Whoa, Canada!

Headed to LGA early Saturday morning (read: 4 AM) to head home to Canada. The 200 person lineup at security took its time and in the end, I had to jump the queue to make my 6:30 flight. A little hectic... That said, my flight left on-time (that's a first for Air Canada) and I landed in Toronto by 8.

After a brief nap, I headed out and put down about 13 miles. It's been a while since I've done some real winter running so it was actually a bit of a nice treat. I worked my way through a group of different Toronto neighbourhoods and ran past a bunch of my old digs, so that was great. Didn't make excellent time... it's really tough to get moving with snow under foot. In the end, got home, had a nice dinner with the family and watched a movie -- nice way to start the holiday!

Have spent the past few days taking it easy, catching up with friends and family and going for the occasional short run. Headed up to a local bikeshop yesterday and was scoping out the 2008 Cervelos... Right now, I'm planning on picking up a new ride in April (when the IRS hopefully returns a bunch of cash to me). So the debate is between the P2C and the P2 SL. The jump in price is huge, but the all-carbon frame is really enticing.

Anyway, now that the festivities are slowing down a bit, it's time to dig in and take advantage of the flexibility of my vacation. Headed to my old pool today. Water was way too warm but that's how it goes sometimes. Off to the gym in a few for a spin. Will try to get another workout in tomorrow before heading down to Waterloo to visit my grandparents. Then, come Saturday, I have to put down my first 15-miler in ... well a very long time. Ocean Drive is getting ever closer so I really have to build this base up quickly (although quick base building is probably an oxymoron...).

Blasts from the past...

So this week has been full of blasts from the past.

Spent the weekend hanging out with friends, including a good buddy, JC, who's in town on break from his PhD at UCSF. We all had an absolutely killer time on Saturday night doing a pub crawl. Actually, considering the crowd we had, it was a relatively uneventful evening (and I mean that in the good sense). The biggest drama came from trying to get Erin home through the snow in her high heels. In the end, we gave up and took at cab the final 3 blocks.

Lately, I've transitioned from heavy riding to running (both because my marathon is coming up and because the rollers I ordered haven't shipped yet). So, it was a real treat having JC around. Put down 12 miles on Saturday and then went for a `fun' get-through-your-hangover-in-one-hour run on Sunday.

Also in the fitness area, I've started lifting a little for the first time in about 5 months. Using it to add a little variety to my winter base training. I'm currently working on completing the so-called Marine Corps Challenge. Sets of pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups in a ratio of 1:3:4. It's a pyramid that goes something like this:
3 pull, 9 push, 12 sit
4 pull, 12 push, 16 sit
5 pull, 15 push, 20 sit
...
9 pull, 27 push, 36 sit
8 pull, 24 push, 32 sit
...
3 pull, 9 push, 12 sit

The benefits of it are that it targets muscle groups that I use a lot in my three events and it's a bad-ass high-rep and (if I don't get too fat over Christmas) low-weight regime. Also, after having accidentally made out with a girl who may or may not have turned out to have a boyfriend who may or may not be a professional athlete, I may (but hopefully may not) be calling on this strength before the 2008 season begins...

Tonight I'm off to hang out with more buddies from out of town and then I'm headed home Saturday. After four really rough weeks at work, the past few days have been absolutely awesome. I've had great times with friends and managed to get a lot of good workouts in. Can't wait for more of this holiday fun!

Ocean Drive

Having been light on training since the Half in Montauk, I'm starting to notice small indications of fitness loss. In general, I can still get out there and put down 3.5 hours on the bike no problem. The long runs aren't rough and I'm actually doing quite well in the pool. That said, I went out this weekend to throw down some quick milers on the track and found that I've definitely lost speed... When it comes to hilly rides, I'm not hammering as hard as I did in September. And, of course, I've put on some weight. As my friend/mentor Nick reminds me, this is all part of the off-season. You can't be 100% one hundred percent of the time.

That said, it's time to start digging in and getting those miles in. Since winter training can be tough on the spirit, I'm setting my sights on the Ocean Drive Marathon for motivation. Starting this weekend, I'm going to start focusing more on the run and lightening up my rides. I'll keep my pool time as usual. Here's my plan for my long runs:
Dec 15 - Jan 11: 4 x 12-15 milers (1 per week)
Jan 12 - Feb 8: 4 x 18 milers
Feb 9 - Mar 7: 20, 22, 20, 22
Mar 8 - race day: 20, 13, 6, race!

Well that's the plan... Now I just have to follow through!

Not really running...

Just an interesting little article that my buddy Tom sent along to me. I find that I do tend to zone out during long workouts, especially in the pool and when I'm out running. That said, I'm definitely going to give these tricks a try next time I'm out.

Good people

Saturday was chilly, but not too bad so I decided to head out for a 3-hour ride. Figured that I might not have too many more outdoor rides left this winter. Ended up fluctuating between -2 and 2 ºC most of the morning and the wind wasn't too rough, so I was happy.

Put down the first 30 miles on my own and then caught up with another rider who I stuck with for most of the ride. Really nice guy named Jeff Chou who actually has his own cycling blog central park 2007. Along the way, we caught up with one of Jeff's friends, Barry. Barry was a competitive cyclist in college and just retired as an engineer at Verizon. It was a pretty laid-back ride and a nice chance to meet some new cyclists.

In the last 10 miles I was feeling a little sluggish so I reached in my jersey for some gel. In doing so, I managed to knocked my iPod Shuffle out and it flew off of me onto the road. I did a quick 180 to try to find it but at 25 mph, it was gone. The Shuffle isn't too pricy but it still sucked... running with no music in winter blows.

Crazy thing, though: I woke up Sunday morning to a Facebook message from a random girl. Apparently, she and her friend had been walking the Park and came across a Shuffle. I had chosen to get my iPod engraved (it was a free service when I ordered) and, by a stroke of luck, these really nice girls had picked up my Shuffle and decided to look me up on Facebook. I'm going to meet up with one of them tomorrow before work for a quick swap. Craziness!

Good people!

Cross training

So my roommate Neil decided that I needed to work some cross-training into my routine. He's worried that all the swimming, biking and running is killing my finger dexterity. So, with that in mind, we set out yesterday and picked up XBox 360 and Guitar Hero. With one day of training under our belts, we are already officially rock stars. Yes, we are that cool.

The following are some answers to common questions that may follow the above post.

Q: Cam, how can you be sure that Guitar Hero will complement your tri skills?
A: Obviously you know nothing about either Guitar Hero or triathlon.

Q: How does the recent addition of Guitar Hero to your training regimen change your goals for the 2008 season?
A: First off, I've clearly now added mastering Free Bird on Expert to my list of 2008Q1 objectives. Additionally, I've decided that the improved coordination from gaming should translate into a 5 to 10 minute reduction on my March 30th Marathon goal time.

Q: As the 2007 season came to a close, you had speculated that your dedication and success as an age group triathlete would help you in your quest for a new lady friend. It seems that that hasn't quite worked out for you. Do you think GH skills will be a positive asset in the NYC singles scene or will they fail you as well?
A: First off, I contest the fact that my tri skills have proven ineffective. I happen to have had some rather engaging conversations with some `singles' (water polo players, actually) at my local pool. That said, I do expect my guitar skills to help me. I look no further than my friend Bryan for inspiration.

Here, Bryan is playing Carry on my Wayword Son. Without going into too much detail, let's just say his skills have proven a positive asset.

Q: But why not pick up a real guitar and learn to play that?
A: Real guitars are for losers and old people.

Hibernation

I'm starting to get the feeling that even humans lean towards winter hibernation. I'm at the point in the year where I need to start digging in and building that base foundation for next season... yet all I find myself wanting to do is sleep until 9 every day. 5 AM rides just aren't as much fun as they were in the summer and doing every run in the dark of night sort of blows too. Oh well, only 3 weeks until the days start getting longer!

Starting to get cold here in NYC but it's not nearly as bad as home. Still able to sport the shorts here. Put in a solid 9-mile run tonight at a decent clip and am up early tomorrow for a ride. Taking the rest of the week pretty easy -- probably just a light run and a good swim -- as work is getting a little hairy. Saving my long ride for Saturday.

In more exciting news, weekend plans are already unfolding giving me stuff to look forward to as the work week moves along. After last weekend's debauchery... oh, and it most definitely was debauchery... I'm looking forward to a weekend that involves soberly enjoying some of the finer elements of the City. Dinner party on Friday and hitting the Met on Saturday. And, after having been converted to a mild fan, football all-day Sunday.

Well, it's only Tuesday and I guess I already have my week all laid out. Boring maybe but a relaxing, easy week/weekend is just what I need!

First post

So I never really thought I'd get into the whole blogging thing, but after having tracked my friend's (nfrey.blogspot.com) for some time, I think I'm ready to take the plunge. Figure that it'll be an easy way to (1) keep y'all up-to-date on my goings-on; (2) document all my upcoming races in 2008.

Just arrived home for Thanksgiving and am so happy to be enjoying -8C weather... Of course, the cold did motivate me to go out and finally pick up some new threads for winter training so that was a plus. Also, had the chance to go check out bikes with my dad -- he's getting ready to pick up his first ride!