Last week I headed out on my bike for the first outdoor ride in awhile. With temperatures raising and dry roads, I had to get out and ride to one of my favorite destinations, Cultus Lake. Looking at the forecast before I headed out, I though I better bring my camera along for the ride.
::Taste of sun::
::I love this tree::
::I thought there was a lot going on in this picture::
::Almost felt like summer::
::360 picture::
In winter months I spend majority of my time down in the basement. It took me a little bit to finally set it up the way I wanted it but its working well now. It needed to be functional for both as a studio space for computer/art work but also to be used for bike training. Two main things I needed to keep in mind when I was setting up “the bike room/studio”.
1) I don’t have cable TV so all my entertainment comes off the Internet, so I have everything centered around my desk. I built the desk with both these functions in mind. Its always good to get within a headphone cables distance from your source; computer, laptop or TV so you don’t need to crack up the audio.
2) A basement was my best bet to start the bike room for many reasons but the biggest has to be the concrete floor. It can get wet, easy to clean, and I can drag the trainer all over it. I also added little piece of plywood under mine just so when I lube up the chain it doesn’t stain the floor. I’ve seen a lot of people use a rubber mat for under your bike, which would work , some use a towel but oil will go right through it.
I’ve been riding in my basement for over two years now and have found this set up to work pretty dam good, I’m interested to see and hear how others have there bike rooms. Links, pictures or even an email to me would be great. I hope to do a post with other tips and tricks later on. Email — [email protected]
Race number 1 of the redrafted 2012 season started off with a run at Lake Samish in Bellingham Washington. Racing helps to keep me focus on my goals as well as motivated, so Im going to head out to Las Vegas on March 17th to tackle the second race of the season. The Six Tunnels half marathon. A big reason why I choose Vegas is because it will give me a small taste of St George and the chance to experience the desert climate in preparation for May.
::Image taken from Mountain Man events flickr site::
I am really looking forward to seeing the Hoover Dam, the new bridge over the Colorado River and just the Vegas country side. It looks to be a small time run, with a lot to offer. It starts 18 miles from Las Vegas in Boulder City which is about 4 miles north of the Hoover Dam. They have a 5k and also a 2 person relay for people who want to take things a bit easier. All entry fees are below 100 US, with a shirt, mug and medal once your all done. Its a Saturday race and should be a good one to watch since its St. Pattys Day. If your looking for an alternative from the complete madness of the Rock and Roll race which sounded like a bit of a mess, this might be a great race for your next PR.
::screen grab ::
Looking forward to some sun, warmth and maybe a bit of biking on the Ironman St. George route. I’ll be bunked up at the Wyndham Grand Desert, which I have enjoyed staying at before. Pumped to race in Las Vegas again and hope to get under 1:20 this year.
::
In March on 2011 I decided that I would get my butt on a new bike after riding on my three ring Kona. I researched many different bikes and decided that I would go with specialized pro transition. After a full season of racing on this bike, I was super happy with it and felt that now I wasn’t at a huge disadvantage.
::old one::
In June I rode its first race in Oliver and took a 93km bike to a 2:36, in 2010 I did 2:54, taking 18 minutes off. I’m not all the credit goes to the bike since I’d been just 7 months new in the world of skinny tires.
In July I raced the Vancouver Half Ironman and continued to take time off my bike with a 2:44 but this time it was only 6 minutes. The difference between June and July was that the race course in June was a flat course and July (Vancouver) had a three looped course with a nice hill climb at the start of every loop. (as well as riding the IMC course the week before) Then finally in August I went into ironman and raced close to my goal time but got totally deflated by the time I hit the run.
I am always learning and after a long (still long) winter, looking over what I did wrong and what I can do to change and challenge my goals for 2012, I decided that the gearing for this bike isn’t right.
It came with a 53 chainring which after talking to a few guys at Velocity…is large. I felt like my old bike was pretty good for hills with the old three ring chainring. Ironman Canada is considered one of the toughest races on the ironman tour with its hilly climbs, but with Ironman St George thrown into the mix for this years racing, I’m told it’s even tougher. With stories of people walking their bikes up some sections, I thought I better get the gearing right.
::new one, ready to be tested::
So a 50″ s-works is thrown on for some faster rpms up the mountains. I’m hoping to get out on this guy here soon once the snow clears and gets a bit warmer. I look forward to the gearing difference and what sort of results that will come with the change.
::Little ounce of sun this week::
This is probably the longest time I’ve been outside this week…to shoot pictures. Its been snowy, cold and very windy this week making running and biking outdoors not really possible. I headed out to one of my favorite local running and biking spots to grab some photos of this crazy weather system.
::off zero ave...one of my favorite running spots. It's a little windy and cold to be running along here this week::
::probably my favorite once out of the set::
::Could really ask for better "snow" weather.
I waited a few hours to let the sun come out and then headed out to Hayward Lake. I knew I would be running in a good level of snow, but didn’t think it was going to be this much. Fun day in the white stuff, with a few areas that haven’t been explored since the snow fell.
Took me just under 2 hours to get all the way around, which is over 20 minutes slower then in the summer. It felt like I ran 30 plus kms.
::Few others out earlier in the day::
::Some really cool skies this week::
::White Rock::
::From a few weeks back at Whistler::
::Top of Blackcomb::
::Hwy 1 on our way to Lake Louise::
::Shot of the smaller lake...did a little 5km swim around this guy in 2010::
After gliding through October, November,and December with no real direction, I was using the Lake Samish 13.1 in Bellingham as a kick off to 2012 but also to see how things held up. With no serious running through these months and I was hoping that a little of 2011 to get me through. I was also hoping to surprise myself or at lease not disappoint myself. Overall I am sitting right where I thought I would be.
:: I think this is second loop, mile 9 or 10..not really having fun at this point::
As the race went on I felt alright and then after the first 6.5 mile loop I though I could push a little more. At mile 8, I quickly found myself hanging on with the group that was kinda the chase group. Then with about a mile left, after not running anything longer then 22 kms, it quickly showed. My energy was there but my legs weren’t. Of course I was hitting the wrong buttons on my watch throughout the race so I had no idea where I stood. As I came to the finish line, I was a little surprise that I didn’t fall off that much and was still a head of my last years time at this race by about 2 minutes. Can’t complain right?
::Started just before this bridge, and headed South::
As I said last year, this has to be one the the most basic and straight forward runs. It has two distances, the 6.5 and the 13.1 mile and is placed in my regular rotation for a few reasons… 10 dollar price tag is the main one!. Mile markers everywhere, and a great view for a starting line. This year got a bit better then last year with new timing system, and they had an extra van into their shuttle rotation so the race was only 10 minutes late instead of 20 
Race site here and results here.
I decided to bring in the New Year in Alberta this Year. Headed out on the road a few days after Christmas to one of Canada best outdoor spots, Banff, Alberta. It was a longer drive then I was hoping for with a few accidents, avy control and a train crash just outside Golden that added about an hour to the drive. Once I going into Banff it was a warm 0 degrees, just like this last April, I brought snow.
::just starting our hike::
I was hoping to do a few days days of ski touring and a day or two on one of the 3 ski hills in the area. With snow on the way, I ended up getting two really solid days on Lake Louise, and one day with the skins on.
All these shots are from touring trip straight off the Hwy 93 about 45 minutes outside of Banff. Ended up seeing a few triggers on the way up with some snow setting with all the warmer temps. We stuck on mostly North Facing slopes and had a really good day in a really cool forest. Has to be one of my favorite spots to date.
Put just over 2020 km’s on the truck and was back home to start training for Ironman St. George.
::Going up in the burnt forest::
::Close up of one of the trees, you can see the burn marks from the fire::
:: A few doors down from were I stayed was this homemade rink, wishin I had this kid as my neighbor grown up::
From Dec 21-23, I was up in Whistler at Club Intrawest in hopes of doing some large vertical skiing. It was blue bird but someone forgot the snow… locals saying its been over 3 weeks!
So I skied one da, got some good shots, and then used the hotel gym to keep me busy for the rest of the time. I have to admit the club was pretty awesome, special adult only section, a fairly stacked workout room, fully stocked market, movie room, two pools and many hot tubs and the liquor store right across the street. What else do you need…oh right… snow! Dam it.
These tracks are about 3 weeks old...ouch!
Its a pretty cool feeling once you get to the top of Blackcomb, especially when its a clear day.
:: It was fun watching people trying to get thru this thing::
::Pretty quiet around the village::
::
After continuity beating my head against the wall, I decided to sign up for Ironman St George on May 5th 2012. My 2012 race plan has already been thrown out the door and replace by this crazy race! I am pretty pumped up and have regained focus for 2012, and look forward to a new challenge.
I'm hoping this doesn't happen again.
Being hailed as the toughest ironman and as far as I know the only one that doesn’t sell out, without a doubt, be my hardest test to date. I can’t stop thinking about what I could have done differently to finish off my Ironman Canada and can’t seem to wait a whole 9 months to race another ironman. This one is probably not the best one to start my season off but comes at the best time of year for me personally.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDFQpSUNyGQ&feature=player_embedded
Summers are a tough time of year for me as our work schedule peaks at the time of Ironman Canada. I’m hoping that I will enjoy Utah and shift my training around so that this will be the race I focus on, instead of IMC in August.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research with hopes that I can learn from last years mistakes and push myself to a better finish. A Sub 10 hour race doesn’t seem realistically possible this year but I will be looking to complete and hope to make a strong case for Kona spot. It will be a massive grind with a very large portion of my training been indoors on the trainer, as well as no prior knowledge of the conditions or course experience. Every write up or video I read or watch, I get more and more pumped up to see how much this race will kick the shit out of me. One of my favorite sources has to be a local BC girl and her husband Trevor and Heather Wurtele. These two seem to be the experts of this race with Heather winning it the last two years by a massive margin. A lot of good info from these two and just a good all around good site about life as a professional triathlete.
I’ll be driving down with the Creeper on the truck and be ready to race in May. If anyone else has info to share for this race or have done it before I would love to hear about it! Link me or send me your write ups.!
After doing Ironman Canada in August and not happy with the result of my finish, I couldn’t go through a whole winter without a chance of learning from my mistakes and
Sunday started with a trip up to Hemlock Valley for the first day of the season. They opened on Wednesday with little over 100cm base, a little too soon to really enjoy all the terrain but we were able to enjoy some sunshine. Not a lot of people out, so that meant not lines…
::Sunny!::
51 bucks gets you a full day of skiing, and another 20 gets you a pitcher of beer at Old Mollys, well maybe less. Not much new to report from the ski resort other then a little raise in their pricing and I believe they offer a few more days through out the week for a total of 5.
::On our way out, hill is looking a little thin::
I haven’t heard if they are keeping their ladies ski free day on Thursday or their 5 buck Friday night skiing but I’m sure they will have some tricks up there sleeves as the year moves on.
::I should have stopped a few more times on the way home, some crazy lighting e.::
::Quiet day out on the road::
I’m really looking forward to 2012, with hopes of making some larger strides towards a sub 10 @ Ironman Canada with a hopeful Kona ticket attached. 2011s off season was mainly focused on getting my running faster while trying to find a passion for cycling. The season started off great with my half marathon coming down about 3-4 minutes in 3 months and by feburary my marathon time got under 3 hours in New Orleans. I started to finally enjoy cycling once I got out of my basement and was pumped once Spring Finally came around.
Once Triathlon season start I had some good races but I just couldn’t get all three to work together in one race. My ironman ended in disappointing fashion with a marathon slower then 2010 with a plan of just finishing. After all of the off season running and I sh*t the bed…so to try and finish off the year well I went out to Victoria to make 2011 end a little better.
Most of my triathlon racing for 2012 will be on the Subaru Western Triathlon series with the first race May 27th at Shawnigan Lake. Second Victoria on June 17th, and Vancouver on July 8th, and then using these races to see how I line up for my 3rd Ironman Distance at Ironman Canada at the end of August.
Running in 2012 will start across the line in Bellingham @ Lake Samish on Januray 8th. I am still in the works of finding a spot to race in Feb or March, with one last half marathon race @ BMO Vancouver on their new course in May before Ironman. Then probably another ferry ride to Victoria on Thanksgiving for a half marathon.
::New::
2011 I did two swimming races at the 2km distance and hope to get both of them in in 2012. The first was July 1st at Sasamat Lake put on by VOWSA, and the second and probably one of my favorite events in the summer ,The Interior Saving Across the Lake swim in Kelowna.
A lot of this year winter and spring months will be spent riding the bike. I haven’t looked at any Fondos yet, but there are a lot more to choose from this coming year with two new ones just in the Lower Mainland alone. Valley and Misson, with both looking pretty good.
Should be a good year with a lot to learn and a lot of fun.
"Yesterdays run, I can't get enough of Fall sunny days!"
I’m always find this time of year the hardest to keep on the up and up but most importantly to keep on top of things. Post summer hang over, a huge racing season feels like it suddenly comes to a sudden halt and in this section of the world, (Vancouver/ Lower mainland, British Columbia) the fall comes in so fast.
The daylight hours get slashed making training before and after work outside very difficult, let alone the rain and wind. Planning for the off season is always a struggle for me. Being self-coached and self motivated has its challenges, but the off-season brings on weird level of training. One thing that I keep reminding myself is that this is the most important part of the year. Planning for the next season happens now. I working full time in the spring and summer, so that means training comes down to the hour, and so planning now is smartest thing I can do.
One of the big factors for being self coached is trying to figure out what to do. A big tool I use is the blogoshpere. A cool thing about this sport is that we are all pro-active people, which also means we all like to share what we do. There is a huge amount of material to read about how people train, how they race and prepare. A guy like Jeff Symonds which had a huge year in the half ironman distance is always a fun read as well as a solid source of what a local guy is doing. For Full iron-distance I like a guys like Dirk Bockel and Andy Potts both both are Olympians (different sports) and top athletes long distance tri. Both have pretty solid blogs which has cool insight on what a pro-ironman life is like.
Few other blogs that I like to visit are Simon Whitfield, Kelownagurl.com, http://www.spiffykerms.com, James Lawerance, Christopher Baker, Matt Fisher and Steve in a Speedo. I find it’s good to read what others are going through, what races to do, but most importantly, it helps for planning.
This season I plan on going after one of my biggest goals yet. Kona, a race that is looked as one of the toughest on the planet. After getting the tri bug in 2010, I’ve been focused on this goal and the 2012 season will be when the two year action plan will be in second phase.
I’ve been Looking at the Endurance Planner software to kinda give me some fresh training after using a tri fuel program for the last year and half. If anyone has some more input on what they use or reviews of different programs I will love to hear about it.
Sunday morning came a little quick and luckily I wasn’t racing because I was late getting up! Jumped in my truck and headed down to UBC for the Vancouver Fall Classic. They call it the last great run of the year and that is probably true, but with it being at the end of the year its also always cold. I remember last year when everyone was worried about snow and cold, this year, it was just about the cold.
First Loop for the Double Loopers on half marathon
I had a few people I knew going after this race with hopes of getting there Spring Marathon training off in a straight line. I always found this race tough to get up for with the darkness, cold and just overall winter feel around the race and with those conditions not many people spectators turn out either.
About 1500 people in total brave the cold to challenge themselves to set new personal bests or just to keep there running going through the New Year. Its been the same looped course for as long as I can remember and has grown on me over the years. It shares some of the same track for the bike on half iron race in the summer.
New Balance has a lot to do with this race and carries the reputation of having some of the best race gear that comes with your sign up. I’ve always enjoyed what I received from doing this race, in previous years you could select from different items, which I thought was pretty unique and a great idea. So if your looking to extend your racing season and want to squeak out one more race before the new year, it doesn’t get any better then the fall classic.
Coming through the court yard for the last lap. About 2km to the first line.
Roasting in at 1:26...Few more minutes before the 10km racers come through.
