Racing not Competing

This was to be a precursor post to my race report for the ITU Long Distance Brick (Aka Triathlon with cancelled swim) World Championships, however except from the below I don't know what else there is to say. Except if Silverman does reincarnate in some form I would love to race an IM on that bike course.

For many people (including myself up until very recently) Triathlon is a sport about competing. Competing is a term for which I am sure there is a specific definition which I can currently claim ignorance to as I am flying back to Vancouver at 40,000 ft. How I define about is trying to achieve the best possible performance while a large degree ignoring those around you. This is particularly the case in long course racing which is a race about spreading your effort equally across the day.

Racing however is another form of competing – it is about focussing on the overall result and adapting your plan on the fly even if it involves a degree of risk. The ITU Long Course champs was a good example of this. In the end the only thing that I considered a A result was a podium in my AG (M30-34). This meant that it was necessary to take some risks to try and make that happen. This is a “non instinctive” thing for me to do at the moment as it involves decision points where you need to take some risks that you know will have some negative consequences if they do not pay off.

On race day at ITU we had a TT Bike start. I had the idea of the race numbers in my AG and knew that the earliest person would be leaving about 3 minutes ahead. So that essentially meant that anyone who passed me on the bike was gaining on me for the run. A group formed early and I let it go to some degree however after 30km saw that I was not that far back. From that point on looked to work the bike, had a few flat points which is due to fitness but overall are happy with how I pushed the bike especially the last 30km where I kept the gas on.

Coming out of my “world leading” J T2 I started to see were people were on the run course in ,y AG category up the road. A couple numbers were higher and that meant they started after I had. Decided to run the first lap at my own pace and see what difference that made. Was fighting cramps on the uphills (No excuses =fitness/conditioning) and after 1 lap saw that was holding pace if not losing it. With cramps still occurring on the uphills did what I could to manage them and smashed the downhills as hard as possible.

After 1.75 laps (of 4) it was “death or glory time”. If I wanted to make it happen  it was time to take a risk. Even though the legs felt pretty average for most of the run (was avg 4:18 per/km at this point) it was time to go for it. Holding 4:18 per km was going to be nice but wasn’t going to cut it in terms of hitting the podium. 

So in true VEGAS spirit it was time to roll the dice and start to push it hard. Pushing it hard when everything is telling you to just hang on is where I see the difference between competing and racing. When you compete you do the “smart thing” and just hold the pace. When you are racing it means putting down the hammer even though a lot of the feedback loops you are getting you are telling you it is going to be a very tough road.

I would love to finish this story telling you that I achieved glory, hugged a care bear and found a leprechaun at the bottom of a rainbow but it was not to be. After about 4 to 5km of at or below 4 min/km pace the wheels feel off. The change in running style to avert cramping and smashing the downhills had paid their toll and it was a death march home. In the end I would say I lost about 5 or 6 minutes by going for it as a shuffled to the finish. However not having know if I could have hit the podium was not a risk I wanted to take.

The Key Takeaways

In the end it was 14^th in M30-34 and a lot of lessons for the 2012 season. In the end I just need to get fitter and stronger, 2011 has been a great year for so many reasons with a big focus on family and the birth of our first child. I feel as I hit a winter of hard training I am at an awesome place to make the next jump in terms of fitness and experience and look forward to improving as I go forward into IM Melbourne.

I am happy that my bad runs in races are getting faster and faster and I now am off the mindset that for me any run slower than about 3:20 in an IM for me is a bad run as ridiculous as that proposition sounds but it is just my mindset at the moment. In the end though it is about doing not talking, so the next 4 months is just about getting the work done, getting fit, faster in the pool, stronger on the bike and being able to execute the run I know I can.

ITU Long Course Worlds

Are racing in 2 hours time. 4km Swim / 120km Bike / 30km Run in Las Vegas.

Are feeling pretty ready for this one, will see what the day brings. Key focus is to work hard in the swim, work on the bike but stay calm and smoke the run.

Should be a lot of fun riding through the desert, previewed the course yesterday and from km's 15 to about 80 feel like going up and down to Hawi twice. Exposed to the wind, gradual climb with rollers. Last 40km of the bike is a gradual uphill with some steep sections so that is were time will be made up or lost.

Thanks to all who have sent messages of support. This is my longest race since Kona in 2010 so looking for a good solid effort and trying to empty the tank just at the right time. May take some risks on the bike to make the AG race catchable on the run, this is Vegas so if there is any where to gamble a little this is it!!

See you all on the flip side - time to go fast, have fun and smile/grimace lots.

-----------------------------------------

chip timing for ITU Long Course is at http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=6101 

Bib no is #214. Hitting water at 7:25am Vegas Time.

Creating Lists - 5 Races I Want to Do

Having a couple days down following getting some teeth yanked. Using today to create some list's, starting with 5 races I want to try ans do before 2020.

• Challenge Roth
• Norseman
• Wildflower
• St Croix 70.3
• Escape from Alcatraz

List is in no particular order and had a few other options that were on the list but thought I would wittle it down to a core 5. The other's I considered were;

Embrunman, Coast to Coast Adventue Race, Noosa Triahtlon,  Laguna Phuket Triahtlon,  Alpe D Huez Triathlon

Note have already had the privilege of racing at Kona and hope to go back as well, so this list was races specifically that I have not done (Otherwise Ironman Canada would be on the list as well)

Any ideas on races that I have missed from my top 5?

The Monday Minute - Perfection is the Enemy of Good Enough

Stopwatch starts ....now

One of the best PM's I have worked with in IT used that quote. Sometimes I can focus on how I do not have 2h to get out and do a run. Obviously one hopes that most of the time you can make it happen but getting in two shorter runs was the theme on Sunday. Not perfect but better than nothing at all.

The Monday Minute

So I am back training with full focus just as the weather has turned in Vancouver. One thing that I have decided to do is do a post everyday called the Monday Minute. How it will work is I will sum up a thought in 60 Seconds (of my mediocre typing speed).

Leaving on red top.....

You never Know

You never know when you are going to have that session that changes the game a little. Today was that type of day, after a big weekend of training and a swim last night I was back to the pool only 9 hours later. Slept like crap but did a little mental set form the walk from the car to the pool. Awesome progress, lots of tech work and a 6 second PR for the 200m free.


*that took like 85 seconds but it was close :)

Not Always Expected Results

Yesterday I had solid day training day yesterday with 120+ km on the road bike followed by a longer run off the bike than normal. Was being a bit laissez faire in terms of hydration but was feeling good on the bike so was not that stressed. When it came time to run however the body sent a few strong signals that drinking some more liquid would have been a good idea. In the end lost about 4.% of my body weight which is not an ideal thing.

As a result of my of testing the hypothesis of dehydration yesterday I was not expecting to survive a 100 min plus run this am. However races are not run based on a hypothetical model, the same goes with training. Got out there and got the work done, in the end actually felt fine through the run.

A bit of a random day of Vancouver weather today - and was not the nicest out there on the run. not many out there running, but based on my "straw poll" regarding who I saw it is the ones who get solid results who were out there putting in the time.

For those looking for some blogs and site to read and inspire you over the wintery months here are a few of the people I saw out there today;

Shared yesterday's ride and run with Gillian Calyton who is racing in Kona in a couple weeks time. Gillian was kind enough not to drop me on today's run and her blog is at rundriven.blogspot.com

Saw Rachel McBride who just finished 11th at the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. Her website which has a blog is at http://www.rachelmcbride.com/ and her facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel-McBride/208614685864207

Last up saw Dylan Wykes out on a run. Just reading his blog now and even after racing a 30 min 10km in Toronto yesterday is back in Vancouver today and knocking off a couple runs ahead of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 3 Weeks. He is a genuinely nice guy and hoping he has an awesome day in Toronto. His website is at http://www.time-to-run.com/dylanwykes/ and look at the latest news section for his regularly updated blog.

Think the key theme from today's post its all about getting out there and getting it done day in day out. Have had a problem getting that rhythm going lately and that is my key focus. Seeing those who are getting awesome results out on a crappy Sunday morning gives me confidence that is the right place to be focussing my attention.

Meditation Thursday

Didn't get to actually sit aside and meditate as such but did have a bit of a chance to rest and refocus on the couple days ahead.

First spanner in the works this week was getting sick - meant easing back on the intensity a little but still got sessions in and just moved my hard run later in the week to Friday. One thing I find is can get focussed on missing the key part of a session (i.e; hard run) but is still better to get some work in and readjust throughout the week.

Mentally in the pool trying to remove a bit of roadblock in attitude I feel I have in that can be quite negative about my swimming. Just trying to focus on improving each swim and not worrying about how fast or slow i am going to some extent. Need to trust in the process and let the speed come after that. On the swim front are mixing it up a little and swimming at UBC a couple days a week in what are a bit more drill focused sets. Will still look to swim with VAC twice a week and hopefully get in another swim or two on my own. Work = results and need to spend a lot of time in the water to give it a real shot.

Mantra for the next few days into Monday will continue to be to execute - at the moment getting some solid consistency into the schedule is really important for me. Once that happens then other stuff will follow. In the end it is about not thinking about it too much and being in the moment each and every day.

Snowball Fight

This is more random than even most of my blog posts - look forward to information about;

Jebus and his investing profile, home networking, moving furniture, how eating gluten free will save you time at the supermarket, why mondays are meant to be a crappy day, why stairs are a silent killer waiting to strike, tetris, 1950's home making, sourdough vs french bread, why rainbows suck, unpaid internships, meditation

Not everything is Lollipops and Rainbows

If all we did was ate lollipops we would be nutritionally defunct, lack teeth and have a surplus of plastic sticks left over. Rainbows suck as well because it normally means it was just belting down with rain.

Blogs by nature tend to be of the positive nature. So when you read a variety of sources of information everything is going perfect - especially when it comes to training not often do you get to hear about crap days or weeks.

However in essence the crapiness of some weeks makes the good weeks more worthwhile. Last week for me from a training perspective was a gong show.

The positives;
> When I missed the last in a set of stairs I did not break my ankle
> When I dropped the gas valve from a propane tank on my toe I only drew blood and did not break my toe.
> I had a good Monday

Monday's Are not meant to be Good.

Maybe having a good Monday was a bad sign - as in reality who ever really has a good Monday. Monday's are traditionally the day of the week where you get the crap out of the way and focus on better things.

You Can only Control the Controllables

Can't find where this quote came from but when I google it the top ranking hit is about the Financial Jebus. Now I know that Jebus had an early portfolio is precious metals but beyond that I did not know that that he was a skilled investor as well. I suppose when your dad creates everything you get the first choice of real estate.

Side bar discussions about Jebus aside - last week I did a spectacular crappy job of doing this. Didn't really plan any contigency into each day and that was compounded by every task taking longer than it should have. A lot of this was a bit of bad luck but if I should know three things by now they are as follows;

1. Making changes to home networks or anything that involves cables always takes longer than planned. It shouldn't but it always freakin done. In the end you end up with a great although likely over engineered solution.

2. Moving furniture is not like tetris in that once everything is moved you just hit game over and everything is good. When objects are moved there is normally about 2 times as much effort in cleaning up the crap that was hidden around or in said objects

3. BBQ's always take about 2x as much prep time as the actual duration of the event. Heck - one advantage of being gluten free I suppose is that you don't need to choose between sourdough and french bread which inevitably saves you at least 5 to 10 minutes on every trip to the super market.

Add to the above needing to complete a movie shoot at the office on short notice (that's a whole other story)  , stepping back to the 1950's to support the family and friends canning effort, packing up my desk at work for the transition to working at home 60% of the time which also involved setting up the home office and booking a desk when I am in the office.

What Lessons Learned Really Means

To be honest I hate the term or at least the general use of the term lessons learned. The Traditional Definition as at http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/lessons-learned.html

"The purpose of lessons learned is to bring together any insights gained during a project that can be usefully applied on future projects"

My believe is the true meaning behind the definition is more like;

"I/we screwed up and by calling it out ourselves before someone else does then we can position it as a learning opportunity and avoid taking the full blame"

Looking in retrospect it is no surprise the week turned into a bit of gong show. Stress even if of an abstract type creates stress and I think that is the one key lesson from last week. I didn't really account for that in my week plan and when stuff started to snowball (hence the name of this post even if it took me a long time to get to it) It was hard to stop the madness from being over whelming.

In the end this is my fault, not the supermarket's for selling both sourdough and french bread although I am still tempted to blame that for my downfall

I need an unpaid intern and other solutions

Asides from hiring an unpaid intern to use to undertake a variety of tasks in my day to day life (if any one does want to apply it would be an interesting gig I can assure you and I sense that you would learn a lot vs some of the gigs out there) in the end it is all about just about getting stuff done in a more prioritized fashion

Someone at the track last night mentioned meditation and I think that given my schedule a couple of reflection and meditation windows each week to reset and look forward may be in order. Just an opportunity to step out of the wake to sleep schedule that I enjoy but can cause some craziness as well.

In the end it is about finding a way to make sure that a couple crappy days does not snowball into a crappy week. That's what happened last week and in the end it is crap like that costs you in the long term. If I can get it sorted that it doesn't happen again then that will be a good thing.

Why Write this Post

Let's be honest, my writing compared to most blogs I read suck. however wanted to put this out there that not everything always goes to plan. in fact most things don't - its all about how you deal with the deviations that makes a difference. A did a crappy job at doing that last week and I suppose in itself writing about this is my meditation for the last week with a view to have a good week.

Good news is I had a crappy Monday with my third straight morning of having a migraine so that means the universe is back to normal and ready to smash it for the remainder of the week. Next mediation and reflection point will be on Thursday so we will see how it goes.

This week


No Movie Shoots, No BBQ's, No AGMs, No All day Workshops, No household tetris, No 1950's
Canning Support, No packing up desks, No setting up offices, No re-configuring networks.

No Excuses and No Snowballs

Life feels simpler already :)

The "Off Season" In Review

Heck it is August already. Just been at Ironman Canada for the weekend watching people race, proud of everyone who toed the line. from those who had aweosme days, those who finished their first ever IM and those who did not have the day they were looking for. In the end we are all lucky to be involved in a sport that gets us out to see so much of the outside world.

As you may know on Feb 26th, My very supportive wife and I had our first child Adelaide Elizabeth. As a result training took a planned back seat for the first part of this year as looked to get established as new parents and set up a routine. Coming of a year of two Ironmans the focus this year has been a late season push.

Starting to get back into solid training now having just completed the biggest two weeks of training since my Kona Build last year. Going to putting in a big winter and are racing ITU Long Course World Championships on November 5th in Las Vegas and then Ironman Melbourne in Australia on March 26th.

The last 3 Months have seen 9 races and will not go into to much detail but here is the wrap.

Eugene 5km (April 30th) - 8th Overall in 17:04 

• Was a a hilly course than anticipated. Also won 40lbs of pancake mix for beating a man dressed as a pancake!

Oak Bay Half Marathon (May 15th) - 7th Overall in 1:18:25

• Wet day out there, would have liked to have gone faster but happy with a solid hit out in the correct direction.

Subaru Shawnigan Lake Olympic Triathlon (May 29th) - 3rd Overall in 2:22:05

• 44km long bike, struggled in the run on this one and didn't have a rockstar run split (41:52)

Saunders Subaru Victoria Half Iron Triathlon (June 19th) - 14th Overall in 4:26:26

• 88km Bike and 20km run on easy trails so should be a fast course.
• Was in the process of training to race back to fitness and it showed. OK swim, pretty good bike but horrific second 10km in the run. 

Subaru Vancouver Half Iron Triathlon (July 3rd) - 15th Overall in 4:29:37)

• 91km Bike and 20km run on trails so pretty close to a standard half.
• Swim PR on a tricky swim course
• Went for it - blew up at 60km on the bike and suffered all the way home. Run split was far from impressive and about 8 minutes of even close to good.
• Learned a lot, was biking at the lead group pace (alas a few minutes back due to swim speed) but did not force down enough calories and was not fit enough so could not hold the mojo for the last 1.5 laps.

UBC Grand Prix Corporate Challenge (July 12th) - Team Victory

• 5.2km of pain on the UBC crit course. We had a work team in and won the show. Fun to ride flat out for 7 or so minutes.

Peach Classic Olympic Distance Triathlon (BC champs) (July 17th) - 23rd Overall in 2:15:59

• No taper race, had a awful swim (Worst in quite a while) and lost a lot of time in the water. 
• Good solid bike and really happy with run which was reportedly long (approx 10.5km). Ran 37:47 whihc meant going through 10km in about 36 Flat.

Subaru Sooke International Half Iron Triathlon (August 7th) 4th Overall in 4:38:18

• Very hilly bike course (5500 ft of climbing in 90km) made it a slow course (By 15 to 20 minutes)
• Had one of my best tri swims in terms of execution. Potentially rode a little conservative on the bike however had a run that although did not feel great was getting closer to what I need to do (1:24:47)

5 Peaks Trail Series - Blackcomb 10.6km (August 20th) 24th Overall in 1:16:12

• This was a real trail race with a ridiculousness amount of climbing all at an altitude of above 6000 feet.
• Lots of power hiking, scrambling over snow etc on the ways up the hills. Loots of meek and timid descending going down
• A hell of a lot of fun but was missing the presence of oxygen

THANK YOU

Thanks to all for the support and congrats to all of those who have had fantastic seasons thus far in 2011. The BC seen seems to be getting faster and faster at the moment and it is awesome to have so many people in Vancouver willing to do the work.

Thanks specifically to;

• Leslie for being a great wife and MOM. 
• My family from folks in Oz to Les' family through BC
• Clint my coach for putting up with some inconsistent weeks throughout this year and bulk updates to the training log. If you are interested in getting a tri coach go to the Mecury Rising Site to check out the options.
• Carla my Chiropractor - if you are looking for Chiropractor, RMT or the like check out her businesses website at www.baselinehealth.ca/
• The race directors and companies that support racing in BC. It is much appreciated.

To my supporters/sponsors;


Thanks again for all the support. Looking to lay down some good results in the next 9 months.

Speed Theory - an awesome group of people who are heavily involved in the sport. Most of their staff where either supporting at or racing Ironman Canada this year. Support the people who support and employ people in your sport - SHOP LOCAL!

Forerunners - A long established Vancouver business (Celebrating 25 years) who do a lot to promote running in the local community. They have an awesome selection of shoes and a rockstar staff. I will be out running with the Wednesday night clinics again this Fall.

Newton Running - Have been running in Newtons for 3 years now and love the shoes.

Cycelops - being around the house a lot more means have been riding the trainer a lot and will be as are doing a IM at the end of winter. Have been super happy with the Powerbeam Pro Trainer as the dimension of power and generated resistance when suffering on a ride indoors is a great one.

VanRunning - This is a run specific coaching business I am involved in. If you get a chance to checkout the website at www.vanrunning.com and like the Facebook page where we will be hosting a whole heap of run related content throughout the rest of the year.

Insert Really Insightful Blog Post Here

title says it all - still trying to digest the race on the weekend . 

Shawnigan Lake Olympic Triathlon

Overall - 2:22:50

Overall 3/115

Male 3/79

May 29th saw my first triathlon of the year at the Shawnigan Lake Olympic Triathlon. After having raced the Half in the previous 3 years the Olympic was a good choice as with the exciting times associated with the first 3 months of being a dad 2011 had been a relaxed training year for the first 5 months with about 60% of my normal training volume in the bank. The body and the mind has enjoyed the break and although wanted to be a little sharper at the start of the racing season have been happy with where my priorities have been.

The main thing I had not done to this point in the year was any hard rides so this would be the test for me at Shawnigan.

Swim (1500m) - 26:59
(Avg Pace 1:48 per 100m)

Overall 26/115

Male 18/79

Two lap swim, had a good first lap but lost the group I was with at the lap turnaround buoy. This was a bad mistake as ended up getting lost in no mans land. That group swam 26:15 so that mistake cost me 40 seconds over the second lap.

T1 - 1:51

Overall 5/115

Male 4/79

Not the smoothest T1 in terms of getting wetsuit off and lost a little time as a result.

Bike (44km) - 1:11:12
(Avg Speed 37.1 km/h)

Overall 2/115

Male 2/79

This one hurt a little, essentially held the same pace I did for the half in 2010 so a fair bit more time to be gained here once I sharpen up. Carrying a few extra pounds so I am sure that did not help either. in the end though riding hard is always fun, split was a bit slower than I had thought could do and had a few scary moment's when had to dodge a firetruck at 45km/h as confusion abounded around the transition area. Two laps were soon done though and into T2.

T2 - 0:58

Overall 1/115

Male 1/79

T2 is not that complicated, got in, put my Newtons on and got out.

Run (10km) - 41:12
(Avg Pace 4:12 per km) 

Never felt good on this run. Legs felt like heavy from the start and in the end just ran for position. Had come of the bike in 6th place and moved into 4th pretty early on. was forcing it a bit at this point and soon lost 4th place after being re overtaken. Zoned out a little bit at this point and the gap grew until hit the turnaround and got a sense of where I was at. 

1 and 2 (Nathan and Paddy) were well ahead so my race was for 3 through 6 with 3 and 4 being about 300m ahead. This woke me up so smashed a couple hard km's to get into third and create a bit of space. From this point just tried to maintain the gap with the odd surge if it was closing. Was able to hold on to third and a spot on the podium. Not a great job but realistically based on where I came off the bike position wise was the best result could attain.

Closing Notes

Congrats to Nathan Killam on a strong performance and a convincing win.

Thanks to Speed Theory, Forerunners, Newton and CycleOps for their support.

From a personal perspective happy with the hit out, to be back racing was fun and looking forward to a good summer and fall of training. This report was written on a slight time delay and have already raced the Victoria Half since Shawnigan and are racing the Vancouver Half iron tomorrow so I am looking to catch up on the blog posts while watching Le Tour de France.

Provisional Triathlon Race Calender for 2011

May 29th - Shawnigan Olympic Triathlon - 3rd Overall (2:22:50)

June 20th - Victoria Half Iron - 14th Overall (4:26:26)

July 3rd - Vancouver Half Iron

July 17th - Peach Classic Olympic Distance (Penticton)

August 7th - Sooke Half Iron

Sept 11th - Banff Olympic 

Oct 23rd - Austin 70.3

Also considering a trip to Cowtown at the end of July - but working that one out to if it is a good idea to do 2 half's in 8 days (Think I know the answer to that!)

It's June Already

been an awesome year thus far even if tri has not been no 1 on the agenda for the most part. Fatherhood has been a blast and the body did well with a good mental break as focused on this exiting time.

After a couple races - focus is back and looking forward to a summer focussed on training. Essentially feel like I am in March Shape compared to a normal year so looking forward to putting the miles in over the summer and doing some races throughout the process.

Some race reports to come soon

Need to do 6 more races this year

Was 8th in the Eugene 5km 2 weeks ago.

Ran today and was 7th in the Oak Bay Half Marathon. Really happy about how I executed today with each 5km segment getting faster. Was a rain day (which was great for knocking down allergies) and the crowd support and participation of the Victoria community was awesome.

Not a PR but solid effort (1:18:26) on a hilly course. The work in florence paid off well and finished super strong in the last section. next up is all about getting the work done and getting the routine set.

 thanks Clint, Rosalee, Les and Adelaide for braving the rain to cheer and congrats to Sara and Rachel for solid efforts out there (2nd and 5th in the Womens Race)

Mojo is coming back slowly

Day 4 at Camp

No Photos yet;

Morning was a recovery morning - potentially from the dinner the night before. 3 Hour ride from Florence to Reedsport and return along the 101. then a Sand Hill circuit in the evening with 7 reps totaling 20 minutes of hard running around a course we plotted in the dunes (up down and around a few dunes).

Good riding today, just at base effort and some bloody hard work running the dunes taking inspiration from Herb Elliot.

Notes from Camp - Day 3

Photos and Video form Today below. Got some cheering from the group on the ride.

Easy Run in the am (4.7km)

Drove to Newport - visited the fishes then rode back to florence (80.4km)

Relaxing run on the beach post ride (6.6km)

Good times continue. Legs were a bit wrecked today from yesterdays session but felt good. Awesome riding down the coast, hilly but had a tailwind so was allllll goood.

Now to drink some wine, eat some dinner before being inspired by Herb Elliot for Tomorrows run.

Photos from Camp - Day 2

Today was "The Workout". After warm up and drills it was;

60 x 20 Seconds Hard up the sand dune with 40 seconds to recover and start again. Aim was to get at least the same distance up the hill each time. One of these repeats is tough, was struggling to see the possibility of getting 60 done after 7 but got the work done, lost half my breakfast afterwards but will be mentally stronger for this one.

Rest of the day was a 1 hour spin and a hour run on the beach in the biggest headwind have ever run in. Same effort was + 6 min/km into it and sub 4 minute km's with it. 

Thanks to Jerry for sharing the running workouts including "The workout" and letting me follow his tracks up the dune. Also thanks to Leslie, Adelaide, Haley, Paul and Gillian for cheering us on in our stupidity running up the dunes. 

Good Times in Florence, Oregon continue.

notes from camp

Saturday - beat a pancake (17:04 for 5km on a hilly course) - ran about 18km total

Sunday - watched a group of rockstars in the Eugene Half and Full Marathon with 7/7 from the vanrunning crew smacking down PR's. Supporter fartlek ended up with 19km of running.

Monday - Got lost in the sand dunes, ran, walked, used the sun for navigation for 15km. The  rode 70km and ran 3km in the afternoon. Drank some brews and watched braveheart

Camp is fun! Will not be throwing any stones though as I am living in a glass house!

Just need some time to make the video - Runday the Lyrics

Seven a.m., waking up in the morning 
Gotta be loose, gotta do my mobility 
Gotta do my leg swings, gotta tie my shoe laces 
Seein' victory, no time for slowin
Satellites lockin, everybody's runnin
Gotta get down to the trails
Gotta catch my group, I see my friends (My friends) 


Stridin the front pack 
Drillin in the back pack 
Gotta make my mind up 
Which pack can I catch? 


It's Runday, Runday 
Gotta get fast on Runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the race day, race day 
Runday, Runday 
Gettin' fast on Runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday 


runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
Run, Run, Run, Run 
Lookin' forward to the raceday 


7:45, we're runnin' on the highway 
Cruisin' so fast, I want time to float 
Run, run, think about run 
You know what it is 
I got this, you got this 
My friend is by my right, ay 
I got this, you got this 
Now you know it 


Stridin the front pack 
Drillin in the back pack 
Gotta make my mind up 
Which pack can I catch? 


It's Runday, Runday 
Gotta get fast on Runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the race day, race day 
Runday, Runday 
Gettin' fast on Runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday


runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
Run, Run, Run, Run 
Lookin' forward to the raceday  


Yesterday was Intervals, Intervals
Today i-is Runday, Runday (runnin') 
We-we-we so excited 
We so excited 
We gonna have a ball today 


Tomorrow is Hill Day 
And Strength comes after ... wards 
I don't want this long run to end 


So stridin in the front pack (In the front pack) 
Drillin the back pack (In the back pack) 
I'm stridin, drillin' (Yeah, yeah) 
Fast strides, switchin' trails
Wit' a compression on my calves (Woo!) 
(C'mon) Passin' by is a ipod wearer in front of me 
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream 
Check my time, it's runday, it's a long run day
We gonna have a run, c'mon, c'mon, y'all 


It's Runday, Runday 
Gotta get fast on runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday, raceday 
Runday, Runday 
Gettin' fast on runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday 


runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
Run, Run, Run, Run 
Lookin' forward to the raceday  


It's Runday, Runday 
Gotta get fast on runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday, raceday 
Runday, Runday 
Gettin' fast on runday 
Everybody's lookin' forward to the raceday 


runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
runnin', runnin' (Yeah) 
Run, Run, Run, Run 
Lookin' forward to the raceday 

Racing by Heart Rate - A New Zone System

After a great amount of scientific research I have devised a new system for analyzing race data when racing by Heart Rate. Instead of using lots of confusing numbers the system relies on a mix of second guessing the amount of preparation you did before the race and your stubbornness factor over the last km.

The best thing about the product is it works using MS Paint Training Software which is available for all windows users. Unfortunately MAC support is not available at this time however If there was ever the reason to make the switch back to Microsoft I am sure this is going to be the thing that brings down Apple.

This project is still in Beta and I am willing to consider offers in terms of an equity partnership as this unique system looks to revolutionize the training and computing world.

The One Percenters

Interesting discussion at the office today. A few people at work are in the triathlon and running world so we get some interesting water cooler talks going on occasion.

Topic came to Ironman about target times and how they piece together. Being a numbers guy at times I came to this following conclusion as I was at the Avalon Dairy Store (My new great find in Vancouver for organic dairy produce).

If you take 10 hours as a IM time for ease of math, that equates to 600 minutes. So a 1% improvement saves you six minutes over the space of the whole day. If over your whole training build you focus on improvements from this perspective then I think targeting a improvement can become a lot more realistic.

The faster you get, the less each % point gives you in terms of improvement and the harder these performance points are to achieve, but that is the fun part of it.

People Read this Blog

Found out from a reliable source is that people read this blog on occasion. Therefore I may need to put a post or so on here.

Been a crazy last 14 months which has included a

• Trip to Oz
• Watching Tour Down Under
• Racing Geelong 70.3
• Being in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics
• Lots of Good Times training
• Qualifying for Kona @ IMCDA on my 30th Birthday
• More good times training
• Changing jobs within my company
• Having a blast racing Kona
• Eating donuts and drinking beers post Kona!!
• Getting a bit more involved in run coaching
• A fun Christmas with Les' family and cousins
• Running a half marathon a little under prepared
• Having our first child two weeks ago
• Being part of a team that delivered a significant project

So lots to talk about but also many things to look forward to. Training is about to get back into the mix so hoping for a late season peak before a focussed 2012.

The next post is in the mail!

Adelaide Elizabeth Hopwood

Big event happened on the weekend. Leslie and I had our first child, Adelaide Elizabeth Hopwood.

How to log workouts old school style

i no own a garmin but i good finger paint - me run the purple line. Finger painting satellites must not have been calibrated to good