatever I ate the night before and I was going to cancel my track time. I am thankful we had until 1pm so I rested until I had to leave for the velodrome. Once I got out there, I didn't want to come off because I felt so good. Meyrick, Mark, JP, and I all got together and rode in a pace line, each of us taking one lap pulls.... at least that was the plan, JP did a few extra pulls, but that's okay, he got it eventually. He was a little squirrely as well at first and I'm just glad Meyrick was on his wheel and I was on MJ's. I quickly learned, thanks to Mark, that moving up track, slows you down rather rapidly. you don't have to move that far but if you are drafting, you catch the wind, and you go up hill slightly and according to Mark, you slow 2-3kph when you move 1-2 feet away from the draft..... that sounded kind of strange, but if you got that, you know what I'm talking about.

After our warm up of 25-30 laps, Meyrick, JP, JP, and I all did some intervals. Those were hard especially considering how ill I felt earlier in the day. I thought I was going to puke so I had Brian bring a garbage pail closer to the track. I'm happy to say, I didn't have to use it. The goal of the intervals was to be as consistent as possible. The plan was to do 3 easy laps then two hard laps. I averaged 17.4 +/- 0.3 seconds for each lap of my interval sprints. Meyrick pulled off a 16.1 first lap then fell off from there but he wanted to see what speed he could go. I was pissed (at myself, I'm very competitive) he beat me on that lap but I averaged better overall. I had done a couple of hard efforts earlier in the session so I was a little tired and I thought it would show on the last couple of my four intervals but it didn't. From there, we did about 25-30 lap warm down and then went for dinner. It was a great session and I felt pretty good about my new found passion for track racing.

Friday was our last day on the track. I got on the track as soon as I got ready. It was cold in there and I needed to warm up. I probably rode 20 laps on my own and then we did the same pace line warm up we did the day before. We didn't do any sprints but we practiced our track starts. I was using a rental bike with a huge gear, 51-16, and I had a tough time getting out of the gate but once I was rolling, it was perfect. I think for a kilo, I might use a different gear but for the pursuit, I will use something like that. Again, we did a 25-30 lap warm down to finish up our session.

Afterwards, Meyrick and I talked to Stephen. I know he is not the guy responsible for the national team but he does know the system and the way to make the team. There are three people necessary for classification for para cycling. Two of whom live in the Vancouver area. While they cannot get me officially classified, they can give me an idea whether I will be able to be classified or not. I guess, until then, I'm in limbo as far as trying to make the National team. I'm waiting to hear from Stephen to get the classifiers info so I can make plans to go to Vancouver and get this taken care of once and for all. Technically, I'm classified in triathlon, but cycling has different categories so, who knows, I might just have to race my bike in the masters category and forget about the other stuff. In the meantime, check out MJ's blog for pics and his take on the whole velodrome thing.

Week 1 on my quest to be a cyclist

2009-02-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

My coach Melissa sent me my schedule at the end of January. I had probably been riding about 2-3 times a week on the trainer but when the weather permitted, I was out on the road.

For week one, the schedule called for 4 days of riding, some spinning, some lower RPM pushing, some hill repeats, and more spinning. Interspersed in there somewhere was core work and stretching. I gotta admit, I didn't do as much stretching as I should have done on the prescribed days but I do try and stretch certain muscle groups all the time.

My HR zone was 131-152, which I kept to for the most part. I say the for the most part because on the hill repeats/standing intervals, I could not keep the damn thing below 166. I would stand up, slowly turn the cranks, watching my HR rise. It would hover close to 152, then when I looked again, it was up past 160 so I would sit down and spin my HR down. I was amazed at how the rate would go down when I was climbing a hill but then again, I don't think I concentrated on lowering my HR before, hill or no hill.

Energy level was pretty good. I expected to be tired but I was not. My first spinning session after my rest day was awesome. 90RPM for 2 hours and HR ave 142.

Soreness. I feel no more sore than if I was training for IM. My glutes are tight and my calf has cramped a little while sitting, but overall, I'm feeling no pain.

I tried out a friend's track bike the other day but alas, it is a little too short. When the saddle is up at the proper level, the drop to the bars is quite low, like more than 10cm and that will be way too uncomfortable. I'm thinking about buying one cheap and if it doesn't work out that I am on the track very much, I can sell it for what I paid for it or more.

I'm on week two now, we go Sunday through Saturday, and so far, I have gone 33 miles in 2 hrs and change. Tonight's ride will be on the trainer but two hours on the trainer doesn't sound like much fun.

Back to training with a coach

2009-02-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

I signed up to work with a coach again. This time I am using a cycling coach because my focus is pretty much only on cycling. I will do a few triathlons this year but probably won't do much more than an Olympic. My new coach, Melissa Sanborn, is an elite athlete I have worked with before when she was riding for Subway Express and I was a soigneur for them at Sea Otter. She is an excellent rider and someone I think I can learn a lot about racing from.

Prior to my injury, I only entered one road race, the Banana Belt, and I DNF'd. The race was in March. I got dropped in the first 6 miles of a hilly course and after one lap, I packed it in. I had only done mountain bike racing before that and I never used a coach before. I did one other road race at the Portland International Raceway a couple of years ago, finished, but I was on my own when I did so. I think I lasted for 6 of 9 laps with the group, and that was in mid summer. I was training for IM Florida at that time so I had some base but had no idea what to do as far as race tactics go and for some dumb reason, I took a few pulls out front and blew up.

Today, I started my new plan. For the most part, February will be base building. She is starting me at "base building 2" because I have been riding for a while and should be able to adapt pretty quickly to the program. I have to work on my cadence as my plan calls for 90+ RPM and almost all last year I was doing much lower. I did a 2 hour ride and I can say I did at least 90RPM for 95% of it. My HR target was 132-152 and I averaged 145 for 120 minutes. Unfortunately, I averaged 16.7 mph. I stayed in my 39 tooth ring and stayed in the 16 and 17 cogs. For some of the ride, I wished a 16.5 existed because at times, my HR went up in the high 150's in the 17 and with the 16, the cadence was up in the 100's. My butt was sore but overall it was a pretty good ride.

Tomorrow is core strengthening day, no riding, but Im excited as I think this will be a great program and I am positive I will get stronger than ever on my bike.

Eating healthy isnt that easy

2009-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

So, after reading my friend Meyrick's blog about his "10 day nutrition blitz", I decided to follow his lead. I had been eating way too much and sometimes, it wasnt the best food for me. I love good tasty food and I cant leave a crumb on the plate. With two growing boys, they usually eat what is put in front of them, but if they didnt I would finish theirs as well as what Stacey didnt eat. I was always working out so it didnt matter but in the past few months, my training schedule has been intermittent to say the least. I wouldnt say I gained a lot but all the work I did in training for Ironman Canada was gone and I was back where I started last January, around 240lb.

Anyway, last week, Friday, I believe, I started my own 10 day blitz. I cut out coffee, alcohol, processed foods, pasta, and heaps of other things I cant remember. I do remember how much I miss the taste of things like burgers, pasta's, etc.

I went down the Whole Foods with my list. Its very expensive. I spent $75 on about 5 day's worth of food (I have a picture I will post later, the basket was very empty). I didnt tell Stacey what I was doing right away, not sure why, just didnt. She is such a good cook, I wish I told her sooner because after forwarding MJ's blog to her, she began making meals with all the things I was supposed to eat and nothing I wasnt and OMG, how great it tastes.

Here are the pro's. I dont feel bloated/full all the time. I have saved heaps of money on eating at restaurants and coffee places. Im pretty sure I dropped a few pounds just from eating more vegetables and fruits and cutting out any kind of bakery goods.

The con's. My GI system is working OT and although there is more about that, I wont go into it. Eating healthy is damn pricey. I want to eat some pie from the fridge.

I actually dont miss the coffee. I think its more the social aspect of the coffee thing. I did everything completely by the book Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday, I had a burrito at lunch during a class downtown. It had chicken, rice, black beans, peppers, onions, and some salsa. I cant think it had much in the way of bad items in it. Most likely, the onions and peppers that were cooked in something other than olive oil, but the rest was pretty grease free. Today, I had some seafood cioppino from Trader Joe's. Other than the salt content, it looked pretty healthy on the bag. I almost ate a cookie today but I was happy with my will power.

Im hoping I can keep it up, even beyond the 10 days that MJ had for his challenge. Im pretty sure I can keep away from Starbucks and Peets and maybe just have it as a treat once a week or so. My birthday is next week.... wait, thats after 10 days, YEEHAW!! But then there is Superbowl this weekend........ wish me luck.

I did it

2009-01-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Went outside for the first outdoor ride of the year, only did 14 miles in an hour but in my defense, there were a few hills and Im not a hill climber but Im hell at descending, YEEEEEEEEEHAW!!

Anyway, it was a little treacherous on the descent from my house and I took it real easy. It was still chilly and there was some frost on some of the road that hadnt been hit by the sun yet.

Today was nice, there was some sun but overall, it was cloudy and I dont think there was one time where I almost got run off the road today.

My toes are still cold and numb but my core is warm and since Im sitting here nekkid writing this, I believe I will get in the shower. While Im in there, I will try to decide what my focus is going to be this year, XTERRA World's or trying to make the National paracycling team. Wish me luck, I think I can do both but its all about the Benjamins and I aint gots none, k bye.

First outdoor ride of the year

2009-01-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I am trying to go outside for a ride but its cold, real cold, like less than 40F cold but Im going to suck it up and get out there and do my thing. Perhaps I will be riding my rain bike, recently re-equipped with fenders after a stellar performance during cyclocross or perhaps my road bike, one (maybe more than one) more time before I clean it up and try and sell it, or my beat up MTB, which could use a new front brake and a new shock. Who knows, but if I dont get my ass out there soon, I will lose interest, soooooooooo, Im out, thanks for calling, ps, have a nice day, bubye.
DS

Escape from Alcatraz..... Im in, now what?

2008-12-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I foolishly read MJ's blog and decided to click on a link, which took me here and then I clicked the enter button for the lottery for one of the coolest tri's in the US, and today, I got this email (below) ..... DAMN! Now I have to train for a super hard race with no flat sections to speak of....

Congratulations DARREN SMITH!
Your registered email address is: [Email]Your registered date of birth: 2/3/1966
Please follow this link to register for the race:https://secure.escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com/index.cfm/override/92,1,1-E6FEDD6A694668ABB91FF2F9ABA0C202.htm
You are one of the exceptional triathletes that has been selected as a Random Drawing Winner for the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. As a Random Drawing Winner, you receive a slot in the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon to be held in San Francisco on June 14, 2009. You have until January 9, 2009 at 11:59 pm to register for the race and pay your registration fee. Your slot is non-transferable and will be void on January 10th. We recommend that you register right away to make sure that you are able to complete the process, don’t wait until January 9. On June 14, you will get to jump off a perfectly good boat into the frigid water of the San Francisco Bay, swim with 2000 of your best friends from Alcatraz to Little Marina Green. You will climb out of the water and run (with or without shoes) one half mile to the transition area, jump on your bike and ride 18 miles (most people say that it is all up hill) and then run 8 miles under the Golden Gate Bridge, through the sands of Baker Beach, up the infamous sand ladder and back to Marina Green to the finish line. What a great way to spend the day! If you need any assistance please e-mail registration@escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com and give us a description of what you need and we will have someone contact you.
We look forward to seeing you in June,
Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon Event Staffwww.escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com
You are receiving these messages as you have previously participated in The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon or have recently signed up for a race or the random drawing. To ensure that you get future messages, please whitelist all email coming from the domain "escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com". You are currently subscribed as "drdsmith@hotmail.com". If you need to update your email address or would like to opt out, please contact: registration@escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com

So, now Im trying to figure how Im going to do this since Stacey has Boise 70.3 on her schedule and it coincides with EFA.... Not only that but this is a hell of a race, no AWAD category so Im going AG but it wouldnt matter anyway, looks like for me, its going to be a survival thing.

Running on the beach with my ankle might be a tough one, climbing stairs, riding up silly 18% hills could be tough on me. It might be my A race for the year for triathlon at least since I want to be a bike racer next season and try and make the Canuck team. Who knows, but I really want to do this race so Im hoping I can do it.

Its that time of year..... Part 1, work

2008-12-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Yep, time to reflect on the past year and all the things that have gone right, wrong, and in between. I will start with my year in work and follow with my year in sport and if I confuse you, as they say in la belle province, c'est la vie.

I spent the first part of the year being a stay at home dad, working a few hours a week doing physical exams for a trucking company. On top of the PE's, I had to give them pee tests as well. Yum, that was fun. I learned that truckers, as a group, are the most unhealthy people I have ever met. All of the people I examined were newly hired employee's but not all were new to trucking. I tried to give advice to all of them about smoking, walking/exercise, and eating habits, but with the short time I had with them, Im not sure how well it worked. As gas was creeping up in price, it was costing me more to go to work than I was making so after making no headway to get a gas allowance from them, I resigned.

A few months ago, I found out that I would have been layed off anyway as the company HQ in Nebraska, hired a new medical officer and he said he didnt want chiropractors doing the PE's. Old school MD, wouldnt even listen to reason and the company backed him up on it even though it cost them a ton of coin in the long run to have MD's doing the exams. Oh well, not my problem... ok, I have a problem with closed minded health care professionals of any sort but I wont get into that.

In early April, my friend Molly connected me with Lisa Hunt, the director for the Value Act Capital women's pro cycling team. I agreed to work for the team at the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico and I was gone for 8 days. Longer than I had ever been away from the family before. Thats was a great experience for me and I agreed to do additional races with the VAC team later in the season. Turns out, that was the only race I could do with the team but I keep in touch for possible future work.

Not long after I got back from NM, I had an offer to work with the men's pro team, Bissell, at the Mt Hood Classic. Another great experience, but I was away for almost another whole week. I love doing the work but it doesnt pay as much as I should be making to justify being gone from home for that long. At the time, however, I wasnt working much in an office as a chiropractor so this was fun and it paid me a bit.

In mid May, an acupuncturist friend of mine asked if I wanted to work in the office he was in. They were looking to replace another chiro that wasnt fitting in very well and since Terry and I had worked together before, I came out to look at the office. After talking to the owner, I agreed to work with them. Its been a long process to get used to the way things work in that office but after 6 months, I think Im getting the hang of it. The clinic is Russian owned and staffed and we market to Russian's that get into auto accidents. Myself and Terry are the only native english speaker's in the place so that is tough at times with my lack of knowledge of the culture and language.

In the summer, I do a lot of work with the Oregon Youth Soccer Association and their Olympic Development Program (ODP). I provide medical support for the ODP tryouts throughout the year as well as a couple of tourney's, one is during Memorial Day weekend in May. This coming January, when its cold and wet here, I get to travel to Phoenix for a regional ODP tourney. It will be a very long weekend but should be a nice break from the dreary weather here in Oregon.

My friend Jonathan and I have done medical for the Premier 50, a soccer camp for the top 50 high school girls in the country, for the past 2 years. This year, due to some politics that I didnt understand, they cancelled it and put a 7 on 7 touch football tourney in its place. This was a good experience for football as we had a few more injuries than I normally get at the Premier 50 camp.

I was asked to work at the Cascade Cycling Classic in Central Oregon for the UCI Pro Continental team, BMC, but as I had been gone for so many days already this year, I had to turn them down. This is the first year since 1998 that I have not worked at the event for one team or another.

The annual family trip to Mexico was pushed back from the normal winter travel time to June, after the kids were out of school. Stacey's brother Andy was deployed to Iraq with his Air Force Reserve Unit and since he was gone until April, we postponed the trip to June. That sounded redundant but you get the point. Andy is a Major (then Captain) and an engineer with the 557th Red Horse Squadron and they basically build stuff (sorry, dont really know what they built). Anyway, thankfully, Andy returned home safe and sound with all the ammo that he was issued with when he left.... The trip was great, a welcome rest that came immediately after I did World's. I was still training for Ironman Canada so I was trying to swim and run when I could but having never run in extreme humidity (extreme for me, 80%), it was very difficult. Swimming, my strong suit, consisted of maybe 3 short swims but more on that later.

For the past 8 seasons, I have been the team chiropractor for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. This season, the team was up for sale, and in late October, they were sold to a Calgary businessman. The new owner cleaned house, fired the head coach, one of his assistants, the head trainer (he had been there 32 years), and some of the front office staff. He hired all new staff, all with NHL experience. The new trainer had worked with the NY Islanders and the Olympic team in Bejiing this summer. I went to meet him and left him a resume. Not to 'apply' for a job, but more to let him know what I was all about. He said he would call me later that week. He never did. I tried to get him on the phone but had no luck so at the next home game, I showed up, like always, and was prepared to do what I always did on game day. I wanted to find the trainer first but by the time I finally found him, all the guys that wanted to be adjusted, had to get dressed for warm up. He didnt recognize me from our first meeting (first bad sign) then he says "I dont need you to come to games anymore".... Um, ok, what DO you want? Im not sure he says, I will be doing most things in house and referring out. Okay, so, um, Im still confused. Anyway, long story short, after reviewing my resume with me (obviously he didnt read it before) he said he would come to see my office later in the week and then blew me off to talk to someone else that had interrupted me. Again, he said he again that he would call me and visit my office later that week. Its been 5 weeks and I still havent heard from him. i have given in to the fact that I wont be working with the club anymore but who knows. I havent contacted him either but if players are in need of an adjustment, I would think I might have received a call.

My impression of him is the same that I have of a lot of ATC's (not all) and PT's that work with elite and professional teams; they feel like I am somehow going to step on their toes (usually because of a bad experience with a chiro) and they put their ego in the way of the health of the athletes they are paid to protect. As a side note, I saw a chiro that I had worked with before, a real prince, coming into the arena one for a game and given that he went to Bejiing as one of the Team USA chiro's, Im sure he knows the new trainer, and it could be the players are now going to see him. I havent found that out for sure but it seems to fit since said chiro always told me he doesnt like hockey and yet, he was at a game, hmmmmm.

Anyway, you know, all in all, I had a good year with work. Better than last year in general I would say. Im looking forward to 2009. As I said, the work year starts with a trip to Phoenix where there is a very good chance that I will be seeing the sun.

and I ran to the end of Greenbough County......

2008-12-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

.......... and I just kept running. Well, unlike Forest, Forest Gump, I can't run that far or that fast but I did manage two short runs this week. I havent got to write that letter yet today but Im working on it.

On Monday, I took the husky and ran just over two miles in 24 minutes and change on the Heritage Trail. Yesterday, I got to the school early and ran the block around the school a couple times. I didnt time it but I figure it is about a mile per lap as my run time was 24:20. Unlike Monday, my knee didnt hurt at all. Monday was pretty cold though so that might have been part of it. Yesterday, I felt great and probably could have squeezed out another lap but I didnt want to be waiting with all the other parents while smelling so poorly.

Anyway, Im going to give this running thing another go. Simon Whitfield is going to be here on Saturday and although I have to work, I really want to meet him. MJ said he is a great guy, not to mention we have the same jacket from World's. Simon will be leading a run from Athlete's Lounge, our team sponsor, and although I would love to, I wont be able to keep up, but I certainly can try for a bit anyway.

Weather, Beavers, training, traveling, writing, running, Jason Lester, Meyrick Jones....

2008-12-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

I always have so many things on my mind, usually when I have no computer to bang out my thoughts on so, even though I really should be doing other things (I am the reigning king of procrastination), here are some things I want to talk about.

Weather: I live in Oregon, I shouldn't complain about the weather, but I always do. In some ways I wish it would snow. As I look outside today, however, its beautiful so I guess I wont dwell on that subject too long.

OSU Beavers: Watched the Civil War game on Saturday. It was a mess! The Beavers looked like a high school team, at least their defense did. I don't mind the Beavers loss so much as who they lost to, the freakin' Ducks. Duck fans have an excuse for losing and a superiority complex when they win. I know I wont be able to wear my Beaver's shirt without some Duck fan rubbing it in my face about the win last week, regardless of how long since the game was played. I would love to see UCLA beat the Trojans next weekend. Not to gloat about the Beavers making it to the Rose Bowl, should that unlikely event happen, but to shut up annoying Duck fans.

Training: Haven't done much. About two to three times per week is all I am able to motivate myself to do. Today is Monday. I started out the day with a 25 minute run. Not sure how far I went, probably about 2 miles, but at least I got out, no excuses. I just have to get over the pain in my knee so I can do something again tomorrow. I want to train, just unsure what I'm training for at this time. I want to try and do some track stuff so I can try and make the national cycling team in 2009 but I also want to race XTERRA events. I had a coach lined up but I told him I wasn't going to use him this year. he is a tri coach, a good one, but I think I need a cycling coach. I have a friend that is a cycling coach and I might use him hourly since he is pretty pricey per month. Having said that, should I spend more to get a good cycling coach because of my lofty goals?

Traveling: I'm supposed to go to Las Vegas this weekend for a seminar. Its worth 18 hours. I need 24 by the end of the year for my sports medicine degree, but the hours required for my state licenses are not due til February. Financially, it is going to be difficult to get it done by the end of the year. Going to Vegas will be relatively cheap however I will miss out on a couple of things, half a day or more of work due to flights, working this weekend at a soccer camp (more money out of my pocket), food etc in Vegas (lodging is free as I will stay at my mom's place) so now that I type all this out, I'm thinking I'm not going. I can do another seminar locally, not miss work, but miss out on an easy $400 for doing the soccer event. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Writing: Not writing things like emails and blogs, but writing as in pen and paper. How many of us do this anymore? Even Christmas cards etc, some of us get pre-printed cards. I thought about this the other day and dammit, I'm going to write a letter the old fashioned way this week. I will keep you posted on that one. I do write chart notes but that definitely isn't what I'm talking about since my chart notes are usually in my own version of short hand and its not legible to anyone but me and hopefully most insurance adjusters.

Running: Like I said earlier, I ran for 25 minutes today, maybe 2 miles. I took the husky with me which perhaps took me faster so maybe I went 2.2 miles in 25 minutes but it hurt. My left knee hurt, my right low back hurt, and my right glute is tight and sore. I remember early last season, I went through a lot of pain and discomfort but once I got back into it again, the knee pain went away. I'm going to go with that until I figure that isn't the case and then perhaps rethink the whole running thing.

Jason Lester: Jason is a guy I met at World's this year in Vancouver. He was representing the USA in the AWAD division. His coach is one of my Ironhead team mates and told me about Jason before I met him. We have talked about getting together to put a proposal together for local race directors to have an AWAD division put into some of their events. He has an injury to his brachial plexus from a bicycle/car accident and is unable to use his right arm. Yesterday, Jason finished Ultraman Hawaii a little over a month after finishing Ironman world championships and winning the AWAD category there. Ultraman is a tough event, 6.2 mile swim and a 90 mile ride on day one, a 171 mile ride on day two, and on day three, they get to run a double marathon. Jason swims with one arm and on day 1, he swam through a school of jelly fish, got stung, had trouble breathing, and got pulled into the rescue boat. After hearing the doctor say he was going to get a medical DQ, he rolled into the water and kept swimming. After battling jelly fish, massive cross winds, a whopping headache, and 100 degree heat, Jason finished in 24th place at 32 hours and change. Pretty amazing guy. I wouldn't even think about attempting something like that. I don't like swimming that much :)

Meyrick Jones: Another guy I met at World's in June. Meyrick is a below the knee amputee (BK) and is on the Canadian tri team. He is hoping to make it to the 2010 Paralympics representing Canada in the Nordic Skiing events. MJ is one of the best ambassadors for disabled athltetes I have ever met. He started the Momentum Foundation (website is still under construction) and has been working on getting it off the ground along with raising three children, being a husband, training, being an advocate and motivating people (able bodied and disabled alike) to push themselves beyond what they expected (not sure if that comes out right, but he is one hell of a motivator), and traveling around parts of Canada doing some kick ass things. Not bad for a kid missing part of his wheels eh? I'm writing about him not only because he motivates me but because his writing is amazing. I like to write, MJ LOVES to write so I encourage you to read his blog, he is very insightful.

OK, I'm done with my writing to make up for last month, I hope to write more sometime soon. With a pen and paper........

Cross racing in the mud... not as easy as it might look to some

2008-11-10T21:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I decided to attend my 3rd ever cyclocross race. I had not raced since Stacey's unfortunate incident and all told, I probably trained about 4 times since then as well. I didn't expect to do well, I just wanted to go play in the mud, is that wrong? Oh, wait, I did race last weekend but I'm not sure you can count the annual Guinness/Ironheads Beer Crit as a race but it was heaps of fun... drink a Guinness, ride a lap, and so on for a total of 4 beers/4 laps.

Anyway, it has been pouring in our fair city for days on end with a few scattered sunny breaks but not enough to dry out anything especially areas with grass and dirt... I got to the venue early, checked in, paid my money, and went for a quick one lap ride to check it out. It was ugly, I wanted my money back... OK, not really, but I wasn't looking forward to it especially when there were going to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 130 beginners and 120 cat C riders going before us not to mention the 30 or so minutes of other people warming up before the first race even started.

I hung out with a couple of friends from Camas, they get there early too and get their tent and other 'tailgate' supplies set up. It never ceases to amaze me the turn out we get at one of these events. If you do not get there early, you stand the chance of parking a few miles away but getting there early is fun anyway if you like to people watch. There are some interesting characters to say the least. I think I saw a picture of a guy wearing a pink spiderman outfit and of course there is always the ever-present boy scout.

Anywho, at 9:50am, the C's go, all 120 or so of them and two minutes later, 35 heavy weights go. I know I bitch about this all the time but if you are BARELY cresting 200 and do not have some sort of paunch, I don't think you should be considered a clydesdale. The top 10 guys, most of them are between 200 and 210 and after they race in our cat, they go and do the B race as well. OK, off the soap box now.

I didn't go very hard off the start, like I said, I hadn't trained for a couple weeks.... ok, maybe a couple months off from REAL training. I got into a groove and fell in behind most of the folks that started in front of me. There were a couple of interesting bits along the first straight away, one went alongside a steep hill then back up on the road, on the grass, made for some falls (not me, at least on that one), then a 180 down a short hill, onto another road with loose gravel. Again, lots of falls, but not me :)

Another section of road, up a grassy hill, back down the grassy hill, then came the tough part. An open section of grass that wound its way for about 100-120m and it was completely muddy. there wasn't a dry section anywhere, even if you went half a foot off the course, your wheels sunk in. My legs were burning. I ended up running part of it on the first lap and remounting, riding through a big puddle, and then dismounting again to run the rest of that section. By the time i got back clipped in to my pedals, it was time to jump off again to go over this concrete barrier. For me, it was a tough step up and a long way down.

It was much easier to remount after that barrier as there was a slight downhill after it. My cleats were completely full of mud but somehow, I managed to get clipped in and out for the whole race. OK, there was another grassy section which was not as bad as the first, which led to the next set of barriers and a run up through the infamous windmill. This was the toughest section for me, even more than the muddy grass area because I had to cross the barriers carrying my bike up hill. I had a bit of difficulty going over the barriers with my left leg and my right leg was starting to weaken too.

This area had the most spectators as there was not only the four barriers to run across but also there was a slick section on the side of the hill along the grass. I managed to ride that section all four laps. Some guy with a drum and a cymbal was doing his thing each time someone biffed it. Fun times!

Another 200m dirt road section, up a short hill and then down the hill only to come back up, on grass again, VERY slick. I rode the first two laps, walked down the third due to the number of people on it, and rode the last lap but fell down when some young rider pre riding the course cut me off. I bent my shifter but it is fixable, it only rotated on the bars.

After that run up, I remounted and rode through the area where the windmill was again with lots of fans because? You guessed it, a curvy downhill on grass, perfect for falls and hilarity. Then, back through the start finish for another fun lap. As the race wore on, I believe my HR Average would have been in the 180's should I have worn my HRM but I specifically chose not to utilize this wonderful piece of feedback as it wouldn't have mattered anyway, I was having trouble focusing on the track let alone the thingy on my wrist.

The flat grass/mud section was getting worse and i wont bore you with the details of each lap but lets just say, I was ready to pack it in on my fourth lap. Actually, had I known they weren't going to give me my last lap in the results, I would have packed it in. I ran the entire section on the last two laps and instead of remounting on the last lap, I ran through the mud puddle . I twisted my ankle a few times (I normally wear an ankle brace for running) but when I saw a couple guys running because their bikes were in some state of broken-ness, I figured I could still make it out of last place.

I crossed the finish line and talked to a couple of people that have joined my triathlon team for 2009 and then went to the truck, got cleaned up (sort of) and went back to the expo area for my $3 bottomless pint glass of beer. It was PBR but after that race, that's all I wanted. I wanted to stick around for the single speed race as it was the main event of the day, but had to get home to the kids. I missed out, they had a bubble machine and other fun costumed riders (I still dont get it, but Im getting used to it).

I swore after yesterday, I would train for the next race in a couple weeks but today, i did not fulfill that wish but I can justify it by saying today is normally a rest day.....

Helmets for everyone

2008-10-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have had my share of times riding without a helmet. Never went without on a MTB ride but there were times that I have driven to get to a road ride only to discover that I didnt have my helmet and rode anyway. One time I rode back home with a friend to get my lid and another time I just put my hat on backward and did my ride. There were times, however, where I wouldnt ride with friends because they didnt have a helmet, sort of hypocritical I know.

Sometimes after cleaning my bike or putting my race wheels on I would go up and down the road in front of my house all the while making the kids put their helmets on regardless of where they were riding. After this weekend, NEVER AGAIN will I get on my bike (except on the trainer) without having my helmet on.

On Saturday, October 18, Stacey got geared up to go for a ride. She put a backpack on with her running kit and set out for the gym, a mile or two away. About 20 minutes after she left I got a phone call from a woman I didnt know. She said she was with Stacey and she was OK and the paramedics were with her...... Holy crap, what the hell happened to her? Can I talk to her? Where is she?

I quickly got the needed info and left to go and get her. Both boys jumped in the truck without shoes because we were in a hurry which I later regreted. We drove down to where she was, past the fire truck, the ambulance, and the police Suburban. I was instructed to pull into a driveway down the hill and walk back up. As we drove past, I could see her on the spineboard with C-collar and all the other gear they put on you when they suspect a neck injury.

I didnt think about it but the boys saw her too. I told them to stay in the truck while I went up to talk to the police man and the paramedics. The woman that had called me was there and she helped me take Stacey's bike back to the truck. Again, not thinking about the boys being in there being able to see her lying on the spineboard and then being picked up to be put inside the bus. I said hi to Stacey and she said "I fell down". She asked how her bike was so I knew she was somewhat OK.

I talked to the paramedic briefly and he told me what they found and they were transporting her with lights and siren because of head trauma. She had an abrasion on her head but had her lid on when they got to her and because of her repeated questions about the same thing, I knew she got her bell rung pretty good.

I took all her gear back to the truck as they loaded her up and could hear the boys crying. They were very upset and in hindsight, I should have grabbed a neighbour to watch them while I went to see her. I calmed them down and we drove to the house to get some extra clothes and to get their shoes and Kelton's soccer gear just in case. I thought I could get someone to take him for me should i still be in the hospital with Stacey.

On the way, I left a voice mail for Stacey's parents because I thought they should know. I didnt say anything but to call me. They didnt need a VM saying their daughter was in the ER after a bike accident. We got to the hospital and the paramedic met me and asked for her helmet to show the ER doc then we went in. We were met by a chaplain and directed into a private room to talk to him. I wasnt very interested in that I just wanted to know what the situation was with Stacey.

Finally, the ER doc came in and told us what he found so far. She was going to get a CT scan but we could see her before they took her.

I took the boys in to her room and she was still in the C collar and still had blood on her head. Kelton didnt really want me to lift him up to see her but I lifted Taguen up so he could give her a kiss. She kept asking questions, the same ones over and over again. I really thought she was pulling my leg but apparently, she wasnt. Her melon was pretty shaken up and her memory wasnt working so well. Kelton stayed away and Taguen and I held her hand til she was taken to the CT.

We went to the cafeteria and after talking to her mom, we agreed they would pick up the boys. After a crappy $8 sandwich, the boys went with Papa, and I went to see Stacey.

The doc met me on the way in and said the CT was normal and as soon as they dressed her wounds, she could go home.

There were two nurses helping us, one was in her 40's, the other MAYBE in her 20's. The younger one was supposed to be dressing the road rash but what should have taken her 15 minutes max took almost 45 minutes. She missed a lot of blood but I was getting impatient and just felt like I could clean in better when we got home. She used some topical pain killer and got most of the ashphalt out of the wounds.

We finally were able to go home around 1pm and after picking up the boys and dropping Kelton at his game, we got Stacey home and into bed around 2pm.

In the week since she crashed. I dressed her wounds in some Tegaderm a couple of times and all the road rash is getting better. Her memory isnt so good right now but its getting better.

I started out just talking about helmets and how I have, at times, gone without but NEVER AGAIN will I do that (I think I mentioned that already). After seeing how Stacey's helmet saved her noggin from something more severe, Im a believer. Even test riding after switching wheels, helmet time. I wont roll my eyes at my wife when she tells me to wear my helmet even on those 2 second test rides, my lid is huge and it needs a protectin'.

On a positive note, Stacey can go out for Hallowe'en as a busted up cyclist with fresh wounds.

Cyclocross, why didnt I do this before?

2008-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go up some stairs, carrying my bike, WTF??

I decided on Tuesday to race on Sunday. My first ever cyclocross (CCX) race. I was a tad nervous. Not because of learning how to race cross, not because of a fear of crashing, but having to dismount my steed in a hurry. Turns out, Im pretty good at getting off it fast, however, getting back on is another story. Well, getting on, isnt exactly the problem either, its getting the left foot back into the cleat without stopping to do so. All in all, I think there were about 5 dismount sections including a rock barrier, a double, a single with a short steep hill after it, a single with a hairpin turn immediatly after, and a set of stairs. I may have missed one but no matter, it amounted to 20 times over 4 laps. The only time I fell was when I had to dismount for the short hill anyway so I just kept going. The crappy part about falling was having my left leg stuck in the cleat with mud and grass so it was tough to get up and start running up the hill.

So, the race was started at 9am. I raced in the beginner category based on advice from veteran cross racers. I started near the front because in my experience from MTB racing, getting the hole shot or near it, is a good thing. The first tricky part was about 40 seconds from the gun. Its a downhill in the grass and slick dirt. I wouldnt have called it muddy at this time but it was going to be before too long. The descent was what I expected on the first lap. Lots of fast people on the flats hit it before I did and I had to use my brakes. Later in the race, I would be passing people down said hill that were on full suspension MTB's and were too chicken, I mean cautious, to let it fly.

The first lap is all about spreading people out. About half way through, I was wondering what the hell I was doing out there (as can be seen on my face in this picture).
My WAR FACE!!

My cleats were not very muddy at this time but they were getting there. I thought I was doing OK, but my HRM was telling me otherwise as it read 189bpm. I decided to ignore that little bit of feedback and concentrate on slowing down, pacing myself, and having fun.

There were a few people from Camas there waiting to race and cheering me on. They kept yelling things like "keep going, you still have 10k to run", etc. Good times. That first lap, as I said, was hell. After I got in a groove, I pushed on, getting passed mostly on the uphills and on the remounts after the barriers. I think on the first lap, I would have had the energy to bunny hop a few of the barriers but not being used to a road bike in the mud, I didnt even attempt it.

I dont think I have heard so much cowbell in my life. It was like there was a sale at Walmart on them. About 1 in 10 seemed to have one. Around my 3rd time in the velodrome, I heard the announcer say that the lead riders were almost at the finish. I was kind of hoping at that time that I would get lapped so I could save my legs and shoulders for another race but alas, I did one more. I think the first one took me about 12 minutes and given that I did 4, I felt pretty good. The lead riders did 5 and when I looked at the stats for the Clydesdales, only a few did 5 so I think Im moving cat's. I finished in 112th place...... By far my worst ever finish in any kind of bike race but I didnt come in last. There were a few DNF's and Im glad I wasnt one of them although at times, again, I was wondering what I was doing out there in the rain and the mud on a road bike and thought abuot just riding to my truck.

Some observations of CCX riders.... most of the guys show up in capri pants although Im sure they call them something different when a guy wears them. Some race in some weird get-ups, some wear team uni's, VERY few shave their legs, even fewer shave their faces or get hair cuts. One guy that started at the front had about 20lb of dreadlocks wrapped up in some sort of cloth and tucked into his jersey pocket. One dude was wearing green and white striped socks like the wicked witch of the west. There are less attitudes than at a road race. There seems to be a lot of weed smoked prior to racing, not that I smelled any, but more like the way some people act. The people parked next to me were very friendly before and after the race. They gave me a home made oatmeal chocolate chip walnut bar that really hit the spot after the race. Dave and Sarah I think were their names. the guy parked on the other side of me, sorry to say I dont remember his name, but he found me after the race to see how I liked it. He got the holeshot and led the race for the first lap. This was his 3rd CCX race and he had never led a lap before so he was pretty pumped about it. All in all, everyone I met was very helpful, pleasant, and happy to be there and I think I want to be part of this "cult" (as so many CCX'ers call it) and race again next week in Wilsonville.
Jumping across a barrier AWAD style!!

To Run or Not to Run, what a great question

2008-09-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have been running lately, more like shuffling, but, hey, Im mobile right? I pushed myself to do a 5k and managed a negative split on the last mile (first was faster than the second mile but the third was faster than both) AND I did all at under 10 minute/mile pace. Yesterday, I knocked out a mile at under 9min/mile pace but was knackered after that so I didnt do much more high pace stuff. I picked up a marathon training guide just before my run and they said Monday was a day off so I only went 2 miles. BTW, if you want to up your pace, bring a husky and have someone that runs faster bring their dog, that way the husky will pull you to a phenomenal pace. My dog is for rent on a daily, weekly, or monthly rate and he is dirt cheap.

I have not yet decided whether Im doing a marathon or not. After a 5.5 mile run last week, I felt pretty good, and I was all over doing another 20.7 miles given the right training. Towards the end of the week, my legs still felt pretty good on my shorter runs, 3 and 4 miles, but mentally, I didnt want to go another step. Not because I couldnt, but more like, why am I doing this?

Today, I will ride my bike, a little cross training like it said in the article, and tomorrow, an hour run. I dunno, do I have it in me? I know I can get faster on a 5 and 10k so maybe, I wont push the long distance stuff except maybe for a half IM in 2009. Which reminds me, I guess I should sign up for one of the good ones. My buddy Mark seems to think he can beat me at the 70.3 in FL but I dont think so. The only thing stopping me from not proving him wrong is the trip across the country but you never know, I might find a way just to make him lose to a handicapped guy.

2008 Paralympics

2008-09-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, Im a good swimmer. In most of my races I am in the top 1/3 and Im good with that considering my swim training isnt as much as it should be during the tri season. I was reading my friend's blog today and he talked about this swimmer that won the gold medal for the 50m Fly.

This athlete has no arms, not even stumps, and he did the 50m fly in 37 seconds and change. I will let you read about from Meyrick as he is a better writer than I but I watched the youtube video of this guy and was amazed. Imagine every time you have to make a turn, you crack your skull on the end of the pool..... no thanks.

The unfortunate thing for the Paralympics is, at least in the US, the coverage is nil as far as I can tell. I havent found anything except for the paralympic.tv site but you cant change channels to watch other events so whatever is on at the time, is what you get. We had an Oregonian win a gold in the women's TT so it made it on the sports section of the news but thats all I have heard.

Maybe by 2012, they will have some better coverage. I sure hope so, because if I attain my goal of making the Canadian cycling team, I want my family and friends to be able to watch.

PC, AWAD, AB, BCS, AK, BK, WTF??

2008-09-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Our society is full of acronyms, I kind of like them. CIA, FBI, DHS, RCMP, GOP ....... the list goes on and on. One thing that sport is filled with too. In the 'disabled' world there are a TON!

After I got hurt, I used the term physically challenged. When someone asks me why I'm limping however, I sometimes tell them I disabled or handicapped but that's not very PC but I am a PC athlete. I used to be an AB AG athlete, now I'm an AWAD. I'm not BK or AK, I'm 'les autre'. I'm not a para or a quad but I did have an SCI. When I race AG, I'm not a 40-44, I'm a Clydesdale..... OK, no acronym for that. When I race, I have mediocre T2 but a pretty fast T1 but my injury was at T8...... confused yet? cuz I'm just getting started.

I spent some time at OHSU after I got hurt then I was transferred to RIO. I get emails from the CPC, the ITU, TriBC, and TRICAN. I used to be a member of USAT and now am just a member of OBRA but next year I will probably have to be licensed by the UCI as well as BCC and OBRA. I have professional licences from the WADOH and the OBCE and if money were no object, I would get certified in ART.

I don't drink MGD or PBR but I do like other kinds. I have patients that do MMA and also ride CBR's. I went for a few tryouts for the BCJHL but ended up in the KIJHL as well as the BCJFL. I work with some kids in the WHL that have aspirations of the NHL as well as some others that want to go to the NFL but only after some NCAA time. Hopefully soon, they will have a better system than the BCS.

I used to have a husky that was AKC but she is gone. Now we just have mutt's that need some attention from a DVM. I have friends that are DC's, MD's, DO's, DMD's, and DDS's. I have other friends that are CPA's, SPHR's, and PhD's.

When does the insanity end??? How bout RFN! Now I just have to wait for my sister to proofread this so I can be scolded for using too many acronyms improperly and WAY too many apostrophe's.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, bubye!

Boston Marathon???

2008-09-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, Im probably an idiot... why you ask? Because I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Maybe the voices in my head are right. After I asked myself why, besides the obvious, that I am an idiot, I was reminded of little things such as my hatred of running, and I always say it hurts, but you know what? Just like my little league coach would say as he hit line drives at us, it only hurts for a little while. What do they say, "pain is temporary, pride is forever"?

Ever since I did World's and met some great inspirational people, my goals have been more lofty. Hell, I even think i could get into Nordic skiing, just to see if I can qualify for the Winter Paralympics. No worries Meyrick, I wont take your slot, you're younger, stronger, and faster but I'm better looking :) I used to be a great rifle shot, maybe I can be a good biathlon athlete.

Maybe I will train to swim the English Channel..... naw, forget that, I don't love swimming that much. But, while I may be an idiot, I am driven. I know what a bad hurt is and I know what the pain from doing something like an Ironman is, and the two, so far, have not co-existed in my body.

swim bike run repeat

2008-09-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

I dunno what to do with myself lately. Just like last time I did an Ironman, I am lost without a plan. I swim, I bike, I run, but for what? No races til next year unless I do the one in Seattle area next weekend. Maybe some running races are in order. COMPETITION, I NEED IT.

I have to work on my sponsorship letters. I have to clean my kids toys up (sort through them). I have to organize my garage. I have to organize my office. I have to work on my grammar so my sister doesnt send out emails telling me how bad I am at using my punctuation marks. I want to learn Russian for my job. I want to learn Spanish for my vacation. I want to get a new mountain bike. I want I want I want I want........... it never ends. I want peace and harmony in my world, and maybe even the rest of the world too.

Ok, done for today, more exciting news with bad grammar tomorrow.
D

Season is over.... or is it?

2008-09-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today, I had two of the best, short workouts I have had in ages. I ran yesterday for the first time since IMC. I cannot believe how good I felt. I was on pace for a sub 10 minute mile. Mind you that was dog assisted, but even so, after the first mile, I still felt full of energy. Well, that nasty GI issue I continually get jumped out of its evil hiding spot. The problem with a spinal cord injury (SCI) at least for me, is I never know when I gotta go and it always seems to creep up when I need it LEAST. Like when Im having the best run of the year or during a wetsuit swim.

Today, I rode my MTB for the first time since March. I was inspired to ride it after sharing an email with Jaimie Whitmore. I had read about her illness in Competitor Magazine and Stacey suggested I share my story with her. I get all emotional when I talk about how I got hurt, not sure why, just the way I am I guess. It took me a while to write it and not long after I sent it, she wrote back. I basically said what happened to me and if I can help inspire her to get back on the provervial horse, then I have accomplished on of my goals. To help others that have had recent life altering injuries. Jamie's situation is much worse than mine; she has had cancerous tumors removed but the neurological issues are similar.

Anyway, I got on my MTB and 15 minutes later, I was back at the house, getting my roadie shoes and my TT bike. I remembered why I hadnt been on it for 7 months, it needs work. You know, the bike has grown on me since we were so up close and personal for 7 hours and 4 minutes last weekend. It hurt me, but I now respect it. Before I left for Canada, I was hating it and couldnt wait to get rid of it. Today, I think I will be keeping it. Its great for shorter distances which I will be focusing on next season.

My steed.

I had to get some groceries after my ride so I threw it in the truck, went to QFC, and rode from there.
Except for the dozen or so lights I had to stop at, I maintained a good solid output for an hour and I felt awesome. I climbed one hill and didnt have to granny gear up it. I was very pleased. Guess Im in good shape after all.

So, back to the title. The day after IMC, when we were driving back home, I thought I would just kick back, work out daily with weights or other cross training activities. Over the past few days, I got an itch to race at least one more time this year. There are a couple of Oly distance races near Seattle and of course, there is the CAF event in San Diego but that might be out of the budget for the year. If we can find someone to watch the boys, Stacey and I might both be racing as there is a sprint event too. I feel like I could kick ass on a sprint today but I should do the Oly distance. I have to save face from Nationals when I had the worst 10k ever.

IMC 08, Part 3, T2, seeing stars on the Run, Post Race fun and more pain

2008-08-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

T2 was faster than T1, unusual for me because I have to put on my ankle brace. I wasnt in a hurry anyway. I had a little trouble getting off the chair but once I was up, put on my fuel belt, and put the left foot in front of the right, I was committed.

It was starting to rain a little when I went into the tent but by the time I was done changing, it was coming down pretty good. I wished I had put my jacket into my T2 bag instead of my special needs.

T2, 11:22, slow, but I changed all my gear again.

I knew when I got off the chair in the transition tent that I was going to make it. I had over 8 hours and if I couldnt run, I could walk it. I walked out of the tent, walked to the timing mat and started jogging. I immediately regretted the choice of taking my fuel belt. I didnt need it, there were aid stations every 1-2km and all I had in there was water and some ibuprofen so I should have left it where it was.

I didnt make it far jogging, my legs were still thrashed from all the climbing and I felt weak. I walked for a bit til I got to the crowds, then I picked it up again. I hate walking past crowds of people and even though I looked like I was jogging, my kids walk faster than I was moving at this point. I saw Varney, Jenn T, and another IH spectator (sorry, couldnt focus to see who you were) and they cheered me on while I was jogging but not long after I saw them, I started walking again. The lead pro male had finished just before I got on the run course and the lead woman was heading the same direction as me on her way to the finish. I still had at least 6 more hours to go, how sad.

I started seeing stars, not the ones in the sky or entertainment, but they kind that might be noticed just before one passes out. I kept walking til I got back from the out/back by the lake, then jogged again past the fans on main street. Again, I didnt get far before I couldnt see straight again. I think I walked in a straight line, but I am not sure. I dumped out two of my fuel bottles that were bothering me when I did jog and kept plugging along, a bit more comfortable.

Having said that, each time I tried to jog, I would feel light headed. Not the first time I had that feeling (at World's in June and at National's the week before and about 25 years before that after getting blind sided during one of my rookie tryouts with a hockey team). I was starting to get worried but unless I ended up on the deck, I wasnt stopping, walking didnt cause the feeling, just running.

I heard my name numerous times by people that knew me. I think Varney, but Im not sure, called to me from a balcony at some sort of pub or ?. Linnea called to be but had to tell me who she was. I couldnt see her even though she was close to the me. I dont remember what I said to her but I do recall talking and thanking her for the encouragement.

At around the 5 mile mark, I saw Stacey and Laura. I gave Stacey my fuel belt and my sunglasses, pretty confident I wouldnt be seeing the sun anytime soon. Stacey asked how I was feeling and I told her I was getting dizzy/light headed when I ran so she told me not to run, just walk and finish. The crowd was getting bigger and I decided to jog...... sometimes I am not very smart. As soon as I was past the crowd, I walked. Not long after that, I saw Kaytee and she was looking great. Looking at my watch, I knew she was going to have a great finish time.

Over the next 5 miles, I walked. I saw Bill T and walked across the road to have a quick chat and ask how he was. He said he was having issues but was pushing on and I shook his hand and kept moving.

I had a companion from Saskatchewan for a while. We laughed about the lack of hills to train for this race. His coach is Lisa Bently and he said he better get going otherwise Lisa was gonna kick his butt for "doggin' it". We both started running because the camera man was just ahead. He let me go first so we could have our own pics. I was surprised to find that I was not dizzy at all and I felt pretty darn good. Unfortunately, my leg started to feel very weak so instead of pulling the same stunt as I did at Nationals (falling on my face), I decided to walk and run when I felt like it. I saw Leanne S at one point right by the lake and she was on pace to have a great race too.

For the last 4 miles to the turn around, I had another companion to walk with. She was from Calgary and had some issues at TZ. She had been in Malaysia for a month with no training other than running so she stressed out during T2. She had already done IMC before and 5 other ones but she decided that quitting after finishing the toughest part of the race, was not going to happen, even if she had to walk.

Along the way, the aid stations and volunteers were great. Some had themes, Hallowe'en, Christmas, but ALL had enthusiastic people of every age. I couldnt get the one with the BBQ to give me a burger but when i went past one house, I was offered a beer. Another athlete, on his way back to town, stopped to talk to friends, and did down the last of his buddy's Corona. He said he wasnt able to run so he might was well finish walking back happier.

When we got to the turn around point, I was very happy to hear my number called out for my special needs bag because it had my jacket in it. Not that I was cold, but the sun was almost down and I knew it would be cooling off quickly. Blisters were forming over the past few miles. I guess its good that I cant feel my right leg because there was a pretty good blister on that foot. On the left, I get the same blisters each time I do a long run. The wet weather wasnt helping this much and regardless of the amount of body glide I put on my toes, the blisters are present.

Deb was at the turn around and gave me a hug and took some pics.

I walked a little more with Janet from Calgary then went our separate ways as she decided to run. I kept on keepin' on, walking and running when I felt like I was strong enough. I walked a bit with a guy from Kamloops and we talked hockey and it made time go faster. I got to the 35km mark and was running, feeling pretty good. I saw Stacey and Laura, what troopers!! I was a little emotional, Stacey said how proud of me she was and after a kiss, I kept running, feeling much stronger now. She said she would meet me at the finish. I said I hadnt pee'd ALL DAY and might need an IV after I got in. Oh, BTW, I used the porta potty at 630am and at 10pm, I hadnt gone all day.

Anyway, I was walking with another Calgarian, she was walking at a good pace and keeping up with her at a walk was challenging but it was making me closer to my goal. Of course, after some quick math, I knew I wouldnt beat my IMF time but I would beat my IMF marathon time.

Getting into town was phenomenal, so many people cheering. We got to the street along the lake by the Peach and one fan was encouraging us, "come on, 15 minutes maximum and you will be done, i guarantee you will be done in 15 minutes or less, come on, you can do it!!!!". My walking companion started running, so did I. She was faster but no worries, I wanted no one else in my finish photo anyway. Around that time, one of the blisters that were forming let loose and made for a squishy finishing run.

I heard my name called from the dark. It was Leanne, I went over for a high five but got a hug (thanks Leanne!). I walked a little more then ran the last 750m or so to the finish. The lights were very bright, almost blinding as I got on to the blue carpet to the finish. As in all races, my pace picked up and nothing could wipe the smile from my face as I went through the IM banner.

Run, 7:06:30, beat my IMF marathon time by 15 minutes. One day I will run the distance but probably not as part of an iron distance triathlon.

Overall, 15:50:00. 19 minutes slower than my IMF time but like everyone keeps telling me, FL is flat, IMC, not so much.

Deb was at the finish line and with her VIP credentials, she was able to 'catch' me. We got my shirt/hat and finisher medal, got my timing chip removed, and got out of the way. For the second time, I missed getting my pic taken at the finish line wearing my medal and the baked potato wrapper you get at the end.

Stacey was also at the finish but I didnt know that til after. I called her from Deb's phone and left a message to meet me. Deb and I went to the TZ to pick up my bags and bike. When we were almost out when Stacey found us. We stopped by the food tent, found Laura, and got to the car to head home.

It was tough to get out of the car, my legs had tightened up. It was around 1130pm when we got to the house. Stacey made me some food while I showered. After, I put on my Skins tights, lay down, and very happily, went to sleep.

IMC 08, Part 2, T1 and bike, just a little painful

2008-08-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

On to T1. Got stripped of my wetsuit, picked up my bag, and headed into the tent. I took my time, changed all my gear to my IH bibs and a cycling jersey. Walked out to claim my bike, walked to the bike mount area, got on, and away I went.

T1, 11:45, slower than IMF but it didnt bother me

It was great fun seeing all the Ironheads that werent competing cheering for me as I made the first turn from transition. Little did they know, I wasnt even clipped in yet but I got aero in a hurry so I could show off my awesome position on the bike :) I headed out of town averaging 20+mph. At the turn onto Lakeshore, I saw Stacey and the entourage from the house for the first of many times. Smiling for the camera, a couple of people took bad lines through 90 degree turn and almost clipped me and a few others.

I passed tons of people, most of whom would fly by me by the time I got half way up the first climb at McLean Creek Road. There was a little bit of wind picking up but after we got on the climb, I didnt feel much til we crested the hill. This first hill, is about 1km long, maybe 6-7% grade (maybe more?). At the top, I couldnt find my legs, they felt like lead. I was hoping it was temporary but I couldnt get going. There was a bit of a false flat but it wasnt bad. The downhill into OK falls was wicked. I hit 44mph, passed heaps of people that dont have my weight and momentum. The rest of the trip to Osoyoos had a bit of headwind but not too much.

I drove the road to Richter Pass last year so I know what to expect. I could see it looming as I approached the turn. I fueled up with a gel and loads of water about 5 minutes before I hit the base of the climb. I didnt think I would be able to drink while I was climbing.

I was still shaking the cobwebs off my legs and the first pitch of the climb, being the longest, really took its toll. Thank GOD I put that compact crankset on my bike. If I didnt have the 34 on there, I wouldnt have been able to make it up the remaining hills over the next 120km or so.

There were SO MANY people on the climb, you would have thought we were doing at grand tour in Europe. People in silly costumes with silly signs, it was AWESOME!!! Very motivating to people lacking enthusiasm for climbing.

Oh, did I mention the large caliber rifle shots I heard about half way up the first pitch? I thought maybe there was a range nearby but the shots were too close and at one time, I thought I was being shot AT! On with the climbing, it wasnt fun, seated climb for 30-40 minutes really sucked. My back was screaming at me, my ass hurt, and my neck hurt from being aero for too long.

Got through that section, crested the top, and descended fast. I hit 48mph on that one. I soft pedaled all the way down hill so my legs didnt seize up further. Then came the rollers. Although I didnt know it until after the next aid station when I asked someone if these were in fact the infamous rollers. Dont get me wrong, they arent easy, but I was expecting something a lot more difficult from what people were telling me. Stacey, Laura, and the rest of the house were there to cheer me on which was cool because I only expected to see them at Yellow Lake.

Next came the out/back section of the course. By this time, my butt was getting so sore. The back pain was average and my neck hurt but I was still 2 hours from being done the bike and could hardly sit. My special needs bag had some more chamois lube in it but truthfully, it was just the pressure from the saddle in the nether regions that was the painful part.

This is a real ugly part of the bike course. The road has lines across it, thump, thump, thump. Water bottles, tires, tubes, are everywhere as they got knocked off bikes. I saw Leanne and another friend from Camas, Pete Adams, and we shouted encouraging words to each other and went on our merry ways.

I got to the turn around and there were Stacey, Laura, Kelly, and Jacob. I smiled for the camera and picked up the pace. I didnt want them to see how much pain I was in. I grabbed my special needs bag and did the roadie thing, grabbed everything, stuffed it in my pockets, and threw the bag out, all without stopping the bike. I hit the 80 mile marker towards the end of the out/back section. 32 more miles of hell and I was NOT looking forward to it.

Stacey and I drove to Yellow Lake on Saturday so I was prepared but in hindsight, all it did was stress me out. I began to do calculations in my head. Lets see, 20km of downhill from the top of Yellow to Penticton, thats 12 miles, its a 10km climb to the top, the pitch should be rising up.......... NOW!

Crap, it started. Before you can say slug, I was slithering along at 5-6 mph. My legs had nothing left. It wasnt my fueling, that was dialed in. I was just plain worn out. I feel like I had enough training for this event but maybe not enough hills. With all the bike problems I had this season, I attributed it to a poor fit, not poor prep. After all, I have a great coach, thanks Scott.

Not far from the top, there was Stacey, Laura, Kelly, and the rest of the house cheering me on. Laura actually walked next to me, thats how SLOW I was going. I asked where Clint was and they said he was behind me. Thats strange, I thought, he should be way ahead of me. Oh well, I had 500m of climbing to go, cant stop to chat. Turned out, poor Clint had some massive GI problems and was puking his guts out somewhere behind me. At the bike dismount area, they took him the the med tent, his day was done after 8.5 hrs on the bike with a stomach issue. Not fun.

200m from the top, people screaming, cheering, yelling encouragement, it was phenomenal. I stood up on the pedals and danced my way to the top. OK, so it wasnt like dancing but I was shaking my butt, doesnt that count?

I knew this wasnt the last climb of the day but the hard part was definitely over. I knew I was going to finish this sillyness and cross the line before midnight. Now my goal was going to be beating my IMF time. A short downhill and uphill later, I was going 50 mph towards Penticton. The wind shook me a few times but i was on a mission. I had one hand on the horns, one hand was in the aero bars, and I was squeezing the frame with my thighs.

I maintained a good clip all the way back. The wind hit me as I was eastbound in front of Skaha Lake. I was leaning hard to the right to keep from being knocked over. Those Zipp 808's sure can go fast but they sure pick up crosswinds. I got to the bike dismount and had to ask one of the volunteers to hold me up as I had no strength to twist out of my pedals. I was surprised when I was able to walk after I got off, hey, I thought, I might be able to run some of the marathon after all.

Bike, 7:04:24, lots slower than IMF but duh, the course is flat in FL. Average speed, 15.8 mph. Pretty poor.

IMC 08 Part 1, pre race and swim

2008-08-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, I started this whole blog thingy for my IMC prep. Good way to get my thoughts out and if someone wanted to read it, all the better. Well, I did it, I finished another Ironman distance race. There were times where I was on course where I wasnt so sure I was going to make it but seeing all the people, the signs they had (pain is temporary etc), my family, friends, team mates, made the voices in my head stop telling me to pack it in. Mind you, that was all while I was on the bike.... ok, and part of the swim where I was getting a worse beating physically than I have had in 500 hockey games....... ok, and MAYBE when I was just leaving town on the run course and getting dizzy and starting to cramp, but those were the only times.... so Im sayin anyway.

My IM adventure started off the week before with a little trip to Kelowna to do the Apple Triathlon on Sunday, Aug 17th. What a great event. It was coupled with an ITU event so I got to see some of the elites of our sport do their thing.

After the Apple, I went back to Salmon Arm to hang with the family and finish my IMC training. I got in two rides, two swims, and a couple of runs. On one of my rides, I had some form of explosive/fireworks thrown at me. What an interesting ride that was. Over the years, I have had lots of things yelled at me, been swerved at, had water (or I hope it was water) thrown on me, but the "screecher" was a first. Luckily, I rolled past it before it ignited. The rest of the time in SA was uneventful as far as fireworks go and on Friday, Stacey and I headed to Penticton.

As soon as we got to town, we headed to the IM Expo area to pick up my registration packet. I got in and out within about 20 minutes, all braceletted up ready to race. I got some ART done by the same guy that treated me just before World's. If you are ever in Vancouver BC and are in need of some soft tissue work, call me, i will give you his clinic number. I felt GREAT!!! I had signed up for a 30 minute massage too so Stacey got her bike stuff and went and demo'd a Cervelo P2C. The massage might have been a good relaxation rub, it certainly wasnt what I wanted. Oh well, its only money right?

We called our host family and said we would be there shortly. Well, that wasnt exactly true because after we finished at the athlete village, the truck wouldnt start. Kind of like the day I left for Canada, it just went click click click. Probably the last thing I needed just before the race. I had it checked before I left Camas, they said the battery was fine.... Good old Les Schwab, should have known better and had it checked by someone that only does battery's. Actually, a guy in Penticton said it was fine too. After getting a boost, we just drove to Marty and Laura's place and unloaded the gear, met some great new people, and settled in for the night.

Saturday morning, we got up early for a 7am swim. Too bad the truck wouldnt start. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Laura came out in her PJ's and gave us a jump and off we went. My friend Debbie was working with Blue Seventy and offered to let me use a long sleeve wetsuit for the race so I went down to test it out during their demo time. It fit like a glove and 15 minutes in it sure made me want to buy one but $600 isnt in the budget so I opted to take Deb up on the loan. Right after that, we met Coach Scott and had a short ride with him. Back to the truck, click click click. YAHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!!

Another jumpstart, back to Marty and Laura's, kept the truck running this time, switch to race wheels, pack the rest of my TZ bags, throw everything into the truck, then back to TZ to drop my crap off.

I was pissed and stressed at the same time. Stacey calmed me down (thanks honey) dropped me off with my gear and parked down the street. After I got my stuff into the TZ, I went into the overpriced merchandise tent and bought her an "Ironmate" Tee shirt. She really earned that title on race day, more about that later. During the time I was doing my thing, she called the Dodge dealer to see if they could do some tests on the truck to determine what it was. Turns out, it was the battery, silly people that did the test on it at Schwabs, didnt load test the damn thing and instead of it costing me around $100 US, it was $215 CAD.

Anyway, it had to be done so the nice folks at the Penticton Dodge dealer had us on the road in half an hour. Two stops to get food, water, and wine (for our hosts, not me...... OK, so I had a glass with dinner, it calmed me down), then back to Marty and Laura's for the rest of the day.

I have to tell you, the afternoon dragged on. After I had finished preparing my fuel bottles for the next day, we watched the Olympics. CBC coverage was great. No Bob Costas or Al Trautwig to give us heartwarming story's, just good coverage. We watched the marathon on NBC as well as CBC and it was quite different, and thats all I have to say about that......

So, after dinner, lots of water, peeing 20 times, I finally went to sleep around 10pm. Although the house was full of people, only myself and one other, Clint, were getting up at 4am to do eat and get ready to race.

I drank my usual 700 calorie bottle of Sustained Energy and ate a banana. I kept drinking water, but my GI was doing its usual routine as well, flip flopping all over the damn place, thats all I need to say about that. Around 520am, Clint, his wife Kelly, and son Jacob, headed down to the TZ. That was the last time I saw Clint as we both went to finish our prep.

I saw David Christian, Mike G, Leanne, and Kaytee and ran into my friend Deb. She helped me get into my wetsuit (not used to top down wetsuit zipper). Beep, beep, beep, we all crossed the timing mats and I wandered into the cold water.

I didnt do a warm up swim, just dunked my head under the water to test my goggles. I made sure I kept my hands in the water to get used to it, talked to Leanne for a minute or two, gave her a quick hug, wished her luck, and got my game face on. I was going to need it.

7AM, Peter Reid fired the cannon and off we went. I started very close to the front, pretty close to the TZ/swim exit but the wall of people were lined up at least 50meters to my left. Its a free for all, and like i said earlier, I got beat up less playing hockey. I was seriously wondering what the hell I was doing during those first 400m or so. I got kicked by some breast stroker, in the side of the head and a few times I thought I would have broken fingers. I kept on keeping on and found some open water.

The first right turn at the house boat brought everyone closer together and of course, more pummelling. All in all, it wasnt so bad I guess, but getting back to open water was welcomed for sure. One woman kept going back and forth across my line but the rest of the swim was uneventful. Had she kept in a straight line, she would probably have done a much faster swim.

Swim, 1:15:59, 30 seconds off my IMF time, satisfying considering the swims that I missed.

Apple Triathlon Race Report

2008-08-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

For those that dont know, Kelowna BC is in the Okanagan Valley. During the summer, the valley is very HOT!! I got there Friday evening and had dinner with one of the race organizers and had arranged to park my folks RV in front of their house. It was 34C. It has a great air conditioner however, it needs a 30amp connection, the same plug in as a dryer more or less. If you plug it in to anything less, you will blow a fuse. I chose not to do that to people I just met.

After dinner, I headed out the RV. It was an oven still but with all the windows open and a fan blowing all the hot air out, I slept pretty good.

On Saturday, I ran for 15 minutes at 730am, before it got really hot. The forecast called for a high of 36C and I didnt want to do too much in the heat. I still had to bike for 30 and had planned to meet my friend Meyrick and Scott, two other Team Canada AWAD's that I met at worlds, to ride a lap of the course. I was nervous about the large hill that the website showed. It turned out to not be as bad as it looked. It was shorter than the hill at World's but it was a bit steeper. The rest of the course was not bad, the out and back section had a bit of a hill but it soon leveled out and was pretty fast (although on race day, I missed the sign for the out and back on the first lap and did it twice on my last lap which slowed me a bit).

The elite juniors went on Saturday and I kept seeing athletes coming in with road rash, 4 in all. One kid had hit a "hippy" (as he called him) and was unable to continue. Others had taken a corner too hard and slid into the curb. The last thing I heard was the water was so warm it was going to be a non wetsuit swim. Probably one of the few times Im glad Im an AWAD, we get to wear our wetsuits.

Meyrick and I dropped off our bikes at the TZ then headed to dinner at the Pheasant and Quail Pub for some decent food and to watch the Olympics. We watched Phelps get his 8th, Bolt "sit up" while running away with the 100m gold, and got to see some Canadian athletes finally get us into the medals. Back to the RV, which was now at the RV park with the A/C cranked, to sleep in cool comfort. Meyrick's friend Deb, who had done the 5000m OW swim earlier in the day (and won her AG), had one hell of a sunburn and chose to sleep in my RV versus her tent, which was apparently very hot.

Sunday morning, 5am, my alarm went off. I got my 700 calorie bottle from the fridge and went back to bed. I had to have the RV out before 11am and due to our start time, I wasnt sure I could make it back to the campground before then so I packed it up, and parked it next to the same house as friday night. Meyrick and Deb picked me up and off we went to get body marked.

So, Im an AWAD, when we got body marked, the lady asked what age group I was in. I said, Im not in an AG, Im an AWAD. She looked confused. She asked again, what AG I was in. I again explained that Im an athlete with a disability and we have our own class/division. She asked someone, who asked someone, who found my RV host/assistant race director, and discovered that sure enough, I didnt need to have an AG on my leg, only my number and an A. Perfect, onto the TZ to get the rest of my area squared away.

I felt kind of weird. We had our own section with LOTS of room, two chairs each, and a HUGE orange sign saying "do not remove chairs, these are for the AWADS". Kind of brings attention to our little group. Scott (I found out later that he is the top wheelchair athlete in Canada) gets lots of attention as he is in a chair and uses a handcycle so people always come over and look at that. Meyrick is a below the knee amputee (BK) so his carbon fiber running leg gets heaps of people looking at it, and Kim has a walker and two canes. Then theres me, looking pretty much able bodied (AB) but Im wearing my Challenged Athlete Foundation jersey and I have an ankle brace that unless you come over to my area, you cant even see it. I get looked at, but not for the same reasons. People wonder why Im in this group. Oh well, they wanna know, they can ask me right?

The sprint started at 7am and they were just finishing their waves when we were ushered down to the water. AWAD's get a separate start time, usually around 10 minutes before the rest (at World's, we had 30 minute head start). We had a quick course description, then Meyrick held onto me and another person and started taking his leg off, a new experience for me. Scott and Kim were already in the water, next thing I knew, the race was on. We had two laps to do but unlike the AB athletes, we didnt have to run around the beach onto timing mats. We just swam around a buoy that was in about 3 feet of water. I was doing well, keeping up with Meyrick and Scott but then after the first left turn, around 450m into it, Scott turned on the turbo charger and took off.

As we started our second lap, Scott stopped in front of us, turned back, and started yelling something. I stopped for a second but Meyrick kept going so I started again. Turns out, he missed the buoy on the beach and was sent back by the kayakers. I still kept Meyrick within about 3-4 body lengths until we turned to start lap two, then he got away from me as we got swept up in a mens AG wave.

I got swam over a couple times and thought my timing chip strap but it stayed on. I still had plenty of open water to swim so I kept a good pace. On the last leg of the second lap, I had a kayaker try to send me on a third lap. It was interesting because he let Meyrick go but chose to try and herd me to the left. After I politely explained I was finishing, he apologized and let me go. I picked up the pace and exited the water just ahead of Meyrick, an advantage of not having to install a leg after exiting the water.

Swim time, 26:10 for an average of 1:45/100m

I had a helper, an awesome guy named Mark, and he just let me do my thing, standing by in case I fell. When we got to T1, he helped me strip my wetsuit and after I got my kit on, he stayed next to me while I ran out to the bike mount area.

T1, 2:47, pretty fast for me

I got out of T1 just behind Meyrick but I couldnt stay with him as the hill was not even 2km into the ride. My HR was max'd, probably around 180, til just before the hill. I geared down and spun up the hill at a bristling 7mph. I knew the course and the 2 minutes I spent climbing would be easily made up on the downhill and the flats.

As I said earlier, I missed the sign on the out/back section either because I didnt see it or it wasnt up yet. We started after the sprint waves and being the first of the Oly distance out of the water, I guess I was following a sprint rider. I was very happy at the time as I was passing all these sprint riders but after I figured out I missed that section, I was mad at myself. I realized I missed it when I got back to the start/finish for my second lap and my speedo only read 6 miles and change. I decided to make it up on my last lap. My second lap with the out/back section was not too bad, the first part of it had a bit of a hill then sort of a false flat but I was still able to make 19mph. After the turn it was all down hill and flat to the start/finish. I hit 65kph for a top speed and I was able to maintain a decent average speed of 30.8kph for the 40km.

On the last lap, I did my diligence and did the out/back twice and as fast as I could, went back to the TZ. I saw Meyrick twice on that section, once on my first of the two laps on the way down, and then again when I was on the way back up. He had a puzzled look on his face.

Bike, 1:17:50, average 30.8km/h

I got to the entrance to T2 and Mark was there to meet me. He ran on the left side of me while I had my bike on the right. I didnt trip there, I got to the rack, hung up the bike, then sat down to change my shoes. Mark wanted to help but there wasnt much for him to do but be there in case I tripped on the grass (which I tend to do due to the whole foot drop thing). I was up and running in a pretty good T2 time. This is where my good day ended and the crap day was about to begin.

T2, 3:28, again, fast for me

I ran for about ten minutes and after looking at my watch, I thought I could do a sub 3 hour race. I did 2:54 in Vancouver but that was with a 1100m swim. The weather was great, not too hot, not too cold, but I soon started to fatigue. My legs were not cooperating. I got to about the 3km mark, a nice little out and back section through Kelowna's skid row, and then I felt like I had to walk. I walked for a few, watching my HR go from 175 down to the 150 range. I couldnt do much but wait for it to go down before I started to run again. I was only able to run for a minute or two at a time, then had to walk again. My GI felt great, my lungs felt great, but my legs werent cooperating. My foot drop was getting worse as the course dragged on. My hopes of a sub three hour race quickly was going away.

I ran through an aid station, joked with the ladies running it, but as soon as I passed through, I started walking again. Just after this, I was on the last 1.5km of the first lap, all along the boardwalk. I walked and ran for this section. When I got to the actual boards of the "boardwalk", I was running. I was about half way across this section and my left foot caught the lip of one of the boards and I hit the deck. I rolled onto my back, said a bad word, lay there for a split second then started to get up. There was one or two people that witnessed my fall and one of them asked if I was OK. I said I was fine, got up, walked to the end of the boardwalk and started running again.

When I got to the start of the second lap, I stopped and talked to one of the race officials. I asked if he could locate my helper and ask him to meet me at the start of the wooden part of the board walk. When i was saying this, however, I was having some trouble breathing. the same problem I had at the finish of World's. I felt like I was wheezing, like maybe asthma. I was upset so that might have had something to do with it. At World's, I was overwhelmed since my mom was at the finish line so maybe that was it. I didnt want the race official to notice I was having trouble so I started walking away. My host, Tabitha, ran up beside me and said she was going to be my helper for the next 5km. I didnt want her to do the whole lap with me and I just explained that I needed her only at the boardwalk. She just said she would be fine and would to the whole lap with me. About twice more, I had the breathing problem and got light headed but I just walked for a bit and it went away. By about 1.5km into it, I finally convinced her that I was ok and all I needed someone for was the last 1km.

In hindsight, I wish I would have had someone for the whole lap, its good motivation. I walk/ran the rest of the lap. I got to just before the boardwalk, saw Tabitha, called to her, but I guess she didnt hear me. I was on a roll with my running so I just kept going. I ran the whole boardwalk, concentrating on lifting my foot with each step. I hit the end of the boardwalk, saw the ramp towards the finish. There were tons of people lining the course so I picked up my pace. I crossed the finish line, listening for my name but I guess they couldnt read my number. Finally, after someone stopped me to read it so they could announce my name.

Run, 1:26:19, CRAPPPY!! Overall, 3:16:32, 3rd OA, 1st TRI3

I finished in 3:16, my worst finish of the year but I qualified for worlds in Gold Coast Australia in September 2009. I got to stand on the podium for the first time in 6 years but like my friend Meyrick said, Im not going to brag about the win as there were only 4 of us. Before the awards, I said to Meyrick and Scott that I didnt want to go on the podium by myself and that all of us should go up there. He said that as an AWAD, for the time being, I should get used to doing podium's on my own. Both he and Scott said they had their share of solo podiums.

My folks were there with my kids and they were very proud of me being on top of the steps and mom got lots of photos. Today is Thursday, four days later, and she is still showing people my medal and telling them I won Canadian Nationals.

Well, getting ready for IMC in two and a half days, keep you updated soon.

broken bike, 1 week to IMC, what to do?????

2008-08-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last time I rode my TT bike was during the Mid Summer Sprint Triathlon at Blue Lake. I had a good 20k TT, 33 minutes, but after I got home, I put it in the garage and have been riding my road bike. Today, I was going to get new aero bars put on it and have it dialed in before I head to Canada. After sitting on it while trying out new aero bars, I made a decision to go with the less expensive aluminum bars. AFter the mechanic started tearing things down, cutting cables to change out the bars, he called over Larry, the fit guy from Athletes Lounge that was doing my fit, and they whispered a bit, Larry said some things like "wow, that was the noise we heard", then called me over. I felt like I got kicked in the jimmy. I have a race in five days and another in 12 days and although I have a good road bike, its not like the TT bike.
I frantically called my Orbea connection and left a voice mail. One of their riders, a tall kid, broke his collar bone and isnt going to be riding his TT bike anytime soon so I thought i might be able to use it. More stress, waiting for the call back. I stopped on the way home, cracked my friends at Bike Central, but left my phone in the car. Of course, the phone call came while I was busy at the store. He suggested getting some photos so he can show them to his Orbea rep. I called AL, got Todd, the mechanic, to get some pics, and he emailed them to me. I got back tot he office, emailed him the pics, and waited.... more stress.
Got email from David, he said he had a large frame TT bike I could use til we got mine squared away. At least I have another option. Problem is, the bike wont be fit for me but at least it has the same geometry as my current broken steed.
So, stress level is lower, but Im still worried. Going to be bringing my Bianchi anyway, just in case.

Pain, nutritional errors, lack of bike fit adds up to poor mental attitude

2008-07-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

Bad idea number 1...... On Saturday, I was scheduled to do 5.5 hours on the bike. I was excited to be back on my TT bike after not being able to ride it for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, those two weeks had rides of 4.5 and 5 hours and I did those on my road bike and I had not done more than 3.5 hours on my TT bike prior to Saturday.

Bad idea number 2..... Friday night, I mixed my bottles with the usual maltodextrin with Crystal Lite for flavour. I got a bright idea, since I needed to have some electrolytes, to put a scoop of Hammer Nutrition's Heed. Well, looking back on it, VERY bad idea. First off, the bottles tasted so sweet, I didnt want to drink it. Secondly, and I should know this already, there was not enough of the desired electrolytes to make a difference. I think I drank one bottle in 3 hours, about 600 calories then I replaced it with water I bought. I had also taken some watered down Hammer gel in a flask. All told, I had two bottles of fuel, one flask of gel, and one large water, one Cliff Bar and most importantly, no salt. Guess what Im doing today?

Bad idea number 3......... So, around 11am, I put my bike in the truck, drove down the hill to the gym and got geared up to ride. I have two kinds of Chamois Butt'R, the original one and one called "European". That means there is some cooling agent or something like that in it, kind of like Assos cream. I brought the original one and should have brought the other as it seems to last a lot longer.

I felt pretty good when I started out. I got aero a few times but for the first 25 minutes, I have to go through traffic, lights, stop signs, etc so it was pretty much sitting upright for the first 10 miles. I got down to Marine Drive, got up to speed and went in the aero bars. I stayed that way for about 6 miles. I still felt pretty good. I got to the first of my 40 minute climbs around 17 miles. Its not a terrible climb, just long. I guess there were a few parts that were more than 6% but probably averaged 5%.

I got passed by a skinny kid from Rubicon/Orbea, he obviously didnt recognize me (Im their team doctor) but I was too beat to even call out to him. I crested the hill almost right at 40 minutes then began the descent towards Multanomah Falls. It was a windy, fast descent, lots of fun. I was starting to get sore in the shoulders and neck and was contemplating just going back on the flats instead of climbing back up to get my second 40 minute climb. Well, I have at least two 40 minute climbs coming up at IMC so I figured I would just get it done. In general, I hate climbing, Im too damn big. My 230lb body, grinding up a 10km hill at 5-7% doesnt sound like fun but I have to do it to finish my second Ironman. I turned around and headed back up the windy hill. This one hurt much worse. I got to the top, absolutely knackered and was beginning to feel the time I had spent in the saddle in obvious places, and the time in the aero bars in my shoulders, neck , and lower back. I was having trouble getting aero down the hill and then on the flats, I had nothing.

I got back onto Marine Drive and started to ride around the Troutdale Airport. My phone started buzzing in my back pocket. I first contemplated letting it keep vibrating since it kind of felt good on my LB but I picked it up. Apparently I had just passed my friend Frannie. I needed a break so I turned around and had a 15 minute break while we talked. I took some of her water and some salted nuts. That was mistake number 4. Within 10 minutes after getting back on the road, I felt kind of sick. So, on top of all the pain in my back, neck, and ass, now my gut was not being cooperative.

I rode the rest of the way to the 205 bridge then to Home Depot and grabbed a couple of waters. I wasnt finished my time on the bike but mentally, I needed to go home and forget this horrible experience. I dumped the remaining malto/Heed mixture and filled my bottles with water. I had some gel, drank some water, and painfully, began the journey back to the gym.

Normally, I can ride the 205 bridge at 11-12mph but didnt manage more than 9 the entire distance. Every time I stood up to pedal, my inner thigh would cramp. I geared down and tried to spin faster. It helped a little. Every bump in the path was amazingly painful. I had my phone, I was going to call home and get picked up at the top of the bridge but I didnt. I persevered and made it back to the truck.

I was supposed to do a 40 minute run afterwards but running didnt appeal to me at all. Walking was all I could muster.

I guess this is what training is for. I took pics of the bike afterwards and was going to put it on Craigslist or Ebay but i thnk I might try and have a good fit done before I do that. This late in the season and this close to IMC, there isnt much left in my size. I need to work with a team that rides Cervelo or Devinci, I like those...........

5 minutes

2008-07-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my long run, 2.5 hrs. Its actually 1.5 running, 1 walking (30wu run, 3x(20walk 20run)). I actually like doing these Sunday runs because not long ago, I couldnt run, even short distances, without tripping.

Stacey is new to triathlon this year and just finished her first open water swim. She was a little nervous and didnt have the best swim time. She is capable of a much faster swim but she had some issues and did some back stroke and finished in about 22 minutes. Anyway, we talked about her nerves in the water and we decided to go to Battleground Lake in the AM so she could practice some OW swimming. AFter that, I was going to run while she took the kids to hang out with Papa at a train show. That didnt happen and we went home. She got an itch to go shopping for some new bike shorts so I stayed home with the boys while she did that.

When she got home, it was 5pm. Where did the day go?? I was not looking forward to running for 2.5 hrs. I started to get ready then asked her what her plans were for the next morning. I had a day off training and could do my run in the AM, 5AM instead of PM. She then told me to get my ass out there and give it at least 5 minutes before I made a decision....... Damn I hate when she does that to me because she is usually right. I got my big butt into the truck, drove down to the trail, and started my run. Five minutes came and went and before I knew it, I was at the end of the trail. 50 minutes down, 4.5 miles, pretty respectable I think.

I finished up, went home, and thought that I was pretty lucky to have someone kick my rear every once in a while to get me going. Thanks Stace!!

Running....... right in the middle

2008-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, my team mate Dave, wrote about staying out of the middle. After reading the first sentence, I thought he was talking about the middle of the lane when he was doing lap swims, but after reading on, it was apparent he meant training zones. It was an interesting read and on all my long runs, I think about that.
I have a good coach and follow his workouts as closely as possible. I have only really been running for the past year and its a whole new experience for me. I cant actually tell where the "middle" is for me since it all feels difficult. I can tell my fitness is better as my HR is lower when I am running and when I feel like Im going harder, the HR stays lower than it did back in Janurary. Having said that, I dont feel tired, but I also dont feel like I can go much faster for very long. I did a 2.5 hr run/walk session yesterday (30min warm up run followed by 3 sets of 20 min walk/run) and on the 20 minute runs, I was maintaining 11min/mile pace. My ave HR was 149 for those sets and to me, that is in the "middle". When I push it a little harder, I can only maintain that for a short time so I just stay where Im at and finish the run. What can I do to go faster? I would love to run with someone but no one I know that runs does less than 8-9 min/mile so that wouldnt be much fun for either of us.
For IMC, that will be fine but for Canadian Nats, I want to be able to do a sub 60 minute 10k. Unfortunately, if I try to push that, I think I might be hurting myself for IMC but I guess I wont know til Aug 24th. On that note, I think this will be my last IM distance for a while. The training schedule is tough and I think I have proved to myself that I am able to do the distance already. I dont mind the HIM and OLY distances, they are fun to train for but 20 hr training weeks are hard on me and my family.

Why I hate training alone and why I train alone....

2008-07-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Except for Saturday mornings when I swim with the group, I usually do all my training alone. When I was training for IMF, I would sometimes ride with the group after swimming but often get dropped pretty much right away after we warmed up or the pace would be something I could handle but my HR would spike and coach said not to do that. Im sure I could have had a faster bike split in Florida if had kept up with the rest of the group but then again, I might have suffered some overtraining injuries as a result. Who knows, I just know I pay my coach for a reason so I should follow his program.
So, I went on my long ride with a couple of friends. We did fine for the first hour but after that, I began to lose the wheel of the person in front of me and I was struggling to keep up. My HR was going way too high for what I was trying to accomplish, 4 hour endurance ride, so I backed off. We were doing an out n back so I slowed down to reduce my HR and watched as they rode off. I didnt have my computer so I couldnt see how fast I was going but when I got dropped, our pace was up around 25mph (tailwind), unfortunately, I cant keep that up for very long. They stopped to wait for me, which brings me to the point of why I train alone. I appreciated the fact that they waited for me, but I dont like to make people wait, particularly when they are training for something as well. I like out/back's because then people dont have to wait for me. We regrouped and talked about keeping the pace down to around 20mph but I think we went over that but into a headwind, who knows. I couldnt really get a draft from either one of them so about 10 minutes into it, I suggested they go on without me and I would catch them on the other out/back section. I felt bad that I couldnt keep up, probably more frustrated than anything. Then again, I probably couldnt have kept up with them with two good legs either, both are very fit and very strong.
The day before, I had a 40 minute run to do and decided to do it with Stacey and the kids (on their bikes). We left the car, she had Koda in tow, and they ran past me. We were supposed to do a family activity but I ended up run/walking for 20 minutes by myself before I found them at the park. I was mad that they didnt wait for me but after I finished being mad, I realized that I should just do my own thing, even though it is hard to train alone, its easier on me mentally. I hate getting dropped, its very lonely.
Having said all that, I appreciate my friends and team mates waiting for me and not leaving me behind, even when we have an out n back section so dont get me wrong and read this thinking I dont enjoy riding with you, cuz I REALLY do.

Training in humidity and heat

2008-07-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

So, I got back from World's, worked a couple days, then got on the plane for a much needed vacation to Mazatlan. We had been looking forward to this vacation for a looooooooong time as we usually go there some time between January and March but this year, with Stacey's brother being gone, we waited for his return. We went 5 days before the rest of the family and had a great time. Both of us are training for something so we took turns watching kids and swimming or going for a run.

The biggest issue (which we couldnt wait for actually) with our trip being in June is the heat and humidity. We left Portland when it was in the mid 50's with minimal humidity and landed in Mazatlan in high 80s with almost 90% humidity. Kind of drastic change. I was trying to get my run's in early but happy hour got the best of me most nights so running before 8-9am didnt happen. I thought that I would aclimate (like to the altitude in New Mexico), but by the end of the trip, I was still having trouble running for longer than 20 minutes without my HR spiking into the 170's on a flat, easy trail. Nonetheless, out of 12 days, I think I ran 7 times but only swam a couple of times.

Swimming had to be done early as the pool got busy after 9am. I got in one good swim of about 45 minutes, around 2000m, and another shorter one, but all in all, I spent on average 5 hours a day in the water. My boys probably spent 9 hours a day in the water; either the pool or the ocean, which meant Stacey or I had to be in or near the water at the same time. I had originally planned to swim in the ocean but with three shark attacks in a month (yeah, I know, Acapulco is 1000k south), I got a little nervous about that. Better safe than sorry. Stacey, on the other hand, was swimming every second or third day, what a trooper!

Well, I never did aclimate to the heat, not a good sign for me as both Nationals and IMC are in the Okanagan, a very hot BUT dry place. Having said that, we are starting to get normal weather here so I am trying to get out in it as much as possible, usually at the hottest part of the day, so I can get used to it. All in all, it was a great trip, but I missed my bike :)

SRAM and Shimano dont mesh, dont let anyone tell you otherwise

2008-06-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

So, Im in a tiff over this. When i was in Vancouver, I was talking to the owner of a bike store. He had a booth at the Expo and I was admiring one of the Argon18 bikes. We got to chatting about SRAM and how I had to switch cassettes so I could use my road bike wheel (shimano) on my TT bike (SRAM) for training. He told me the two were interchangeable. Um, not on my bike they arent. I dont know what stuff he is talking about but when I went out for my two hour ride last night, I put the wheel with the SRAM cassette onto my Shimano equipped road bike. It worked fine when I spun it around WITHOUT LOAD. My ride started downhill with some 39-26 gearing for a couple short steep climbs out of the 'hood but when I got down to the meat of my ride, the gears were grinding, slipping, crunching, etc. All things you dont want to hear when you have to climb a bit and put a bit of effort on the flats. My massive quad(s?) must have too much power for the axel and it torques so much that the gears just wont work, even with small adjustments so I just rode home after 30 minutes and finished riding on the trainer with the proper wheel for the proper stuff. I hate riding the trainer.

World Triathlon Championships, 2008, Part 2, Race Report

2008-06-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up before the phone rang for the wake up call and lay there, drinking my 700 calorie breakfast bottle. Around 430am I started getting dressed and then the GI started rumbling. It has happened absolutely every race day since I started this crazy triathlon thing. It hasnt affected my race start (knock on wood) before and I just deal with it the best way I know how which I wont get into for obvious reasons. We got in a cab at 515am and we were at the TZ 10 minutes later.

I unpacked all my gear, laid it out, covered my shoes with a plastic bag and checked my tires. There was enough there to get me around but I wanted more. Zipp's are finicky, at least mine are. I have to take off the valve extender, poke the nipple so it is freed up, then try and pump some more into it. I tried for five minutes to get the extender back on, then I started getting nervous because we still had to walk back to the start, about 1km away. I ran and got the mechanic and he tried but had no luck either. He checked my tires and he said that I probably had the proper amount for this particular course due to the road conditions. Thank you for local knowledge. Turned out, he was right, I was just fine. I grabbed my wetsuit, made one more sweep of my area, and left with my "handler" for the start line.

There was a tent there to change in and I skin lubed and got into my wetsuit. We all had to go and get our chip checked out so we got in line and made our way through the sensor. Except the French guy in my category, he didnt wait in line, just walked up to the front...... OK, I wont go into that.

Myself and a few brave souls wandered into the water. It was 12 degrees celsius. Damn cold, around 53F. The air temp was the same. I swam about 20 strokes, turned around, went back to shore all while hyperventilating. I stood there letting the water get into my suit. Then the starter called us over to get lined up. They shortened the swim to 1100m which at first I was mad about as I feel I am a good swimmer and the cold water doesnt bother me but after the gun went off and we got farther out where the water was even colder, I was fine with it. I think I did the swim in about 19 minutes but since the results arent out yet, I dont know. As most of you know, the swim portion was canceled due to rough seas after our group and most of the women's waves had gone. From my viewpoint, the waves were starting to pick up with about 200m to go but it really wasnt noticeable to me.

T1 was a bit of a bear. My sister wasnt able to get back into the TZ in time to help me but one of the ITU guys was there and he stripped my wetsuit off. My fingers and toes were numb as was most of my face. I couldnt smile, frown, or much of anything. I pulled on my new aero Giro helmet (thanks Jen), my Oakley's, and my shoes, stood up, looked around, and decided my other glasses were a better choice due to the lens colour.

Then, get this, about a 400m run in bike shoes, to the bike mount line. This sucked. Not so much for me, but for the amputees. They had to run in their bike leg, way too far in my opinion (as well as many others that watched this). Well, I got on, got clipped in, (which wasnt easy due to the grass and mud that got in my cleats on the 3 minute run, from the bike rack) and quickly got up to speed. Im not looking forward to seeing my T1 time (or T2 for that matter).

Lap 1 seemed slow according to my computer but then I remembered that it started as soon as I unracked my bike and started running for the exit. I averaged 17mph or so according to the computer but I know it was a bit faster. The wind was picking up a bit on the ride and my Zipp 808's were reminding me of that. Thankfully Im as big as I am otherwise Im thinking I would have been thrown all over the road. The hill wasnt as bad as I thought it might be and I averaged 9mph on the climb. On the descent, I was able to get up to 35mph and maintained 24-25 up to the turn for the next lap. I got into a groove and tried to maintain the same output on each lap. I said hi to all the volunteers on the hill on each lap, made people laugh, had a lot of fun. My hip was starting to hurt but not too bad (maybe that last treatment did make a difference afterall) on each successive climb. On the 4th and final lap, the climb got a little tougher but I gutted out a good cadence and maintained the same speed as the last three laps. I said my last farewell to the volunteers and just as I was about to head downhill, some of the 20-24AG females came by. I flew by two of them and slowly went by a third, a chick from Holland judging from her uniform colours. I think I descend very well and I was leaning hard into the turns. After the steep part, there is still a 2% downhill to the turn/end of the bike course and this girl passed me. We were maintaining the same speed and as I was trying to not draft her, I drifted to the right (the way to the finish) and she turned around and started yelling at me for trying to pass her on the right. I held my tongue, smiled and said bye bye, Im done but I dont think she heard me. I had some other things for her if I saw her on the run but I didnt so, I didnt, get it??

Anyway, the dismount area wasnt clear, and as I was flying up to it, volunteers are yelling to stop, etc. I managed to get one shoe off before I realized I had to stop and then I just clipped out of my other shoe. My feet were FROZEN and after I took the other shoe off and started trying to run, my weak leg was dragging on the sidewalk and it was messing up my toes so I hopped onto the grassy area next to the side walk for the 3-400m run to my running gear. I didnt trip but I sure didnt have an easy time of it. I stumbled many times before I got there and had to run through a very muddy area. In the interest of not having mud in my socks, I took my time in T2 and got most of the crap off me before trying to put shoes on my icicles. I had unsnapped my helmet but was told I had to do it up before I could go to my things, 20 feet away. I had to stop to do that. The ITU was very nice and gave all the AWAD's chairs for their TZ so I didnt have to sit on the grass to get my gear on. I havent yet mastered running without socks so my T2's are always longer. I have to wear a sock with my ankle brace anyway so I just use the pair.

After getting my shoes on, I was running out of the TZ, hoping my feet would thaw out soon. I seriously could not feel my toes at all. Granted, I cant feel my right foot anyway, but I knew it was very cold because I couldnt move my toes. There were three out/back sections and we had to do each one three times. I wasnt 200m into the run when my quad and inner thigh started to cramp. I stopped at the first feed station, leaned on one of the volunteers and stretched. I didnt cramp the rest of the day.

By the first out/back section, the feeling was starting to return and I was able to maintain a steady, but slow, rhythm. It was awesome and very motivating to hear people cheering, calling your name, your country's name. "Go Canada" was probably the only thing that kept me from walking at times. Everyone was cheering for everyone. I heard many different accents yelling "go 138, go Canada, you're doing great".

I saw my sister on each lap of the bike and the run encouraging me and on the second lap, I heard my mom yelling and that sent me into a faster pace..... for about 200m. I was so happy that she made it. She wasnt sure she could come but it made me extremely happy that she and my sister were there to share this experience with me.

I passed a group of Kiwi supporters and asked if they had a second wind I could borrow to which they all cheered, called my number and more than enough encouragement to get me through another lap. Im a bit of a ham so every time I went past a big group, regardless of the country they were from, I threw up my hands and got them to cheer me on, it was fun.... I sound like a five year old right now, but oh well, Im immature, deal with it.

I saw Lindsay on my second lap and she looked like she was doing great. I also saw some of my competitors and one of them was walking, only about 200m ahead of me, but I couldnt catch him. I high fived most of my fellow AWADs (the wheelie guys didnt really have time to high five nor did the arm amputees, hmmmm) and was enjoying the experience. I knew I wasnt going to medal and regardless if I did, I still have fun when I race.

The last lap was hell. I was dragging my foot, shuffling, more than I had in the past lap but when I ran down the final stretch to the finish, I probably went from 11 min/mile to 8 min/mile because of all the cheering fans and my family, waiting at the finish line.

I think I was overwhelmed by all of it and when I got past the line and was with the finish line volunteers, I started wheezing. I couldnt catch my breath and it scared the hell out of me so I told Mom and Michelle I would meet them out front in a while. I sat in the medical tent for about 5 minutes while they checked me over and by this time, my breathing was back to normal. I had never experienced this before but I dont think I have put out this much effort at an event before (or at least for a long time). I had to laugh though. The nurse that was checking me over, asked me what country I was from..... I had on my team Canada kit, its red with white and says CAN on the front..... Perhaps it was a question to see if I was aware, but it still made me laugh. I left the med tent and went to the "athlete lounge". They had hard, green bananas, PowerBar products, cookies, salty snacks, and liquids which I took one of everything. I quickly threw out the banana because I couldnt open it, too green. I found Mom and sis and we wandered down to the TZ to pick up my gear.

All in all, it was a great day. I thank my sister, Michelle, and my mom, Val, for being there, my wife, Stacey, and our two wonderful boys, Kelton and Taguen, for their support in my training schedule, my coach, Scott, who helped me get here, the Challenged Athletes Foundation from whom I received a generous grant for this event, and of course the rest of my family, friends, and Ironhead team mates for their support and encouragement. Oh, I cant forget Meyrick Jones, a fellow Team Canada AWAD, because without him, I wouldnt have known I could fulfill my dream of being on the National Team (Team Canada hockey was my original dream but triathlon is just as good), let alone compete at a World Championship.

World Triathlon Championship, Part 1

2008-06-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

What a week! What an experience! There were so many spectators from various nations cheering for any and all. Aside from the fact that I do not know how I did, where I placed etc as of this minute, the event was well run. Funny thing, they have all the preliminary results posted EXCEPT for my category so Im kind of flustered about that. I called the ITU and they said they should have it squared away today sometime.
I arrived in Vancouver after a 5 hour drive. My hip and butt were very sore so I called a chiro office that was listed on the Triathlon Canada website and they said to come in around 6pm which was perfect timing as I got into the downtown area at 530 pm. I saw the clinic director, an ART instructor, and after a full history and exam, he got down to business. Mostly when I get treated with ART, the provider concentrates on what I tell them to but James did his own thing and constantly rechecked range of motion and muscle tone. After he finished, I felt GREAT!!! Better than I have ever felt after any type of treatment. I left there with no limp and no pain.
Accreditation for the Team Canada Olympic distance athletes was scheduled from 6-8pm so I headed down to do that. I still had to be classified but they let me sign in anyway. One less thing to do the next day. The registration tent was almost empty and I was in and out in 5 minutes. I drove back and met my nephew for dinner and then back to his house for the night.
The classifiers for AWADs were open from 730-1300 so I got up early, fought traffic and found a place to park at the team hotel. With the bike racks on top of my truck, there werent many options for parking but the Marriot lot was tall enough. I paid $25 to park for the day, wayyyyy too much if you ask me but it was my room for the day. I went to the Tri Canada office to try and exchange my jacket but they didnt have anything bigger so I was stuck with the one that is too tight in the shoulders. No worries though, its a nice jacket. Back to my room (truck) and changed to my bike gear so I could ride down to the classification area. It was raining pretty good and I was happy I brought my rain gear but was wishing I hadnt lent my rain bike to someone.
I was nervous about getting classified because I wasnt sure how they tested/evaluated the injury. I brought along a letter from a doc that checked me out before as well as some written notes from a physio friend of mine that specializes in treating stroke patients. His evaluation, although very informal, was only of the affected limb whereas the other evaluation was done from a whole body/lifestyle/physical ability point of view. There were two women, an MD physical medicine specialist, and a physio. Both of them specialize in spinal cord injuries so I was happy to hear that. They also had heard of Brown-Sequard Syndrome when not too many others have. I still get frustrated when I have my muscles tested and I cant push back against resistance and it overwhelms me. Its been 5.5 years and I still whell up when someone does a neuro exam on me or when I have to talk about it. Im a big baby, what can I tell you.
After they had done a thorough exam, they put me at ease, telling me I was >15% impaired in my left leg. Now I get an official card that I will take with me to other events so I dont have to be classified on an event basis. I have never been so happy to hear that Im worse off than I thought. After classification, I left their booth and ran into some other AWAD athletes from Canada and other countries and chatted for a while. I had planned on riding a lap of the bike course but when I realized the time, I had to get back to my room (truck) and change into my team kit for the AWAD briefing in 30 minutes. Leisurely rode back, changed, and took a cab to the meeting.
Tri Canada had screwed up, they had scheduled the team meeting at the same time the ITU had scheduled the AWAD meeting. The Tri Canada luncheon (I heard later) wasnt the best. Plus the athletes had to pay $20/person for lunch. The ITU provided lunch and it was very tasty. The technical committee for the ITU had a decent presentation and for the AG athletes, it was probably fine. For some of us gimps, not so much. There were concerns about transferring the wheelie athletes from the water to their chairs. Other concerns about the distance to from T1 to the bike mount area. On the big screen, the TZ was confusing as to how we were to get in and get out of T1 and T2 but they soon sorted it out. Technology (powerpoint) has nothing on someone using their finger or a laser pointer to show the route.
I met some great people at the lunch, other AWADs and the volunteer handlers. At the time, they were going around asking if each athlete needed a helper/handler, and I said no. Later I changed my mind because I wanted my sister to be able to come into the TZ to take photos etc and to help me carry my stuff in the AM so I got her a wrist band.
After the AWAD briefing, all the Team Canada athletes had to hustle back to the team hotel for a group photo. Its a good thing the clothing Tri Canada chose included a rain jacket because it had not stopped raining since I got to Vancouver. There were over 600 athletes outside in the pouring rain but it was fun seeing all the red/white clad people standing on the stairs. We had to wait for Simon Whitfield to come before they could take the photo.
After that, I had nothing to do for 3 hours while I waited for the pasta party to start. I had spoken to some of my team mates and they werent going but I knew my Ironheads team mate, Lindsay, was going to be there for the 530 feeding so I decided to go. Free food, wouldnt you?
The pasta feed was at the Vancouver Aquarium. I used to go there as a kid and loved it. I hadnt been there in probably 20 years or more though so I was excited to see it again. They had it set up so you had to go through all the exhibits to get all the food. At the entrance was beer, wine, water, juice. Next came the salad bar. I ended up talking to some TC team mates from Kelowna and will probably meet up with them for IMC. Pasta bar was next, and of course, the desert room. Lots of fruit, little amounts of sugar desert, good for athletes but left me wanting a big bowl of ice cream. I found Lindsay and gave her and her room mate a ride back to the hotel and drove the bike course on the way. It was just like I remembered from watching the youtube video. The hill didnt look that bad from the truck but I had a good idea how to ride it. Gas was cheaper (not by much though) than the price of the hotels in the area so I went back to my nephews for the night.

Lindsay and I planned on meeting at 10am to ride the course so I was up and gone early again. I did a 15 minute run at 9am (felt GREAT), checked into the hotel, and changed for the ride. The rain had stopped and it was a nicer day than the previous two. I met Lindsay at her hotel and we headed out with another USA team member, Cy. He wanted to tag along since he didnt know the way. It was a nice easy ride and my HR didnt get above 150 on the hill. Mostly it stayed around 110.

After climbing the hill, my back started to tighten up so after we finished, I rode to the chiro's office that I saw on Wednesday. The doc I saw wasnt in on Friday's but one of his associates said he would see me. I should have listened to my gut and passed on the offer but I came back at 2pm and got treated. By that time, my back was even tighter and no amount of stretching was helping. After the treatment, I might say I felt a hair better for about a minute after standing up. After that, I walked back and lay down in my hotel room. I had completely wasted $50 getting the treatment but too late to complain about it.

Bike check in was from 330-830pm and I was still unclear about the TZ and what I was supposed to drop off. I called a team mate and he suggested not leaving anything but my bike down there. I rode down to the TZ and met a few more AWAD's. I walked back with a BK amputee from Austria, Martin. I had offered to have my sister help him at the start and at T1 with his prosthesis as he thought he didnt have anyone to assist him. Turns out, the ITU got volunteers for all the AWAD's and the next day, we found out he didnt need her help.

Met up with my sister, Michelle, and after dinner, I popped a bunch of Advil for my back pain, made sure my bottles were prepared for the next day, packed my T1 bag, and then I tried to get to sleep. I had a 4am wake up call and I was probably asleep by 1015pm.

Race day continued on next installment

low back pain and what to do 13 hours before a big race

2008-06-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, 13 hours before one of the most exciting events of my tri career and my low back is tightening up as I write this. I felt GREAT this morning when I got up. Im thinking that I slept on my stomach for part of the night last night but the tightness didnt start til about 4 hours after I got up. I ran for 15 minutes and have never felt better. I changed to my cycling gear and met one of my Ironhead team mates, Lindsay, for a ride around the bike course at 10am. Not long after we finished the ride, my back started to seize. I rode over to the chiro office I had gone to when I arrived but they couldnt see me til later. I rode back to the hotel, checked in, unpacked all my gear, showered and then headed back to their office. A little lunch stop on the way, rice, chicken, some sauce I probably shouldnt have eaten, and some water. Oh, and a chocolate chip cookie, Im a weak man, what can I say? I got to the office early, they got me right in and a very new DC started working on me. I have to tell you, it didnt feel REMOTELY like the last treatment I got from his co-worker. When I got up, I felt a little better but as I walked, the muscles started tightening again. This time, it wasnt worth the money I spent.

I have been stretching and trying to do pelvic tilts and hopefully this will help. Perhaps walking around and standing still so much at the Pasta Party caused my back to tighten, who knows, but I am hoping the stretching will help. Im off to take my bike to the transition area now and then waiting for my sister to show up so we can have dinner and then back to the hotel for more stretching and resting.

More on the LBP later

ITU Worlds

2008-06-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

Got here Wednesday and after stopping at my aunts to pick up my gear, I headed downtown. I wanted to get in earlier to ride the course but my morning didnt go as planned so I didnt get into town til 5pm. I went to a chiropractors office and had him do some ART on my hip. I have never felt better after a treatment in my whole life and I might be going back on Friday. Im still pain free and I cant believe it. AFter the treatment, it was time to register which didnt take any time at all, very smooth. I called my nephew, Chase, who lives in Vancouver, and we had dinner downtown while we waited for traffic to die down. I didnt have a place lined up to stay so I just stayed at Chase's dorm room.
I got up early on Thursday with the intention of getting classified then going for a ride around the bike course. The juniors were just finishing up when I got to the tent so it would be perfect to ride the course. However, the classifiers were with someone and Ihad to wait for 15-20 minutes. I was very nervous that I wouldnt make the 15% impairment but after they tested me, they said I was more than 15% so i was happy to hear that. I would hate to have been turned away because I wasnt gimpy enough. After classification, I met a few other AWAD team members and realized I had only 45 minutes to get back to my truck, change, and make it to the AWAD meeting. The lunch they served was great and the ITU LOC made everything very easy to follow in the briefing. AFter lunch, I grabbed a ride with a team mate and we went back to the team hotel for photos. It took another 45 minutes or so for them to organize a team of 600+ for a photo and it was pouring rain too. Oh well, we got it done. As I write this, Im waiting for the pasta party to start, which isnt too far away, so i will finish later.

World's, coming fast!!

2008-06-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Only 4.5 days left until the gun goes off in Vancouver BC at the ITU World Triathlon Championships. Im nervous as hell. I havent actually competed against anyone but me for years, before November 1, 2002. I feel that Im ready even though my hip hurts like hell. I need to get a massage tomorrow after I drive up to BC. Sitting for 5 hours driving is going to make it stiffen up like crazy. Some ART would do me right, note to self, must find ART provider before I go. Today Im supposed to bike and run. I will try and run at lunch then ride after I get home. All while I try to finish my laundry and pack my gear for tomorrow. The plan is to get up early, swim, get back home, get the boys up, feed them, take them to school, then head north. If Im on the road by 8am, I should be able to be there by 1-2pm. Im hoping to miss Vancouver rush hour but I need to make two stops, White Rock to drop stuff that mom forgot at our place then Richmond, to pick up my team gear that should be at Aunt Vera's. My great little sister sent it to her while I was working in Oregon. Hopefully it arrived already. I need to ride again tomorrow and Im trying to get my rain bike back from a friend but he is in Hawaii and has yet to return my call. Its pouring rain right now and I want to pre ride the course but I dont want to do it with my TT bike. If I dont get it, I will just ride the Bianchi and have to clean it afterwards..... I hate cleaning my bikes as my mechanic has noticed when he has to replace my drive train more often than he should. Im spoiled.
Well, once again, nervous is my middle name for now but all I can say is THANK YOU SCOTT for getting me in great shape in a shortened amount of time, youre a great coach and one helluva motivator.

WOU Sprint Tri Recap

2008-05-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been a long time since I did my first tri of the year, it might be hard to recall all the details. I do remember it being a lot of fun. We left the kids with the in-laws on Friday night and Saturday, we got up at 5am and were out the door by 5:30. I ate my usual, granola, and about 400 cal of Sustained Energy/Heed mix as well as a cup of coffee. We arrived at the venue at around 7am, checked in, got body marked, then went back to the car to get our gear. Stacey took a spot across the aisle from me and we both set up our transition areas. I left out my cycling jersey as it was very cold but decided I probably wouldnt use it. We went in and watched the first few waves then Stacey's name got called. She did well, better than she thought and I was on the pool deck when she was running towards T1 to tell her. Before long it was my turn. The pool was very shallow on the end we started in and about 8 ft on the other end. I felt pretty good in my swim and did about what I projected I would do, 8:16. As I got out of the pool, I felt my HR strap down around my belly so it didnt track any of the data for the swim. The transition was out the pool door, down some stairs, down the street about 20m to the bike racks. I felt like it went quickly for me as I got down there, pulled on my helmet and shoes and was gone. I decided not to use the bike jersey. Good thing too, within 5 minutes I was very warm. I averaged about 20mph for the first few miles and my HR was about 170 bpm. Then I got to a large hill. A VERY large hill. It was about a mile long, probably 5-7%, and it sucked the life out of me. My first race of the year was fast becoming something I didnt like very much. Then there was this awesome downhill but it didnt make up much time for me. The rest of the course was rollers, false flats, and of course, that same hill in reverse. I think my overall average for the bike was 15.5 mph.
T2 was not too bad but with the ankle brace, it takes a bunch more time than it should and for the first time since my surgical mishap, I was able to run out of T2. And like Forest Gump said, "I just kept runnin". I walked through the water station at the turn around but then got back on my horse shoes and waddled out what would be more like a fast walk to most people. For me, it equated to about 12 min miles. When I got to the track, which we had to do one lap of to finish, I saw the race photographer. I started flexin' and smilin' and I got a SWEET photo of me looking ever so buff. I finished well above last place in the 40-44AG and was very pleased with the overall result too. I finished 68/117 overall and 6/8 AG. We actually got lumped into the 35-44AG which I guess I was 14/17. Stacey did pretty good too for her first time, 5/7 in the 35-44AG but would have had 3rd in the 35-39.
I had a lot of fun especially since Stacey was doing her first event, it was nice to be there with her for that. I only beat her by just over 6 minutes but if she ever gets a bike that doesnt weigh 28lb, watch out. I will still kick her ass in the swim though, no matter how many lessons she takes.

Swim, 500yds, 8:16

T1, 2:00

Bike, 17 miles, 1:06:06

T2, 2:55

Run, 5km, 38:08

Overall 1:57:25

it was a hard week to train

2008-05-04T17:01:00.001-07:00

I am writing this from Silver City NM. I came here to work with the ValueAct Capital Women's Pro Cycling Team on Monday, April 28th to start the Tour of the Gila. The race started on Wednesday and we took the stage win on opening day and didnt relenquish it all week. We had one stage win, one second, one fourth, and the overall win. During the week, I only had a chance to run three times and rode one time on a bike too small for me on a trainer, and once on the road with a borrowed bike. The hills around here are long and plentiful. The ride was fun and it was great to get out on the road but on top of the hills, there was plenty of wind.... like 20mph steady headwinds no matter which way you turned. Challenging and painful but I got two hours in and I used a SRM power meter for the first time. I averaged 170 watts for 2:08 and maxed out at 650 watts during a seated climb (just to see how high I could get it) and now I want one. I didnt get a chance to swim; it wasnt convenient.
Overall, I had a great week. I got to run about 10 miles at 6200 ft elevation and ride up to 7200 ft. I am interested to see if it helps when I get back home. I have been here for 7 days but didnt exercise daily. We got up to 8000 ft or so I think but I wasnt doing much up there but watching bike races go by.
The team was great, the riders, the director, and the mechanic. I couldnt have asked for a better team to work for, it was truly a pleasure. They didnt over work me and they were very appreciative.
Heading home tomorrow, leaving Silver City for EL Paso, fly to Phoenix, then on to Portland. Should be home by 3:30pm, I cant wait to see STacey and the boys.
I need to write a race report for the WOU sprint Stacey and I did the weekend I left. I will get to that next week.

Why am I a Challenged Athlete?

2008-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I was asked why is it that I may be competing in the disabled/AWAD (athlete with a disability)/PC (physically challenged) category at ITU World's in June. Its not the first time I have been asked about my injury and I know it wont be the last but I dont mind when I get this question. I dont look like someone with a disability. I certainly try and go out of my way to not show it, but every so often, I limp, and someone will ask about it so I thought I would share.

For those of you that have heard this story, guess this is where you should stop reading.

On November 1, 2002, I went into OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) for a routine procedure to embolize a soft tissue tumor on my back. The tumor is called a hemangioma, a benign mass, but nonetheless, HUGE. I still have it by the way, its 7cm x 8cm x 15cm, on my left posterior flank, just under my scapula..... Too much medical jargon, its on the left side of my back just under my shoulder blade. Back to the procedure. They were looking at the mass via angiography and trying to put these little microspheres (I call them ball bearings) into the blood vessels that were feeding the tumor in hopes of killing it off. I guess, when they were pushing the scope up through the aorta, against the flow of blood, a clot was formed which tumbled downstream and into the artery that feeds the spinal cord at the level of the 8th thoracic vertebra. The clot caused an infarct (same as a stroke) basically meaning the front left part of my spinal cord was left without blood/O2 supply for who knows how long. The result was a loss of motor function of everything from T8 down (around my belly button) but only on the left side, and a loss of sensation on the right, same level. This condition is known as Brown Sequard Syndrome.

After three days in OHSU, 11 days at RIO (Rehab Institute of Oregon), I was kicked out (Kaiser didnt want to pay anymore) because I was able to dress myself. I still couldnt walk, Kaiser wouldnt buy me a wheelchair because crutches were available, and I had to figure out how to drive my manual transmission truck to out patient PT. Because Im a male, full of testosterone, etc, yada yada yada, I figured out that locking out my knee when standing or limping along would make me not have to use my crutches. I also figured out that locking my knee makes for a bad trip down the stairs, but thats another story. I had foot drop too but if I wore cowboy boots, I didnt have to use the AFO brace (ankle foot orthosis) which was huge, and didnt fit into any of my shoes.

In the six months following my injury, most of my muscle function returned, some of the muscles reached a plateau and to this day are still weak. I still have some diminished sensation on the right side as well. My 5 year old loves to ask which leg I cant feel, I point to it, then he kicks me and asks me if I felt it.

Right after I was transferred to RIO, I began searching for wheelchair sports I could compete in. I didnt think I would walk again without crutches and being involved in sports all my life, I had a need to compete in ANYTHING. During my search, I found the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a non profit orgainization that grants money to PC athletes for equipment, specialized training, or travel to PC events. I began raising money for them and training for my first half iron distance triathlon. Prior to my injury, I had done 5 sprint tri's and a bunch of mountain bike races but nothing longer than 2-3 hours.

On October 31, 2004, two years less a day from my original injury, I finished my first 70.3 in 7:40. It was a long day but I fully enjoyed it. Since then, I have done three 70.3's and Ironman FL. IMNA doesnt have a PC category unless you are missing limbs or are in a wheelchair so I have to participate, not compete in IM distance events. The ITU, on the other hand, has revamped their AWAD categories and I hope to be classed as a TRI3.

I have adapted to many things since November 1, 2002. Some of it good, some bad. I have a lot of bad habits that need correcting posturally, gait wise, and other things that have given me a lot of imbalance in my lower half. I trained for the 2006 Ironman FL to walk the entire course except for the last 200m or so where I shuffle jogged. Last year, my coach, Scott McMillan, helped me get running a little. Enough so I shuffled most of Blue Lake Oly, and over half of Lake Stevens 70.3. In June, I plan on running, yep, running, the whole thing. I have an ankle brace I wear to stop me from breaking my ankle and limits my foot drop. As a result of the foot drop I still have, my left calf is very tight as I land on my forefoot all the time. Because of the compensatory changes, my right hip is constantly sore and my left medial knee get some periodic pain. I used to hate distance running when I was able to (I was a sprinter in high school) and I dont love it now but I REALLY want to be taken back to when I was able bodied and see how much I could improve..... but I digress.

I recently had an impairment exam to determine my overall disability percentage. I needed that to be done so I can compete in the ITU "les autres" category which says I have to have >15% impairment to be called AWAD (athlete with a disability)/PC (physically challenged). If I have less than 15%, I have to compete as an age grouper or my favourite class, Clydesdale. Any way you slice it, I couldnt have made it this far, physically or mentally, without my family, friends, and my coach.

Anyway, thats me in a nutshell. Feel free to ask any questions about me or the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Im an open book. Once you spend 2 weeks in a hospital, things are no longer that embarassing or off limits.

Weekly recap

2008-04-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

What a great week of training. I got my coach back Monday and by Wednesday, he had the rest of the month mapped out for me. Its a welcome relief to have a set schedule again. I was nervous not having a specific training schedule for an Olympic distance but I was on the right track so i am not quite as far behind in training as I suspected.

I had to ride indoors again this week. The trainer and my fat butt are becoming good friends. The rest of my body, however, doesnt like it as much. I did get my new crankset, SRAM Red Compact with 50-34 chain rings. I enjoyed riding the 50 and being able to spin. I also got a new front deraileur, also SRAM Red, but havent yet installed it. I have had my Bianchi up for sale for a few weeks. I was half heartedly trying to get rid of it but it has some special meaning for me. My friend Peter had me pick it out when I was still in the hospital unable to walk. It is very sentimental as it is the first bike I rode outside after I figured out how to walk again. My favorite mechanic, Dean, did a little tune up getting rid of all the creaks and groans and put a new chain on it. I was thinking about keeping it after all but he reminded me of a conversation we had two years ago where he told me that the frame is so thin and light weight, that I probably shouldnt be riding it as I may break it. That night I got a call from someone interested in buying it from me so, tomorrow, it might be gone from my garage.

Today, I did a swim clinic with a Masters swim coach, Dennis Baker. He was very informative and pointed out a few things I could do to improve my stroke and position in the water. Overall, it was worth the time and money. I might enlist him to do a private lesson for Stacey and I.

Next Saturday will be my first tri of the season. It will also be STacey's first ever triathlon. Im looking forward to it and also to seeing Stacey do it. She has been training hard, especially for the swim.

So, my totals for the week:

Swim: 8330 yds, 2:30 hrs
Bike: 67 miles, 4 hrs
Run: 13.75 miles, 2:50 hrs

Last week, CAF, World's

2008-04-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

I did better swimming last week. I swam twice, ran twice, and biked 4 times. About 14 of my Ironhead team mates went to Tempe AZ and did Ironman Arizona. We had three women in the 30-34 AG in the top 10, one guy in the 40-44 AG come in second, and of those, three qualified for Kona. Im very proud to be on a team with so much talent.

I received my grant from CAF last week and I just got word from them that I can use my grant to go to the ITU World Championships in Vancouver, June 6-8. All I need now is for Triathlon Canada to give me the "official" word. I spoke to the chairperson for the AWAD committee last Wednesday and he all but assured me that I would be invited to be on the team so Im training as though I am doing the race. Even if something comes up, I will still be training for IMC so it doesnt much matter what the outcome is but Im hoping for the best.

My weekly totals are as follows:

Swim: 2 swims, 2800m, 55min
Run: 2 runs, 7 miles, 1.3 hrs
Bike: 4 rides, (2 indoor, 2 outside) 93.5 miles, 6 hrs

Im ahead of the game in swimming already this week, I did 2500m this morning.

Weekly totals

2008-04-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

I felt pretty good all week. STILL didnt get into the pool, I have no excuse this week, just lazy.... oh, alright, I had a sick kid three of five days, but thats my only excuse. I have good intentions this week. I better get in the pool soon, I have a technique class on the 20th.

Today I got a cheque in the mail. My grant from CAF. I wasnt sure I would get it so I scheduled another event at the same time the event that the grant money was for. The event is Defi Sportif, a disabled games in Montreal PQ. I already have an obligation to a pro cycling team to be in New Mexico for Tour of the Gila bike race that week. Tomorrow I am going to email CAF and see if I can change the terms of the grant and use it to go to another race.

This weeks totals
Swimming: a big goose egg, 0m
Bike: 81 miles, 4.5hr, all on trainer
Run: 9 miles, 2 hr, all on trail

It seems like I ran more than that but it was a long week with the sick kid and sick dog.

Tough week

2008-04-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

This week began with Taguen being sick and by Thursday we figured out he had a pretty bad ear infection. Mostly, for me, this just meant I had to train indoors. On Tuesday, Koda, the husky, ate something he shouldnt have and we took him to the vet. She admitted him right away and PRESTO! $350 and he was cured. Stupid husky.....
So, training has been going OK. I still didnt manage to swim this week. I am going to try and go tomorrow but if nothing else, I will get a run in. I have been very happy with my running the past few weeks. I have been stretching a little more than normal and my hip doesnt hurt as much after running. I have also been getting a little faster which is encouraging. I ran without the husky on Wednesday and did a 5K in 32:55 and I did the first mile in 10:05. I wanted to do the Spring Du next weekend but I dont think I can do that again, AFTER I ride my bike at close to LT for 15 miles. Not to mention the ridiculous $65 entry fee that AA sports charges.
I got an email from my contact at TriBC, he is on vacation in Hawaii (so jealous of him right now), but he said he was in touch with the ITU people and would forward his emails when he got back to Vancouver. Im kind of excited but at the same time, I am not sure I deserve the honour of competing for Canada at this time. My training is not where it should be with only two months left before the event. I dont have a coach right now so I am following my HIM program from last year (the one I used for Lake Stevens).
This morning Stacey is going to yoga, then out with a friend for some shopping. This means I will be riding my 2:15 inside today. Its ok though, it has been pouring on/off since yesterday.

Week recap

2008-03-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Had a great run today. I was scheduled for an easy 70 minutes in which I was able to do 5.5 miles. I forgot my HRM on my bike so I just used my old watch which I keep in the truck. The husky was pretty good today, taking care of his business within a half minute walk from the garbage can and he didnt do his usual nutty 1 minute of spinnin donuts around me and sprinting to the end of his leash.

Afterwards, I could feel no pain in my hip, other than the ordinary, and no knee pain which was very nice. I didnt do much different today than usual as far as running, but whatever the reason, I hope it continues to (not) happen.

Totals for the week:
Swimming (get this out of the way first): 0 meters, I try and pick this up next week :)
Running: 10.5 miles
Bike: 68 miles, all trainer

Time Trialing in the garage

2008-03-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did my scheduled TT on the bike. It was snowing in the AM and was very cold in the PM so I just did it on my trainer in the garage. No wind, no turning around, no road conditions to complain about, just my sore butt. I averaged somewhere around 20-21mph for 12.5 miles, finishing in 35:51. I guarantee you I would have done it faster on the road where I did the TT earlier this year because out there, I had no distractions like a movie or my Dad sawing wood with a circular saw 20 feet away but in any event, I did it. My HR ave was 128 and the overall HR for the hour I was on the bike was 122. In the TT in February, I averaged 177 or so if that is any indication that I worked harder then. I was also on my TT bike, not my road bike, and I had a lot of teammates out there so the peer pressure was more. If it ever stops snowing (ITS THE END OF MARCH DAMMIT), I will do another TT to see where Im really at when it counts.

Today is a day off and a little off topic but I got a new gig doing consulting work for a health management company so Im pretty happy that things are looking up work wise.

Snowing in March

2008-03-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

It snowed today, not much, but what weird weather we are having. I had an hour ride planned yesterday and should have taken advantage of the beautiful day but instead, I rode inside on my trainer and finished watching "300". All in all, it was a lame movie and I should have hit the road. Having said that, Im trying to keep my HR within the limits set by my coach, so a trainer ride was way easier to keep that in check. I am wishing I had a power meter, or at least, wishing I could try one out to see what all the hubub is about and see if I can get more fit training that way versus the HR. I have heard it is a great way to train but its also a great way to get $1K poorer.

I missed the pool session again today. Even though it is spring break, and my parents are here to watch the kids, I am just not getting down to the pool. Tomorrow I am supposed to do a 20k TT to find my thresholds at this time of the season. Im not supposed to do anything else but I think I will try and give a short swim a go after my TT. It is so difficult not having a coach. I still have my training plan, its not the same. Perhaps that lottery will hit my numbers today.

I did a short run/walk after dinner tonight, 36 minutes. Probably only around 2.2 miles around my neighbourhood on sidewalks etc and since Im used to running on the trail that is marked every quarter mile, I dont know how far I went. Felt pretty good. I was supposed to take it easy, and my HR Ave was 138. I dont know how much I ran versus how much I walked but it was probably 50/50.

A good ride

2008-03-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Even though it was a gorgeous day yesterday, I rode on my trainer. My training plan called for a 60 minute ride, spinning at 90-100 rpm. I usually cant maintain that while riding outside unless I am on a completely flat road like Marine Drive so onto the trainer I went. I was able to average about 92rpm with an average HR of 118. I rode 16.2 miles in that hour while watching "300". It is quite an intense movie during the battle scenes so it was easy to spin a high cadence. Only a couple of times did I notice my rpm dropping below 90.

My plan had swimming too but we are trying to finish the fort my parents are building for the boys so I helped out with that so John and Val didnt kill each other trying to do it on their own. One of the gals at the gym that has done IMC called yesterday and asked if I would swim in the lane next to her while she does her insane 5x400m intervals on the 6:45 mark with ONLY 20 seconds rest between. Her training partner had to have surgery on her foot and cant swim for a while. I am not supposed to make up training sessions that I missed so I will probably just do a short easy swim and be there for moral support.

I have a 40 minute run and another 60 minutes on the bike which I will probably do on the trainer again so I can babysit my parents, love you mom and dad!!

confidence building exercises

2008-03-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Started out my Saturday in 40 degree clear skies. It was a hard first hour. My legs were pretty much useless and I began wondering why I even ride a bike. I have moments like this far too often. I then remembered reading one of my team mates blog entry. He talked a lot about motivation and confidence and stuff. Here, read it for yourself: http://try3sports.blogspot.com/ the March 20 entry. My first hour was slow, then I picked up my pace, effort, and stopped feeling sorry for myself and the last 1:20 was more steady. I got home and felt better. Overall, I only did 34 miles in 2:20 but I had not been on my bike but once this week, an hour on the trainer. I ran twice this week and didnt swim but on Monday, I am starting IMC training.

It has been hard not having a coach this year but budget constraints wont allow for it. I am going to follow my IMF plan but I have to adapt it since I can now run a little and would like to try running at least some of the time. I was thinking about having another coach I know tweak my old plan.

I am having horrible hip pain, usually worse after I run but I havent been dillegent about my stretching and icing/advil etc. As a physician, Im the worst patient. I know what to do but I am not very good at following my own advice. Next week, I will see my favourite massage therapist, Molly, to cash in on my 30 minute Christmas massage gift certificate. I am looking forward to it. I wish I could do it more often but 1) she has moved to SLO, CA, and is only here part time and 2) its not in the budget.

Run: 1:50, 7.5 miles
Bike: 3:20, 50 miles
Swim: 0:00, 0m

Back in the saddle

2008-03-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Rode the trainer for an hour today, cadence 90 average, Ave HR 117, ave speed 15mph. No shaking in the foot, no real effort. A good day!

Spinning my wheels, selling bikes, AWAD

2008-03-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

After spin yesterday, I wanted to throw my bike away. My leg wouldnt stop shaking when we were doing out of the saddle stuff and my knees kept hitting my gut reminding me of two things: I eat too many cookies and my aero position is far too extreme. I know I need to get a new fit done but my money is better spent elsewhere. not that the fit will cost money but the parts needed to bring me to a better position will not be free. Or will they....... ?

I have not been motivated lately to ride or run or especially swim. Technically, the six month program I wanted to follow for IMC starts tomorrow, Monday, so Im not really behind. Stacey wants me to try yoga and/or pilates but I am thinking that hour would be better spent on the bike or stretching on my own. Then again, I might really benefit from it and get rid of this pain in my hip. I think I have a good base, even though the last two weeks have been slow for me, so maybe decreasing my riding/running, and increasing my stretching/yoga thing might be a benefit for me overall. YEAH, thats it!!!!

I put my Bianchi up for sale last week. No calls on it yet but then again my phone has been disconnected for a few days. No emails either and that seems to be working fine. If I dont sell it soon, I will sell my Zipp wheels to my buddy Mark. I can always get new wheels through the store or even borrow a set for IMC.

Got my impairment rating done a couple of weeks ago. I was rated at a loss of exactly 15%. He said he might go as high as 18% but I was solid at 15%. That means technically, I can compete in the AWAD category in triathlon. I would love to go to world's in Vancouver in June but it would cost a bundle and I have the opportunity to go to Utah for soccer and make money instead of spending it. I could also be in Philly for a bike race and make money there too.

Some of my team mates are going to Boise for the 70.3 race there. I would love to go to that as well but again, money makes the world go round and currently, my world is at a standstill.

So, there are my rants, raves, blathering for the week. TTFN
DS

gettin started on the plan

2008-03-03T07:21:00.001-08:00

IMC is just shy of six months away so I dug out my old IMF training plan from 2006. It brings back some great painful memoriesI think I am going to be able to run some of the marathon this year, not sure how much but thats my plan. Then again, lots of things are in my plans but dont always turn out the way they should but for now, Im optimistic. So far, today is a day off but I will likely take the dogs for a long walk if the weather holds out. No running, just a good walk to shake the cobwebs off the dogs or at least off Sadie's fat butt.

Back to Saturday group and riding alone

2008-03-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, for the first time in months, I got up for the Saturday AM group swim. Im always up at 5am anyway, might as well get used to swimming again at that time in preparation for Ironman training. We usually get between 2000-2500m in 45minutes. I swam with my Tuesday/Thursday swim buddy, Jeff, and I think I damn near killed him. On the last few laps, he was way back. On Tues/thurs, we swim at his pace, around 1:50-1:55/100m. I usually pick it up when I take my turn at the front, to about 1:45 or so. Im thinking that next Tuesday, Im going to push him a lot. I need the training and he is very capable of keeping that pace, he just needs to warm up first. Not bad for a guy more than 10 years my senior. Then again, there are lots of guys in their 50's that can kick my ass all over the pool.
Right after the swim, I got dressed for an outdoor bike ride. Something a lot of folks in my swim group dont want to do unless it is 65+ F outside. I tried to convince a few people to go but there were plenty of excuses and no takers. I left about 750am on my rain bike, fully fendered, and was immediatly glad I put my extra jacket on. My head was chilly from having my new "aero" hair cut, but overall, I was toasty. Note to self, need new booties, my old ones are plumb worn out. I was having a great ride, testing myself on all the hills, some short ones, some long ones. I even did a 3.5 mile offroad ride on the same trail I run on. It started raining right about the time I was looking at going back to the club but I decided to try and stay out for longer. It only rained for 15 minutes but that was a long time as I got colder and my legs felt really tight. I put it in an easier gear and began trying to spin at 90+rpm to keep my legs from totally siezing up. I took it easy for the last 15 minutes except I chose to go back a shorter way, and took a very steep hill, probably 10% grade, back to the club. I ended up with 2:10 for time, unsure about the mileage as my rain bike doesnt have a computer, but my HR Average was 139. I didnt do any specific workout today, just wanted to get some saddle time outside. I want to really thank the inventor of Chamois Butt'R, its a Godsend.

too long between postings

2008-02-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Now that my triathlon calender is officially on, its time to start training and writing more about it. Today was a great day, pounded out a 32:40 5K. Right after that, the damn dog tripped me and I landed on my knee on the concrete garage floor. Oh well, its not the first time, wont be the last. I did start the week off great, if you consider Sunday the start of a new week. I did the Jack Frost TT, a 20k effort on a flat, USUALLY windy course. This year, the Gods of wind were kind to me and it didnt pick up til after I was done. I averaged just over 21mph for the course and had an average HR of 178. I attribute it to my new aero hair cut but whatever the cause, I had a PR time of 33:11. Very proud of my achievement since the last time I was close to that time was in February, the year of my infamous injury. Next week is Stacey's birthday and she will be spending it with our sister in law at McChord AFB at a fancy schmancy dinner in honour of Andy who is still in Iraq. He is getting a couple of awards and obviously isnt there to accept them so Tammy is going to do it for him. Only 3.5 months to go until Mexico.
I got a job this week with a womens pro cycling team. I will be working with them for around 4 races, the first one being in New Mexico. I have never been there and I will be able to add two more states that I have visited as I will fly into El Paso TX then drive to Silver City NM. I guess that makes a grand total of um, 10 states I think, I have been to, flown through...... oh, wait, I flew through Houston TX before but didnt actually leave the airport so that doesnt count right?Anyway, more news...... I will be interviewing for a chiro job next week, not sure if I want it as it will only be twice a week and I need more. I emailed my employer in ATL to say I cant afford to work for her anymore but she has yet to get back to me. I cant get her on the phone or email, not sure whats up. I had an offer from her to be manager for the western states but she wanted me to do cold calls for new business and I had already told her I wouldnt do that. Maybe shes upset with me. Oh well, whaddya do?
More news. I hope to be representing Canada at the World Triathlon Championships, Olympic distance, in June. The only problem being that I have not been assessed as to the extent of my injury and they require a percentage of loss greater than 15%. My HMO doesnt have anyone in their system that does those ratings so I have to go elsewhere and have to pay for it. Kind of sucks since I dont really have extra cash for that. I have to sell one of my bikes as it is to pay for some bills, like my licence to practice, my malpractice, my cell bill, and the list goes on and on. Good thing I have lots of credit built up with a bike store I trade with, I can get a new bike.
OK, thats really it, cept if my sister reads this, "dont be afraid to call once in a while" is what I would say to her. Love ya sis,
DS

2008, a slow start for training

2008-01-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

I got a cold from Kelton on December 20th. By mid day, I was feeling chills, hot flashes, and just all round feeling crappy. I called Stacey to come home and help me take care of the boys and went upstairs to bed. For the next week, I felt absolutely horrible and was unable to do much of anything. It wasnt fun for our house guests Im sure but what could I do. Anyway, this is the first week I did anything other than walk to dog. Last week I tried to go for a hard walk with the dog and every time I got my breathing rate up, I would start coughing to the point where I had to stop walking. So, for almost 15 days, I didnt work out at all. I just sat at home and got fatter.
This week, I did bike rides of 45 min, 1 hour, 1:40, and 2:15, all on the trainer. My butt is sore. I try to stand up but I cant do it for long because my left calf starts to twitch and the bike shakes and its hard to maintain pedal momentum. Today was a good trainer session. I met up with about 15 others at a church gym in Portland and we watched the 1997 and 1998 Ironman worlds on a big screen. The time goes by quicker, I have found, when you play a cycling or triathlon video or an action packed movie. A movie might be good but if it doesnt have a lot of stuff exploding or a high body count (Die Hard 4 for example), the time in the saddle drags on and on.
I had a great appointment with a physical medicine specialist this week. She spent over an hour with me and I learned a lot of new things about myself. I got a 5mm lift for my left shoe and tried it out yesterday on a 2hr hike. I felt no hip pain at all on the right which is something I had not experienced in a long time.
This coming week, I will be trying to get back into my regular routine of swimming 3x/wk, running 3x/wk, and riding 4x/wk. Wish me luck

best run in 5.5 years

2007-12-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today I went out for my prescribed 50 minute endurance run. My HRM was being a PITA so I put the read out on min/mile. I know it needs calibration to be a little more accurate but I calibrated it for walking before I was able to run for more than 3-4 min at a time. In general, it is pretty close because when I run on the Heritage Trail, I have mile markers to guage things by. Anyway, I got adjusted just before my run and I had a massage last Thursday and I think that made all the difference in the world. I busted out my first sub-12 minute mile in years and was able to keep up the pace for another two after that. I was able to do 3.9 miles in 50 minutes. Not bad if I might say so. I actually did a 10:50 for my last mile. I must admit, I was "husky assisted" on that last mile as I let the leash out a little more than I usually do and Koda pulled me to my fastest mile ever, or at least since 2002. I think my best 5K was around 29 minutes in a sprint triathlon. I must check the results to verify that. Anyway, Im happy to report I am getting faster and I might be able to do Beaver FReezer in around 1:18 or so, Im hoping.

Return to OHSU

2007-12-05T23:06:00.001-08:00

For the first time since I left the hospital on November 3, 2002, I returned to OHSU. We had to take Taggy there for an appointment with a specialist at the children's hospital (everything is normal). While we were waiting for his appointment, Stacey and I were sitting reminiscing about the last time we were there. I got kind of teary eyed and of course, being a man and all, I didnt want my wife to see me doing that so I got up and went and played with Taggy. We finished his appointment and he and Stacey wanted to ride the tram down the hill so I got the car and met them at the terminal. Later, after the kids went to bed, Stacey and I sat down and she told me about how surreal it felt to walk from where Taggy's appointment was up to the tram. She had to walk through the area where she waited for the hospital staff to take her and Taguen, when he was only 3 months old, to my room on the day of my injury. It was very emotionally draining for her and I wish I could have been there with her. I vividly remember everything about the rehab center but was unable to recall much about OHSU except for the homeless person they put in my room and she said the same thing until walking through the ward today. She is an exceptional woman and I am lucky to have her in my life.

New training program, dreams, Kona

2007-12-05T22:50:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I started on the latest installment of my triathlon training. With a new goal, the Canadian Paralympic Cycling Team, I had coach Scott (www.f9tc) design a program with early season time trials as the focus. The times for the national team in the 20k were in the low 30 minute range. My best 20k without doing much training was 36 minutes. As I said, with proper training, I think I can do much better. I have great equipment in my bike and race wheels, I have one good leg, so I think I can power to a low 30 minute finish. My friends Jen and Dean at Bike Central have offered to help me learn to ride on the track as this is something else I think I could excel at. Although the 2008 Paralympics are out of reach, the Pan Am games and World Championships are not. I am looking into going to Montreal in May to be classified and race for the first time against other physically challenged athletes.
I emailed NA Sports for the second time in as many years about adding an additional category to their PC division. The ITU, International Triathlon Union, has a category that I fit into and I am lobbying for NA Sports to adopt it as well. Last year they basically said I wasnt PC enough to compete in the PC division. Granted, I am not going to be breaking any land speed records but at least I might be able to get the elusive Kona spot without having to go the lottery route. Wish me luck

More goals, future paralympian??

2007-12-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ever since my life was changed by a surgical procedure gone awry, I have been trying to find things that I can be competitive in with people that have like injuries. This is how I found the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Recently, just for fun, I was looking at the results for the World Paralypic Cycling Championships. Im not sure what my classification is just yet (Im working on that detail), but I think I could be competitive with the class I think I am in. With proper coaching (thanks Scott), I know I can achieve this new goal of mine-making the Canadian Paralympic Team. I have been talking via email to the Canadian Cycling director for the Paralympic program and he has been very positive about the possibility of me competing for my country. First thing I have to do is get classified, then start earning points via UCI registered events. The only problem with that is the cost of traveling to events. At age 41, I am excited about the prospect of becoming a member of the national team but I am not getting my hopes up just yet. I have to be diligent about my training while maintaining a good relationship at home. Its a delicate balance but I think I can do it.

Turkey Trot and feeling old

2007-12-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well, its official, my son is better than me at something. Its only a matter of time before he overtakes me in other things. Im not giving in though. He is going to have to earn it.
On Turkey Day, we got to the gym and he was real excited. I was still trying to stay awake, it was only 645am afterall. We said hi to friends and Kelton overheard one of my buddy's asking his son if he wanted to ride his bike 8.5miles with him running or if he wanted to run 3.5miles with one of the his own friends. He chose to ride with Dad but then Kelton turned to me and asked if we could run the 8.5 mile route to which I replied "um, HELL no!". Just before the proverbial gun (it wasnt a race), I ran to the truck to get the dog and then we were off. I had made sure Kelton brought his gloves and he was wearing his soccer warm ups so he was toasty but before long, he had the gloves off and his top was unzipped. Sure as clockwork, the dog had to do his business and without warning, he let loose in the street right in front of probably the only person that wasnt running. She was coming out to get her paper as I was in front of her house trying to scrape dog poop off the street. A whole bunch of people were still behind us and as they passed, Kelton and I were trying to make sure they didnt step in it. After we cleaned it up, we started running again. Kelton made a comment about his not even training for this run. A few minutes later, he asked if we could go faster, once again, I replied with a resounding, "Hell no!", but I said he could go on if he wanted and just to follow everyone else. I expected him to want to walk a bit but he just started running a little faster, then before I knew it, he was out of sight. Bob, the gym owner, and his wife, Patti, were at the only turn Kelton had to make, serving your choice of champagne or water. I jokingly asked which one they gave my kid. They were very impressed that he had was doing so well and that he was kicking my ass severely. I think he probably finished close to ten minutes before I did and he was back at the gym enjoying hot chocolate while I was walking the last half a mile or so. I am so proud of him, he did the entire thing without having to walk AND he wanted to do more. Well, at least at the time he did. Not long after that he was walking funny because his legs were sore.

swimming

2007-11-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I started swimming with a couple of friends. We wanted to get 2 times per week but due to various reasons, I only managed once a week with them and only one time with the Saturday morning group. Yesterday, after three, maybe four weeks of missing Tuesday/Thursday swims, I got wet. Jeff and I started out and got 400m in before Eric got in. We did pulls of 200m each then took a minute or so rest and by the time we finished, I had 2200m in. I think I hurt Jeff and Eric on my last pull or at least the last 100m. We went from 1:55/100m to 1:40/100m and after we were done, they were rubbing their shoulders and trying to catch their breath. I might have a new patient out of the deal too!! It was fun and I am looking forward to getting back to my routine of 2-3 swims/week. I have been trying to get Stacey to commit to training for an event with me and once we have that goal, I think we can get ourselves up early or training later after the boys go to bed.

Tomorrow is turkey day and if all goes well, Kelton and I should be up running a 5K tomorrow at 7am. Since he has been getting up at 6am lately, I dont think it should be difficult to get there.

Riding in the rain

2007-11-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday I hooked up with a bunch of people at Athlete's Lounge for a wet ride. Some people had fenders, others had none but even the fendered bikes threw up a ton of spray (after the ride, I took my bike down to Bike Central and asked them to put flaps on each fender). Before the ride, one of my new team mates came in the store and said he forgot his shoes. Luckily, someone in the store had a pair of shoes and I had a pair of pedals with me so he was able to ride. He also had a gift for me from Coach Scott at Factor 9 Triathlon Coaching in the form of a new visor with his logo on it. Pretty cool way to start the ride. We went out in a group of about 15 or so and ended up splitting the group about an hour into it. I rode for about 1:40 or so, not sure of the distance as my cheapo computer had died. It was a flat to rolling ride which was great for me as I had only been able to ride once in the past week. My HR Ave was 146 and overall my legs felt great and I wasnt sore at all afterwards. Aside from the spray, the rain hit us on the last 15 minutes of the ride but we were already wet. Athlete's Lounge, one of the sponsors of Ironheads, was a great host and had great facilities including a shower if you needed it. Some people are going to ride on turkey day at 9am and another group is trying to ride at 630am. I think it will be in the low 30s on Thursday so I am not sure I want to ride my bike in that, more for saftey reasons than the cold and Kelton and I are already planning to run/walk the Turkey Trot at Lacamas Swim/Sport at 7am. Who knows, I might see if its OK that I ride afterwards. It is afterall, the time of the year when most people gain weight, I might as well not add to that number. Ciao for now,
DS

San Diego Triathlon Challenge 2007

2007-11-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

This year on November 1 was the five year anniversary of my injury. A lot has happened in five years. My most proud accomplishments have been the completion of three half iron distance triathlons and an Ironman. Two of the half iron distance events were in La Jolla for the SDTC. This year I was going to do a relay and just do the swim portion of the event so I could enjoy the expo but mother nature and apparently some criminals prevented that. The event was cancelled three days prior to the scheduled date due to the wildfires that damaged Southern California.

I was a little disappointed in one way as I was really looking forward to the inspiration I always got from watching challenged athletes compete. I am a PC athlete myself but I have all my limbs and I dont use a wheelchair so I am in awe of those less fortunate than I when it comes to injury. On the other hand, I was happy to not add to the chaos that was happening in the San Diego area.

My swim training was not what it could have been but I know I would have been able to pull off a 35 minute swim even with the limited pool time I had. I am lucky to be able to swim well without too much effort but for the 2008 season, I plan on working towards a sub 30 min swim time in the half IM distance. I thought about joining the local Masters club but I don't know if I can make the swim times. At the same time, I like the coach Bert, and think he can help me attain my goal time. I have been swimming with a wetsuit or pull buoy for so long, I will need to really work hard to be able to swim without either one so I can be more efficient when I have to wear my suit.

Tomorrow Im swimming with a couple of friends something I hope to be able to do regularly. I am much faster than they are which makes it easy for me to transition to swimming device free.

This is therapy

2007-09-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, if you are reading this, most likely you already know me. If, however, you dont know me, I will give you a quick overview. Hope you dont fall asleep before I get to the good parts, I tend to ramble :)

My name is Darren, Dad, Big D, Son, Barrel (ask my friends why), Doctor, and some other things. I am a chiropractic physician, specializing in sports injuries. I am a husband, a father, a son, a big brother, a little brother. I am an Ironman. I am physically challenged. I have a very loving family that supports me, trains with me, and puts up with me and my "stuff".

I started out thinking I would be writing this for therapy but now Im interested in doing an ongoing thing for friends and family to have something to read about the goings on here in rainy Camas/Portland Metro. Sorry in advance if this bores you but I think I can throw some humour in there somewhere (for the Americans reading, I didnt spell humour wrong, Im Canadian and thats how we roll with words like that; honour, colour, etc).

I guess I have to fill in the "about me" section so ciao for now.

Lake Stevens, 53mph on a bike, PR, good times

2007-09-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a while back, right after I did my last triathlon on July 8, 2007, thought I would share it. It will take me a while to catch up between then and now, October, but I will give it my best shot.

Its been a long time since I wrote anything but I am feeling inspired this morning. My coach, Scott McMillan, of Factor 9 Triathlon Coaching (http://www.f9tc.com/), got me through another long distance triathlon at Lake Stevens. Its one of the new stops of the Ironman 70.3 series and it is just north of Seattle so real easy to get to.
The week and a half before the race was spent travelling to my homeland of Canada and sitting in 90+F weather beside the lake I grew up next to. It was great because I did all my swims in open water and all my bike rides were on hilly roads. Little did I know that those rides were preparing me for the two lap course around Lake Stevens.
Two days before the races, we got into Lake Stevens and while the family went to see Ratatouille, I went to check out the race course. I didnt actually get to do that because I spent two hours trying to get the local bike shop to dial in my gearing. Apparently, SRAM cassettes do not compute with Shimano shifting unless it is on friction (vs index/click) and even then, the SRAM spring is very powerful and pulls the rear derailleur down a couple of gears unless you hold it there. That comes into play later during the race which I will describe later. So, by the time they figure out that they cant help me (and make my shifting worse than when I got there), it was time to get the fam from the movie.
Fast forward to race day. 4am, alarm, scares the crap out of me and everyone else in the room, but they quickly went back to sleep. I got all my stuff on while I was drinking my breakfast and before I knew it, 6am came and we were off to the race. Stomach doing flip flops for the entire morning untill I met up with a bunch of people from my club, then it calmed down. I didnt feel stressed but I guess thats what it was.
My wave was off at 7:04 and it was the biggest field in the race, 110 40-49 year olds. I was registered as a clydesdale but they didnt separate us from our age groups. We were off on the gun, and it was no where near as intense as trying to swim in Floriday IM but I still got swam over. I quickly found my pace and I also found that all the buoys were tied to a line that ran the length of the course which ensured that I was not off course and I didnt have to waste time and energy sighting the next buoy. Im not sure that was cheating in anyway but I know Im not the only one that found it. I passed quite a few of the 30-34 and 35-39 ladies groups that went off before us and I thought I was having a great swim. I finished in 36 minutes, one minute off my goal time but respectable in my group, 42/110 and 10/35 Clydesdales. My T1 time was not bad, 3 minutes, longer than I wanted due to the short run and wetsuit removal but I was OK with it.
The first few miles of the bike were easy, a couple of short rollers but good enough to get me out of the red zone and calmed down for the ride. I passed quite a few people til the first of 4 hills rolled around. Only about 4-8% grades but only 1/2 mile or less but man did it take a lot out of me on the first lap. My bike didnt shift properly and I was forced to hold my bar end shifter to keep it in the 26 because when I let it go, the spring pulled it back to the 23, kind of hard to climb in for a large man but I was able to recover on the descents and I am thankful for momentum because I was able to roll up some of the rollers without much effort. On the first lap, the steepest descent, I was able to hit 50mph while in my aero bars but an impatient local in a BMW pulled out in front of me. I have cat like reflexes apparently, because I was able to get out of my tuck and onto my brakes. He caught up to the people I was gaining on and he hit the brakes too but he turned off before I could give him my commentary on what he just did to me. Anyway, same hill, a little over 1 hour later, I was on the bull horns, ready to hit the brakes and I got up to 53mph. What a rush. No speed wobble from my Zipp 808 wheels and I could have gone faster Im sure if there hadnt been S curves on the hill. What a RUSH!! I didnt feel like I had much else to offer after the last hill but I seemed to find an extra gear about 5K from T2 probably due to crowd noise and the announcer. I was a little bummed when I was in T2 and I heard then announce the womens winner was 1K out and I knew I still had 3 hours of run/walking ahead of me. Nonetheless, I headed out of T2 5 minutes later (ankle braces take a while to get on).
I ran out of the transition zone and through the crowd with the speed of a turtle but hey, I was running instead of walking. As soon as I got out of view of the crowd, I walked to the first feed zone where I used the portapotty and got my drink on, water of course as they were out of beer. Funny, thinking back, I used the portapotty on each of the frist three aid stations at Ironman but didnt have to go til 4 hours into this race, was I dehydrated? Anyway, back to running. I ran/walked for a while but before too long, it became a long walk, short run, then a REAL long walk, shorter run. I drank water at each aid station and had a powergel just before I got there but note to self, get a belt with water bottles on it, the aid stations were too far apart for a hot race, at least for me. I had to get some vasaline at about mile 8 because my underarms, already chafed from the swim, were starting to sting but that quickly soothed it. Oh, also, another note to self, get some spray sunscreen as the stuff that was applied at 7am, before swimming, doesnt last all day apparently. Around mile 10, I tried running again but I had a sharp pain in my left knee so I walked til mile 12.5, just before the crowd came into view, and I ran to the finish. My family was there to see me run the last 100m to the line which was a big thrill for me since they didnt get to see me at IMF. My oldest was too shy to run across the line with me but they were right there to hug me afterwards.
A few friends from my club were there and they cheered me to the fnish which was great too. All in all, even with the shifting problems on the bike, the knee pain, and the sun burn, I had a great day. I even drove us all the way back to Portland, three hours away. So, in retrospect, I think I could have finished in under 7 hrs with a few factors changed, but overall, I PR'd by 1 hour, 3 minutes over my best finish in that distance so Im happy.