m y T r i L i f e

Fridays Night Lights

2009-02-27T21:48:00.004-07:00

Ahh.. the end of the work week... and I'm tired, oh so tired.

I haven't blogged much as of late... life has just been too busy. A project deadline at work means putting in some overtime... and the extra hours have usually come at the expense of a good night's sleep. On the plus side, I am banking the hours to use for days off for some race travel this summer.

Right now I'm sitting in my bathrobe, writing in the office while Naomi has a bath. We're both winding down from a long week and can barely keep our eyes open. We're hoping to stay awake long enough to catch our favorite show of the week "Friday Night Lights". If you haven't seen it, watch it! It's on at 10pm here on Friday's... check your local listings. It's less about football, and more about life than you would expect. Exceptional casting and great writing keep us tuning in each week.

We've both been reading about all the warm weather training camps everyone is at and are certainly missing the opportunity to train somewhere warm this winter. Oh well, we'll just keep working towards the day when we escape Alberta and open a little cafe on a tropical island, near great surfing, good riding/running and swimming. :-) I have my lottery tickets this week... HA!

Due to all the indoor trainer rides over the winter.. we have been slowing knocking off that list of movies we'd never find time to watch otherwise. Tomorrow's selections... The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Burn After Reading.

Oh.. the show is on... later!

RRSP Time? Hmm.. maybe not.

2009-02-19T17:33:00.002-07:00

The TSX since 1987 has under-performed inflation.

Greater Fool Theory indeed.

Tax break? Sure.. but you still pay taxes when you pull the money from your RRSP.

Real-estate still seems the best bet for long-term investing....?

2009-02-08T20:55:00.002-07:00

Another great week in the books. Naomi and I have really found a rythm in the eat-sleep-work-train groove that is our lives. The muscles are hardening, my blood volume is up... and some of my sessions actually feel good!

Naomi, after her extended layoff due to a nasty stomach bug and other injuries was feeling a bit smashed from hitting almost her full volume these past couple of weeks. We cleaned our home this morning and she was wobbly and falling over while vacuuming and climbing the stairs! Regardless, we headed off to the gym, and she attempted to do her session today... weights and a run. After coming over to talk to me on the treadmill near the end of her weights, she said she was still feeling off and I told her to call it. I cut my session short as well, and we instead drove to WEM for a quick shopping trip. Probably not a bad idea for me too... my legs are feeling a bit rubbery thanks to Vinnie's ass-kicking Saturday bike sessions....

Last night, we went for a fantastic dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for our Valentine's dinner. No sense in fighting the crowds next week... and it worked into our schedule. Ruth's Chris makes some of the best steak I have ever had.. well worth it. After our meal, Naomi's friends joined us for desert and a drink and we had nice relaxing evening chatting away.

2009-02-04T20:12:00.003-07:00

Winter seems to have taken a break. All the fine snow and great ski conditions I mentioned in my last post... have been ruined by two weeks of mild temperatures, frequently above zero.... and even rain. Here's hoping for some cooler temps and a few more snow days before the x-c ski season is gone for good.

Naomi and I have started swimming in the morning at the pool that is about a kilometer from our home. A huge perk to our new location! I am able to get in my full swim workout in and still have enough time to get home, put on my work clothes, and eat breakfast before driving to work! The only downside is that it is a more "recreational" pool than Millenium place and they keep the temperature about 1.5C higher, so it feels a bit warm when I'm working hard.

Skier's Paradise

2009-01-11T21:10:00.002-07:00

A perfect day for skiing yesterday here in Sherwood Park. With temperatures finally rising close to zero, I grabbed my ski's and drove out to the Strathcona Wilderness Centre. Conditions on the trails were rated "super excellent" and I had to agree. We've had plenty of snowfall here in the capital region over the last month, and the trails were freshly packed for some fast skiing. This being my 4th time out on the ski's, I was finally finding my rythm and was able to cover considerable distance in the 60mins I was out there. I am hooked on this sport!

Last night, I decided to google other places to ski around here.... and discovered that living in Sherwood Park is a skier's paradise. I have 4 places to ski within 25mins drive of here... Strathcona Wilderness Centre, Ft. Sask, Elk Island National Park, and Goldbar/Goldstick/Hawrelak parks in Edmonton. I've asked Naomi if she wants to drive the 80km sometime to the Tawatinaw Valley which is about 80km north of Edmonton but has 25km of trails.

It was always disappointing living in Calgary for nordic skiing. In the 8 years I lived there, I never did get out, although I did downhill about a dozen times. The 10-14 day clockwork Chinooks destroyed any usable snow within the city. The closest place to ski from what I know was Kananaskis... either Kananaskis Lakes for classic skiing, or Canmore for skate skiing. Both... a solid hour of driving from the city. While I may be a lot farther from the mountains now, my skiing opportunities are much better.

There is a winter triathlon coming up in Edmonton in February that is skate-ski-run, so I'm going in search of a pair of used speed skates in the coming weeks. Should be interesting trying to transition out of a pair of skates, into ski boots, then finally into runners! Now, if I could only afford a set of classic ski's, I'd give the Birkie a try... but that will have to wait til next year.

A few links:
http://www.xcountryab.net/
http://www.stat.ualberta.ca/~wiens/TrailReport/TrailReport.html

Mushin

2009-01-08T21:30:00.010-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kanji for the word Mushin. "Sword and Zen are same." quoted from Tsuji Gettan Sukemochi:^[1]

Mushin (無心; Chinese Wu-hsin; English translation "no-mindedness") is a mental state into which very highly trained martial artists are said to enter during combat. The term is shortened from mushin no shin (無心の心), a Zen expression meaning mind of no mind. That is, a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything. For the origin of the mushin concept, see Muga-mushin.

Mushin is achieved when a fighter feels no anger, fear or ego during combat. There is an absence of discursive thought, and so the fighter is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without hesitation. At this point, a person relies not on what they think should be the next move, but what is felt intuitively.

A martial artist would likely have to train for many years to be capable of mushin. This allows time for combinations of movements and exchanges of techniques to be practiced repetitively many thousands of times, until they can be performed spontaneously, without conscious thought.

I blog tonight about the concept of Mushin. I can't explain it better than the Wikipedia entry so I copied and pasted the first few paragraphs. Read the rest and make a donation to the Wikimedia foundation to keep Wikipedia available to the whole world.

I've received a funny email tonight from my buddy Kevin. Since my "triathlon is not my LIFE" post he accused me of getting soft and joked I was going to change my blog title to "myhusbandlife" HA! Yes, married life is awesome, but I'm far from getting soft, I assure you... although Christmas treats, and inconsistent training has not helped. ;-) I have just learned to appreciate and enjoy training and racing differently from before.

Today, I drew up a race schedule for 2009. I decided to skip a few races I have done before, and do a few new ones. I have no less than FIVE half ironmans on the schedule, plus various sprint, olympic and running races thrown in for good measure. Enthusiasm and enjoyment are my goals, performance an outcome. Even if it rains at every race this year, I will just put on more clothing, sport a big smile, and enjoy the day!

So, getting to the topic of Mushin....

I'll start with story about Great White North half-ironman 2005. I had just finished my final workout the day before, and was standing on the beach, relaxing, soaking up the sun. I remember talking with another competitor (Rosemarie?) about the race. She asked me a typical pre-race question... "how do you think you'll go tomorrow"? I remember being in the oddest mental state... I wasn't thinking about ANYTHING. I could only say quietly... "I don't know, I'll see what the day brings". The next day I went and executed what I consider my finest race to date.... and produced at that time, my best result. I was happy when I finished, but not ecstatic, I just had that same strange mental calm continuing from the day before.

I believe I experienced my first taste of Mushin. I didn't let my thoughts get in the way of my performance. I didn't think about what other competitors were doing, or what time goals I was trying to beat, or the weather, I just moved intuitively to the finish line at the fastest pace my body would go. Sure, I was in great fitness leading into the race, but it took me many years to realize that the strongest part of me that day was my mind!

Fast forward to 2007...

One of the things that I found so attractive about "the method" of training at ironguides, was the lack of gadgets, scientific testing and gimmicks. This was highly appealing from a sense of frugality, but I knew there was something more to it.

By training with a HRM, a powermeter, speedometer, etc, we are constantly engaging the mind, and training in a state of non-awareness. A common excuse from the gadget crowd is that they have no ability of Perceived Exertion (PE), so they need these gadgets in order to gauge their effort. Given that our society provides endless ways we can distract ourselves while we drive, eat, workout,etc... it's no wonder that athletes become addicted to the sensory overload.

I'm going to go beyond the concept of "Perceived" Exertion, and bring a new concept I'll call "Awareness of Exertion". Awareness being prior to thought, it is the inner space in which perception happens. By taking our thoughts and emotions (that are based on perception) out of the equation, we set our body free from our mind imposed limitations, and allow it to perform at it's highest level. One cannot be aware when staring at HR, speed and power output, or watching splits, etc. And sadly, I think that is also where we start to lose our enjoyment of the sport... our ego's are dependent on constantly improving numbers.

A great little article written by my coach Vinnie illustrates this point perfectly.

Naomi pointed out to me that the Mushin article defines warriors acting "without conscious thought". Correct she is. While we seek to live our lives in conscious awareness, race day is our combat... and is the time for Mushin.

See you at the finish line.

Home Pics

2009-01-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Naomi has posted pics of our home on Facebook at this link.

PRONET Cycling

2009-01-03T11:16:00.001-07:00

A shout out to Bob at ProNET cycling. I needed some new lockrings for two ELITE bike trainers... and after some emails... he sent me two for free! I probably could have checked at the bike shop first... but I have them now.

On that note, it seems everyone breaks the lock ring on the ELITE trainers. After the lockring is broken the mechanism that holds the bike in place can become loose, causing the bike to fall out while riding! A bit of an engineering flaw, they might want to provide replacement lockrings made out of aluminum maybe?

The obligatory New Year's Post

2009-01-01T21:18:00.006-07:00

Another year on the Gregorian Calendar has passed. I had some wonderful thoughts brewing on the concept of time as an illusion, and why our identification with days/months/years as meaningful distracts us from enjoying right now. But I'll leave the philosophy for another post, or not.

One reflection on the past however...

I started this blog as "mytrilife", which is still the name today. I identified myself as a triathlete, full of the ego and narcissism which is so prevalent in the sport (and pretty much everywhere is seems). Triathlon was me (my life), or so I thought. However, the past year I have experienced an awareness as to who I am, or more precisely, who I am not. I no longer identify with being a triathlete. I do not base my sense of self on my PB's, whether or not I qualified for Hawaii, or won my age group at a race. None of those things matter. The moment I realized this, I started to have more enjoyment and enthusiasm for the sport than previously.

So, triathlon is a hobby that influences my lifestyle, but it is not my LIFE. So, wouldn't this necessitate a change in the name of my blog? No, not really... as knowing that triathlon is not my life is good enough. :-)

And finally, thank you to our friends and family who gave Naomi and I gifts for our wedding this past year. We are very grateful and appreciated getting in touch with as many of you as our busy lives would allow! FYI... Our new home has a guest bedroom... hint, hint.. :-)

Éireman

2008-12-08T21:09:00.004-07:00

This race looks great!

Close to the finish line

2008-12-07T20:50:00.002-07:00

One more week in our apartment. One more week. We've been packing, cleaning, sorting, and throwing out all that crap that piles up that you never really think is there until you have to move. We don't have much time during the week, so today was our final push. We're tired, very tired. I write this to wind down before bedtime. 4:15am wake-up to swim in the morning will be most unwelcome! Ah well... after the first 500m, I'm always good to go.

Another stress in our lives has been relieved... we found some great renters for our condo in the west end. We're still losing money on the place each month... but now at least we have some guaranteed income to ride out the topsy-turvy real-estate market.

Over the last couple of days we finally have received some snow in the Capital Region. However, warming temps brought freezing rain, turning our streets and parking lots into skating rinks. Another week or two of decent precipitation (in the form of snow!)... and we might see some of the x-country ski trails open... well... here's hoping. A trip to the mountains at Christmas might be in order to get some skiiing in before the new year.

My first week of work as an official employee of DynaLIFEDx was good. Well... it didn't really change much from before, except I now have underground parking. Previously, I would park across from the Greyhound depot in downtown Edmonton. Although it was a cheap place to park, the area is frequented by some nasty characters. Well... that is most of downtown Edmonton! Anyways... I don't miss the bums sleeping and urinating at the edges of the lot, begging for change, or dealing/using drugs.

Last night, we dressed up and went out to the staff Christmas party. Quite a popular event, as 500 people showed up at the Shaw Conference Centre. Good food, door prizes, and a really good DJ made for a fun night.

For those of you from Regina, Naomi and I will be there for only a short couple of days after Christmas.... from Boxing Day until the Sunday. Send me a note if you want to get in touch... and I'll see if we can squeeze a meeting in.

A new home, a new job...

2008-11-25T20:53:00.006-07:00

Life since coming back from Phoenix has been busy to say the least.

Naomi and I had originally planned to move from our apartment in Sherwood Park into my condo in the west end. It was a great plan, as we would only be there for a short time until we jetted off to Australia. Naomi's exchange counterpart would live there for the year, and have the advantage of underground parking for the harsh Edmonton winter.

However, since Australia was canceled, we both came to the conclusion we had no desire to uproot from our lives in Sherwood Park to move to the west end of Edmonton. Both of our commutes are fast and convenient from the Park, we have quick access to the best training facility, Millennium Place, and also the best riding around Edmonton... Strathcona County.

So, off we went on a home search in Sherwood Park. We looked at many properties, including some new developments and kept coming up disappointed. It's astonishing how poorly constructed and/or poorly kept most of the new properties we saw were. We were getting close to settling, when I happened to click on a property for sale by owner advert that had a mediocre exterior photo. We had found our gem.

Built in 1970, our future home is a two storey townhouse near Festival Place in the heart of Sherwood Park. The current owner, an electrician by trade, completely gutted and renovated the property in the time he has owned it. New everything... flooring, walls, wiring, cabinets, light fixtures, carpets... the place is brand new and is in show home condition. Another plus, the walls were built with concrete block, which is a pricier method of construction, but as I understand has many advantages for durability, comfort, sound-proofing, etc.

I think this home is wonderful investment over the disposable buildings currently being built on the market. We have already started to pack our apartment as we move in Dec 12! WOO!

Since we had originally planned to purchase the west end condo, we had also in the last month put forth the paperwork to take over the title and mortgage of that home as well. This has been a bit stressful, as it will now become a rental, and turning us into landlords. We're also looking for offers of mortgage assumption, as currently it cannot be sold in the lousy housing market for more than the current mortgage (marginally less is my guess). Who knew the market would crash so hard in the year I owned it? Know anyone who wants a two-bed, two-bed bath in Callingwood?

My job is changing slightly... I have been offered a full-time, salaried position at the company I have been contracting at the past 15 months. A move to regular hours, benefits, paid holidays, steadier income, and secure employment in the current economic downturn is most welcome. As I see it, if I really want to contract again... I am a two week notice away.

Needless to say, all the stress and hassle of of the last month has made living a normal routine impossible. I'm tired, I'm not training consistently, and I haven't had much time to update here. However, it should all be settled in a little over two weeks, can't wait! Now, when is it going to snow so we can get out on our new ski's?! I'm jealous of the eastern provinces right now! (that's pretty rare, ha!)

World Toilet Day - November 19

2008-11-18T12:29:00.001-07:00

Don't forget!

Marx on Capitalism

2008-11-17T10:42:00.001-07:00

Given our current economy... I found this interesting.....

Marxist Critique of Capitalism
1. Perfect capitalism has no monopolies, unions, government interference, special advantages for anyone. Just pure competition.

2. Each commodity sells at exactly its proper price (its value).

3. The value of a commodity is the labor (both direct and indirect) required to produce it (labor theory of value).

4. Capitalists (bourgeoisie) own the means of production (factories).

5. Bourgeoisie cannot raise prices above the value of a commodity because of the fierce competition.

6. Workers (proletariat) have only one commodity - labor.

7. Proletarians are free bargaining agents in the job market.

8. So far, every commodity, including labor, sells for its proper price and there seems to be no way to make a profit.

9. But, the value of labor is the labor required to produce it- i.e., the social labor needed to keep the worker alive. So, the proper price is a subsistence wage.

10. There can be profits if the means of production are efficient enough for the worker to produce more value than his subsistence wage. (For example, he needs $6.00/day to live and is paid $1.00/hour. Then if he works 10 hours/day, there is a profit potential of $4.00.)

11. The bourgeoisie have a monopoly after all - access to the means of production.

12. So, a worker who does not contract for a full day's labor (thus removing the profit base) does not get hired - assuming there are more workers than jobs (the "reserve army of the unemployed").

13. So, the bourgeoisie must exploit the proletariat or there is no profit.

14. The "extra" labor is surplus value.

15. The bourgeoisie will try to expand in order to increase profits.

16. Then more labor is needed, so wages tend to rise. But then surplus value (the profit base) tends to fall.

17. Marx rules out an increase in population as a means to restore the proper price of labor. (Malthus is "a libel on the human race.") the proletariat (who are, after all, the future ruling class) are too smart to breed themselves into oblivion.

18. The bourgeoisie instead expand by using labor saving machinery. So, some workers lose their jobs and join the "reserve army of the unemployed" which brings wages back to the subsistence level.

19. But, the bourgeoisie pays full price for the machinery. So, fewer workers means less profit.

20. Competition forces this process to continue, so the labor/production ratio falls until the profit base disappears.

21. Consumption dwindles as machines replace labor.

22. A "bust" occurs. Small firms go under. Goods are dumped on the market at below value.

23. Stronger capitalists get machinery at far below value. So, surplus value reappears and a "boom" begins.

24. Capitalism will proceed through boom/bust cycles. Competition for workers, higher wages, labor saving machinery, smaller profit base, still more competition, collapse, etc.

25. Each bust will be worse and gradually only a few large firms survive.

26. As monopolies emerge, the misery and exploitation of the masses increases until they revolt.

Soma Triathlon

2008-10-30T20:57:00.007-06:00

This past weekend Naomi and I went down to Tempe, Arizona for the Soma triathlon. We wanted to get one last race in this season before bringing out the winter gear. I managed to get some free flights with my airmiles, although it meant flying in on Saturday and back again on Monday. That's ok, as Naomi's schedule is a not as flexible being a teacher, and I wasn't keen on missing that many days at work either.

About 5 weeks ago I casually mentioned to Paul Tichelaar that I was going to Tempe to do Soma 1/2, and he must have thought that was a good idea because he signed up too. My friends Frank and Tanya were coming down from Calgary too, so there would be a few of us Albertans on the starting line.

About 15 days out from race day I caught the nasty fly/virus/cold that is still making the rounds here. I spent most of the time lying on the couch or in bed, or at work making my co-workers go nuts with all my sniffling.

The week out Paul asked if I wanted to get together for a ride, so I said sure... I didn't care how bad I felt... I wanted to get my body moving again! We left at 10pm on Sunday morning... it was only 1C, but sunny. I wore all of my warmest cycling gear, and since Paul brought his aero helmet, I rushed back in and grabbed mine. Great idea! No vents keeps the head nice and warm! Paul and I survived the ride, both of us suffering from lack of long mileage. I felt horrible the rest of the day, but it gave me confidence I could at least get through a 1/2 IM the next weekend.

It was Thursday when I started to finally feel a bit better and was happy that I would be able to race.

Naomi caught the same virus about a week after me, and was still not feeling well when we boarded the plane in Edmonton. When we arrived in Phoenix, we had to drive directly to the site to get my package, and build my bike and check it in before 4pm. No time for a quick SBR.... I built my bike in the parkade about two blocks from the race site while Naomi slept in the car. After checking in at the hotel, Naomi went straight to bed (at 4pm), while I drove around the streets in search of a grocery store. We ended up eating TV dinners cooked in the microwave in our hotel room as the fast food joints were not in the least appealing.

The next morning, Naomi was still not 100%, and decided to keep sleeping. I gathered my things and headed off into the darkness to Tempe Town Lake. I arrived later than my usual, but transition was just starting to get busy. I sorted my gear, did a quick run warm-up, chatted with a few friends then wandered down to the start. After the Best of the US race went off I jumped into the water with the pro's (they started 1min ahead) to get in a good warm-up. The announcer was warning everyone the water was cold at 68F. Umm.. that's 20C, I found it very warm. However, USAT has a weak AG wetsuit cut-off of 25.5C!!! I don't think I would finish a half iron swim in a wetsuit in 25C water. Anyhoo...

The swim went ok, I caught a female pro before the first turn, and realized it was Tanya. She jumped on my feet as I went by. About that very time the sun fully rose and as we were swimming east, completely blinded me when sighting. I saw a buoy and after swimming about 50m towards it, realized I was waaaay inside the course. I popped my head out and saw the buoy I was supposed to be swimming towards and pointed it out to Tanya as well. Finally after rounding the turn buoys I was heading back west... and could not see a single buoy to mark the northern line of the swim course. Not the best marked swim!

The bike course... wow. More like a crit race.... it had 5 u-turns in each 30km lap. And in many parts of the course, it was no wider than a single lane, making passing and avoiding other racers a real adventure. Times were quite fast though... the course was flat, slightly short (about 3km?), and some drafting was hard to avoid. Most people I saw were making an effort to ride clean despite the congestion however. I really enjoyed this course, it was always interesting, and the surges and braking broke things up. The lack of training made the last 15km tough... and my neck started to stiffen up... I couldn't ride for very long in my bars.

Out onto the run, it was really starting to heat up... into the 90's. I LOVED IT. I started out slow though as my quads were threatening to cramp. I managed to get into a steady rhythm and cruised through my first lap. The second lap I was immensely joyful and calm and I crossed the finish line knowing I had done my best on the day.

After some chatting with Frank and Tanya, and some post-race food, I went back to the hotel to get Naomi. She was up, feeling good and was in dire need of some food! So a quick shower and off to Mill Avenue for some Japanese food. Mill Ave is full of excellent restaurants and only a couple of blocks from the race site. For those that don't know Tempe, it is also right in the middle of the ASU campus. The massive ASU football stadium dominates the skyline about 5-6 blocks away... a very impressive site... bigger than any stadium in the CFL!

After relaxing in some cool shade at the awards, Naomi and I set off in the car to do some exploring. We headed into downtown Pheonix.. was a beautiful city. Flat as flat can be, and endless grid streets but clean and nicely landscaped. We didn't stop much, except to grab a bit to eat at Jack in the Box! YUM! After a quick nap back at the hotel, we went back down to Mill Avenue to find a good place to eat. We ended up at La Bocca, I nice Italian eatery with stunning decor, and to top it off.. it was movie night. They dimmed the lights and started "Pan's Labryinth". From the 20mins we saw, it looks like an incredible movie.... we're going to rent it soon.

The next day we only had time for breakfast and some quick souvenir shopping, before we heading back to the airport to catch our flight. I must say, Enterprise car rental in PHX was AMAZING. Fast, friendly, efficient. Our Kia Rondo, although a "compact" class car was HUGE inside... great for people flying with bike boxes.

Overall, a great trip. I love Arizona and plan to return. There are some great deals on flights and accommodation there right now with the economic downturn... check it out!

Naomi posted our pics here:
Arizona 2008 Part 1
Arizona 2008 Part 2

Bar swap?

2008-10-21T22:03:00.003-06:00

I'm looking to build up my old Cervelo P3 as a road bike. Instead of retiring it, I want to swap the Oval A900 bars for some STI's and a drop bar setup. I'll maybe upgrade the cassette and rear derailleur to 10spd while I'm at it. If anyone is looking to trade for the bars for the parts I need... let me know... leave a comment or email me a greg at mytrilife dot calm.

Time to buy skis

2008-10-18T11:43:00.005-06:00

It's official. Naomi's exchange to Australia ha been canceled. The visa issue holding up her Australian counterpart was apparently too much to overcome and she had to pull out. There is a 1 in a million chance of a teacher in Australia requesting a last minute exchange. Honestly, I'm not sure why any Australian would want to live in sub-arctic Edmonton.

So.... Naomi went out and bought some nice cross country skate skis! I'll probably pick up a ski package in the next couple of weeks as well. If you believe the Farmers almanac, we're going to get a long snowy winter. I'm now hoping for plenty of snow and mild temperatures.

-----

For almost the last two weeks I have been fighting a nasty virus/cold. A lot of people in Edmonton have caught it... so it's probably spread to wherever you are reading this. I finally felt good enough to attempt a swim on Thursday and a run on Friday... I felt like crap.. but at least I'm moving again. I'm hoping it clears soon, as Naomi and I are flying to Phoenix next weekend to compete in a triathlon.

-----

A couple weeks ago, I scored some free tickets for the Cheryl Crow show at Rexall Place. I'm not a huge Cheryl Crow fan, but free tickets.... why not? So, Naomi and got our errands done that night, skipping the opening act, and caught almost 2 hours of a really good show. Simple stage setup, but great sound, and entertaining.

Cheryl Crow likes to talk to the crowd a lot. I read a review of her Toronto show where she ranted about Oil and politics... well.. she had to tone that message down for the partisan Edmonton crowd! Bashing big oil would get you booed off the stage here! She also commented on the Oilers jerseys hung in the rafters, but I'm not sure if she knew that Messier and Gretzky haven't played for Edmonton for... ohh.... 20 years?

How Naomi and I met

2008-10-16T22:58:00.001-06:00

Ok, I know it's been almost two months since Naomi and I were married... but here's the story of how we met... as that's the question everyone likes to ask...

It all started last year, when one day I was bored and looking to kill some time. I did what triathletes do.. go hang out at the tri shop! It was a slow day at Element, and I ended up chatting with Cam for a while. I think I had been there for almost an hour and had finally decided to leave and find something else to do... when in walked Naomi.

Naomi was supposed to train that day, but was feeling burnt out from a long summer and the usual back to school blues. She drove to element instead to return a pair of sunglasses for warranty purposes. I stopped in my tracks as she entered the shop. I could do nothing but stare at her. We quickly struck an easy conversation.. talking about triathlon of course, but then progressing to life, work, etc. An hour later.. or was it longer(?).. we we're still standing in front of the Oakley display chatting!

However, I eventually had to head off. Knowing that the weather was going to be nice... I asked Naomi if she wanted to go for a ride with me the next day out in Strathcona county. She agreed, we exchanged numbers and a possible start time and I walked out of the store with a grin on my face. Little did I know the gossip inside the store when I left. "We're just going riding right?" "No, that's a date!" "Maybe he just wants to be friends?" "NO, IT's a DATE!" HA HA...something like that... I heard about this conversation a while later.

The next day we rode for three hours admiring the autumn colours in the county. The conversation was easy and relaxing, and even the silence was wonderful. I recall Naomi guessing my age in the twenties and her being MUCH relieved when I told her I was 33 (at that time). Although she looks much younger than her age, my guess of her age was much closer. I had done some mental math based on what she had told me about her education and work.

After the ride, we sat around and chatted, neither wanting to end the "date". After chatting for some time and that all important first kiss, we we're both starving for calories, and decided to get a quick meal. How's Wok Box for a romantic first dinner?

As I left her place that evening, I knew we had something very special. Actually... I knew right from the start in the shop that Naomi was the one. :-)

Kona Predictions...

2008-10-06T16:09:00.002-06:00

While I carefully craft some other blog posts... I'll give my predictions for Kona...

Women - Chrissie Wellington
Barring a mechanical on the bike.. the race should be a cakewalk for her

Men - Steve Larsen
I like to pick on favorite and one dark horse... so Mr. Larsen gets my nod. He can bike with the best, and he's improved his swim/run. Can someone juggle a business, 5 kids, and training to win Hawaii? We'll see...

It's called Autumn.. not fall. ;-)

2008-09-25T22:45:00.003-06:00

It's a quiet evening at home, I'm sitting here catching up on some blogging while my beautiful wife Naomi sits and watches Survivor Gabon *rollingeyes*. We've managed to survive a month together as husband and wife, wow.. that was tough.... HA! Just kidding! Life is great. :-)

With the fall, Naomi is back to school. Naomi's profession as a teacher is very demanding, sometimes ridiculously stressful and can quickly turn into long hours if she doesn't manage her time at school carefully. I have gained a lot of respect for teachers, and they certainly deserve that long summer break that most of us envy so much! However, she has told me that she has another great class this year and will feel sad if we go to Australia... but not too sad I suppose!

I say "if" we go now... because our trip might not happen! The Australian teacher is having visa issues. Some extra paperwork was sent, but we have no guarantee that the visa will be granted. We're both ok if Australia doesn't happen, as we agree then it was not meant to be. Obviously, we'd love the opportunity to go, but we know that life will be good if we stay in Edmonton.

Naomi and I have been out enjoying the famous Wednesday Night Cross Country series here in Edmonton. For $2/race we can go out and punish ourselves on some of the fantastic trails in the river valley.

Last weekend we went down to Goldstick Park to watch the cyclocross racing. That is AWESOME stuff. If you don't know... it's beefier road bikes w/ knobby tires on soft trails. Naomi and I are going to have to buy cross bikes and give it a go if we don't head off to Aussie.

To finish off the tri season right, both Naomi and I wanted one more race. I tried and tried, but wasn't getting good flights to any of the races we wanted to do. I have a lot of Airmiles racked up, but the options they give you for flying are usually quite restrictive. I even tried to get flights back to Regina last weekend, but no go. After some more searching and a few phone calls to Airmiles... I managed to find us some reasonable flights to do a 1/2 Ironman at the end of October! WOO! I'm hoping the weather holds out so that I can get some decent weekend rides to keep my bike legs in shape before then!

I have been doing some reading. First, I finished off "The Last Lecture". It's a good bathroom/coffee table read as it is broken up into many chapters. Enjoyable, but nothing mind blowing.

What I am reading right now, however... is the Power of Now. I am not going to say much... except GO BUY THIS BOOK. If you are ready for what it says, it should change your life for better, forever.

I need to do a proper write up of our wedding day. How can I go and write all these silly triathlon race reports, and not write about the most wonderful day! Coming up in my next post....

The money shot

2008-09-09T20:55:00.003-06:00

Naomi says, "Newton shoes: They'll take you where you want to go."

Google Chrome

2008-09-03T14:06:00.002-06:00

Ok, I though Firefox was the best... there is possibly a new champion in the browser wars:

Google Chrome

It's faster, more secure (so far), and a cleaner interface than all the other browsers. It's still BETA, but I LIKE A LOT.

QOTD

2008-09-02T09:29:00.001-06:00

Fitness has to be fun.
If it is not play,
there will be no fitness.
Play, you see, is the process,
Fitness is merely the product.

Sandy Beach Redux

2008-08-29T15:35:00.001-06:00

Sandy Beach Du coming up September 14! No excuses... tri season is done.. get out and race!

http://www.sandybeachduathlon.com/registration

A great wedding and vacation/honeymoon!

2008-08-26T22:00:00.002-06:00

After a bit of a detour to get around construction on the way back from Penticton, Naomi and I are finally back in Sherwood Park. Naomi is back to school tomorrow, I'm back to work. Now it's an all-out 4 months to get ready to head off to Aussie!

Naomi has been writing good stuff, and posting all our photo's to facebook... so check out her blog on the link to the right.

IMC was fun to watch as always... I may come back to this race in 2010. There seemed to be a lack of the usual atmosphere in Penticton this time. Maybe it was the cold weather... but I don't know. Steve King was certainly missed at the finish line.

Our last pic in Penticton was a gooder... Naomi with her favorite pro, Belinda Granger, and women's winner!

Here's my video of Rhodesy, the men's winner finishing: