Ahhh.. So the end of summer approaches...

So it's almost over! Summer 2009 has almost come to a close!

It's been a GREAT summer! In spite of long distance, I've managed to see Carolyn nearly every weekend. I've attended Nationals and Commonwealths for lifesaving, and I've some hardware to prove it, and I haven't ever had a summer that has been this constructive training-wise.

OH YES!

For me, the most exciting part of my summer hasn't even hit yet. Sooke. I'm so incredibly pumped for this race, and my prep has been going really well so far. I've been able to put in a solid amount of work (still self coached though!), and I'm feeling more and more ready to tackle this race every day!

As a side note, my birthday came and passed and it was a GREAT one! Carolyn got me this AMAZING Zoot triathlon bag, which will never have me bringing a garbage bag worth of things to transition with me, and also a pair of pants from LuLuLemon which have now become the only pants I will probably ever wear.


Those guys are the pants!

And this is my beautiful new bag!


As another side note, I have met with Coach Noa Deutsch (coach of Nick/Kamal) and I think she is pretty much one of the funniest, smartest and most pragmatic people/coaches I have ever met. That said, I'm very excited to say that I will be working with her and a team of guys to continue to improve! That team includes Nick/Kamal/Adam O'Meara as well I believe. It's going to be AWESOME to train with a structured team again, and it's one of the things I miss about swimming.

So until then, Carolyn and I head to IMC this Friday to bum around and camp on Okanagan lake! Yeeeeehaw! SUPER excited! I'll probably get in some shortish workouts, but the priority is spending time with the lady-friend :)!

Adios muchachos!
TRAIN HARD!
Derbear

2 Days later...

OUCH!

And my neck is still bloody sore! Mike Neill invited me out to a ride this morning with him/Ben Cotter/Jasper/Steve and I REALLY wanted to go, but just couldn't rotate my head this morning. My back is also pretty stiff. NOT cool.... I'm really not enjoying this pain thing, and it's not even the pain that's bugging me, it's the fact I can't train. I missed a swim yesterday, the ride with Mike et. al today... When will it end!!!!

On the bright side, I've caught up on movies quite a bit, (watched Watchmen, Count of Monte Cristo, and the Omen IV (BLAH!) yesterday) and it's been nice to relax a little. That said, I'm a little bored, so I've taken to reading a sports nutrition book from the 1970s (can't even find it on the inter-webzzzz), and to be honest, not a whole ton has changed in opinions on sports nutrition. They dont even recommend carbo-loading in this book (i.e. "A carbohydrate focused diet pushes out other important nutrients that are vital to athletic performance"). Nutrition always interested me a great deal. I had about $80 in amazon.ca gift certificate money sitting around from my uncle for my birthday a few years ago, so I ended up buying "Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes", and it's definitely interesting to compare modern research with that from the 70s/80s.

So lots of reading, movie watching, and blogging until I am 100% ready to get back to training!

Yeeeeeeeehaw!

Crash.. BAM.. Thank ya ma'am!

Ouch!

I hit the pavement at 45 kph this morning on the way to work, while in TT position along Dallas road! I rolled on to my shoulder and avoided any head contact thankfully, but my left side of my body is torn up. Without further ado, I bring you the.....

...Results:
Elbow: deep cut that went through a layer of fat! Should have gotten it stitched for sure!
Hip: road rash about 6 inches down my leg, not too bad though!
Knee: large gash + scratches on the outside of my left knee!

Oweee! Gonna try and swim tomorrow morning with the group, but we'll see how it goes!

Time to also heal a littleeeee.... Thank friggen jeebus it's a rest and recovery week!

Watching TV, playing old school video games, training, (barely) working

ARghhhh!

So I've been getting a little pooched at work with regards to hours (averaging about 9 hours a week at Oak Bay Pool) so I decided to apply for more jobs, since Oak Bay is seemingly WAY overstaffed! So I applied at Running Room and got hired almost immediately! YEeeehaw! My first job that ISNT lifeguarding! As much as I like it, it really is getting to me. It's a LOT of standing around, and since I havent been getting lessons, it's been really tiring!

So I start my training for Running Room on Saturday at 12! I'm pretty excited, not gonna lie!

In other news, training has been going super well! Managing to get in lots of running/cycling, and I've also gotten my form back in the water! Times are dropping quickly, and it feels like a different type of fitness, from all of the longer sets that I've been doing (800s, 600s, 400s at pace/hard) and I'm finally feeling confident with distances over 100 (i.e. I did too many intervals before and I think it was hurting my energy saving skills I needed for the swim leg). As I said, times have been dropping as well! I held 1:10s for an undisclosed distance (I'll let YOU guess) straight (no intervals) and I felt like I could have doubled it. Maddd skilzzzzzz!

So in all this time to train/mess around the house, I've gotten addicted to Mario Kart 64, and managed to win every cup minus Rainbow! Heelllllllppppppp! I've also been using Surf the Channel to watch pretty much any show/movie in existence, and I'm lovvvvving it! I could train more, but I want to build back my run/bike gradually, to avoid any risk of injury, and with Sooke 5 weeks out, I want to be in absolute top form. That said, I've put in 18-20 hour weeks the last 3 weeks, and I feel ridiculously strong, even though my legs are absolutely dead. Thank friggen goodness next week is a rest and recovery week, before the prep period starts for Sooke!

Also, I was shown some RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY youtube vids on the weekend during Carolyn's birthday by my friend Lou, ENJOY!:

Hugs and mittens and cute little kittens

Derbearrrrrrrrrrr