To all those who gave their lives for our Country, we will always remember.
What A Week!
9 years ago
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
In the last few months i have been running faster than ever before. Unfortunately a month ago I severly hurt my back in a cross country race and it has never recovered. After a convincing win at our regional championships i was convinced that i would be at 100 percent at ofsaa. Unfortunately I was mistaken and about 1km into the race my back completely seized up.
Leading up to ofsaa I was in high spirits as I had a chance at medaling, as well as our team. We travelled down to Sarnia the day before to do a walk through to familarize ourselves with what would be most of our last cross country race as high school students. Everything went well and we headed back to our hotel to get some rest. We had a little nascar tournament and then packed it in for the night.
The next morning I did my pre-race ritual that included pancakes, shaving down and I was ready to rock. The day started out well with our midget boy placing in the top 60, and Kirsten placing in the top 50. Then it was time for the big boys. I did my warm up and everything felt great. After stretching I made my way down to the start line to do my strides.
The race started and everything was going to plan. I got into the top 10 and stayed there. Moe came by me at about the 500m mark and kept the pace high. I felt as though I was sprinting for the first km. Moe and the three our four that tried to go with him must have gone through that first km in about 2:45 with me trailing by about 5 seconds. About 100m after that point my back seized while climbing a small hill and it did not release. From that point on I was in survival mode. I ended up finishing 29, but more importantly our team was third, 10 points up of fourth. So although i didnt perform to my expectations, our team did exceptional in such a strong field.
After the race i could barely move. My back was in so much pain. I was walking around like Frankenstein and i am sure that it would have been qiute the site watching me walk around. This isnt even the most amount of pain that my back caused me, the day after I could barely get out of bed. It took a few more days before I had my mobility back, and now a week later, my back is still sore.
Some interesting news, Last tuesday I was watching T.V. when the doorbell rang. I answered it and they asked me if i was Connor Hammond. I said ya, they they told me that they were from the CCES and they were here to drug test me. I was taken back because I never thought that they would come test me, but I guess that means that they are serious about their testing.
So until later,
CH
Leading up to ofsaa I was in high spirits as I had a chance at medaling, as well as our team. We travelled down to Sarnia the day before to do a walk through to familarize ourselves with what would be most of our last cross country race as high school students. Everything went well and we headed back to our hotel to get some rest. We had a little nascar tournament and then packed it in for the night.
The next morning I did my pre-race ritual that included pancakes, shaving down and I was ready to rock. The day started out well with our midget boy placing in the top 60, and Kirsten placing in the top 50. Then it was time for the big boys. I did my warm up and everything felt great. After stretching I made my way down to the start line to do my strides.
The race started and everything was going to plan. I got into the top 10 and stayed there. Moe came by me at about the 500m mark and kept the pace high. I felt as though I was sprinting for the first km. Moe and the three our four that tried to go with him must have gone through that first km in about 2:45 with me trailing by about 5 seconds. About 100m after that point my back seized while climbing a small hill and it did not release. From that point on I was in survival mode. I ended up finishing 29, but more importantly our team was third, 10 points up of fourth. So although i didnt perform to my expectations, our team did exceptional in such a strong field.
After the race i could barely move. My back was in so much pain. I was walking around like Frankenstein and i am sure that it would have been qiute the site watching me walk around. This isnt even the most amount of pain that my back caused me, the day after I could barely get out of bed. It took a few more days before I had my mobility back, and now a week later, my back is still sore.
Some interesting news, Last tuesday I was watching T.V. when the doorbell rang. I answered it and they asked me if i was Connor Hammond. I said ya, they they told me that they were from the CCES and they were here to drug test me. I was taken back because I never thought that they would come test me, but I guess that means that they are serious about their testing.
So until later,
CH
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Cross Country
Well, another post another month. With the cross country winding to a close, I thought that I would recap the running season so far.
After the two week break after Nats I started to get back into the rythem very easy by winning the first race. I took a few races off so I didnt feel over raced this year and it has worked out. I had a significant setback a pre-ofsaa where my soas tightend up causing my back, quad and calf to seize up so I had to drop out. The next week was on and off depending on the terrain. I could run on the flats fine, but as soon a a significantly steep hill came i almost had to slow to a crawl in order to keep my back from seizing.
The next week went by very fast, and in that week I probably took 2-4 days off in order for my back to recoperate. The Thursday after pre-ofsaa was TVRAA and I went in trying to put in a solid 7km race effort. I really pushed the pace but after about 4 km I had to easy up in order to keep my back in tack. Some people would have been very frustrated with this, but I saw this as an improvement from the last week and this kept my hopes up for WOSSA a week later. What got my spirits up even more the the astonishing 18 points that our team tallied at conference.
After a solid week of training, I had established in my mind that I was back in action and ready to let it rip at WOSSA. With high hopes as an individual and as a team, I/we did not disappoint. We placed 1/3/7/11 totaling 22 points. I made my break at 3 km on an extremely hilly course and won by 30 seconds. Our team did amazing with all of us having stellar races. I know that not many people are picking us to medal at OFSAA, but watch out Ontario, after the smoke of OFSAA clears, Chris Balestrini, Mike Crosby, Zach Cahill, Justin Laing Troy Biddle and myself will be standing on the podium at the end of the race.
So with OFSAA a few days away, I am just letting the OFSAA gods take care of things. There is nothing that I can do from now on in that will make me any fitter. I can only make sure that I am getting enough rest, stretching, and eating right to ensure that I am fully prepared to give 100%.
So until later,
CH
After the two week break after Nats I started to get back into the rythem very easy by winning the first race. I took a few races off so I didnt feel over raced this year and it has worked out. I had a significant setback a pre-ofsaa where my soas tightend up causing my back, quad and calf to seize up so I had to drop out. The next week was on and off depending on the terrain. I could run on the flats fine, but as soon a a significantly steep hill came i almost had to slow to a crawl in order to keep my back from seizing.
The next week went by very fast, and in that week I probably took 2-4 days off in order for my back to recoperate. The Thursday after pre-ofsaa was TVRAA and I went in trying to put in a solid 7km race effort. I really pushed the pace but after about 4 km I had to easy up in order to keep my back in tack. Some people would have been very frustrated with this, but I saw this as an improvement from the last week and this kept my hopes up for WOSSA a week later. What got my spirits up even more the the astonishing 18 points that our team tallied at conference.
After a solid week of training, I had established in my mind that I was back in action and ready to let it rip at WOSSA. With high hopes as an individual and as a team, I/we did not disappoint. We placed 1/3/7/11 totaling 22 points. I made my break at 3 km on an extremely hilly course and won by 30 seconds. Our team did amazing with all of us having stellar races. I know that not many people are picking us to medal at OFSAA, but watch out Ontario, after the smoke of OFSAA clears, Chris Balestrini, Mike Crosby, Zach Cahill, Justin Laing Troy Biddle and myself will be standing on the podium at the end of the race.
So with OFSAA a few days away, I am just letting the OFSAA gods take care of things. There is nothing that I can do from now on in that will make me any fitter. I can only make sure that I am getting enough rest, stretching, and eating right to ensure that I am fully prepared to give 100%.
So until later,
CH
Friday, September 19, 2008
More photos from the summer
Before Taylor's mullet
After
Kelowna race site
Mark pre race
Hill elite have to climb before we got through with itI still have more photos that i will post,
So until later
CH
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Update
Well I guess that this is long overdue, long overdue. A lot of people have been telling me to update my blog, so I finally will. So where did I leave off, oh ya over 2 months ago. Lets start from the beginning, I will try and give as much detail as possible, but some things area a little hazy as they were so long ago. this is going to be a long one so if you have to go to the bathroom, go now.
Late July I did the Burlington 5km. It went alright, I had an 6 second personal best and the first road race win of the year.
Next was the PEI junior series race. We decided to drive out, what a mistake. This was the ride of death. Never again, longest drive ever. Before I decided to drive there I didnt relize that it was the same distance to PEI as it is to Florida. So Next time i'm deinately flying. Ok back to the race. I felt a little tired going in because we had been logging some big miles. The Summerside race committee put on a top notch race. They built a pontoon start and a ramp from the pontoon to the peir that shifted with the tide. So race day came and I was ready to let loose. I did a little warm up in each disipline. I was ranked pretty low going in so I did't know what kind of a starting position I was going to get, but as luck would have it, I ended up getting a spot between a couple of weaker swimmers on the left side. So the gun went off and had no trouble getting clear water. I was first to the first bouy a couple hundred metres out, and led the rest of the swim. Six or seven of us got out of the water together, but in the first few km's it split with Sharpe, Philips, Thomas and me in the lead pack and the other chasing. We worked together really well and kept our 45 second gap. The run came and i felt awful, Jeff passed me in the first 500m and kept pulling away. I stayed in second until 2 km to go where Matt passes me, and with a few hundred to go Ian passed me. This race didnt go as i planned, but it showed me that we can stay away on the bike in North America.
So back to Hamilton after a 18 hour drive. Im definately flying next time. Everything went well leading into nationals. So I stayed in hamilton for a week before heading home for for 2 days.
Ok now Kelowna. I left on the Thursday from London and had a pretty sweet flight the whole way out. I sat in the front row with a blind lady and her seeing eye dog so I had lots of space. I arrived in Kelowna and went to get my bagage and what do I see, the whole Hamilton gang waiting to get there bags. So we go to our hotel and made a quick bike down to the beach. I thought it was a nice beach, but we found a better one, more to come on that later. I felt very good going into the race and the training that I had done since december was going to prove it. Race day came and it was going to be a hot one. I was ranked number 1 so I got the best swim spot. The gun went off and I just went as hard as I could for the first 200 metres. I was all by myself and I couldnt feel anyone behind me so I just kept a nice steady pace for the next 2oom before Cole, Matt and someone else came by me and I hopped on the back of that train. The 4 of us exited the water together with Aaron a few seconds back. On the bike Aaron caught us and the four of us worked well to stay away. With one lap to go we had 35 seconds on the chase pack, but in the last lap they pulled back 10 seconds on us. We started the run and I went to the front, but it was not to be. I had gotten pretty dehydrated and didnt notice it until the run, and there was no way to recover from it in 5 km. The run just kept getting uglier and uglier. I don't know how i got across the line but it could not have come soon enough. My head hurt and i was starting to get pretty dizzy. After the race i had a searing headache for a couple hours, but nothing that a trip to the beach couldn't fix(along with a few aspirin). Now this is the beach i was talking about. One of the nicest i have ever been to.
The next day was the elites. Although not everyone had the race they wanted too, they never gave up and everyone finished, despite one person having an infected vertebrea, another with a concussion, and another with a broken elbow.
After this i stayed in Kelowna for a few days before taking the greyhound to Penticton (I did arrive alive with my head still attached to my body) to watch the ironman. I worked at the Ironman for the week, and it remember why i hated working there. Race day consisted of a 5am-1pm shift, then 10pm-5 am. Although work sucked, Penticton was a pretty nice town. So after being away from home since late June, i was finally home for good.
Right now I am in just starting the high school cross season (thats right, im one of those guys who for some reason comes back for a fifth year, my advice, DO NOT COME BACK, even if it means going to the University of Yellowknife or something). I am just getting over a pretty bad sickness so today was the first day back since monday, and it was pretty ugly. Thats basically it for now, ill post some photos later.
So until later, but hopefully not too long.
CH
Late July I did the Burlington 5km. It went alright, I had an 6 second personal best and the first road race win of the year.
Next was the PEI junior series race. We decided to drive out, what a mistake. This was the ride of death. Never again, longest drive ever. Before I decided to drive there I didnt relize that it was the same distance to PEI as it is to Florida. So Next time i'm deinately flying. Ok back to the race. I felt a little tired going in because we had been logging some big miles. The Summerside race committee put on a top notch race. They built a pontoon start and a ramp from the pontoon to the peir that shifted with the tide. So race day came and I was ready to let loose. I did a little warm up in each disipline. I was ranked pretty low going in so I did't know what kind of a starting position I was going to get, but as luck would have it, I ended up getting a spot between a couple of weaker swimmers on the left side. So the gun went off and had no trouble getting clear water. I was first to the first bouy a couple hundred metres out, and led the rest of the swim. Six or seven of us got out of the water together, but in the first few km's it split with Sharpe, Philips, Thomas and me in the lead pack and the other chasing. We worked together really well and kept our 45 second gap. The run came and i felt awful, Jeff passed me in the first 500m and kept pulling away. I stayed in second until 2 km to go where Matt passes me, and with a few hundred to go Ian passed me. This race didnt go as i planned, but it showed me that we can stay away on the bike in North America.
So back to Hamilton after a 18 hour drive. Im definately flying next time. Everything went well leading into nationals. So I stayed in hamilton for a week before heading home for for 2 days.
Ok now Kelowna. I left on the Thursday from London and had a pretty sweet flight the whole way out. I sat in the front row with a blind lady and her seeing eye dog so I had lots of space. I arrived in Kelowna and went to get my bagage and what do I see, the whole Hamilton gang waiting to get there bags. So we go to our hotel and made a quick bike down to the beach. I thought it was a nice beach, but we found a better one, more to come on that later. I felt very good going into the race and the training that I had done since december was going to prove it. Race day came and it was going to be a hot one. I was ranked number 1 so I got the best swim spot. The gun went off and I just went as hard as I could for the first 200 metres. I was all by myself and I couldnt feel anyone behind me so I just kept a nice steady pace for the next 2oom before Cole, Matt and someone else came by me and I hopped on the back of that train. The 4 of us exited the water together with Aaron a few seconds back. On the bike Aaron caught us and the four of us worked well to stay away. With one lap to go we had 35 seconds on the chase pack, but in the last lap they pulled back 10 seconds on us. We started the run and I went to the front, but it was not to be. I had gotten pretty dehydrated and didnt notice it until the run, and there was no way to recover from it in 5 km. The run just kept getting uglier and uglier. I don't know how i got across the line but it could not have come soon enough. My head hurt and i was starting to get pretty dizzy. After the race i had a searing headache for a couple hours, but nothing that a trip to the beach couldn't fix(along with a few aspirin). Now this is the beach i was talking about. One of the nicest i have ever been to.
The next day was the elites. Although not everyone had the race they wanted too, they never gave up and everyone finished, despite one person having an infected vertebrea, another with a concussion, and another with a broken elbow.
After this i stayed in Kelowna for a few days before taking the greyhound to Penticton (I did arrive alive with my head still attached to my body) to watch the ironman. I worked at the Ironman for the week, and it remember why i hated working there. Race day consisted of a 5am-1pm shift, then 10pm-5 am. Although work sucked, Penticton was a pretty nice town. So after being away from home since late June, i was finally home for good.
Right now I am in just starting the high school cross season (thats right, im one of those guys who for some reason comes back for a fifth year, my advice, DO NOT COME BACK, even if it means going to the University of Yellowknife or something). I am just getting over a pretty bad sickness so today was the first day back since monday, and it was pretty ugly. Thats basically it for now, ill post some photos later.
So until later, but hopefully not too long.
CH
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger
Since my last post not much else has happened. I finally got back in the pool, and man was it ugly. We did a time trial yesturday for those who need a QFG standard and it was horrible. I was 12 second slower in the the time trial than I did in practice at the end of a hard 400 set 2 weeks ago. Then today was our usual Gullivers lake brick. I had nothing in the swim, my arms were dead, but I still managed to lead 2 of the three from the gun. Oh well, it will take me a few days to start to feel the water agian.
My biking has been the worst. Ever since since I got off the trainer on Saturday there just hasn't been any power in my legs. They are extremely sore right now and I have no explanation as to why. I guees what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
My running is still there, on Monday we did 5x1km on a grass loop. I was knocking off sub three km's like they were nothing. My legs died a little on the last one but once again, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Tommorow i will be doing the Burlington 5km, so i will be able to judge my fitness from that.
So until later,
CH
My biking has been the worst. Ever since since I got off the trainer on Saturday there just hasn't been any power in my legs. They are extremely sore right now and I have no explanation as to why. I guees what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
My running is still there, on Monday we did 5x1km on a grass loop. I was knocking off sub three km's like they were nothing. My legs died a little on the last one but once again, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Tommorow i will be doing the Burlington 5km, so i will be able to judge my fitness from that.
So until later,
CH
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Gatineau race report and training
So I am finally getting around to writing a race report from the Gatineau Provincials last weekend. My fellow junior Mark Bechtel and I drove up the night before and did the course. I felt really good leading into the race, even after a killer few weeks of training.
I did my usual warm up, fired up the pistons and the engine was ready to go. They changed the swim so that it would be more fare since there were over 60 men starting the race. I started on the far right, and all the other good swimers seemed to flock over to my direction. I knew that I was going to have a good swim by the way I have been crushing it in every swim practice.
The gun went off and I imediately went to the front. I didn't take it out as hard as i could have, but i stil went out pretty hard. After the first couple hundred metres i moved into a clear lead after passing Mark Bechtel and led for the entire swim. After rounding the last bouy I noticed that I had gapped everyone so I just kept a nice steady effort in. Once I got out there was still a gap. Into T1 I went, but I couldnt find my bike. There were so many bike so close together that I couldn't find my bike. I still made the lead pack of 4 after chasing for a bit. Once the four came together we were like a well oiled machine. It wasnt hard staying in the pack, and I probably could have pushed a little harder to ensure that we stayed away, but I wasnt sure how my legs were going to feel going onto the run so I left that reserve there in case I needed it.
At the end of the second a lap 2 guys caught us, I thought that they were just over anxious guys sprinting off the front of the chase pack, but in fact they were from the third pack. I made the mistake of waiting for the chase pack since they were only a few seconds behind us, bad mistake. I chased for 1 lap, but there werent very many strong cyclists in our pack and they weren't working well. We lost time on the third lap. About 200 metres into the last lap someone took out my front wheel and had nowhere to go but down. I went down and when I got up i was jsut mangled with road rash. I tried to mount my bike but it was far from rideable, and the cuts on my body weren't co operating.
I just dont understand it. There were so many crashes in Gatineau, it wasnt even a technical course. I guess thats what you get when you combine elites, u23's and juniors, carnage.
That crash has set my training back a week, i wasnt able to raise my arm for a few days so that has kept me out of the water for a week, and i have a huge gash on my hand which has me on the trainer.
I have learned from my mistakes and i am looking foward to making up for my mistakes in PEI. Now i am not waiting and i'll be back in full force.
I did my usual warm up, fired up the pistons and the engine was ready to go. They changed the swim so that it would be more fare since there were over 60 men starting the race. I started on the far right, and all the other good swimers seemed to flock over to my direction. I knew that I was going to have a good swim by the way I have been crushing it in every swim practice.
The gun went off and I imediately went to the front. I didn't take it out as hard as i could have, but i stil went out pretty hard. After the first couple hundred metres i moved into a clear lead after passing Mark Bechtel and led for the entire swim. After rounding the last bouy I noticed that I had gapped everyone so I just kept a nice steady effort in. Once I got out there was still a gap. Into T1 I went, but I couldnt find my bike. There were so many bike so close together that I couldn't find my bike. I still made the lead pack of 4 after chasing for a bit. Once the four came together we were like a well oiled machine. It wasnt hard staying in the pack, and I probably could have pushed a little harder to ensure that we stayed away, but I wasnt sure how my legs were going to feel going onto the run so I left that reserve there in case I needed it.
At the end of the second a lap 2 guys caught us, I thought that they were just over anxious guys sprinting off the front of the chase pack, but in fact they were from the third pack. I made the mistake of waiting for the chase pack since they were only a few seconds behind us, bad mistake. I chased for 1 lap, but there werent very many strong cyclists in our pack and they weren't working well. We lost time on the third lap. About 200 metres into the last lap someone took out my front wheel and had nowhere to go but down. I went down and when I got up i was jsut mangled with road rash. I tried to mount my bike but it was far from rideable, and the cuts on my body weren't co operating.
I just dont understand it. There were so many crashes in Gatineau, it wasnt even a technical course. I guess thats what you get when you combine elites, u23's and juniors, carnage.
That crash has set my training back a week, i wasnt able to raise my arm for a few days so that has kept me out of the water for a week, and i have a huge gash on my hand which has me on the trainer.
I have learned from my mistakes and i am looking foward to making up for my mistakes in PEI. Now i am not waiting and i'll be back in full force.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Tour picks
Here are my picks for the Tour de France. I have avoided the news all day so i have no idea what happened today. So here they are.
Top 3 1. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Caisse d'Epargne
2. Cadel Evans, AUS, Lotto
3. Carlos Sastra, Spain, CSC
Green- Robby MCewen
Mountain- Juan Mauricio Soler, Colombia, Barloworld
Training has been going really well, and i am looking forward to ripping it up in Gatineau next weekend.
So until later,
CH
Top 3 1. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Caisse d'Epargne
2. Cadel Evans, AUS, Lotto
3. Carlos Sastra, Spain, CSC
Green- Robby MCewen
Mountain- Juan Mauricio Soler, Colombia, Barloworld
Training has been going really well, and i am looking forward to ripping it up in Gatineau next weekend.
So until later,
CH
Friday, July 4, 2008
In the Hammer
So I arrived in Hamilton last week and have had nothing but good workouts. I am rooming with Andrew Yorke, Tyler Bredshneider, Andrew Woegerer, and the man from the island, Jason Wilson.
The training has been going amazing, in the pool im going times that i would have done in January when I was pure swimming. I still feel good on the bike, and have had almost no trouble doing hard workouts. After my last 3000 a week ago, it solidified in my mind that i am in amazing running shape, and the last few workouts are concrete evidence that I am. I am running 3 minute km's on the grass like they are nothing.
My next race is a week from now in Gatineau Quebec. This race doubles as a junior series race, and our provincial championships. It should be very competitive with both the British Columbia and Quebers showing up. After the last week I am feelin confident that i will have a good race, and hopefully my swim is good enought to only be able to break away ffrom the pack.
So until later,
CH
The training has been going amazing, in the pool im going times that i would have done in January when I was pure swimming. I still feel good on the bike, and have had almost no trouble doing hard workouts. After my last 3000 a week ago, it solidified in my mind that i am in amazing running shape, and the last few workouts are concrete evidence that I am. I am running 3 minute km's on the grass like they are nothing.
My next race is a week from now in Gatineau Quebec. This race doubles as a junior series race, and our provincial championships. It should be very competitive with both the British Columbia and Quebers showing up. After the last week I am feelin confident that i will have a good race, and hopefully my swim is good enought to only be able to break away ffrom the pack.
So until later,
CH
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