Happy Holidays!

Well.... where to start, it has been a long time since I have posted any real news so I guess I will just start from the beginning.

December has been a bit of a challenge for me. I have been pretty stressed out from a combination of exams, work, training, and sickness. Usually I deal with stress quite well, but every once in a while I get overwhelmed a little and I have to find the reset button on my life.

It all started with a stomach flu that hit me like a load of bricks at the beginning of the month. I was pretty much bed ridden for a week, lost about ten pounds, and was left feeling weak and drained.

Coming back to training was a challenge to say the least. My first workout back was a 4k swim set with some of the better swimmers I have had the pleasure to train with. The pace was fast and I finished with just enough strength to hold myself upright!

The following saturday was the Stewart Mountain ten mile. I almost didn't run seeing as I had been off for a week and I wasn't feeling all that wonderful. I ended up posting a decent result but the race took a toll. My shin has been bothering me for a couple of months and all the descending during the race did not do it any favors. I awoke the morning after the race to find myself hobbling around the house like a sailor with a peg leg!

Admit all of this was my second to last finals period, and I am seriously running out of steam. I got caught in a bit of downward spiral. I didn't have the drive to study, which made me stressed, which made me not want to study, which made me stressed........

Anyway, to make a long (and depressing) story short. Everything culminated in Noa pulling me off the track last Tuesday and talking me through a minor meltdown.

Not that I had much of a choice in the matter, but I have taken the last week off running, and spent the time getting my shin worked on by everyone who would see me. I am happy to report that after a lot of treatment and a couple of water running sessions I think I am getting back to normal!

Now I am through the storm and looking forward to the weeks to come! I am home for the holidays for a while. Spending some time away and enjoying a different training environment for a bit. My brother has been handing me my hat on the squash court (there is a reason I do linear sports!), and I have been enjoying riding and swimming around Vancouver. I think the lighter schedual has been good for my mindset because I am in a great mood and looking forward to getting back to Vic and logging some heavy hours!

I hope the holidays are finding everyone surrounded by happiness, love, and lots of great food!!

I know this has been around forever...

But it still makes me laugh every time I see it....

I know I haven't been posting as much as I usually do, but I have been sick and finals are stressing me out a bit (despite only having two). After next week I'll be back to my usual chipper self!

Hope you are all loving this wonderful, winter, weather!

Best weekend ever!

My mind was so epically blown it took me this long to feel up to a blog!

It all started on Saturday with a strong PT showing at Gunner Shaw. I don't know what I have been doing with my life up to now, but that race has changed my world! The definition of epic cross country running with logs lying in the trail, flowing water on all the hills (and there were a LOT of hills!!), and waist deep puddles that froze the legs and weighed down the shoes. All that topped off with a sprint finish IN thetis lake. Myke and I decided that they should change the race description to a 9.9 km run with a 100m swim.

I was really happy with the race overall, and Myke, Leif and I all finished close to each other. Just goes to show that the training is working!

Saturday night was filled with a short recovery ride and then team CHRISTMAS party! I don't know about you guys but I love Christmas! Food, Friends and Fun. Most of the team came out and we ate ourselves into holiday comas. Sharing stories and hearing about everyones season was nice, as it is not always easy to get everyone in one place during the season.

The weekend could have ended there and I would have been one happy boy, but it just kept getting better!

Sunday came and instead of the forecast torrential downpour I awoke to SUN beautiful SUN. A 3.5 hr ride up the Malahat and the sun shone the entire time. Not even a flat tire and the wrong size spare could take the smile off my face.

Such an amazing start to the week!

Congratulations!

I would just like to take a moment to congratulate everyone at Ironman Arizona on the weekend.

I had a number of training partners in the race and they all finished with personal best times!!

Way to go guys you all deserve it! Thank you for being such wonderful people to train and race with, I cant wait to keep training with you all!

What!

And people say racing an Ironman is crazy!

Teachers are awesome!!

Amazing...

WOW! Thats all I can say...

Watching Clearwater yesterday was incredible. The times they were posting don't seem real.

Just serves to show me how much farther I have to go, and gives me that push to get out of bed in the morning!

I blacked out and woke up running a 5 k...

So I got an email from Kamal earlier last week, along the lines of "hey your on our relay for the thetis 20km, let me know if you can't, but I already signed you up"... Needless to say I JUMPED at the chance!

5 k is a little more of a sprint than my usual half iron, but I was excited to give it a go and we ended up putting together a great team including Kamal, Myke, and a new friend Leif (sorry if I spelled it wrong buddy!).

The weather man was wrong again and it turned out to be a fantastic day for a race, bluebird sky and just a bite of cold in the air! Being a fun race, my day started a little differently than usual. I woke up early and hit the bike for a couple of hours, before heading to the remembrance day ceremonies downtown.

Race time came fast and furious, but we managed 20 minutes for a group warmup on the course. The trail was mud, mud and more mud for the first three k and hills, hills and more hills for the last two. Having not been doing a lot of hill running, the last half of the course killed me. At top of every hill it felt like my lungs wanted to explode and the down hills were a desperate attempt to get my heart rate down to avoid an emergency stomach evac at the side of the course!

Overall there was a really strong showing and the teams from the NTC ended up stealing the show, taking and holding a strong lead. Third went to a running club from Nanaimo , with our little foursome sneaking into forth overall.

As a fitness test I was really happy with this race, it showed me where my weaknesses lie and what I need to work on. Plus it was a great challenge and a lot of fun, and at this point in my career every race is another experience to build on!

Great Day!!

What better way to spend a blustery November morning than training with some of the best athletes in Victoria!?!

Thats the best thing about training with PT, all the athletes are so dedicated and talented we are always able to push each other and have fun at the same time.

The morning began at the pool with one of coach Noa's challenging swim workouts. For someone that basically learned how to swim last year I think I am doing pretty well, but I have a long way to go before next season!

After the swim Nick, Derek, Kamal and I braved the weather and went on a nice little ride around the water front. You know your training with the right sort of people if you can all be laughing and joking when you are soaked to the bone and half your water is going towards washing the mud out of your mouth!

All in all a fantastic morning and my massage this afternoon will complete a fantastic holiday Monday!

Playing for Change!

This is one of the best compilations I've seen in a long time! Check out "Playing for Change" for more amazing music!

Time to go biking! See you in three hours!

New Blog, new focus, same passion!

Hello and welcome to my new blog. I am really excited to be embarking on the next major adventure of my life and I invite everyone to join me on my journey!
Here you will find information about my training, my life, and just about every thing else that I find interesting, inspiring, or just plain funny!
For those of you that don't know me I will take a moment to introduce myself. I am a 24 year old student athlete pursuing a degree in physical education from the University of Victoria. Having accomplished my last major goal (check out www.getsmartgetactive.com for further details) I decided I wanted to try my hand at a sport that I have always found fascinating, triathlon!
I started training with little or no idea of what I was getting into. My first step was having one of my best friends, Steph Dixon, basically teach me how to swim (my first lesson was actually how to do a flip turn!). That was a little over a year ago, and since then I have been endlessly pleased with my progress!
My first season as a triathlete was spent exploring the local race circuit around Vancouver Island and getting experience at different distances. After trying distances all the way from sprint to half-iron, I have found myself attracted to the longer distances and I've set my sights on full iron man distance next season!
Being the type of person that loves to jump in with two feet, I have committed myself to taking my new sport as far as I can. I have set some pretty hard goals for myself and I am doing everything I can to meet them. My first step was finding a coach that will support me and help me to achieve my potential. A few months ago I started training with Noa Deutsch or PT Performance training and she has taken my training to levels I didn't think were possible!
Thats about all for now. Over the next few month I will be posting all kinds of exciting things so check back once in awhile.
All the best in everything you do!