::Iron Bike Room::

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Nathan

::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]

::Westcoast Arctic imagery::

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Nathan

::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::

::Running Winter wonderland ::

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Nathan

::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::

::Foto Friday::

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Nathan

::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::

::First race of 2012 ::

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Nathan

::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.

::Skiing in the New Year::

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Nathan

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::

::Whislter and Blackcomb, snow? ::

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Nathan

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::

::Ironman St. George::

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Nathan

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.

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

:: Hemlock Resort, Ski day #1::

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Nathan

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.::

::Off season planning and motivation::

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Nathan

"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.

::Vancouver Fall Classic::

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Nathan

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.

Race results here

::A passion for trail Running::

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Nathan

I always find November to be a very tough month, It’s dark, cold, and between seasons, not great for tri training or skiing. Its dark at 4 o’clock, its not a positive time in the calender for somoone who spends a ton of time outside, for work and for play.

I’ve found hitting the trails really helps me to keep positive and a lot more up beat. If there is any ounce of hope of finishing work early or there is time on the weekend, I bounce to my favorite trail running spots. Uninterrupted running on a long trail has to be one of my favorite training sessions. Despite fall begin my least favorite season out of the 4, it is my favorite to run in on a sunny day. Here is why….

This was all shot with my Olympus pen camera, really enjoy shooting with it the last few months. I’ll also do another brooks plug… I am finding the cascadia a really great shoe for any of those out their looking for a trail shoe.

::Project Studio Desk for under 200 bucks::

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Nathan

Now that winter is setting in, I have a bit more time to get a starting on a few ideas I have had. I spend a lot of my time in the studio and have been working on a shitty desk. I spent a bit money on it but after moving it from room to room from renovating, it was time for it to go.

I wanted a simple, compact, cheap (under 200 bucks), and obvious slick looking work area. I drew up a quick sketch, created a material list, and then headed to hardware store.

::The old desk has to go!.. Its small and doesn't have enough room for more then computer use.::

::200 bucks worth of materials. . ::

1 sheet of 4′x8′ maple,
3 pieces of 1x2″ fir finishing trim pieces @ 8 feet long,
3 hinges, , (one side has a nice long end on it to attach to the working surface)
one set of table legs
one pack for size 10- 3/4 inch screws, (for working surface, make sure the screws don’t go through the plywood for the legs and hinges)
one pack of size 10-1 1/4 inch screws
3 inch deck screws, (for attaching the 2x4′s to the wall for main support)
two 8′ 2x4′s,(main supports for working surface and monitor shelf)
New saw blade for crisp cutting.
I already had stain, clear coat, and sand paper. This will add about another 30 bucks to your bill.(still under 200 bucks)

For tools I used one drill, cut of saw, skill saw, jig saw, and a level.

::Use one of the 2x4's and screw it to the wall with the 3" screws, make sure you find studs! Making sure its level and pre measure how high you want it off the ground ---28" inches is kinda the normal. The legs I am using are 28.5 inches high, so this 2x4 is 28 inches off the ground then add 3/4 of an inch for the plywood giving you 1/4 inch of play. ::

::Added the hinges, as well as a top plate for the monitors and speakers The monitor plate is 7 inches above the main desk area. This is up to you how you want to have it...If your 6 feet tall this about bang on for eye level.

::Plywood added on both levels. Ended up using maple for the working surface. Layed the plywood on top of the 2x4 and used my chair to hold it up while I screwed in the 3/4 inch screws into the maple. (make sure if you cut holes for cords that u have them an inch and a half away from the edge of the plywood. Unless you drilled holes in the 2x4. I did both. You will see at the end how this how it was done..::

::Here is a quick shot of it folded down. If you're in a tight area, this design will work perfect. The monitors will stay on top shelf and then the rest will fold down.::

::Added a 1x2" fir trim along the edges to clean it up and then used a golden oak stain that I had from another project...let it dry and add a clear coat. sand and add one more coat and one more light sand so it nice a smooth to work on::

::All loaded up with the foldaway legs. I reversed them for more stability. ::

::Ironman Tattoo #2::

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Nathan

Its becoming a normal activity around this time, at lease around the fall/ winter time. After finishing up my second Ironman Canada this year, I headed down to i-kandy tattoo shop in Langley once again to get the last bit of pain left from the race season.

I decided to go with another number, and had it stylized to fit with current work already on my arm but also to line up with what I hope to get next year at this time Tim the artist that did the art work as well as tattooing and apparently had done a few of the usual Ironman tattoos so he knew the reason why I was in the chair… I didn’t get too creative with the idea but did like what Tim came up with, its hidden quite a bit but still easy enough to recognize if I explain whats going on.

Here is some images from last years IMC design.