Great way to spend a Saturday!

Yesterday was the third race of the season in the Calgary Roadrunners x-country series, Edworthy park, and I was really looking forward to getting back into some hard training. After killing myself in bike class on thursday, doing a nice easy 3k swim on friday, I wanted to get in a hard running effort. Hard was an understatment of the effort I put in that day! The course starts out fairly easy with a little 1km flat section then there is a steep, twisting downhill section where one of my spikes caught a rock or a tree root and sent me tumbling. Ouch! Great start to the race, my hands were covered in mud and thorns and I had a couple scrapes on my right arm and leg. Oh well, time to get up and get back to the race.

I managed to not lose too much ground, only one guy passed me, and then I hit the big hill. After the first 150m my legs were burning and anyone who's ever run that hill knows that it seems like it's never going to end. I tried to keep driving up at a steady pace but there were times when it was faster to just walk with some long strides. At the top of the hill my legs felt like there was nothing left, but there was still one more lap. I negotiated the downhill the second time without any issues and by the time I hit the uphill the second time I had to walk a lot of the really steep sections. The final stretch back to the start/finish seems like it is going to take forever and it was like I was jogging slowly at that point. I finally saw the finish and I could hear someone coming up on me really quickly, knowing that there were still some really fast guys right behind me I gave it one last sprint for the line. I finished in 29:43 and 4th overall and in my age category. I was happy with my effort but I'm looking for some improvement over the winter as AD and I start back into some run focused training, preparing for the Boston marathon in April.

Amber had a great race as well, finishing 2rd in her very strong age group. She didn't feel up to the swim on friday but a good meal and night's rest and she was ready to race. The next race is Okotoks on December 1st, we missed that one last year so I want to give it another "lung busting" effort.

Payment for Living the Good Life

I arrived back from TO on Wednesday and it was so nice to see AD again and be back home. The facility in King City was beautiful but really isolating, I did whatever I could to keep on track but with catered meals every afternoon and night it's really hard to resist indulging. The plane ride was long and leaving the Kingbridge Centre was the first time I'd been outside in 8 days!

Yesterday in bike class I paid for the lack of training. We did some single leg drills followed up by a short 4.8km rolling course, then 8.5km with a graduating incline 1%- 6%, by the time I hit the 4% grade I was really suffering. I could feel myself getting really lightheaded near the end and my heart rate was consistently above 160 (really high for me). I was quite disappointed to only be pushing an average of 267 watts but I knew I gave it everything I had. AD really impressed me last night, you could tell she hasn't fallen off the wagon with training, she finished right after me only 2mins back and pushed another guy in the class to the point of cracking! She had passed him on the climb and the final section was a long straight away, he was catching up to her and she put the hammer down! Pushing right to her max she was not going to let him catch her and he let up in the final 150m with a cramp. Great job babe!

It feels good to be doing something other than treadmill running and tonight we are going to do our typical long-swim Friday night date. Saturday is the CRR Edworthy cross country so than will be another 8km suffer-fest, my body is going through a little bit of training shock right now, but I know it'll get better I just have to keep at it.

Out of my Element

Life has been really tough here in "the compound" I've been just outside of King City, which is about 30 mins from Pearson airport in Toronto and it feels like the middle of no where. I've been learning a lot in regards to my new job and I'm really excited to get started, but the training is really dragging on (probably because I haven't been doing my usual- swim, bike, run with my girl as a "stress relief"). At this point I just want to get home and get back to life with AD, I really miss her.

This place is like a "white collar prison," there are four of us in the training program and none of us have left the compound in seven days! You are treated like a king here, catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner, hotel-like accommodations and snacks throughout the day, but there is nowhere to go! It's a nice facility (it used be a "fat camp") but not really appropriate for a triathlete, I ran all the trails the first day I was here in about 15 mins.

Only four more days here and I'll be back at home, back into my regular routine, I'm looking forward to it!

Weekend Tri

It was a great weekend, Amber and I finally had very few plans this past weekend so we took the opportunity to swim Friday (3.0km), bike Saturday (1hr 40mins) while watching IMC, and run a race on Sunday (12km). Tons of fun! The race on Sunday was a three person relay but AD and I decided that 4kms was really not even worth getting out of bed for and did all three laps solo. It was a tough course, but in comparison to other x-country races, it was pretty tame. I completed the 12km course in 40:04, almost under 40! Oh well, next time.

I've been concentrating on two exams on Monday and Tuesday for the "Portfolio Management Techniques" course so haven't kept up with the posts, sorry. The good news is they went well and that means I'll have the "Canadian Investment Manager" designation. A good one to have for my new job.

Good luck to Scott Curry and Kyle Marcotte in Florida November 3rd, AD and I will be cheering you on! We know you'll kick ass! You both kicked my ass in our last workout!

Hunter Tries Hang'in with the Pros

Before




After



Well today was a great day for training, and a great eye opener. I had the opportunity to ride with two professional triathletes, Scott Curry and Kyle Marcotte, and they put me in a world of hurt!!! I had always considered myself somewhat of a good cyclist but after riding with these guys for the morning, my God! I am not even in the same stratosphere as Scott and Kyle. It was a real dream to ride with guys of this caliber and I was definitely giving it everything I had to try to keep up.

I had about 1/2 hour before I met them to warm-up and I thought I'd be fresh and ready to go. I met them at the corner of 101 street and lower springbank rd. which is about 12km from home and I left myself enough time to fool with the seat on Clinton's bike as I've been suffering from a weird knee problem, most likely from using a borrowed bike. After fixing the seat and feeling well warmed-up Scott and Kyle came down 101 street right on time. We started out down lower springbank and I immediately knew I was in a world of trouble; they were talking easily between each other and I was drafting, struggling to keep pace. I didn't want to slow these guys down but I knew that I couldn't keep going for 100km at a 160 heart rate, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try. I hung on as long as I could and I could feel the lactic acid burn in my legs and my mouth was hanging open gasping for air. I did okay until we hit the hills, at that point I knew they were going to drop me very quick, and they did, it didn't help that my gearing system jammed and I couldn't get out of the big ring for a while. Fortunately Scott and Kyle are both great guys and they didn't care that I couldn't ride with them and they doubled back for me at the highway 22 junction.

Once we were over the little hill on highway 22 I felt a little better on the flats and was able to draft for most of the ride, but I think Scott and Kyle slowed quite a bit in order for me to keep up (thanks guys). Scott asked if either of us needed to stop in Bragg Creek and I was thinking to myself, my God, I need to stop and collapse in the next couple kms. I used the excuse that I needed to go to the washroom but really I just wanted to rest! We stopped and chatted for a couple minutes in Bragg and I felt a little better. The nice part was that the way back was flat and I felt more comfortable riding with these guys on the flats. Scott still pushed me quite a bit but I gave everything I could to stay on his wheel and stuck with him until we hit highway 8. At that point my body had taken enough abuse and I said thanks to both of them for a terrific ride and I made my way home.

I don't think I'd ever rode that fast to and from Bragg Creek, I wish I had a speedometer, but doing the ride other times it was about 100kms and I was riding for about 2hrs and 55mins so I know that was a lot faster then I'd ever gone before. I collapsed and needed to rest for the remainder of the day but had an awesome experience, thanks Scott for the invite, hope to do it again, give me some time to recover.

More Bike News

Well I guess my bike is going to take longer than I anticipated. Griffen has to send in a large number of bikes to be heat treated at the same time so it's not going to go for treatment until the middle of next week and will get painted the week of the 22nd. It's taking a lot longer than I anticipated but at least I have a borrowed bike to use in the meantime. I've done a couple trainer rides already and I forgot how difficult they were, it's like constantly riding uphill. The TCR classes start on the 18th and I'm trying to get back into half decent shape before then. If you don't have your cycling legs for those sessions, they will hurt!

Training has been light for the month, just mainly running (no more than an hour) and some easy biking, while mixing in a couple swims and gym workouts. Once the bike classes start up again, I'll be wanting to start up full tilt.

Had a great thanksgiving weekend with Amber's brother and his family, we all ate a lot and enjoyed hanging out with their little girls. I also had a chance to talk with Brock, the "investment specialist" I'll be replacing up in Grande Prairie. The confirmed date for the move is now set, March 10 we'll be up there. It's going to be a great opportunity and I can't wait to start the job (at least we don't have to suffer through this winter, I hear they can be really brutal up there).

Just what I needed

Yesterday I was feeling REALLY sore from the total body weight workout I did on Sunday. Yes I worked-out on Sunday and I was still sore on Wednesday, a sign of getting older I guess. I wasn't sure if I should just take a day off and rest, or try to do something to stretch and recover. I decided for the latter and went to Mount Royal for a light swim work-out. The first km was tough but after a while my body became used to the motion again. I was feeling really comfortable, I decided not to push it, also the band on my paddle broke, so I just kept it to a nice easy pace for the full 50 minutes. After 2.5km I felt really good and the D.O.M.S. had reduced dramatically.


I've been going through bike withdrawals lately, ever since I sent my bike off to be painted, the weather has been really good and I been wanting to get out there. It's probably a good thing I'm not on it, it'll give my body a chance to fully recover and I'll come back feeling ready to ride. However after three weeks I couldn't take it anymore so I called up a friend of mine and asked if I could borrow his road bike for a couple weeks. Thanks Clinton! Besides bike classes at TCR start in two weeks and I don't think I'm going to have the Griffen back by then. Tony called me and said that they are heat treating it this week and painting it next week, it would be like a brand new frame when they're done. I can't wait to see it, I received the new FSR chain ring and seat yesterday and now I'm just waiting for the areobars and frame. I'll keep you updated.