I just uploaded some pictures to my picture page. Check it out for some shot of the G-Force and his family. If you have any comments or questions please let me know. Here’s a little taste.
Grant
Oakley Sample Sale 2009
Come by and visit me at the sale. I’ll be working there every day and there are great deals for all to be had.
I actually worked hard
Yesterday was a huge confidence boost to my training. I have been going easy for a while now and still don’t have any plans to get back to intervals any time soon. Yesterday I did end up going hard in the pool. The main set was 500, 4×250 desc and 5×100 desc (1:40). All morning I wasn’t feeling that great but decided to put the effort in and see what I could do. I wasn’t going all out by any means but managed to get the 100’s down to 1:16, 1:17, 1:14, 1:14, 1:12. The last one felt like a 1:10 effort, but the time didn’t correlate.
After a day of running errands and having a quick nap, I went to running practice. There ended up being a solid group of 4 guys heading for a medium run. We did a solid tempo run for 35mins on Douglas Fir trail and were rolling 3:18kms along the river for a while. It was a huge confidence boost to know that on my first hard interval back I can hang on with these guys. The best part of the run was when Geoff looked at me in middle of the run, both of us grinning and sweating profusely and said “Good to have you back G-Force”. Thanks Geoff, it is good to be back!
G-Force
A great morning swim/run session
This morning I got up to my usual 5:15 alarm and headed down to Talisman Center. I started off the morning with a 75min swim consisting of 4×400 alt swim/pull, 8×50 golf and, 3×200 kick and a lot of drill and easy swimming. It was a solid workout and I felt fantastic. By the end I was getting a good catch in the water and engaging my lats and core with each stroke.
After the swim I hoped out, washed the chlorine off, grabed my ipod and hoped on the tready for a quick 90mins. I rolled very easily at 8mph for the full 90 and felt very relaxed. This mornings workout was a huge mental boost and an indicator the the pain of the past few weeks is paying off. After work tonight I think I’m going salsa dancing to reward myself. I just have to make sure I’m in bed early.
Grant
Professional membership announced by WTC
I read this article on Slowtwich this week and thought I should share it.
Billing it as a “complement to its recent Anti-Doping initiative,” the World Triathlon Corporation announced the Ironman Pro Membership Program which will be required for professionals competing in all Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events starting February 1, 2010.
The Pro Membership Program will require an annual membership fee of $750 which will include complimentary entry for all members in non World championship events. That means that Pro Members will not have to pay the standard $550 entry fee for Ironman events or $300 entry fee for Ironman 70.3 events. But Ironman Pro Membership Program members will have to pay those fees for the 2010 Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
By these new standards, athletes such as Hillary Biscay, Bella Bayliss and Petr Vabrousek who compete in half a dozen or more WTC events a year, would save considerable money. By contrast, professional athletes who want to compete in one Ironman or up to two Ironman 70.3 events – and did not get a waiver of the fee from promoters — would face an effective increase in costs.
Five-time Ironman winner Heather Gollnick of Bradenton, Florida enthusiastically supported the WTC’s effort to increased drug testing, but disagreed about the fees.
“I think increasing drug testing at Ironman events is very good,” said Gollnick. “In my last 15 Ironman races I have not been tested at events. I have been tested out of competition regularly where I live in Bradenton, Florida. That’s because I live near the IMG sports academies where they have many pros golfers and tennis players. I think that’s because they have a fairly substantial quota in this area for testing. By contrast, I know several professional triathletes who are not tested all year long.”
Gollnick said that she was among some more successful Ironman athletes who are given free entries by promoters of Ironman events. “It is quite common in the USA that promoters want prominent US triathletes to come to their races because it is a good thing to grow the sport. It’s my belief that pro athletes should not be required to pay an entry fee.”
Gollnick said that she thought there might be slightly better reason for pros to pay the $750 if it went to the cost of increased drug testing.
However, she believes that the cost should be paid by the sanctioning bodies.
“I also think it is a little ridiculous that the athletes are made to pay for it. I think that the corporations that run the sport make millions of dollars and could afford to do that.”
In addition, the WTC’s Pro Membership Program is designed to address “many of the issues facing pro athletes, such as prize money, qualifying slots and size and quality of the field,” according to a WTC release.
Regarding World Championship Qualifying Standards, the WTC declared that athletes must finish within 5% of the winner’s qualifying time to obtain a qualifying slot at Kona or Clearwater. Citing “an effort to maintain a quality professional field at the World Championship events,” the WTC offered several examples. If the winner at an Ironman event finished in 8 hour 30 minutes, the cutoff for a Kona qualifying time would be 8:55:30. If the winner of an Ironman 70.3 event finished in 4 hours flat, the cutoff for a Clearwater qualifying time would be 4:12:00.
In terms of 2010 Prize Money Qualification, an athlete must finish within 8% of the winner’s time at WTC Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events. So, if the winner of a WTC
Ironman event finishes in 8 hours 30 minutes, subsequent competitors must finish at or before 9:10:48 to be eligible for posted prize money. If the winner of an Ironman 70.3 event finishes in 4 hours flat, subsequent competitors must finish at or before 4:19:20 to be eligible for posted prize money.
Ironman event finishes in 8 hours 30 minutes, subsequent competitors must finish at or before 9:10:48 to be eligible for posted prize money. If the winner of an Ironman 70.3 event finishes in 4 hours flat, subsequent competitors must finish at or before 4:19:20 to be eligible for posted prize money.
By those standards, any woman who took longer than 9:36:45 – 8 percent behind Chrissie Wellington’s 2009 Kona winning time of 8:54:02, would be out of the money. Therefore, under 2010 rules, Sandra Wallenhorst would not have been be eligible to receive the $7,500 9th place prize money she received for her 2009 finish in 9:38:28 and Dede Griesbauer would not have been eligible for the $6,000 prize money she received in 2009 for her 10th place finish in 9:40:59.
According to the WTC announcement, there would be no redistribution of unearned prize money.
In return for the membership fees, the Pro Membership Program will make all of its athletes eligible for a new, more comprehensive Anti-Doping program with increased frequency of out-of-competition drug testing to be conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) newly formed Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations – Anti-Doping Services (ANADO-ADS). Professionals enlisted in the new WTC Pro Membership Program will be responsible for providing their whereabouts and racing schedules and agree to be available for random testing throughout the year.
As of this announcement, the WTC had no clarification if there would be any synchronization of testing frequency between the WTC testing program and that of other out-of-competition testing done by aggressive national governing bodies.
The WTC Pro Membership Program said that it would not set a deadline for 2010 entry to its program. However, the WTC further specified that their Pro Membership Program registration process “must be completed before an athlete can request general registration to an event.” This means that professionals must have completed the PMP process before individual event cutoff dates for registration. If the pros want to get into Ironman New Zealand, for example, they will have to complete the PMP process before the Ironman New Zealand registration deadline of January 17.
Grant
Chris Lieto shows The Future of Magazines?
I just came across this video this morning. Chris Lieto had a fantastic race at Kona this year to place 2nd. He was on the October’s Outside Magazine that I found at the house I’m house sitting at this week. I checked the article out online and found this video. So cool.
Training is going well. I had a good swim this morning and a plan on getting out for a nice ride this afternoon. I had a great run yesterday and made a solid 90mins 40mins after a 90min ride. The fitness is coming back very slowly, but at least I’m seeing progress.
G-Force
Toronto to host Pan Am’s in 2015
By now I’m sure most of you have heard about Toronto being the host to the Pan Am games in 2015. This is very exciting and a huge step forward for Canada. Let’s hope that this will bring more focus to summer Olympic sport in Canada and that this nation will be revived like it is for Vancouver 2010.
Check out this article:
Toronto’s Pan Am win greeted with excitement and anticipation from athletes
G-Force
Is your bike decorated with real butterflies?
Once again Lance Armstrong amazes me in his ability to get large companies, people, artists and the world behind him for a cause. This past year he raced on several custom Trek bikes that were designed by different artist and companies (Trek, Nike). Now, all those bikes have been auctioned off for his Livestrong foundation to support cancer research. The seven bikes raised a total of $1.25million! The most sought after bike was the white Trek decorated with real butterflies that he used on the final stage of this years Tour de France. This work of art fetched a cool $500,000.
To see all the bikes check out the following links at Cyclingnews and Velonews.
Grant
I have lats?
Since I started swimming again I have been focusing on technique only. I’m not worrying about pace times, just looking at times, counting strokes and thinking way more than I did during a university lecture. I feel this is a perfect time to completely change my stroke and develop optimal technique and efficiency. Today I was really working on getting a good body roll and locking in on each side. To initiate the pull I was working on using my lats and core, which I haven’t been very good at in the past. I could only make it 45mins in the pool this morning because my lats began to give out. I couldn’t get the pull I needed and then got lazy on the roll. So, that meant it was time to get out of the pool and go home.
I was looking online at some videos this morning about swim technique and found some excellent footage on youtube. There are great underwater videos of swimmers like Thorpe and Phelps that you should check out. I just finished watching a 25min analysis of Aleksandr Popov, one of the great freestyle sprinters of all time. Check out this video.
I spent the weekend in Edmonton running on some fresh trails and visiting Blake and Julianna. I also got to watch the Universities battle it out in the annual Stewart Cup cross country race. The weekend just got me even more psyched about running. So, that’s what I’m going to do in about 30mins.
Happy Swimming,
Grant
Gold Medal Plates Dinner
Last night was the Gold Medal Plates dinner in Calgary. There are 7 stops across Canada for this wonderful event which raises money for Canadian Olympic athletes and exhibits the culinary expertise of local chefs as well as the best wine in the country. The event started in 2004 and I have had the opportunity to be involved since 2005. Since it’s conception, Gold Medal Plates has raised over 2.8 Million dollars for Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Wednesday night I went down for a few hours to help set up for the event and then last night it was put on a suit and enjoy yourself with immaculate food and great conversation.
This year I was fortunate enough to be the athlete representative at Black Hills Estate Winery. Black Hills is not only one of the top vineyards in Canada (arguably the world), but they are also a long time supporter of Gold Medal Plates. Several of the wines exhibited at the event were graciously donated by Black Hills, which everyone appreciated. Everyone at the table was very friendly and eager to chat. I couldn’t have asked for a better table or more enjoyable conversation that ranged from athletics to careers to parties gone bad at Heritage Park. I would like to thank again Black Hills for purchasing a table last night and for their continued support of Canadian athletes. My table last night really made me feel supported and knowing there is that type of support for Canadian Athletes is very special.
Last night’s event makes me very optimistic about 2010 in Vancouver. Go Canada Go!
Grant
