This is the little one at my parents place in Nova Scotia.

Always biting off more than he can chew.  This stick is twice as big as he is.

My morning walk, my 350′ driveway.  This hill helped defined who I am today.

Always up for a camio.

Too hard of a day.  Figs spread out limb to limb.

G’Night Everyone…

No I don’t mean the worlds economy, I mean my personal economy (yes I love myself).  This season I’m putting a lot of emphasis on improving my bodies biomechaincs.  Little things such as toe strikes while running or pedal strokes will be under the magnifying glass.  This I believe is the next step for improving as an athlete. 

When I finished racing last year I started to go back and look at some of the videos taken by my family.  One thing was quite clear, when I get tired my form breaks down.  I know some people will read this and say "pssssshh, you can still run a 1:20 half marathon on bad form".  Your right, somehow my body still manages to squeak out an ok time but if I want to go faster efficiency is key. 

Now I’m not a huge believer in destiny but for Christmas I received a book called "Going Long" which talks a lot about improving the bodies kinetics.  In the book, it outlines different workouts to aid in better foot mechaincs.  I’m excited but also realistic that changing ones natural gait can take alooooooooonnnng time.

So I had a great Xmas break.  Did you have a good Xmas break?  What did you do?  I ate a lot of turkey (trying to put on my winter fat).  I got in some runs.  I also was joined by my brother for 2 which was a nice surprise (usually everyone says go run by yourself cause I’m too slow).

On my break I’ve finally put together my base phase of training.  It’s going to be focused a lot on running because of Ottawas cold cold cold weather.  In April I’m going to put a push on my bike miles and also my swim.

If your interested (all 5 of you who read this website) I’m going to be doing a bike camp in April 12-18.  I’d like to do it New England to save money.  If your interested well, come talk to me.  Should be a great time!

Anywho, now that I’m back at it for serious, I’ll post more on the site!

Happy (New Year) Trainin!

Cliff

After a year, I finally get to go back to Nova Scotia to visit my family.  It was about this time last year I finished University, packed up my car and headed home for Christmas.  My college life officially has ended.

Life has been pretty good lately.  I got a good workout in on Sunday (Hammertime).  We did 1.15 hours of running then biking.  The run consisted of a snowy tempo along the frozen canal.  Myself and two others blasted ahead which I’m still feeling today!  It’s hard to believe I did a 1/2 Ironman just a month before!

I’ve looked into the crystal ball (which is filled with snow right now) and have made my training schedule for the next 8-12 weeks.  My cycling is going to suffer as I won’t have the beautiful weather I had last year to ride in.  I’m planning on doing some large blocks of running while keeping a consistent swim schedule.  In the spring I’ll reverse the cycling and running, hoping to squeeze some volume in before the summer.

Training is truly finding a balance.  I enjoy being outside which limits me to what I can do in Canadas snowy winter.  However, this next block lets me focus more on 1 discipline than trying to average out all 3.  The upside is I’ll be a speedy runner and hopefully (hopefully!) my legs will remember how to cycle when they need to.  Only time will tell.

I’m pumped to be going back home!  If your reading this and are around B’water give me a hollar, maybe we can go for a run.

Happy (Almost Christmas) Training!

Cliff

There comes a time in everyones life when they need to suck it up and just go for it.  This week I saw a local online post that if you could "predict your swim time" you could win 200 bucks.  You had the choice of 1000 or 1500, I did the 1000.  I guessed 16:58 and got 17:2?.  I did the swim with no warm up and after a gym workout plus a bike.  No excuses I know!  What was great is I had a girl counting my laps so all I had to do was swim.  Amanda took some videos so I’ll at least get a glimpse of whats going on!

This week I’ve also had to battle my constant fight against the cold.  I haven’t put on a single pound since the summer.  Great if I want to be racing but terrible for taking Figs for a walk!  Yes it’s friggin cold here and without my winter weight, I’ve had to resort to wearing tonnes of layers.  I’ve been trying to eat in excess of 3000 calories a day.  In fact yesterday I had to resort to eating cream cheese and a whole loaf of bread just for energy!  Being skinny definately has its drawbacks (sorry Ma!).

Anybody watch the NBC Ironman production today?!  What a tear fest!  I know everyone has a story to tell but man…   Parapalegics to 72 year old woman getting hit by cars…  I thought I had it hard .

Anywho, I’ve got my second stint with "Hammertime" tomorrow.  I hope to get a post up after!

Happy (Piss off snow!) Trainin!

Cliff

This is my first full week back in the saddle.  For the past couple of weeks I’ve only done swimming but now am jumping back into the thick of things.  I’m trying to take things slow right now and balance training with well, training (a puppy). 

I figure it’s best if my time is split between putting in time for exercise and time for Figs.  I hope to get the best of both worlds (a happy me and a happy trained dog).

Today I had my first hard workout.  I’ve joined a local group, Zone3Sports, that trains specfically for triathlon.  The workouts are called "Hammertime" and go every Sunday till April.  (You can checkout the schedule at the site if you so desire).

As I said, this was a tough workout!  What a way to come out of a rest block right and go right into a cardiovascular test!  We did 2×10 minute full out time trials on the bike to find our upper heart rate limits (I hit 193 at one point).  Then followed that up with a 1 hour run in the snow. 

My fitness is actually better than I thought.  Although everything feels great coming out of a rest block.  This week might be a different story!  Building slowly from here on out is key!

Now for some puppy updates!  Figs has been doing great.  He’s finally mastered "paw", sit and down.  Were working on other things as he learns rather quickly.  Keeping his mind going while he is awake is a huge challenge!

I tried to go for my first run with him (don’t worry Thomas, just a short one like 2 minutes).  Everytime he ran I awarded him with a treat.  He got so hyper at one point that he missed the treat and got my finger.  His teeth are now very sharp which left a deep gash in hand.  Blood poured out of the wound and actually soaked a piece of paper I was carrying.  Definately not going to try that for the next little while!

A side note, I got probably one of the best compliments this week, check it out:

Chris,

We met at the F’ton Tri and I would be greatful if you and Cliff would consider participating in my event as you 2 are local celebrities here in F’ton.
 
This is truely and awesome local event…….you guys will be impressed.  Talk to Mike Davis if you get a chance about the event last year…………..it will be better this year too.
 
Thanks for your consideration.

shawn 

I’ve never in my life been called a celebrity!  It almost made me buy the $500 round trip flight to go to Freddy to do it!  Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to attend…

The race registration is here: http://www.atlanticchip.ca/events/details.php?show=342     It’s a 5K but from what I’e heard it’s run very well! 

Thanks for reading! 

Happy (I hate cold weather) Trainin!

Cliff