Perogies and Turkey burgers!

As I write this I am enjoying a post swim workout perogies and homemade turkey burger off the BBQ. You may ask, "perogies for a second breakfast?" I ask, "why not?" It was really good and chances are I'll do it again at some point in the near future.

So this past weekend I raced in Kelowna at the National age group champs, and here is my race report.

The day started off like any other, I woke up earlier than I wanted and then managed to fall back to sleep. Fortunately, my age category had a gentlemanly start time of 9:30am. I got to the race at around 8am and proceeded to set up my transition, bike, helmet, and some running shoes. It was pretty chill. At about 9am I got my wetsuit on to go get a good warm up in, I find I always swim better the longer the warm up I have. After some little bursts I was ready, we lined up at the start and I had a great position to the right, straight in front of the first buoy!! The gun went off and I had a clean start and some open water. I was thinking, this is how it's supposed to go! Until about 20 seconds later about 20 guys swam over me. I think this is how Kramer felt when his karate class ganged up on him in the back alley. I got punched and kicked and got a good one in my left eye. I had to stop up for a second because my goggles got kicked into my eye. After that I tried to calm myself down and focus on my turnover. I made some progress up to a group and then on the second lap I went for the few guys a head of me. I came out in great position in 19:24 and then had a very quick transition. Out on to the bike I got up to speed and then got my shoes on, I felt really good and just tried my best to keep my watts as high as possible. I rode 1:02:01, I think it was the wheels!!



Out on to the run I focused on my cadence and relaxing my upper body. I thought I was running faster than I was, (obviously) but it was a 40 min flat 10km, not too bad but I was hoping for a couple minutes faster. (This gives me a great goal for nest year as I want to run as fast as the elite women - I know I know) All in all I was really happy with my race, I managed to hold off the charge from behind and win my age group and place 10th overall!!

There are a lot of people to thank that helped me have such a great race/season, first and foremost my girlfriend Katie for being so understanding, my parents, my training partners Tom, Dave and Olly, the man with the magic hands Mr. Giggles himself (Mark Kildaw), Mark and marcia for putting us up for the race and Will for always setting my bike up damn fast! Finally, a thank you Paul Rahula who tweaked my orthodics allowing me to run.

Thanks for reading,

Now it's off to the Barn!

GW

Throwing it down, the happenings

Well the end of the summer is upon us, the weather has taken a turn as a low pressure system has made the lake a touch cold. I think it will get hot again though because we usually get a cool spell right before Ironman but I think it is a week early!!

The past few weeks have been pretty busy, Katie and I moved in to the new Palace, and I've been working as a protege to Mike Holmes. Measure twice, cut once. I've been pulling up carpet and underlay and we are almost finished putting down the laminate! It looks fantastic! My knees hurt but when you walk in it is totally worth it.

Training was going pretty well up until this past Wednesday (I caught a cold, actually it caught me I was trying to get away from it but I was too slow) and am now coming around just in time for Nationals. Fortunately, I could only really get over trained so maybe its a blessing in disguise! I'm really looking forward to racing nationals, and then Cultus Lake. I think it's good to have a goal after a big race so that you don't lose perspective in that there will be another race and you can always prepare a little better. I love learning.
Finally we were watching "performance" and stumbled upon "Pop that Collar" This could be an anthem for the summer. When in doubt pop that bad boy.



GW

Peach Classic!

Well, the weekend has come and gone. I raced in the Peach Classic Triathlon yesterday and I had my best placing thus far, 12th.


The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli!!



I went for a warm up paddle and did 4 x 25 strokes hard. I felt really good even though it was like a washing machine out there. At the start I had a good run in and was agressive. I lost contact with the front guys but I was able to come out of the water in 6th and still pretty close. Out on to the bike I just put my head down and went. Jordan Rapp went past me like I was going backwards (pretty awesome!!) It was windy out there but once I made the turn at Painted rock we were flying!! Travis Chater (an old friend) caught me and we pushed each other all the way back into town. Out onto the run Travis gapped me out of transition, and we stayed like that the whole way, I almost caught him at the turn around but then we started going down hill. I was really happy with my run, I cramped a bit but was able to stay focused on my turn over and feeling light on my feet. At around 8km, TBD caught and passed me and gave me some words of encouragement (" I'm running fast because there are cold beers at the bar and I don't want them to spoil!") Fun times!!

Over all it was a good day that gave me some things to think about before nationals at the end of August!

Lastly, it was really great to have my girlfriend Katie and her dad watching as well as my sisters Erin and Sarah and baby Hannah. SO great having them all there.

I'm out for a round of golf.

GW


ps: big shout out to ABD for volunteering at the finish, and to KBD for yelling at me to dig, and to Will for making my bike really fast!

League of Extraordinary People - 2009

Once a year, a dozen of amazing people that I went to high school and univeristy with get together and catch up, in interesting places in the province. Last year we met in Tofino for surfing and drinking.

The 2009 edition led us to the North Okanagan to Shuswap Lake Provincial Park! we arrived on Friday evening after realizing the Shuswap is further away than Google maps says, plus when you stop for dinner, groceries, beer and gas the trip gets extended. Never the less we made it to our campsite just before 10pm. Our parks (BC's) are basically on the other side of the spectrum of wilderness compared to the park we were at in the states last weekend, each site was surrounded by trees and we really felt secluded. Just what we were looking for. That night once everyone arrived we caught up around the campfire with adult beverages in hand. I chose Philips Slipstream Cream Ale. Probably my new favourite beer, it's smooth with no after bite and there are cyclists on it - it has to be good!!

The next day we all made breakfast together, and hungout drinking coffee waiting for the straglers to arise. We then went on a hike up (when I say up, I mean straight up and then straight down) the side of a mountain, and then made our way down to the beach. It was so nice!! We tossed the frisbee and read. I couldn't believe how many people had massive boats, just obscene!

That night we had a group meal of burritos, there was a plethra of colours!~ Everyone was pretty damn full, but all left some needed room for smores!!! I would like to point out here that the "waterman smore technique" was introduced and used by all. Smiles all around!

The next morning we did the same thing, just hung out and cleaned up. Some went to the beach and we headed out.

It was a great weekend, and I'm so thankful for all those people that were there, and some were really missed. We all missed Malcolm and Steph and Dan, as well as Coral and Adam (and the kidlets) and Crystal and Dave (and the new kidlet)

I can't wait until February for the ski trip!!

Take care.

GW

Steamboat Rock!!

We just got back from a fantastic little holiday in the US of A! Katie, Nicole (her sister), Andrew (her brother - visiting from London, Eng), Ian (Nic's BF) Marcia, Marc and I headed down to Steamboat Rock this past July 1st. It's about 4 hours south of Penticton, and it would be totally desolate except for the fact that the Columbia river has been dammed!
Not really knowing what to expect except for cold beers and Frisbee tossing it turned out to be an awesome little getaway. We drove thru the Osoyoos border crossing where we were interrogated as to why we were coming to America. I referenced the song, and used my Jedi mind tricks and everything went smoothly. Just a quick note here, if they ask you a question, don't lie, they already know the answer! It also helps if you went to highschool with the border guard.

We drove down thru Omak (pass the Stampede) and on to the Grand Coulee Dam! It was just amazing and the little town was straight out of the fifties. About 10 miles south we got to the Steamboat Boat Rock campsite. Let me tell you it was freakin' hot, we basically went straight to the water to cool off. That night we made glorious hamburgers and smores and threw the football about 50 times too many so that all our shoulders hurt the next day.

The following day we went on the Grand Coulee Dam Tour, it was so impressive and very educational (yeah I know I'm a nerd) We were allowed to ask dam questions after
the dam tour!! It is the 3rd biggest concrete structure in the world!

That night we went to the "Laser" show on the dam, it ended with Neil Young's "Coming to America". Awesome!!

The next morning we made the trek up Steamboat Rock. It took about an hour round trip and was really cool, there were some great views and some really neat geographical structures, just completely different than in Penticton. After that we packed up and tried to pawn off milk and beer. The milk was a tough sell but the beer was accepted with open arms!

On our way home we were once again stopped at the border, it only took about 25 minutes so no worries. What a great trip, and everyone had a pretty good time!!

GW

ps: we only got passed by minivans full of children

You come to my house... and kick my dog?

The Mob is everywhere, they are connected to everything and everyone. Let me tell you their evil tentacles are here in Penticton alive and well. Anything and everything you do is being watched by someone and if you do something bad (ie: fail a kid who may or may not have ties to the mob) it/they will come back and get you when you are least expecting it. Take for example my most recent visit to Iron sport physio, I'm laying on the table (with my clothes on - hold your horses ladies) and Mr. Mark Kildaw (mild mannered triathlete by morning and evil physio by night) pulls out 4 inch acupuncture needles. Basically it's the mob's way of sending a guy named "Tony the Shovel" to your house to send you a message. The result being the same -- I can't walk. I rest my case but I'm going into adjudication meetings for failures next week and if this inability to walk continues I'll have no names on my list.

Hell, it may just be Karma, who's to say?

I think I'm going to sleep an extra 2 hours tonight.


GW

Slip my wheel on!

So, it's been a while since I last posted. I just figured nobody actually read my blog but it turns out 2 people do, Olly and my mom. The past 2 months have flown by, I've been very busy with school, on May 9th I travelled to Winnipeg for the National Science Fair where I was a chaperon to 6 fantastic kids! This was a great opportunity as I had participated in 2 national fairs in 1996 and 1999. Let me tell you it was tremendously different being there as an adult. The meeting on Sunday night from 8 until 10, was a sneak peak to the meetings to come. Lets just say I learned a lot, and met some really cool people along the way.



This past weekend I competed in Oliver at the sprint triathlon in the self proclaimed wine capital of Canada. I placed 3rd behind two very strong athletes. Jordan Rapp who is a really nice guy and who is now living in Penticton won the race and spanked me good - he's gonna be up there at IMC. More importantly, I got beat real bad by a guy named Joel Johnson. He is 15 and he will go to the Olympics.

Now onto this week, I just got back from a ride with TBD. Let's just say I took an untimely pull (read: I should have just gone straight to the back) and DBD and KBD reminded me that they can distroy me at any time. Thus, I'd like you to take a look at the clip below :)






sleep well.

GW