The Journey Begins

Above, Looking a bit weary after a day of training and travel

Right, Rach enjoying dessert (free cookies from the front desk, YES!)


The journey back to Kona has begun. Today started with a final swim with Patrick and the NTC at Commonwealth Pool. Jazz, Steve-o and Brent were good enough to do my final set with me. 15 X 100 @ mid race effort. Felt good!
Then it was over to pick up my bike from Pro City where Troy was doing the final tune up. I had just asked for the drive train to be cleaned but Troy had the TTX pulled apart and was cleaning everything. I told him he didn't have to do that, but he was quick to point out that "this is Kona". A big thank you goes out to Troy, Bill and the whole gang at Pro City/Trek. If you are ever in Victoria and looking for a bike shop, this is the one. These guys live for bikes.

Once I had the bike home I had to get on it. I didn't have time to go outside for a ride so it was trainer time. I managed to get in a good hour, but this left me with less than an hour to pack my bike, shower and get the rest of my stuff together. Packing for an Ironman is not an easy task, but with something like 20 of them in the bank I have it down to a bit of a science now. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself and forget something.)

The flight over to Seattle was very quick (25 minutes) but they did manage to lose Rach's luggage between the time we went through customs and the time is got to the luggage belt. After an hour of waiting around it decided to come out on the carousel.

Rach and I are now chilling at the airport Mariott (Law and Order time). Tomorrow is a 4am wake up to get over the Sea Tac and start the next part of the journey; 2 hours to San Fran and then a 4 1/2 hour flight over to Kona. Looking forward to settling in and getting ready.

SNL Does it Again

Shockingly, not that different than the real interview.

Rest Day

Rex (I am not the only one going gray)

Rest day today!
This week has been one of the last real tough ones before the big day. Some of the highlights;
3km tt in the pool on Tuesday, 3 hour ride inside to avoid the cold rain on Wednesday, 3 X 10min hard running yesterday on the treadmill. All in all, everything feels really good.
Today's rest day is a chance to get a bunch of the little things done (a massage and trip to the Chiropractor is at the top of the list) before Rach and I pack up and get ready to make the return trip to Kona on Tuesday. I will try and post a daily update from Hawaii providing I have some internet access where we are staying.

Pure Gold!

Kona #9

Three weeks from today I will be in Kona trying to relax the day before Ironman. I finally did the math and this will be Kona #9. Hard to believe it is almost here again. These last few weeks are always tough because you still have a few hard workouts to get through, but you are tired (both mentally and physically). The good news is that I am healthy (knock on wood) and all of my workouts have gone very well. My fitness is at an all time high and I believe that I will be in the best shape of my life on October 11th. I truly believe that I can go quite a bit faster than last year.

Since coming back from the camp in Kona I have had some great help in training from a few of the guys out here in Victoria;Ben, Jazz, Steveo, Vaughn, Derek, Simon (and of course Rach who is my on site coach). Thanks guys for taking the time and pushing me in these final few workouts.

More Baseball Pictures

HPR Baseball

This past Saturday we put away the bikes, and swim stuff and picked up some bats and gloves for a little HPR baseball. A great time was had by all. The only casualties being my shin and Ann's finger. A good time was had by all. I just wish I had been able to enjoy a few of the beers after (and during) the game.

Rach's Cousin CAN Dance!

HOME

We saw a lot of this!

View of Alii Drive from condo!

After a successful camp I am back in Victoria.
I wish I had taken more pictures while I was there, but this definitely wasn't a tourist trip. I am now enjoying being back in the sunshine of Victoria and trying to catch up on some sleep after one of those brutal red eye flights on Tuesday night. Hopefully I will be feeling normal by Saturday and the work will begin again. Race Day draws near.

Training Camp Update

We are now 4 days into the Kona camp.
The routine is pretty simple; Eat/Train/Eat/Rest/Train/Eat/Rest/Train/Eat/Sleep. Get up and do it again. Definitely not a chance to come here and rest before the race (as one of Ben's co-workers had thought).
Today Ben did a time trial of the bike course and tomorrow is my turn. So far everything has gone well and we have gotten some great work in. The weather has been typical of Kona; HOT and HUMID! I look forward to another 3 days of work here and then putting in the final few weeks back home in Victoria.

On a side note, I was sad to miss BeerFest in Victoria last night, but I understand that the HPR crew were champions. The best quote I have heard from the night (so far) from (who else) a sober Luke to a sober Karyn; "Aren't they cute at this age?". Hope everyone had fun!

Vancouver Triathlon/ Leavin' on a Jet plane

Just a quick update as Ben and I make our way to Kona for a week of training on the Big Island.
Today was a surprisingly good day on the race course. I was pretty unsure of how I would do after a tough week of training. With multiple Ironman winner Jason Shortis on the start line as well as my HPR team mate Ben and a young fast kid (Jeff Symonds) from Penticton I knew that I would have to have a good day to win. Luckily I had a good day. I was just behind Shortis out of the water and then made it to the front of the bike by the end of the first lap of 4 on the bike. I managed to put some distance on the rest of the field (I am loving the new Trek TTX!) and start the run with a good cushion. At the first out and back I saw that I had about 30 seconds on Shortis. I tried to stay out of sight on the twisty turny run course and I think this payed off. The second time we hit this out and back the gap was the same. I endured a pretty painful blister from not taking the time to tighten my laces and made it to the finish 3 minutes faster than when I did this course last year and finished 3rd. Ben also had a great race. He was off the bike in 3rd, but was overtaken half way through the run by Symonds to finish a very solid 4th. At 2:00 this was an Olympic distance PB for Ben. He can expect a big day on October 11th.
More from Kona!