Saturday, June 27, 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

28.8 Degrees

Well it is very warm here 28.8 degrees celcuis. Some people may say that 28.8 isn't very hot, but let me finish. It is not the air that is 28.8, it is the WATER. At the athlete breifing last night they said that 28.8 degrees was the lowest that they got. When the sun is out in full force, as soon as you step outside you start to sweat.

Tommorow is the world cup with $750,000 total prize money up for grabs, and with my race on Sunday, I am excited to watch. The set up here is absolutely top notch. The race venue is second to none with a little merchandise village and tones of seating around the finish line, now if they could fill the seating with fans, then that would be impressive.

The course for the Team relay is relatively easy, loop swim, a 3 loop 7km flat bike with tons of corners, and a 2km flat run.

so until later,

CH

Coteau Race Report

Ok, so i am finally getting around to writing a race report. So here is how it went from what I remember. Race morning I had a small breakfast then Tyler and I headed to the race site.

I was a little worried leading up to this race because I had just finished my biggest training week of the year so I was unsure how my body would react to the stresses of racing. I did a short warm up on the bike and run, then got my wetsuit on and did one loop of the course, and I felt awful the entire time.

I was ranked second coming in behind Matt V .so I took a spot beside him at one end of the pontoon. It was a wierd start, all of us on the left couldnt hear the starter, so all we heard was the horn. By the time we reacted, everyone was already in the air, which caused the pontoon to shift out from under us, so everyone on the left basically belly flopped into the water. I swam the first 50m with my head down, then looked up and everyone on the left had about 15 metres on me. I took me the better part of 500m to finally work my way past everyone to get up to lead pack. I exited the water in 10, in what was definately my slowest/worst swim in a few years. I had a quick transition, and headed onto the bike.

I had to hammer the first km of the bike because i was in no mans land, but I finally cuaght on. A group of 7 or 8 of us formed and some of us worked well together. Sharpe flatted after the first lap, so that left us a little short, but there were enought people pulling in the pack that i didnt have t really worry about getting tired. Overall the bike wasnt too stressful, and we entered t2 with about a minute lead.

On the run, the leaders took off like they were running a km repeat. I just stayed back and let them die off. About 1km into the run I moved into the lead annd just kept building. At the turn around I noticed that the chase pack had some strong runners, so i really pushed the third stretch, then at the turnaround I knew that there was a big enough gap that Iwasnt going to be caught.

So I was first overall, and a relative newcomer to junior racing, Tristan Woodfine, a first year junior was second. Watch out for this kid in the future because he can run.





So until later,
CH

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Coteau du Lac

Race report to come later

Canadian Triathletes Connor Hammond and Kyla Coates Win Teck National Junior Series in Quebec
—Paula Findlay stomps field en route to winning women’s elite gold


COTEAU-DU-LAC, Que.—Canada’s Connor Hammond and Kyla Coates won the second stage of the three-race Teck Triathlon National Junior Series on Saturday in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec near Montreal.

The 18-year-old Hammond, who finished second at the PATCO Championships earlier this year, maintained pace with the lead pack through the 750-metre swim and 20-kilometre ride on the bike before storming to the lead in the five-kilometre run. The London, Ont. native crossed the line with a time of 57 minutes 42 seconds.

“It was a great day and I was able to get out of the water with the lead pack. We worked well together on the bike and I just gave it all I had in the run,” said Hammond. “Last week was a very tiring 24-hour training week so my legs were a little tired and I was really fatigued coming in. I’m happy I was able to finish on top.”

Hammond was joined on the junior men’s podium by Ontario’s Tristan Woodfine, who finished second with a time of 58:01 after posting the fastest run time. Quebec’s Marc-Antoine Christian locked up third spot at 58:33.

Victoria’s Kyla Coates continued her golden streak by winning her third consecutive women’s race in as many starts this year. Coates, who captured the PATCO Championship title and the first race of the Teck Junior Series in Winnipeg this spring, bolted her way to the top of the podium again on Saturday with a time of 1:02:53.

Coates was joined on the women’s podium by Ontario’s Joanna Brown, who locked up second spot after posting the fastest time in the run. Brown stopped the clock with a time of 1:03:12. Christine Ridenour, of British Columbia, powered her way into third place after clocking-in at 1:03:50.

Meanwhile, Coteau-du-Lac also hosted the elite men and women Olympic distance races under ideal conditions Saturday.

Edmonton’s Paula Findlay stomped the field in her first race of the year after recovering from a stress fracture in her foot. The 20-year-old budding star on Canada’s national squad clocked a golden time of 2:03:50 in the women’s 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bike and 10-kilometre run.

“I was really happy with how I raced today especially since it was my first of the year,” said Findlay. “I have been slowly progressing on the run and need to continue working hard, but I was just happy to be able to finish a 10-kilometre run without any pain.”

Findlay was joined on the elite women’s podium by Victoria’s Kerry Spearing who finished second at 2:04:50, while Ontario’s Ayesha Rollinson ran up from the chase pack to grab third place with a time of 2:07:35.

The elite men’s results were not available at publication.
The Teck National Junior Series is the nation’s premier development race circuit which allows athletes and coaches the appropriate focal points for training and monitoring athlete progression. The annual three-race series is used by Triathlon Canada for World Junior Team and Canada Games selections.

Canada’s top junior triathletes will now head to Gatineau, Que. for the third and final stop of the tour, July 11.


(Although the elite results weren't up, AP was second and Yorke broke out of his shell and had an amazing race to finish third, congrats guys)

So until later,
CH

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Popular website

Well, Craig has gotten on my back about not posting very much, so here is a very popular website that I like to visit a lot.

Training is going well in Guelph, so can't complain about that.

So until later,

CH

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Next few days

A couple days ago I came down with a little illness. It was just a mild cold, I took a day off of training and i feel a lot better now. Hopefully I can be fully recovered for tommorow becasue I am competing in a 5km on the track in London. I am looking to finally crack that 15 minute barrier. The start list is very competitive, with about 20 people entered under 15 minutes, so if i am going to finally break the barrier, this is going to be the race to do it at. A performance list can be found here.

On Thursday I am heading down to Guelph for the summer/next 4 years, so I am looking foward to that. Thats it for now, not much has happened lately.

So until later,
CH