Tucson the pain...

Well we are in the last couple days of training camp now and I am HURTing......

There have been so many hard swims and rides that they are all blending into one. We were actually sitting around the living room today, trying to remember what workout was when and had to call in Coach Noa to sort everything out!

(I was trying to sneak up behind and scare him but it turned into lame pose)

For me the camp has been an endless assault of biking. The hours of endless peddling through hard workouts just keep coming. I hit my breaking point after an epic 27 mile, 8000 ft, 1:56 min climb of Mt. Lemon (to the top of the ski hill!), complete with snow and painfully cold decent (pictures coming!!). In total it was a 6.5 hr, 150 km ride that ended with me lying on the floor unable to verbalize more than single word grunts.

Pretty cool shot of us on a recovery ride just having fun!

By the end of the camp I will have done almost thirty hours of cycling. I know that isn't unheard of for a lot of cycling specific pros out there, but of little old me thats a HELL of a lot of time on the bike! Unfortunately it has taken its toll, my hip and tail bone feel like they have had a boxer pounding on them for about three days straight, and I can bairly get through the twenty minute spin to the pool with out whimpering in pain.

This afternoon has been spent siting on the roller and stretching to try and aleviate some of the tightness, but we will see in the morning if I am going to do the final ride of the camp (three hours of hill repeats!!).

Don't try this at home... on second thought just don't try this...

In the end though both Noa and I are really happy with how the camp has gone. My swimming has been great. Haven't really mentioned it because it seems so minor compared to the epic amount of cycling, but the 30+km we have done is still the most swim volume I have ever done in a week!

More to come after our last big day tomorrow and we pack up to head home!

Just relaxing after getting stopped by road crews on our afternoon ride

Tucson the beginning...

Arriving in Tucson was an experience, no matter how many times I come down to the states I seem for forget how BIG everything is.
The first hit was flying into Phoenix over the endless miles of suburban sprawl and the rental car mall that was bigger than the Victoria airport!
Kamal, Derek, and I go, what I am calling, the texas upgrade on our car. The garage attendant did a double look between our bike boxes and the little Kia they were going to give us, disappeared for ten minutes and came back with a full sized EXPEDITION. I was honestly the most ridiculously oversized monstrosity I have ever seen. I hurt my sole a little to drive it, but we were able to fit three bikes, three bags, and three people in and still have room for Derek to lie down and sleep during the drive.
Our house turned out to be pretty sweet! Pool table, big kitchen, comfy living area, now if they could just bring us beds...
There were a few key Items missing when we arrived (beds, pots, toilet paper) but they all got taken care of and it has been pretty great. They even brought us a magic bullet to make smoothies!

Sponsor Please!!

The work out have been goood so far. It all started with an easy bike to get things going just a light 70 min. Then we jumped right into it with a 2 hr. bike with 4 x 15min high zone 3 low zone four (ie. HARD), 3 min easy.

Bikes are fun!

This morning wasn't much easier with a 5km swim MS 6 x ( 3 x 200 building 1-3) alternating FS, Paddles and pull. All this in a 25 yard pool, LOTS of flip turns.

Where's the sun?

This afternoon hold a 2.5 hr bike in the wind storm, should be super!
Two days in and already SORE, its going to be a great week :)

Great week...

So much exciting news!
I am coming to the end of a nice recovery week, after a couple weeks of just pounding out milage in the pool and on the bike!
What about running you ask? WELL, that nagging pain in my shin that everybody said "don't worry about is, can't be stress fracture, your negative for all the tests and the pains not that bad." Yaaaaaa turned out that that I have a stress fracture in my tibia, and I can't run for a little while.

Its all good though, I have been off for about a month and a half now. I will be starting to lace up the shoes again at the beginning of march, and because of the (ridiculous) milage I have been doing on the bike and the (looooong) hours of water running I have been doing I should come back pretty strong.
Coach Noa isn't to concerned about it affecting my season to badly so I am going with the positive attitude!

On a much cooler note! The fantastic guys at Riders cycles here in Victoria have decided that they would like to work with me and have offered me a very cool sponsorship deal! I can't wait to work with all the guys over there and be associated with such a sweet shot. I was in the shop talking to Luke today and it sounds like he's got some sweet plans for putting a team togeather and really supporting local athletes!


So, PT is off to Tucson on Saturday. I am Super excited for some warm weather, hard training, and good people! plus absolutely killing myself on Mt. Lemon, 24 mile climb anybody!?!

Best commercial ever!

Finally here...

After all the hype, all the lead up, the good, the bad, the ugly... The Olympics have finally arrived!!!
As a former winter athlete I am really excited to watch the Vancouver games and cheer on all the athletes, but I would like to take a moment to send out my best wishes to on e particular group of people who I am on pins and needles with excitement for.
So to Robbie Dixon, Manual Osborne-Paradis, Britt Janyk, Michael Janyk, Watch for great things from these althletes in Alpine Skiing!
Ashleigh McLvor, Julia Murray, and Andra Nedelcu will all be ripping it up in Ski cross!!
(sorry to anyone I missed!)

You have all been racing those hills for years, Just another training run!
Our lives have gone different paths, but I am so proud to have known you all. You are the finest examples of Canadian athletics and I am so happy for you all.

These are all fantastic Vancouver/Whistler athletes who, regardless of how you feel about the Olympics politically, and along with the rest of the Canadian team and all the athletes, deserve your full support and admiration.
So cheer on and support these athletes for representing the absolute best that humans beings can be, and embodying the highest ideals we should all strive for!

All the best to all the athletes in the coming weeks!