The Resurrection: What happened in Quebec

Although sponsors are everything, you can’t really swim, bike or run fast at a race if you can’t get there and that’s exactly why I want to start off by thanking my teammate, Oliver Blecher and his mother Louise for driving me to Quebec from Hamilton.

I’ve had a lot of ups and downs the past 11 months, which caused me to miss many training and racing opportunities. After dislocating my shoulder in January, my coach Barrie Shepley and I decided to start my season yesterday, on July 12^th, instead of racing earlier on when I would have been unprepared to race.

I ended off my last blog post with the Caledon Kid’s of Steel update. Since then I have been training very hard. Up until the past few weeks I had still been experiencing some shoulder discomfort in the pool. My swim coach at McMaster, Andrew Cole, and I came up with a plan to only swim 3000m (vs. 5000 up to 6000 per practice normally) per practice for a few weeks.  Two weeks before this race I was finally able to do all of our practices in the pool, and starting to feel good in the open water.

In the past month I also raced a 5km race on the track at the McMaster Track. I ran a 30 second PB, with a time of 16:06.76 and was very pleased with this result. That same night Oliver Blecher moved into my house and we started training [beating the crap out of each other] leading into the race in Quebec. 

I want to thank Caledon Hills Cycling for setting me up on one of their Cervelo S5’s, because my new frame still hadn’t arrived a week out from the race.

The race in Quebec was a lot of fun. I haven’t seen a lot of the guys I was racing since Canada Games and it was great to catch up with them! The swim was a non-wetsuit swim, so unfortunately I didn’t get to wear my Nineteen Wetsuit! I really was unsure of where my fitness was relative to the rest of the country in the water, but fortunately I came out in lead pack, and I really can’t ask for anything more! With a fast T1, I hopped onto my Cervelo bike and rode fast for the first few kilometers. Then the pace slowed to a “pedestrian” pace. I always seem to spend too much time at the front so I decided to pull through but spend some time drafting this race. It ended up working out well because it allowed me to get a little bit of a jump into transition with another guy. I had another fast transition; putting on my Saucony A5’s and ran out of transition up the grueling hill.  I really didn’t feel as good as I was expecting on the run, but I think it was just the lack of racing this year. Putting the three together, I ended up with 11^th place in the nation today. I’m very pleased with the result and cannot wait for Magog to come!!

 
Just before I finish, I want to congratulate my two teammates, Oliver Blecher and Kirsten Vargara for finishing 5th and 2nd respectively. 

Thanks to Radical Edge, Caledon Hills Cycling, Nineteen Wetsuits, Aberdeen Subaru, Triathlon New Brunswick, Human Performance Centre and the C3 High Performance team for supporting me throughout the season and today!!

Subaru, Update and Oh So Much More

As many of you know I took a trip back to New Brunswick last week. I had a blast catching up with friends, family and getting a 5K race in! In a week I was able to get a lot done for my triathlon career as well.

I am pleased to announce that I will once again be partnering with Aberdeen Subaru, and Greg O'Leary this season. They have been great to my family and I in the past and I cannot wait to work with them for the second year. If you're in need of a great car, with fantastic costumer service you shouldn't look further than Aberdeen Subaru on Rothesay Avenue. I can say with confidence that Subaru is a very reliable company with cars that handle superbly and have all wheel drive for the snowy and icy winters we get on the East Coast! Thanks again for working with me this year, and for many years to come!

I've now been back in Hamilton for a few days training, volunteering and racing. C3 hosted the Kid's of Steel in Caledon over the weekend. After volunteering all afternoon Saturday, I raced Sunday morning in the 16-19 age group just to work out the rust. I was happy with the result of placing first in my age group and having the fastest time but I still have a lot of work to do! Here's a picture of me racing over the weekend. I want to thank The Radical Edge in Fredericton, New Brunswick for lending me this Trek Madone. It wasn't quite my Cervelo S5 but it's really not about the bike!

Thanks to everyone that made this race possible and to my awesome teammates for making the weekend fun! I can't wait to get a few more hard weeks of training in here! Now it's time to get off my computer and get out doing what I love. Over and out. 

Tucson, This Time Around

Well I just finished yet another training camp down in Tucson. I love going this time of the year because it's so hot outside, which makes training even more fun than normal! I flew in the day after my last exam to get some solid training in while others finished up their exams.

I ended up having some very good workouts. I recall saying to Johnny the day after I flew in,  "Nothing beats jet lag like a sprint set at U of A." And I actually meant it, although painful at the time, I bounced back from the day of travel and the stress of exams because I didn't have much choice. Johnny was fit and ready to train, so I had to be too! But back to the University of Arizona pool, it was beautiful. I would rank it #1 in the pools I've swam in over the past few years. Here's a picture just to show how breathtaking it really is! And a huge thanks to the masters team there letting Johhny and I jump in for a couple of practices!

After a few more days with Johnny, he drove himself to the airport, me being half asleep in the passenger seat, and we said our goodbyes. Then it was back to crushing another week of training. Everything ran relatively smoothly, only having one minor bike problem.  I feel as fit as I need to be right now and ready for the 2014 season to start. 2013 was a tough year, but it's time to leave the past where it should be and get back into race mode. Over and out. 

Here's one of the amazing morning runs with the mountains in the background!

I'm Not Living Under a Rock

Hi everyone,

Just so you know I'm not living under a rock. I've been MIA for a bit and I do apologize for that! School has been busy, especially on top of training! I'm pleased to say that I'll be heading down to Arizona again in 6 days for a couple of weeks to get another warm weather camp in before the summer starts in Canada. I can't wait to get down there again and see how fit I'm getting. Obviously with the fall in September there are still days that my shoulder isn't 100% but those days are becoming scarce now and I'm hoping they'll disappear forever in no time. I'm currently busy studying for exams but this seemed like the perfect way to take a break.  I'm going to be doing a lot of studying and packing the next few days but it'll all be worth it for Arizona! That's about all there really is to update everyone, but I'll send out another blog post while I'm in Arizona to let people know happening in my little world!

Cheers!
Reid

Update and Indoor Tri Recap

Hi Guys,

I haven't posted anything since the new year, but now it's February and February is always a great month. Some people like it because Valentines Day is the 14th, that's not exactly why I like it but Valentines day is the day before I fly to Arizona for yet another training camp! I'm looking forward to this one a lot more than the ones in the past, don't get me wrong I've been extremely excited for all of them but this one just means so much more. I finally feel like I'm training again; getting into a rhythm. Arizona this year is going to be a huge part of my comeback and I'm really looking forward to getting a kick start on my 2014 season!

As I mentioned before I'm getting back into training. I've actually been swimming a lot considering that I dislocated my shoulder not so long ago. But with all of this swimming also comes A LOT of strength and injury prevention exercises. In order for me to perform at the level I have performed at my last two summers I have to be stronger than ever and I can't get injured again. I'm taking all of the precessions I need to so I don't have to start this season the same way I ended the last one. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 will bring me!

The race recap for the tri on the weekend will be super short because there isn't much to talk about but it went a lot better than I thought it would. I wanted to be mediocre at all three disciplines and not "die" or burn out half way through the race. I went out really relaxed in the swim because I knew shoulder pain was going to come but I just stayed as relaxed as I could and just pushed through the pain. My bike ride was ok, I wanted to be able to run so I kept it a bit more controlled than normal given my current fitness but it was a good plan because I actually ran well considering how much time I took off. I'm not going to throw any numbers out there because I'm kind of living in a cave right now and I like it that way but don't worry my fitness is coming back fast and I'm itching to race outside again. I really couldn't have had a better recovery! Thanks to everyone that helped me through my injury and sickness. I really appreciate, more than you'll ever understand. Time to get back to studying but here's a picture from the race on the weekend. I'm kind of hiding in the back!

Reid