Oh Yeah

Even with a satisfactory race here in Kitzbuhel I have now reached my highest World Ranking of my career at 14th! The goal this season is to finish in the top 20 after the Grand Final.

OK in Kitz

After a brief 5 day stint at home after Des Moines I did some laundry and a few workouts and headed to Europe for my three week trip. After arriving into Munich Monday morning and driving 2hrs to Kitzbuhel I was thoroughly tired and stiff after the trip.

The stiffness and tiredness from racing three times in 7 days I guess had finally caught up but I was optimistic I could still find good form and run fast again.

I had a better swim then previous races which is a step in the right direction but I still have work to do. But the top of the first climb on the bike 1.5km down the road I was comfortably at the front of the race and settled in for a wet, cold and slippery ride. There were numerous crashes and several points of the course and I narrowly missed two of them and slid my front wheel cornering on two occasions. I stayed near the front and out of trouble heading into transition and was right where I wanted to be. Unfortunately my cold arms and hands struggled to get my shoes on and I lost a few places heading onto the run. Once I got going my partially frozen legs struggled to find any sort of speed and cadence and I lost the front two groups quickly. By 5km I had worked my way up into 16th spot but well behind the leaders and where I wanted to be running. I kept the effort high and challenged myself but the speed just wasn't there and I managed to hold off a challenge in the last 800m and finished in the 16th I had worked up to. Unfortunately this is the first spot without a paycheck for your efforts which sucks but that is how it goes.

My focus now is to recover and have my stiffness and fatigue gone in the next week so I can have a solid week of prep heading into the Hamburg WCS event on the 26th.

Currently we are training here in beautiful Kitzbuhel and will enjoy the riding and running in the awesome valley.

Des Moines!

I am settled back home in Victoria now for a whole 5 days before we head off to Europe for three weeks. Waking up at 5:30am and falling asleep at 8:30pm as I am still on East Coast time is annoying but I figure I will try and keep it this way as I will have less hours to change when getting to Austria. It also means I show up early to swim practise with a coffee in hand which is unusual for me.

The HyVee corp does an amazing job provided such a top notch race and treating us like true professionals. With over 1milllion dollars in prize money and welcome packages and free hotels they sure know how to do it.

As for the World Cup I was able to do everything I wanted and more in the race. I struggled the first lap of the swim but then made gains in the second and by the run up to transition I was 9th out onto the bike. I quickly closed the gap to the front 4 swimmers with a line of 40 guys behind me. The rest of the bike was a matter of controlling breakaways, staying near the front and avoiding any potential crashes through the very tight and technical stadium loop. I got into transition near the front but still needed to be up further as I had to quickly serge my way up as best I could. By 1km into the run I was just off the front group that was forming and couldn't bridge across. I then settled into a great pace and continued to push myself but could never get back in touch with the front six. On the last lap I pushed hard as they started jockying for the sprint and made up some time but was still just back of the sprint finish as I strided to the finish holding off Tim Don of Great Britain to come 7th. This was again a terrific run and perhaps faster then last weekend though the time doesn't show it. The three 180's and 4 90's per lap on the run course were definately a hinderance to the run time.

I am so excited to have backed up the DC race with another fast run and I can draw a lot of confidence that I can run with the front group. Next race I will be at the front of the pack coming off the bike to make sure I am right there at the start of the run.

Can't wait to race again!

Des Moines, IA World Cup Million Dollar Prize Money Race

Tomorrow I am racing at the Des Moines ITU world cup triathlon which has the largest prize purse in the history of triathlon with over 1million dollars split men and women with 200k going to the winners of each.

Coming off such a strong last weekend I hope to replicate the effort and have a better swim to start the race off. I feel totally recovered from last weekends effort and feel great and excited to race.

We follow this Saturday race with the World Team Triathlon Championships on Sunday. A fast recovery (well as much as possible) will be key after tomorrow's 3:30pm race start time in order to be fired up for this short and guaranteed to be painful although fun sprint race.

Running Tour of DC in Photos

All good tours start with coffee!



Off for our "recovery" tour run.



The White House, it isn't so big, it fits behind my head. Or is my head that big???



Me squishing ??George Washington's?? head at the US Treasury.



My try at being artistic with the Washington Monument.

Washington DC WCS Post Race

After a bit of a nightmare of a swim: dive in, goggles flip off, breast stroke, 10 strokes, goggle fills up, empty goggle, blow arms to pieces trying to catch up, just catch up to the back of the race when I run into one of many swaths of branches, leaves, logs, garbage etc in this dirty river we a swimming. Some of the swaths of junk were almost a foot deep, 15feet long and 5feet wide so you had to crawl to the outside and then continue swimming. I thought I was going to be last out of the water but I was only 10th from last :) I had my work cut out for me to get back in the race so I flew through transition and rode as hard as I could till I found myself settled into the main group which was 30sec behind a front back of 5. We maintained the gap for 4 laps until the chase came apart and the time doubled to 60sec in one lap. They put 30 more sec's or so in the final laps and I prepped myself for a fast run.

After my great run workouts with John Brown and doing 100m strides and sprints at the end of each workout I was confident that I could put down a solid run. I was out quickly near the front from transition 2 and put down a solid 1km to the first turnaround and found myself seconds back from the strongest runners in a group of 5 of my own. Myself and a Japanese athlete kept the pace on swapping turns and at about 3km we started reeling in guys from the lead group of our pack. The 5 man breakaway stayed out of touch from everyone so I focused on these guys just ahead. One of them was 2007 World Champ Daniel Unger of Germany who hung on to our group and even surged at 5km. I held strong and held pace to the last turnaround at 1.25km to go. I had felt good on this stretch the last three times so I decided to put in a surge and push the pace to take some sprint out of the groups legs knowing I had been practising my sprint. With 200m to go, Mark Fretta of the USA came around in full sprint so I started my kick but holding my final sprint till 80m to go when a Frenchman went and I was able to come over top of both he and Fretta leaving Unger and the Japanese behind and finishing in 12th.

I was super excited to see the results after that showed I had the 7th fastest run of the day and probably the fastest run of my career of 31:10. I was also pleased with my tactics in the sprint and my determination on the run.

I look to replicate the run and improve the swim at tomorrow's Des Moines, IA World Cup with over 1million dollars in prize money.

Shhhhhhhh! Don't Tell Anyone

Going to be my new ride once the first run is released in a few weeks! Around the 14lb mark and stiff as anything with the BB30 bottom bracket and nice and aero too!

Nice work Blue!

Washington DC WCS

After doing my final hard workout of 4xhilly broadmead loop (28min) with 10min run at 3:03min/km pace off of it and then some long strides, I feel ready for the coming races. After two massages this week (Thanks Gibson and Kim), a few days rest to complete the training cycle and some tune up workouts, that is all I need now; oh, and a haircut! My fro is a bit warm now.

The whole uninjured national team is going to Washington so I won't be so lonely traveling this time. Should be a fun trip as I don't think anyone has been to DC before.

Got to pack and get to that haircut!

Next Series of Races and Season Schedule

Now that I have finished that final ten day block of training which had three key run speed workouts I feel much more prepared and ready for the next WCS events. I had done a couple of runs trying to keep up to one of the best marathoners in the world (who happens to live at the end of my street :) ) John Brown which was challenging but great for my speed and confidence. I now feel like I have the extra gear I need to put down a great 10k off the bike. My cycling has finally started to click after switching from Blue Triad TT bike to my Blue RC8 road and then to a Triad that I made in to a road bike which rocks! It took some position tweeking but I have got it organzied now and I feel strong. Lastly the swim will hopefully come together this week as I start to unload my legs into this weekends race.

I now head into a long block of racing before having an active recovery at the beginning of August. Here is what the rest of my season look like:

June 18 Travel to DC
June 21 Race Washington, DC WCS
June 22 Travel to Iowa
June 27 Race Des Moines, IA World Cup
June 28 Race Des Moines, IA World Team Championships (Team of 4 (2men 2women) all do a super sprint race on after the other girl/guy/girl/guy)
June 29 Travel back to Victoria

July 5 Travel to Austria
July 11 Race Kitzbuhel, Austria WCS
July 23 Travel to Germany
July 26 Race Hamburg, Germany WCS
July 27 Travel back to Victoria

Active Recovery

August 23 Race Kelowna, BC National Championships

September 3 Travel to Australia
September 13 Race Gold Coast, Australia WCS Grand Final
September 14 Travel back to Victoria

Active recovery

October 11 Dallas, TX Lifetime Fitness Open

October 20 Travel to Hawaii
October 25 Race Maui, HI Xterra World Championships
October 28 Travel back to Victoria

November 3 Travel to Florida
November 8 Race Clearwater, FL 70.3 World Championships
November 9 Put my feet up and call it a season!

Madrid WCS Race

Figured I would give a quick run down of the second WCS (ITU world championships series) event I did this season. After a hard block of training after Tongyeong that I struggled through I was looking forward to the recovery going into the race. It was my first trip in a long time that I was the only Canadian going and to travel alone was quite weird. I made it there all by myself, being a new city and race for me, and went quickly to bed for a much needed rest. I arrived wednesday to allow myself some time to adjust to the time zone but that never happened as I alternated one night of sleep, one night with now sleep till I had to race and go back home.

The race itself was rather average but still a solid day and another step in the right direction for getting ready for the next run of races. I struggled through the swim expecially after getting pushed off the exit ramp and scrambling and cutting myself to get back on to start the second loop. But I ran hard of the 400m transition and chased for a couple of laps on the bike before catching the main back which was chasing the front group of 11 guys. I rode solid on the challenging course with a good climb and prepped for a solid run. I went out solid on the run but didn't have that top gear needed to head out with the leaders of my group but I built into it and quickly started bringing guys back in. I finished hard and with a sprint for 20th spot and was happy to have another WCS in the bag and headed home for some more recovery and a final ten day block of training before the next series of races.

Post Race Report - Tongyeong WCS

I didn't forget how hard and intense these ITU races were but man it is a kick in the pants! That said I prepared mentally as best as I could for that and I was fairly happy with how I got back in touch with that feeling of pain after 1o months off from it.

My swim was solid to start but as ITU goes I got pulled under 3/4 of the way to the first turn and had the "oh my gosh I am underneath 2 guys and I can't get up" panic moment but once surfacing and getting my breath back I worked my way up as best I could and focused on a fast transition and bridging to the front group just 20sec up the road. That took about half a lap and then I settled in and regrouped, ate some PowerGels, drank my Base Water and Salts and road conservative strong the rest of the ride. I had a good transition and headed out near the front of the massive pack and focused on the high turnover and intense speed of the ITU first km. I had strong and weak moments on the run but overall felt solid and challenged myself the whole way with a hard sprint at the finish to try and pick up one last spot to no avail.

I have been struggling to find my power on my Blue Comp Cycle RC8 ITU bike after having such great riding on my Blue Comp Cycle Triad TT bike. I have spent the last three weeks trying to adjust my position similar to my TT but haven't quite found the sweet spot yet. I still road strong but didn't feel comfortable and smooth doing. The fitness is in the legs I just need to tap into the power. I have been struggling with tight soas and back muscles as a result of the fidgeting with the bike which doesn't allow for good power transfer and tight breathing on the run. These are things that were hindering me a bit but things I can definately fix going forward.

It is good to be back at ITU but man I have to get used to bleeding from the ears again!

Back home through Seoul tomorrow where the whole Canadian team is going to do a tour on our 7hr layover before heading back to Victoria to log some higher intensity training.

Thanks Trican for having a great support team here, (Rob Hasegawa Chiro, Kurt Innes New HP Director and Phillipe Bertrand NT Coach) and the great funding for the event.

Tongyeong, South Korea

Back in the wonderful city of Tongyeong for the fourth time in my career, I think. It all tends to blur together. After a long but fairly smooth trip over arriving Wednesday I have had a couple good nights sleep and some solid tune up workouts. I am excited for my first ITU race in 10 months. I have lots of strength from New Orleans and now it is time to test my speed!

You'll here from me after the race!

Um yeah, this guy is awesome!

Amazing Bike Trials Riding - Danny MacAskill April 2009

This would make getting out of transition a little easier if I could do this.

Being Home

After being home now for about 10 days I am settling back into the training groove after being sick. I just went to Costco yesterday to stalk up on food in order to "fatten up" as I like to call it. After the first race of the season, being sick and adjusting timezones and eating schedule I dropped a few necessary pounds . So big meals and lots of snacks I will have my power and strength back and have a nice 10 day training block before I head to South Korea for the first World Championships ITU series race of the season. I am excited to bring back the speed after having such a strong showing in New Orleans. Here is an idea of what the rest of my season should look like. WCS-(ITU World Championship Series Event) WC-(ITU World Cup Event)

April 5 - New Orleans 70.3
May 3 - Tongyeong, South Korea WCS
May 31 - Madrid, Spain WCS
June 21 - Washington, DC WCS
June 28 - Des Moines, IA WC
July 18 - Minneapolis, MN Lifetime Fitness Tri
August 16 - London, England WCS
August 23 - Yokohama, Japan WCS
September 13 - Gold Coast, Australia ITU World Championships
September 26 - Ogden, UT Xterra US National Championships
October 11 - Dallas, TX Lifetime Fitness US Open
Octorber 25 - Maui, HI Xterra World Championships
November 14 - Clearwater, FL 70.3 World Championships