Riding The Great White North

Today's training went well. I rode the GWN 1/2 IM course, well - 70 km of it. The day started out warm, so I wore a sleeveless jersey. By the time I got to Stony Plain the sky was dark and Petra and I were wondering if we would ride. Why did I bother with sunscreen? Then everybody else started showing up, so then we were held accountable and opted to ride. Francis lent me her jacket and that saved my ride. There were nine of us out today - Lou Hetke, Francis and Lee Sitek, Petra Groeschel, Ben Johnson, Bob and Dwayne (last names unknown), Ron Hoover and yours truly.

I ran for 15 minutes after the ride and it wasn't enjoyable. This has really opened up my eyes and I wonder if I'll do well on July 5 at the Great White North. The slogan for that race is "Only the Strong Survive". I guess on race day we'll see if I AM strong.

I'm Committed Now

Today I put my final payment on the Games portion of Australia. I'm going to have a lot of points for groceries at Superstore by the time I'm finished this trip.

I'm starting to get excited and printing off everything on the World Masters Games' site, as well as everything else I can find. 130 day to go.

The portion for my tour from Sydney to Cairns after the World Masters Games is due on August 5.

Coronation Triathlon

My first triathlon of 2009 was this past Sunday. I felt it was going to be a great day because the weather was fantastic. It went fairly well considering I haven't been too disciplined with training, not to mention the weather hasn't been great riding weather. I think I have been out on the bike only five times. Most people are in the same boat though.

I was teaching my Mom how to take pictures with my new camera. I showed her how to just aim the camera and hold it there until I am in the frame and then click instead of trying to follow me. Well, she got that down pat, but all the pictures were of me zooming past her. At the end of my second lap, I yelled for her to aim ahead instead so I could come towards her and it would be easier for her, but I think she just got flustered. You know what they say about old dogs. I can't complain because she's my biggest fan. A 78 year old woman out on the race course cheering everybody on. I think she really likes being a part of it. Maybe she's living vicariously through me. Yeah, I have a pretty cool Mom.

I knew my swim wouldn't be memorable. I just wanted to get it over with. I was lapped a couple of times by Teresa Sturgess. It took me 23 minutes to swim 1 km - bang on where I thought it would be. My swimming hasn't been the same since my shoulder surgery, but part of it is my fault because I haven't been swimming regularly. Come to think of it, the only thing I have been doing regularly is running.

The bike is always fun - down Groat Road, pretending I'm darting in and out of traffic. Groat Road was closed to traffic, so there was no darting to be had, just my imagination. It was GO TIME. My legs were hurting a bit because I haven't ridden much and I didn't lift weights consistently over the winter. I finished the 24.2 km bike in 54:21 - not great, but I've never been a really strong cyclist.

Now for the run. My strongest discipline. Four km down hill to McKinnon Ravine - oops, have to stop and find a tree - and four km back up Groat Road. I was pleased with my time, considering again, that I hadn't been training consistently. I've been running consistently, but haven't been riding, so my legs were kind of cooked before I even started the run. It took me 44:22 to run 8 km. Considering my time is usually a bit more than 40:00 for 8 km on flat terrain, 44:22 is pretty darn good for the last half being up hill. My Mom took a couple of pictures of me running, but I'm not sharing. It may be my best discipline, but my running pictures are always awful.

In the end - guess who won in my age group? Teresa Sturgess!

All in all, it was a great day! Check out my results.

Tomorrow Is Go Time

Well, my first triathlon of the season is tomorrow - Coronation. It's convenient being that it's in Edmonton. I haven't been training as diligently as I should be so I don't know how well I'll fare tomorrow. I guess time will tell.

Last week, I went to Drumheller with ETC, and Drumheller kicked my butt. It made me realize that I need to get out on the bike more and now that it looks like we're going to finally get nice weather I just might get out on the bike more.

Ride With The Dinosaurs in Drumheller

I went to Drumheller this week-end with 37 other enthusiastic cycling friends. The Weather Network kept changing its forecast from OK to worse to great. NEVER believe TWN. Fortunately, we had great weather.

Day 1 - Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em at 7:30 am to start riding at 9:30. I met my new best Australian friend, Ben Johnson. The joke all week-end is that he isn't black and he isn't on the steroids anymore. He said he hadn't heard that much about Ben Johnson until he arrived in Canada. We had alot to talk about all week-end - things to do and see in Sydney. He was alot of fun. Maan, I'm looking forward to going to Australia.

Breakfast was served in the breakfast area - cereals, waffles, muffins, fruit and oatmeal. It was a full breakfast. Our stomachs were full and we were ready for 101 km of cycling. It ended up being glorious cycling weather at 23 degrees celcius. We finished our day back at the hotel at about 3 pm. We sat around enjoying the weather until we all car pooled to the ghost town of Wayne for dinner, where we barbequed our own steaks. It was a fun evening. Petra and I noticed a sign that said "Wayne Community Cemetery", but it wasn't recommended that anyone go to the cemetery because it hadn't been maintained for years. We decided we wanted to see why it wasn't recommended, so we headed up the hill looking for who knows what. We didn't find anything. As we got further up the hill we still didn't find anything. "Who would bring a dead body up this far", we asked each other. We finally gave up and went back to the bottom. The group got together for some photo ops and then we went back to the bustling town of Drumheller.

Day 2 - Same routine as yesterday - up at 7:30 am to leave at 9:30. The weather was supposed to be even nicer at 26 degrees. Sunscreen was a must both days. Our journey today will take us to the Bleriot Ferry and on to other destinations. The ride down into the valley was great. It was steep and fast, but the ferry ride was only a 5 minute ride, if that. The ride up the hill on the other side was very steep and slow. It was a long grind to the lunch stop with strong winds, but it was a welcome sight to see the support vans waiting there for me. It was my turn to drive one of the support vans after lunch and I was the sweep van so had to stay behind to ensure the last riders were OK. I didn't read the instructions so I went the wrong way and 4 km down the road I realized I had made a wrong turn when I hadn't seen any riders for awhile. I made a quick U-turn and quickly caught up with the riders. None of them knew I did such a stupid thing. I finally met up with Jack, the next driver. He took over and I had a sweet ride into town after that. It was a tail wind all the way into Drumheller. There's no better sound that having a tail wind and hearing nothing but your tires roll on the pavement.

Tonight we went to Boston Pizza for dinner, and a few of us went to the bar after dinner. We all had martinis and Susan got the giggles. After awhile I was ready to go to bed and catch up on the sleep I hadn't got on Friday and Saturday, but a few party goers (Susan, Phil, Dan, Gord, Kevin) wanted to go for ice cream - what in this weather????? - and they pulled me out of my room to go find ice cream, so we were on a mission to find ice cream. We ended up at a 7-Eleven, where we walked in and promptly walked out a minute later, without buying anything, let alone ice cream. Our next destination - a 24-hour IGA. Sobey's hasn't reached the small town of Drumheller yet. Dan bought ice cream, but nobody else did. I was ready to hit the hay by now, but they wanted more. Off to the local bar we went. Since the next day was only supposed to be a high of 6 degrees and windy, we knew we wouldn't have to get to bed early to get up the next day for cycling. Welcome to Alberta. Susan got the giggles again, and couldn't stop.

Day 3 - Ahhhh, we got to sleep in and take our leisurely time to pack and get ready for our journey home. Susan - my car buddy - and me stopped in the new local coffee shop for a latte. We discovered 2 massage chairs that we took advantage of to get the kinks out after our week-end of riding. It was a relaxing morning. The week-end had to come to an end at some point though and we got up from our relaxing chairs and headed home.

All in all the week-end was a smashing success.

Change in Plans

Well, I've decided that this blog will be more than just my anticipated trip to Australia. I will also use it to post my training, races and trip to Las Vegas - all of 2009.

My first triathlon of the season is only a week and a half away - Coronation - Yikes. I haven't really been training the way I should be. It's mostly because of the weather - it's discouraging. In past years, when I was training for Ironman, I would train more diligently, but this year my motivation is low. It's mostly the swimming I have a hard time making it to because it is so early in the morning and I don't have a group to swim with anymore because I joined the YMCA. Biking is difficult too because the weather has been so cold. Running has been better. I had a run tonight, but opted to not run because I didn't feel like it. I wasn't in the best of moods because I just had to spend $508 on tires for my car today.

At this point in my life, I just want to stay fit. I don't care about being fast.

I am going to Drumheller this weekend on a bike trip, so that will allow me some riding time. The weather is supposed to be nice too, but I'll believe it when I see it. One day it's supposed to be a cold week-end and the next minute it's supposed to be nice. It'll be a fun week-end away with the girls though.

Why I Started This Blog

I can now consider myself an experienced blogger because I have read blogs, posted messages on blogs and now created my own blog of my adventure leading up to and including (of course) my trip to Australia.

I will be competing in the World Masters Games (WMG) in Sydney from October 10 - 18. The WMG is an event much like the Olympics (but bigger), where athletes who wouldn't ever be able to compete in the Olympics can compete in an international event, with all the sports the Olympics has to offer. The only qualifiers - passion for the sport and 30 years of age.

October 11th will be my first event, the 10 km race; the 13th takes me on an 8 km cross country adventure and I'm running the 1/2 marathon on the last day of the WMG.

I leave Edmonton on October 5 and arrive in Sydney on October 7. My first stop will be Vancouver, where I have an approximate four hour layover. Next stop - sunny Los Angeles, where I have another long layover. I don't mind the long layovers though because there's no need to worry about missing my next flight. Finally, my next flight is to Sydney. I arrive at 7:05am local time. I end up in Cairns on October 30 and stay there for a few days until November 3, when I fly home to Edmonton. A whole month in Australia. Maaaan, I can hardly wait. I've heard Aussies live life to the fullest and they're more laid back than us North Americans. I'm looking forward to the relaxing and fun atmosphere, not to mention warm weather for a month and not a care in the world.

I hooked up with a lady from Calgary as we both needed somebody to share accommodation with. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza on Darling Harbour, right in the heart of Sydney - called the Central Business District - where all the hustle and bustle will be. Our registration gives us free public transportation, so I'll definitely be taking advantage of that.

Only 147 days to go. The big day will be here before you know it.

I'm now changing this post because I have changed this blog to be about my adventures in 2009.