CTV Shames itself once more - If this is Local TV it does not matter

Firstly congratulations to Alex Bilodeau and Canada for winning its first gold medal on home soil. He performed awesome in the Mens moguls and definitely had a gold medal run that had all the ingredients.

As an Aussie i was cheering for Dale Begg-Smith and unfortunately he didn't get the win but Alex Bilodeau put on a great peformance on home soil and edged out Dale Begg-Smith for the gold.

Now for the commentary on the joke which is CTV

CTV and its representation of Canadian Journalism has unfortunately hit a new level of ineptitude with its hatchet job on Dale Begg-Smith in its pre event coverage. As a country immigrants to vilify somebody for leaving Canada at the age of 15 to follow both a work and sport related dream is very hypocritical. Not to mention the fact that Canada has prospered from successful athletes from other countries on countless occasions. This includes individuals such as Donovan Bailey and Daniel Igali who have won Gold for Canada.

The piece form CTV definitely bordered on sensationalist negative journalism in which they fabricated a story based on there desire to paint somebody who left Canada 10 years ago to pursue other opportunities 10 years ago.

Lastly to all those people who shouldn't be allowed access to social media outlets such as twitter due to there inability to conduct rational thought that are calling Begg-Smith a traitor and taking joy in somebody missing out on gold by a small margin I have the following commentary for you which will take more than 140 characters.

Firstly, if you look at Begg Smiths podium reaction it is nearly identical to when he won gold in Turin four years ago. The fact the guy does not show a large deal of emotion in victory or defeat is not something that anybody needs apologies for. In fact his reaction on the podium was exactly the same as when he won gold in Turin.

Secondly, the guy is 10 ties more successful then 99% of the population and the fact he has the focus to make this happen is something that we can all take lessons from. Form this regard seeing someone who has made business and sport succeed in his early 20's is something that I look at as inspiration.

To wrap up congrats Canada and Alex Bilodeau on winning Gold. Also congrats to Dale Begg-Smith for an awesome performance in which and being a shining example of how to focus and execute on your goals.

To CTV all I can say in response to your campaign "Local TV Matters" in the case of your appalling and pitiful standards of Journalism it does not and if there is any sense in this world we will not have pay any extra to see your hatchet jobs and depressing excuses for journalism into the future.

Deifning Possible - One Session at a Time

"People told me it wasn't possible but until somebody could prove it was impossible I knew it was still possible"

Alisa Camplin - 2002 Women's Aerials Gold Medallist (Quote Paraphrased)

So it is January 17 and have racked up 24 sessions for the year thus far. At this point I am definitely the fitness i have ever been but there is a long way to go for 2010, 2011 and beyond. At the moment I haven't defined the impossible and the main focus is to find out what is possible through focusing on the process, getting the work done and enjoy the the experience.

Of the 24 sessions all but one (The Cadbury Half Marathon) have been on my own. Missing the group dynamic to some degree but getting the work done on your own is rewarding and gives you something to draw on come race day when it is all about looking inward.

Some of the sessions have been great, some have been bad others have just been sessions. However on the whole it is progressing well and feeling good about the weeks ahead. In the end the most encouraging factor has been consistency, pretty much at the moment the thought of missing a session or even rearranging the week doesn't come to mind. Instead its just get out of the door and get 'er done. Pretty much the mantra is can think about rearranging or skipping a session once you have done it - as this makes the decision easy.

Training in Tasmania is a lot better than I expected. There is a lot of riding and so far pretty much every motorist has given me about 6 feet of space when passing. The terrain is up and down with not a lot of flat so every ride has involved a fair bit of climbing and descending. In fact most of my rides and runs finish with a 3km climb at about 5% or so gradient.

Swimming is going well also, it is about a 25 minute drive to the Hobart and the pools, however being summer I have had my own lane for about 80% of my sessions. I am also learning to push myself on my own a bit better and are starting to get a feel for what is going right and wrong in the water. Overall times are improving and this past week managed to do 50x50m @ 1 minute which was a big mental step. although not fast things are definitely trending in the correct direction.

Riding is going well, as mentioned above every thing is up and down here but noticing are starting to be able to lay done effort quite well. It is hard to get a solid benchmark due to the fact everything is rolling but when put the power down it seems to be there. Will likely see over the next couple of weeks exactly were the riding is at.

Running is interesting, PR's at Cadbury half marathon by 2 minutes with a 1:17:39 so looks like is going well. Having some good runs and some so so runs but think that is due to overall fatigue. May also be due to the fact it is hilly as heck around here. Will she how the legs are during the Geelong 70.3 and obviously want to crush the run so we will see what happens. Experimenting with different ways of running fast on runs from stride length and turnover and fast arms. Hopefully this will help troubleshoot when starting to slow down come race day.

A few more days in Tasmania awaits and are hoping to have a few more good sessions, especially those in the pool. It is then of to Adelaide to visit some friends and watch some of the Tour Down Under. Good times await along with just nailing each session day by day, as things progress it is then about defining what is possible and doing the work to make it happen.

Photo below is from a ride this past weekend which included a climb up to the top of Mount Wellington.