Time to lighten things up a bit after that last post.
A little pre race tension breaker for those racing this weekend!
Good Luck to HPR Athletes;
BEN COTTER 34
ALLAN BOOS 687
KEVIN SUCKLING 755
ADRIAN WALTON 863
MICHAEL BREWER 965
MARTY SHATZKO 1022
GREG MCKAY 1176
TIM SCOTT 1297
MICHAEL ROTH 1323
JUSTIN MARTIN 1989
LAURA FLUIT 2129
KRISTA POWELL 2219
TAMMY KOVALUK-BOOS 2301
VICTORIA READ 2331
MONIQUE LARCHE MOORE 2402
JODI MUCHA 2511
HEATHER WHITTALL 2614
DAPHNE DOBKO WALSH 2615
MARSHA PETTY-JOHNSON 2820
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Ironman Canada - It's Business Time
Monday, August 24, 2009
PSA Texting while Driving, U.K., August 2009,
Warning!
This is tough to watch! But it should be watched by anyone who has every actually done this or thought of doing this. I can't believe it whenever I see it happening. As someone who spends a little too much time on two wheels on the side of major roads it is something that worries the shit out of me. All it would take is a small moment of inattention to take me and/or my friends out for good.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
For Rach
Someone misses you!
I promised Rach that everything would still be alive when she returned from two weeks in England. So far, so good.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A Little Saturday Morning U2
Getting ready for a long ride.
"It's not a hill it's a mountain as you start out the climb."
7 weeks.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
9.58
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/ondemand/?maven_playerId=ondemand&maven_referralObject=1216573120
Sorry, you have to cut and paste this to browser.
Sorry, you have to cut and paste this to browser.
Reflection!
It all boils down to this; Don’t take a knife to a gun fight.
In other words; you can’t trump speed with strength at these 70.3 events.
The Guys are FAST!!! Hats off to young Canadian Jeff Symonds. This is a kid to watch.
In other words; you can’t trump speed with strength at these 70.3 events.
The Guys are FAST!!! Hats off to young Canadian Jeff Symonds. This is a kid to watch.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Lake Stevens (a quick update)
Well, it was a wake up call.
I thought I was running for 8th (and some cash) and worked really hard over the last couple of km. But it turns out I was 9th (once again) and just missed out.
The positives; A good workout, a good chance to test mental toughness and the body held up.
The negatives; Swam way off course on the way back. Fog and sun were not my friends.
Got my A$$ handed to me.
Such is sport! Learn, move on!
Time to go home and see the pack.
I thought I was running for 8th (and some cash) and worked really hard over the last couple of km. But it turns out I was 9th (once again) and just missed out.
The positives; A good workout, a good chance to test mental toughness and the body held up.
The negatives; Swam way off course on the way back. Fog and sun were not my friends.
Got my A$$ handed to me.
Such is sport! Learn, move on!
Time to go home and see the pack.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Next Up!
Lake Stevens 70.3 this Sunday. A chance to mix it up with some of the big boys and see where I am at. After that, the 8 week build to Kona begins.
I am going to follow the same prep I have done the past couple of years. Tough training in Penticton during IMC weekend where I do the hardest ride of my year; the IM course followed by the climb up to APEX (30 km of climbing, the last 11km being ridiculous).
The next weekend I will race the Vancouver Tri in Stanley Park and then leave the next day with Kevin Suckling for an 8 day camp in Kona. After the 8 days of work in Kona it will be back to Victoria for a couple of weeks before making the return journey to Kona 10 days prior to the race. Hard to believe it is here again. I live for this time of year.
I am going to follow the same prep I have done the past couple of years. Tough training in Penticton during IMC weekend where I do the hardest ride of my year; the IM course followed by the climb up to APEX (30 km of climbing, the last 11km being ridiculous).
The next weekend I will race the Vancouver Tri in Stanley Park and then leave the next day with Kevin Suckling for an 8 day camp in Kona. After the 8 days of work in Kona it will be back to Victoria for a couple of weeks before making the return journey to Kona 10 days prior to the race. Hard to believe it is here again. I live for this time of year.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Happy Birthday Rex and Kona!
We know for certain it is Rex's 12th birthday, we are pretty certain Kona turns 11 around the same time. Murphy? Still a puppy!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
A Soggy Day in Spandex - K - Town 2009
This past Sunday I raced back in my old hometown of Kingston, Ontario. This is a really special race because it is the race that really caught my attention back in my hockey playing days. As my days on blades were winding down I saw this race and thought I would like to try it one day. Hard to believe that 15 years later I have won this race 5 times. It is not the biggest race in the world (although the list of winners on the trophy is pretty impressive and I am honoured to have my name on their with them) but it is a race with a rich 26 year history and to be a part of it again this year was special.
Those that have followed this blog over the past year have known that I have had some ups and downs with injuries in 09. I have managed to stay pretty fit throughout the year, but I haven't been healthy enough to race as often as I would like to. I feared this weekend was going to follow an all too familiar pattern with an injury flaring up right before the race. Actually an injury did flare up at the end of last week as my IT band tightened up again and made running difficult. I took the week easy and hoped that things would be alright by the time I traveled to Kingston. Unfortunately I tweaked it again on Friday and it went into lock down mode immediately. Luckily my coach Randy has been in sports long enough to know what to do and he was stretching out the IT band and knee the day before. We got it to where I could run for 10 minutes and I thought OK, I can do this. I went to bed Saturday with faith and hoped that it would be ok.
Race morning arrived and the knee was still not co-operating. I ended up in the back of John Reid's truck 40 minutes before the race getting Randy to strip out the IT band once again and get it to where it was loose enough to run. I might have been a bit more stressed were it not for Tony O'Keefe's running commentary which had us all laughing.
Long Story short, I made it to the start line and did the best I could with what I had. The swim was very rough and when the knee gets like this it is actually painful to kick hard which made for a very poor swim. I managed to get out of the water and onto the bike a couple minutes back of Mike Greenberg (who it is great to see racing so well once again) and then it was onto the bike where the knee was really sore. I hate to do it, but this is when I started what would turn out to be a pretty steady diet of Advil over the next couple of hours. The two Advil kicked in about 10km into the bike and I was able to get rolling and get to the front of the bike around 25km. Once I was at the front I worked hard to build up an advantage that would hopefully allow me to run (if I was able to) somewhat conservatively. I hit the bike/run transition with close to a 3 minute lead and started out the run in a downpour. Luckily the knee was not a concern. It held up well until I had about 3km left when it started to tighten. Luckily I had held the 3 minute advantage and was able to run it in while Ryan Grant held his pace and put some time into me. All in all, it was just great to race again and see a finish line.
This race would not have happened were it not for my coach (and masseuse) Randy Zabukovec. Thanks Randy!
Thanks to John Reid for the pictures!
Those that have followed this blog over the past year have known that I have had some ups and downs with injuries in 09. I have managed to stay pretty fit throughout the year, but I haven't been healthy enough to race as often as I would like to. I feared this weekend was going to follow an all too familiar pattern with an injury flaring up right before the race. Actually an injury did flare up at the end of last week as my IT band tightened up again and made running difficult. I took the week easy and hoped that things would be alright by the time I traveled to Kingston. Unfortunately I tweaked it again on Friday and it went into lock down mode immediately. Luckily my coach Randy has been in sports long enough to know what to do and he was stretching out the IT band and knee the day before. We got it to where I could run for 10 minutes and I thought OK, I can do this. I went to bed Saturday with faith and hoped that it would be ok.
Race morning arrived and the knee was still not co-operating. I ended up in the back of John Reid's truck 40 minutes before the race getting Randy to strip out the IT band once again and get it to where it was loose enough to run. I might have been a bit more stressed were it not for Tony O'Keefe's running commentary which had us all laughing.
Long Story short, I made it to the start line and did the best I could with what I had. The swim was very rough and when the knee gets like this it is actually painful to kick hard which made for a very poor swim. I managed to get out of the water and onto the bike a couple minutes back of Mike Greenberg (who it is great to see racing so well once again) and then it was onto the bike where the knee was really sore. I hate to do it, but this is when I started what would turn out to be a pretty steady diet of Advil over the next couple of hours. The two Advil kicked in about 10km into the bike and I was able to get rolling and get to the front of the bike around 25km. Once I was at the front I worked hard to build up an advantage that would hopefully allow me to run (if I was able to) somewhat conservatively. I hit the bike/run transition with close to a 3 minute lead and started out the run in a downpour. Luckily the knee was not a concern. It held up well until I had about 3km left when it started to tighten. Luckily I had held the 3 minute advantage and was able to run it in while Ryan Grant held his pace and put some time into me. All in all, it was just great to race again and see a finish line.
This race would not have happened were it not for my coach (and masseuse) Randy Zabukovec. Thanks Randy!
Thanks to John Reid for the pictures!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
#5
Another K-Town in the books.
Managed to stay in front.
The numbers;
1 Red Bull
4 Gels
1 Gatorade
8 ADVIL (don't try that at home)
1 Bottle of Dom Perignon after (thanks to Dave from NB and Al from Runners Choice, I like that tradition)
More later! Nap Time.
Managed to stay in front.
The numbers;
1 Red Bull
4 Gels
1 Gatorade
8 ADVIL (don't try that at home)
1 Bottle of Dom Perignon after (thanks to Dave from NB and Al from Runners Choice, I like that tradition)
More later! Nap Time.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
K-Town Pre Race
An article outlining a friendly rivalry with Ottawa athlete Rick Hellard.
Ready to tri again
Posted By PATRICK KENNEDY
Posted 5 hours ago
In the days following the 2008 Kingston Triathlon, a friend sent elite triathlete/ironman Mike Neill a copy of the story that appeared in this paper the next day.
In the piece, race-winner Rick Hellard threw down the gauntlet on fellow four-time winner Neill, a Limestone lad who had moved west a few years back and missed the 2008 K-Town Tri.
"One of these days," Hellard declared into the tape recorder, "I'm going to beat him on his own course, and there's something in the back of my mind that tells me I will."
Today, on the eve of the 26th instalment of the popular K-Town Tri, that same something is telling Hellard to bite his tongue a tad and reign in those premature notions.
"Unfortunately, I don't quite feel the same way now," conceded the Ottawa product, who last year, at age 42, became the event's oldest champion.
"I'm in good bike shape but my run is questionable."
Despite a sparkling record in 10 K-Town Tri appearances (in the money every time with four wins, three seconds, two-thirds), Hellard has never beaten Neill.
The last time they met, two summers ago in Kingston, Neill blew away the field in posting an impressive wire-to-wire win. Runnerup Hellard followed him home just under four minutes later.
"Mike's a formidable adversary," the latter pointed out. "I think he'll have to have an off-day for me or anyone else to beat him."
Reached at home in Victoria, B. C., Neill, 37, laughed as he re -collected Hellard's good-natured challenge in his hometown fish-wrap.
"After I read it, I thought maybe I should go gunning for him, plan my trip home to coincide with the triathlon and go after him."
Advertisement
Turning serious, he lauded Hellard's longevity in the sport and an ability to remain an elite triathlete at age 43.
"Rick was one of the top triathletes back when I was still playing minor hockey and hadn't even heard of the sport," he recalled.
"He still is. Anyone who sticks around that long and remains competitive deserves admiration."
For four-time champs Neill and Hellard, this K-Town Tri represents a drive for five, a trail already blazed in the short-course race by Lianne Morrisette.
The local woman, who captured five consecutive short-course crowns (2004-08), tackles the long course this time around.
"I kept telling myself after each (short-course) win that I'd try the long course next year," said the 39-year-old who qualified for Ironman Canada this year.
"After the fifth one, I said that's it -- long course for sure next year, and here we are."
The K-Town Tri is a self-perpetuating success story that has maintained momentum practically from the day Marcus Boyle snapped the finish-line tape at the 1984 inaugural, which, for some strange reason -- strange given the date -- was called the Kingston Bicentennial Triathlon. (The city's bicentennial blowout is slated for 2046.)
The field in the 26th edition of this swim-cycle-scoot test just happens to be the largest ever, 655 entrants in three races, including 20 teams in the relay class.
"We closed registration two weeks ago," said co-race director Mike Broekhoven. "We've had to do that the last five or six years.
"The venue makes it special," he added. "It's very fan-friendly with the transition areas in Confederation Basin and the run along the waterfront. It's certainly better than having it at some conservation area."
As with any successful venture, an army of selfless volunteers keep the K-Town Tri ticking and on time, year in, year out. Some 400 unpaid lifeguards, scuba divers, kayakers, boaters water-station crew, bike-check crew, body markers, bike marshals, traffic controllers, medical staff, food distributors, photographers, security and finish-line specialists are lending a helping hand this year.
"You have to have a good team of volunteers and we happen to have the top A-team," said corace director Joe Putos.
Facilitating the process is a seasoned organizing committee.
"The majority of us have been involved for 10 years or more," noted Putos, who's working his 21st K-Town Tri; 16th for colleague Broekhoven.
"That's a lot of experience, enough to divvy up the jobs, anyway."
"No question, the athletes come because of the course," added Putos.
"The venue sells itself, with the downtown setting and the run along the waterfront, and the new people us they love the atmosphere the city provides."
Loyalist Collegiate grad Neill listed his home course as among his favourites, this from someone who's knocked off two dozen Ironmans and more than 150 triathlons worldwide.
"Talk to anyone in the sport, Simon, anyone," he said, dropping a reference to sometimes swimming partner Simon Whitfield.
"The Kingston triathlon has the neatest, coolest venue anywhere. You start and finish (the run) right in front of historic City Hall, the bike station's directly across (Ontario) Street, the lake's right there.
"It seems like the whole day takes place down there."
Though it's garnered a well-deserved reputation for efficiency, hiccups have occurred.
Broekhoven recalled a triathlon from yesteryear, back when the Island Queen tour boat brought swimmers to a start line.
Evidently someone on board forgot to drop anchor.
"The boat drifted about 500 metres away from the start line," said Broekhoven.
"Instead of a 750-metre swim, that group of swimmers had an extra 500 metres tacked on. Some of them couldn't understand why their (swim) time was so slow."
Ready to tri again
Posted By PATRICK KENNEDY
Posted 5 hours ago
In the days following the 2008 Kingston Triathlon, a friend sent elite triathlete/ironman Mike Neill a copy of the story that appeared in this paper the next day.
In the piece, race-winner Rick Hellard threw down the gauntlet on fellow four-time winner Neill, a Limestone lad who had moved west a few years back and missed the 2008 K-Town Tri.
"One of these days," Hellard declared into the tape recorder, "I'm going to beat him on his own course, and there's something in the back of my mind that tells me I will."
Today, on the eve of the 26th instalment of the popular K-Town Tri, that same something is telling Hellard to bite his tongue a tad and reign in those premature notions.
"Unfortunately, I don't quite feel the same way now," conceded the Ottawa product, who last year, at age 42, became the event's oldest champion.
"I'm in good bike shape but my run is questionable."
Despite a sparkling record in 10 K-Town Tri appearances (in the money every time with four wins, three seconds, two-thirds), Hellard has never beaten Neill.
The last time they met, two summers ago in Kingston, Neill blew away the field in posting an impressive wire-to-wire win. Runnerup Hellard followed him home just under four minutes later.
"Mike's a formidable adversary," the latter pointed out. "I think he'll have to have an off-day for me or anyone else to beat him."
Reached at home in Victoria, B. C., Neill, 37, laughed as he re -collected Hellard's good-natured challenge in his hometown fish-wrap.
"After I read it, I thought maybe I should go gunning for him, plan my trip home to coincide with the triathlon and go after him."
Advertisement
Turning serious, he lauded Hellard's longevity in the sport and an ability to remain an elite triathlete at age 43.
"Rick was one of the top triathletes back when I was still playing minor hockey and hadn't even heard of the sport," he recalled.
"He still is. Anyone who sticks around that long and remains competitive deserves admiration."
For four-time champs Neill and Hellard, this K-Town Tri represents a drive for five, a trail already blazed in the short-course race by Lianne Morrisette.
The local woman, who captured five consecutive short-course crowns (2004-08), tackles the long course this time around.
"I kept telling myself after each (short-course) win that I'd try the long course next year," said the 39-year-old who qualified for Ironman Canada this year.
"After the fifth one, I said that's it -- long course for sure next year, and here we are."
The K-Town Tri is a self-perpetuating success story that has maintained momentum practically from the day Marcus Boyle snapped the finish-line tape at the 1984 inaugural, which, for some strange reason -- strange given the date -- was called the Kingston Bicentennial Triathlon. (The city's bicentennial blowout is slated for 2046.)
The field in the 26th edition of this swim-cycle-scoot test just happens to be the largest ever, 655 entrants in three races, including 20 teams in the relay class.
"We closed registration two weeks ago," said co-race director Mike Broekhoven. "We've had to do that the last five or six years.
"The venue makes it special," he added. "It's very fan-friendly with the transition areas in Confederation Basin and the run along the waterfront. It's certainly better than having it at some conservation area."
As with any successful venture, an army of selfless volunteers keep the K-Town Tri ticking and on time, year in, year out. Some 400 unpaid lifeguards, scuba divers, kayakers, boaters water-station crew, bike-check crew, body markers, bike marshals, traffic controllers, medical staff, food distributors, photographers, security and finish-line specialists are lending a helping hand this year.
"You have to have a good team of volunteers and we happen to have the top A-team," said corace director Joe Putos.
Facilitating the process is a seasoned organizing committee.
"The majority of us have been involved for 10 years or more," noted Putos, who's working his 21st K-Town Tri; 16th for colleague Broekhoven.
"That's a lot of experience, enough to divvy up the jobs, anyway."
"No question, the athletes come because of the course," added Putos.
"The venue sells itself, with the downtown setting and the run along the waterfront, and the new people us they love the atmosphere the city provides."
Loyalist Collegiate grad Neill listed his home course as among his favourites, this from someone who's knocked off two dozen Ironmans and more than 150 triathlons worldwide.
"Talk to anyone in the sport, Simon, anyone," he said, dropping a reference to sometimes swimming partner Simon Whitfield.
"The Kingston triathlon has the neatest, coolest venue anywhere. You start and finish (the run) right in front of historic City Hall, the bike station's directly across (Ontario) Street, the lake's right there.
"It seems like the whole day takes place down there."
Though it's garnered a well-deserved reputation for efficiency, hiccups have occurred.
Broekhoven recalled a triathlon from yesteryear, back when the Island Queen tour boat brought swimmers to a start line.
Evidently someone on board forgot to drop anchor.
"The boat drifted about 500 metres away from the start line," said Broekhoven.
"Instead of a 750-metre swim, that group of swimmers had an extra 500 metres tacked on. Some of them couldn't understand why their (swim) time was so slow."
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