Triathlon Canada....and professionalism...?????

So i got a great news today!!!!!!! I have been name Athlete of the Year in the 18-29 age group category!!!!!!!! Yes.... i m a AGE GROUP OF THE YEAR!!!!!!

Great job TRI-CAN!

In 2007, i won the NATIONAL CANADIAN ELITE LD CHAMPIONSHIP
1st ELITE VICTORIA HALF IRONMAN
2nd place PRO IRONMAN CANADA
6th place PRO IRONMAN ARIZONA

i was name on the BC elite team and even better.... Triathlon Canada as ask me to go represent the country as there Elite athlete at the world championship with 500$ of funding.

and they find a way to give me the AGE GROUP AWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well, please, take my name out and give it to someone more deserving. I m sure there is a few age grouper deserving of this award and that would like it.

And if you cant do something properly and professionaly, what about taking it completly out of your programm.... After a breaktrought year like last year, i do find it a bit insulting to not be reconise as a elite athlete. I would think my federation would have a bit more of a research process before making those kind of awards???

Anyway, hope that someone in the 18-39 age group will get his deserving reconnition.....

the 99%

What is important to take a athlete to the ''next level''? The training plan? the super duper double run day? the special vo2max test with fuel analyses, the new cool drills, the specials equippement or the new altitude tents and powermeter? In my opinion, you can do very well and to THE NEXT LEVEL without all these things..... I personaly never get test or use any mesuring device in training. I dont have a very rigid plan and my coach dosnt ask my for splits or hr from my workouts......

The most important aspect in my opinion, the 99% of the athlete is the attitude. The right attitude towards training and slowly improving and getting the work done. The right attitude to stick to a plan and be patient. The attitude to trust a coach and focus on execution and not on building the new revolutionnary training plan.

Often, that 99% as to be in part, teach by a coach. You need to find a good coach to share that most important part of the big picture. Well, today, i m sharing with you all a bit of Paulo teaching me the right attitude toward been ready for Lake Placid....

This is tonight conversation between me and Paulo on MSN....

i was asking him if i could go race the Triple T triathlon in Ohio this weekend....

Jonathan says:

where is triple t?

pAULO says:

Somewhere in OH

Jonathan says:
what city?

pAULO says:
It's like in a park I think

Jonathan says:
i want to go

Jonathan says:
it would be fun

Jonathan says:
i could make money

pAULO says:
I think Zach is doing the 1/2IM

Jonathan says:
but i want to do the triple T

pAULO says:
How about you go spend the weekend at Saint Thomas Francis University?

pAULO says:
Wouldn't you prefer that?

......oh...some of you might not know about that reputable institution, anyone care to explain the meaning of a weekend at Saint thomas Francis University

Home sweet home!

I m very lucky to staying in boulder this summer..... and here is a little bit of my life!

the road to lake placid

ok, i m back to silly blogs... i forgot that i had a blog... i promise tons of pictures as i got my camera back in working order...maybe some video also...

the pic is one of the road in boulder called Lee Hill. as we look, it s facing north east....toward lake placid a few 1000s miles away!!!!

what s coming up, a lot of training to get ready for lake placid. I will first race in boise on june 1st and then Muskoka chase on june 15th. Then lake placid on july 20th.

The training as been good but a bit boring. I m still not in ironman specific prep but more in general training phase and i get a bit bored. So i been doing tons of stuff outside my triathlon life...

anyway, time for bed, more silliness tomorow as i will show everyone where i live and what are the great attractions at the Weathersby villa!!!!!

getting the word done

This is a picture of me and one of the cervelo engineer at the San Diego windtunnel in feburary. I learned a lot and in this particular case, we were observing the airflow around the bike and the body of the cyclist. A small string attache to the stick would show me well when the air would be disturbe or smooth and what direction it would go around the different part. As you can see if you look at the large version of the pic, the wind is blowing at 30mph!!! it s cold in there!

This week as been amazing. It's my first week in boulder and i m falling in love with this place. People are so nice and friendly and the training roads and trails are next to none. The only negative aspect i could find is the lack of good open water place to swim and the expensive pools all over town. But for the rest, boulder is definitly a place to visit!

I been doing a lot of hard session and threshold work. I might be taking part in the boise 70.3 and for sure will be at the Muskoka chase on june 15th! Then, it will be time for lake placid!

We had some snow today for a few minutes and i took my mtb out as it was pretty cold. I got a awsome 2.5h ride all over the trails and a great swim with mark. I m doing the work and should be ready for july 20th!

tomorow is ice cream day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what really happen on the mountain

Today was a great day in Boulder.

It started with a hard swim with Mark. We did a nice 10X200m on 2;30 and 3X300m. I have to say that i suffer a lot on that set and i m not use to the altitude but it was a lot of fun! total was 4km. Oh, i should mention that mark was actually doing the 200s on 2;15 holding 2;07.... i have a lot of work to do:)

I then headed to Andrew's place where he was super nice to fix my mtb and adjuste everything so i could ride with them on flagstaff mountain. With us was also Erin and Blake.

We started with a fun downhill and Andrew and Blake are two very good mtber so they simply took off right away and i was left in there dust. To be a gentlemen, i rode behind Erin as i knew she as the bad habbit of falling of her bike and wanted to make sure she make it in one peice down the hill. She might have think that she was actually riding better than me but the reality was, i was just polite and making sure everyting was alright.

I have to admit that i felt a lot better going up the hills and we were very lucky that andrew and blake were nice enough to wait for us every 5 minutes!!!!


we then stopped for a taste of the scenery of boulder!

i then finish the day with a great 1h run....and was lucky to have some leftover home made pizza that Denise made tonight!!!!!

i m dead now but cant fall asleep, it s only been 3 days back to training and i m already overtrain!!!!

Back to blogging

My vacation are over! time to get back to training and make every day count. I m in a very good mental space right now and ready to get the work done.

I had a amazing vacation in florida for 2.5 weeks with some amazing friends. I was helping my friend bruno in coaching a triathlon camp and i got to do a bit of training everyday and had a lot of time to share some good laugh and hang out with people that are important to me.

I m now in boulder! Yep, Boulder is gona be my home for the next few months in preparation for ironman lake placid. My coach want me to try this altitude training and i m very excited about the new challenge. I rode for 4h today at altitude over 9000 feet and i can tell my lungs were screaming for air!

Yesturday, i had a great dinner with some people from boulder. I got the chance to meet with Mark, Erin, Dennis, Laura, Jen and Andrew and having a good welcoming dinner.

I m presently living at the Weathersby villa and we have a automatic coffee machine! I will post more about this of course but i m extremely lucky to be staying with them and i have the perfect set up to get ready for the summer races!

time for bed.

Yesturday was 1h run, 2h ride and 4km swim
today was 4;30 ride, 1h run!

I M BACK!