Its been awhile

Well it has been a little bit since my last post. I have now settled back into things here at UBCO, and have gotten back in touch with some awesome training buddies and few new ones. I would just like to give a shout out to a friend that I have met named Scott Neyedli, who is a pro ironman triathlete, and came 6th in Ironman Canada. Unfortunatly did not have the best result in Kona, but there is always next year and he is am extremely strong and determined individual. I would like to thank him for pushing me on the bike even though I wasn't able to stay with him most of the time, he is deff a very strong biker.

Getting back into biking the mountains, my form has never been better, I have led the hill climbs and gotten in the with the hill breakaway groups, as well as the bunch sprints. I am currently running intensely also, keeping a good 19min 6k, which is a massive improvement, I just need to keep that coming off the bike. I have my sights on nationals this year, and with now the good support of my new sponsor Kelowna Cycle, things can really look up, as well as worlds qualifications.

I just need a more solid performance next year and come in top 5 in all my races is my goal for the 2011 season, and I think it is a possibility, I am deff getting stronger in all sections of this sport. I just need to work some more on my swimming, and I think coming back in the spring to rejoin my old coach will certainly help me with my open water efforts.

This year Kona did not go as I had hoped, and Crowie did not take the crown, I am very shocked and kinda upset, but he made a solid go at it, and he is still my overall favorite triathlete and pretty much my idol. Macca certainly gave it a solid go also, and just came out in a better position then Crowie off the bike. I knew Andreas would be in the mix again this year, cause he is a solid athlete, and my second favorite Lieto did not do as well as I had hoped either. He is an awesome biker and I hope one day I will be able to keep up with him.

I have switched over to Human Kinetics, and at the moment I am loving it, it is made perfectly for me, and I love the whole learning about the body and how it functions and what it needs to perform at its top level. I love all my profs they are amazing people, and they are not at all hard to talk to.

I have also been talking to another professional triathlete Ryan Power, who like me did not start off with a strong swimming background, I admire him greatly, and he is a excellent athlete, and I hope next year I can be in his zip code. Also I have been talking to R.J. Ross who has given me awesome advice for my future in this sport, and to take things slow and not turn it into a career to quickly or else one tends to start to hate the sport. I also miss hanging out with the add activity group, and spending some quality training time with them. I have Dustin, Kirsten, Neil, and Scott in the water to deff push me to my limits, as well as Dustin and Neil to push me on the bike. P.S. Neil this spring I will beat you on the bike, cause now I have a strategy going, and when I get my bike sponsor I will be able to ride lol. I also have Dustin to deff push me on the run, the kid is a rising star (just like me), but he is deff an awesome training partner and I cannot wait to get back to the training grounds of lakeside with him.

That is me so far.
Ciao

well Back at school/off season

Well I am back at school now at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna British Columbia, and this year I am in Human Kinetics, which means I have to put a lot more effort into my school and study habits. I am aiming for a high average this year so I am gunna study my butt off and hopefully see some positive results.

I am also back into off season training (well I never really quit training). I picked up another sponsor in Kelowna Cycle here, and I have a meeting with them to see what they willing to offer me, and the terms of the agreement. I am excited to be apart of their team.

I got a good base going with swimming though, and I am feeling confident that my swimming will improve for next year all I need to do is put in some more positive training and work on my technique, stroke power, and my kicking, also my running has gotten a lot better as well, which is another positive.

I got a job at campus rec here on campus to ref rugby games on sunday making 12 bucks an hour which isn't bad, I am also picking up shifts here and there in order to make money for groceries and beer which both are needed.

I am also living in quad this year with three other kids, so far it has been pretty good and we are all able to get along, we have had a few snags with certain individuals, but that is to be expected and hopefully as the year progresses it will soon to get better. I am cycling with the sunday ride, and I am happy with all the efforts I have been putting in, being able to break away on the climbs as well as keep up with the stronger cyclists during the sprint. I have also been riding with Scott Neyedli who came 6th overall in Ironman Canada and is pro, he is quite the character as well as a beast on the bike, I have been able to keep up with him on the climbs which I feel strong, but when he goes into his areo position on the straight aways he is always taking off.

Well bye for now, and It seems that no one reads this, but I guess they will when my name is heard a lot more in the triathlon world, which I hope it will soon be.

Latest Update from a Long delay

Hello everyone who is actually reading this.

I Have completed my final triathlon of the season at Toronto Island. It went not as well as I had hoped for, or as well as I have trained for. The water was very rough, pretty big waves and swells out on lake Ontario. This made the swim very difficult for me, and did not allow me to show off my improvement that I have made in the swim, I just pushed through it as best as I could, trying to avoid everyone stopping infront of me, and everyone bunching up around me, also because of the waves I could not see any of the buoys which was not very good and made it an overall struggle. I felt that was one of my worst swims of the season.

But once I got on the bike i just put my head down and pushed it as hard as I could for 30km, doing the lapped course as best as I could. While trying to avoid the bunching up of the other athletes. I pushed myself to an average speed of 39km/hr which was pretty amazing, and the bike course was pretty good, until the mishap at the end of the course when I got out of shoes a little too early.

The run was tough and course itself was not a favorite. You run in a combo of path, grass, sand, and gravel. It was pretty brutal course, and it felt that you could not get your speed up which I did not like, cause I have been also working on my awesome run speed with some brutal hill repeats, and 400m track sprint repeats. fastest 400m so far is 1min flat.

The course itself was decent, and my position was decent, but I must get stronger and faster and it is my goal for the off-season, with some masters swim, and some track sessions, and possibly getting a coach out there.

It is also my last day here in Ontario and I am heading back out to Kelowna British Columbia tomorrow morning, last night and this morning was my final group training sessions with the add activity crew. All of them are amazing individuals and they all bring their own talents and personality to the training aspect of this sport. I will miss the sessions that we have together, and the whole group training aspect. I like how they push me to be my best, and hopefully I was able to push them also. Overall I really enjoyed the team and hopefully if I am not living in Calgary I will be back, and I will be faster, for sure. Leigh-ann is an amazing coach, and if I do come back, I am hoping to make her proud and bring her to nationals with me and be able to get some good results under the name.

I will miss being home and with the family, but I must buckle down this year and balance some good productive training, with some good studying for Hkin, I have a deal to get an 80%, and I will go to Italy to race which will be amazing, either that or get some race wheels I haven't decided yet what I want lol.

Anyways ciao for now, until next time.

Bracebridge

Well I raced in Bracebridge today, just doing the sprint triathlon using it for a good brick session for Toronto Island next weekend. I did pretty good for myself today being a sprint in all, had one of the fastest swim of my life which was great. The bike can be improved and I can do alot better on it. For my run I was focusing more so on my form, which has improved and it allows me to run more efficiently, I felt it less also on the run, but could have pushed it more, I guess when Toronto Island happens I have to push the entire way.

I felt good about the race overall, came in 8th overall and 3rd in my age group. I have to get faster in all three disciplines if I want to make a run for going for provincials and nationals, next year.

This means it will be a fall/winter/spring of intense masters swim, and biking with the Kelowna semi-pro team. As well as joining a track team or a running group focusing on speed work.

I will get faster over time, all I have to do is put in the time and effort. I am stepping in the right direction with my moving up in the overall standings which is good. I am thinking though that I may just go pro for myself and being on the Canada team may not be for me, I could prob increase my overall performance by just going pro, and ripping up the courses and making some money along the way, with picking up a few sponsors.

anyways thanks for reading.

Bala Falls weekend

This weekend was my race in Bala Falls. It was a tough course, extremely hilly both on the bike and the run. We got to the Bala Bay Inn where me and my family stayed for the Saturday night. I biked over the course the night before to check it out and see what surprises they could throw at us. It was crazy hilly that night and I had a feeling that I would suffer, even though hills are my specialty after spending a year in Kelowna riding those hills repeatedly, and leading the peloton on the Sunday rides.

The night before recon was good, I saw where the hills crest and where the bigger hills were, and where to push the hardest and where to relax. I made up a plan in my mind on what I was going to do in terms of hydration and re-fueling on the bike. I headed back to the Hotel and met some of my competition who were staying there also, this was going to be a very tough race I thought. Well the only thing I could do at that moment was to get in some carbs before the race, and hopefully have the best outcome. I had some awesome pasta, which was so good. I even had some ice cream desert for some sugars. We went for a walk around the area and check out the town which wasn't really much, but it was a nice place to visit. That night was brutal, from the noisy air conditioner, the pre-race nerves, and the bachelor party up-stairs didn't really get that much sleep.

That morning we were promised a breakfast at around 6:15, so I was up at 5:30am to kinda get myself ready for the race and make sure I have everything and my bike is ready. Went downstairs and got some breakfast which was the same thing I eat before a Saturday brick session, part Special K lol. The race started at 8:30am with my wave being the first to go, we got there around 6:45am to set some things up and get my spot ready. I got everything ready and met up with my friend Mike Faul who will be doing his first ever race, picking a very hard course to make his debut on. I also met a guy named Robbie Chapman, who we found out was 16, and looked 23, he was rocking cervelo P3C, and was sponsored by a few places very intimidating. Him and I was having a very intense conversation about how the really skinny athletes are able to muster up so much power and be able to pawn everyone, such as Andy Schleck for example.

Well after the conversation it was time to get into the zone for the race and block out the others, I got my wetsuit on, luckily it was a wetsuit swim being under 78 for the water, the age-group and under 76 for elite, the water was a nice 75. I have to practice more without a wetsuit swim, I have a feeling it will come up eventually in my triathlon career. Anyways I went out for a pre-race swim just to get the muscles warmed up, Mike went out and started swimming and my deepest fear was realized, he is a faster swimmer then me.

The race started with a off the beach run into the water, I started beside Mike in hope of drafting him during the race, my coach just told me to draft the fastest person there, and I couldn't find Ryan Power. I was in the mix of guys and got kicked in the face a few times surprisingly by Mike, but then after awhile I settled into a good pace, and was pushing myself harder and harder throughout the swim, keeping it gradually increasing. I got out of the water with a few guys and surprisingly I could see the race-leaders just ahead of me so I was really close. I ran to my bike and saw Mike there so I was really surprised I came out and met him this early in the race. I got my wetsuit down to my ankles and thing wasn't coming off which was not good for my transition time. I got on the bike and took in some fluids, Mike was right behind on the first hill, but I switched into high gear and took off trying to branch up to the race leaders. I was pushing it on the entire bike ride, taking in fluids everytime I crested a hill. I managed to come really close to the race leaders before the second transition, I ended up blowing away both Mike and Dustin my teammate. It was a solid bike, and I my legs seemed pretty fresh throughout the ride. I had a time off the bike that was 8th which was pretty fast for me being on the hills, but like I said hills are my specialty.

During the run I was paying for my intense bike a bit, and the fact that it was also a very hilly and difficult run. I only ended up passing one other person on the run, but it was a solid pass, and I held my position for the entire run, it wasn't a run time that I had wanted but it will improve. I came to the final kilometer and started pushing it until the end, knowing I had someone behind me and did not want to be caught. I crossed the line and just my legs just died, I left everything on the course which was the goal I was going for.

I then waited at the finish line waiting for my teammate Dustin, and my friend Mike, who both finished strong. My overall performance ended with the fasted swim I have ever done in my life with a time of 1:45 per 100m which was amazing for me. My bike time also increased which was good, this shows I am improving, but my run can still be worked on.

My overall time was 1:38:40 which was a good time for me, I came 11th overall and 1st in my age group making this my first win in my age-group.

Overall this was a good race for me, I am racing Bracebridge on August 7th, and I think cause it's a sprint I will use it as a training session, getting me ready for my final race Toronto Island. I am feeling very happy with my results, but I have to get faster in all three disciplines in order to get myself ready for ITU races and nationals and worlds. That is my future goal, and to become pro one day, but after school. I was dreaming about representing Canada in the Olympics, and I will try my best to get into that, but since this country has a lot of requirements that I may never be able to meet, so I might just move to Italy for a bit and race for them since my mom has citizenship. That will be a few years from now though.

race week

Well this is race week, on friday I am heading up to Barrie to spend the night with my grandmother, and then me my grandmother and my parents are heading up to Bala the next day in order to arrive there and rest up before the big race.

This race will be the first one since joining the Add Activity triathlon team, which is a fantastic team and they are all extremely supportive and helpful. They will help you with anything and are some the nicest and most energetic group I have met. I am enjoying my time with them and will miss them and the workout sessions when I leave at the end of August.

This race in Bala will be hopefully my breakthrough for a podium position, and this will be a great race for me, I have been training extra hard putting long sessions in brick training, and my swim workouts, I am hoping that I have not been slacking on the bike. I have been getting faster though I have noticed, and now with the help of an UWO swim team coach I will hopefully get even faster.

I am extremely nervous of this race, because I feel like I have a lot of pressure on me to do well, I dislike it very much, but being nervous never hurt anyone. Until I get to the point where I start self-doubting myself, which enables me to do my best, but I have the support of my team and friends, and my parents and family so I can do this and I will do this.

I am a force to be reckon with, and from the words of many others pain is only temporary but pride lasts forever.

First post of July

Well this is my first July posting, and so far it has been a pretty decent month. I have been working at panago pizza as a delivery boy which hasn't been all that bad, sometimes it can get frustrating, and when you running on hardly any sleep things can turn ugly quickly.

I have been watching and following both the World Cup which is now over with a win by Spain, not the team that I had wanted to win but they will have to do. And also the Tour de France, which has been very interesting so far. With Frank Schleck dropping out of the running leaving his brother to support himself, and with Lance struggling in the second day on the mountains, this should be a very interesting GC. I just don't want Alberto Contador to win again, he is a great and rider in every aspect of the race but he is just pretty cocky, and I just don't like him.

Training though has been going very well. I have started with Add Activity and being coached by Leigh-Ann Rowe who is am excellent coach and very knowledgeable, she wants me to hold off on my ironman dreams just for a little bit, and focus more so on Olympic distance and possibly get a few podium places, and maybe even a win here or there, who knows. My swimming has really been coming along I have liked the improvement, and also my running off the bike has been great my legs have been able to get a really good turnaround. My biking is still a little choppy in the consistency, I can hammer the speed but the problem is that my average speed seems to always be lower then the speed that I am holding for a quite a long time. Not sure if my speedometer is working but it seems that everything I own is falling apart, now being my bike shoes, so I have to see if they can be fixed, or I may have to go out and get a new pair, hopefully not the latter, but I could use some decent triathlon ones.

I really want to start buying things from my sponsors and start getting things in order to represent them, but I might have to wait till closer to the end of the season seeing how things are money wise and what not.

Just leaving on this, I always get the feeling that I have started this sport later in my life, and that everyone I compete against has a step up on me. I believe that it is not how old that you start the sport, its how much heart and desire you put into it, and right now I am putting everything I have into this to make it work, cause I will go to nationals and I will go to worlds.

June 23/2010

Hello everyone,
I am very happy with my new team and support at add activity, they are a great and fun group of people and they are very athletic and supportive. I am very excited to continue my training with them and hopefully pull off some better results at Bala.

We had another open water swim, and I lead the pack which I am very happy about, after that we had a bike training route, in which I also lead the pack I think things are starting to get put together smoothly and I am enjoying it.

I just got a sponsorship deal with base performance, which is a sport supplement company, and I am very happy with it. It is only the silver package with a discount, but I can work myself up, I will have to get some of their gear in order to show off my new sponsor.

This is just a short post but thanks for reading and GO ITALY!!! in the world cup we all know they will repeat lol just kidding.

Lakeside coached session/My thoughts on life/rants

Hello everyone, this has finally happened I may now be getting some coaching for my triathlon career the first time ever. This is very exciting I am both excited and nervous about going to the session, it is an open water swim at lakeside which should be interesting and possibly a time trial and T1 training on the bike which I need lol.

I went biking today and decided to start grinding my gears on the highest gears possible, which was some advice that someone had given me. i was pushing 46km/hr without even feeling tired I averaged out about 39km/hr for the ride which was only about 20km because I didn't want to push all out just yet. I may not be going to Multisport for coaching as I was thinking, and may stick with this group, but I will have to see what happens.

During my ride though I noticed that a car decided to honk at me even though I was on the side of the road, I am sorry but cars do not own the road and must share it with cyclists. I know this issue has be exhausted to the fullest degree, but it has to be further looked into, because these motorists are not given cyclist any room, and they are getting extremely close and they don't care kinda pisses me off. All I can do is just make sure that they don't hit and that I survive to see my second year of University. Which I am going to continue with and during school, I will focus on school because right now I want a career and this is just a hobby and something that keeps me in shape. I am not getting paid for it, and I am pretty sure that these upcoming pro's are not getting paid either, they are just getting free stuff which would be nice, but I still want a life after this, and that will be sports psychology which is perfect for the sport. Human Kinetics was just calling my name, and i didn't want to be one of those dumb athletes who just go into an arts degree and take all the courses that are the easiest and don't take the most thought, I find that a waste of university, because whats the point now, what will they do once they cannot compete anymore, coach kids.

Anyways thanks for reading

Binbrook triathlon

Hello all, well the Binbrook triathlon has been completed, and it wasn't as good as I thought, I was very upset with my overall performance in the race, and I also noticed that the event itself was very badly planned I found. The run course was also completely on grass and trails and it had rained earlier leaving the entire course covered in mud making the run very difficult.

I came 16th overall and 4th in my age group with a time of 1:30:16 which was pretty decent, it was an improvement in my overall position from Woodstock, and it can all be thanking to my amazing biking. I am disappointed with my swim time, as well as my run time which can be greatly improved. I have know understood that I am in great need of a swim coach, and possibly some track sessions working on my speed. My bike speed can also be worked on.

The night before the race was horrible also, me and my mother stayed at the Pines motel in Hamilton which I do not recommend ever staying, and were given a real treat at around 3am in the morning which went on for a few hours enabling us to get a decent nights rest, that may also be a contributing factor to my disappointing performance race day, but it was a very unpleasant evening, and hopefully better accommodations will be able to be had for Bala Falls.

I have planned to go to Multi-sport zone and work on my swimming as well as do the Bala falls bike course, also I have planned to go to the mega day on June 26th to improve some other things as well. But I really need to start to speed up my swim time in order to stay with the leaders so that I can take the lead on the bike and keep it on the run.

But yeah I have to work on my speed on running off the bike that needs to improve, as well as increase my bike speed greatly.

Anyways it was a decent race, but I am not sure if I will ever do it again.

Thanks for reading and the support will be greatly appreciated and any tips that you may have for me.

weekend before Binbrooke

Ok, its just a few days till the Binbrooke triathlon, and training has been going smoothly I think. I'm not totally sure on where I'm at in training and in my preparation. I think my swimming has improved greatly then last time, I have really attempted on focusing on my speed in the swim, because I have the endurance to last its just that I am still extremely slow at it.

Biking has been really good, I think I have gotten some good speed work down for it, and I have been able to maintain some good pace on the bike, it is still my strength above all else but I still have to work on it. My run is pretty decent gotten a little faster on it so hopefully that goes well.

I just now have to put them all together, and I am afraid of that, I am still afraid of being ready for the race. I am really nervous about the race, but I hopefully have a strategy worked out for it.

I am hoping to push myself a little more so this time, and throw down a solid performance, this is all on the road leading up to me becoming a pro, being 4th in my age group I think is a pretty good achievement for me, and 20th overall. I am hoping that I will be able to improve on that placing, and that I can report good things for after the race.

I would still very much appreciate any suggestions or comments that anyone has for me for training, I am pretty much going into this blind, but I feel respectively confident about my abilities.

I still feel weird starting out into triathlon's a little later in my life then most of the other athletes, who seem to start at 16, while i started at 19. I will hopefully just try to rip up the course, being 20 and all, and not yet pro I guess, but I'm working on that. :)

Anyways thanks to whoever reads this, and I will hopefully have something good to say next week after my race.
Peace

June 7th/2010, Woodstock Triathlon/ and thoughts so far

The Woodstock Triathlon went well for my season opener, I finished really well 20th overall and 4th in my age group. It wasn't the speed that I had wanted but I thought it was a good start for being my second triathlon in my life.
Back to training for the next one which is actually coming up very quickly, at Binbrooke (Hamilton), gunna be crazy and I'm not sure if I'm ready for it, going to the Multisport zone to check about some things maybe get my swim tested and put in some time on the compu-trainer. My swim has improved since my first one, but my biking should be a lot better after spending time in the Mountains in Kelowna biking with the semi-pro teams.
I feel like everyone though is a step ahead of me, and that I should have started this sport at a younger age to even compete with these guys. But I am gunna take everyday one step at a time and just keep up with my training.
Also everyone has these coaches that seem to cost a lot of money to join like 200 bucks a month just as the cheapest amount thats kinda insane. I guess if I were to quit University and focus all my time and energy and money into this I could afford these guys. But I will never in my life do that, school is very important to me and it is something I can always fall back on.

I broke my collarbone in January and it seems like it has never fully healed which causes incredible stiffness in that area and sometimes pain. I am hoping that this subsides eventually cause I really want to be able to get past it, cause it might be holding me back a little bit.

I finally found a job for the summer to help pay for University, which is pizza delivery for Panago, the pay kinda sucks but it is a job, and it is gunna provide me with money over the summer, but not sure if it will be enough. Hopefully OSAP comes through for me and provides me with more money so that I am not living in poverty next year lol.

This sport is very expensive, and everyone is always wishing for better equipment, but its not the equipment that makes the triathlete its the determination, and attitude, mixed in with training.

I am hoping to become pro one day, it will prob take a long time at the rate that I am going though, but hopefully someday it will happen. Like I said before I guess it pays to have started the sport when you were 13 years old, unfortunately for me I started at 19, which as I heard from everyone that I am too old, and should have started younger.

This is also the first time writing a blog, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to do, and hey it might come in handy once I do turn pro. I am still looking at all the guys who started triathlons later in their lives like me, such as Craig Alexander, Chris Lieto, Chrissie Wellington Scott Neyedli who I have met, and is a very cool and chill person. But like I said before, I am gunna take life one step at a time and hope for the best.

Well thanks for reading if you have, and if you have any comments please feel free, Like my title says I am looking for any support that anyone might offer.