Well it’s already mid February and I can’t believe my first triathlon is at the end of March!  I have had some good training in since Ironman Florida consisting mainly of snowshoe racing, as well as my usual training schedule.  Here is a short recap of what races I’ve done since New Years Day:
 
The family and I drove up to Summit County and I did a 10K snowshoe race in Silverthorne on Jan 9th.  Super hard, lots of ups and downs, but a lot of fun.  About a week before the race, fellow Timex teammate Trista Francis was in the Silverthorne rec center when she called me and said she saw my picture on a poster advertising the race in the women’s restroom!  It was a little strange, but cool to see that my picture was used for the race, in all sorts of places!  After a few wrong turns, I placed 2nd overall and won a family 4 pack of burritos to non other than Chipotle! 
 
Later in the month, I raced a 10 mile run by my house placing 4th overall.  I saw Trista racing in her Timex colors and showing them proudly!  I used my WS4 watch with the glowing orange band and got a lot of inquiries about it.  I have to say that the watch is great.  I have used it to track ascent/decent rates on runs and rides and it is spot on as long as it’s calibrated before your workout. 
 
The last 2 weeks I raced in three more snowshoe races winning two of them and placing 3rd in the other.  Certainly a great workout and a great calorie burner!  One more to go on March 6th and that will call it a season.
 
I am very excited for our new and improved Timex Multisport team camp held this weekend at the Timex Performance Center!  Last year, Timex partnered with the New York Giants and gained the naming rights for the Giants’ new training facility and corporate headquarters. We as athletes are meeting there Feb 18-21 for our team camp and a few nights out with Eli Manning and the team (maybe??).  Either way, it’ll be a fun time and a great new experience for all of us.
 
Also, this will be the first time that I will get to try out the new Timex Global Trainer.   From what I am hearing, this thing is hot and will be one slick watch to own.  It should be released in specialty stores in September 2010.  Click HERE if you want to be emailed when it is available!
 
Thanks for reading and keep safe!
 
Tim

 Training for IM China (the race that is dubbed as “diabolically hot and humid”) in Victoria, Canada you say???  I know, Victoria might be providing a climate that is far different from what I will experience on race day but sometimes fate lands you in places you had not expected – so here I am at the end of my second week of training the biggest volume I have ever done in consecutive weeks (more about that in a moment.)  As for acclimitization, I’ll be heading to China a couple of weeks early and that will just have to be enough this time around.

Arizona was the first option this year as a base training camp, but with the offer to housesit in Victoria for friends (and save $$$) while still being able to train big miles on the road…was just too good to pass up. Victoria is a bit of ‘hit and miss’ largely the ‘miss’ aspect pertaining to weather.  Those of you who know Victoria know that it is a beautiful place, but can be cursed (I say cursed because I’m not a rubber boots and umbrella fan) with predominantly grey skies and rain.  (Although I will say that this time around has been not too bad at all – a fair number of sunny days!)

Anyways, this was the ‘start’ of the new year and from here things have been rolling really quickly towards China.  Once January rolled around it was time to organize a training camp for some big volume training and like I said before, Victoria came up as the 2010 pick of the lot!  So, a few weeks ago I packed my bags and headed down here.  Sam and Jamie (people I am housesitting for) live in a super great place that is smack in the middle of the Commonwealth Pool and  Cordova Bay (with a view to match!!!)  Not shabby.  Beyond that though…in the evening after training myself silly I have become quite adept at watching episode after episode of The Office (BBC Version.)  I had heard this was a good one, but I had no idea just HOW good.  A long/hard training day can easily be washed away with howling laughter at the antics of Gareth Keenan and Dave the Boss.  Okay, if you have not yet seen this show…do it now…don’t waste any more time….you just can’t believe how funny it is – and if you have – then you know why I am spending so much time writing about this!!!

Okay, as for training…. the first few days of training had me working some of the cobwebs out.  I had spent SO many hours on the trainer (which has been great as I think trainers -and treadmills – are super training tools) but riding on the road feels different so it took a small adjustment period….which copious repeats of the Observatory seemed to take care of nicely!  I love that climb!!!  And I definintely can’t possibly explain how good it feels to run pain-free again after my injury this fall.  Nice, nice, nice.  I had also forgotten just how many amazing athletes there are here in Victoria….everytime I turn around there are record breakers, Olympic medalists, world champions…you name it – which is a constant reminder to continue to strive to up your game…so yah….train hard!!!!

After about 4 days of being here I came down with a solid cold/bug of some sort which I was able to train through as it never got really bad.  Instead Scott just had me lower the intensity of my training, but keep the volume.  ”Just keep rolling with it” he has said to me about 100 times since being here:-)  Regardless though with this big increase in training volume and fighting off a cold at the same time, my heart rate has settled nicely in at 10-15 beats below normal.  As Scott has told me, it’s not going to change until I get a bout of recovery – which you’re not getting yet – he keeps telling me:-)  Now, instead of focusing in on my  heart rate monitor (Thanks, Timex!) for workouts, I need to really trust my body and my intuition, since my heart rate is not giving me useful information right now.  This has been challenging – but a great learning experience too.  I always use perceived exertion, but also very much alongside heart rate as a back up…now with just perceived exertion it forces me to listen more closely…which is important training in and of itself!

Anyways, I guess to make a long story short…my season has begun.  The travelling has begun, the hard training has begun, 2010 sponsorships has been confirmed (more on this on my next blog)…and the racing is right around the corner.  Now….here’s to a sunny day today for my 5 hour ride and 1 hr. t-run.  Come on sun……..I know you’re out there!

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Available at many specialty sports and sporting goods stores in September 2010.