Wednesday, February 27, 2008

WIND TUNNEL

ok... i been so bad at blogging... maybe a bit annoyed from been sick and not going full trottle in training. I actually been sticking to the schedule and done over 28h last week and 3 long rides and some very solid days.

But the best part as been today! I m in san diego for 2 days with Cervelo at the wind tunnel! It s been a amazing experience and i did learn a lot!!! i will save another 5 or 6 watts with new change for ironman AZ!!!!!!! but i will keep these new finding secret for now!!!

It s been awsome as both phil and gerard are there to share knowledge and i had plenty of time to discuss with 5 of there engineer so i get to learn a lot and also see what they haven been working on in the last few months to improve the p3c.... i also got a big binder of data and info to digest and read .... a lot of smart advice to take into consideration!

I should be back in Las curces to my normal life tomorow night...very late! I still have a few more session with the cervelo staff where they will share more about fitting and position. then, drive back to LC!!!!

I dont have any pic as i wasnt allowed pic in the tunnel but should have some from cervelo photographer later!

bed time!

jonny.... the happy geek!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

tough ride!

I been super busy the last few days and not too active on the blog....

Well, i m sick! Dam!!!! i dont like this... my crohn is flaring up and it s giving me a hard time. Last weekend, i end up on the side of the road in pain and could not stay on my bike anymore, i had terrible intenstin cramp and was in a lot of pain. The next few days have not been easy as i dont have as much energy as i would want to and struggling to digest well the food.

The very annoying part is that i just started the preparation for ironman and every day count. Part of my flare up is also a problem with my left hip. I always have muscle that stop firing when i get sick like this and it become very painfull to run or even bike at some times... I dont really know how to deal with it and make it work better.....so i will try to be patient and stay very positive.

A flare up usualy affect my digestion, energy level and muscle around my hip. It can last from a few weeks to a few months.....

The good side of thing is that i do have a lot of people around...... the last few days have been fun with a few dinner out at the restaurant.....

Today was a 4.5h ride and a 50 minutes run that end up been 40min because my hip was not doing too well.... The ride was good as i made a big effort to eat so many calories and i came alive in the last 2h of the ride!

Tomorow is another try at doing a run longer than 1h...... will see how it goes!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I have visit!!!!



so....i m not alone anymore!!!!!!!! I have friends in Las Cruces!

Yep, Jacqui, mariana and andrea arrived last night and we all went together to Lorenzo's to join danny and misha for a nice dinner! I had the grill chicken fettucini alfredo with a lot of bread!!!!! NICE!!!!

Finaly at 10pm was Mark that got into town for a few days! He will stay here with me and he already got a good run today 55 minutes in the beautfull trails with the snow covering the mountain around us! Then a swim with a 4X500m average of 5:25 for them and finish with a 2h ride where i didnt feel too good!

Tonight, we are relaxing here before tomorow long ride. Mark also brought 2 red trek TTX size small in his car. I m not too crazy about the color of these so i m presently decorating them and making my own pain job on it. I do hope the owners wont mind????






I m also nursing a small injury so i m doing a lot of this exercice.... i need a massage therapist now!

Monday, February 11, 2008

commercial.....why not!!!!

Very easy day for me ...... a swim 4km and a lot of rest. I have another easy 20h week before starting the build up to ironman arizona.

So, i did a lot of stuff today, car insurrance, sponsors stuff, a few project and i had a hour spare so i decided to make a commercial. Yes... a commercial, i always wanted to work in publicity and i have my little camera so me and my crew(me) headed outside to shoot this disastor!

Now, here it is!!!! remember that i m the cameraman, actor, producion, scenariste, mixer and editior and i can't do one single of these job well.... so.... results are what they are...

the concept is from a old pub i saw awile ago...




good night everyone!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

No guts know glory IDEAS

Today, i want to present to my readers a friend of mine, Rob Hill. Rob as done something very special in the last few years. He as climb 6 of the highest summit on each continent. There is only one left; Mt Everest! And yep, he is going for it in april at the same time as i will be racing ironman Arizona!

There is also something special about his attempt at climbing the 7th summits (one on each continent). Rob was diagnose with crohn disease in 1994 (about the same time as me!) and had to have a major fight again this disease and had his colon remove(ostomy). He said himself; "when it came down to losing my colon or losing my life, it wasn't a hard decision to make." Rob's colon had to be removed a year and a half later. "Life with an ostomy was my second chance and I was not going to waste it".

so far, rob as done: Mt. Elbrus,europe
Aconcagua, south america
Mt. Kilimanjaro africa
Denali alaska
Vinson Massif antratica
Carstensz Pyramid oceania

Please go read about Rob story at his website... and i love the name... NO GUTS KNOW GLORY




Another important aspect of his work is is involvement with the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society (IDEAS.....cool name again!) The main mission of the society is to educate and raise awarness to everyone of what is crohn disease, ulcerative colitis and other bowel disease. Why raise awarness?


let me give you a personal exemple. I was 12 years old when first diagnose and was very very sick. I needed to go to the bathroom at least 25-30 time in a day! Yes... more than once a hour. I miss weeks of school as i was at the hospital and then was way to scare of going back to school. All my class were 75 minutes... i did know very well that i would need to leave class at least TWICE if not 3 times to go to the bathroom. At your first year in highschool, that isnt the kind of thing you want to do... other kids dont understand and teacher think you are just trying to run away from class. I will always remember this teacher that refuse me permission to go to the bathroom..... That is something you just CANT DO with someone that as crohn or Ulcerative colitis. That teacher didnt know what that was. I never wanted to go back in this class ever. I ran away from it...

This is the kind of thing that should never happen. It s also important to educate people and give some support. Kids with crohn and UC often will isolate themself from everyone else and will stay home and lose comfidence in themself and been in contract with the outside world. For me, i would say that triathlon as been the best therapy in my life to give me back comfidence and contact with people.

Here s a link to IDEAS.... please go visit the site!


Another great thing about Rob story is that we have another very good friend that is a crohn patient, triathlete and amazing guy. John O'Shaughnessy! John is a friend of mine for a few years now as we meet in victoria and in triathlons. He will be going to everest also as a support crew for Rob. I can honestly tell you that i m very jealous as i would love to go also and see everest from the base camp!


here s a link to john's site... he is a slowtwitcher!!!

fun weekend!... and i m oncle!

I m oncle for the second time!!!! My brother had another baby... well not him but his girlfriend, mylene! IT s a boy, 7 pounds, 74 vo2max, 209max hr, 340 watts threshold and definitly a long distance futur athelte!!!! His name is Matys and i will have some cool pictures tomorow!!!!


To catch up on my training.... friday was a fun hard run with danny, we did a nice 6X6 minutes z4 with 1 min rest for a 1;20 run. I pass the rest of the day feel like crap... z4 always leave me feeling sick!Danny is running well and was setting a strong pace so i had to be on my best behavior to stay with him.... but i got the work done.

Today was a 4h ride doing the trans mountain loop with danny! It was nice and sunny!!! finaly, Las curces is warming up!

I then went to the pool to do a very exciting 3X800m main set pull... 8:55 8;42 8:28...on 9:30 turnover! 4km total!

now, just about to go to be early and keep on rolling. I m feeling a lot better now that last week and the recovery week as been great so far!

Monday, February 4, 2008

recovery!!!!!!!!!!!

I finish my last of 4 big weeks of training! It asnt been the best week for me. Very tired, unmotivated and having a hard time getting the training in. This combine with some not so good weather, made for a bit of a rough ride!

I still manage close to 27h and 3 longish rides! A few nice swim set and some consistant running. Now, i m starting a 2 weeks block of recovery before going into the ironman build up! The weather in las cruces is crazy... if it s not under 30 degres, it get windy to the point that visibility is down to 500m and there is dust everywhere.... it s insane how powerfull the wind is..... today... 35-40mph!!!!

i m still keeping myself busy with a few project and here's a short report about athlete depression. You never know when it will hit you and i advise everyone to take notes and learn so you know how to react if you get there!



have a nice day everyone!