Hawksley Workman, you my friend are the greatest , outstanding.

as my dad has said to me a few times "that was F#$^#^ brilliant"

Kyle and I went to Hawksley Workman tonight. It was the single greatest show I've seen. I'm stunned. Stunned.

Incredible.

It's cliche for an athlete to want to be a rock star but that was inspiring.

Jennie, Pippa and I spent part of the afternoon with Hawksley before sound check, we had no idea what to expect. I've traded emails with him since I told the CBC I listened to "anger as beauty" before the Beijing race - his music is my absolute favorite. When he invited us to come hangout before the show we just had no idea what he would be like. Pippa ran around like she does, that was hilarious, his piano player "mr. lonely" came by and said hello, we traded stories of travel and races and shows and inspiration. And after wards when we left, the first thing Jennie said when we got in the car was "what a simply wonderful person".

yes, and as he said tonight

"ROCK ON" - actually someone yelled that from the crowd and he responded "isn't ROCK ON so international? anywhere you go people just know what ROCK ON means". He then told this story about driving on the sidewalk in Vienna, being pulled over by the police, in a snowstorm, and the cop, smelling the "fumes" coming from their van and seeing the drums and guitars and mic stands simply said....."ROCK ON" and they drove off into the night.

just an outstanding show.

I'm going to run fast tomorrow.

S

An amazing dude

I was driving back from the bike shop yesterday and low and behold I see Mr. Rob Reid, the fiery red headed local legend, owner of frontrunners (and a couple other businesses I can't remember), a recent candidate for mayor, he who ran a marathon around the Parliament buildings in Ottawa with a Tibet flag, he who worked tirelessly to put the inspiring statue of Terry Fox at Mile Zero, he who is on a half dozen volunteer boards, he who is simply just an absolutely amazing human being....

Out running with his "homeless runners" group (can someone help me with the right name?), Rob takes a group of homeless men and women out twice a week for a jog. I drove by them yesterday and they looked like they were just having a brilliant time. I snapped this picture quickly as the car behind me honked at me.

I need to keep volunteering!!!!! wow.

s

Randy Starkman article on his www.thestar.ca blog

February 24, 2009

New WADA “whereabouts” testing system – WADA joke!

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMON WHITFIELD

Simon Whitfield walking with daughter Pippa Katherine: "Pippa, is someone following us....?"

Canadian triathlon ace Simon Whitfield made a desperate plea on his blog nearly two months ago after trying to fill out the new forms that the World Anti-Doping Agency created for out-of competition testing, also known as the “whereabouts” rule.

“I Simon Whitfield volunteer to pay for and wear a GPS tracking unit so that CCES, WADA and any other acronym totting organization can track me down at any minute of the day and make me pee in a bottle while taking blood from my arm. Seriously I do. I'll start tomorrow if only to not have to fill out this insane form. I have nothing what so ever to hide. You can track my whereabouts via GPS to your hearts content.”

Whitfield wasn’t kidding. In hindsight, he was the canary in the coal mine on this "whereabouts" issue which is causing consternation to athletes around the world, from the likes of tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams to ski star Lindsey Vonn and American hurdler Lolo Jones.

WADA is under fire – and rightly so – for an ill conceived system that now forces athletes to provide three months’ notice of their location an an hour each day for seven days a week between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. for testing.

Even beyond the unwieldiness of such a program and its restrictions on right to privacy, Canadian athletes like Whitfield and Olympic speed skating champion Clara Hughes have found the computer system set up to monitor the program ridiculously hard to navigate. It has cost them hours in time trying to register – with “trying” being the operative word, as they wind up having to give up in frustration.

Wrote Hughes on her blog: “It has become an absolute nightmare. It’s been revamped and I strongly believe the individual who created the new format should be fired. It’s virtually impossible to fill out accurately, and after over six hours of trying this past time I gave it the ‘as good as it’s gonna get’ seal and gave up.”

You know the crazy thing? Athletes like A-Rod, who make gazillions of dollars, don’t have to go through anything like this. (A-Rod would probably get his cousin to fill out his form). They can test positive, we don’t hear about if for years – if at all – and their livelihood isn’t affected at all.

Olympic athletes like Whitfield and Hughes have to fill out forms notifying pee collectors of their every move three months in advance using forms so complex that their livelihoods are put at risk if they get it wrong.

What a farce. WADA joke.

at the park

some fun riding

The last couple days on the bike have been a blast. Yesterday we swam a solid 5km then followed it up with a 2+hr ride with 3x20min of paceline work with the mandate "choose your own intensity".

This morning we rode with the oakbay cycles group ride that started with 30 or 40 odd riders. We warmed up for about an hour then things got rolling out around the ferries at landsend. We had fun for a little over an hour as Kyle, Andrew and I swapped off turns in an impromptu team time trail......with mountain bike LEGEND Alison Sydor casually sitting 4th wheel and laughing at the trigeeks.

I'm presently procrastinating a 1hr easy run and thinking ahead to tomorrows big run (1:45 with the last 35mins tempo).

S

one day when I'm done with running around in my swim suit...

I will make stuff with my hands.

Until then I'll just have to stare with a sense of awe at the creations of one Sam Whittingham














and his good friend at richguitars.com

training goes as it goes and so far it goes well

terrible title but after awhile you just run out of ideas.

So much to do at home, in Maui I could blog/babble daily. At home it's train, errands, pippa, errands, train, eat and hope to sit down long enough to play guitar (see; stuff white people like).

training is actually rolling along pretty well. I'm not training too hard right now with an eye to not over doing it but it's fun and I'm managing to put in some solid sessions.

Last week the key sessions were;

4 solid swims - which is coming along.

1 day of observatory hill rep, 1 easy ride, 1 steady as she goes ride and 1 long ride with lots of hills and effort.

5 runs with 2 easy, 1 hilly, 1 with pickups and 1 long run with a 35min solid hilly tempo at the end.

considering it was a 6 day week as I spent a whole day in Vancouver doing ActNOW BC stuff and missed a considerable amount of sleep...... oh Pippa, I'm happy with where we are at.

Nick is doing a great job, his training is interesting and the communication is great (honeymoon phase?), I'm finally using www.trainingpeaks.com to log ALL my training and I'm loving the Garmin 705 edge as she's my training buddy even when Kyle is in a huff or Lauren is off the front.

[edit [and re edit]; Kyle texted me after he received some calls and emails asking "are you ok?", and asked "what's a huff" - before I explain a "huff" let me just say, I was just searching for something to emphize my point, Kyle has been in a great mood and training incredibly well, I was just being dramatic so people would read my blog and smile..... anyway - a "huff" my friend (Kyle) is what you and I do about once a week or maybe every 10 days when we've spent way too much time together, all subjects have been covered including "I wonder what Colins doing today?" to "can you believe Lauren took the bait on that, I was just kidding!" to "what does he mean by 'a tickle in his throat'....", when all those fascinating thesis potential topics have been covered and you (or I) are tired we tend to answer with a 'huff' or maybe more aptly a 'snork' and I find comfort in Mrs. GPS to pass the time (Mrs. GPS is my garmin edge 705 the super model incredibly successful step sister of the idiot garmin child known only as 405) see below.

While the Edge 705 could run the space station, the Garmin 405 with the Bezel is

THE WORST WATCH IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.

Let me repeat that

THE WORST WATCH IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.

The "touch" functions don't work when your fingers are wet.... like say when you're.... running.... I think the same person who designed the WADA where abouts forms gave birth to the Garmin 405 in their spare time.

S

next years race bike - a fun pic from a school visit the other day - training update coming later today.

Tim Deboom seems to agree with me..... and so does Norm.

Press Release: Ironman Champion Tim DeBoom Chooses CTS

Colorado Springs, CO- Tim DeBoom, Ironman World Champion in 2001 and 2002, has signed with Carmichael Training Systems in an effort to return to the top step of the podium at the 2009 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. He will be training under the guidance of CTS Founder Chris Carmichael and will be working directly with CTS Pro Coach Kirk Nordgren.

DeBoom has been an elite triathlete for 15 years and has long used his own background in exercise physiology to guide his training and race preparation. While he’s had tremendous success on his own, as he’s grown older he’s seen changes in his body’s response to training and recovery, and sought additional guidance from Chris Carmichael and Carmichael Training Systems.

DeBoom joins a diverse group of champions currently coached by CTS, including Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong, 2008 Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander, Olympic triathlon gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield, and 2-time Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler. Deboom commented, “I decided to make some changes this year, after preaching for a long time about enjoying coaching myself. I’m going to take that burden off myself and learn from some guys that know what they’re doing… Where I’m at in my career, the time is done to be guessing on things and I wanted absolute feedback. I know I’ve been training hard enough but I want to be sure I’m recovering when I need to recover.”

DeBoom recently visited CTS headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO, to gather baseline data, including lactate threshold and V02 max testing. Following the tests, his new coach Kirk Nordgren commented, “Tim comes to us as a highly accomplished Ironman athlete and his years of training are evident in his test results. He’s been a champion before and I definitely believe that with relatively minor changes to his approach he can once again win in Kona. His proven ability to win, renewed focus following a year away from the sport dealing with injuries, and his obvious physical talent should lead to a pretty exciting 2009 season.”

One of the ways coaches Nordgren and Carmichael are looking to make DeBoom faster is by analyzing his cycling positioning the wind tunnel. “We are looking forward to getting him into the wind tunnel,” commented Carmichael. “On those long and windy stretches in Kona, seemingly minor improvements in positioning can make a big difference on speed and energy consumption.”

inspiring story. and a heck of a nice guy to boot.

Canadian Rider Has Made Unorthodox Climb to the Top

Matthew Staver for The New York Times

Svein Tuft, 31, was seventh in the time trial at Beijing.

By JULIET MACUR

Published: February 7, 2009

Those who have heard the tale of Svein Tuft have wondered, could it possibly be true?

How he dropped out of school in the 10th grade, lured by the freedom of the outdoors. How he evolved into a barrel-chested woodsman with Paul Bunyan biceps. How he ventured, at 18, from his home in Canada into the wilderness on a $40 thrift-shop bike hooked to a homemade trailer.

They have learned of the way he traveled sparingly, towing only his camping gear, a sack of potatoes and his 80-pound dog, Bear. The way he drank from streams and ate beside an open fire. Or hopped trains across Canada, resting as the land flickered by.

Now 31, Tuft is out to prove that all the raw travel and personal drive can translate into something beyond his survival. Recruited by one of the world’s top cycling teams, he is about to begin a more disciplined journey. It starts next weekend with the Tour of California, where he will race with the Garmin-Slipstream squad, and is likely to continue this summer at the Tour de France.

“He’s a late, late bloomer who lived a lifestyle that has been completely incongruent with any professional cyclist out there,” Jonathan Vaughters, the team’s director, said. “In Europe, you are pressured to succeed by the time you are 18, and if you don’t do it by the time you are 21, then you’re done. But Svein? He’s somebody who has lived life according to how he wanted to live it.”

Tuft figured out he was a natural racer at 23. He was home from a cycling trip to Alaska when his father suggested he try racing. In his first event, a local road race, he was in the lead when he dropped out with a flat tire. Two races later, he won for the first time.

From there, he blossomed. But Tuft also felt trapped between a life in the outdoors and one in the structured world of professional competition.

Kevin and Mark Cunningham, owners of the Symmetrics Cycling team in Canada, found Tuft in 2004. He was mowing lawns. After racing in virtual anonymity for three professional teams, he had quit the sport because he said he did not want to be associated with its doping problems.

But the Cunninghams wanted him. They knew he had the potential to be one of the fastest cyclists in the world.

“At first, you have this idea that this guy’s a nut case,” Mark Cunningham said. “But he’s not. He’s super down to earth, kind and a straight shooter. I thought he was going to be this extreme sports, in-your-face guy. But he was the opposite.”

They coaxed Tuft onto their team with a promise that it would be clean and that he would be free to vanish into the mountains during the winter.

“We had to get used to saying, ‘Svein is missing,’ ” Kevin Cunningham said. “ ‘He’s AWOL again.’ ”

Last year, riding for Canada, Tuft surprised many by winning a silver medal at the world cycling championships in the time trial and also finishing seventh in that event at the Beijing Olympics. He won four gold medals at the Pan American Road and Track Championships.

Some say that was just a start.

A Long-Distance Pedigree

As a boy, Svein Tuft (pronounced Swayne) was known as Svein the Strong. He always knew he would not grow up to be a wimp.

His grandfather Arne Tuft, racing for Norway at the 1936 Winter Olympics, finished sixth in the grueling 50-kilometer cross-country skiing event.

His father, also named Arne, was drawn to Canada from Norway after reading Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild.” He started out in logging, then became a general contractor. Now, he camps in the Arizona desert for weeks without electricity or a phone.

Svein Tuft’s mother, Lesly Holness, is a fitness instructor. In Svein, she saw one determined boy. To her dismay, she said, he always enjoyed testing himself, with each challenge more extreme than the previous.

One Christmas, her son asked for an Army tent, which he pitched next to their house outside Langley, British Columbia. He spent the winter in it.

By 15, he had grown restless. His parents had separated, and he hated studying. He quit school.

“It wasn’t like I was into drugs or alcohol or anything,” Tuft said softly. “I wanted to explore, and I was searching for so many things. I just never felt right anywhere. At that age, you don’t know anything about yourself, and I was trying to find out who I was.”

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teleportation.

does anyone have a teleportation device? that automatically updates your WADA where abouts forms? I need to be in Alberta and BC at basically the same time. One for training and the other for commiments.... can I lease it?

I'm currently in Edmonton (having just come from a speaking engagement in Calgary). I'm here for a school visit and Epcors family day. It's snowing and we're going outside.... a big change from Maui. I'm actually looking forward to spending time with the Epcor gang, having met so many of them over the past 6 months I've made some good friends and I'm planning on scoring some goals if there is a street hockey game between the power line and water main guys.

I'm off to a school visit, can't be late!!!!

back in Vic tomorrow and keen to get straight back into the training!

S

10 things I learned in Maui

10. it's nice, I mean really nice. There were quite a few times we all stopped and said "wow, this is unbelievable" - and I don't think we saw half of the amazing things to see in Maui.... I guess we'll just have to go back.

9. you really shouldn't swim open water in the ocean when it's murky, apparently the sharks tend to nip at things they can't see, just to "see" what it is. This explains why there was no group swim the morning we showed up. It's also much nicer to swim when you can see the coral, the turtles, the needle fish and the random shore cave that Kevin the masters swimmer shows you - "hey Simon swim over here with me, we'll dive down and look in a cave where a shark is usually sleeping......." so like an idiot I dive down and go for a looksy. When we surfaced Kevin then said "it appears he's not home, I wonder where he is?"

"so do I!!!!!!!"

8. there are some really really nice locals, great people who really live the Aloha spirit and enjoy the island life. And there are some locals who think it's ok to yell obscenities from there 'jacked' 4x4's and spit, yes spit on someone running along the road minding their own business and staying well off to the side. Strange very strange behavior, especially for a community that like it or not depends on tourists..... like say cyclists who rent houses, buy groceries and spend WAY too much on coffee. In saying that, again we learned there were so many great locals, who were all ALOHA!.

7. this is an inside joke so maybe I'll call it 7b.
7b. There is a HUGE crater of a pot hole buried under 4 feet of disgusting oil filled water in the parking at Baldwin beach. I think Joel is still looking for his rental vans licence plate and left front tire.

7a. Maui is really a lot closer to the west coast then you really think. Well OK it's not that close - according to wikianswers it's 2,394 miles from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California, on the U.S. west coast. BUT it's not that bad a flight from Vancouver. In fact we often train in Tucson and I bet coach Pat Kelly this morning that we could leave Victoria Airport at the same time, I would travel to Maui and he would fly to PHX then drive down to Tucson and I think I'd beat him door to door. At $150 each way on WestJet it's not all that expensive to fly.

6. I'm slow in January, I guess that's too be expected after taking 5 months post Olympics with a loose schedule. I did the best job I could post games to stay in relatively good shape and I think I was fairly successful but staying in relatively good shape and keeping up with the "young guns" is two completely separate things. Kyle, Jeff and Andrew are all getting faster and faster. Kyle really knows what he's doing now when it comes to being a full time professional, eating, sleeping, day to day training and preparation, very impressive. I dare someone to say he doesn't have it, I dare them to put some money down.

5. I completely underestimated the Haleakala climb. 57kms, yep 57. uphill. from the ocean side town of Paia (the stop light) to the observatory at 10,000 ft. It's a bloody long way, it's hot, then cold. It's relentless, it's not steep but it ain't even close to flat and the altitude, no matter how many times you've been to altitude, just kicks the living s$%t out of you. Here's a tip, if you are going "for time", as in you want to "race" up, just go for it from the bottom. I paced it, I stayed under 150hr for the first 2hrs, 250-280watts just cruising along thinking "I'll just cruise along and ride nice and steady all the way to the top" WRONG, I cracked, my structural weaknesses were exposed, my left glute gets sore, my upper back gets tight, the inside of my right foot gets sore and my neck gets tight. After 2.5hrs of constant pressure on the pedals into at times a pretty strong head wind exposes you. Add to that the last hr is basically above 7000ft and you suffer. In hindsight I should have A) just got after it from the beginning, I would have blown up just like everyone else but I'd finish in a better time B) had two bottles of coke in my jersey and C) charged my ipod.

4. Kona Coffee is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, at $36 USD a pound it's just over the top, Adam Van Kayak bought a pound, we drank it in our crap ass coffee machine (Ryder dude you need a new coffee machine) and it was good but not $36 dollars good. Besides I think I heard that to be considered "Kona blend" they only have to guarantee there is at least 10% Kona coffee, the rest can be Maxwell house dandelion root.

3. She ALWAYS has enough change, she's lying. She makes brilliant banana bread, maybe the best you've ever had and certainly in the coolest random location you've ever had it BUT she lies about not having enough change. I don't blame her, she must make $500 extra bucks a week (that's 13lbs of Kona Coffee), telling people "I'm sorry I don't have any more 1 dollar bills" to which everyone to a person responds "ah keep the change" or "I'll take another $2 can of Aloha Cola then". The bread is $6 a loaf, this means every person is giving here at least one $1 bill.... I even watched Adam give her 6 $1 bills, she smiled, put the money in the little wooden box and then told Jordan "I'm sorry I don't have change for your $10". Mind you she does have to put up with people saying, and I quote, "wow, you have such nice english for a Hawaiian". Oh dear.

2. I love training, I love it. Triathlon is just such a great sport. Being fit and active, running around in the cane fields, meeting all the other characters out there on their aerobars with their bento boxes, 5 water bottles, aero helmets, powerbars stuck to their top tube, on bikes that are way too big for them and positions that reduce them to holding their lower back while spinning easy...... I just love it. and I'm just another tri geek who tinkers with his position, forgets to eat enough, then eats too much, gets chaffed in weird spots, loves Ironman, ignores the "drafting racing sucks" whinners and realizes we are really really lucky to be able to do this as a hobby/job.

1. my wife is amazing and my daughter is absolutely hilarious, I mean side splitting funny. I mean bust a gut laughing as she chases waves, talks to her hands, drops chocolate ice cream on Ryders fancy sofa and makes me look cool when she walks down the main street of Paia with her bright pink mini stroller showing off her friend "baby" while ordering me to follow behind her, never to her side, always one step behind.

we can only dream

(I have two cars so I'm a bit of a hypocrite but we do use our bikes as much as possible).