mytrilife

Winter is here. BRRR!!!

For my friends in Australia who read my blog.... I'm beginning to think I'm mad for staying in Canada this winter. The outside temperature reading on the dash of my Toyota this morning said -19C. Thankfully it didn't snow much, so I just turned on my wipers to clear the windows, waited a couple mins to warm the engine and off to the pool I went. On the bright side, it's supposed to snow up to 15cm this week, and then the temperature is expected to rise to -4C by the weekend. Perfect for some x-country skiing! WOO!

So what have I been up in the last month?...

The first weekend in November was the trip to Banff for Winterstart. A fun weekend in the mountains, and another PB for that race, but thankfully, my last race until May. After racing every Wed. night in the x-country series here in Edmonton, plus the Confed Park relay... it was a total of 9 races in 9 weeks. I was feeling a wee bit cooked.

A couple of days to recover from Winterstart (and the post-race party), I started into my training schedule from my new coach for this season, Marc at Ironguides. After self-coaching myself for years, I knew it was time to shake things up a bit. When requesting Marc's services he asked "Why are you seeking coaching?'... my answers:

• my performances have plateaued
• my life is much busier and complex. I need someone to do the thinking for me
• I rarely reach a race in top form, both mentally and physically

Things have been going great with the new training, a nice rhythm to my week was developing. However... I managed to catch a nasty flu virus this past week that has knocked me back a bit. I couldn't eat much for about 6 days, and managed to lose a couple kilo's... not good when you are as lean as me! Managed some easy training today, hopefully get back to full-on tomorrow.

December plans.... I'll be traveling to Regina on Dec. 21 and returning to Edmonton on Dec. 26. Will probably spend the remainder of the year in Edmonton, cross country skiing, sleeping in, relaxing and recharging for 2008.

Into the new year....

My contract has been verbally extended at this point. I'll continue doing ASP.NET website development (and whatever else they throw at me) until the end of 2008. I'm loving the work, learning a ton, and hope to see some of my website work launched early into the new year.

In January, I'm going to pull the trigger on a new bike. Likely a Felt B2 Pro. I also need a new wetsuit, helmet, bike shoes... this is going to be an expensive triathlon season!

In April, if the flight prices remain reasonable, I'm hoping to return to Maui for a two week training camp. Hopefully I can keep sane in the crazy Edmonton winter weather until then.

My race schedule for next season has been posted. Yes, you read correctly... I'm going to do Ironman Canada again. I swore off Ironman racing... but this year just seems right. I have Kelowna Apple in there as well, as it is the Canadian short course champs this year. I'm hoping I can pull off the back-to-back weekends of racing... and who knows... I might just accept a spot to Ironman Hawaii in November if I train enough to earn one.

And finally.. it's a long way off, but I'm formulating a plan to return to Australia... possibly for the entire 2009 calendar year.

Who says I'm not a planner? :-)

posted by Greg @ 12/03/2007