30/30 over and over around the grass field with Simon…

Thanks to coach Phil and coach Paulo for the photos.

Riding with the group.

Here’s a link to the results from the 8k and a few pictures from the race (taken by Tony Austin).

I’m in the Vancouver airport right now waiting for my flight. I’m off to Maui this afternoon for a 3 week training camp with the rest of the National Team. We’ll be based in Paia, a quiet little town of local surfers and amazing views. We had a great camp there last year so I’m looking forward to heading back. Time for some warm weather training!

Yesterday I did my first race of the year, an 8k road race in Victoria. A good way to start the year and to see where my fitness is at. I was happy with the effort for this time of year.

Time to fly! More updates soon from Hawaii!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a real update. Lots going lately…

After our trip to Portland I came back to Victoria for a couple weeks of training and then it was off to Ontario for the Canadian XC Champs. It was nice to see all the guys I used to run with during my time at Guelph. I also got to spend some time with my family which was nice. I visited my sister at the school she teaches at and hung out with one of her classes. I also got a chance to check out the Nike Runner’s Lounge in Toronto. A very cool place to hang out and meet up with people to run. They’ll even let you try out new shoes and apparel, plus there’s post run recovery snacks, pretty good deal!

After a couple easy days following the XC race we got right back into training and have been steadily building up the last 3 weeks. The progression has gone well and I’m happy with where I’m at. Last weekend we made another short trip, this time to Boulder, Colorado for some testing at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. I got a running gait analysis and bike fit using all the latest equipment and software. Both sessions were very thorough and we got some really good feedback. A few subtle changes to my bike position and a couple modifications to my running form should make a big difference in 2010. Thanks to Andy Pruitt, Sean Madsen, and Tim Hilden for their expert analysis!

A few more days here in Victoria and then Kelly and I are heading back to Ontario to spend Christmas with our families. Looking forward to it!

If at any point during the year you have a question regarding training, racing, nutrition, or anything else triathlon related feel free to send an email to tricanNT@gmail.com to have your  question answered by a member of the Canadian National Triathlon Team. Anyone is welcome to write in…kids of steel athletes/juniors/age groupers, other multisport athletes, and even single sport athletes. Please don’t hesitate to send in your questions, we would love to answer them!

Footage from Tuesday’s workout with Jerry Shumacher’s group is up on Simon’s blog:

Running with the Nike crew

Our mini training camp has come to an end. We had an awesome time here in Portland. We got a bunch of great workouts in with some amazing athletes.

BIG thanks to Jerry Schumacher and his group of guys (Simon Bairu, Tim Nelson, Evan Jager, Jonathan Riley, and Josh Rohatinsky) and to Alberto Salazar and his group (Dathan Ritzenhein, Galen Rupp, and Kara Goucher) for allowing us to hop into some of their workouts.

Time to head back to Victoria and work on all the new things we learned!

We’ll try to get some more pictures up and maybe even some video over the next couple days. Stay tuned!

Yesterday was definitely the highlight of the camp so far. 12×300 on the grass field at Nike running behind Galen Rupp and Dathan Ritzenhein while the coaches filmed. It was pretty cool hopping into a workout with those guys and getting feedback from Alberto.

Kara Goucher was also there doing a workout, pretty neat to watch her run too. We also saw Adam Goucher and Alan Webb pool running while we were swimming. There are FAST runners everywhere here!

It’s been a great learning experience so far. Only a few more days to soak it all up!