Destination 2010

I have been thinking about this for some time now, but it was only relatively recently that I solidified my goal for 2010. Here it is (the opening montage gives me goosebumps every time I open it)

The event in particular will be the Open Water 3km on August 7.

In the past, I have been known to keep my destinations a bit of a secret. I suppose it is a bit of a protection mechanism; if nobody knows I am doing it, nobody will know if I fail. I've never really been one to enjoy limelight either. This time, I'm putting it out there for a number of reasons:

• I'm excited about this, so I want to share my excitement. 
• I can switch my competitive spirit on and off and it has been in hibernation for a little while now; time to kick it into (high) gear.
  
• I have a pretty lofty goal for myself; I don't want to just swim, I want to swim well and I'll need some pressure to get this done. This part of the goal will probably remain between me and a few others - I don't want to intimidate my competition too early! 

I will be heading off to the Caribbean in a few weeks for a 2 mile swim (fingers crossed that I get the time off work!) which will serve as my baseline for the 3 km swim next year.

So, back it is into the water for me and I couldn't be more excited about it. It has been a while since I've been able to get excited about a destination, so I can hardly contain myself!

Sunday Morning Swim

When I lived in Whistler, the first thing I'd do on ski days would be to stick my head out the window (from my bed) to assess the conditions. Was it snowing? cold? sunny? Could I hear the snow makers? avalanche bombs? Next, phone the Ski Patrol forecast line. It was so great to have information like that within a few minutes (and from the comfort of my bed!)

Open water swimming ... not so easy. The rain actually woke me up this morning; huge cloudbursts along with wicked gusts of wind. The real problem is that I live about a 20 minute drive from Batchelor Bay so the weather there can be quite different.

The rain did stop, but the wind was still strong and gusty. The conditions didn't stop me, Meyrick, Elspeth, Rod, Mick and Marty from braving the Bay (in fact they may have encouraged us). I took my trusty waterproof camera; MJ captured some great video footage of the swim.



As I head back to work next week, my ocean swimming season will be slowing down, but hopefully not ending! See you in the water!

The crew entering the Bay

First stop

MJ, today's photographer & videographer (taken on a much calmer day):

Happy New Year!

Last post I was Spring Cleaning in August, now it's New Year's in September. No I haven't slipped into some parallel universe or hit my head. As I get ready to head back to work, September always feels like a "new year".

First of all, a shout out to all my friends (and I hope I remember everyone!) who participated in Ironman Canada on Sunday. Some of you had a fantastic day while others may have left feeling disappointed. Regardless of how your day ended, remember that it takes incredible physical and mental strength, determination and dedication to make it to the start line and for that you deserve congratulations. I am so proud of you all!

Karen Birkenhead (PR - Sub 11 hours)
Jay Inouye (20th Ironman)
Robert Beattie
Calla Barras
Harry Woo
Darcie Young (first timer)
Jeff Vanderende (first timer)
Dean Chittock (first timer)
Mark Shorter
Shannon Back
James Greenwood (first timer)
Caroline Greenwood (first timer)

Ironman week. The days leading up to the event, the "Big Day" and the days after make up one of my favourite weeks of the year. I've gone to Penticton every year for the past five years and whether I'm there to cheer, encourage, support or participate, I always leave feeling like I've either accomplished something or I've helped my friends achieve their goals. Even as a "spectahlete" (thanks Jill, for that term, I LOVE it!) I feel the energy build up before race day and the sudden let-down after. For me it is the natural time to regroup, assess the past year and decide what the next 12 months will hold for me.

I don't remove myself from society or go into a meditative state to accomplish this, but I do make an effort to reflect during the week. Here is the short list:

1. I say this cautiously but I think I am noticing some improvement in my feet. Cautious because anything such as a slight decrease in activity, my new orthotics or knowing that I have a new "fixable" diagnosis can cause this. Or, It may actually be the prolotherapy doing its thing. Fingers crossed that it is the latter and that things will keep getting better. I have to maintain a careful balance of doing enough to a) keep some fitness level and b) know what I am able to do, and not doing so much that I hamper healing and increase pain (which then stops me from doing anything). It is like walking a tightrope, but if I don't step off the platform, I won't go anywhere at all.
   
2. I am over my swimming "drought" and as long as I don't hammer on the walls flip-turning in the pool, it is feeling pretty good.
3. I am ready to take on my nutrition. I have always had a hard time dealing with things separately; I am much more an "all or nothing" person, but this approach is neither healthy nor helpful. So it is not just about nutrition, it is also about managing the many aspects of healthy living even when they don't all happen at once.
   
4. I went through my workout & training logs from 2006 - 2008. I put in a lot of hours training for Ironman and the Bay Challenge. This was an "off" year for me and I'm ready to pick it up again. Keeping point #1 in forefront though.
   
5. I've decided on a goal for 2010. I am still fine-tuning a few points, so I won't be sharing the destination until everything has been ironed out. Here's a hint though: Swimming and Sweden.

I hope to have the details of #5 figured out shortly; it will be posted here as soon as I do!

Spring Cleaning

Things in life tend to fall into one of two categories: what we can control and what we can't. While one of these categories is pretty narrow (things that we can't control), the other is really quite broad; some things we have just a little control over and some things we have much control over. It seems quite simple, but of course things like this never are. A prologue of sorts: I am going to try to explain myself as clearly as possible all the while being relatively vague.

Recently, my life has been dominated by things over which I have no control. As an intelligent, rational person, I recognize that I cannot control what is going on. What I HAVEN'T acknowledged (until now) is how these events have been controlling me. In a nutshell, through all of this I have given up control of things that should be entirely within my control.

So I've had this "great" revelation, now what? Time for a little spring cleaning. (I know, there's still one month of summer left, but "late summer cleaning" just doesn't have the same ring.) Normally as we clean, we get rid of things. However that won't work right now - I can't simply get rid of what is going on. Instead, I will be doing some organizing and prioritizing to make room for the misplaced (and I know it's around here somewhere!) control.

Stay tuned!

S#I@

Four-letter words ...

• a "set of words written with four letters which are considered profane ... slang ... offensive"
• The term "four-letter word" itself has become a euphemism for more offensive words (which I won't share).
• Occasionally the phrase "four-letter word" is "humorously used to describe any word composed of four letters. This is the case when used to mean the word work, alleging that the speaker's or writer's audience treats work as unpleasant, or when the game of golf is noted as a four-letter word because the player's chosen entertainment pastime becomes an exercise in frustration".
  

There is a word that, up until now, I have never thought of as a four-letter word, yet somehow it has gone from being a word with a pleasant connotation to one that sparks all sorts of less desirable emotions. The word is SWIM. That's right, a swimmer is having a tough time dealing with the word "swim".

The problem isn't the word swim, the problem is actually swimming. I haven't spontaneously forgotten how to swim or anything like that - it comes down to MOTIVATION. More precisely the fact that I have none.

I have a great list of excuses as to why I'm not swimming right now and I think it's time I expose them. There is some truth to these statements, but not enough to honestly keep me out of the water. Here they are:

• No short-term goal.
• It hurts.
  
• My swimming buddies have found new / more swimming friends, so it is no big deal if I don't show up.
• I'm slower than I was last year.
  

A little background ... I was all keyed up to do some pretty huge swims this year - 26 km Lake Cowichan, 5 km Kelowna, 8 km St Croix. Things were going great until one day in March I was in so much pain during a swim that I had to get out of the pool (I've NEVER had to cut a swim short before). This completely threw me for a loop. I also found out that I would be starting Prolotherapy in May and would have to cut back on my training. So I didn't have much choice but to abandon my goals for the summer. Training was too stressful at the time. It was not an easy decision, but it was the right one.

Now I find myself at an interesting place. When I did my first ocean swim this year, I was relatively pain-free (as opposed to swimming in a pool which is not because of pushing off walls 100 + times in a hour). This was an exciting discovery! So I started thinking ... maybe all isn't lost. But for some reason, which I can't quite figure out, I have little desire to get back in the water. The pain thing is a bit of an issue right now; when I take time off from swimming my left shoulder often does not want to start again (impingement). This isn't new and if I'm smart (short, easy pools swims - which I hate), and do my prehab, it will work itself out in a few weeks. It WON'T work itself out if I stay out of the water or try to swim through it on 90 minute open water swims. This should be enough to get me going but frustratingly, motivation remains elusive.

So now I look to you, wise readers. To be honest, I'm not even sure what I want from you ... Should I even worry about this? Should I just let things happen? or should I figure out a way to get my you-know-what back into the water? Stories, anecdotes, challenges ... I'll take just about anything... post a comment or email me if it's personal.

Blog Cabin

When I was invited to spend the long weekend at "The Cabin", I could not turn down the offer. "The Cabin", as it is referred to, belongs to my friend Jenn's family. It is located about 30 km east of 70 Mile House on Little Pressy Lake. Jenn's Grandfather built it in the 1970s and it is a cabin in the true sense; no running water, no telephone, no cell phone reception, no cable. It does have electricity, so we're not entirely "roughing it".

When you head up to The Cabin, if you need it, you'd better make sure you bring it with you. Otherwise you do without or you make the trek into 70 Mile House or Little Horse Lodge. So the Escape was packed to the gunwales with everything necessary for four people for three days:

I think what I enjoy most about being at The Cabin is the way that time becomes meaningless. We get up when we wake up, eat when we're hungry and go to bed when we're tired - even if it is in the middle of the day! So the "Cabin Schedule" looks something like this (modifications encouraged):

Get up
Drink coffee
Have breakfast
Go to lake / for a walk / canoe
Have lunch
Nap
Go for swim
Happy Hour (OK - more like Happy HourS)
Dinner
Shower
Bed

Any "free" moments should be spent sitting on the deck, admiring the view, listening to music, reading, enjoying the company and savoring the atmosphere.

I must mention a new addition to The Cabin: The Shower. Until very recently bathing was either a dip in the lake (which can be very quick and uncomfortable as the water often doesn't warm up until August) or the more painstaking method of heating lake water on the stove and having a sponge bath. The Shower is the brainchild of Jenn's dad. I remember being at The Cabin a couple of years ago when the first edition of The Shower consisted of a Coleman burner and some copper tubing. A few modifications later, et voila:

My favourite time to shower was around 9:30 at night - just as it starts getting dark. There is nothing like showering outside by the light of a single candle. Very relaxing indeed. I am now trying to figure how to get a shower onto my townhouse patio. But then again, even if I could sneak an outdoor shower past strata I just don't think it would feel the same ...

1 Month Already?

Another action-packed week. Here are some highlights (albeit a bit wordy!) ...

Saturday - Bard on the Beach. A Vancouver institution for 20 years and a tradition of mine for about 4 now. It is a bit ironic, considering that I think I slept through Shakespeare in high school ... nevertheless, I have developed an appreciation, nay love, for the productions. I saw A Comedy of Errors with Carly & Steve (mom decided that the seats wouldn't work with the current state of her elbow - or lack of elbow). The production was excellent, the acting superb and you simply can't ask for a better setting than Vanier Park at sunset. I don't think I would have discovered how entertaining Shakespeare can actually be if it weren't for Bard (Vancouver lingo for Bard on the Beach). NB - if you are thinking about going, you MUST buy tickets in advance!

Sunday - Dinner for 16. I can't take all the credit for this soiree ... today was time for the "kids" to provide dinner for our parents, aunts, uncles, in-laws etc. We've done this for a couple of years now instead of having separate Mother's and Father's Day dinners. Family dinners have always been important for us and I am grateful to have such a wonderful group of people to call my family! Us kids pulled off a great dinner - appies by Heather; flank steak prepared by yours truly and grilled by Paul; cole slaw by Jeff; caesar salad and rolls by Carly & Steve; Asian pasta salad by me; and dessert by Toireasa & Paul. Wine by everyone!

Monday - alarm at 5:20, alarm turned off at 5:21. Clean-up from last night's event had me up past a reasonable hour to get up for a swim. Honestly, my motivation to swim is at an all-time low right now. Time off in the spring has me swimming way at the back of the pod and lack of progress with my feet continues to wear me down. I had great workout with Chelsea at Innovative Fitness. These guys have done a great job adapting my workouts depending on my pain and mobility.

Tuesday - Harry Potter. I admit it, I'm a huge fan. Not only do I love the stories, but I am truly amazed at how someone (in the case J.K. Rowling) comes up with stories like this. She really is a master at intricate details. I think a reread of the books and a rewatch of the movies is in order.

Wednesday - alarm at 5:20 ... up this time to get mom to the hospital for her elbow replacement. (It went well and she is now on the long road to recovery.) No swimming, again! Meyrick rescued me from a third day on public transportation by giving me a lift to where my car had been in for repairs. Another great workout at IF with Dylan.

Thursday - Prolotherapy round 3. I'm not sure how to best explain what it does, but here's a non-medical description: they inject a solution of dextrose and alcohol into my plantar fascia, more precisely my heels, with the purpose of irritating the soft tissue that is deteriorating. The irritation causes inflammation which is the first step in the healing process. I think I'm getting the hang of the routine:
Day 1: Injections. Try to stay off my feet as much as possible; even though they freeze my heels, there is still bruising and tenderness around the injection site. Feet start swelling.
Days 2 & 3: More swelling, stay off feet. My gait is totally off at this point (heels hurt!) which causes a host of other problems.
Days 4 - 10: Swelling starts to come down and am allowed to do very light activity. After this point things feel pretty much like they did before (which is not great at present). Unfortunately I can't take any anti-inflammatories or ice as this is counterproductive.
6 weeks after injections: Start all over again. Nobody is sure how many times we'll have to do this, but it may take up to 8 or 9 injections, so about a year. If all goes well, I may start to feel an improvement in the fall.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday - Penticton.

Friday I had a much needed day to myself. Karen & I were planning on going for a swim in Skaha, but it was just a little too windy & rough for it to be safe without support. So she went off on her ride & run and I did a little touring. This day turned out to be a huge success as I discovered several "new favourite places". Summerland Sweets makes some of the best fruit jams & syrups out there. The Vinegar Works makes, well, you guessed it, vinegars. They don't just make it, they grow everything that goes in the bottle. The Bench is my "new favourite" market cafe. They serve up great paninis, salads, baked goods and awesome coffee. I also discovered a few other places that I want to visit in August.

Saturday & Sunday was CMS Coaching's Ninth Annual Ironman Prep Camp. Given my state of "disrepair" I was a member of the support crew. Friday night's dinner was highlighted by a talk from the "Voice of Ironman Canada" (and numerous other races) Steve King. Not only is Steve an amazing race commentator, he is also an athlete, clinical counsellor and motivational speaker. He has a special interest in energy medicine and how our thoughts influence the flow of energy in our bodies. Follow the link to his site for more information. Saturday was swim & bike - I got in for the swim and managed around 3.5 - 4 km in a little over an hour. The rest of the day was spent out on the bike course making sure everyone was well hydrated and doing OK. Karen pulled the boys back into Penticton and had her best IMC bike course time EVER - 5 hrs 39 mins despite a wicked storm that produced torrential rains, lightning strikes and winds that brought down trees & power lines. Sunday was on the run course. Nice and sunny instead of the bizarre weather on Saturday. It was great to be out supporting my friends as they get ready for IMC, but it is bittersweet as I can't help but think about the activities I haven't been able to do for a long time.

The final "new favourite" find for the weekend was Sanderson Farm Market just outside of Keremeos. I came home with cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and apples!

All in all it was a busy and somewhat stressful week, but it ended on a good note which is the best way to start the next week!

First Harvest

The "newest" trend in shopping and eating is to "buy local". Call it the "100-Mile Diet", "Sustainable Table", "Food Routes" or whatever you want, I have a news flash. Until very recently, this is how things were done. Buying locally was all the rage when you could only get things that were grown / made locally. I'm no history buff, but I imagine that sometime around the Industrial Revolution, things started to change (rather quickly when you look at time lines) and now you can get things from all over the world in record time. In theory, this is not a bad thing, but unfortunately in a time when your environmental footprint has more impact than ever before, it isn't a good thing either.
I have always loved going to the local Farmer's Market, for several reasons: everything is fresh, usually better priced, often you get to talk to the producer and I love the atmosphere. I much prefer going from stand to stand with the scent of fresh produce in the air. No canned music, calls for cleanups on aisle 7 and the constant beep beep beep of UPC scanners is replaced by chirping birds.

This year I decided to try my thumb at a little gardening. In the past, I have failed miserably at gardening. I forget to water, don't harvest before things go to seed so it usually turns into a disaster. This year though, I have been diligent with the watering can and plant food and I scrutinize my plants for anything that looks out-of-place. And so far, there have been a few "harvests" which have really been the odd clipping of herbs, but even that has been great. I've made pesto, tabbouleh salad and have had fresh herbs on pasta, salads and in omlettes.

But today marked the beginning of a great future in my "garden" (which is really several pots containing mostly herbs, flowers and a tomato) - the first harvesting of tomatoes. Time in transit for these three babies: about 90 seconds from plant to mouth. Doesn't get much fresher than that.

What do you get ...

when you cross something a bit more complicated than "point & click" and someone with little patience for things a bit more complicated than "point & click"? You get me. Now, I wouldn't call myself a "techno-idiot", but when my techie friends start talking code and initialization and things like that, my eyes do glaze over and I turn into Charlie Brown and all I hear is "wha wha wha wha whaaaa". On a scale of 1 - 10 with 1 being "how do I program my VCR?" and 10 being "this application sucks, I'll rewrite the code so it works", I'm about a 5.

Now, for some reason, getting that "Receive posts in your e-mail" box on a blog requires the know-how of someone who is at least a 6. When the steps start looking like this:
to get one simple thing done, I go into a "panic mode" - OK, maybe it's not that bad - but I end up looking at the "instructions" and the best I can come up with is "huh?"

So after a lot of trial & error, some coaching from MJ, several curses and the near death of my laptop, I got it done. The final step is for some of you to actually enter your e-mail addresses into that little box. Humour me people - even if you don't read my posts, put your e-mail address in the little box.

For those of you who feel more adventurous, click on the orange icon next to "Subscribe in a reader" and discover the wonders of Real Simple Syndication, aka RSS. If I can do it, anyone can! Remember the first 'S' stands for SIMPLE!

3 Weeks In

It has been an eventful first 3 weeks of my summer! So eventful, in fact, that I haven't had much time to record the events. So here's the recap ...

Week 1 - BC Bike Race. I was asked to help support some friends who did this epic 7 day stage race. The days were long, the nights were short, the weather was hot and windy, the scenery spectacular and from what I was told, the riding was amazing. Check it out ...

Week 2 - zzzzz ... even supporting is tiring! I suffered from some short-term narcolepsy after Week 1; it seemed that I fell asleep at every possible moment. But, I did manage to get a couple of swims in at Batchelor Bay and Sasamat Lake before heading off to the sunny Okanagan.

Week 3 - Okanagan and Tour de Hospital with mom & Geordie (mom's Cairn Terrier).
Saturday - Osoyoos was HOT - 38°. Helped out at the blueseventy tent, went for a swim sans wetsuit in Lake Osoyoos and generally spent a lot of time trying to stay cool. Sunday - watched parts of the Desert Half Iron and cheered on friends. Special congrats to Karen for her first place finish in the competitive Women's 35-39 age group (5th overall!). Mom & I had a wonderful dinner at the Sonora Room at the Burrowing Owl Winery. Monday - we took the "back road" (Hwy 33) to Kelowna. Unfortunately it was raining, so we didn't do any exploring. The drive out of Osoyoos heading east on Hwy 3 goes up Anarchist Mountain and affords a spectacular view of the lake and valley:
Tuesday - Myra Canyon. Most of us recall the devastation that occurred during the Okanagan Mountain Fires of 2003. All but a couple of the trestles in the Myra Canyon, part of the historic Kettle Valley Railroad, were completely destroyed. Over the past few years, the Myra Canyon Restoration Society has restored all the trestles and the canyon is open for riding and hiking. We walked about 7 km (round trip), crossed 10 of the 18 trestles and went through both tunnels. Mom and I were impressed that Geordie braved all the trestles & tunnels! The canyon is well worth the visit for anyone in the Kelowna area.


Later in the afternoon, mom tripped on this ...
while carrying this ...
over this (too hot and slippery for little paws) ...
and shattered this...
And thus began the Tour de Hospital - Kelowna General Tuesday afternoon followed by a very fast drive down to Lion's Gate (4 hours door-to-door with a drive-thru dinner and doggie pee break). LGH Tuesday night, Wednesday and Wednesday night followed by Vancouver General on Thursday. In a nutshell mom is getting a shiny new artificial elbow next week.

Up next week ... Bard on the Beach; Family Dinner; elbow surgery for mom; prolotherapy round three for me; CMS Ironman Training Camp ... I think that's enough for now!

Patience, Grasshopper

"Good things come to those who wait"
"Patience is a virtue"
"Slow down and smell the roses"

All of these well-known and frequently-used quotes extol the virtues of slowing down. So why is it in the 21st Century, we all want things to happen NOW? Cell phones let us communicate with our friends, family and work wherever, whenever. We can Tweet the whole world our current status. Hungry? There's probably a fast-food joint right around the corner or if that's too unhealthy you can grab an organic meal-replacement bar instead. Marshall McLuhan would have a field day in 2009 ... (if you are not familiar with Marshall McLuhan or his philosophies, I encourage you to check out the link. You may find it interesting!)

I received a Thank-You card in the mail the other day ... The mail!!! It sat there quietly amongst various flyers for take-out restaurants and carpet cleaning waiting to be discovered. The same words could have been emailed just as easily. The fact that the sender decided to use this method of communication says as much as the message itself - the author took her time composing her message without the benefit of a delete key, addressed the envelope and took it to a mailbox. Quite different from "firing off" an email. And, the card still sits on my fireplace mantle.

I resisted buying a digital camera for some time. I have had my old-school film Canon Rebel TI for 6 years now and I wouldn't trade it in for even the most sophisticated digital SLR. I love spending time composing and shooting my photos, which I realize you can still do with a good digital SLR. What I love just as much is picking up my photos from the processing lab, getting them home, looking at them and reliving the experiences all over again.


So why did I give in and get a digital camera? Well, there are times when I would like to have a photo quickly, to post on my blog, for example. There are also times when it is not convenient to pack an SLR, 2 lenses, film and other accessories around with me. So when I saw this camera in a points catalogue, I couldn't resist. The clincher? It's waterproof ...

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that frankly we can't move fast enough on - finding cures for life-threatening, -altering and -ending diseases; agreeing on solutions for seemingly senseless wars and securing alternate fuel sources, to name but a few. But there are many instances in daily life where faster does not necessarily mean better.

Survey says ...

A few weeks into my training moratorium, I figured it was a good time to take stock.

PHYSICALLY - Obviously, this is where the most change has occurred. There have been equally as many positive as negative effects. A few of the more notable ones: Positive: my feet have been hurting less than in the recent past. Negative: I already feel a bit weaker / less fit. Positive: my calves are happy for the first time that I can remember! Negative: nutrition. I always find it easier to maintain good nutrition when I'm training.

EMOTIONALLY - This has been tricky ... On the one hand I am way more relaxed about my injury and its impact on my goals. However, training has always been a good way for me to manage stress. I come up with my best ideas, solve problems or clear my mind of the day's chaos when exercising. Admittedly, I have had a hard time finding a replacement for this. Many of my friends are very active in triathlon or other competitive sport and I do find myself getting a bit upset when they start talking about their summer race plans or training.

INTELLECTUALLY - I can't say that I'm smarter or less smart as a result of the change in my training situation. But, I also know that "smart" isn't the only thing that fits into this category. HOW you think is more important. I knew full well that dropping my goals for this summer was the best thing to do, yet I fought it. Just accepting the need to change plans wasn't good enough; this is why I've had to come up with a list of things to do. I have managed to keep several plants alive. As small as my garden is, I have had to give it some attention.

SOCIALLY - I am a bit of an introvert. Training has become a way for me to connect with other (like minded) people and I do miss this aspect. So, I've had to go outside my comfort zone. I've invited myself over to friends' to watch hockey and I've invited friends over for dinner. With summer coming up I will have to find other ways to get myself out of the house.

SPIRITUALLY - Not sure where I stand here. There has been a lot going on in my life recently that makes me feel like I am in a bit of a "spititual deficit". Training has always helped me reconnect spiritually, grounded me.

NOT training has been an interesting challenge for me. This will be the first summer in over 5 years that I won't be racing. It makes me wonder if perhaps I was relying on it a little too much.

Slight change of plans

Things change. I don't think there's anyone out there who would be able to successfully argue this point. Sometimes things change for the better, sometimes for the worse. Sometimes we initiate change, sometimes we resist it. Regardless of these fine points, it happens.

So, given that introduction, it may not come as a surprise that things have changed for me. For better or for worse? I have yet to figure that out. Was I resistant? Yes. Have I accepted it? Mostly.

One thing that HASN'T changed recently is the status of my injury. I still have chronic plantar fasciitis, but instead of in one foot, it is in both - so I guess that IS a change! Anyhow, in an attempt to maintain some sort of connection to the racing world, I had decided to put Seattle to Portland Ride and Lake Cowichan Swim on my schedule for this year. Unfortunately I was not able to maintain the necessary volume, even early on in the pre-season. The result? I was experiencing a fair amount of pain and more importantly I was getting frustrated. To make matters more interesting, I will be starting prolotherapy this week and it will greatly hamper my ability to train this summer. When I finally asked Rob (one of my fabulous trainers at Innovative Fitness) "What's the point?", he knew I was done. So, he benched me. No swimming, no riding, no working out, no event spectating - nothing. I felt like I had just been fired from a job.

That was about three weeks ago. During this time (and I've have LOTS of it!) I have had to do some homework: to come up with a list of things that I can do this summer with these loose criteria:

I will be able to do it (I will have to be off my feet a bit this summer)

I will enjoy doing it

Easy to execute - no major planning involved

At first I was completely stumped. Almost EVERYTHING I enjoy doing involves walking, riding, hiking, training of some sort, or just being on my feet. To say I was not happy with this new direction would be an understatement. I sat, ruminated, moped, I even looked for sympathetic friends who would tell me "Oh no, you need to keep going!" Much to my surprise my friends were supportive if not excited about the "new plan".

So the list has been started, and a couple of items have even been checked off (like writing my Blog!) It is a fairly fluid list - I add, delete, edit items almost daily. I will share it over the next little while, and hopefully some of you will join me!

So while the description of this Blog explains my ultimate goal of swimming the English Channel, and my training efforts leading up to that event, I can honestly say that it still is my long-term goal. I've just had to put it in my back pocket for a while (perhaps in a pair of jeans that doesn't quite fit right now!) I am making NO predictions as to when that, or any other event, will happen. So if you've been lead to this Blog thinking that it is about long-distance swimming, triathlon, training or anything like that, know this: it still is. The focus is slightly different right now because guess what, things change.

2 Year Plan

The two-year plan ..

2008 English Bay (check!), Lake Cowichan
2009 DC2daEC
2010 click HERE not a whole lot of info yet, but that opening montage got me all fired up … already bookmarked on my web browser …

Bay Challenge Race Report

VOWSA Bay Challenge Race Report

“Nemo, I've a feeling we're not in Batchelor Bay anymore.”

I’m a swimmer. As far as sport goes, this is what comes naturally to me and this is what I’m relatively good at. There is a certain feeling I get when I’m in the water. It is one of those feelings that is hard to describe; part Zen, part power, part humility. All of those mixed in with a lot of respect. Sometimes respect for the water has to take precedence, and today’s event was a prime example.

Because of ongoing problems with my foot, this year I decided to return to my roots with the goal of swimming English Bay. As the crow flies, the swim from Sandy Cove in West Vancouver across to Kits Beach is about 9 km. Unfortunately I’m not a crow. More on that later. Add currents, shipping channels and cold water and you’ve got yourself quite a goal to accomplish.

The mandatory pre-race meeting Saturday night was quick and to the point. Boat drivers and crew members were reminded that their job is to monitor swimmers for hypothermia, stay out of the way of other teams and to make sure their swimmers are eating and staying hydrated. And to watch out for freighters. We found out that an out-bound freighter was scheduled to be passing under Lion’s Gate at around 8:30 am which meant that things could get interesting. Meyrick and I quickly decided that this only added to the bad-assness of the event and we would deal with it (in other words get the hell out of its way) accordingly.

Like any good endurance athlete, I had a race plan all figured out. Hold between 1:40 - 1:50 per 100m, eat every 30 minutes and to negative split and I should be crossing the finish line around 2:45. That was the plan at least. It seems though, that Neptune had plans of his own.


On the way to Sandy Cove - Pre Race


Chris - skipper


Meyrick - Photographer, bottle thrower, cheerleader

Race day weather was almost perfect; high overcast skies (makes sighting a bit easier and it is easier on my pale crew!), no wind and calm seas. The water temperature felt a bit colder than usual, but after a few minutes it was fine. The first third felt great. I settled in to a nice pace, I had a good line all figured out and I was getting good air (breathing, that is). I stopped for my first feed (Carbo-Pro and Ultima) at around 30 minutes then again around an hour. Just after this point things started getting a bit challenging. As I got into the shipping channel the water temperature dropped a bit and the seas picked up. Nothing too bad, but enough to give me grief. According to Chris (my very skilled skipper), the chop wasn’t coming from any direction in particular, instead it was disorganized; coming from all angles and at different frequencies. To deal with this I had to “choose my breaths” carefully and it seems this is a skill I can improve upon. I think for about 30 minutes 2 out 3 breaths had more water than air. I also found a couple of times I’d go to catch (the first part of the stroke when your hand enters the water) and instead of grabbing water, I found air (not helpful to a swimmer). But, I just kept my head down and pushed on.


Carbo-Pro on a string... mmmm!

There was a period of relative calm, but for how long I don’t know. Somewhere around 2 hours (give or take 15 minutes) Meyrick suggested that I pick up my pace. We were just over 5 km across and he was getting worried that I wouldn’t make the 4 hour cut-off time. This was not part of the plan! I listened though, and felt I was making good headway. I found out afterwards that there was a very strong surface current today. This might explain the “drift” I was experiencing. I felt like I was moving forward, but I was actually moving somewhat sideways. This would also explain the wide arc that added a few hundred meters on to my swim.

At three hours, my arms were done. I really had to focus on rolling my body to take some of the pressure off my shoulders. It turned into a bit of a mantra: “roll ... roll … roll…” At 3:44 I glanced over at the boat and Meyrick yelled “10 minutes!” If I didn’t make it to the swim buoys at Kits Beach within 4 hours, I would run the risk of being plucked out of the water by the Lifeguards. I gunned it. I am not a sprinter. I absolutely suck at 50 m intervals in the pool and 100s aren’t my forte either. Today, however, I called upon every fast-twitch muscle fiber in my body to get me across that buoy line. Despite what felt like a lot of thrashing around in the water, I made it inside the buoy line and across the finish line in just over 4 hours. I was very shocked when one of the medical personnel told me that I was one of the few who made it. So it WASN”T just me having a tough time of it out there…


Finishing kick... near the buoy line

This is a very challenging event. I expected it to hurt (my longest openwater swim up to today was 6 km in 2 hours) and I expected to be challenged by the water. I did NOT expect the mental game to be as hard as it was. Imagine running (or riding) across a landscape that affords no perspective; there are no trees, no other people and absolutely nothing changes under your feet (or wheels). Take away the connection you have with the earth (by way of your feet or wheels) and this is getting close to how it feels to swim in the open water for 9+ km. I had to start off by sighting on something that was almost 10 km away from me so I really had no idea where I was in relation to it. Even when I got closer to the beach, I was having a hard time figuring out distances. Was I 1000 m away or was I only 400 m away? I remember thinking a couple of times “Am I actually moving forward?”

In the end, I got through it (without having to deal with any freighters, by the way). It was definitely slower than anticipated, but considering the conditions, today was about finishing. The winner of today’s event is incredibly fast and strong and his swim time was well over an hour slower than his last year’s time. The only record that got broken this morning was for the longest crossing so I’m glad I didn’t break any records today.

I would like to give a HUGE “thank you” to my crew Chris and Meyrick. Without them, I would not have been allowed to enter this race. Thanks as well to Kevin for driving out to Kits and giving me a lift back to Sewell’s Marina … the though of getting in a little boat for the trip back did not go over to well with my stomach!

Photo Gallery


Pre Race Briefing


VOWSA Organizer


Deb - mid-bay.... Lion's Gate Bridge in the background


Sighting - Deb went straight all day.... (*Another guy kept unintentionally turning around and heading back to West Van... must have been a long swim for him.)


About 2/3 through with downtown in the background


#3 - Eye of the Tiger!

*All photos and captions by Meyrick Jones

Ironman Canada 07 - Race Report

As I approach the Ironman Canada finish line, it is hard not to notice the emptiness of Lakeshore Boulevard; the crowds have gone home after their tiring day of cheering and encouraging, the fences are almost all down and the finish line is being packed up. There is no voice over the speakers announcing my arrival. The timing clock is still going though, and it shows my time – just over 17 and a half hours – 30 minutes past the official cut-off time. It is one of the best moments of my life.

I had never thought of the day as a race, more like a test of the months of training – to see if I was in fact capable of completing the 3.8 km swim, 180 km ride and 42.2 km run. I knew the day was going to be physically challenging, but I had no idea how hard it was going to be mentally and emotionally.

Ask any triathlete and they will probably tell you that the swim is their weakest of the three disciplines, as well as their least favourite. Swimming is my strength, so the thought of completing the swim in Lake Okanagan with 2700 people, the largest swim start in Ironman history, didn’t faze me. I finished the swim in a little over an hour, 7^th in my age group and 403^rd overall. Of course I didn’t know my official position as I got on my bike, but I could tell I had beaten some very strong racers out of the water as they started catching me on the bike. It was hard to not follow their pace in the excitement, but I knew I had to settle into my own tempo otherwise I’d be in for a very rough day.

I was having one of my best rides in a long time. I was able to keep a comfortable and steady pace all the way to Osoyoos. Richter Pass felt more like a bump in the road instead of the 11 km hill that it is. I was above my planned pace at the half-way point and I was feeling strong and confident. At 140 kilometres, things started going badly for me. The winds had been ferocious, greatly reducing my speed and for some reason I was having problems with swelling in my hands, making it almost impossible to get water, fuel and electrolytes out of my bottles. The result was that my hamstrings were in spasm and I ended up having to walk up a good portion of the gruelling climb to Yellow Lake. A race official reminded me of the 5:30 cut-off time and at this point I was worried that I wouldn’t make it. I was terrified at facing the crowds and my supporters if I didn’t make it, so I pushed through the pain and made the cut-off with minutes to spare.

The marathon is an out-and-back, so you get to see people on their way back in as you head out, or vice-versa for the faster athletes. As I headed out onto the course, many runners were already approaching the final stretch into the finish line. I had a hard time believing that these were some of the people I beat out of the water. I wished I was one of them but as I started seeing friends on their way back in, their words of encouragement perked me up.

Because of a stubborn injury to my foot, my plan was to walk the entire marathon, only running until the very end. By about 10 miles, I knew that finishing within the 17 hours was going to be almost impossible; I did the math over and over in my head hoping that I had miscalculated. I was at my lowest point of the day and I questioned continuing and was angry with myself for undertaking such a huge challenge. By the half-way point I had a decision to make: carry on and finish after midnight, or stop. Either way I would show as a “DNF” in the results.

The decision to keep going was easier than I thought it would be. I knew that if I stopped, I would never be able to live with myself so I fought through the physical and mental fatigue that was quickly setting in and kept my pace and my spirits up as best I could. Dustin and Terri came out to find me and as they drove alongside me, I began feeling more and more excited about finishing. My spirits were definitely rising.

When the fireworks that signify the official end of Ironman started, I was still about two miles away from the finish line. I thought watching the fireworks from the wrong side of the finish line would be hard; a reminder that I hadn’t finished within the official time. But as I watched them light up the sky, I knew what my reality was – that I had finished Ironman Canada and I was going to cross the finish line with my coaches, my best friend and another friend who had also raced that day. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.

Ironman is more than a one day event. It is months of intense training. It is getting up before dawn almost every day to go to the gym or to the pool or out for a long ride or run. It is having priorities that sometimes don’t fit with your friends’. It is about making a commitment to yourself and following through with it every day, even when your body or mind isn’t on board. And even though you spend race day alone, it isn’t a solo event; you only get through it with a support team. My support team is so huge that it would be impossible to mention everyone by name without missing someone. So to the following I give my deepest thanks: to my amazing family, for their never-ending support and understanding; to my many friends, for putting up with early weekend nights and for joining me on early weekend rides and swims; to my coaches, trainers and RMT, for keeping me motivated, strong and limber. You all got me to the finish line.

Just after finishing. Not sure I knew where I was at this point.

Me & Karen enjoying a post-race brunch complete with bubbly. We fell asleep about 20 minutes later.