Psyched - For many things

The Swim

Anyone who knows my performance last year was always done with a bit of community spirit in the swim as I always held back and made sure 95% of the field was out of the water before exiting myself...I wish!!!!

Anyway my motivation over the past 3 weeks and for the rest of the year is number 92 (That was the number out of 94 I was in the swim at IM Canada). Not much better in any of my other races either. So 15 months after barely being able to swim a length of the UBC pool I now find myself there 2 to 3 times a week with a couple Cameos at other pools working on ym technique and stroke.

So the news is still a long wayt to go but at the moment are swimming faster than I ever had and based on indicators tonight if I go thrown into the water for an Ironman Swim without a wetsuit I would be 15 minutes or so faster than my time last year. Add to that the wetsuit and realistically could swim a 1:15 to 1:20 at the moment.

Lots of work to do but signs are good....being in the pool 14 of the last 18 days has really helped so aim will be for each month up until april to increase my days in the pool for the month each month. Realistically thinking aiming for a sub 1:10 could happen!!!! which would fall into my 10 plan for ironman

1:10 Swim; 5:10 Bike: 3:10 Run 10 Min Tranistion and porta potties; 10 Min contigency adds up to 10 minutes below 10 hours

Ice Breaker 8km

Racing thsi weekend and intend to be semi fresh....treating this as a b race of memory...have hads a rest/light week this week so should be feeling good. Time will tell. Race Plan to be posted tommorow

Stay Classy San Diego

9 Days and will be in San diego....plans for that to be announced but will include riding a stage of the Tour of California...hopefully close to 1000km of riding, 5 days of running and 5 days of swimming

Also just found out there is a half marathon the day after we arrive...US Debut awaits :)

Generally Pscyhed

Loving this right now, just need to focus on my recovery and listen to my body but handling early season volume well.

Shoe Sponsor for 2009

This has been on the cards for about a few weeks but thanks to the awesome guys at Forerunners I now have a shoe sponsor for 2009 in Newton. This is great especially as I switched to Newtons of my own accord in September and have been really happy with them and the technology.

For those that have not heard of newtons they promote mid foot/forefoot running. Having focused on this during 2008 in order to improve my form and reduce my impact and use of quads running of the bike I have found the newtons have really complemented my running style and provided some additional cushioning and spring on my mid foot. This has definitely resulted in my recovery speeding up between runs and contributed to me dropping my 10km time 1min 49 sec's to 34:51 between Oct 08 and Jan 09.

About Forerunners - Forerunners are an awesome store located in Vancouver, BC. They put on running clinics that focus on a variety of different workouts and I have learned a lot about training based on these. They also have a super staff who comprise of 2:10, 2:11 and 2:17 marathoners among others all of which are very knowledgeable about running as a sport and a activity. In addition to this they also support local running in Vancouver and sponsor the Pacific Spirit Tri Club.

So if you are looking at a change of shoe would encourage you to look at Newtons as an option and see if they are an option. For you and for those based in BC drop in or email Forerunners the next time you are looking for anything run related. If you are looking for something different in your workout I would also recommend dropping in for one of their Wednesday night workouts.