POULSEN RACING

Update/Explanation....it's a long one!

2012-01-12T18:43:00.001-06:00

Well it has been a long time since I have last posted and first off I apologize for the delay in news.

Back in March after pulling out of San Juan 70.3 due to extreme fatigue and loss of strength, I immediately returned to Fort Worth and saw Dr. Stuntz to have blood work done. On 03/22/11 my lab tests came back showing low Iron as well as severely low testosterone, exactly 30ng/DL (normal 241-827). The gonadotrophin levels suggested Hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism.

Dr. Stunz immediately referred me to an Endocrinologist because of how severely low these levels were. The endocrinologist did another full workup and agreed measures had to be taken. We talked about the dangers of low testosterone as well as the treatment therapies for this condition. The first thing that was suggested was an injection that would be time released. I immediately turned down that idea for the fact that a testosterone injection was a banned substance.

I was put on a very low dose of Androgel which is a topical cream that I rubbed on my shoulders daily. I was still a bit unsure about the therapy but it was an easy and safe way to get my ranges back up towards the low end of normal. I had already lost a lot of muscle and not to mention I started to lose hair and was at risk of bone loss if my levels continued to remain critically low.

In April I found out that the prescription I was on was in fact a banned substance. I immediately contacted WTC about a TUE application so I could race while using this substance. I found on the WADA website that it was prohibited but could be used with a TUE similar to a puffer for Asthma. At this point I thought no big deal I will just submit my blood test results and will be good to go. WTC was very helpful in providing information for me to contact The Canadian Center for Ethics and Sport (CCES).

I immediately sent CCES lab results as well as some initial doctor information with a referral to an Endocrinologist. My first TUE application or what I thought was an application was eventually turned down for lack of information. I had an extremely hard time dealing with the representative at CCES (*no longer working there) about getting the exact paperwork that needed to be completed.

Eventually I found a TUE application on USADA website that was specific for Hypogonadism. Since that is what I was diagnosed with I “assumed” that eventually I would get a TUE granted by CCES if I could ever specifically figure out what was needed.

The biggest problem I found along the way was email communication with CCES and the fact that no one could ever tell me what I needed to provide or what I needed to fill out. All they could do was tell me that I needed more information. Well every time they needed more information it just kept costing me more and more money for Doctor’s appointments and blood work.

Doing research on my own from the USADA site I found that for Hypogonadism I needed 3 blood lab results at different times to plot certain graphs as well as a treatment plan from my doctor on medication and dosages as well as some of the obvious family history and past medical files and an MRI of my pituitary gland.

So I am now into May and I have gone on and off the medication trying to prove that even with the medication I have extremely low readings and that me taking this medication I am not putting myself at an advantage over my competitors.

The next blood test I have done I have a reading of 242ng/dl (241-827 normal range). Now that is being on the medication. After needing to go off the medication so I was able to race in June my levels where now (on the next blood test) 87ng/dl and back into a dangerous level. I continued to race so I was able to at least get in some races and points for the new WTC qualifying system.

I was still getting turned down for lack of information but now I was starting to gain some knowledge about what was actually needed other than emails I actually had an application from CCES that needed to be filled out by my endocrinologist. Well it would have been nice if someone told me that a month and a half ago.

My biggest health risk at this time was not that I had extremely low testosterone levels; it was what was causing this? My endocrinologist was worried that I may have a tumor in my pituitary gland and I needed to get an MRI done to rule this out. Well in the USA these costs over $3,000 dollars. Due to Doctors orders I needed to continue taking this prescription as when I went off it I was back down below 100ng/dl and that bone loss was going to start to be a major factor at these levels, not to mention the risk of not being able to have children. Scared and unsure what to do I continued taking it off and on mainly making sure that race week I would not take any. My energy level’s would be low but I needed to race for points. I “assumed” that even though I had no TUE issued yet mainly due to lack of past medical history from my physician I had enough information to prove I needed to take it and that CCES was still working on my TUE application.

In July I decided to do one last race to secure my ranking for WTC 70.3 Vegas World Triathlon Championships in September. I traveled to Muncie 70.3 and came 9^th, not a very good performance but it wasn’t bad considering the previous 3 70.3’s I did over the last 5-6 weeks.

Crossing the line in Muncie I was immediately taken to Doping Control. No big deal I had nothing to hide and gave a urine test. I knew that I had taken my medication off and on during the summer and that I had no risk of a positive test because even though I was on a banned substance at periods of time, my testosterone would not be any where near a level to cause an analytical finding.

Two week’s before Vegas Championships (7 week’s after taking the drug test) I get an email stating there was an analytical finding in my test and that my T/E ratio was just over the 4:1 ratio that was legal for WADA. The news was like someone had told me to lift my hands high in the air and immediately kick me right in the nuts. I did not sleep for two weeks after this with huge amounts of stress. I had my B Sample tested because I knew for a fact I was taking it off and on and I was hoping that this was some sort of Error.

After the initial shock was over I needed a game plan. I contacted CCES and went through two additional denials of my TUE. Every time I submitted a piece of medical information to CCES it takes 30 days for them to contact you about if it was approved or not. I decided it was now time to rule out a Pituitary Tumor and get the MRI done. I decided to appeal WTC’s decision on a 2 year ban because I had a legitimate excuse for needing the prescription and figured I could get it reduced because I actually tried to do the right thing and get a TUE application when I first found out. I even skipped out on New Orleans’s 70.3 because I found out earlier in the week that I needed a TUE to race with it.

I am 100% responsible for what I put in or on my body. Nobody forced me to race triathlon being ill but I love the sport and I really wanted to qualify for Vegas 70.3 Championships. This is the stupidest mistake I have ever made in my life and I will now be forced to miss the complete 2012 season due to this. I have had to drop the appeal with WTC that is schedule for two weeks time because I risk paying all legal fee’s and arbitration costs to have everyone come to Fort Worth if I lose the case. My attorney’s have advised me that unfortunately my case is all emotional facts and information and that I did break the rule and a 2 year ban must be enforced. I am still waiting on CCES to get back to me with my previous TUE application including MRI results and other medical information.

I would like to apologize to the other athlete’s I raced against, my Sponsors, my friends, family, Thomas Mazurek and other attorney’s, my wife and my coach for all of this emotional stress I have caused everyone. I am the only one to blame for this mistake and I have unfortunately learned a hard lesson. I don’t feel I deserve a 2 year ban but laws are laws and WTC is doing a great job at implementing a strict policy for fair play. I hope to one day return to this great sport of triathlon and strive towards podium performances.

Muncie was not my last 70.3, we will meet again on the start line,

Brent

Road to Vegas Week 6

2011-08-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Week 6, only a few weeks left! Sorry for the late post had some computer issues to get past this week. Hope you enjoy the video footage from my visit to Canada to visit family. It was so nice to get out of the heat for a few days!
See you next week,
BP

The Road to Vegas Week 5!

2011-08-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

A day late! I'm sorry I'm a day late posting week 5's video. I do however have a good excuse, my senior chief editor/IT manager/YouTube know how'er/Wife was in Canada until late last night. Right after work, Carley finished the video and posted it to YouTube and now I"m in Canada updating the video to my blog. Anyway week 5 was similar to week 4 in volume and intensity, it was hard and I was definitely fatigued. I'm glad it's over!

The next few days I'm in Canada visiting family and enjoying the cooler morning runs!
Have a good week,
BP

The Road to Vegas Week 4!!

2011-08-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Week 4! This week is entitled "Hurt Camp" and it was just that. It consisted of 25 hrs of training with plenty of hard/specific sessions. In this weeks video you really see me suffering. If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger right?!? Only 4 more weeks until Vegas! I hope you enjoy the video!

See you next week,
BP

The Road To Vegas Week 3!

2011-08-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Week 3! This week contained a few recovery days and therefore allows you to see behind the scenes recovery footage and secrets. It's a bit of change, but exciting nonetheless.

Enjoy!

See you next week,
BP

The Road To Vegas Week 2!

2011-07-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

Another week and another video. Carley is having too much fun with this, personally I think they are getting better and it's more exciting than typing a blog so i'm not mad!
This week was tough and I was quite fatigued, but nonetheless it got done and I even managed to have some fun with good training cronies!

Hope you enjoy the video,
BP

Vegas Training Week 1!

2011-07-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

I hope you enjoy this fun video of my first big week of Vegas Training. I tried to capture a few of the big sessions and Carley spen hours trying to put it all together in imovie. Now onto week 2, but right now we're off to Dairy Queen!

Cheers,

Muncie 70.3- Video Race Report

2011-07-10T17:45:00.001-05:00

I was enjoying the weather too much today at home to type up a race report so I decided to change things up and try a video race report. Sorry I don't know how to speak that well, it's my first time talking out a race report, it will get better. Enjoy!

A Special thanks to SVSS, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Powerbar, Colonels Bikes, Xterra Wetsuits, Louis Garneau, Cliff English and my homestay's Sara and Andy Fauquher!

Ironman 70.3 Muncie

Muncie, IN / July 9, 2011

Top men
1. Ben Hoffman (USA) 3:48:14
2. Mike Caiazzo (USA) 3:53:12
3. Rich Allen (GBR) 3:54:18
4. Joe Umphenour (USA) 3:55:11
5. Daniel Bretscher (USA) 3:55:36
6. Torsten Abel (GER) 3:56:40
7. Joe McDaniel (USA) 3:57:08
8. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 3:57:47
9. Brent Poulson (CAN) 3:59:17
10. Stanislav Krylov (RUS) 3:59:55

Cheers,

Buffalo Springs 70.3

2011-06-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

On Sunday June 26^th I raced the Buffalo springs 70.3 Triathlon. Coming off a solid race two weeks ago in Kansas it was time to get after it again. Temperatures all week were expected to be over 100degrees and I was excited to race. Hotter the better I kept telling myself.

Since it was a pretty low key prize/points purse I figured it was time to start taking some risks and try and get in the mix from start to finish no matter how I finished. The point was I wanted to be on the podium I didn’t want to play anything safe for an average finish no matter what the outcome.

Swim

Believe it or not with high temperatures somehow the race director filled Buffalo Springs lake with dump truck loads full of ice to get the water temperature to 74degrees making it a wetsuit swim. Don’t get me wrong I like Mike and Marti but it was a little too hot outside for a wetsuit swim. They even moved the start time up for all of the waves because they knew dehydration was going to be a factor. I tried to follow Cotters lead and wear no cap to help stay a bit cool but I was caught when lining up and forced to put my cap back on. As the gun went off there was a quick run in and a few dolphin dives and the next thing I knew I was sitting in second to 3^rd place around the first few buoys. Three quarters through I felt over heated and fatigued and fell off Cotter and Anderson’s feet and ended up pulling a train along the rest of the way. Regardless it was a good swim and I ran into T1 in 4^th position.

Bike

The first 50 minutes of the ride I was at the back of the lead group and pushing good wattage and boom. An athlete went by me and I stood up and took a few pedal strokes to at least match his pace as we were coming into a big hill where it was bunching up and I was hit with a penalty. Worse thing was another athlete had to pass me on the right side as I was talking to the motor cycle and he was hit with a penalty as well. Totally my fault but after we spent time arguing back and forth the lead group was further up the road and gaining. I spent the next 20 minutes into the head wind chatting with myself. I just smashed a hard swim and first 20miles of the ride and I am hit with a penalty. Are you a moron Brent? What were you thinking? The rest of the ride I spent riding with Brandon Marsh and entered T2 just behind Cotter and Marsh. The temperatures were on the up and up and I assumed it was getting near 100degrees to start the run.

Run

The start of the run I quickly passed Marsh and Cotter and started trying to pick up some of the athlete’s who had an advantage on me. After the first turn around I had moved into 8^th and I had 7^th and 6^th just in front of me. I was running like a man on a mission and boom the heat and everything started to catch up to me. To make matters worse somehow I tripped over something and stubbed my toe running around a corner and I could feel my toe start to hurt. Still I pushed on and eventually it turned into a death march for me hobbling the last few miles and coming 8^th. I didn’t go to Lubbock to come 8^th but some times that’s how things roll. Congrats to Raynard Tissink and Kelly Williamson for taking the overall titles.

A couple of IV’s later, some recovery nutrition and massage I felt good. I learned that you can’t take out anger during long races because you get into a cycle of smash yourself- slow down, get angry- smash your self, slow down. Positive notes are I know things are on the up and up and I look forward to toeing the line in a couple weeks at Muncie 70.3.

I would like to congratulate all the athletes who raced in the heat and survived as well as I would like to thank my Coach Cliff English, SVSS, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Powerbar, Colonels bikes, and Xterra Wetsuits for there continued support. 1 more race and I should have enough WTC 70.3 points to secure a spot for Vegas as I sit around 35^th right now.

Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake

Buffalo Springs Lake, Texas

June 26, 2011

S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Elite Men

1. Raynard Tissink (RSA) 4:03:27

2. Michael Lovato (USA) 4:04:22

3. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 4:05:51

4. Joe McDaniel (USA) 4:06:52

5. James Bowstead (NZL) 4:11:26

6. Andres Castillo (COL) 4:13:15

7. Gavin Anderson (USA) 4:14:55

8. Brent Poulsen (USA) 4:15:16

9. Matthew Russsell (USA) 4:15:55

10. Peter Clode (NZL) 4:17:14

Domestique Diaries Returns with The Better Half!

2011-06-19T18:50:00.002-05:00

Well it's been forever since I've blogged and for that I apologize, time got in my way! However, in my absence I have learnt how to video blog (and even edit them) which is a definite time saver, well after the learning took place!

So, prior to introducing my first video I want to first explain to you the amount of veggies and fruit Brent eats in one day. To put it plainly when we eat at Jason's Deli and Brent gets the salad bar at least three people say something along the lines of "save some veggies for us". This is how much veggies I used to cut every night. Cutting veggies and fruit were consuming me, so I changed to cutting them on Sunday afternoons. I would stand in the kitchen for two hours preparing and chopping 4 huge bowls of veggies and fruits that Brent would eat for the week. It freed up my weeknight time, but put a damper on my Sunday afternoon chores. Then one early morning at the gym I saw the info-mercial for the Salad Chef Genius and went right out to Bed Bath and Beyond to get it! This along with our Vitamix has saved me so much time. Now, on Sundays I chop the fruit and veggies and make a batch of hummus in no time at all and Brent fuels like a champ all week with no hassle from me! Below in the video are the best kitchen tools at work!! And the song is also so fitting! :)

Happy chopping,

Carley

K-SWISS KANSAS 70.3

2011-06-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 Triathlon Update

This Sunday I raced the K-SWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. It was a fun trip traveling up to Lawrence with my good buddy Travis Thomason. Other than getting caught in a Tornado/Hail storm in Wichita on Thursday, and getting lost on Friday we made it safe and sound. I have been slowly increasing my Iron levels and have started to feel good; so I was pretty excited to race.

RACE DAY
Luckily the nasty weather held off but we were forced with an unexpected choppy swim.
Thanks to my Xterra Vendetta wetsuit I was able to come out in the lead group that had all of the race leaders (Matthews, Kahn , Bell, Umphenour, Guillaume, Castillo, Rhodes, Anderson) in a time of 24:55. At this point I had a few calf cramps while exiting transition and I lost the lead group. Afraid to push the pedals too hard the first 5 minutes and make things worse I waited until my calf better, and was passed by a few others (Rix, McDaniel) who were riding well and made it up to the front. Looking back that was my opportunity to ride off those guys and pace myself up to the front. Luckily I was able to ride with Gavin Anderson most of the ride and make my way into transition.

It was my first time racing with power(big thanks to Mark Howard) and that kept my mind going and my attention span in the present. My bike split was a little weak but looking back I could have pushed harder (2:19:59) based on the wattage I have been training at lately.

Off the bike I ran 1:16:58 (thanks to my K-SWISS K-RUUZ) to finish 7th overall (4:04) and cap the day with a bit of prize money and WTC Points for the 70.3 Championships in Vegas in September.

Now it’s time to recover and get ready for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in a couple of weeks time. Congrats to Paul Mathews and Chrissie Wellington for taking the overall W’s as well as the other athlete’s who made it to the yellow brick road at the finish line. It was inspiring to watch everyone.

Ironman 70.3 Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
June 12, 2011
D 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 ni.

Men

1. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:49:44
2. David Kahn (USA) 3:55:46
3. Luke Bell (AUS) 3:56:13
4. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 3:59:17
5. Joe McDaniel (USA) 4:00:53
6. Andres Castillo ( ) 4:03:22
7. Brent Poulsen (CAN ) 4:04:18
8. Joe Umphenour (USA) 4:05:18
9. Tony White (USA) 4:05:56
10. Torsten Abel (GER) 4:06:33

Thanks to my Coach Cliff English, Spring Valley Spine and Sport, K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Xterra Wetsuits, Powerbar, Louis Garneau and Colonels Bikes for getting me set up to perform at my best!

See you in Lubbock,
BP

Visit with Cobb Cycling

2011-06-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

A quick visit with Cobb Cycling, and now it's time for Kansas 70.3 this weekend!

Florida Rohto 70.3

2011-05-19T14:45:00.000-05:00

Florida 70.3 Quick Blog Post in Pictures.
I ended up 9th with some bike issues. I wasn't happy with the placement or the fact that i biked a 2:20 ( in 2008 biked 2:12:00). I am happy that i was able to keep fighting and run my way from 20th to 9th with a 1:17:00(second fastest run) half marathon. My health is slowly on the up and up and i will now get ready for a big June/July of racing. Thanks to Carley for making the one day trip down to watch, and thanks to my sponsors for making all of this possible.

70.3 US PRO CHAMPIONSHIPS

2011-04-14T15:11:00.004-05:00

Texas 70.3 Pro Championships

This past weekend I raced the 70.3 US Pro Championships in Galveston, Texas. Going into the race I knew my Iron levels were extremely low and that I was not at 100%. However, something about a race in Texas, my home state, that I didn’t care and I was going to give it a go regardless. Not to mention I still need to accumulate 5 good performances before July to secure a spot for World Championships in September.

Race week flew by in a blur with recovery, and work. The field at this race was hands down stacked because it was US Pro Championships with over 55 pro men. The start of the swim was chaos, mainly due to the size of the start line, but by the time we hit the first buoy I was in the mix that looked to be the lead group with maybe one or two swimmers just ahead. Coming back into shore the pack that I was swimming with let a gap open up to the rest of the field and I found myself trying to pickup the pace and kick hard trying not to lose too much ground. I came out of the water with a pack that had Mike Lovado, Chris Leito and a few others. I knew I had lost roughly 30 seconds to some of the top contender’s but it was a long string of guys so I knew was still in the race.

Getting on the bike I saw Carley and she was smiling and screaming her head off, so then I knew for sure I was in the mix. Just after blasting up the road out of T1 something happened to my quad. It seized and swelled up and felt as though I had been kicked by a donkey. I wasn’t sure what to do, in a panic I got off my bike, did a couple stretches, tried to flex my knee a few times and hopped back on praying my leg would work. For the next few miles up to the sea wall I did the famous one-legged drill as my right leg was frozen. Athletes were passing me left, right and center and I hadn’t even hit the windy part of the ride yet. I got off my bike one more time, had a strict conversation with my leg while trying desperately to make it work and noticed I was able to get some range of motion out of it now. Mentally, I knew I had to fight through this and just finish after my last race in San Juan I would be devastated with another DNF. More importantly however I told myself I wouldn’t be able to listen to Carley for 5 hours in the car about the race so I decided to persevere. After a majority of the men’s packed passed me while I tried to get my leg going and fight off mental thoughts I saw my two fellow Canadians (SK, and MN) and started pedaling through the pain. Finally I made it to the turn around and I was now feeling a bit better. I managed to pass some athlete’s, well only the one’s that had already decided to call it a day (Paul Amey and Richie). Then more thoughts crammed into my head…Just ride back easy with these guys so you’re not the only one coming in with the woman… No keep riding I still won’t be able to deal with Carley. Then I passed Cotter who also decided to call it day and finally started to pass some other pro men who were at least still in the race. However, my bike split was not one to write home about.

Getting out onto the run my quad was so swollen I felt like Arnold and my thoughts went sort of like this…Hey where’s the beach?.... Yeah it’s that way.. Just felt like I did a squat workout with Arnold at Gold’s Gym. Up the pace and catch some of those people… okay your passing people…. Maybe you can finish this race… okay lap 2… each lap at a time Poulsen…. Okay lap 3.. Take in some liquid and a gel so this doesn’t get ugly… Saw Cotter and thanked him for coming with me for a long run… lap 4.. All right lets just run fast… you have some other athlete’s coming up behind you… ahhhhhh finish line… Time for New Orleans’s so re-group… limp limp, okay maybe no New Orleans’s!! 118 run split with taking it easy most of the time… thank god I could do something out here today that was half decent!

It is so funny how the whole week leading into the race I was worried about my Iron level’s and feared having a poor swim or GI problems on the run because of the Iron, and luckily none of this happened which would have made matters even worse. I don’t think I would have been able to think myself out of that much bad luck!

Life goes on, and as sad is it seems’ to finish mid pack I was very excited just to finish a race and remind myself I can still do this sport at a high level as my swim/run splits were competitive within the top 10.

I would like to thank K-SWISS, RTS Bikes, Clean Bottle, Xterra, PowerBar, 3Bar, Louis Garneau, Colonels Bikes and my coach Cliff English for getting me ready. And of course Carley for the pics and the quiet ride home! I will now work on getting back to 100% so I am ready for some races in May.

Thanks for reading,
BP

Tuscon in Pictures

2011-03-08T18:56:00.000-06:00

I recently returned from Tuscon, AZ where I put in some good training with Cliff English and the squad. Below are some pictures.

I also had to opportunity to get dialed into my new RTS bike with Nick White. Thanks to Timothy Carlson for the great photos. Also, thanks to Cliff English for helping to get me ready for my first race of the season in San Juan!

Brent

New Bike Sponsor

2011-02-28T13:18:00.001-06:00

It's time to start blogging again after a long delay. First off i would like to welcome and thank RTS Bikes for helping me out this season with amazing bikes and wicked fast race wheels. I am just finishing up a training camp in Tucson and i will have lots of great photo's and updates from the past couple of months as well as a post with my 2011 race schedule. If you have any questions about RTS Carbon Bikes please contact me anytime! They are unreal!
www.rtsbikes.com

HTFU Christmas Ride

2010-12-26T18:02:00.000-06:00

Domestique Diaries- How Much Longer until Next Season Starts?

2010-11-17T16:49:00.000-06:00

So Brent has this week off completely from training and i’m not sure who is going more stir crazy me or him. We were in a pretty solid routine of training, working and working out prior to this off season. I did just about everything around the house mostly because I enjoy it, and largely because I’m a control freak. So I would have everything done around the house while Brent trained every night till 7:30pm and all weekend. Well this week the roles have changed and we are both having a hard time adjusting to it.

For starters, by Wednesday I should easily have a full load of laundry with training gear and another with “work” clothes. This week I don’t even have one full load. Next dinners, Brent is making most of them, but making a mess of the kitchen at the same time, i’m trying to shut my mouth and enjoy the assistance. While i’m at the gym, Brent is picking up the house, making my lunch unloading the dishwasher, so when I get home I’m lost! Literally on a normal week I don’t even have time to shower after the gym until right before bed because I’m too busy doing all the things that need to be done, I can’t leave things undone! Now, we both have time to relax and sit there and we are stunned! We also don’t really watch TV mostly because we have never had time and also because neither of us can attend to a whole show.

Another problem is that Brent and I are both people who can’t sit around and do nothing. Sometimes we even argue over who is going to do the chore, cause we both want to. Most of the time we just do it together. Last night we both literally changed a light bulb!

We also went to Best Buy to buy some new Wii games. We bought family game night and Brent’s favourite Wheel of Fourtune. Well these are really helping and along with other fun things like lounging in the hot tub, doing Yoga and core, and going for long walks we are really starting to enjoy this! Also, the Christmas tree will be up and organized in no time!

I just hope I don’t get too used to this since it will only happen for a week and then it’s back to the 8:30pm post gym shower.

You know you are married to a triathlete when:
-Off Season leaves you feeling lost with no bottles to wash/fill, laundry to do and chores to do!
-You just realized that the foam roller, muscle spray, Yoga mat and computrainer have a home that is NOT in the middle of your living room floor!
-You knew it all along but finally could prove that the 12 pairs of K-Swiss running shoes on the shoe rack were not all simultaneously being used for training purposes and the unused ones got new homes too! 

Happy Off Season,
Carley

World Championships- Can I get a do-over?

2010-11-16T19:17:00.000-06:00

Based on my training and racing over the past month leading into Clearwater I thought I was in pretty decent shape for a top 10 performance as long as I executed the race correctly.

I had a few little mistakes and some shifting chain problems caused me to stop on the bike, but I broke one of my common rules of racing “it’s not over till its over”

After a bad start on the swim I was forced to swim through some slower swimmers exiting the water just behind the large train. I rode hard the first 5 miles eventually riding and pacing with Jeff Symonds (CAN), Leon Griffin (AUS), Chris Legh (AUS), Maxim Krait (UKR) and Kevin Collington (USA).

Going around a turnaround at approximately mile 25 I made a couple of shifting mistakes and was left pedaling backwards trying to get my chain back on my bike. Eventually it caught around my crank and I came to a complete stop and was forced to get off fix it. At this point my shifters didn’t want to cooperate and I was forced to try and set the chain in a good gear to get going. By the time I got back on my bike the group was long gone and out of site.

I rode the second half of the race extremely slow and angry but getting off the bike I decided to run it out and finish to add a few points to my 2011 qualifying procedure. Watching the race unfold was difficult to watch as some of the guys I was riding with were easily in the top 10.

It did give me a huge amount of motivation to come back next year and execute what I came to do this year. Well the season is done I finished with a 5^th, two 6^th, two 8^th places, an 11^th and 30^th place finishes this season. It is now time for some rest and recovery.

I would like to thank COLONELS BIKES, K-SWISS, HTFU, POWERBAR, LOUIS GARNEAU, KIWAMI, XTERRA and my coach Cliff English. I would also like to thank my training partners that helped me get ready for this race, there were a lot of early hard mornings these past few months! Also a special thanks to Carley she was the biggest help in making sure I was ready to go in Florida! Even though I got a text message after the race stating she almost threw my computrainer out the window while she watched online.

The season had its ups and downs but overall it was solid for the most part.

Until next season, I am left with wishing I had a do over. This is my motivation for the off season and what an off season it will be.

Until next season,

Thanks for reading,

Brent

Longhorn Austin 70.3

2010-10-22T17:04:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I raced one of my favorite races, Austin Longhorn 70.3. The race is close to home, therefore neither Carley or I had to take a day off work which is beneficial. We left after work on Friday and were followed there by another triathlete and friend Eric. We stopped for dinner along the way and still arrived in Austin by 7:30 pm. We checked into our hotel which is one of the closest hotels to the race site and somehow we scored the Longhorn suite. Our entire room was decorated in Longhorn paraphernalia from toilet seat covers, posters on the wall to a leather orange and white desk chair and orange and white sheets. I felt like I was sleeping in a dorm room again! Check out the sweet pictures below.

Saturday morning we woke up early and met a few friends at the race course for race prep. Of course Carley wants to go outlet shopping in Round Rock so she heads off leaving me to catch a ride back to the Longhorn Suite with Eric. Race prep went great, my bike was racked and my shoes were in T2. I was all set. Eric of course forgets his shoes so on our way back to his hotel as we are stopped at a light on the highway (no idea why there are so many highways with lights in Austin) chatting away we get rear ended. Riding in the ambulance with the women who hit us I learned that she “shut her eyes for a few seconds and got lost in her thoughts.” She didn’t even attempt to brake, we hit the car in front of us who was actually another Canadian in Austin racing the following day. After seeing a few doctors and getting some tests done the doctor informed me that it was my decision whether or not I was going to race the following day stating that I may be so stiff that I will not be able to get out of bed, but I also may be good to go. I focused on the positive and never second doubted whether or not I was going to race, I simply thought to myself I’ve raced and trained many times through pain, and although it may not be pretty but I will be racing tomorrow.

Needless to say after sleeping in my Longhorn dorm room I awoke at 3am Sunday morning to a extremely stiff neck, and back. I took six of Carley’s Ibuprofen’s and put on my race suit. It was probably because of the effects of the Ibuprofen’s but usually I’m edgy and nervous on race morning however this morning I was numb and calm. I lost my timing chip and didn’t even panic just continued with my warm up run and figured it would sort itself out somehow. Luckily Carley was still edgy and retraced all my steps and found it.

Swim

The swim felt super easy thanks to my new Xterra Vendetta wetsuit. I was easily in the main group with one athlete off the front (Marko Albert). In the group we had Richie Cunningham (AUS), Paul Amey (GBR), Bryan Rhodes (NZL), Jeff Symonds (CAN), Allesandro Degasperi (ITA). After a quick transition I found myself riding in the same group that was formed early on in the swim.

Bike

Out on the bike things still were very easy and calm. We had a draft marshal on the bike who was giving out many penalties. Rhodes and Clode received penalties and then everyone really seemed to slow down and not do anything. We were riding easy and I was worried that we were going to get caught by other athlete’s and that we were going to give Marko Albert too much time as he was still off the front. At 50 miles into the ride we were caught by Lewis Elliot (USA) and James Cunnama (RSA) and our pack was very large going into T2.

Run

I quickly got into a good rhythm on the run with Paul Amey and Jeff Symonds and we chased Richie, Allesandro and Cunnama. The first lap I ran strong being in 5^th and then 6^th place running behind Jeff Symonds. I ran the second lap in 6^th place and held my position into the finish. I experienced a lot of neck and back pain on the run, as i’m pretty sure the Ibuprofen’s were wearing off, but overall I am happy with the way the day played out considering the amount of stress I went through on Saturday. I would have really like to be in the top 5 but with how I felt I was just super happy to finish in one piece.

A big thanks to Xterra, HTFU, K-SWISS, Powerbar, Colonels Bikes and my Coach Cliff English for your support, knowledge and help. Also always a thanks to my wife, Carley, for her support and help on race morning when I was just too calm. Congrats to all of the people that finished the race in Austin. After staying in that hotel suite all weekend I must confess that I am now an Longhorn fan! Go Longhorns!!

Professional Men’s Results

1 James Cunnama 3:53:57
2 Marko Albert 3:55:06
3 Richie Cunningham 3:57:04
4 Alessandro Degasperi 3:57:29
5 Jeff Symonds 3:57:57
6 Brent Poulsen 4:00:02
7 Brad Seng 4:04:45
8 Trevor Wurtele 4:04:54
9 Lewis Elliot 4:05:48
10 Ian Mikelson 4:06:41

Next up will be World Triathlon 70.3 Championships in Clearwater, Florida.

Augusta 70.3

2010-09-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

This was my first experience doing two 70.3 on consecutive Sundays, also known as a double, and what an experience it was. First of all I should mention, although i’m sure I mentioned it in my last race report, Branson was an extremely difficult hilly race with a very hot run. Therefore, I knew that recovering from these effects was going to be longer than expected and I only had a week until my next race. I also had a 6.5 hour drive home immediately after the race in Branson which again is not optimal. At one pit stop I thought Carley was going to have to carry me to the restroom as my legs were seized in the driving position. After being 5^th last weekend my goal was to be top 5 again as well as gain some fitness and really push myself for the remainder of the season.

Travel to the race went very smooth thanks to Jeff Manly who picked me up in Atlanta as he was traveling from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thanks Jeff for making this travel so relaxing and enjoyable. Race prep went I was able to relax and read most of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” novel that I stole from Carley just before I left.

As we prepared for the swim it was starting to rain and I knew the roads would be slick and I would have to be careful. Then standing on the start line it occurred to me that I had far too much air in my tires for the slick, wet conditions. The swim was fairly fast, there was a current in the water and it seemed a bit short, exiting in 19 minutes. I ran through T1 and ended up running out with Yoder and Cunningham and we immediately started to chase a handful of guys that were slightly ahead.

At mile 15, after unsuccessfully trying to catch the lead group, I made the mistake of riding steady waiting for some riders coming up behind to set the pace as I thought eventually this new formed group would catch the long group forming one long pack. Then the rain played havoc on on chances I had of a decent ride. I nearly crashed twice, ending up in a ditch in the mud and having to unclip and get off my bike. In hindsight I should have 1: let some air out of my tires, they were way too slick and 2: committed early on and bridged up to the lead group rather than allowing the second pack to catch me.

Riding scared because of the rain cost me some major time for the rest of the bike portion. I lost a few minutes to the main contenders of the race, but after almost going down in the rain I was scared to hit the pavement. I took every corner slow and lost a lot of time on any sort of fast sections with water starting to accumulate on the road.

After T2 I wanted to make the best of the day so I started to get after things with an aggressive first loop on the run. I ended up catching (Evoe, Graves, Park, Cotter, Yoder) and I almost caught 10^th and 9^th place but I needed another mile for the run. My legs were starting to hurt badly and I ended up finishing in 11^thin 3:57. It leaves me wondering how I would have ran if I had rode with the main group into T2.

It was not the position I would have liked, and I definitely made some mistakes that cost me a lot of time. One of these days I will put an ideal swim/bike together which will allow me to run with the leaders. I am more motivated then ever after watching this opportunity slip away.

Congrats to all of the athletes that finished in Augusta. Thanks to Andrew Montes and Jeff Manley for helping me out with racing again so soon after Branson. Also big thanks to K-SWISS, Colonels Bikes, Powerbar, HTFU, and my coach Cliff English.

Next up is Austin 70.3 in a few weeks time.

ESi Ironman 70.3 Augusta
Augusta, GA / September 26, 2010
1.2 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 13.1 mile run

Top 10 men

1. Maksym Kriat (UKR) 3:46:54
2. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:47:12
3. Victor Zyemtsev (UKR) 3:47:36
4. Chris Legh (AUS) 3:48:23
5. David Kahn (USA) 3:50:59
6. Nick Waninger (USA) 3:51:38
7. Tony White (USA) 3:53:51
8. Marko Albert (EST) 3:55:26
9. Kent Horner (RSA) 3:56:12
10. Guy Crawford (NZL) 3:57:27

11.Brent Poulsen(CAN) 3:57:34

Domestique Diaries- 9-9-10!!!

2010-09-28T18:38:00.000-05:00

Newlyweds!

Happy Ever After!

Ok I confess it's been far too long for a domestique diaries post, but I do have a good excuse. On 9-9-10 this domestique became a legal domestique. We had a small ceremony in Aruba with family and close friends. Although it was in the middle of Brent's season we planned it between some key races, he was able to do all of his training, that's right he trained everyday while in Aruba! I don't even think he ate our wedding cake, but don't worry I ate his share. Everything was fabulous, and we had a wonderful wedding ceremony. It was absolutely perfect!

The attendees- Family and close Friends- We love you!

The Newlyweds!

Obviously our photo shoot included running!

Our Beautiful ceremony on the beach in Aruba!

We came back from Aruba, and didn't even have time to unpack or catch up on laundry and we were off again to Branson where my new husband came 5th. After Branson Brent was home another short 5 days and was off to Augusta!

We are finally home, at least until next week and are enjoying the newlywed phase. Our newlywed phase is a little different than most people as it consists primarily of gluten free cooking, 8pm bedtimes and stretching and core work! However, we are having a great time!

Happy living,

Carley POULSEN

Branson 70.3 Report

2010-09-22T11:33:00.003-05:00

Branson 70.3 Race Report
This past Sunday I raced the K-SWISS Branson 70.3 Ironman Triathlon in Branson, MO.

I was a little unsure of how things would go as I was in Aruba getting married the previous week before the race. I knew it would be extremely competitive as well as a hard bike ride being in the Ozark Mountains.

Swim

Being a beach start I am always at a disadvantage over some taller athlete’s as they can get an extra step or two before diving into the water. Quickly I got on James Cotter’s feet and eventually had to move around Mike Lovato and continue my push to chase the leaders. I thought Mike was swimming on Cotters feet and things were good until I looked up and realized he had let a bit of a gap go. I continued to push and eventually pulled up a big pack in the shore for the last 900m stretch. I had a super fast transition and blasted up the road to chase the leaders.

Carley's awesome camera caught the dive in!!

Bike

After a quick transition I caught T.J and James and continued to ride strong before Ben Hoffman and Cotter would pass me for the second time soon after that. I rode super strong the first loop making up some time on Brian Fleishman with Steven Hackett who were bit further up the road. I rode in 5th place most of the ride on an extremely hilly bike course in the Ozark mountain’s.

I faded a bit but still kept a really strong tempo going to hold off Tollakson and Lovado and keep Cotter and Fleishman some what in sight. At mile 50 Tollakson went ripping by me and I rode with him and eventually came in just behind him into transition 2.

Just getting on the bike!

Run

Running out of T2 I knew I had rode strong but my legs were shot. I passed T.J at the 1mile marker and kept moving forward putting time into James. On lap 2 of the run Lovato passed me and I was now in survival mode trying to finish the race. The temperature was well over 90 degrees and there was no shade. If it wasn’t for my beautiful wife taking photos and yelling at me to catch the athlete running ahead I would have faded further back.

I wish my run legs were with me on Sunday but my swim/bike was a definite step in the right direction for racing the rest of the season. I ended up finishing 5th so that was great after being on vacation the week before. I have to say the top 6 male's at Branson were some of the nicest athlete's i have had a chance to race with.

Thanks to Kiwami and HTFU for this awesome race suit!

Ironman 70.3 Branson

Branson, Missouri – September 19, 2010

1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men

1. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4:02:53

2. Tom Lowe (GBR) 4:05:38

3. Michael Lovato (USA) 4:11:04

4. James Cotter (USA) 4:14:36

5. Brent Poulsen (USA) 4:15:14

I would like to thank K-SWISS, Colonels Bikes, PowerBar, HTFU, Kiwami and my coach Cliff English @ cliffenglishcoaching.com for there continued support. Next up is Augusta 70.3 this Sunday. Thanks for reading,

Brent

Timberman 70.3 Race Report

2010-08-25T16:11:00.000-05:00

Below is the race report of could have's and should have's .

The goal of this race was to get some confidence back after I had some mechanical problems at Calgary 70.3 at the beginning of August.

I was lucky enough to crash with Larry Bradley from Ontario, as well as the great Fletcher Meadow’s triathlon club who had rented some cottages on Lake Winnipesauke. The trip was pretty uneventful until realizing I had lost a piece for my headset. The town of Gilford was pretty small so I had to hope after the race meeting on Saturday I would be able to get it fixed. I managed to get it fixed late Saturday afternoon as best as it could be. I think it is time for a new bike soon but more on that later, sometimes we need to do the best we can with what we have.

Starting the race my only goal was to take each leg at a time and to really put it out there. Lining up on the left side with Potts, O’Donnell, TJ and my self with the rest of the field on the right side I figured I would get a good clean start. I had a great start but I knew Tim was trying to swim with Andy and I was going to have a hard time swimming on Tim’s feet. About half way to the first turn I made a move to get over to the right side. I wasn’t completely dropped by T.J and Tim but I didn’t want to be left on my own with a huge train on the other side of us. I managed to gap over and exit the water very easily on the back of that chasing pack behind Andy, Tim, and T.J. Exiting the water the next plan was to have a fast transition ahead of the group and blast up the road so I would be ready for a big group to ride with.  
Everything was good except when I reached down my Oakley’s were gone and had fallen off my bike where I had them attached to so I didn’t have to put them on in transition. I don’t think I was meant to have Jawbones. The first 30miles was pretty uneventful I was riding in a large group that had Gambles, Rix, White, Allen, Tissink and I knew everyone was working hard to catch Tim who I think was only 30seconds up the road. On the first major descend on the course I started to feel my headset being really loose as I was breaking ever so slightly with a huge left hand turn I didn’t want to risk crashing so I backed off and rode 200m or so behind the large group. I chased like this for another 15 miles or so and then I dropped off as I could no longer maintain the pace. I haven’t been really happy with my position this year and I actually believe I am loosing a lot of hard earned wattage to wind resistance but back to the whole I need to use what I have part of life.

At mile 50 I was caught by T.J who I knew was a great athlete having a rough ride but he was some extra motivation to get me into T2. I still knew if I had a ripper of a run I would be able to run into that large group. Well I had stomach problems for the first time this year, and I was forced to run super fast between stops to go to the rest room. Not ideal and I was a bit disappointed but my fitness is where it needs to be and I am getting closer to the front of the race. I spent the next 2 hours after the race stuck in a port-a-potty, not sure really where the GI issues came from. I finished off the race 8th with another top 10 finish so at least there is a bit of consistency even on a bad day. I would like to congratulate all who raced at Timberman. It was extremely motivating to watch everyone on the run having a great time and really pushing they’re limits. I would like to thank K-SWISS, Colonels Bikes, Powerbar and HTFU and a special thanks to my Coach Cliff English. Also thanks to Carley for the loads of laundry you are currently in the process of doing, along with everything else.
The next couple of weeks will be crazy with my WEDDING DAY, and Branson 70.3.

Thanks for reading,   
Brent

Mechanical

2010-08-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

Calgary has come and gone. Going into the race i had a great block of training even with a big crash i was ready to rock. The swim was very cold and rough and i exited back about 1minute from a couple of the main contenders that i wanted to run with. I couldn't see a thing the whole swim as my goggles had fogged up. I just tried to stay positive and look for feet and flailing arms. For the first 40k on the bike things were good i was riding with Jamie, Jeff, Tich and myself; but then i couldn't change gears for the life of me and i ended up riding in my small chain ring behind Grant Burwash for another 30k before puncturing. I moved slowly through the field backwards and I quickly realized I couldn't do anything. After that I went straight to the treadmill to burn off some frustration. Obviously this result is not what I was looking for coming to Calgary but life moves on. Thanks to Doctor Ryan and Barb for hosting Carley and I for the weekend, even though I am disappointed in the outcome it was still great to see them.

Next up is Timberman 70.3 and Wedding planning so time should fly by. I want to wish a good buddy of mine a speedy recovery. Andrew Montes crashed hard at the OTC and is now needing face surgery. Get better buddy!

Calgary 70.3

2010-07-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

Off to Calgary on Friday for the Vittera Calgary 70.3. It has been a great 3 weeks of training and i am looking forward to a few easier days this week. Crashes happen but i am recovered and excited for Sunday. Check out coverage at www.ironmanlive.com. I am even more excited for some cooler temperatures.

Domestique Diaries- Recovery, Never Again!

2010-07-11T19:17:00.000-05:00

During big training blocks I rarely see Brent unless he is laying on the carpet asking for water, a recovery drink or I’m trying to force him into the shower. Recently he has been inviting me to join him on some of his light recovery training. In my head I think wow he must think i’m getting fast so of course I decide to tag along during some of his “active recovery workouts” and here is what unfolded on two such occasions.

Recovery Ride: One day last weekend after one of Brent’s long runs he asked me to join him on his recovery ride. I thought to myself, well i’m getting good on the bike I can definitely handle a recovery ride. So after watching a stage of the Tour we suited up in matching K-Swiss cycling gear and off we went.

To get to the trail from our house we have to go through 4 quick stop lights followed by a steep down hill to a sharp corner and across a bridge onto the trail. It sounds technical because it is. So we leave from the underground, Brent in the lead, the first two lights he waves me through i’m 10 ft behind, and make it through the lights easily. Next light he waves me through however i’m already 20ft behind and there is a car coming, I try to blast through the intersection, the car has to slam on it’s brakes but I survive. I look up and Brent is doing the “don’t go hand symbol”. I yell up ahead “yah thanks for that”.

Next the descend past Radio Shack headquarters (where we always look for Lance twittering and cheer him on), Brent flies down while I ride my brakes, he heckles and tells me it takes me to longer to go down the hill than up it. He’s already across the bridge while i’m still trying to get down the hill. He slows up by about 1 Watt, just enough time to look back and make sure i’m on the trail and off he’s gone.

For the next 3 minutes i’m trying to hold his wheel and somehow manage to be within talking distance, which doesn’t last long. Next two corners i’m off the back too far to even yell at him. I see Brent look back twice and then he’s long gone. Now i’m in time trial mode on the trail trying to catch him. It feels like i’m playing Mario Cart on N64 where you see your opponent on the top right hand corner of the screen. However, the gap keeps getting bigger and soon he’s out of sight. I ride for at least another 40 minutes by myself with no Brent in site getting more bitter and shattered as the minutes roll by.

Finally my phone rings and I stop and check it, it’s Brent, I knew it. He says “You should just turn around now so we can ride together a bit on the way home”. So I do as I'm told and turn around and start hammering the way home. Well I get all the way back up the Radio Shack hill and through two lights before Brent appears. So much for that recovery ride. Later that day Brent uploads his data and says I think I pushed negative Watts on our ride. If only had that PowerTap. And so much for a recovery ride, I’m spent the rest of the afternoon.

Recovery Run:Once again in our matching K-Swiss Keahou’s we set off for a recovery run. We take a different route to the trail, which is all downhill (which while running I can handle) and I manage to stick with Brent to the trail!

Now we’ve ran about 15 minutes together (i’m impressed) the conversation is going well for Brent but I can no longer speak cause i’m too winded. Brent keeps asking if it’s too fast I try to cover it up by saying no and nothing else. Another 10 minutes roll by and I’m starting to fall behind and about to pop just as we get to a looped trail. Brilliantly I tell Brent to take the looped trail while I stay on the straightaway and we will meet up shortly. I slow down to catch my breath while still trying to keep a decent pace. Of course Brent beats me to the main trail though I was on it all the time. He looks back gives the wave and keeps going ahead of me. Silently, I turn around and head home. I”m home when he gets home and he says “you were shattered weren’t you?” So much for a recovery run!

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-There is no point of joining them on a recovery ride as it will leave you feeling like you are a character in Mario Cart while time trialing the whole time and shattered by the end of it.

-If they are going for a run, no matter what the pace, ride your bike beside them never go run for run.

Interview with Larry!

2010-07-09T09:41:00.002-05:00

http://larryofteamrunningfree.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Larry Bradley for the interview last week. He is a great duathlete and a super nice guy from Ontario. Just starting a big 3 weeks of training as well as we will be doing alot of work on my position. As you can see from this photo above i have some issues with my aero position. I will do a separate post on this in a week or so but i have some free speed coming that i am excited about:)

Buffalosprings 70.3

2010-06-28T20:03:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I raced Buffalosprings 70.3 in Lubbock, Texas. A world class field and hot conditions, therefore i knew it was not going to be an easy day.
Off the start I found myself getting beaten up before we got to the first buoy. I was easily swimming where I needed to be but I had one guy on my left and one on my right that thought it would be necessary to hit me in the face each stroke. By the time I made it to the first turn I was spit out the back and swimming with a slower pack that I shouldn't have been in. I felt like i was doing "fist drill" for half of the duration trying to get these guys off me. Today I feel like a UFC fighter with annoying cut knuckles that burn and re-open every time I bend my fingers.

I decided to remain calm and focus on getting myself back into striking distance by the time we got to the run. Coming off the bike I immediately started getting after it as I knew I was in 10th place. By the time 7 miles came on the hilly hot course I was in 6th place and starting to feel the early run effort. Half way through the energy lab I wanted to make an attempt at catching 5th before the finish. Unfortunately a couple of hard miles and I was starting to cramp. With two miles to go I was passed by 6th(Tim Reed, Aus);and 7th(Mario de Elias, Arg),place and i had moved back into 8th place. I had the second fastest run on the day in 1:20:20 and had another consistent top 10 finish. I want to congratulate all of the finishers yesterday (especially Bo on his first 70.3, amazing!) on fighting through that challenging course.

Congrats to Mags for taking the woman's title and Chris Lieto for winning the men's.
Thanks to K-SWISS, Powerbar and Colonels bikes for all of your support. And of course to Carley for putting up with through all the long car rides. Next up I will be putting in a big block of training to get ready for Calgary 70.3!
Tomorrow is Carley's Birthday (we've had a countdown calendar posted on the fridge for the past 30 days) so I better get ready.

Thanks for reading,
Brent

Domestique Diaries- Triathlete’s Race Season and Update!

2010-06-12T13:37:00.002-05:00

It’s been a while since the last edition of Domestique diaries, and for that I apologize, we have been crazy busy with race season now in full force! Race season while living a triathlete is very hectic, and consists of loads of laundry and nutrition, long road trips, nervous attitudes and early bedtimes!! Below are some highlights of the past 1.5 months in the life of a domestique!

PACKING FOR A ROADY--- Packing for Brent starts the week before the race. He starts to empty out all of this training drawers while sorting through the stuff he needs. Then he piles all the stuff he needs for the race on the floor in the corner of the living room and throws everything else back into any drawer or even the laundry (although it’s all clean). The night before we leave he starts to line things up on the counter. One day I came home and even his racing flats were on the counter, nasty!!

Road trips with a triathlete- TO THE RACE- The trip down is filled with nervous air, and the conversation is usually difficult to maintain mainly because Lil’ Wayne is blaring the entire way. We also make more than frequent restroom stops (like every hour or less) because Brent is attempting to stay hydrated and likes to get out of the car to stretch frequently. Brent does all the driving stating that I will have to more than likely drive home. We eat routine snacks the entire way from the cooler, and we play road trip games in an attempt to keep his mind off the race.

--HOME FROM THE RACE-- The way home is the opposite. One way to describe this is to “Hammer it out”. I have to beg Brent to stop for the restroom, he drives the entire way, and I usually am starving to death. The conversation is always about the race or training and it never stops even when I try to sleep, we analyze and over analyze everything for the last month of training and the race in extreme detail. We just drove home 8 hours from Kansas I think I got to stop twice, even my legs were cramped, and Brent spent most of the drive in the TT position. I offer to drive all the time, but he just can’t sit in the passenger seat for more than 5 minutes, even if he just raced for 4 hours while I sat around!

TRAINING-- Training is intense during this time and recovery is key. I run many, many ice baths, hook Brent up to electrical stimulation most nights, and don’t mind too much when he lays on the carpet with his legs elevated while I finish the chores.

I also bought a new road bike. Getting used the clips was quite an ordeal. The first ride Brent takes me on is an easy spin for him, and I fall twice. Little did I know, Brent was taking me on a 2 hours 45 minutes ride, in which I think I saw Brent twice the whole ride. I’m getting better and wiser on the bike now. I only go with Brent when he’s running. I’m now the motor pacing, lead bike, water carrier and have even mastered riding a road bike on a dirt path while taking pictures. I also like to go on frequent tanning rides.

CHALLENGES--- When you live with a triathlete the word challenge takes on a whole new meaning. Just say the word and it’s on! In May I mentioned a Dine In Challenge with friends, co-workers and training partners. We were not allowed to eat anything from a restaurant the entire month. Give a challenge to a triathlete that has the potential to improve performance and let me tell you he will not cheat. I had to cheat once while my mom was in town, Brent came and sat with us until our meal came and then he left to go home and eat dinner on his own! That’s determination! Now we have monthly challenges in our household because Brent was immediately hooked. Also, shout out to Cam for nailing the Dine In Challenge!!

I got to pick June’s Challenge and it’s the Core Challenge. We have to do core everyday no matter what. We (Brent) drove 8 hours home from Kansas and got home just in time to complete our core exercises before midnight.

MISC-- Over the month Brent won a fish at swim race, we named him Lance. We went out and bought a tank and a friend (Floyd). Lance ate Floyd. We went away for the weekend and left a food block for Lance. When we got home his tank was filthy. I cleaned it and Lance died. No more fish for us!

Summer is here and it is hot!

Next up is Buffalo Springs 70.3 in none other than Lubbock TX. At least we don’t have to drive North two states!

Happy Training,

Carley

small update

2010-06-08T09:39:00.005-05:00

Sunday I raced the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence, KS and came 6th. The race went well considering a bug I encountered earlier on in the week. I seemed to get my appetite back by Saturday but still felt a bit weak during the swim/bike portions of the race.

The swim was good I lost contact of Yoder and Lieto around the last buoy when we were turning back into shore. I knew Potts and Hackett would be off the front; i exited the water in 5th place going out on the bike 20seconds or so behind Chris. Next race i will make sure i don't lose touch. Out on the bike is where i really felt drained but i tried to keep focused and eventually i was passed by a few stronger cyclists. Going into the run i was back in 8th place but i was able to catch 2 athlete's and was ready to catch another (5th)but just ran out of time. I was happy with my run split on the day because to be honest I really had some rough patches on the last lap. I really enjoyed the hilly hot Kansas course but the drive home was insane. After the race Carley and I drove 7.5 hours back to Texas and that was the hardest part of the day.
Congrats to all of the athlete's that raced on Sunday! Next up is Buffalosprings 70.3 June 27th:)

June

2010-06-03T13:30:00.003-05:00

It's amazing how fast a month goes. Off to Kansas tonight for the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. May went really well, a few up's and downs and i am now just getting over some sort of food poisoning that occured on the lovely holiday weekend. I have started working with a new coach and things have been going great, more on that later. In June i will be racing Kansas and Buffalo springs 70.3 so stay tuned for fun stories and extreme adventures. The posts will be picking up steadily with news and race reports. Thanks for checking in! Brent

The Good, The bad and The Ugly

2010-04-27T08:02:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago I would have gone as far as saying I was in the best shape to date and ready to roll. However, this past week i have been fighting with allergies and some lower back tightness that was making me question if i should race or not. The problem with allergies is you wake up feeling like death and often i would be awake half the night for the week leading into the race. I was so excited to start my season that Carley and I went to Galveston for Texas 70.3 and US Pro Championships and i was going to give it the ol' college try even if i had to carry tissue and nasal spray with me.

Starting off in the swim i felt good, i blasted myself off course(oops!) and took some others with me and then exited the water about 30-45seconds down where i needed to be, my back was starting to hurt but i figured it would be okay once i got on the bike. Looking back i lined up on the wrong side and should have positioned myself with the guys i knew would be out in the lead, plus i should have been paying more attention to the winds and the current.

It just gets uglier from here. I ripped off my speed suit taking my # belt with it, okay jog back into transition and get the number as everyone passes out onto the bike. I hop on my bike and land on one shoe as it flies off, okay more time being lost. I felt completely loopy, the sort of feeling you get when you have had to many antihistamines, ibprofuin and nasal spray and not enough coffee.

As i smashed myself up the road, i noticed that there was something wrong, i rode the first half the bike being passed left and right just to notice at the turn around that my wheel was rubbing ever so slightly making it very difficult. The last half of the bike i was clearly out of the race and i rode in with some back tightness, very stuffed up from my allergies and i headed home. The funny part is after a 5hour car ride i felt pretty good, oh well life goes on. My back is better today, however i will be having everything looked at just to double check. Rather than dwell on the situation i have decided to keep moving forward knowing that my fitness was there but my health was not.

I would like to thank everyone for there kind messages over the weekend. I will make sure the next time i start a race i am ready to go. Also a special thanks to Ron for loaning me his wheels. I learned a big lesson- Don't use a 1080 front wheel in hurricane winds! Thank you Colonels, KSWISS Canada, Powerbar, 7 Systems, SLS3, and all my other supporters. Congrats to everyone for finishing the race and battling the winds. Also a special mention to Lance who placed in his age group, William, Jarrod, Cody, Anthony, Brian, Alison. It was great to meet lots of new people! And last but not least thank you to Carley for having to spend 5 hours with me a in a car after a DNF:(.

Domestique Diaries- A Triathlete’s Christmas

2010-04-14T17:35:00.006-05:00

What’s a triathlete’s equivalent to a kid on Christmas morning?..... Receiving PowerBar Sponsorship nutrition and clothing in the mail!! Or as Brent and I like to call it "Fuel Day", No joke, the anticipated week of it’s arrival I heard about it so many times that I was having PowerBar dreams!

Brent was named to the PowerBar Elite team this season and the minute he heard the news he was on the website placing his orders. Every night we studied the PowerBar website over dinner and Brent talked about it endlessly. He even knows all of the staff at the PowerBar headquarters because he has called them so many times! I can honestly say that I have now memorized the nutritional composition of every PowerBar product. I even find myself talking about it at work to co-workers!

The day the first load of product arrived at our doorstep was more exciting to Brent than Christmas morning. All plans that we had scheduled for that night automatically got pushed to the back burner, new focus was to study, and organize all his PowerBar product.

Below are some pictures of Brent and the PowerBar product

He studied the product for so long he even got tired, however continued to study the product in supine.

That night we even went Target to buy storage containers for all his product. He wanted everything organized and to have it’s own home. He looked at the expiration dates of all the products and organized two cupboards based on product use and expiration date; he used the containers for extra product and to be refilled upon use from the cupboards.

It’s been two weeks since Brent has been using the PowerBar product and we still talk about as much as we did while waiting for the product to arrive. Nutrition is a key factor in a triathlete’s success and Brent is elated to be using PowerBar products. Brent restocks the cupboards every second day from the storage bins. He wants the cupboards to be full at all times.

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-Your calendar contains a "Fuel Day"

-You store most of the contents of your cupboards on top of your fridge because your cupboards are filled with training/PowerBar products

-The only cupboards that are organized immaculately (all the way down to expiration date) in your house are the “training cupboards”

Merry Fuel Day,

Carley

Update and New Sponsors!

2010-04-06T10:51:00.002-05:00

First off I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Time fly's by when your training alot and working alot. I am excited about two new sponsors i have for this year. The first one is 7Systems which Jasper Blake introduced me to back in Victoria. This stuff is amazing. Click on the the right logo on the side of blog to go to their site. I have been able to train myself into the ground on these vitamins and minerals and my immune system and body has stayed strong. I am also happy to announce i will be part of the Powerbar Elite Team for 2010-2011 season. I would like to thank Frank and everyone at Powerbar as i am very grateful to be part of this program.

Training has been rolling along lately with Lonestar 70.3 coming up in a few weeks. It will be my first race of the season so i am excited to shake off the rust and get back in the competitive mode. Training has been going great but it's so early in the year to really tell so i would rather wait till race day to evaluate where i am at for this time of year. It should be a big start in Galvaston as they have also made it US Pro 70.3 Championships. I hope everyone had a safe Easter weekend and good luck to everyone racing over the next few weeks.

Domestique Diaries- Soap......... it does a triathlete’s body well!

2010-03-05T20:49:00.002-06:00

Showering is a difficult task if you are triathlete. Maybe, it’s because triathletes spend countless hours wet whether it’s in an ice bath, a contrast bath, the pool or just drenched with sweat their bodies are just...wet. When it comes to showering, it’s in their control whether or not they are going to have to get wet and after living with one I find it’s usually a no go. In it’s defense triathlon isn’t really a stinky sport, like hockey where you have to put on raunchy equipment every time, and triathletes do spend a lot of time in pools which contains disinfectant properties, so maybe this is another reason to opt out of a shower. Anyways, here’s how I tactfully have gotten Brent to shower everyday for the last week!

First let me explain to you, that Brent never stinks however recently I have been noticing that the chlorine is not washed out of his hair because it stands straight up on it’s own, and it has tangles in it.

Early on, I tried to ask Brent to shower and here are his list of excuses:

-I had a shower on deck after swimming

-I sat in the hot tub after swimming

-I just iced my legs I don’t want them to get warm

-I have another workout later, what’s the point

-My hair is easily styled with this residue in it

-I just swam this morning!

Then I started to demand a shower (or no sleeping in the clean sheets), which seemed to work until we both tried to outsmart one another. I would hear the shower running but when his hair didn’t change it’s appearance I grew skeptical, so I set up a soap trap. I would place the soap in distinctive positions either leaning against a bottle, or up against the wall at a precise angle, to prove if Brent had touched it or not. Brent failed this soap trap 4 days in a row. I asked him and here are the excuses i got:

-I’m using the shampoo as soap too!

-I ran out of hot water

-It makes me smell like a girl

- I just swam this morning!!

I even fought with him about scrubbing certain body parts here is what he said:

-the suds from the shampoo on the bottom of the tub clean my feet

-deodarant is soap for my armpits

-I wash my face before bed

-And the infamous, never old, I just swam this morning (It cleans my whole body)!

Turns out Brent was stretching in the shower, and he never even had intention to wash.

I started to really grow frustrated with these excuses and lack of soap use. So I set out to Target to find some sort of remedy. The simple solution to this problem hit me in the pharmacy section.....swagger.

Swagger, the name sold me immediately as I was positive it would have the same effect on Brent. And did it ever!!! The first time he used it I heard him singing Little Wayne in the shower! He loved the man pouff, he even read the directions to understand what both sides were used for, and the fact that it’s called Active Clean was even better!

This is now what I hear from Brent about “lil’ Wayne showers”:

-I even scrubbed my feet with the coarse side and it felt good

-I like the pouffy part, it’s lathers well

-I wonder if Lil’Wayne uses Swagger?

-It smells good all day long

So it’s been a week now, and he is addictive to the man pouff and Swagger, i’ve even heard him tell some friends.

You know you’re living with triathlete when:

-you have heard the excuse “I just swam this morning” at least a dozen times and for many different reasons

-you know what a deck shower is

Happy Sudzing,

Carley

The Shack 10k

2010-03-01T14:27:00.003-06:00

Another good week ended with the Shack 10k. The weather was supposed to be nice but turned ugly and Texas "cold" just in time. Congrats to all who raced the different distances! Carley threw down a 10k while representing with Canadian Colors.

For me on tired legs, cold weather and being February I am happy. William's GPS measured the course long (Bonus!), and on my watch at the finish I had 33:20, i will take it. I ran with William and Andrew, Andrew eventually dropped me a little over half way to take the win while William got caught by Carley (long story). The last 1.5 miles were very challenging heading up 7Th into down town for the finish. The pace averaged out to 5:23 pace for the 10k (ish). Next up is more training and.. more training and some serious Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with Carley. That game is addictive!

Let's A GO!!!

Rest of Camp and Hatley 8k

2010-02-24T13:55:00.002-06:00

The rest of camp was rough but it went well. Thursday was an uber day starting with a 5k pool swim with a main set of 10x400; followed by a hard run interval workout with 3x2.1k and 5x2min hill repeats best average. I am excited my tempo running is getting faster holding around 5:15per mile. After those two sessions we had a bit of a break before a 90minute trainer session with a fast run off the bike. Friday being pretty tired we hit the pool for another good swim session and then we headed out with Brent McMahon for a 4hour bike workout. Saturday involved a run session at Elk Lake and a Recovery swim. By this point in the week i was pretty tired but i knew we had one last hard 8k race left. The race went well, it was super hilly and off road at Hatley Castle. I was thinking of the race as another chance for tempo work since walking was a bit of a challenge and stairs were extremely difficult to walk up. The race was well known in the area for being super hard and hilly. I ran in a small group with Erik Findlay, Nick Walker, Shawn Nelson with 2 other Nice Kenyan runners off the front. At about 5k i decided i wanted to push the pace and try and catch the second place runner as we were closing the distance down. Needless to say my fatigue legs caught up with me with about a mile from the finish and i ended up coming 5th not being able to sprint when Erik and Nick made there moves. I was super excited to race this well as the leader was roughly a minute up the road and i knew i could have been up there if i didn't have the lingering fatigue. Mags through down a great race winning it and Dan Smith had a great run as well. After the race it was one last ride along the water before packing up. I want to thank Doug and Cathy Noel for hosting me in Victoria while i was in town!
So the biggest week of the year was logged, I am looking forward to another good week and a 10k run race on the weekend. Now its time for some Carley time, and some how i need to make up for missing Valentines Day!

A few photos of hydration/sodium testing

2010-02-17T19:50:00.003-06:00

Here are a few test shots from the hydration/sodium test. These shots were calm as they were taken during warm up. It was rather a tough day for me, and i learned that high concentrate Gatorade and power gels weren't a good mix for me. My body really needs water to help wash the gels down. Day 1 started with a hard interval run session of 6x1mile(which was awesome for February!), a hard 5k swim set, and another aerobic run. Day2 was pretty solid with lactate bike testing and a longish muddy run. Day3 was a good long 2hour run with lots of hills in MT. DOUG, followed by a ice session and another 5k swim set. DAY4 i cracked a bit with a 5k swim set, not enough food, followed by a long sodium test. DAY5(today)- was an easy bike/run session this morning, followed by a recovery swim. Tomorrow its back to some hard work for the rest of the camp. When i receive more photos and test result's i will do individual posts on the different testing protocol and the results and data i can now use in training. I can't believe the energy in B.C right now with the Olympics going on, GO CANADA GO!

Domestique Diaries - Athlete Suck Attack

2010-02-08T17:28:00.003-06:00

Here’s how two consecutive evenings unfolded last week in our household. Typically, athletes are strong minded, controlled and very focused; however when an unplanned mishap interferes with their training schedule they have what I have named an athlete suck attack. It reminds me of the same genre of suck attack children often pull when they do not get their way, only the athlete version occurs when they realize that they may not get the training done. This is what happened last week, and as usual it made me laugh really hard and gave me a great post idea.

Recently, Brent has been riding the trainer and one day last week he finally decided to put his training tire on after getting multiple flats while riding the trainer. So one night after dinner i’m watching TV and Brent is in the other room at first silent however as time goes on he begins to curse and bang things around loudly. So I go check it out and he’s definitely frustrated, he has two broken tire levers and a screw driver beside him. So, I do the obvious and ask if I can help him put the trainer tire on he says no right away, so I leave and go back to watch my show. Minutes later out comes Brent with the tire and wheel asking for my help. I smile and agree as long as we can continue to watch my show. After 30 additional minutes of working with our four hands, the two more broken tire levers, and two screwdrivers we finally get the trainer tire on.

Immediately Brent puts a new tube in. Well the valve on the tube isn’t long enough so for the next 30 minutes, as I try to hold the pump on the valve and Brent pumps we try to pump up the tube but do not succeed. Brent comments that he has a tube with a long valve in the truck that only has a slow leak in it so off he goes to get it. When Brent arrives from the truck we put a little air in the tube and inspect it for holes and it seems to be holding the air well, so we both agree the problem is solved. Brent quickly puts the tube in, replaces the wheel on the bike and sets the trainer back up in front of the TV. All is good, for now at least.

The next day Brent is set to start his trainer ride at 5pm and i’m at the gym already. On my short walk home from the gym, I see this mad man with a touque and shorts hauling butt towards me. As I get closer I see it’s Brent. I approach him he doesn’t say a word, the suck attack is already in full force. Finally after pulling teeth I get out of him that he had two flats in the first 5 minutes of his ride, and right now all he needs to do is get the workout done so he’s settling for a spin bike at the gym. Obviously bitter, I walk with him to the gym, he’s stressing over not making it to the bike store on time for his next ride tomorrow morning and taking a suck attack that now he has to use a spin bike and is no longer able to measure power and cadence with the same accuracy for his workout. He’s difficult to speak to during this athlete suck attack. I think to myself I can’t deal with this athlete suck attack all night, so I tell Brent I will go to the bike store and get the trainer tire on for him. Immediately that brings the athlete suck attack level down by at least 50% and to me that means that remainder of the night will be bearable.

So off to the bike store I run with the tire. I tell all the guys at the bike store about the athlete suck attack. They heckle us for using a screwdriver on the wheel, which they notice right away.

Anyways, after Brent finishes his ride on the spin bike and comes home to a trainer tire on the wheel he’s already over his athlete suck attack.

All is good for Brent’s trainer ride that day. The next day I come home and find this in our coat closet. It’s the trainer tire! After all that work, he’s already taken it off cause he’s getting ready to ride outside!

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-you play bike mechanic in the evenings while watching TV

-due to equipment malfunction and the possibility of a not as accurate workout you’ve witnessed an athlete suck attack

Happy Trainer Rides,

Carley

January Update

2010-02-03T18:11:00.004-06:00

It’s amazing how time flies when you’re logging the training and getting the work done for the upcoming season. I seem to be getting over the initial shock of the start of hard training as well as the pain and sore muscles associated with this time of season.

Every day I must remind myself that it’s early and most importantly that I must be patient with the process. I think Dan is sick of hearing from me about power wattage or average paces over long runs or heart rate comparisons to my fitness at the end of last season. Here are some good things I have heard from him over the last few weeks:

“Don’t beat yourself up on rides that aren’t perfect. You still get stronger from them, plus you will be tired from prior workouts – that’s the theme nowadays. You remember that from last year this time. Then form and fitness improve and it all comes together.”

“Just remember it’s January and your legs will come around. Ice and recovery will help. And remember, bad days keep you focused on the good ones!”

I seem to be back in a good rhythm and am starting to feel the fitness come back which I am very happy about. I have just finished up a few bigger workouts and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Some of my favorite workouts over January have been:

-3x 8 min’ hill repeats (I have done this session a few times; it doesn’t get easier )

-Lots of time trials in the pool. Last week for example one of the good days I did a 1650 for time at the end of a workout. Two days later I swam a 1 hour TT, in super hot water, it was fun but hard.

-One of my favorite over gear sessions so far in January was 2 x 20 minutes @ 50-55 rpm’s.

Things are rolling, I have a new training partner and this past weekend we ran almost 14 miles @ 6:00 min per mile average. Since he is super fast it was easy for him, it was evident when he was maintaining most of the conversation at this pace and I sort of just said "yah" the whole time. I’m stoked as I will have my work cut out for me and I am positive this Texas ATM star runner will help me get my running to a new level.

So enough about January, it’s now February and the workouts are starting to get longer. I will be off to Victoria next week for a mini training camp. But first I have to get through an epic Super bowl training weekend here. I want to thank Priya and Tino from K-Swiss Canada, I just received a pair of my favorite K-Swiss Misoul Tech shoes! They are awesome especially when I put my fast insoles in and I can really float down the trail.

February will bring lots of fun adventures in preparing for the season so more stories and photos will arrive soon. The first race of the year will be LoneStar 70.3 in April and I’m already very excited to start racing.

Here are some awesome race weight meals that Carley has made me to help me get down to fighting weight. Carley has been awesome in keeping me well fueled with dinners prepared as I come home from my afternoon workout.

Do you notice the lack of variety, we like to buy in bulk from Central Market and Carley likes to stick with what works. We also don't have a lot of time to be too creative with meals, but the good thing is meals are made fresh every night with organic vegetables and meat. And Carley ensures there are planned overs for my lunch the next day. If there was an award for timed veggies cleaning and chopping, Carley would win.

Thanks for reading,

Brent

Domestique Diaries - Bedtime Routine/ Workout #4

2010-01-24T18:39:00.002-06:00

Our favorite time of the day is bedtime, hands down. After working, training/workouts, errands, making dinner and socializing, it feels so good to hop into bed and finally relax only to start the cycle over again the following day. However, lately these triathlete bedtime routines are turning into a hour long ordeal in which i’ve had nearly 40 minutes to read by the time Brent gets to bed, and then i’m caught laughing so hard I can’t fall asleep.

In our household we have renamed Brent’s wild bedtime routine to Workout #4. He takes it as strict as a workout, it’s nearly as long, and we have a good laugh about it all the time!

Let me demonstrate through a comparison list. To the “average person” my bedtime routine is moderately lengthy, and consists of:
-floss teeth (3 min)
-brush teeth (3min)
-wash face, tone face and apply two different moisturizing creams (5 min)
-moisturizing cream to hands, Blistex on lips and i’m set and in bed! (2 min)
TOTAL TIME: 13 minutes

Brent’s Workout #4 has grown since he’s been getting back into training, it wasn’t always this complex, but here’s what it is these days
-quick stretch (7 min)
-apply BioFreeze to legs and let soak in (7 min)
-put on heart rate monitor and watch (2 min)
-get into compression gear (6 min)
-look at himself in the mirror while flexing (5 min)
-brush teeth (3 minutes)
-drink one glass of water refill and place full glass on bedside table (4 min)
-set alarm for some unseen early hour of the morning and recheck at least once to make sure it’s still set (2 min)
TOTAL TIME: 40 MINUTES!!!

Finally, 40 minutes later in strolls Brent looking completely different in his compression gear. He looks somewhat uncomfortable with a slight waddle in his gait, yet the minute he hits the pillow he’s out cold.

Brent is sound asleep and i’m left with a sore stomach from so much laughter and burning nostrils from all the inhaled BioFreeze. Finally, after I calm myself down and I’m just about to fall asleep Brent’s legs start to twitch. Sometimes I think his whole body clears the mattress by at least an inch and I assume that must have woke him up however he doesn’t even seem to notice.
He tells me Workout #4 helps him to wake up and feel like a million bucks. Workout #4 causes me to regardless of my day go to bed with a smile on my face and therefore i’m waking up “feeling like a million bucks” too!

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-Workout #4 starts promptly @ 7pm
-you’ve grown accustom to restless leg syndrome and can sleep through it

Happy Dreaming,

Carley

Domestique Diaries - There are benefits!

2010-01-17T10:20:00.002-06:00

Not all triathlete ways of living leave me thinking to myself, “this only ever happens if you’re living with a triathlete.” Rather than skeptically pondering those frequent situations that make me laugh yet think, to the contrary sometimes my palate and stomach are left utterly satisfied and craving more of pure wholesome goodness.

After one of our errand scenarios, Brent baked the best/healthiest (in my opinion) cookies I have ever tasted. Watching him bake is a masterpiece. My usual baking occurs in a rush when I

have somewhere to go, I throw all the half hazard measured ingredients in a bowl mix once and place huge pieces on a cookie sheet. Brent, takes his time accurately measuring all ingredients, mixing when instructed to and making all ingredients combine together so

precisely. I usually delegate myself to clean up crew so I can watch Brent bake from the sidelines. Anyways the cookies were made with almond meal and coconut flour and had nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in it. They were fantastic and a definite benefit of living

with a triathlete.

The finished masterpiece:

Halt! Then out of nowhere I came home to find this in the kitchen pan:

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-You always have fresh cookies on hand that you can eat for breakfast,

lunch, dinner and/or snack.

-You come home to find dinner still moving in the pan!

Happy Eating,

Carley

Domestique Diaries - Errands

2010-01-10T20:23:00.000-06:00

“ Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.”

When we have errands to run, which is pretty much every weekend, Brent recites that line from Old School. We don’t usually go to Home Depot, or Bed Bath Beyond, we’re more of a Costco, Vitamin Shoppe, Central Market and the Mall type frequenters. However, the goal is always the same tackle the things on our list and get home for Brent to rest his legs. We’re usually on a strict “see how Brent’s feeling timeline” which means I have to plan this outing logically before even pitching it to Brent. I know the stores he likes, so I start with one of those which happen to be close to one I want and build upon that cycle until ending with “renting a movie on the way home”. The movie part always solidifies my chances with an agreement to the overall plan.

After Brent’s first training session in the morning we set out to run our weekly errands. Brent packs up a nutrition bar and at least 2 water bottles. This is where the problem starts. By the time we arrive at the first store I’m already feeling like I’m shopping with a two year old. I can honestly tell you where the bathrooms are in every gas station and store in the Fort Worth area thanks to Brent. He plans these bathroom breaks strategically too. Immediately when we get in the store he runs to the bathroom and tells me he will meet me somewhere. Then one of us gets sidetracked and we end up shopping ourselves for the list and meeting at the check out. As we are checking out Brent goes to the bathroom again, perfect timing for him to avoid either paying for the items or loading them all in the car. We get to the car just in time for Brent to down more water and the cycle repeats itself at the next store, or we don’t even make it to the next store with out stopping at a gas station first.

Overall, I’m thinking it might be more productive to leave Brent at home during the errands.

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-The word hydration has taken on a whole new meaning, “to supply a triathlete with a diaper due to excess fluid balance to avoid constant stops at all bathrooms”

Be hydrated,

Carley

2009 Summary & 2010 New Adventures

2010-01-06T20:01:00.002-06:00

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward"

2009 has come and gone and we are now on to a new year and a new race season. It was a long season in which I had the opportunity to spend six weeks in Hawaii for a training camp with some great athletes. I competed in the following 70.3 races: Disney, Kansas, Buffalo Springs, Vancouver Subaru, Calgary, Muskoka, Longhorn, and World 70.3 Championships. Overall, I progressed and improved throughout the season finishing 6th in Calgary thus earning a spot for Clearwater. An unfortunate penalty in Muskoka, and sub four hour races in both Austin and Clearwater helped end my season in a positive and strong manner. As oppose to becoming fatigued and burnout out as the season grew longer I became strong and continued to improve and gain excellent fitness. For this I am very grateful as this proved to me that with hard work and dedication I will achieve my goals.

After Clearwater I had some great run races, finishing 10th at the Dallas White Rock half marathon where I faced some stomach problems, nonetheless continued to improve my run performance.

After a good negative split season, I was scheduled for my first triathlon break in all of my career. Breaks are not something I do well, probably due to my ADD tendencies. I always went from triathlon to swim season and vice versa, or triathlon to Cycle Cross, or Triathlon season to early winter race season. However this season was different, I took a two week holiday from the sport. It was tough and I have to thank Carley for putting up with me. I have to admit we were the only ones driving around the streets on New Years day at 9 am looking for any open stores for me to walk around aimlessly. Coming off a break I feel great and ready to go, and I know this was essential for my physical and mental performance. Getting back at it has had its ups and downs as I have been feeling a little flat lately however I feel as though I am quickly gaining and surpassing last years fitness level .

I would like to thank my Sponsors from 2009, Coach’s, training partners and of course Carley and all other friends and family for your outstanding support. Thank you!

 It is now time to move forward and all I can say is: Bring it on 2010! I am excited and motivated for this season. I am starting to get along a bit better with my alarm clock after the first few episodes of it going off for an early morning swim practice and Carley having to get up to turn it off. This season will be action packed with plenty of racing and some hard training camps. With all of the new races spread out across North America my race season is still in its planning stages.

Just like all of the New Years Resolutioners I will be back at it in the gym building up my strength. The drag suit is on, the running shoes are out of the closet and the computrainer is warm and set up in the middle of my living room (sorry Carley). I also have a new pretty cool food scale in the kitchen to weigh out some of my foods, just in case the American serving sizes have grown on me.

 Next up will be a tentative race schedule, tales from the Domestique and some fun pictures from New Years.   Thanks for Reading,  Brent

Domestique Diaries – Workout Chores

2009-12-06T12:17:00.002-06:00

Athletes have an innate determination to push themselves to the limit, both physically and mentally in key workouts and during a race. They have the ability to push through the hardest circumstances and constantly test their athletic ability. They strive for excellence, and hit every workout to the tee regardless of external circumstances. These are personalities that make not just an athlete, but a world class athlete. These personalities carry over into the athlete’s life and other pursuits and if wise enough into household chores; here’s how I found the link.

Household Chores/ Workout

Brent has the athlete personality to plough through everything and sometimes this can be to my advantage. I’m a cleaner-extraordinaire no need to lie, I love cleaning and am convinced I have mild OCD when it comes to cleaning. Anyways since living with Brent I’ve been content with doing all the cleaning myself, cause then it’s done to my standards. Well since Brent has been on down time, he has willingly asked to help with weekly chores by volunteering to clean the bathrooms. So the first week, I pick Brent up some manly blue rubber gloves and he sets off to clean the bathrooms while I clean the rest of the house.

Brent, having that personality ploughs through it and when I go to check it out it’s done just a little sub par. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just different from my way. I don’t want to tell him it’s a little sub par, so I grin and bear it. Later in the week I start to question his process during conversations and I find him answering things like “you don’t need to wash the shower because the soap from showering cleans it every time you shower”, and “the floor didn’t look dirty so it didn’t need to be washed this week”. So inside I’m having a little anxiety attack, the next day when I’m home before Brent I re-clean the bathrooms. Mentally all week I rack my brain about how to approach this minute dilemma, I don’t want to turn Brent off of chores so soon by telling him about his sub par performance, especially since he was so happy about it.

Then it hits me, a workout chore with all the steps written out for Brent to follow and plough trough just like he does his workouts.

So I buy a chore checklist and write out the following for Brent:

Focus: Clean bathrooms

WU: remove and shake/vacuum all carpets from bathroom and kitchen

MS: 1 x shower and tub scrub

2 x toilet bowl, seat scrub (1’)

300 m vacuum- all floors

CD: 2 x Windex mirrors (1’)

2 x wash floors in bathroom (1’)

Fold laundry in laundry room

The result was a magnificently cleaned bathroom. Just as suspected Brent hammered through this as accurately as he does a workout. I realized later if you don’t put a date on the top Brent wants to hammer it out right away. So as long as the date is there, on that day no matter what else he has going on, he will hammer through that workout chore and with sufficient detail on the workout he will do it exactly as it appears on the workout. I have to admit its a little fun for me to write out a new workout chore every week. I change it up all the time so it never gets boring for either of us. And that athlete determination shines through even in weekly chores. What a household!

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-your chores are written out in workout form and are hammered out with determination and mad skills.

Live laughing,

Carley J

Inaugural Domestic Diaries

2009-11-29T17:32:00.002-06:00

Since off season is a rather slow time in blog world I decided I would take this time to share with you some of the odd and plain old hilarious stories that I can’t help but laugh hysterically at, about living with a triathlete. Remember, it’s just good old fun from me, Brent’s better half, so enjoy these probably relevant stories and share them with your loved ones.

Meal Time

I was living here less than one week when I decided I would be nice and prepare a dinner for Brent while he was out training late one night. We had prepared many dinners together in the past; even when I was the one preparing the bulk of the meal, Brent was always hovering around the kitchen. This time I thought I would surprise him and prepare dinner all by myself.

After work I hustled to the grocery store and picked up the necessities. I decided I was going to make a family recipe that we like to call “tomato, chicken and brown rice.” Brent arrived home to see me taking the casserole dish filled with veggies and chicken in a tomato watery soup out of the oven. I was proud with my finished masterpiece displaying it for Brent to see. At first he looked surprised yet uneasy, and then he turned into the food police. I thought I had committed some unlawful offense; my first instinct was to scan the kitchen, nothing was on fire and it was clean, so I thought well I’m in the clear on this one. Turns out I had to answer about 150 questions about the food preparation. He asked me everything from “did you grease the pans while you were browning the meat?” to “did you use a measuring cup to measure the rice” and even, “where’s the organic can of crushed tomatoes that you used?” I answered all the questions truthfully stating I didn’t use anything to grease the pan, I measured exactly ½ cup of brown rice and I already recycled the can of organic tomatoes. After this question and answered period and a taste test I passed and Brent enjoyed the meal.

Lesson learned: Athletes need to know everything they are consuming especially before a big race. In hindsight, Brent hovering in the kitchen was not to keep me company like I thought it was, but rather it was to spy on my cooking skills. In the future I understand to keep the cans for Brent to analyze and display a recipe with the exact composition of my masterpieces.

Condo Hall Sprints

One more story that I thought was just hilarious therefore have to share. I have to admit I played a big part in this as I am also a competitive person just like Brent; however Brent was by far the instigator. Our condo is the last in a carpeted 50 meter hallway. I’m not even sure how the sequential events took place but one night after taking the garbage down the hall I found myself in my pajamas sprinting bare foot against Brent down the condo hall.

Here’s how I think this happened. I ran the garbage down and when I came back I was slightly huffing and puffing and immediately Brent’s “training instincts” kicked in. In his head here’s what I picture “She just burned some calories and I didn’t that’s it I have to get even”. So there we were two grown people laughing hysterically while sprinting down the hallway. And of course Brent takes it a step further. We ended up racing a number of times because both of us declared illegal actions on the other person, finally Brent pulled out a stop watch and we timed each other and crowned a winner. After recording Brent’s time he of course wanted to know the distance so attempted to use his Garmin GPS. At the end I remember Brent telling me about speed work and increasing metabolism, but to me it was plain old fun.

To sum up these two hilarious adventures I leave you with this common “You know you’re living with a triathlete when:”

-your kitchen contains more measuring cups than plates

-you get grilled over the composition of every meal before consuming it

-even taking the garbage down the hall amounts to a workout and a fierce competition

I hope to be posting quite frequently throughout this off season as the stories keep rolling in and they are quite amusing. Please stay tuned for more Diaries from the Domestique.

Live Laughing,

Carley J

Clearwater 70.3

2009-11-19T17:04:00.001-06:00

2009 Clearwater 70.3 Race Report

This past Sunday I raced at the 70.3 World Triathlon Championships in Clearwater, Florida. It has been a long, fun season and I was looking forward to one last hard effort in 2009. Coming off a great race two weeks ago in Austin, Texas I felt pretty confident that I was ready to go.

At the end of the day, I feel as though I came up a bit short finishing overall in 37^th with a time of 3:47:55. Taking the week to evaluate things I realize that it was a solid race, with a very big field of 85 pro men.

I realized early on in the race that the swim was going to dictate my position going into the run. Leading into the race my swimming was very strong; to analyze my swim in Clearwater I would have to say it was a poor performance. I knew I had the speed however; I spent the first 800m battling with other swimmers for position. Eventually I decided just to back off and swim because I was expending too much energy. I ended up exiting 45second’s back from the leaders. Mistake number one of the day was relaxing and ending up in a second group.

I rode relatively smart trying not to get any penalties which was very tough with a big field on narrow flat roads. The chase pack that eventually formed was huge, there had to be 40 of us. I felt like for 2 hours I was often slowing down trying to not to get a penalty. I was in a chase pack but we were still riding very fast, it contained a lot of good athletes from different countries that have been top 10 here in the past or that have won 70.3 races this year. The pack had the likes of James Cotter, Richie Cunningham, James Hadley, Jeff Symonds, Renaldo Colluci and half way through the bike Oscar Galindaz and Chris Legh entered the group. Overall, the bike went well except I lost a bottle from the back of my bike and I dropped another at the last bottle drop forcing me to survive on one bottle. At the end of the bike I had started to get a headache and the temperature started to rise.

After a slow transition due to a lost bag I started to get in my rhythm. The run course was 2 loops which means I got to see spectators frequently which brought positive energy when I needed it most. I ended up running 1:17 and change for the half marathon putting me in 37^th place. With such a quick field there were easily 10 spots in front of me within 1 minute and another 10 spots right behind me. It was great to hear Alicia Kaye and all of the friends and coach’s I had watching and cheering. I gave it what I had on the day, but if I had swam 30 seconds faster the race could have been different.

A perfect summary of my 2009 season is illustrated in this Andre Agassi quote that I came across while reading his biography Open. To give a little context to this quote, Andre said this after losing the US Open when he was 15 years old. I still think he made $90 000 that year and bought himself a new Corvette. “Looking back it was good but not great. I see a gap between where I am and where I need to be, and I feel reasonably confident that I can close that gap.”

I would like to thank Dan Smith, Colonels Bikes, LifeSport, K-Swiss, AquaSphere, Path to Wellness, Frank@ PowerBar Canada, Ridglea Swimming and of course Carley and my parents for all of their support this season. I am super excited for 2010, however now its time to rest. I would like to congratulate all who raced on Saturday and to wish everyone a safe and healthy off-season.

Thanks for reading,

Brent

World Champs!

2009-11-11T11:31:00.004-06:00

Saturday the race will have live coverage at http://www.ironmanlive.com/.
With 85 Pro Men on the start list it is going to be a very fast and exciting race. My bib # is 58. A special thanks to everyone who has supported me all season!

Longhorn 70.3 and Halloween

2009-11-06T13:48:00.004-06:00

Exciting out of water at Austin 70.3.

Coming off the bike;

Out on the supposedly flat/fast run course.

Carley and I trying to enjoy Halloween. Unfortunately it was a sugar less, alcohol free Halloween as training was pretty heavy that weekend. I was supposed to be a rock star with my 5 dollar costume however rock stars do not go to bed at 9pm!

William and I ran into a Celebrity Costume, his swim cap even had Phelps on it!
I can't believe Clearwater 70.3 Championships are only 1 week away. It is going to be super fast so the next week i will be trying to rest up and stay sharp. Thanks to Nancy Glenn for sending me some photos from Longhorn 70.3.

Have a great weekend!

Longhorn 70.3 Race Report

2009-10-26T19:02:00.003-05:00

On Sunday I raced the Longhorn 70.3 triathlon in Austin, Texas. Since a rough race at Muskoka 70.3 in August, I recently had a great block of training and therefore started to gain confidence leading into this race. However, I was still unsure of how the day would unfold as I had a pretty big week leading into the race as well as some hard days earlier in the week. Also, early in the week I had a hard time moving around and felt pretty sluggish, but I wanted to use this race to get back into the mix of things and put out a hard effort as part of my World 70.3 triathlon preparations. Friday I headed up with friend/training partner Dave McManic where we stayed with some others in a house. I tried to isolate myself from distractions and just focused on resting up for the 2 days prior to the race, as I was pretty fatigued.

At the same time I was very scared and nervous. Training had been going well and I had a lot of confidence from swim splits/power numbers/data from running and my power to weight ratio was up, however I questioned the following: What if I had a bad race? What if I was too tired from the previous block of training? No matter what happened my goal for the day was to have fun and put myself in the race and remain positive and focused.

For the start of the swim I positioned myself on the right side of the line with Sean Bechtel (Can), as I knew Sean was a good swimmer and was hoping for a good clean start. I am not sure it was the best tangential line to the first buoy but I figured it was lot easier than dealing with a lot of swinging arms. After the first turn I was easily in the lead group but going around the final turn into shore I seemed to be fighting with some other swimmers for position and a few of us fell off the pack as it got stretched out approaching the shore. I exited the water and sprinted up the hill and into transition. I knew I had a solid swim as I looked up and saw Greg Bennett (Aus) and Sean Bechtel peeling off their wetsuits. I had a good fast transition and hammered up the road putting myself into position passing a few people eventually forming into a group of 3-4 athletes. I could still see the lead vehicle and things were good, there was a pack of 4 up the road including Richie Cunningham (Aus), Luke Bell (AUS), and Brian Fleishman (USA,) and Greg Bennett. We were not too far back as I could still see them.

It seemed like I rode with Sean, Graham O’grady (NZL), Allessandro Desasperi most of the ride, however Maxim Krait and Massimo Cigna rode past us and our group was not able to ride with them, however by the end of the ride they were in sight again. After the 56 miles in which I was able to average 25.26mph I was sitting in 7th place, getting off my bike well before the dismount line to make sure that there was no chance of a penalty my shoe unclipped off my bike and I was forced to go back and get it. After picking up my shoe and running into transition Sean passed me and I worked hard to get my running shoes on fast and get out on the course. I re-passed Sean and started to really be aggressive early in the run to see if I could run into a top 5 placing knowing that the 6 guys ahead of me were a lot closer than they normally are at 70.3 races. Based on splits that were given I had anywhere from 1-3minutes for positions 1-6.

After running the first loop hard I could start to see some athletes up the road and I was getting fired up but I was definitely feeling my early efforts. I was still in 7th running hard and towards the second lap of the run Jeff Symonds from Canada passed me as I was starting to tire and after 2 laps I was in 8th but keeping Jeff within striking distance but he was running super fast. On the 3rd lap it started to go down hill, I kept pushing and pushing but my legs got so heavy and tired that my mind was trying but the legs were not producing. I went from running 5:30-5:40 miles on the hilly course to running well over 6 minute pace and it was getting ugly. I was not too far from the finish line but a big chase pack was slowly coming onto me and I did my best to hold some of them off but I still managed to be passed by Kirk Nelson, Patrick Evoe, Victor Zymetsev and another athlete. I tried to pick up my pace to catch Fraser Cartmell (Scotland) who I could see just before the finish line but I ran out of time.
I ended up finishing 12th in a competitive field with a 23:22 swim, 2:12:55 bike, and a 1:17:44 for 3:57:51. Even though I had a rough last lap of the run I still feel that I have gone up to a new level in fitness and I am starting to be in the mix of the race. This is exactly what I needed for a confidence booster. It was a great field in Austin with Ironman Florida, Arizona and Cozumel as well as a lot of talented athletes in the area preparing for the 2009 World Championship in Florida.

I would like to thank Colonel’s Bikes, Lifesport, Coach Dan Smith, K-SWISS Canada, Ridglea Swimming, Frank from Powerbar and all of my friends and training partners for pushing me to new levels. Also big thanks to William Ritter for letting me borrow his new ZIPP disc wheel. I hope to be providing some photos soon.

Next on the agenda is World Championship preparation. Carley is moving down to Texas to start a job this week, and I’m pretty stoked. I will definitely have some stories and pics to post about our adventures.

Thanks for reading, Brent

Next up Longhorn 70.3

2009-10-22T09:58:00.003-05:00

Off to Austin tomorrow for Longhorn 70.3. Last year i was 19Th with a 4:09 with some bike issues and a pretty good size field. I have alot of confidence from the last few weeks of training and even though i am getting ready for Clearwater 70.3 in November i still feel the fitness is there. I could write a big blog post about the hard session's i have completed but what really matters is how the body responds and how i do on race day. Since it will be somewhat of a short drive/hard training race i have a few little goals but mostly to have fun and really put myself in the race with a hard effort.

After this race i will really be trying to sharpen up for that big day in November. Pictures and race report's to come next week. I want to wish everyone good luck who is racing on Sunday, and don't forget to stick around and get your picture taken with a Longhorn.

Texas and an Update

2009-09-30T09:01:00.003-05:00

First off I must apologize for my lack of posts lately. Since Muskoka not too much has gone down that is not the usual training/recovering routine. However, in terms of geographical location, I'm currently back in Texas for the long haul. It's perfect timing too as football season is just kicking off and the boys seem to be off to a pretty good start to the season so that is exciting. You can't live in Texas with out being a football fan!

This past weekend I raced a local 26.5 mile TT in Glenrose Texas. It was called the Texas Time Trials and it was an extremly hilly windy loop. I had a bet with the race director that I could hold over 24 mph with the climbs. I got lucky and did. I backed up Sunday with a pretty solid Bike/Run session so training seems to be rolling along.

I'm pretty excited to be back in Texas as the weather in Canada has turned to Winter very quickly. Carley has been working like a madwomen getting all her certifications and paperwork in line in order for her to move down here as well. She will be here tomorrow for some interviews and then it looks like she'll be here for the long haul with me.

Other than that training has been going well. After my race in Muskoka, I was left with the eagerness and determination to complete another race before worlds in November. And there happens to a race very close to my new home in Texas, the Longhorn 70.3. So I plan on racing that in a few weeks and then focusing on World Championships in November.

Cheers,

Pictorial of Muskoka 70.3

2009-09-16T17:17:00.008-05:00

En route to Muskoka,

We stayed at the Pow Wow Lodge resort on the other side of the lake from the Muskoka swim start. It was awesome! I even caught a boat ride across the lake in the morning, with the owner, as oppose to having to sit in the traffic, park and take the shuttle down. It was a definite benefit.

Exiting the swim. It was nearly a 250m run to transition area from the beach exit.

Starting the bike off in great position, less than 1 minute back.

Right before I got off the bike and also minutes before I received the penalty.

Starting the run after a 4 minute penalty and an extra 1 minute thinking I was serving the penalty in transition area.

Finishing the run, not too pleased but accepting.

On the golf course with Carley attempting to ease my mind from the race.

Lessons learned! Thanks for viewing.

Muskoka 70.3

2009-09-14T09:51:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I raced Muskoka 70.3 triathlon and finished 11th. I was off to a good start during the swim in the lead group (I know this because I could see Craig Alexander's fancy wetsuit underwater) but falling off after the 3rd turn buoy. I am not sure what happened but a gap formed and I exited the swim 30-40seconds behind the leaders. Out on the bike I was in 6 or 7th place and rode down a couple people but was then again passed by some stronger athletes. Coming into transition area i was in 7th place just behind Andrew Russell who i just caught towards the end of the bike ride but he had gapped me into transition area. Going into transition i crossed the dismount line and received a 4 minute penalty. I started to wait it out with 3 officials in transition thinking I was serving my time while I made sure my shoes were nice and tight. Finally after what felt like 1.5 minutes an official piped up and said you better make your way to the penalty tent where your penalty will start. In the penalty tent I ran into Andrew Russell who was serving the same penalty. I was pretty mad because i thought i had already been serving it in the transition area and i further had to sit another 4 minutes. Also, this matter was never discussed at the pro meeting the day prior to the race and I have never seen such strict laws enforced about this violation. I watched a lot of athletes come and go through transition area and out onto the run course. I also felt my legs start to seize as I stood there. Upon exiting the penalty box, I made a big racing error of trying to run angry and after the first 5km's where i had been out in just over 16 minutes I started to fade as I had Wolfgang and Russell in sight. My fancy Garmin had me at 121 for my half split which was alright for a bad run but results had me over 126 meaning I lost around 5minutes in transition. I learned some important lessons which i will take into my next series of races. I made the best of the day and the situation. I am really looking forward to Clearwater and i need to remember that each race is going to provide an opportunity for race strategy and execution so i can get everything down for the big race in November. Overall, I think the best parts of yesterday were my great chat with Andrew Russell in the penalty box, who is a super nice guy, and my awesome 70.3 key chain Carley bought me from the expo during the race.

I would like to thank Aquasphere for providing me a great wetsuit and a great swim split, as well as Frank from Powerbar for keeping me fueled, as well as Tino from K-SWISS for outfitting me in great shoes that felt great yesterday. Also, Colonel's for providing me with a great bike, and of course LifeSport. It is now time to go golfing with Carley in hopes of keeping my mind off triathlon and the errors i made. I will post some photos from the race as soon as i have them.

Last Push!

2009-09-05T10:02:00.006-05:00

The 6 x 1 miler! Thanks to Buddy Green for hittin' em with me.

Sad to see all the litter on the high school track!

Post workout capture!

The timer/runner for the last 2 laps when it gets hard!

A beautiful morning and a stellar hill for hill repeats! This is the steepest section, it curves slightly to the left at the top and continues for what seems like miles!

Hill-peats! And below Carley blasting the steep section!

The last Few days have been pretty hard but really fun. I have recruited some great training partners that are up for anything, and it has really helped with the last few hard days of training. Thanks to Mike Coughlin and Buddy Green for coming out. And Special thanks to Carley for timing me and doing some pretty hard workouts with me. Some good sessions of hard hill repeats that are almost 3/4's of a mile long and some hard mile repeats, as well as some hilly long runs. 2 more hard days and it will be time to get ready for Muskoka.
Have a great long weekend!

Preparation, Determination, Motivation!

2009-09-01T15:16:00.005-05:00

First of all I would like to thank Lino Durante from Northern Sports in Timmins, ON and Frank Lucarelli from PowerBar Canada. Lino sent me the above Dopers Suck socks and Frank sent me the below PowerBar nutrition. Both will come in extremely handy while I prepare for Muskoka. These products will also help me stay motivated and determined!

Muskoka race preparation is going very well. I am super excited for next weekend. Below is a picture of me doing some over gear intervals early this afternoon.

I kept my Calgary race number in plain view on my bike to motivate me through these last challenging weeks before Muskoka.

After my session, it was time to cool off in the backyard lake.

I am currently on the last few pages of the novel Once a Runner by John Parker. It is truly an inspirational, motivated must-read athlete book. I have to admit that I have been on the last chapter for the past two days because I REALLY don't want the book to end. I have a good theory on how the book is going to end and I know it's going to be good so I'm saving it! I may finish it the night before Muskoka to further pump me up.

I have a pretty big week ahead, and I heard a rumour Mags was on the cover of Triathlon Canada mag so I"m off to Chapters to check it out!

Catch ya soon!

Local Veggies

2009-08-24T10:00:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from Carley and I's veggie collection from the Sudbury Farmers Market. They have a Coop program there that sells local produce. So if your in the area check it out.

Training has been super tough, but boo-who right? Muskoka is just around the corner so i have 3 weeks to stay super focused, i need to redeem myself from my 6 place finish at Calgary 70.3 with the poor swim/bike i had. The last couple weeks i have found myself lying on the couch by 7:00pm reading, here are a few books i have read and that i really have enjoyed.

1. Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

2. In Defense of food by Michael Pollan

3. The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and Jb McKinnon

4. What to eat by Marion Nestle

I have learned alot of valuable information from these books but i am not going to start replacing powerbar's/powergels during training for anything i might find while i am out riding or running on trails. However i will start to really pay attention to what i am eating and where it is coming from as i feel being an athlete is more than just putting in the work. I think the healthier we can become with all of the choices that we must make day to day the better off we will be.

If you have some time to do some reading the books are great and if you have a chance to have an apple from a local farmers market you will see the difference. The weird thing was all of the fruits/Veggies were cheaper than the grocery store!

Triathlon Recovery News!

2009-08-22T18:22:00.003-05:00

A little Latte News to make you SMILE!

Have a super Saturday night and a rockin' Sunday!

Facts not really worth knowing, yet staggeringly interesting!

-Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

-On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.

-American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.

-Not all Golf Balls have 360 dimples. There are some as high as 420. There are also all different kinds of dimple patterns.

-Olympic Badminton rules say that the birdie has to have exactly fourteen feathers.

-Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

-A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

-Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

-Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

-Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color.

-If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

-Hot water is heavier than cold.

On the Lighter Side

A guy shows up late for work. The boss yells "You should have been here at 8:30!" he replies: "Why? What happened at 8:30?"

-Two snowmen are standing in a field. One says to the other : "Funny, I smell carrots too".

-For every mile you jog, you add one minute to your life. This enables you, at the age of 85, to spend an additional five months in a nursing home at $5,000/month.

You know you are a triathlete when ... this post explains it!

Off to bed,

Cheers!

2009-08-20T15:19:00.002-05:00

This sort of describes my last two weeks. Off for an ice bath now! I will hopefully give a better update on things soon, but for now its swim,bike,run, nap, stretch, ice bath, epsonsalt. On a good note i just had a 50watt increase in power for a cycling Time Trial. Things are coming along but i am going to remain in the pain cave to get ready for Muskoka.

Pictures from Calgary 70.3

2009-08-05T18:25:00.007-05:00

Below are some pictures Carley took during the race. On Monday, Carley's brother Ryan took us to Banff and we hiked a 13 km roundtrip mountain, called Sulphur mountain. I also have to thank Ryan for letting me crash at his house while he worked like a madman all week. If any athlete ever needs a hip or knee replacement from all those miles logged, go and see Dr. Ryan he's the best and coolest Orthopedic Surgeon around. Thanks again Ryan and Barb, I hope I didn't make too much of a mess!

Calgary 70.3

2009-08-04T22:18:00.002-05:00

Racing at 3500Ft is challenging, especially when coming off a half Ironman 3 weeks ago and a two week training camp in beautiful Victoria.
The Viterra Ironman 70.3 in Calgary was an amazing course with great organizers and i am already excited to toe the line next year.
I wished i had a little more altitude training before i arrived especially with the large group of athletes from Boulder coming but everything worked out fine. I had a sub par swim exciting pretty far back from the main contenders(*i could hardly breath), however i managed to stay in the mix on the bike/run to finish 6th overall and top Canadian.
I qualified for World 70.3 Triathlon Championships in November so i can now concentrate on doing well there. As soon as Carley downloads some photos i will post some great photos. I want to thank my great training partners, sponsors and the coachs at Lifesport for getting us all ready for the great showings we had.

More Fun!

2009-07-24T18:41:00.003-05:00

Justin and I on a 3hour recovery ride!

Swim Workout in New Aqua Sphere wetsuit, its fast!

Amazing Views!

Deer hanging out at Melanie Mcquaid's house!

A little bit of a late blog post. Training in Victoria has been going great, we are all a bit tired from last week but the group is doing well.

Here is a bit of a breakdown of what we have been up to this week. The weekend ahead will be very challenging but after that it will be time for some rest.

Monday- Recovery Swim

Tuesday- Hard Swim Session with Clint's group with 25x100/ 3hour recovery ride/30minute easy run.

Wednesday- 10k Tempo Run of Elk Lake building the effort. I ran okay but Justin ran fast. / Swim Workout at Lunch/2hour ride with some hill repeats at Observatory.

Thursday- Swim with Clint's group with some hard 400m efforts/3.75hour ride with alot of hard riding, i tried to attack a few times on Justin on Durrance and Muns road. I think everyone has been watching too much tour DE France coverage. Off the bike we ran 75 minutes! Epson Salt and Ice baths have been a regular thing this week.

Today- A hard swims session at Thetis lake!

Well its time to watch the tour and talk to Carley.
Tune in Thursday, August 6th to Rogers Sportsnet at 7pm (Pacific) for the airing of the Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon.

The Return of Super Saturday Suffer Sunday!

2009-07-20T19:12:00.002-05:00

Everything in Victoria is awesome, except how my legs are feeling. Doug and Cathy Noel(home stays) have been wonderful hosting me for the camp and i am very grateful.

Saturday morning the workload and the half ironman started to catch up to me and i felt pretty tired. Luckily we had a run workout that was 6x1mile on 6:10, my first mile was okay 4:56 allowing me to get some rest but after that i felt like i was at a learn to run clinic. Simon, Adam, JP and AMac ran well and i was trying to keep a good honest effort. After the run session it was off to get some work done on the bike. Lance's 13minute time trial loop ended up being 13kms of hills so we did a 26km TT( i felt awesome) but after that we hit the observatory for 5 repeats. The climb is around 7minutes or so, thanks to Simon and Adam for setting a good strong pace to keep me working hard. I felt mangled after that ride but Justin and i still had a good strong run off the bike.
Sunday morning i felt like someone hit me with a bat all over. We started off Suffer Sunday with a 20mile run, i knew i was starting to get tired because i tripped over a stump trying to run around a group in Mt. Doug, no major damage but a swollen knee and elbow. After the run we hit the lake for a swim session, followed by another run.

Today started another big week in Victoria with an ice bath and a swim session. I still feel a bit rough but i hope it gets better. It's absoultly beautiful here in Victoria and i will try to take some scenic pictures on our next recovery ride.

Training Camp Update

2009-07-17T13:18:00.002-05:00

Things have been going relatively well here in Victoria. Training has been pretty tough for a week after the half ironman on Sunday. The weather has been great and the energy out of the group has been amazing.
Monday was a pretty good recovery day with icing and a swim session at the lake. Tuesday was a some what of a recovery day with a 1hour run, 2hour ride, and a hard 5k swim session at the pool. Wednesday was a 2.5hour ride with a bunch of hill intervals and over gear work, a hard swim session at durance lake and a base run around elk lake. Yesterday was sort of an Uber day with a hard swim session in the morning (*8x50m start speed on 1min, 4x100m @racepace, 400m steady)x3, then Justin and i road 5hours with Simon Whitfield, Geoff Kabush, Max Plaxton. After the 5 hour ride we ran around the lake with some intervals. So 7.5hours of training and i was smashed.
Today we had a pretty hard swim session out at Thetis Lake and the afternoon is rest to get ready for the weekend ahead. Time to rest up:)

Race Update

2009-07-13T21:35:00.004-05:00

Vancouver 1/2 Iron has come and gone. I took some risks and came 6Th (4:08). I could have played it safe but i wanted to lead the swim and work the first few loops of the bike trying to hold off a chase group and limit the time the leader was putting on me. I wanted to test my self and a test i got. My body has been a little bit tired from all of the racing but i wanted to make sure i had a good swim and a good bike to set myself up for some fast 70.3 racing coming up soon.

It was great too see some athletes that i haven't seen in a while and Jorden Rapp had a great race. I will try to blog the t.v showings of the race. The lifesport gang did awesome, and Subaru was amazing providing us with Vehicles. I would like to thank the Ladner family for hosting me in Vancouver it was a great experience.

Our team has a training camp over in Victoria starting today. The first day was pretty easy with a swim at the lake and a recovery session at Pacific Institute of Sports Technology. Tomorrow we will start hitting it again, so i will try to update a little more regularly with adventures.

Also, I would like to thank Carley for taking the time to give my blog a fresh new look! It looks great, I owe you one (realistically I probably owe you about 1000)!

Vancouver

2009-07-09T09:29:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow i am off to Vancouver, followed by a training camp in Victoria for 2 weeks and finishing up the trip with Calgary 70.3. I have some passport problems that i need to figure out, and this past week has been crazing trying to convince the Canadian Embassy that i am Canadian and that i need to be able to leave Texas this Friday.
The funny thing is when i went to photocopy some information for the Embassy i left my drivers licence and my social insurance card in the copier. So enough said and i have had some interesting issues. Carley Got me a fanny pack to wear on my waist so i don't lose everything i own. Its not very stylish but i think it will do the trick! I now have a new/old camera of Carleys so i will try and post some pictures of the amazing scenery and crazy adventures when i arrive.

Vancouver Playing Host to Top International Ironman Athletes‏"Olympic Battle" Pits Winter Versus Summer Olympians
Jul 08, 2009
This Sunday marks the third year of the Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon. The event, held at the beautiful Spanish Banks and University of British Columbia Endowment Lands, will host a record 600 professional and amateur athletes from 8 different countries racing either the half ironman distance (2 km swim, 90 km bike and 20 km run) or the shorter sprint event. Some of these athletes may be racing for the first time while others use the race as preparation for Ironman Canada or the legendary Ironman Hawaii. With the pro prize purse being $10,000, and the race being nationally televised on Rogers Sportsnet, the event has attracted a number of top international stars.
Returning to fight for the title are 2008�s defending champions and Canadians Jasper Blake and Cheryl Murphy. Blake�s competition this year will consist of five-time international Ironman Champion Jason Shortis of Australia, and top Ironman 70.3 pro�s Brent Poulsen (CAN), Jordan Rapp (US), and Justin Park (US). In the women�s race, Murphy will compete against Canadian favourite Magali Tisseyre, who holds the worlds fastest women�s half ironman time in the world this year, Linsey Corbin (US), top North American finisher at last years Hawaii Ironman (5th), Bree Wee (US), who was in the lead in last year�s race before going off course and falling two spots, and local Rachel Keirs, who narrowly missed the win with a 2nd place after a sprint finish.
To add to the excitement of the upcoming 2010 Olympics, the Vancouver event will host a fun �Olympic Battle,� where a team of 2010 winter Olympians will compete against three teams of summer Olympians in a Sprint distance relay. The 2010 team members include snowboarder, Derek Wintermans, Team Canada bobsledder, Danaka Porter and biathlete, Jessica Sedlock. Summer Olympians participating include swimmers Kelly Stefanyshyn and Mark Johnston, windsurfer and sailor, Nikola Girke, �Men�s 8 Gold Medal Rowers� team with Ben Rutledge as captain, and 2008 �Rockin� Olympic Rower Chicks� led by Darcy Marquardt.
A press conference featuring many of these athletes will be held at 2pm on Friday, July 10th at the Cascadia Hotel and Suites.
Live timing results will be available on race day at www.triseries.ca.
For more information please visit www.triseries.ca or contact Shantel Cordeiro at Shantel@triseries.ca or call 250-858-0174
More News

Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon

2009-06-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

LifeSport Pros Ready For Subaru Vancouver TriathlonAge Group Race Filling Quickly
The LifeSport pro team will be full force at the upcoming Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon on July 12th.
LifeSport Pro women include Montana’s Linsey Corbin, the top North American finisher at last year’s Hawaii Ironman, Quebec’s Magali Tisseyre who last week in Boise set the fastest woman’s Ironman 70.3 time in the world this year, Hawaii’s Bree Wee – the all-time amateur course record holder at the Hawaii Ironman, and Haley Cooper (US) coming off a recent 4th place pro finish at Ironman Coeur D’Alene.
On the men’s side, Canada’s Brent Poulsen will race alongside teammate American Justin Park.
The LifeSport pros will be up against a strong international field including Ironman Champion Jason Shortis of Australia, defending Vancouver and Ironman Canada Champion Jasper Blake, and 2008 Subaru Shawnigan Lake Champion Jordan Rapp of the US. The women’s side will include defending Champion Cheryl Murphy along with local favorite and last year’s runner up Rachel Kiers.
The team is looking forward to race along the scenic Spanish Banks and UBC Endowment lands while being filmed for a 1 hour national feature of the race on Rogers Sportsnet.
The pro’s aren’t the only one looking forward to this event. So far, over 500 participants are registered in the half iron, sprint, and relay divisions, and have a number of things to look forward to. Not only getting to race with the Pro’s in the same start wave, and feeling the excitement of TV camera’s on the course, but all finishers of the Half will be entered into a draw for a chance to win a VIP trip to Kona for the Ironman Hawaii World Championships this fall.
Another exciting feature in the 2009 event is the “Olympic Battle”. This fun battle consists of sprint relay team of winter Olympians versus a team of summer Olympians. Some of the team members include Darcy Marquardt, Beijing Olympian, and her team of “Rockin’ Olympic Rower Chicks", Gold medallist Ben Rutledge and potential winter Olympians, Derek Wintermans, snow boarder, and Danaka Porter, Bob sleigh.
For more information or to register click here

Wet Race in Lubbuck, Happy Birthday Carley

2009-06-29T15:40:00.000-05:00

Finished 9th Pro @ Buffalosprings 70.3, I think i left my cycling legs in Kansas.

I had a great swim coming out in 4th or 5th with Brandon Marsh about 1minute down to a couple of people of the front. i couldn't get things going on the bike and the pouring rain and high winds made me really nervous and i lost a lot of time. I did what i could on run, but a pretty miserable day with the weather. Today is Carley's birthday and i can hardly walk, although i have spent countless hours walking at 6flags in 95degree weather.

I got Carley a new Camera for her birthday, she is sort of a camera junkie. More pics of all the adventures from Lubbock to come.

Melting in Texas

2009-06-25T15:49:00.000-05:00

On Sunday it will be my 3rd time racing Buffalo springs 70.3, i have been 9,10th two years doing the race. I think i am recovered from Kansas and ready to rock but time will tell.
A quick shout out to Kristen @ http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/ for sending me a wetsuit, thank you! i hope it isn't a wetsuit swim, because right now in Texas it is 97degrees feels like "don't leave anything in your car or it will melt." 108. I have been struggling with wetsuit swims so i am hoping the water is warm. It looks like a good field racing, so i am excited :)

I would also like to thank Tim Tarpley for helping out with massage, and the guys at Colonels for putting up with me showing up last minute. Its Carleys birthday on Monday and i still don't have an idea what to get her. I am sure a trip to six flags in 100degree weather will be awesome to recover from the race.
Ironmanlive.com should have live results. #33

Stay Cool!

2009-06-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

Great weekend of training, off to Lubbuck for Buffalo springs 70.3 later in the week. Carley and i started watching Dexter. Were addicted to the series already.

Kansas Recovery

2009-06-18T13:07:00.000-05:00

Recovering from Kansas! 1$ dollar hot dogs at the Rangers Game. The new Cowboys Stadium looks awesome in the pic above.

Training has been light the past few days so i have been trying to log some hours at work.
I hope watching Baseball isn't as bad as watching a triathlon.

Kansas 70.3

2009-06-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I raced Kansas 70.3. I had some GI problems on run and was forced to stop 4 times at the outhouse. I got off the bike in 9th and was excited for a good fast run coming off the bike with Simon Thompson(Olympian), Andrew Hodges, and James Hadley. After 1 mile i knew that my stomach was going to bring down my day. Those guys ran into 6th and 7th, which is disappointing for me moving backwards. Congrats to James Cotter for throwing it down and coming 4th. I think i was 12th pro but i know they are having problems with results and timing. Things happen and i am happy that i am cycling stronger setting myself in striking range of a top 5 performance. Getting off the bike i knew that i would be under 4 hours with a good run so things are starting to come along and i forced myself to jog it out in a 4:07 and finish the race. The next two weeks i will be taking a look at my nutrition and i will try to figure out what is causing the problem. Kansas 70.3 was a great venue with lots of challenging parts, and i hope i have to opportunity to race there again. My next race will be Buffalo Springs 70.3 June 29th.

2009-06-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

" You sure your alright? You sure your not coming down with something?"
" I am fine. This peakedness kind of goes with the territory. I forgot how much training is sort of like being ill."
Dobie, blond head cocked like a parrot, tried to discern if he was kidding or not.

He wasn't. He had misplaced the memories of physical uproar caused by the kind of schedule he'd been keeping. He would describe it as an ongoing delicate brutal dance, the pushing of your body right up to the edge, close to injury, to collapse day after day. As he had approached and then surpassed a hundred miles a week, it had all come back to him: the night sweats, the muscles twitching in bed like different wild animals somehow alive to him, the searing panicky thirsts out of nowhere, the random cravings for pickled beets, chicken-fried steak, artichoke hearts, herrings in sour cream, carrot juice. Just in general feverish nervous physical anxiety that seemed to animate a blob of protoplasm vibrating itself into a higher state of physical grace. It did indeed seem to have something in common with pregnancy or illness. (Again to Carthage, John L. Parker, Pg.208.)

Awesome book, The sequel to Once a Runner!

Finished up a big week and weekend and i am enjoying a rest day today. Last week was good and hard, and i even got a few days of work in for my parents.. I am getting excited about Kansas in 2 weeks, but first i must get through another big week, Carley will be in town as well writing a us exam to allow her to practice down here in Texas. The weekend was tough but, i think the heat and humidity was more of a battle.

Saturday- Hard threshold Swim with 10x150 on2mins @ race pace, good to be swimming long course again, however trying to keep up to masters swimmers with paddles was tough but it forced be to push, On to the bike for 3.25hour with 2 intervals one being 45mins, the second being 30mins @ threshold power, (okay it was starting to get hot.) Off the bike for 30minutes @ my goal race pace in 90degree, and 30mins of laying in the grass hydrating and stretching wondering if i was alive still.
Sunday- 13mile run am, it was hot and i saw runners standing under trees off the trail pouring liquid over there heads. I am glad i am starting to get used to the heat again but hydration is very important. Thanks to Chance who saved me at one point and threw me a bottle from his bike while i was out running. It was tough running along the golf course and not stopping in to watch. A swim session in the middle of the day and another little run later in the afternoon along the golf course. After a little ice bath i headed back to the golf course to watch the last couple of holes and the play off, awesome finish to the weekend.

Tri My Will

2009-05-28T12:05:00.000-05:00

Above is a picture of me, Dan Benintendi 15 short months ago. I weighed 400 pounds, with a 56” waist, size 5XL shirt, size 22” dress shirt, and as miserable as could be. I made a decision to change my life the day my wife told me she felt like a single mom because I had no ambition or desire to do anything except sit around and eat. January 14th 2008 I had Gastric Bypass Surgery and truly feel like that was the day I was given another shot at living life again. I began to exercise for the first time in 15 years. I fell in love with running, fell in love with “Spin Class”, and fell in love with swimming. All these things equaled Triathlon! 9 months after surgery, I competed in my first Sprint distance and completed it in 1:33:--, one month later I competed in another Sprint distance and finished in 1:13:--. I began to believe I could truly do anything I set my mind to so I registered for the Run The Rock 26.2 mile marathon in Dallas, and exactly 11 months after surgery completed it in 4:53:17. I then registered for The Cowtown 26.2 mile Marathon in February and completed that in 4:23:01. I began to grow to love endurance sports and had such a desire to do Ironman, that I registered for 5 events this year. I completed Florida 70.3 in 6:15:15 on May 17th, am registered for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June, Louiseville 140.6 Full in August, Augusta 70.3 in September, and 70.3 Texas Longhorn in Austin in October. I am so excited for the future, and so grateful to be able to call myself an athlete… Who would have thought? 15 months… From Super Morbidly Obese to Triathlete and Endurance Junkie! To learn more about me and my story visit http://www.trimywill.com/ and to learn about my epic swim next year that will begin in Spain and end in Africa next year visit http://www.swimfromobesity.com/ . Thanks to all those who have supported me through my journey, and thanks to Brent for helping me find my true potential as an athlete.

Feeling Fresh

2009-05-27T15:11:00.000-05:00

I am feeling super fresh since getting sick in Florida. Racing sick set me back a few days but a few days in bed i was able to get my strength back and have a productive long weekend of training. My head doesn't feel like i was partying with Belgium Classic winner's anymore so that is good.(bad Joke!) Tom Bonnen is still an awesome cyclist. I even got to watch the Texas State Crit Championships which raced right past where i am living and cheer on a good buddy Josh!

The next two week are probably going to be my hardest block since Maui to get ready for the Kansas, Buffalosprings70.3 double in June. So i am super excited to thrash some intensity and get the work done. Stay tuned for a very inspirational storey i am going to post on my blog about an athlete that is getting it done. The PGA tour is in town at the Colonial this upcoming weekend, unfortunatly i have 3 workouts both day's so unless i secretly go for my long run along the golf course i may not get to see any action. Check out one of my training mates new websites which will be live soon- www.justinparkracing.com

Hindsight is 20/20!

2009-05-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

This morning I raced the Florida 70.3 and you know how they say hindsight is 20/20, well I concur. My hindsight is telling me that I should have never raced in the first place. However, I was so eager to race and start my season because my training has been going so well, that I kept ignoring all the signs that were so blatantly posted in front of my face (and teeth) and set my mind on racing.

After a rough week with my crash, losing my teeth, spending hours in a dental chair getting my teeth put back together, and visiting my chiropractor to help with the stiffness from the crash I tried to remain focused for my first race of the season which was set to take place in less than 1 weeks time. I had a couple of key sessions throughout the week and although I was stiff and sore still managed to fight through them. The day before my flight to Florida I started sneezing and coughing and felt a little tickle in the back of my throat, however completely ignored all thoughts that I may have a cold coming on.

I loaded up on Echincea and boarded my flight to Florida. When I arrived in Florida I felt a little bit of a sore throat. This is when I started thinking to myself that I may have a cold coming on. The day before race day I bought a large supply of cough drops and took them every hour just trying and praying to kick whatever was starting before I got the start line.

Waking up race morning was brutal. I had to peel myself out of bed, which is definitely never like me. I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I had no energy, no voice and one killer sore throat. However, denying all excuses I thought to myself you'll feel fine once you start the race. Well, was I ever wrong, yet again! Throughout the entire race I had no energy, my throat was burning with every exhalation and I was fading fast. Early on in the bike I switched to survival mode, my only goal was to finish the race. On the run, I thought so many times to myself "I don't think I'm going to make", however whether or not I was going to drag myself to the finish line , I had to at least have the gratitude of finishing my first race of the season; as a DNF may have been an even bigger disappointment for me. So, I did just that struggled with every footstep and made it to the finish line, disappointed of course.

Overall, this was a sad start to my season. I know I am much more physically fit that I was last year at this race yet my results do not demonstrate this. In hindsight, today may not have been an optimal race day for me, however after committing to it, a race it was. And no matter how you finish in a race you constantly learn from it, so I guess I will take it and learn from it. My next race will be Kansas 70.3.

Thanks for reading,

Florida 70.3

2009-05-12T14:38:00.000-05:00

Starting to get excited about the weekend. I still have some ugly road rash however my new teeth are nice but my mouth and lip are very sore and drinking cold water takes takes me into zone 5. Ironmanlive.com has coverage and i am wearing #3 i think. Last year i was 7th so i hope to do well, there are a lot of good athletes racing so i am looking forward to testing my fitness. I am staying with Justin so i am excited to kick back and catch up with the big guy. Good Luck to everyone racing this weekend, it will be a blast!

Hello Tooth Fairy!

2009-05-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

Watch out for mud on the roads after a rainstorm. Luckily my face took the brunt of the fall today after a threshold bike workout including 2x20mins @threshold power. Luckily i got signed up for Blue Cross before i flew out. I still have over a week till i leave for Florida to hopefully see a dentist. As i picked myself up off the ground i was trying to figure out who was going to freak out the most out of my coach, my mother, or Carley? I was very lucky that it was a quick slide and into the grass so i don't have too much roadrash.

Training Peaks

2009-05-05T12:33:00.000-05:00

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/
Check out the User profile write up that is posted. You will see in the first few sentences that my grammar has improved. Okay Carley wrote it but i helped. She did a great job!
I am in Texas now getting ready for a few races and trying to work enough to make a living. I am getting excited for next weekend as i have been itching to race. I even out sprinted a man in a walker to get to the checkout line at the grocery store. I felt bad and let him go ahead even though i clearly won. I cant wait to start racing!

What a Weekend!

2009-04-27T06:46:00.001-05:00

What a weekend it was indeed!.........

From Katya's blog "you know your a triathlete when" you are late (but ready helmet and all) to meeting training partner's because you are reading other tri geeks blogs on the computer! Once again Carley caught me in the act!

Saturday was quite an exciting day, I road 4.5 hours with a few 25minute intervals at 70.3 wattage and also met up with two local cyclists Rob Rice (super strong) and Peter Sanowar(pro Cyclist) for my long ride and it was awesome, although at one point I was pushing 400 Watts for a couple hill intervals before cool down. Off the bike I had a hard run of 40minutes where i was happily running my 70.3 pace that i did in Maui for 1mile intervals. (in rain it sucked!)

After my brick workout I went to dinner and the movies with Car. When we arrived home I told her to look under her pillow and she found a diamond ring. Wow, I guess that means I am officially engaged. Scary i know but i believe it will be good for me. Car is awesome, so i am super happy!

Sunday was a great day, my legs were sore from going Ballistic on Saturdays Brick Workout. Ryan joined me for a progression run around the lake, he had a tempo run planned so he ran tempo during my middle portion of my run and dropped me and then when he cooled down i went ballistic again on myself for the last 30mins, i had permission since i have a few days easy coming up, i was happy with the pace average with really tired and sore legs. Later on Court and Ryan picked us up for a great meal. Before going out to dinner, I took Ryan to my favourite icing spot for a quick 15 minute icing sesh. The air was freezing yesterday and I didn't know I was back in Maui on the ocean with the size of the waves that were rolling in, however I managed to tough it out and stay in the freezing cold water (40 F). Ryan on the other hand had a hard time lasting for 1 minute. I explained to him that around 1 minute was the climax and it would all get better after that but it was a no go. Below is a pic of Ryan in a lot of pain!

This pic of icing is from Friday, the weather was much warmer as you can see but behind me there is still plenty of ice left on the lake. It was great to take advantage of the natural icing modalities as oppose to hauling ice bags up to my bathtub.

Pay Back!

2009-04-23T19:40:00.000-05:00

This week has been a lot of fun. Training has been rolling along, and ice baths, Epsom salt baths, stretching, ART, and massage have all made workouts roll by smoother. Today after a couple of good sessions I packed up to go to Carley's for the weekend. When I was in Maui, Carley did a core/strength bootcamp 3 times a week and she was shattered all the time. All i did was laugh and say whatever it cant be that bad. Well Carley dragged me to this class today and told me just to do what i could do.(lol) Well I tried to keep track of how many reps and bridges of core exercises we did and I stopped counting at 920. That's what the class did I won't admit what I was able to do. I tried to take it easy as I have a hard fri-sunday of training.

So needless to say I take back badmouthing Ricks BootCamp that Carley has been doing. After the 45 minutes (yah 45 whole minutes) of core, we moved on to strength of the entire body. I stretched in the corner for most of this 50 minutes session, because I was worried that I would not be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning. One exercise everyone (16 people in total) had to count out 5 reps of pushups and one lady counted her 5 aloud as " My... Arm's... R... Falling.... Off!" You had to be there but it was pretty amusing. At the end of the class I asked someone in the class to take a picture of Rick (the class leader), myself and Carley, it turned out to be a video instead. However, I still thought it was worth showing. Carley's arms are going to look like Rick's in a couple of months from this class! It was lot of fun!

Self Control

2009-04-21T13:26:00.000-05:00

Going to the grocery store when hungry is never a good idea. However going to the grocery store after a 4.5hour hard brick and a super cold ice bath is never a solid plan either. I made sure i had a recovery shake before stopping by however it didn't fight off my hunger too long. Carley went and decided it would be funny to take some secret photos of me cruising along looking at pretty much anything. I didn't know that i could spend 50minutes in the cereal section checking out the new goodies however anything is possible when in that state of mind. Apparently i even asked a clerk for a chair so i didnt have to stand anymore, but i don't remember that! When i finally finished up with my two items the secret detective had already our weeks food through the check out and in the car. Self Control in a tired state is important if i ever want to maintain a race weight. I am lucky enough that everyone loves my favorite dessert Morning Crisp Chocolate Organic Cereal by Jordan's. It limits me from how much i can consume at one serving when everyone else kills it before i have a chance( Sorry Mom!). Lots of intensity this week but i love it. Be safe when shopping after workouts it can be extremely dangerous! Or better yet leave your wallet or purse in the car!

healthy eating and lots of icing

2009-04-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

The past week has been fun and I am feeling strong, its amazing what the benefits of a little rest will do after 5 big weeks. I have started another two big weeks before i will head south to get ready for the race season ahead. I will also be back to a steady job that will allow me to train and be able to make some money:)

The photo above is the my final product from Cowgirl Corbin's Power Quinoa Chili! It was awesome; even Carley who is the pickiest eater of all time even liked it tremendously. I had to trick her into eating it by telling her that there were only few vegetables, and not so many healthy ingredients in the chili. It worked and she ate a tonne of it. I followed Linsey Corbin's recipe but I used some homemade tomato sauce that my mom prepared for the base. The second photo is a picture of me icing in the lake. The ice has just left in the past few days, and the water is perfect icing condition.

This weeks training in a nut shell: Threshold swim(hard 150's), Strength ride; Fast RUN!(40mins@5:30permile, Strength swim;recovery ride,recovery run, Speed swim, bike intervals:); Swim intervals 1000m repeat with tempo trainer, high cadence work on bike; and some other goodies.

I got a ticket yesterday but more on that in a future blog post. I wasn't wearing my seat belt in the bike store parking lot and I got a ticket (not very impressed!). Tomorrow will be an outdoor brick, and Carley will be motor pacing me in her vehicle, I hope that she does not run me over. I will also be trying out my new power tap, it's pretty awesome!
Have a great weekend!

Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-12T14:58:00.001-05:00

Happy Easter! Its been a good week to rejuvenate and absorb some of the Hawaii camp. I haven't been at home in quite a few years and i sort of feel bad for my parents right now as i forgot how messy some athletes can be.(me!) I forgot that normal people don't hang bike shorts and jerseys everywhere, fill the sinks up with water bottles, hang training suits all over the bathroom or eat ridiculous amounts of food. Lucky for them its a short visit as my mother reminded me that she doesn't believe in boomerang children. So i guess i wont be moving back home in the near future. I think my father likes having me around however this is the guy who sneaks out for french fries because he is tired of my mothers organic cooking and now that i am home i make him look pretty good with all of the things he usually gets caught for.

I went online to try and find a good Quinoa Chili recipe as i remembered the fantastic one Lucy made in Maui. Just as i couldn't find anything i started reading blogs and found Cowgirl Corbin posted a recipe, awesome! Okay i attempted to search for a recipe however i got sucked in to the blog and twitter world. Phil Mickelson is on fire so i need to hop back to the t.v. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Home Sweet Home !?!

2009-04-10T11:04:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the Lifesport Squad for throwing it down in New Orleans and Oceanside 70.3. It was awesome to watch online in Kona and as a result I am super excited to race. They had wicked results, the funny thing is I wasn't really surprised with the results. They trained super hard and super smart and they owned it!

I am finally home from Hawaii and I am a little depressed, tired, sore, and very cold. I definitely miss my training partners and the great friends that I met along the way. However, Carley is super excited to have me home!

This week I haven't really done much of anything. This week is a recovery week from training and since I had a red eye flight home into a snowstorm all I have done is slept. The sleep i have logged is pretty impressive as it started with a 6hour sleep, 3 x 12-15hours, and 1 x 10hour.
It has been awesome hanging out with Carley and seeing my parents, however my Mom wasn't too shy to snag my 100% Kona coffee from me and also reminding me of how much she doesn't like my bike trainer set up in her living room. Anyways Carley and I have a fun filled Good Friday ahead with some Coffee, a movie(*hopefully not, but probably Hannah Montana) and a great dinner with my folks, and maybe some chocolate.

Kaloko Climb #2

2009-04-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

Another attempt at Kaloko, i went 49:52. The Lavaman Camp went well and i met a great group of athletes. Thursday was the end of the Camp, with a big swim session and a 4.5hour ride with Kaloko attacks. I hope everyone had a great time at the camp and i want to wish everyone all the best in 09. I have a couple more good days in Kona and then it's home for some rest. Tomorrow is a good hard group ride and a fast run:)

Musubi?

2009-04-02T02:26:00.000-05:00

A few pictures from today. A great swim session in the lagoon! Helping out with the Lavaman Camp has really been a blast, Some how i show up to workouts thinking they will be easy but the words "best Avg" or Brent your leaving last and have to catch everyone has really kept me honest. Not to mention Bree is swimming fast and pushing the pace so i have no choice to work hard. A few seminars in nutrition and swimming and then off to a long base run at altitude at Mana Road. It was all up hill and it got cold when i turned around, luckily some icing and Musubi (spam and rice) was on the agenda. A good photo of Coach Dan and I before the ride, tomorrow is going to be fun, a big swim, Kaloko climb (round #2)x 2? , and i believe a run if there is still sun light. The lesson of the day is Sea Turtles some times float near the surface of the water when your swimming fast, so keep an eye.

Feeling Local

2009-04-01T01:09:00.000-05:00

Recovery Days are awesome! Monday was a lite swim at the pier and some coffee at Lava java. Bree took took me to get a 50lbs bag of ice for an ice bath, Thank you i am still cold. Last night we had a great opening to the Lava man Camp with a dinner @ the Hilton. Thanks to Coach Paul for an awesome meal. I think Paul felt bad about making us swim 6x(all Hard!), Motor Pacing Intervals behind the Scooter, Climb Kaloko with a track workout off the bike, Run the Ironman Run Course, Ride the Ironman Bike Course, swim some more, a couple more easy runs, and an easy ride all before starting Lavaman this past week, oh and i had to ride home from Lavaman. ( Headwind is my new friend!)

Today was fairly easy but i felt good, open water swim workout with Coach Dan for a little activation* , Cycling Clinic, Road 70miles of the Ironman Course with some intervals, little run off the bike. A lot of work coming later on in the week, so i am pretty excited. Ice baths hurt, but are key! So embrace them.

Rest Well!

Good Week!

2009-03-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

What doesn't Kill you makes you stronger? The past couple of days have been rough after our epic day on Friday. Saturday i was tired but we got the work done. Justin and i had a 90minute ride out to the race course including some intervals, then to help out with the Lavaman Kids Triathlon. I had a great time helping out and handing out awards but i was certainly very tired and fatigued. We had an open water swim session, with good hard intervals, i was very flat. A little run to finish the day off with a few strides and drills. (*lil wayne on the ipod got this run done!)

Since the race was just a "workout" i will keep it short. Felt rough after this week, nearly 30hours pre race to make sure i was good and tired. Not your typical training through a race but we weren't in Hawaii to race Lavaman so i had to log the work. Finished 5th or 6th, felt flat on swim, blew up a bit by first buoy, hit the bike hard (could have used wheels and helmet with headwind), and by hit the bike i mean i kept the pedals moving and didnt look for a ride home; the run felt good but my legs felt like cement blocks, made a wrong turn near resort, so i loged some extra time. The course was tough and challenging on lava rock and off road with the finish on sand. I just kept telling myself 2more loops of Baldwinn Park (*Maui 800mloop) and its and easy day. It's not everyday you get to race "Macca" in one of your weekend "workout" races. I am pretty happy with the race considering the volume and intensity we had this week, wheels would have been nice, but with how tired my legs were it didn't matter . Justin and i road home from the race for a cool down, 30miles in headwind and it turned out to be miserable. You know your training alot when your Olympic Distance end of the week training race, is the shortest session of the week.

Tomorrow is an easy day, and then this week i will get one more big week in before heading home. Congrats to the team for tearing it up! Thanks to the Coach's for actually making me race, i wasn't originally happy about racing a World Champion and an elite field being this tired. My roomate Justin heads home today to get ready for New Orleans 70.3 , i want to wish him the best of luck, and thanks again buddy for your left over Nutrition Products! (Lucky Guy had todays race off!) The feet are up and its icing time soon, we have already watched 3 episodes of CSI and i don't think i have gotten up once.

Epic Day in the Wind

2009-03-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

2 days out from Lavaman Triathlon and the taper begins. We started the day with a 1.5hour Kona Masters Swim plus a Coach Paul set to keep us busy in the pool. Then it was off to ride the Hawaii Ironman Bike Leg and the wind was howling. Justin road strong today, and we battled a bad head wind for the first 57miles and we weren't to happy. Then Coach Paul decided since we were racing in 2 days we should do a zone 3 tempo out to Hawi and back to Kawaihae with the nasty winds it was 38miles of tempo riding. Justin and i basically looked at each other and bit our lips. For the remainder of the ride, we were hoping for some tail wind but things shifted slightly and we weren't as lucky as we thought but it was still good. By the time we got back it was 117 miles(188kms) and i had a slight rough patch with a flat and some wheel rubbing but all in all it was a strong day(* as you can see in the picture i blew a leg somewhere). Tomorrow we have 3 workouts and are helping with a kids triathlon in the morning(*awesome!). I am hoping to wake up and see Sundays Race is deleted out of training peaks for Sunday but i won't hold my breath. Maybe Lava java instead of Lavaman? Anyways tonight was some good recovery starting with a contrast shower, followed by 40mins of elevating the legs while i talked to Carley on Skype, a black bean burrito and an epson salt bath later on. Rest Well!

Energy Lab

2009-03-27T00:50:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day, with a open water swim session and a 2hour building run that we ran over 18miles on the Ironman Race Course. Tonight was a much needed ice bath to get ready for a big day including a masters swim and a good steady ride of the Ironman bike course(112miles).

A couple pictures below of Coach Paul at Kona Masters Wednesday night. The feet are up and the picnic is packed for the ride. At least if i ever race in Kona i will know the course inside and out.

Kaloko Climb

2009-03-26T02:34:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day in Kona. To start the day we did a 3hour ride including a repeat from the Queen K up to Kaloko Road and up to the top of the mountain. The start of the climb is pretty relaxed till you hit Kaloko road, then its about 7miles up from there taking you to 5,000feet pretty fast. There are some steep climbs with the last mile being around 17%grade. I took king of the mountain honors but Justin Climbed well too for his size and gearing. I was really trying to hit Lances time he did after a 4hour ride and i was near however i am going to change up my cassette next week and give it another crack. Its scary how fast Lance is after doing this climb after a long ride and preseason, i hope he recovers from his crash so we can see him in the tour.

After a fast descend to the near by high school track we started into a track session of 8x800m. It felt a lot easier than 8x1mile(we did last week), however i could feel the climb for sure. We all ran fast and then we had a long cooldown spin back to our homestays.
Tonight we met up with the Kona masters squad for a good session followed by a lot of drill swimming, we thought it was going to be recovery 1hour45minutes later and seeing the stars it was time to leave.( who ever spread the rumor it was an easy workout that wasn't funny!) Off to bed.

Kona

2009-03-25T01:52:00.000-05:00

Finally in Kona, after a trip on Monday from Maui. It was supposed to be a fast trip but Justin's bike box wouldn't fit on the plane so we had to wait for it over two flights and we were stuck in Kona waiting for it to arrive. We ran into Joel Filliol's parents at the airport and shared a flight over to Kona with them. We managed to get a swim and a ride in still on Monday for recovery but today it was on. Our Home stays are awesome, and Justin and i are sharing a basement apartment up on a hill with a beautiful view.

Today was supposed to be another relaxed day with a 5500m open water swim workout which had some hard 1km repeats. In the afternoon we did a 2.25hour ride with steady state riding and 5x4mins max power intervals, with "Coach Paul" on the scooter. We ended the day with a little run and a great team dinner at the Coach's house. Tomorrow we are doing a huge climb up to the volcano with a track session off the bike and a swim at night. I don't think i have the right gearing for this climb with the above photos of Lance climbing it. Hopefully i can get some snazzy photos of the climb and the surroundings.

Kona

2009-03-23T02:35:00.001-05:00

Today is the last day in Maui:( Tomorrow is camp #2 in Kona. Justin and i will go for a little swim and then off to the airport. Thanks to Linsey and Brent for the fueling swag today to keep me going for the next two weeks!
Its been a great 3 weeks(+1day) logged for mileage with 92hours of training (75k of swimming, 1,410km of riding, 270k of running). I still have a couple of big weeks left and my energy levels and motivation are still high.
Justin and i have a home stay in Kona together so i am hoping they have a big garden, and possibly own a supermarket so there will be food left in the house for me after the big guy eats. I am not sure they know what is coming, but it probably won't take long before they put locks on the pantry to lockout the starving athletes.
Stay tuned for some more adventures in Kona. Maui i will be back at some point, i still have 2 weeks to convince Dr. A that he needs a perminant athlete living at the house to keep everything in order and of course to watch College football with. And a side note: Justin put my Ed Hardey Shirt in the dryer today, i am glad it didnt shrink to much, but what did shrink is Mags Race Speed Suit.

Sushi Paradise!

2009-03-21T21:54:00.000-05:00

A few pictures from Last nights " eat all the sushi or you cant leave" night on the town. Thank you Aaron for dinner it was so amazing. Aaron has been a regular at this place for 14 years and i got the invite out with Cowgirl Corbin, Brent and Aaron. It was super awesome, and i ate way too much. To top off the night we stopped at DQ and Linsey bought an awesome round of kid size blizzards(*i had to fight threw finishing it). I was defiantly fueled for " Super Saturday" which consisted of a pretty steady 4.5hour ride that had lots of wind and a 3hour part in our aero bars at a good pace. I went through 100miles in under 4.5hours so i held a good clip for my attention span. Off the bike i ran 1hour and felt great, so all in all another good day in paradise!

Off to Lances now for a team dinner and meeting with lots of good food.

TGIF is over!

2009-03-20T22:12:00.000-05:00

Thursday we had our weekly awesome ocean swim workout. This workout usually falls on Friday, but this week it was Thursday allowing us to have a big Friday-Sunday before heading to Kona on Monday. Nothing changed however TGIF lost its meaning, and Friday would now be hard.
We started the open water swim session with a warm up followed by 20 minutes hard tempo, followed by 5x4minute @"giver pace" so that is somewhere along the lines of has hard as you can go for the 4minutes. Thursday afternoon was off as "Mean Coach Lance" wanted us to rest our legs a bit for the next few. (*We are feeling tired we just don't show it)

Fantastic Friday started with a boom this morning as the squad headed to Baldwin Park for a hard run session. The workout was 15minutes tempo, followed by 20x400m on 30seconds rest. The group did awesome and everyone held the same times we did with 1minute rest 2 weeks ago.(Justin wins the Stud award today for being sick and killing all the sessions) My legs felt a bit heavy but i stayed focused and got it done. After the run as Lance would say " Stack em up!" we headed out on the bike. The workout was just over 2hours with some steady state work and some jump intervals. The 3rd and final workout of today was our weekly 10x400m swim. Dr.Aaron may get mad at this picture above from one of our team dinners but i don't have my eyes open so its fair game for posting and now that i have Aaron on Facebook i can start tagging him in some secret photos once i flyout.(Justjoking)

Now its Sushi time with the crew, we are going to some secret location that has the best sushi ever. Anyways Super Saturday is still ago, i hope to have some war stories as well as some new photos, i had to dig up some past workout pics for today!

Good Day with a Fat Lip

2009-03-19T02:06:00.000-05:00

50minute run with hill strides, 2hour threshold swim workout, 4hour hilly west Maui loop ride with 2flats, good day! Thanks to Brent for helping out with some mechanical's on today's ride, he was awesome and i am sure everyone in the group owes him at least one beer after some of the stuff he had to fix today. My roommate Justin is sick so i am hammering the vitamin c back and hiding in my room so i don't catch anything. I tried to reheat a stir fry in the microwave to eat for lunch, just as i went to take a bite to see if it was warm enough it popped and almost wrecked my face. It was scary but not as scary as my lip looks, its fat and not with a Ph. I sometimes hear that sound re heating food in the microwave but it never blows up on my fork. Oh well lesson learned! I couldn't figure out why people where pointing today when we were climbing some hills, who would have thought my lip would grow over the course of a 4hour ride. Good thing i have a great Doctor around the corner in case i need one! Rest Well.