My Apologies

To all of you who went out to Johnson Beach this morning for the weekly Thursday 8km run, i truly apologize. No excuses. I messed up. J.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Test 1 HMR

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
Test 1 HMR

not exactly rocket science

there probably isn't one person on this planet that wouldn't object to losing another 5 lbs. here's an insider's advantage. start this morning. don't wait until january one. think of the goodies & piles of food we generally plow into our mouths over the next 12 days. there is no question, it's tough & requires mega- self discipline. yours truly dr. captain obvious.

Morning December 12th

The site of the 70.3 Muskoka Ironman (Huntsville, Ontario, Canada) was hit with 90 cm of snow yesterday with more expected to come. The Mayor called a Snow Emergency.
Meanwhile a good friend & fellow Barrie T.C. Baydogs, Mark harrison just completed the IM Cozumel in Mexico where strangley enough there is no snow.

Baydogs

today starts another new & exciting chapter for the Barrie T.C.
The sport of Triathlon has grown immensely in the last 5 years, and with it so has the interest in Barrie & Simcoe County.
The Barrie T.C. Baydogs promises to make it fun. Coming very soon we will be unveiling our new website & logo.
Hope to see you at our fall meeting today. thanks. Jamie

The Barrie T.C. Baydogs 2010

If you're interested in joining a Triathlon Club, come out to East Bayfield Community Centre Activity Room #2 on Saturday November 28th 1pm. Memberships are $ 75 ($35 club + $40 OAT).

Ironman St. George, Utah

My buddy Tim Hatch & I will be heading to southern Utah in May 2010, to enjoy the landscape & elevation and who knows perhaps buy a winter home for our ladies Heather & Andrea. That would be nice but not likely as my monopoly money isn't exactly plentiful. It's a dream, and i can see it happening one day. It's time to lay out an effective training plan for November, December, January, February, March, April & May. The repeated theme will be Hills. Last January I did an Ultra in Hillsboro, New Mexico where elevation was 7,000 plus feet. Don't kid yourself it does effect you. Nevertheless looking forward to having some fun & meeting some new friends.

Hamilton Marathon 26.2 mi

Congratulations to John Dow & John Welsh for running the Hamilton Marathon yesterday. For Mr. Dow it was his very first Marathon with a truly respectful time of 3hrs 29 mins. For those in attendance Simon Whitfield (Olympic Gold & Silver Triathlon Medalist) was there for words of encouragement. Myself I didn't accomplish my sub-3 so i will be back next year to do it again.
I was holding my 4.14 pace up to marker 27km when i hit the wall & started to lose steam. I did manage to squeeze in a PB for the front 21km. Time to reflect and learn.

Hamilton Marathon in Hamilton, On. Canada

Why is this race so great ? No its not the free Tim Horton's coffee at the race start, but that is a nice perk (oh boy i can't believe i wrote that). The reason it is growing in popularity faster than the demand for a second Toronto NHL franchise is the course is FAST. What makes a course fast. No, not conveyor belts. Generally flat even surfaces along with descents that are not too severe. That's what you have in Hamilton. This coming Saturday there is fair representation coming from Barrie to belt out some PB's.
To all of you participating, may you not only achieve your goals, but i hope you beat them. See you sunday. :)

Ultra Marathoners removing their toe nails

Kevin O'Neill brought this New York Times article to my attention. Just in case you missed it ; here it is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22FITNESS.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

70.3 Austin Longhorn

Our very own Kevin White of the Kempenfelt Tri club is racing the 70.3 Longhorn this weekend. We wish Kevin all the best, and will look for his race notes about his U.S. race.

Hey Kev! just getting ready for Hamilton.

my faithful four legged girl protecting the house while i'm out running. Hey Andrea, I've trained Setika to print with the sidewalk chalk. What do you think?

88

The amount of km i've done in the last 6 days. These elite runners who pull of 70-80 miles per week. How do they do it.

Hamilton Marathon Nov 1st

Brendan & I ran this last year & quite enjoyed it. If you're into collecting medals, the Hamilton committee did not skimp out on this one, in fact you may say they have big balls. BTW the picture is a sculpture from MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in NYC.

50K Run for the Toad

Ibuprofen & I did it. Actually if the Mrs & I have another child, I'm going to call the bundle of joy "Ibuprofen". Had the Mrs. wrap my ribs and you know what? It wasn't too bad. Actually I stunned myself as my goal was just simply to last the 50 km and finish. During the 3rd & 4th loop I just kept saying to myself "don't quit" . I think i placed in the top third. I can admit this now, I just didn't want to let my fellow Ultra Buddies down with "shame" & embarrassment. Buy into this if you want ; sounds corny, right?Run for the Toad, is a race everyone should do. It really is a magnificent event. I could go on & on how spectacular it was, but just do yourself a favour put this race at the top of your list.
The terrain itself is typically trail-like. There were a few places where it became "muddy". The tough part for me were the continual hills. Very little flat distance. Running downhill as you know will tear the crap out of your quads. The top three men in the 50k were all from B.C. Do i have to say anymore. The winning time was 3 hrs 21 mins. Beating the previous record by 15 mins. That's right folks, 'holy crapparooney". Will I do this race again. YES.

New Hampshire & Maine

to my fellow ultra running mates ( Keith "Hawkwind" Lascelles, Oliver "Double 00" Owens (no relationship to Jessie), and of course running maniac himself Kevin "Finley" O'Neill who are tackling two marathons this weekend. The first is saturday October 3rd in Bristol, NH and then they travel to Portland, Maine to run their second on Sunday October 4th.
Hey guys i'll do a google search to see if there is a marathon on monday in Vermont. May the wind be at your back :)

50K Run for the Toad

I should have been icing my ribs days ago as as i can substantially feel the difference. I've made the decision to venture southeast to Paris, On. to run in the "Run for the Toad Ultra" ribs & all. Everyone I've spoken to speaks very highly of this event, gosh darnit,..I would hate to miss it.

Bikeland

Morgan & Gersh, you guys are the best. For honesty & integrity & paramount customer service visit Bikeland.
Morgan, if you're reading this i'll be dropping by with my Christmas wish list. Keep it somewhere handy because i'm pretty sure the Mrs. will be stopping in to ask you, "ok, what does he want". LOL, oh but it's true.

Sub 3

To obtain my goal of running a "Sub 3" on November 1st will be sweet. Is it realistic? Yes, well, "hell yeah". Last year with the my friend Brendan pacing me I finished the Hamilton Marathon in a time of 3 hrs 9 mins 58 secs. But Jamie, that means you have to knock off ten minutes. Yes that is a lot of time. However i do have a plan. Simply run a 4:14 pace throughout and use Kevin O'Neill runner extroridnaire from Barrie as my rpm gauge. It's been one week since I bruised my ribs, and my ribs are very slowly starting to feel better. I went to my family doctor yesterday, somehow expecting to hear a miracle cure from the Journal of New England Medicine that had just been uncovered in the last 24 hours that I had not yet come across in my own research. It goes like this, 'Scientist from the New England area have just discovered a miracle cure for bruised ribs. It's been stumbled on that if you swallow 3 Vitamin "C" tablets and spin around on your left heel three times fast while placing your index finger in your left ear drum, that this will act as a catalyst & can speed up the healing of the bruised muscle area by 600 times." But, that's not what Dr. Morris said. It was more a long the lines of "Suck it up you Wimp, Oh, and don't even think about swimming."

50K www.Run for the Toad.com

As my barbecue ribs heal, I'm endeavouring to get ready for the 5 - 12.5km loop race in Cambridge, On. Tonight i will try light jog, see how that goes.

Bruised Ribs

As i fell with my body weight onto the butt end of my mountain bike handle bars,..i thought oh crap. Oh it smarts. Now i just hope i heal quickly so i can continue running. Maybe Wednesday , maybe Thursday. It some sort of corrupt sense perhaps it's a blessing so i'm forced to take a few recovery days.

my race notes from 70.3 Muskoka Sep 13/2009

70.3 Muskoka race notes
September 13th 2009
Weather conditions ; perfect

Overall time 5:34:37 better than last year by 8 mins.
44/175 in my age category (45-49) 309/1335 overall
On the bike I was 31/175 my cat.

Dinner night before was lasagna, salad & coffee (1). Drank water & pepsi.
Breakfast one yogurt, one banana, 2 coffee.
I’ll assume my weight prior to race was 168-169 lbs.

Left McBrae Maple Cabins at 6:15am. Just right amount of time for warm up swim & putting gear together. Felt good after warm up swim.

Swim:
Time was 41 minutes 48 seconds for a 2:06 pace My tough goal was to do it in 39 minutes. I’m ok with the result. There is still lots of room for improvement.
I was right at front for the horn start. Swam conservatively & for the most part swam fairly straight. I frequently was sighting to ensure I was keeping a good straight line. For most of the distance it was very congested about 300 in my wave. About 4 mins before our start I snapped my swim goggles strap. Tied together in a knot. Let the wetsuit strippers do their thing ; good decision.


Bike:
94 km in 2 hrs 52 minutes 30 seconds. My goal was 2 hrs 53 min. avg sp was 32.7 kph
Very happy with my bike. When you race with people who travel at a good pace it makes you try harder too. This is very true in the run. I went out pretty easy for first 2 to 3 km. Wasn’t trying to be a sprinter. The last 5km I found to be a strain. Honestly don’t remember all the hills at the end and my quads were burning. My two rule principal, maximize your free speed (going down hill). Just fly. Two, put it in the easy chain ring & pedal comfortably up the hills.

Run:
Embarrassed. I blew it. Took me 1 hr 53 minutes, that’s a 5:21 pace. I should have been 4:21 pace. I went pretty good on the bike, and the hills on the run just got the better of me. My footwear choice was wrong. I wore my Zoots which is good for 10km & under, I thought I could squeeze 21km without too much burning sensation. Should have used my Adidas Supernovas.

T1 I was faster than I thought and planned 4:16 vs plan of 4:30
T2 I was longer than planned. Took 3 minutes when I allowed for 2 minutes. I had to pee and had been holding off on the bike for some time.

70.3 Muskoka (this sunday)

Here we are, the grand finale. another Triathlon season about to come to an end (in Canada anyway). I'm going on record to publish my goal for Sunday's race. I'm going to knock off 30 minutes from last years time. A lofty goal yes, but you can do it.
to everyone who is doing this race for the first time, you will truly enjoy it. Well organized and an absolutely gorgeous course. I'll write a bit more tomorrow. signing out.

Orillia Sprint

It's hard to believe that this will be my second last race of the year this coming sunday. The Orillia Sprint is close to home & I'll be giving it my all. My main goal is to have a pb in the water. I'd love to be able to do the 750 m swim in under 15 minutes. Monday i'll freely post my results.

Mark Harrison

Motorhead

A departure from the ultra & tri world we live & breath to the music that moves us. Yes, my all time favourite band since early high school,......Motorhead. In less than a month Keith & Kevin two Ultra-Runners and extremely viscous ones at that will join my wife Heather & I at the "Docks" for my tenth Motorhead concert. I've lost tract, its been a lot of friggin concerts. My first concert was May 12, 1982 at the old Sports Collisium in Toronto when Motorhead was Lemmy, Fast Eddie & Philthy Animal Taylor. Since then & now I've seen Motorhead perform at Harpos in Detroit, at the old Concert Hall at 888 Yonge St which I believe is where the young Mulroney does his show now. One day I would like to meet Mr. Kilmister. Motorhead truly one of a kind band.

Bala 2009

Bala is one of the better Sprints in Ontario. This year ChipTime did the timing versus 2005 when SportsStats did it. The bike course had one turnaround which meant you weren't going to lose precision time from cornering. That said the bike course was a continually a non-flat adveture. Road & asphalt conditions were solid & enjoyable to ride on. The only adverse condition was the transition area to mount /dismount which was saturated with rain water. The evening before 5 in. of rain had fallen within a 3 hr period leaving the stretch of grass from inside the transition area to the mount/dismount area a mini-swamp. Avoiding all mud, I carried my bike on my shoulders both in & out. The run course as well was very hilly, with some side shoots of true cottage roads. The water in the lake was perfect but i heard many say it was cold by previous years standards. As our age group was waiting at the dock for the horn, we saw Buddy Green of Sudbury in the lead group finishing his swim. It truly was an amazing site to see. The power in his catch & stroke almost looked like he was doing a butterfly stroke. His upper body literally cam e out of the water before his recovery arm sliced back into the water just above his head. If you have ever seen a dolphin swim, this is the only analogy i can think of to describe what we saw. He was clearly well ahead of all the other "pros". His swim time was 8 minutes so many seconds & I later learned that he had come from a swimming background.
For me who has always struggled with my ability to get faster in the swim, I had my best swim time yet. 15 mins 10 secs. First, i swam straight, learning to site much more frequently, and i was able to get myself into a rhythm that worked. The other key secret i have learned is stay relaxed. When you tighten up or try to overwork ; your swim stroke works against you. In other words you're being counter-productive and wasting valuable energy. to see all the results go to www.chiptimeresults.com

Gravenhurst Olympic Distance Jul 18 (race review)

If you haven't done this race ; do it. The two Tourist Steamships take the 300 participants 1500 m out into Lake Muskoka. That in itself is worth the entry. I had the privilege of getting some valuable insight from World Triathlete Mark Herbst who by the way finished 6th overall at this race. There were many familiar faces at this event including Dean Beaudry & Allan Johnson. Marilyn Preece, Jack Strickland, Carlos Vilchez, Darrin Smith, Mark Potter, Marie White, Roseanne Sexton, John Pawley from Barrie also competed in this years Olympic Distnce Gravenhurst race.
I personally had a successful race with an overall place of 49th and 7th in my age group out of 40. My swim was straight and please with my time considering we ran 500 meters from the water along wet dock around Transition before crossing the timing mat. The bike course had three 180 degree turnarounds which will effect your avg speed. The only advice I would give the Race Director is look at ways to improve the bike dismount. It was sudden & placed in a high traffic area which could have been dangerous with much pedestrian & vehicle traffic. The run was hilly, typical of cottage country. see Chip Time Results for all the times.

www.barrietri.com Aug 9th

I believe the race is limited to 550, and as a rule generally sells out. Although many will have just completed Ironman UK, or 70.3 Calgary, or Ironman Lake Placid, or might even be doing the Half Iron in Bracebridge just a little reminder that our City's race is on August 9th. visit the web page for for info. www.barrietri.com

Barry's Bay Tri 2009

I love this race. This year my good friend Tim Hatch joined me in the 114 competitor race. It was the17th year for this race and i am simply amazed how this local race is now attracting some wicked serious athletes. Several years ago i said to myself that if i was able to improve my own performance to a self-satisfying level i might even be able to finish in the top ten overall. Well, that was 4 years ago & i did not anticipate the calibre of racer this event now attracts. I think even Tim was somewhat surprised by the fine quality of competitors. I mean after all, can you blame me ? Back in 2005 this was my very first Triathlon where i used a mountain bike. This year the bike course was changed to Hwy 60 leading out of Barry's Bay heading toward Algonquin Park a much more hillier landscape, and it showed in the times. In the swim, thank god i swam crooked again or else i might have had a decent time. Sheeit, as Bobke would say.

Guelph Lakes 1 (Olympic)

While i push all limits at this race, i'm going to self-hallucinate i'm none other than Olympic Canadian icon Sir Simon Whitfield. Holy Foggy Day, wouldn't it be strange if my race strategy worked. Changing directions. The local pool i swim at has been closed for maintenance for 2 weeks now which means i haven't swam for 10 days or so. Not a good thing. Yes folks, that's right there were 3 days where i was swimming at the bottom of the pool without water. Traveling to the south end of town yesterday i swam for an hour ; glad i did just to expunge all the cobwebs. Swimming is one of those arts you just have to continually be at. I typically find to go more than three days without a good swim you begin to lose the complete recipe, and you know it just doesn't taste the same? My swim is by far my worst discipline of the the swim, bike & run. My friends are extremely polite & supportive of my swim. They see the gobs of time i invest in improving and they more than not, just keep silent, not to discourage me. I have vowed to become a 1:30/100m pace swimmer before i leave this planet even if i have to have a propeller surgically implanted in my bow. Well folks i'm off to Guelph, I'll let you know monday if my strategy worked.

Zoot Ultra TT (new shoe review)

recently bought the lightweight bright yellow Zoot running shoes. after four runs, i'd have to say i like them. they will be great for short to medium tri races. i certainly wouldn't recommend the Zoot Ultra TT for any distance further than 21k (and even that you may find the ball of your feet starting to heat up). The slip on heel grab has caused one of my feet to blister but i'm sure this will be a temporary thing.

Zoot Rep @ RF June 13th

morning fellow triathletes & ultraheads. a few updates. this saturday june 13th @9am located at Running Free (Byrne Dr.) a Zoot representative will be there to show us product from wetsuits to shoes.
East Bayfield Community Centre pool is now closed for maintenance. shut down is almost a month. and lastly need your bike tuned or just need a new bike, remember Bikeland on Anne st.

over 300km in BC

Had the opportunity to do some riding in Vancouver taking in UBC, SFU, Deep Cove, North Burnaby Mountain & Horseshoe Bay.

first Time Trial for Tri Club a Success

thanks to Michelle, Leslie, Tim, Paul, Lloyd, Genevieve, for being at the very first Kempenfelt Tri Club Time Trial. The 20 km course proved to be difficult. Full of hills & turns. Tim Hatch completed the time trial in 35 mnutes. My understanding is Lloyd did extremely well and that's after biking to Bidwell Rd. from Allandale (over 25km). congrats Lloyd. Tim & I are already planning on finding two more sites that will become regular TT for the KTC. These we promise will be flatter & with any luck with a little less traffic, not that Bidwell was out of control. Safety must be an objective. For members who live in the southwest corner of Barrie, if you could make a few recommendations for Tim & I it would be greatly appreciated. Asphalts roads are always a big bonus, new asphalts roads that is. I rode 15/16 sideroad last night thinking it might be a good selection from 3rd line to 13th line. It's ok but i think we can do better. please let us know. cheers everyone! ijamie63@rogers.com
or leave a comment.

our first Time Trial

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Barrie&state=ON

Tues. May 5th, @ 6pm on Bidwell Rd. across from KOA campground. Distance is a 20km time trial. I'll post times on this blog & eventually on our KTC website.
from barrie, easiest way to get there is head north on 400, exit Forbes Rd. head east towards Dalston. travel .8km and you will run into Hwy 93 also known as Pentaguishe Rd. turn left (north) and keep going until you see KOA campground. You should see Bidwell Rd. travel 1km for best parking.

Barrie Tri Club Meeting Apr 25th

quick reminder that our annual Kempenfelt Tri Club kick-off meeting is this coming saturday april 25th @ 7pm located at 119 Brown St. off Harvie Road. hope you can make it.

baastin 26.2

in about 3 hrs the Boston Marathon will begin. best wishes to all the Barrie Roadrunners, my apopogies for not remembering everyone's name but Oliver & Brendan & Kevin, i'll be watching your splits. in the most recent edition of "Runner's World" there is an interestng article on the qualifying times for Boston.

persevervance

Brad McConnell & I were chatting about attitude, mental toughness, and perseverance. He shared with me a quote, ..."..if you think you, you can, if you think you can't, you can't,..either way, you're right.." It is so true.

in the Gardin

another successful easter dinner ; eating too much surprise surprise. yesterday i pulled out my antique road bike & took it for a spin. the sound of it's precision gearing is beautiful. Morgan from Bikeland told me when i first bought it, that in its day it was a "big deal". it's a canadian made race bike not well known, "Gardin". i estimate it was built sometime between 1980-85. i'll research it some more. much like guys & their antique cars, this bike is special & will remain with me forever. picture to come.
.......(5 minutes later) i have just read by sheer coincidence that Joe Gardin the founder of Gardin bikes past away on March 6, 2009. read more http://www.btac.org/news/index.html?id=09Mar06_1

70.3 New Orleans Apr.6.2009

Key learning from this race is don't run a 30km road race the week before. On race day it was 85 degrees F, actually a very nice day. In my AG 45-49 we were the third last wave of 16 to leave. This meant I was up at 4:45am, in transition by 5:45am and by the Race Directors orders had to be out of transition by 6:45am. My wave wouldn't leave until 8:20am, so a 90 minute wait, which i'm not good at.
The swim took place in Lake Pontchantrain, point to point about 25 m from the shoreline. My goal was to complete the swim in 38 minutes but finished in 42 min. Slightly dissappointed, looking back i think i fell back into some of my old habits not paying attention to my technique enough. Nevertheless improvement was made however slight. Took advantage of the wetsuit strippers. Big plus. Lay on my back side, rip it off. T1 i was so fast that i forgot my gels & sport beans.
The bike was windy. The one part of the race i was a little worried about since all my training had been in my basement on my trainer. Turned out to be the best part of my race 2hr:50m holding a 31kph avg. On one section of the bike ride which went through alligator country, orders were given to State Park Wildlife Patrol to shoot if they saw any encroaching on the riders. I think everyone's average speed picked up a little in this section. Three times i dismounted my bike endeavouring to fix the magnet on my spoke that came lose. So with the swim, t1 & the bike ride finished 3 hours 35 minutes had elasped. Later i heard Chris McCormack had completed the same distance in 2 hours 30 mins. All i had to do was the run. I figured ok, allow 1 hr 40 mins to cover off 21 km and Jamie you should complete this 70.3 at about the 5 hr 15 min mark. Maybe faster if i squeeze off a few more minutes. The problem, my legs did not want to run. Then i just got caught up with the crowd walking/running (repeat). My run was the slowest i have ever run 21km. It took me an embarrassing 2 hrs 6 mins. C'est la vie. Lesson learned. Final time 5 hrs 47 mins.

ATB

Rain. Soaking wet socks & shoes, squish squish. My Mother was inquiring how i handled the downpour that took place during most of the race. Honestly you just tune it out. I remember looking out at Lake Ontario & seeing the choppy waves rolling in & i remember the steel gridiron lift bridge which can be nerve recking when its wet. Even with the rain, the dedicated people of Hamilton with their umbrellas still came out to cheer. The toughest part of the course is Northshore Blvd. by the Burlington Curling & Country Club and the other section is around marker 26 km. Northshore is a series of rolling hills that subconciously plays games with your legs, wearing your down. Marker 26km is the deep valley & climb back up to York Blvd.
I'm competing in 70.3 Ironman New Orleans in one week and was trying to decide whether to take it easy or not for ATB. I decided, life is short & to go for it. In the end i set a pb with a chip time of 2:12:50 knocking off 7 minutes from last years time. I owe so much of this improvement to my good friends at the Running Room. Practice does some amazing things. As i'm typing this up on March 30th it is snowing in Barrie. ATB had a great showing from Barrie. A busload of RR fanatics ventured down for the 115th running of ATB. Yes Older than Boston by 3 years. Congratulations to all. To my friend Dianne M, great job & i hope you didn't get too wet. See you next year. Tim, they were asking for you at the e-load exhibit. I said hi for you.

Mark Harrison in South Africa

check it out www.triharrison.blogspot.com
Mark has just arrived in Prince Edward (i think) South Aftrica to compete in the Ironman. we all wish Mark well. cheers. J.

a plunge

just finished 3200 meters in the pool this morning. on January 2nd, i joined the Barrie Masters Swim Club with one pragmatic goal ; to reduce my 2:05 /100m pace to 1:50 /100m. swimming by far has been my achilles heel. however with lots of repetition & pointers from my mentors Brad & Mark, i think i can honestly say i've improved. how can i be so sure that i've improved ? easy. i'm not getting beat as badly now. swimming in many ways is like swinging a golf club or throwing a perfect QB spiral. everything has to click. Its all about motor mechanics Coach Fracas at the UofW use to say at our Lancer football practices. Swimming is about reduce drag & resistance. what a feeling when suddenly everything you have learned kicks in with pinpoint precision & suddenly for a brief moment you feel like a torpedo moving through water. but as fast as it comes, it leaves you to. that's the frustration. i hope i haven't jinxed myself by talking about self-improvement. my lovely wife, often reminds me, "look back 4 years ago when you struggled to finish 750 meters".
my motto has been, never even think about quitting ; and if you truly want something be persistant. signing off, Jamie

Cycling Freaks !

Lance has broken his first collarbone. First time apparently. 6 weeks to heel, he should be back for the Tour.
Closer to home, the 57th Westover-Strabane Classic. A road race on April 10, 2009 held near Flamborough (north of Hamilton). I might check it out. For the masters it is a three 18.5 km loop. for more detail go to Hamilton Cycling.

Opera

I'm stopped in the street almost everyday and asked, "Jamie what is your favourite Opera?" That's easy, Alexander Pushkin's "Boris Godunov". Great music ; Great epic. Boris was the Czar of Russia following Ivan the Terrible. Wasn't Ivan an Ironman?

ATB race course

I was talking with Hamilton Running Room friend two days ago. She was telling me how they have been practicing by running the front portion of the course. In all her running this section of streets that runs through industrial Hamilton (Copps Colliseum to almost the Lift Bridge) the locals are always quite enthusiastic to share their feelings with the Running Room glan. I guess its their way of offering their hospitality & words of encourage. I think that's what makes people from Hamilton so darn tough. Around the Bay when you sit back & analyse the neighbourhoods you actually run through, is in itself, unique. You go from Steeltown Hamilton to the cusp of Lake Ontario, to the "Rodedale drive" of Burlington. Running along Northshore Blvd.is beautiful. Gorgeous homes with Landrovers parked in their drive as Executive wives sip their baileys & coffee and applaud the runners as they go by.
A popular race. No wonder it sells out so quickly these days.

ATB, SA, NO, & Utah

One week away for the Older than Boston race, "Around the Bay 30km". I've done this race twice now, and it is a perfect tune up for all Ironman. Our good friend Mark Harrison is off to South Aftrica to do the Ironman, we wish Mark all the best! Myself, I'm off to New Orleans in 2 wks to do the 70.3. and lastly a new annoucement Utah will be hosting it's first inaugral Ironman event in 2010.

About the Barrie Tri Club in Barrie, On. Canada

After a brief hiatus, our Tri club is back on its feet thanks to Mischelle Stevens & some other key participants. The official name of our club is the Kempenfelt Tri Club. The City of Barrie, On is built around a body of water (no, not Little Lake). Those not from the area looking it up on a map would first see a Lake known as "Lake Simcoe". To the far west of Lake Simcoe is a large bay known as "Kempenfelt Bay". this is the body of water that is adjacent to the City of Barrie. So much for the geography lesson.
The KTC is looking for new members. Our Executives held a meeting last weekend & are pleased to annouce the mandatory KTC tattoo will no longer be inforcable. So, Brent you're back in the club.
It won't be long be for this weather breaks for good & we can unvail our weapons of mass destruction (tri bikes). Please visit www.kempenfelttriclub.com
We have some real comedians in the club, that will keep you doubled over while you're trying to catch your wind. Don't be shy, if you have any questions please ask.
I'll keep you posted with more detail soon. yours truly, Jamie.

PB @ Peterborough

Age. Ken Norton famous Boxer & Mick Jagger have said along with many others that you are is old as you want to be. May 2001 I ran my first & fastest half marathon in Burlington, On. a time of 1:32:52 at the age of 39. I had almost convinced myself that i would never duplicate that again or better it after many attempts.
Last sunday in Peterborough i did it. I ran a 1:32:13 in less than ideal conditions.
Although cliche, never quit, you can do it if you want it bad enough. This race has restore my faith in this cliche. So what's next? Sub 3 of course.

2

Two points of interest for today. Want to improve your swimming technique check out JimmyD Shea on youtube. I found it to a great ; no matter what specific stroke you want to hone in on. Check out the butterfly stroke first. He seems like a cool dude!
Second, just finished a book "The Boston Marathon" written in 1979. Supposedly, and I may try this, in hot weather when the sweat/salt runs off your forehead into your eyes, some seasoned runners will apply vaseline to their eyebrows. Apparently the perspiration runs off the vaeline down the side of your face & not into your eyes.

Sun. Feb. 22nd Peterborough Half M

Looking for a way to jump start your season. Sign up for this race/ The YMCA does a nice job. Barrie usually has a good representation. Many runners do this race as a tune up for "Around the Bay".

www.kempenfelttriclub.com

Check out Barrie's Tri Club. www.kempenfelttriclub.com
You don't have to be an athlete to join. we do welcome Honary members too.
My apologies, i'm short on time this morning, but if you have any questions, please send me a quick email at ijamie63@rogers.com

Ghost Town 38.5 Miles Ultra began at 6am running the first 50 minutes in darkness with the exception of guys like Keith who thought ahead to bring a race lamp. Thank goodness too, that of the 38.5 miles (marathon distance + half marathon distance) the first 6 miles were on asphalt. This Ultra is located in the southwest section of New Mexico, a small village called Hillsboro, about 45 minutes drive south of Truth or Consequences. January in New Mexcio you need to know three things. The mornings are cool, the snakes are dormant, and the evenings are cool. Midday temperatures were hitting close to 70 degrees F. This was the 4th running of the GT38.5 with a field of 71 runners of which easily their were 12 elite ultra runners.
The trail started as a rough road slowly & gradually turning into red clay, then crushed stone all the elevating through the Black Range Mountains. Our altitude was anyway between 5,000 & 7,000 feet. My game plan, was to try and ignore the whole thin air mystic as Keith Lascelles and i had just landed in Albuquerque 2 days ago. I really did not feel the effects until running up long inclines where my breathing became heavy. It wasn't a huge deal, but it did mean taking a few more breaks than normal just to catch your breath. Keith did well the altitude didn't seem to effect him as much as i. When Keith & set out we knew we were in the company of some dam serious ultra runners. Some from Utah, Colorado & NM, who had done the infamous 100 Miler known as Leadville, Co. Nevertheless our competitive spirit took over. For the first hour or so we were 6th & 7th place. I was worried we had gone out too quickly. I told Keith a few times, let's slow down we still have 6 hours of running in front of us. In the same breath, as Keith is a better Ultra runner than I, I told him, "don't let me hold you up ; when you need to go, Go!" As it was, Keith & I ran together for 30km almost the turnaround point. The view & scenery was unreal. Mountainous terrain with Horseback Guides looking out for us. We were forewarned that we may see Elk, Courgars & Wild Pigs with tusks. The race Director also armed all of us with whistles as precautionary measure. We saw the occasional hawk & that was it. The terrain was tricky at points running on jagged chunks of rock. Several times my ankle did go over. However, no harm was done, just a brief scare as at this time i had been running alone for several hours. Keith & I about a third to half way into the race took a wrong turn. The trail came to a fork & we were unable to see any runners in front of us. We took a guess, and of course it was wrong. We ran for 1.5 km or a total of 15 minutes going the wrong way. Several runners at the finish line had asked us, "i finished ahead of you, but don't remember passing you."
My camelback worked well with my Cytomax mix. It lasted almost my entire time of 7 hrs 21 minutes placing me 23rd overall. Keith Lascelles placed 19th with a time of 6 hrs 54 mins. The winner Tim Long finished with a time of 5 hrs & 24 mins. Just unbelievable. For me this was my longest race to date. The last 4 miles were agonizing. I would run 100 meters walk 50 meters, pushing myself as hard as i could. Your quads are telling your brain, this hurts, stop. Deep down you know it's just 3 more miles, 2 more miles and you don't want anyone to pass you at this point. I kept checking over my shoulder the last 4 miles making sure there wasn't someone gaining on me. As i ran on the asphalt road the final stretch i could see a runner about 350 meters in front of me. I know he saw me, so as much as i tried to catch him, he wasn't going to let me. GT 38.5 was a fabulous experience & a race that i will do again one day.

Ghost Town 38.5 m

 
 
 
 

Ghost Town 38.5 New Mexico

full report to come.

I'm ready

Looking forward to the sun & warmth of southern New Mexico. As you know it has been biting cold here. Pure ugly cold. So, what is this Ultra you're running in? An Ultra is any ditance beyond a regular marathon. In this case i will be running 38.5 miles )~63 km. In fact it is a marathon + half marathon tied together. The on easpect that has me a little concerned is how my body will adjust to the high elevation. I just saw the elevation drawing on the Barrie Roadrunners blog and i was shocked.
Nevertheless, it will be adventure with biting wild pigs and i'm told poisinous dormant snakes. This will also be my first race using a "camelback". My goal is to take lots of pictures, don't get lost and write a story i can submit to Ultra Running magazine as well as Running Room magazine. All for no, i'll tell you all about it when i get back next Tuesday.

Ghost Town 38.8 Miles in New Mexico

only 13 days away. here's the exact route we will be covering. the race location is about 3 hrs south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

January 1, 2009

what i like the most about January 1st between 6am - 9am is there is no one around except the odd Taxi. i feel like Will Smith in "I am legend".
ps "Go Gators!!"