Training, training, training........

School is finally almost over....FOREVER! I have my last 2 exams on the 17th and 18th of April and then i will finally get my undergrad Degree! Then its Game time. Serious training to get ready for the season ahead. I will be off to the Island of O'ahu to train for a month. Lots of time to get in some killer workouts and enjoy the sights! I Cannot wait. Training is goig well, despite interruptions from work and school and others. I can now focus on training and getting myself in amazing shape!

Had a great bike last night, a bit sore today but recovering well
tonight i am doing a run. some intervals and a nice cooldown. everything will soon come together!

New Year

Well, it has been a long time since my last post. It has been a nice small break from the tough year of training but now i am back in the game. I am running well and have started biking. Swimming is slated to start at the beginning of february. I am currently doing some core work and bicep/tricep conditioning for the swim. Running is making up the most of the training schedual. yesterday was a tough 17k run at 3:40/km pace, but it pays off. cycling is going well but i feel the pain as i am waking up the cycling muscles. Anyways, i wll be updating the blog more frequently now as i am back into a routine.
so long for now

Thinking about the future....

As the cross country season comes to an end, its now time to start thinking about what to do to prepare for the 2009 season and the 2009 World Championships. There are a few thoughts rolling through my mind about what to do between now and the hard training season which will commence in the early spring. As most people know, i was diagnosed with a stress fracture in August, and was told not to run for 3 monthes. What i did was swim instead of run to maintain my cardiovascular fitness and hope for the best about maybe running for the cross country team. Two and a half weeks before the Ontario University Champs i started running slowly and ended up racing. I qualified for Nationals and ran that as well. I am still unsure about the condition of my leg, but i do know that it no longer hurts to run or walk. However, it does still swell and is painfull if i accidently hit it with my other foot. So...what to do. to run or not to run. Perhaps it is time for a down time. A time to recover from the long seasons of competition and let my body heal and rest for the next seasons to come. I have never gone more than 5 or so days of inactivity but maybe it will be a good thing!...?

CIS and Quebec

So, Canadian University Cross Country Nationals is over and so is my XC Career. The race conditions could not have been worse but it is what we had to deal with. 50km/hr winds and cold temperatures along with mist pellets. The race did not go as well as i had hoped (a min off what i should have been)but you learn from your mistakes (taking the race out way too hard). It was a challenging race in crazy conditions but in all it was a great experience. My fellow teammates Craig and Ian along with coach and his wife and my mom and dad made the trip out to Quebec City to cheer me on which was awesome! we had a good time and will miss Trent XC.

OUA's

Mother Nature unleashed her fury on Fort Henry hill for the OUA Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Heavy rain, 45km/hr winds and cool temperatures made it the harshest OUAs in years. However, everyone was in the same boat, toughing it out for the 10 muddy km of racing. I placed 30th out of the 98 fastest runners in Ontario. My main rival, well 2 of them, Jonas Holmberg from lakehead U finished just ahead of me by 6 seconds and Tyler Pettes did his usual move and out kicked me for the 4th time. Over all im real happy. This qualified me for the CIS (Nationals) in 2 weeks in Quebec City to go against Canada's best. i have no idea how that will go but i know it will be tough! im excited to finish off my university career by finally making CIS and rest my leg and let it heal 100% so i can start training in the wintertime for World Champs Triathlon in Gold Coast, Australia in September!

OUA's Tomorrow

The big day has arrived and its time for our team (Trent) to show what we've got, up against the best runners in Ontario, some of which are previous ofsaa champions! conditions will be tough, with heavy rain, strong winds and a muddy course! it will be messy but everyone is competing in the same conditions and will feel the same pain. This will be my final time running at OUA's and i have come a long way from my 2nd year as well as my fellow teammates at Trent. GO GREEN!

Cross Country Running and Swimming?

So it has been an interesting few weeks here at school. Classes are well underway and so is running cross country...well sort of. I got my results from my X-Rays and Bone Scan which show a stress fracture. ( a small hair like fracture on my lower left tibia ) It is difficult to walk let alone run but i wanted to do cross country anyways. So i have been attending all workouts but have managed to get in so far 6 workouts in 2.5 months. So how is it going race and leg wise? well, the leg is somewhat ok now, letting me do some workouts more often and it doesent hurt to walk anymore. Running is going great somehow. I have ran at two races thus far and have had personal bests at each. (queens Invitational and the Brock Open). Swimming has helped me enormously with my cardio and has let me run faster than i ever have. Swimming is also going very well. I have OUA's Ontario XC champs) next week in Kingston and then maybe CIS (Canadian XC Champs) in Quebec City at the beginning of November. After which i will rest my leg and let it heal for 2 months before tackling my running. This will give me lots of time to work in the pool and on the bike while keeping fit and healing at the same time. Reading week is comming up and i'm excited to see sydenham again for a bit!