birddance

You would think that I would have things around a race ironed out by now. Well as my parents would fondly remember the gong show of my first couple races this one did not dissapoint. Upon arrival in Kansas late Friday night my cab driver got lost so I spent a extra hour roaming the interstates of Kansas with a panicked guy fiddling with his GPS and swerving all over the place.

Opening my bike bag on Saturday morning I realized that I left my seat post and saddle at home and that set my mission for that day. Luckly the Jeff at Elite Cycle lent me a P2 saddle and post for the weekend, not ideal and definalty changed the set up but I'm super grateful to the karma of solid bike shops. 

Race day things settled down and I found my routine. Fought to the front of the swim and after the first turn decided to push the pace. Like the boys in Victoria know when I get to the front I don't always swim straight. A few guys asked why I was all over the place and the answer was simple, I rarely lead. Onto the bike I wanted to get things started quick so I decided to push the pace on the first 20km and settle in. The legs payed for it on the back half of the run but I was happy to finish and its a good start.

Things have not really settled in yet but it time to throw drops bars and my dual control shifters for Alcatraz. Been looking forward to this race since I was 8 years old!

For the third year in a row both Grant Burwash and myself are looking to reach out to begginer and intermediate triathletes to pass along some skills for enjoying your 2012 triathlon season.

Click Here for more info

I have approached my diet a little differently this year and with that comes some unique challenges. At the begining of April I really cleaned things up and starting filling the post dinner snack void with sparkeling water. A little trick I learned from Samantha Maglone. But I'm contantly caught in a battle between my mind and stomach in the evenings. 

Here is how the conversation goes after dinner;

Stomach - 'you could easly eat 3 or 4 more helpings'

Mind - 'lets wait 15 minutes and let things settle'

Stomach - 'your so weak, look for the hidden chocolate chips'

Mind - 'ok but only for 15 minutes'

Stomach - 'if you can find them you should eat the whole bag'

Mind - 'your crazy, you felt terrible the last time that happened'

Well you get the picture! I would say 5 of the 7 nights a week I'm able to Jens Voit my stomach into submission.

Its no secrect that I had some demonds heading into this weekend. Mental demonds that lurked from last years Banyoles, Kelowna and Buffalo races. Demonds that questioned my love of the sport my ability to focus; my ability to deal.

The objectives for today were singlar, have mental clarity and focus throughout the last 2km of the bike and fist 5km of the run. Unfortunatly there was no last 2km of the bike and definalty no run. But a better start then last year. I will take a double flat over a crash with a pevic displacement anyday.

Out of this race I will take two things:

Despite the change in duration of swimming in training - things are still solid

I'm happy to be dissapointed not to finish, I'm hungry; 

happy to be hungry!

Well as promised an update from last week. The three time trials went well, had no more then 90 minutes on the new bike before the 3min/12easy/20min TT. Good progress but still chasing where I was at last year, must stay diligent and not try and work too hard on easy sets.

The two run time trials were different and had me in a zone where I have not been in a while. Some big positives to take away but some opportunities for improvment as well. Now with new zones established on the run things over the next 3 weeks will be interesting.

calgary aquathlon - run from jon bird on Vimeo.

On another note I hosted a Alberta Triathon Association Junior Development Camp this past weekend. With almost 30 junior athletes at the Talisman Centre over the weekend it provided a great opportunity to meet some of the up and comming stars of the scene.

The 2nd Aquathlon on Sunday went off! With over 50 people participating we doubled the numbers from the first event in February.

Look for Results Here