So Boring Blog!

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I just wanted to post a quick note to say that it isn’t that I don’t WANT to tell all that has been going on… it’s only best that I wait to let you know that whole story. Things have seemed pretty quiet here at the website but it is only because I didn’t want to let anything out before we are truly good to go.

Pretty exciting news about to come out next week.

In the meantime I have a couple spots left in the coaching roster but have been pretty busy putting together individual plans for all of my athletes. It is so good for me to have a chance to help guide another person’s season… the details are so important and reminding someone else of them helps me as well! I have a very diverse group of athletes and I am stoked to have them all trust in me and I look forward to proving that I can help them reach their potential.

As for me, I am doing my best in some crappy conditions. Luckily I was very focused on run volume rather than cycling volume through December so I haven’t been too far off track. I had some small problems with my achilles so that made it necessary to move a bit more cautiously into my plan. Then it snowed like crazy and the entire city absolutely sucks for training… whether it was deep, unplowed snow or icy, treacherous roads, either way we have been screwed. For now, I am trying to train in deep, slushy, messy snow that is driving me insane. I am going to set world records for the most time logged on a trainer for sure. Well, maybe not but 8 hours of riding and 3.5 hours of running on a treadmill is pretty close to insane. For one week, anyhow!

We did have a chance to spend a glorious Christmas Day in Ucluelet with our family and that of my sister-in-law Jill, the Bradys. It was a fabulous, family packed occasion with Jill, Ryan, Jack, Lucas, Dominic, Shawn, Ross, Mel, Christine, Brian, Calla, Heather, Sean, Brian, John and Dorothy (Gramma) all in Ucluelet for the weekend. I dragged my brother Shawn and his son Dominic out with Ross and I along 16 km of snow covered Wild Pacific trail for a wonderful three hour Christmas walk/hike. Poor Dom was pretty blown by the end of it all but I might as well get his training started early, right? We were all well recovered after a wonderful meal was created by my chef brother Ryan. Deep fried turkey is soooooo good! He runs the Delicados for my dad and his partners in Ukie so if you ever are going through… hit the Surfside Delicados for some yummy and healthful treats.

Stupidly, we have lost our camera charger and despite the fact that EVERY ONE of our family members has a Canon camera, not a single charger worked with my battery. That is very frustrating!!! So since we didn’t have a camera to capture the beauty of the Westcoast coastline, here is a photo taken by Christine. Beautiful!

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Big Beach, Ucluelet, BC

More racing related posts to come…..

My 2009 Schedule… Tentatively

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So the tentative schedule came out yesterday for XTERRA. If you click on read more you will get the overview of the XTERRA Cup… which is what the old Overall Pro Series has become.

Essentially, pro athletes will do 5 of 8 races plus the National Champs in Snowbasin to win the overall tour. What do I think? Well, 8 races does make for a more “overall” feel than just 4. However, the carbon footprint of 8 races in all corners of the US is very large indeed. Especially the way it is scheduled. We are going to be criss-crossing all over the place to get this done.

That said, I am excited to be going to the new events. Nothing says “fresh start” like a completely new lineup of races. Most exciting? Only TWO are altitude! YES! Unfortunately, the most important one of all is still at altitude but I LOVE Snowbasin so I can let that one slide.

In addition to XTERRA I will race a bunch of the “Series formerly known as NORBA” to get up to speed. This year I might actually have to start with a little more pep given it looks as if we are going to giterdun starting May 2. The tentative races aren’t in this schedule but it could be a lot of events in a row early in the season. Crazy and early.

I have put a tentative lineup for 2009 up, including a couple of 70.3s that I would like to do to get myself a spot at the draftfest known as Clearwater. I want to go add another World Championships to my life experience. Road cycling, mountain biking, XTERRA, 70.3… I will have to do the trail run Worlds as well as Kona to really round it out. Then maybe next year I could do the cross worlds and the marathon mountain bike worlds as well.. haha! Just kidding. Okay so here is the schedule page…. so READ ON

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The Ultimate XTERRA Christmas List

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The Ultimate XTERRA Christmas List

By Melanie McQuaid (as published at http://www.triathletemag.com)

Dec. 5, 2008 — I am not a huge fan of the commercialization of Christmas. It is possible that I am still suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome after discovering Santa was actually my parents. More likely, I am resisting the expectations that come with the Christmas holidays. However, there is something magical about how Christmas truly brings out the best in people so I certainly am not crossing this holiday off my list.

As far as the whole gifts part of Christmas, I am a huge fan of PRACTICAL gifts. I love the look on someone’s face when I give them a gift and I especially love watching them put that gift to good use. No one is ever getting a set of tube socks from Melanie. No, those socks will have to be breathable, cushioning, anatomically correct running socks that the giftee will thank me for on our Sunday run the following week!

I started to think about the best, most useful and practical gifts for the XTERRA triathlete on your list. Most of these gifts will be high on any triathlete list, regardless of their chosen discipline. I consulted with the coach in me to make these suggestions as I feel that most of these items are very useful tools for improvement or at least enjoyment of the process. The fun part will be seeing your friend or loved one absolutely thrilled to be given such a thoughtful and useful gift that is not an ironing board. READ ON…

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My Man of Movember

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Girlfriends and wives worldwide are celebrating! Today marks the end of Movember… an annual tribute to the ‘tache and prostate cancer fundraiser obviously invented by a Burt Reynolds impersonator with altruistic character.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about read this from http://www.movember.com :

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a charity event held during November each year.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache, raising money and awareness along the way.

Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Alex Trebek look-a-likes battle it out on the catwalk for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title.

Ross managed to raise more than $360 for rocking this look:

Ick! Moustaches are absolutely BAD… BAD!!!

Lots of fun in Movember. We also had a trip to San Francisco and I have loads of photos from Hawaii I am making a mini movie of so stay tuned for the offseason recap. Of course all of the photos from San Francisco are horrid because our friend that came with Ross for the weekend. Thanks so much Todd for putting up with Ross and his little friend…

The boys from the bike store were in on it as well so READ MORE to see photos of more MOs…

 

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