Blog Etiquette

This blog started out just as a way so that people could check on how my progression was going away from home, but there is someone out there who has taken their comments a little too far. Although this message only applies to one person out there, I would like all of my very few readers to understand that this type of behaviour can not be tollerated. Whether it be on my blog, or on anyone else's blog, rude inappropriate comments are not appreciated.

On another note, I have done two races the past week. Sunday was the Guelph Lake Olympic, it went fairly well for my second olympic. I was first out of the water, with Shaggy just on my feet. I got on the bike and quickly took control. I led until 10km where Dave Sharret passed me, then at 20km Andrew Yorke passed me. I rode the rest solo, then the run came. Im not used to running after a bike like that so i struggled. I still managed to stay in third, now only if they had kept the prize money.

Then last night I did a 3000m on the track. I was really motivated to do well, then when I got to the track i lost all motivation. During the warm up i started to feel pretty good and that motivation came back. The gun went off and i immediately got behind my pace maker. Nathan couldn't have ran a better race. He did exactly what he said he could, getting me through 2 km in 5:48, then it was up to me, I easily bridged the gap to the leaders, and with 400m to go i started to make my move. I know that i don't have a kick, and that really showed last night as the winner closed 4 seconds faster than I. I finished with a 10 second PB on absolutely no taper. And thanks to Derek, whose motivational comment gave me a little laugh when i was running.

So until later,

CH

Finally Home

There has been a lot of commotion post worlds and things have been a little hectic, but the main reason i have not done a race report yet is that i have gotten lazy. So worlds did not go as i had hoped. I was probably in the best shape of my life going into the race and i had the potential to get a top 10 result if everything went to plan, but that never happens.

I was surprisingly calm going into race morning, I woke up, shaved down, ate and made my final race preparations. We drove down to the race site and watched the end of the Junior Womens race. It looked like it didn't go to bad, it wasnt as good for the canadians as last year, but they still put in some solid results.

My warm up went on uneventful. I felt alright during the run, and pretty good in the swim. I would have liked to do a longer swim warmup, but the water temp was pretty cold and i didnt want to stay in there for a long time. So i was number 48 going in, so i was right in the thick of things. The way the swim was set up was a huge atvantage for the lower ranked athletes because to first bouy was on the far right, and everyone off to the left had to swim all the way over. I also noticed that the swim looked incredible long, which could play out to my favour if i had a good swim.

It was now time to go onto the start line, and i was much less nervous than i was last year. I know that i have a really good beach start due to my long legs and good start speed. The gun went off and i ran in. I didnt have as good as a start as i would have liked, but after the first minute i was swimming clear of the field around me. I ot to the first bouy where i felt like i was in a good position, but in the act of swimming my way to the right, i was met be a pack, and it was an all out brawl around the bouys. I remember swimming beside number two, but somewhere along the line of swimming back in i went off course and lost their feet. As soon as i started to head back in, i headed straight for home, without realizing that there was another bouy. I ended up doing an almost 90 degree turn to make to bouy, which caused me to be father back out of the water. So i missed lead pack by 15 seconds.

I tried to bridge up on the bike, but the two guys with me did absolutely nothing to help. I rode the first 2.5 km pulling them before the chase pack caught me and the two wheel suckers. The bike was uneventfull, we lost a lot of time on the leaders during the first lap, but not much after that. I did get incredible cold during the bike. My hands got so cold that i could even shift gears. I could shift up easy becasue i could use most of my fingers, but when i wanted to shift down, I had to use my thumb, even though it had no feeling.

T2 came with bad results. I couldn't ge my helmet off for the longest time. Luckely my strap streched in the rain so I was able to slip it over my chin. I started to run but had absolutely no bounce in my legs, i couldnt even feel my legs. I was so . I was so cold i was shaking for the entire run. No matter how hard i tried to pck the pace up, I just couldn't. My body was so cold that I just wanted the race to be over a quick as possible so I cold get warm. I had some stomach problem again, so I will have to find the source of the problem before my next race.

Once the race ended i went straight into the medical tent there I got all of my went cloths off and had 5 blankets wrapped around me. They gave me some warm watered down gatorade, but I was shaking so much that they had to feed it to me. i couldn't even dress myself. I had to get someone else to do it for me becaus ei was so cold.

This Worlds was a experience that I will not forget. I have learned from my mistakes, and now I know that I cant just man through it, but I have to take to precautions of protecting myself with warm clothing so that my body just doesn't shut down.

Next year worlds are in Australia, so the two aspects that have impeded my performance at the last two worlds will not be there, a wetsuit, and cold weather.

So until later,

CH

In Vancouver

Well, I have finally arrived in Vancouver. The weather isn't as nice as I would have liked it to be but what the hell. The colder it is here, the more the hot countries will suffer from the cold

We left Victoria at 10 am. Paul and I did an easy swim at Commonwealth then we loaded all my stuff for the ride to Victoria. We took the ferry across. It was pretty relaxing with the buffet and not having to be all cramped on an airplane. We are staying at the university in a suite. It isn't bad, each suite has 6 rooms, a lounge and a kitchen. I am the lucky one because my room is the only one with a double bed, the rest have singles. You can tell that they are from the 70's because of all the concrete everywhere. The nice thing about staying here is that the pool is close, it has a kitchen and it also has a great view.

So my race is Thursday at 9 am. I am starting to get a little nervous leading up to it. I guess that that is a good thing because when I am not nervous I usually dont have a good race. I feel really fit right now, my swimming has never been quicker in triathlon season, my biking is there and my running speed has increased since last year. So what this all means is look out for me during the race because i will be moving.

Yesturday I recieved an email from Shaw TV asking me to do some media interviews before and after my race, and during my race they are going to be following my progress and talking to my coach len Gushe about what is going on. So now that I am doing this, I better not lose my suit or it will be on TV. More incentive not to do that again. This is going to be a great oportunity to promote the junior aspect of the sport, and I am glad that they are not just focusing on the elites.

Again i will post the link to the live broadcasting for our race here so this way my very few readers can follow my progress towards a great result.

So until later,

CH