Major Updates

Soooo...I'm such a slacker. I haven't been updating nearly enough. I don't know what but I just have been busy and put off updating this site. Hopefully I'll get a little better now that I am pretty settled in at school and have everything under control.




Alright, to start off I will give recap of my latest race.


This past weekend I drove up to Canada with my dad and grandpa for the Pan American/Canadian Nationals Duathlon Championships. This race was scheduled earlier to be in Cali, Columbia..but due to organization issues, the race was cancelled. I found out about the re-scheduled race last week. So I registered, told my dad to get ready for a long drive, and we were off.

The trip started out by leaving Thursday morning pretty early. We decided that since it was in the area, we would stop by Batavia, New York to visit my dad's aunt Loretta and his cousin Jeff. It took about 8 hours to drive over there. I've never been over there before and it's been about 30 years since my dad has been there, so it was a good stop. We had a great dinner loaded with carbs and protein. I was pretty tired after that, so I sat on the couch and ended up falling asleep.


The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and loaded up the car once again. We drove up to Niagara Falls on the Candian side and it was awesome! I've never been there before so it was a good stop. I can't believe people actually would hop into a barrel and go over the falls! Are these people crazy?! I mean, I can imagine doing something like skydiving and bungee jumping where your odds of living are pretty good....but going over the falls??? What would be going through these people's minds while heading down the river to go over? "Well here it goes.." Haha. So here are some pics by the falls....

So after the fall, we took off and headed up to Parry Sound, Ontario. Overall, the drive wasn't too bad at all. With all the stops and visits, we were able to relax and not spend too much time in the car. Once there, I had a Pro athlete meeting which was the same old garbage as usual...get off the bike before dismount line, drug testing, course overview...blah, blah, blah. Just a waste of time but its mandatory I guess. I did a little workout on the course. It was freeeeeeezing cold, windy, and raining. I just rode for about 30 mins and did a 15 min jog.

Once finished with that, we had to find a hotel. Just down the street was a little bed and breakfast that seemed pretty good. It was an older couple, Lena and Henry. They were more than welcoming. We stayed in their basement for the night, helped out with some of there yardwork (haha), and just talked. For dinner we went to a little log cabin restaurant. Let me mind you...we were in the middle of nowhere! All it was was forest, lakes, more forest, and a few houses. So once it turned dark, it was pitch black! The restaurant was more than good, pasta and apple pie..mmm. We went back, played a game of yahtzee, watched the cubs on the computer, and then went off to bed.

Race morning...

Got up...put all the race gear together, and went upstairs for breakfast. Lena made everything homemade! Little biscuits, breads, jams, and anything you could ask for. It was great! I had a little toast with jam, biscuit, and some coffee. Went over to the race site and it was once again freezing! 45 degrees, windy, and cold. I set the bike up, did a warmup jog, and was ready to go.

The start was pretty slow. Nobody wanted to take the lead which was disappointing. So I took off a little and lead the entire first run. I didnt want to push too hard or else I might have lost the pack and would have to ride alone. So I just coasted and lead my group of 4 into the first transition. My 10k time was 31:30 which was moving, but I definitely could have gone faster. And guess what, it was a true 10k. I mapped it out and it was exactly 6.2 miles. So not too bad of an opening time considering I wasn't going as fast as I can go.

I had a pretty slow transition...I really need to work on that. So coming out onto the bike, I was in 3rd position. The four of us weren't working together very well for the first 2 laps of the 6 loop bike. Nobody was pushing too hard therefore the pack behind us was gaining. After three laps, the group behind was 6 riders deep. I knew we were going to get caught so the group all together just basically coasted until the pack caught us. It was on the beginning of the 4th loop that our pack turned into 10. Once this group caught us, they gave up working hard. I didn't mind this very much because I was just conserving energy for the final run. I pulled a few times just to get things going a little bit. Once near transition, a few guys took off a little and went into transition a little in front of me. I had a quick transition and took off for the last run in 2nd place.

Grant Burwash was leading about 3 seconds ahead. I did a quick few steps and was right next to him. I've raced Grant before and knew that if I pushed hard enough he would not be able to hang on. The last run was 2 loops of 2.5 k. For the first loop I stayed on Grant's side. Once I had regained the numbness in my feet, I felt good. I heard Grant breathing harder and thats when I took off. Once up one of the hills, I accelerated down and broke him. From there on, I enjoyed the race course and took it into the finish line representing the USA well. I finished with a 15:22 5k, which is decent but could have been faster if I was being pushed on the last lap. It was my first pro victory which was a great feeling! Thanks to my support crew of my dad and grandpa for being there to cheer me on, drive lots of the long miles, and support me with my athletic events!

Full results can be found on : http://www.swyft.ca/

There are some pretty sweet pictures on there too!

But that is about it for the Pan American Champs.

Other than that I raced 2 weeks ago doing a few local road races. Nothing major. But I really gotta get going to do some homework. I will write again soon when I have some time. Please keep checking back!

-Gee