Results, results, results....

Before I even begin, I wanted to say "hello" to Jordan who dropped me a line just the other day. Apparently Jordan has been following along, and was out there on course with me at GWN last weekend. It was a brutal day by all accounts - and despite my best efforts to "avoid" the heat, I was caught in the worst of it on the run, with not enough fluid OR calories in my system to even begin the run. I should have done a 1:40 half marathon, but ended up doing a fair bit of walking, much to the chagrin of my coach. Hmm... have I been there before... according to my mother, I have, many times (in fact, just two weeks prior at K-100 ;)

Well, anyways - things were a bit slow towards the end of the bike, but overall I was pleased with my swim and bike splits - and we just won't talk about that run. Ok, I will talk about it, but just briefly... I managed to sort things out after half-way, but it was a bit too late for me. What do you know, another negative split (yeehaw).

Congratulations to Jordan for finishing that sucker... it was BRUTAL hot for the first time in history, according to those that have done it before (I was also a virgin to this race ;)

Oh yeah - Alli cleaned my clock on the run, and passed me at about 12k in - she didn't look back, and finished solid - just over five hours.

Well, it was a week of relaxed training, including a leisurely 80k ride yesterday... then onto ITU Edmonton for little Sunday morning Olympic distance action.

The swim was OK - I haven't seen all of the results, but I was out of the water first in my age group, which was cool... then onto my (never used) Kestrel for a ride through the hills in the river valley. That was fun, but not exactly speedy. I was about eight minutes shy of where I wanted to be on the bike... my legs didn't have any more speed in them :( Ah well... the run went OK, my recorded split on the run was 44:46, which is also a bit slower than I would have preferred, but given the circumstances, I am content... finished third in my age group which qualified me for the World Championships in Switzerland.

Now - I am nowhere near a contender for ANYTHING in Switzerland (save for the bottom half of the pack) BUT I have signed up to go do it, just for fun. I think it will be cool to hang out with some of the best athletes in Canada and the world... for a few days :))

Well, that's about all that I have for now, but keep an eye out here as training progresses. The next 48 days are all that remains of training opportunity for me pre-Ironman, and I have a few things to sort out in those 48 days ;) Only 54 days remain until the world championships... and ditto :)

If things get a little boring in this blog (I am a wee bit short of time at the moment :) check this out, I am logging all of my training here now:

http://weendure.com/user/cwasylishen

You can see all of my upcoming events, along with everything that I am doing... including weekly and monthly summaries. It is a new (free) service which is wonderful, even if lacking a few small things. Enjoy!!

The journey isn't anywhere near over...

I started this thing with the intention of keeping people that were interested in knowing what was going on at this end "in the loop" and I have done a real crap job of that since returning from Australia... so here is my first effort at rectifying that :)

We are very much back in Edmonton, with training back on track (more or less for me, absolutely for Alli :) I guess in all reality, training has been less than optimal, but I am more or less back on track. This weekend and next are races, so they are a bit of "a break" then it's back onto the hardcore plan, need to get all things in order - Ironman Canada is in 57 days. I feel that the fitness in the tank, but I need to do some fine tuning over the next 50 days :)

So... this weekend is Great White North - a half ironman distance race held in Stony Plain, just outside of Edmonton. The weather forecast is looking good - says high of 27 degrees, and with the race starting at 8:00 AM I should be well and truly finished prior to the serious arrival of the "serious" heat or the potential thundershowers. Will check the weather prior to departure tomorrow.

Tomorrow's race holds a bit of a story - my buddy Todd and I agreed to race the bike leg of the course... the winner taking a yellow jersey. The idea was that we would both be motivated to train harder than the other on the bike, if nothing else. I really figured Todd would pull it all out in the training, but he seems pretty convinced that I will win tomorrow - only time will tell. Race is from T1 to T2, will report back on who is the big winner post-race.

Great White North is also a big race for Alli - she's shooting for a spot at Ironman Canada, for which GWN is a qualifier. Her age group is larger than normal (61/700 - just under 9% of the field). My age group on the other hand, is 144 large, or about 21% of the total field. All that whining done, I am already signed up for IMC so there's really no pressure for me ;)

Next weekend is ITU in Edmonton, an Olympic distance race that will hold qualifying spots for the ITU age group world championships in Switzerland, which I am going to take a serious shot at - I would really like to visit Switzerland in September, so let's see if I can pull it off!! More on this to follow.

In other news, I am doing a couple of boot camps, and now employed on contract by a company called Fifth Dimension Software - they make blood tracking software, and I am helping them out while they do a massive rollout for a major American customer :)

Ok - time to get out for my pre-race bubble tea. Race report to follow...