Feliz Navidad

It was fun to see Donovan so excited about presents. His grandparents & aunts/uncles surprised him with lots of toys, giving us lots of play time every morning. Santa delivered an awesome balance bike, which he totally loved. The continental cycling development squads might wanna take note.

Theresa and I were telling Donovan of the toys we had when we were kids. We were saying how computers did not exist back then, which prompted him to ask in a very matter-of-fact tone, "how did you check your email?". It was very funny, and a little intimidating too, to see that at 3yrs old, he is aware of the heavy influence of technology on daily life.

Though I was pretty beat down with a serious cold for a few days, the holidays were filled with fun. Yesterday I was putting on clothes to go biking, when Donovan asked if we could go 'swimming'. I thought about it for a half-second, and the number of ZEROs I had already racked up this week because of the nasty cold, and a half-second later, I was stuffing my bag with our swim shorts, towel, snacks, etc. We had an absolute blast in the water, and my butt did not miss the bike seat, not even for one second.

Soggy runnin' mess...

That's what you get when you go running on evenings when it rains moderately hard here in Seattle. As silly as I may have looked last nite, I wore my cycling plastic rain jacket, you know, one of them transparent non-breathing rubbery ones. And while I got mildly wet from the inside out, I was immune to the wind and cold rain, and it made for a nice 45min run. My feet were the only part of me that were cold.

So, if you want to keep PNW weather out, try a cycling rubber cape. In my mind, it is easier to unzip stuff than to try to get wet stuff warm.

'Tis the season...

Been meaning to write this for some days, but have been fairly busy.
'Tis the season. To decorate a tree, and hang stuff around the house. To plan Saturdays around going swimming with Donovan, and workouts around parties.



'Tis the season. To spend time with family and friends, to share a yummy plate of food and drink. We recently had a little get-together at our home, which was an absolute blast. The excellent buffet dinner was provided by my sis-in-law, Chef Christina.


Donovan and the rest of the kids had a ton of fun, as evidenced by the state of the basement post-party. Scott (of NUUN) and Shawn (of Blue Seventy) showcased their babysitting skills, and Donovan asked when they'd be coming back to play....



'Tis the season. To recognize how important are the people in our lives. Not because I don't do it at other times of the year, but it is a good time as any to reiterate it to those present. When the people are gone, they are gone for good, and it really sucks when you start filling your head with "I should have..."s. I really miss Mona, and I'm happy for all the people close to us and that are part of Donovan's upbringing.

'Tis the season. To do unstructured training, and do it for fun. To make sure the energy is renewed and the embers in the tummy stay lit. Many are the days ahead with long hours and constant fatigue.


'Tis the season. Peace.

Of financial moves and validation

This is one of my favorite pictures to date. Donovan's first race. The game-face is priceless. All intensity, all concentration....

On the days leading up to it. He would announce to everyone we met about how we were traveling to Canada for his race. And, how he planned on going super fast.

Finally got a chance to write this- I wanted to share my thoughts on the WTC pro membership announcement, and on a discussion that ensued in widely-read triathlon forum.

Great move by the WTC for the WTC- it strenthens up their global branding, generates them more revenue, and intends to regulate the pros. What it means to the guys/gals paying the $750 yearly membership, aside from entry to WTC events, truly remains to be seen. For one thing, if I were to pay the $750, it would make me consider WTC events I would not have thought about before if only to get my $'s worth. I postulate the 5% and 8% rules attached to the announcement will result in a rise of DNFs in the pro ranks for the people looking for a pay-day/pro slots. What I would really like to see is the proposal for the anti doping program that supposedly will be encompassed by the membership. Now, that alone would be worth the fee. Look- I'm not saying everyone's a doper, but the enforcement just isn't there at present. I also think the (hefty) fee will likely make events outside of the WTC more popular. Finally, if an athlete union is born of all this, it would be sweet....

As far as the reaction the announcement triggered, it went off on several tangents, most of them dealing with economics, branding, and validation of the sport and its athletes racing as pros. On the latter topic, yeah, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and here is mine (Note-I am referring to guys/gals recognized as elites by the governing body of their respective national federations): The sport is big enough for everyone, and if some of us choose to race in the first wave, that is our decision- It has nothing to do with whether one does sport full-time or tries to fit in to life on top of an 8-5 job/family/etc. It is about bringing it on race-day. For those that are still in development, looking to deliver that one breakthrough performance, and/or have a bad day(s) at the races, I believe most still race our hearts out, represent hard for our sponsors and take nothing away from the winners. Or dilute the sport in any way. For those who argue the sport needs to be elevated to the likes of FIFA futbol, Nascar racing or the NBA... I get what you are saying, and I'd love to see the sport grow too. My opinion is triathlon, specially at the long-distance, is not (and will never be) a fan-based sport. Despite NBC heart-warming, award-winning Kona broadcasts, the weekend warriors and public in general look at triathletes as freaks- They neither relate to them nor the sport. I am not trying to be a negative dude, but that is my perception of reality. Mis dos centavos.

peace out

Hello again, blog...

As I've said before, a period of no blogs is a reflection of how busy our little life gets. This time around, it has been a busy and fun time with family and friends.

First, here are some pictures of the summer now gone. We had a really good one.

Donovan getting TV air time at the Vancouver Half Ironman.

His future sponsors should take note...

Enjoying the sun at the beach 5minutes from our house

Donovan's last minute preparations before his first race.

Halloween came and went and it was a blast. Neighbors forewarned us of the amounts of kids, and the night lived up to its expectations. We estimate we handed out candy to about 400 kiddies. Woah. We went trick-or-treating, and Donovan, dressed up as Darth Vader, had a really good time. Almost all the homes in our neighborhood really get into it, and the streets were full of adults and children, everyone having a good time. It was very cool.

Donovan and I have been going to this indoor pool some 15minutes away from our house. It's a pretty neat, shallow set of pools, specifically designed for water fun and swim instruction. The bottom and sides of the pools are soft, the water warm and shallow, and there are a few water elements, different toys, and whole lot of other kids to play with. It's been a lot of fun for the two of us, and a great activity for this crappy weather we've been having lately.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and with it, Christmas. Donovan has been flipping pages of toy catalogs, making his imaginary wish list pages long. Theresa is equally excited, planning lights, decorations and all the cheer she enjoys spreading. It's not that I'm a grinch, but I don't get in to it as much as they do- they REALLY get into the spirit.

Sport-wise... my season officially ended after the win at Black Diamond. We looked into traveling to do Ironman AZ, but it was too costly. I wish I had raced more, but sometimes it is hard to line up all the details (time, $, etc). All in all, except for the windy day at Canada, it was a good (short) season.

Delayed BOO!, and early gobble-gobble-gobble to you.
Thanks for reading,

JC

Fast Times at the Portland Mary....

I would like to give props to my homies, David Von Lehman and Pedro DeGuzman, for posting some solid times at the Portland marathon.

Dave went 3:01 ; Pedro went 2:54.

Well done you two! This calls for some beers!!!

Black Diamond Half IM - 1st Overall

Really liked the 9AM start time a whole lot. Other half IM races should be like that, seriously! Theresa, Donovan and I got up just a little earlier than normal, ate some awesome hotcakes, stopped to get coffee, and got there with enough time to park, sign in, set up, etc.

I got my cow bell all ready! Go get 'em, papa...

It was a bit cold in the morning, and I knew it would take me a while to warm up after the swim. I planned ahead, and put arm warmers + full-finger gloves on the bike (just in case...) as well as toe warmers on my shoes, and left my tri top in transition.

The water temp was not too cold. Either that, or I'm getting used to swimming in colder temps. I forget how rough some of these swim starts can be. After getting away from all the flailing arms, I swam my pace and exited 3minutes down. If it hadn't been for the beating in the water, me thinks I would have come out with the lead guys. Another good swim time for me in my (awesome) Helix.

It was a wise decision on my part to play dress up while riding the bike- The dry tri top, arm warmers, gloves kept me at the right temperature. I was feeling good and rode hard, and caught the lead moto at 23-25mi. I put my head down, hydrated/ate, did my best to keep on riding strong, and got to T2 with about a 2min lead. My power and HR numbers say I pretty much even-split the ride, with a time of 1:09 to 1:10.

Lost a gel bottle with coke running out of T2, so I ran on just water and a little bit of EFS liquid shot. I waited & waited for a moto to come up & give me splits, but, well, no moto was gonna come at this event... So I just focused on running hard. At the end of the day, I got a 6min+ lead. Btw-the offroad sections and hills make this run a really tough 13.1mi route. I was pretty happy to see the finish area, and got to run the win in with Donovan.

Race you for it, papa!

Props to my buddies Michael Gordon and Kara Nielsen, who showed up on Sunday to take the Olympic-distance races.

Once again, I want to thank NUUN, Blue Seventy, Oomph!, and SportsQuest Direct for their continued support.

See? This is what the award looks like.... from the side....

Most of all, thanks to my beautiful family, Theresa and Donovan. Donovan endured the day with a cold. As the winner, I got a bouquet of dahlias- Theresa's wedding bouquet, 7 years and 1 week ago, was all dahlias. Go ahead, call me cheesy, but it was great to share that with her.

A win calls for one of these, my favorite beer & my favorite mexican tarro.....

Lake Chelan, Lake Chelan...

Haven't written much lately b/c I've been crazy with work since we came back from an awesome few days of family vacation at Lake Chelan.

For those of you who have never been, boy, let me tell you, it is purty nice out there. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Penticton. The lake water is the clearest I've ever seen, and I thoroughly enjoyed swimming in it in my wetsuit every morning before the boats got going. Donovan was ready to go at the crack of dawn every day, and he would give me just enough time to get out the wetsuit, take a shower, eat b-fast and head out to the pool with him. He had a really good time, building sand castles, swimming in both the lake and pool, and playing putt-putt golf. All uncles and aunts were there to keep him entertained, which was great. It gave Theresa and I a rest from time to time. Below is one of the works of art built by Donovan, uncle Teddy and uncle Chris.
Training-wise, it's been ok lately- I swam a lot while on vacation, and found some really good rides. Haven't done a whole lot of running lately. I almost broke a toe, thanks to kicking a kitchen chair about a week ago, and I also have some issues with my left hip flexor, giving me trouble at the knee. There's a local Half IM I was planning on doing this coming weekend, and I still have not decided either way. We'll see.....

The end of the summer is quickly approaching. I'm getting in as many lake swims as I can, but the mornings are getting crispier and the sun is coming out later and later each day.

Last, yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary, and Theresa and I got to go out and celebrate a little bit. Our life is good.. :o)

Ironman Canada 2009- 23rd MPro, 34th Overall

Another one for the books. This was the toughest race so far. The forecast called for hot temps. The wild card was the wind.

The swim went well for me, thanks to my awesome Helix suit. I swam in the main pack for a while, until a quick acceleration left me in a smaller pack. I am positive I would have gone sub 60mins had it not been for a swift kick from someone, putting too much water in my goggles to navigate and forcing me to stop. I swam the entire last leg of the triangle by myself, and had a quick T1, even with a slight race belt malfunction.

The ride was good up to ~ 3hrs or so, holding an average 228watts to that point. This was a tad higher than my target, which may have overcooked me a bit early on, but at time it felt right. I found it crazy windy from the rollers to twin lakes, making that part of the ride very tough. I got to special needs at 3:20, which should have given me a 5hr split, but the ride into the wind up to that point had put a good-size dent on me.



At the end of the ride, I put out my target watts (Ave 210, NP 218), fed myself according to plan with a mixture of CarboPro and EFS, and stayed hydrated thanks to NUUN in my bottles, but was quite tired thanks to the wind.

Off the bike, my plan was to run an ez 10k, then hammer like the race was only 30k long, and hang on for dear life. Well... I did run an ez 44min 10k, but the plan (literally) blew out the window after that.

Let me describe the carnage in the pro ranks that I remember- I saw Dallas Cain hobble off the run course with cramps; I watched as Ryan DeCook took off his shoes and jumped in the lake to cool off; I told a very-slow-walking Andriy Yastrebov to hang in; I offered words of encouragement to Steve Kilshaw, who was just barely shuffling up a hill- I don't think he even heard me;

I have no idea at what point I passed my fellow countryman Sergio Quezada or fellow Seattle-ite Adam Jensen; Scott Curry vomitted his nutrition; Volunteers were running to keep Michael Simpson vertical at the turn around. Amongst all this, I too was struggling with my run. I resorted to counting just about every one of my steps up to 10, and repeated this process from mile 13 on, just to try to stay focused and keep my legs ticking thru pain and exhaustion. I left it all out there, and it got me 34th overall, 23rd amongst the guys. I'm a-ok with that. Wind sometimes beats the crap out of the best laid race plans.

I would like to mention my buddy Jeff's excellent 12:30:00 performance. That is EXACTLY his goal time for the race, so he had perfect execution! Very well done, Jeff. And thank you for your words of encouragement on the run.

Congrats to Jordan on his win. And Tereza as well. They both battled the tough race conditions better than anyone, and were both in a different zip code on the run.

I want to thank NUUN, Oomph!, Blue Seventy, and SportsQuest Direct for their continued support. A great big THANK YOU to Mike, Su and Anja for their hospitality, which made our trip awesome. Thanks to Julie for helping Theresa keep Donovan entertained on race day while watching Jeff race. Thanks for all the emails, vmails, calls, texts that I received on the lead-up days and everyone who followed it online. (We really missed you, Liz!)

I want to thank my beautiful family, Theresa and Donovan. You guys make possible, and are with me, every single step of the way.


Thanks for reading.

JC

IMC minus 2 days

After getting registration, and working out done, it was time to enjoy the day.
Here we are checking out the water in Skaha Lake. The park were we were is a 2-minute walk from Mike & Su's house. How awesome is that?

Race? What race?

Is time for some chillin', that's what we are here for. C'mon, papa.......

We had a pic-nic and played at the beach, and the climb-on structure they have at the park by the Skaha Lake. We saw a couple little snakes, and we petted one for a few moments.
The swim this morning was awesome- water is super nice. The bike ride a little later this morning was even better. Mike's expert fine-tuning left the bike rockin', and this mexican's little legs are feeling snappy happy at a fast pace... If I can keep things rolling that way in 2 days, it will be a good one.

We finished our day at the park with some yoga... sorta...
Good nite. Thanks for reading.

IMC minus 3days

We had a great drive up, which included the speediest border crossing in history- Wait time: zero!

A bathroom stop, lunch at Wendy's/Tim Hortons, and one gas stop later and we had made it to Peach City in 7hrs, which is really good! Donovan got to enjoy watching numerous DVDs on the way up. We even stopped by the bear, so I could have Theresa and Donovan try a peach-blueberry shake, one of the tastiest shakes I've ever had, and which I 'discovered' on my first time up here.

Look at all my fruits!!

We got all settled in and our gracious hosts came by a little later on in the evening. Mike's a bike mechanic and I asked for his expert skills to fine tune the drivetrain. Nothing like having a master mechanic look over your work to ensure you got everything right.

Pros have their own personal mechanics. What? You didn't know that?

BTW- Happy belated birthday, Mike!

While Mike rocked his skills on the bike, Donovan and Anja enjoyed one of the presents we brought her- a Stomp Rocket! If you have a little one (or even if you don't) and don't have one of these, man, I gotta tell you- you are missing out big time on serious, simple fun...

Anyhow, tomorrow is an open water swim, hotcakes (of course!), registration, a short bike ride and lots of chillaxing. We are good at that last part....

Until then... g'nite from Peach City

The monkey is out of the bottle

The expression doesn't even make sense, but it sure made me laugh when I heard it.

Anyways, here we are, IMC minus 5days and feeling ready to get my race on! By the time the race rolls around, I will have swam about 25days in openwater. Let's see if the strategy pays off. Today was another excellent lake swim, with good amounts of chop, wind and rain. Plus an ez 35min run with a handful of 1min hard accelerations sprinkled in. I would say it's the last tune-up run for me, and I'm feelin good

We will start packing some stuff tonite, and getting the van ready to go. I have very few last minute details to tend to. Donovan is excited about the movies he gets to watch while we are on the road, and about being in Canada.

I can hardly wait. See what we got!

IMC minus 11days

All is good in our corner of the world. We've been enjoying slightly cooler temperatures, though the last few days the mercury has been on the rise.

Theresa and I are getting pretty jazzed about the race, and about the mini-vacation that comes with it. We really like Penticton- We just wish it was a little closer. We are looking forward to spending a few days with our gracious and totally cool hosts. They have a little girl (Anja) who is one year older than Donovan, and they got along great the first year they met.

That is about it for right now. Tapering is coming along nicely. Oh, I got bib # 37. It's good motivation.

Also- wanted to report that 17-18 Open Water swims later, my Helix and yellow-tinted Hydras are absolutely awesome. My plan for this race build was to swim hard in the pool up until 4weeks out, then go become one with the neoprene 5-6days/week. So far, so good (and loving it).

Mexico 2 - USA 1 (World Cup Qualifier)

Giving props to my homies for keeping the record at our Estadio Azteca 22-0.

El tri rifa!

He's going for distance, he's going for speed...

25hrs. This past week I put in the biggest volume/intensity combo I've ever done. One gallon of IM-race-pace, 5 cups of half-IM pace and sprinkle intensity generously into the bowl, and the short-term end result is one very tired dude. If all goes as planned, the long-term result will be one very fit dude. The weekend was specially challenging, having to overcome the compounding fatigue from the other days, while trying my best to be dad and husband. Given my life situation (i.e. full-time worker bee), this is probably as much of the volume/intensity mix as I can handle.

After recovering a little from training on Saturday, Theresa, Donovan and I went to eat sushi and then walked over to Seattle Center to hear rockin' music at the KEXP Annual BBQ. While we waited for bands to come on-stage, we went over and rode the ferris wheel (In Mexico, we call them wheel of fortune), which Donovan enjoyed only for ~1minute, and then wanted to get off. Maybe he takes after me, and doesn't like rides. It wasn't too bad walking around after a big day of training, maybe I'm just getting used to it.



I want to say thank you to my beautiful and very understanding family, Theresa & Donovan, for putting up with the sporting demands of this past week.

Blue Seventy in da house!

I am very excited to announce I've started a relationship with another local Seattle outfit, makers of the fastest wetsuits and swimming accessories: BLUE SEVENTY! They equip the best swimmers in our sport, and when I look around the starting line in every race I've started, they've always outnumbered all other wetsuit makers. I can hardly wait to take out my new Helix and goggles out for a spin tomorrow at dawn. Seriously: I've been looking for a better fitting suit, one that doesn't require wasting energy stretching material every stroke. The helix component... well, let's just say I am looking forward to experiencing all the hardwork and research behind that design!

Thanks a lot to the guys at Blue Seventy. Here's to faster swim times!

Cheers!!

Do work, son... be smart 'bout it too....

Ancient proverbs to live by:

"2 beers is 2 too many on the eve of a big workout"

"Dig a hole, make sure you can get out"

"Man who gets 2 flats should carry 2 tubes"

After the temperatures subsided some, the rest of this week was not *too* bad, although it still allowed for some good heat training. On Saturday, after some cartoons and the world's best pancakes with Donovan, I went and ran 20+mi, and at 18, well, I went on survival mode, after messing up the hydration and nutrition plan. I am sure not paying attention to proverb # 1 didn't help matters either.... It is amazing how tough running 2-3mi becomes when the engine runs out of gas and coolant....

Theresa came to my rescue and helped me get liquids and nourishment back in me as I lay in the bathtub of cold water. The day got better from there, with patience and understanding from her. We left Donovan at my in-laws and went off to have an 'afternoon/early evening date' in downtown Seattle. We shopped around for a bit, which for me mostly meant looking for places to sit down, rest, drink and eat. I actually think the light walking around helped a little bit. We went to see "UP" in 3-D. Awesome movie, seriously. It was a blast. I was laughing left and right. We then topped it off with a nice dinner at the Pink Door, a place we've been going to together on/off for like 10yrs. All in all, a great Saturday with my beautiful wife.

I feel I dug myself into a hole on Saturday. While I needed to get a long ride in on Sunday, I choose to cap it at 3hrs and at a light effort, <=3w/kilo and higher rpms. By the time 3hrs had gone by, I was done and tired. So I think I payed attention to proverb # 2.

As far as Proverb # 3... My training wheels have had tire liners in them forever. Be smart about the work.

Heat Wave

Seattle experienced heat like never before, or so I understand. The heat raised steadily over 4-5 days up to a crazy maximum on Wednesday. As I was driving home from work, at ~5pm, I saw several business' clocks (you know, the kind that intermittently blink the time, temp, and 1gal of milk for $0.99) showing 108F. Woah!
I got home and joined Theresa and Donovan in his little pool in our backyard. Stuff (furniture, counters, etc) inside our house felt hot to the touch. We slept in our basement, which was probably 20 degrees cooler, without needing fans, so the hottest night in history wasn't too bad for us. After dinner, I went for a 45 min run, and it was still very much in the 90's. I got home dripping sweat. Heat training, anyone? All the people that live & train in these kinds of climates, hats off to you.... it is tough...

YETI

I decided to switch to blogger for my random thoughts, simply b/c I'm not versed enough (nor have the time or drive) to keep playing with Dreamweaver, so this here is my first post.

Older posts, pictures, etc. of my adventures are found on my 'old' website here.

This time, I wanted to talk about this great tasting beer I had this past weekend. Theresa and I were able to have a date while Donovan stayed with Teddy and Katie. I am not sure if it was the 6.5hr ride or the 18-19mi run weekend, but, dang, this thing tasted OH-SO good together with the awesome indian food we had. I was not able to finish all 650ml of this 7% lager, as I was feeling the amount I did have. I'll definitely try again another time....