Snow?

So I wake up knowing I have another hard LONG run ahead of me this morning, and to my shock there was a bunch of snow on the ground, and it looked like it had NO intention of slowing down! I knew it was going to be a wet, cold, nasty slog through the slush and snow out there. Lucky for me it slowed down, but I felt like I was running in a giant snow-cone as it warmed up just enough to make my feet miserable. I'm sure there was something extra to be gained from the run, it was a doozy. 23km fartlek in 1hr40mins, definitely not easy. At least I know that all this base building will make a HUGE difference next summer, as it gives me some killer base fitness. Way more than I've ever done at this time of year before. But I guess that's what you get when you sign up with a coach as a pro athlete:(

My bad.

So some more exciting news! My first holidays from work are coming up, from January 3rd to the 14th, and Bjoern informs me there is going to be some MAJOR work going on, with a big training block that looks like a run focus.

Even more exciting though, I've picked my holidays for 2011 at work, and I managed to get some AWESOME slots!! A few weeks line up perfectly with a few major races, like the San Fransisco ITU Continental Cup in July, 5150 Las Vegas and 5150 Clearwater. I tell you, sitting in that room waiting to make my holiday picks was so exciting! Watching the picks move down the seniority list, waiting for turn to pick a slot, trying to guess who was going to pick which slot, it got pretty intense. In the end I got what I wanted, so a win for me.

Hopefully there'll be a few more wins this year.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with their family and friends, and to everyone, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! BE SAFE!

New Coach, New Season, New Goals

So it's been a while since my last post, and a bunch of stuff has been going on since then!

First off, I'm happy to announce that I've started working with Bjoern Ossenbrink of Lifesport Coaching, a very experienced professional coach that I believe will help me take my training and racing to a new level. I've been working with Bjoern since the start of December, and things are very exciting! I've been looking at the race calender for the new year, and it looks like a few of the local races races will be the rust breakers, possibly including UBC Duathlon and the North Shore Triathlon. Then I've been looking at the new 5150 Series (from the WTC,) to use as my "A" races. I will be competing in the pro division, and would really like to qualify for the newly designated 5150 series championship race, the Des Moines, Iowa, Hyvee triathlon. It has changed from a draft-legal ITU race, to a non-drafting WTC race. The non-draft suits me better, my swimming isn't exactly top of the field! I'll take another kick at the ITU can with Kelowna Nationals, and possibly the San Francisco and Texas ITU Continental Cups. Nothing is concrete yet, but at least something's in the works.

Second, I've gained sponsorship from John at Pacific Multisport in Vancouver, on Main street between 27th and 28th ave. Fantastic shop, he has everything you need and more to enjoy the sport, so go on in and check it out.

My swim has been going well, I've had a few solid swims this week which are very promising. But I've had a few phenomenal runs in the last two days. Yesterday I had a super solid 21km run around Mundy Park in Coquitlam, and it was only a 90min run. I coupled that with a very good 60min brick run off a hard bike session today, running 14.5km.

These are the workouts that are going to make the difference next season, putting the hard work in during the early pre-season. Now I'm looking forward to a ligher recovery week, and I've been assured by coach that the next building block will be a fun one. I cant wait!!!!

Time to bake some tasty cookies and spread some holiday cheer! Everyone enjoy the festivities!!!

Nathan