Happy 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone!


I promise a sort of a year in review post tomorrow or in a few days. Please check back!

Yes, daddy time is taking priority over blog time.

I'd have it no other way.

Bannister, El Guerrouj & Bekele

RIP Glenn

I feel sad that I have to do another post about another loss of life of a member of the triathlon family.

We are thinking about you Glenn.

http://triathlonmagazine.ca/2011/11/sections/news/glenn-van-zeumeren-lost-his-courageous-battle/

RIP Jerry!

A great story written by a great guy about a great guy.

Make sure to check it out. The triathlon and running community just suffered a big loss.

http://ironman.com/columns/ironmanlife/kevin-mackinnon-reports-on-some-tragic-news-from-canada#axzz1chPAvC00

Kona Race Week!

One of my favourite weeks is upon us and it all culminates with the Ironman World Championships this Saturday.

I will be glued to my Computer and TV screens all day.

I've written a few items Ironman.com and I will be posting stuff daily at Triathlon Magazine Canada.

Enjoy!

Catch me here

Sorry folks, busy providing daily content for this website.

http://triathlonmagazine.ca/

And soon, a bunch of articles for Ironman.com as the build up to the Ironman World Championships begins in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned.

RH

I can ride like this........in my dreams

The same course but dry and a lot slower. Although the guy riding it rode it quite well.

Getting a Tattoo

I am speechless

Doggie Dancer

RIP Jack Layton

I can't recall voting for the NDP but I almost did because of Jack Layton. I had a few brief run-ins with him and he was always classy. He lost his battle with cancer today and he wrote this just a few days ago. I really love his last paragraph.

RIP Jack.

August 20, 2011
Toronto, Ontario

Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Finally some race reports

I've been super busy so I combined 4 race reports into one.

Here you go:

http://www.teamrunningfree.com/blog/2011/08/20/4-reports-in-1/

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Mid-August Update

For those that follow me I just have one thing to say....Sorry!

Controlled chaos is the best way to describe life right now.

Since coming back from racing in Germany at the start of July it has been non-stop action.

Racing at Gravenhurst; working for Ironman at Lake Placid; back for more racing at Bracebridge, and Cobourg; lots of writing; and coaching of course.

Oh yeah, and I try to get in some sort of training.

The last few races have been not up to my standards thanks to that lack of training. I gained 10 lbs in one month and that does not serve me well for those hilly courses of Bracebridge and Cobourg. But that has sparked me to get back on track, even though I do not have another Ironman race scheduled for the rest of this year.

Typically, that second late season one keeps me going but not this year since life will change big time very soon with the arrival of my first kid. I am more excited about that than anything else. But I still better get in some bikes and runs to make sure I don't approach Marshmallow Man status.




I try to get some race report done soon.
Till next time.
H

Robbie Alomar's Journey to Cooperstown

Part 1




Part 2



Part 3

Roberto Alomar Hall of Fame Day

My favourite Blue Jay, and the first pro athlete that I interviewed.

Friday Laughs

These are a few of a whole collection of videos. Enjoy!

Running Free's July Sale Ends Sunday

Lots of deals to take advantage of at Running Free.

The July Sale ends this Sunday July 31st.

Check it out here.

Blazeman

Support the War on ALS.
http://www.waronals.com/index.php

No race for me at the 13th Ironman Lake Placid

For the first time in 13 years, I was not signed up to do Ironman Lake Placid.

I've raced there every year (except 2008 when my achilles was ruptured), but I knew I'd be needed to do some reporting work this year so no race for me. Plus, my continuous streak was over anyway.

Not to mention that course doesn't suit my skillset. But I always raced faster if I had another Ironman scheduled weeks or months after it (unless a mechanical of course) so I liked doing it as a long catered training day with lots of people cheering for you. Lake Placid on race day is like nothing else.

Anyway, here is a small portion of what I did on race day.

My Ironman Lake Placid Write Up for Ironman.com

Great Places to get Sports Therapy

As athletes, we get injuries from time to time.
Let me save you some time searching around for places to get help.
If you have a great health plan, then you've got total physio coverage, partial massage, chiro, etc.

Depending on what is ailing me, I've made use of any of the establishments below and strongly recommend them. All great people too.

Here we go - mainly in the Markham and Toronto area:

Absolute Endurance (115 Merton St., Toronto. 416-483-AETT (2388) )
- the total package. Chiro, massage, physio, tri coaching, you name it, they've got it.
- Cindy, Alan and the rest of the crew are the best.

Physiobility (1-227 Main Street, Markham. 905-471-6422)
- Tony and his crew got me back to 100% after my Achilles rupture.

Running Free (708 Denison St. Markham)
- Massage with Angela Lloyd. Simply great. Just leave me some bookings.

Balanced Living (2673 Bur Oak Ave., Unit 1, Markham. 905-209-1005)
- Brian can do massage and ART. He's saved me a bunch of times.

Markham Pain Clinic (8312 McCowan Road, Suite #12, Markham. 905-470-2626)
- I've known Dr. John for 20 years and sought out treatment on and off during that time.

SEMI (Sheppard Centre, 2 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 601, Toronto. 416-223-SEMI)
- Dr. Stoddard and his team can handle anything. When something really serious strikes, this is where I go to find out what is wrong because he deals with sports injuries specifically. Lots of different therapies too.

One place I'd never go in Markham.

Rhymes with "Apple Creep". I'll let you figure it out.

I can elaborate if you inquire during a face to face conversation. I rarely speak badly of anyone or anything so you know this has got to be good/bad. But if you trust my opinion don't go there. We have other options in Markham.

Welland Swim/Bike Race Report

I did my first Swim/Bike race at Welland.

Check it out the report here:

http://www.teamrunningfree.com/blog/2011/07/01/welland-half-iron-swimbike/

Binbrook Race Report

On June 18 & 19th I raced two races in two days.
I biked well in both.

You can read my Binbrook Race Report here.

Blind runner to complete 100 Miler

Simon Wheatcroft and his 100 Mile Ultramarathon.
What's so special, if running that crazy distance isn't enough?
He's blind.

Check out more here.

Clean Water & Surfing

Season Opening Race at Woodstock

Had a great opening race at Woodstock last week. The race report is here if you are interested.

I also had a fun couple of races this past weekend at Binbrook. Report to come.

Holy Crap...pun intended

I am for protecting the environment and all, but I won't be eating this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110615/tc_digitaltrends/japanesescientistscreatesmeatoutoffeces

Bike Lanes - NYC

Beauty hit - reminds me of when I played net

Foo Fighters - Walk

Another classic video from the Foos.

Foo Fighters - Rope

Cool stuff for the power geeks

Power Analysis from a Tour of California Rider



Check out the whole analysis here.

Equality

Running Gear for the Summer

It is finally starting to feel like summer around here so this is a great time to post this.

Kevin Mackinnon and I tried out a bunch of gear and put this together in the latest issue of Triathlon Magazine Canada.

http://triathlonmagazine.ca/2011/05/sections/gear/run-gear/run-apparel/summer-running-apparel/

K-Swiss Blade Light Review on Running Free

Sorry for the lack of updates and fresh content.

Here is my latest review.

K-Swiss Blade Light.

Everlong

The greatest rock band right now! One of the few gems in the music business in a sea of absolutely horrible stuff that is somehow considered music.

Saw the documentary tonight and the performance of their new album via satellite.

Awesome! The new album "Wasting Light" is out now. Get it!

Here is the full Special Letterman performance.




Foo Fighters Website

Long Runs

Stop Running Long on Sunday
http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/2011/03/28/stop-running-long-on-sunday/

An interesting concept for some but I've been doing this for a long time now, especially when it comes to crunch time.

Some of the reasons were stated in the article, but mostly out of mental convenience. For me, I like to get that run over with and banked. If I let it go til the weekend and something comes up, then long run missed. Some thing for long rides. If I can get it done during the week then I will. Especially if there is a shorter race scheduled on the weekend.

Mostly though I think you just have to mix things up all the time to give your body a jolt.

Last year during the winter I ran on Sunday's so I could run with some cool people in a local running group. But once the weather got better I got those runs over with on Wednesday or Thursday. This year, Friday seems to be the magical day, that used to be my day off. But even that may shift in a few months. Work, family, races, etc., have all gotta be taken into account.

Train safe and smart
RH

Never Give Up!

I always say "Never Give Up" to anyone (those I coach) who wants to listen and here is a perfect example why. Enjoy!

Vintage Hollywood Squares

Colin James on Q107

A Canadian guitar legend. Catch him in concert if you can.

Sammy Hagar on Q107

Sammy Hagar on Kim Mitchell's Q107 show.
I am a big fan of both these guys.
I'll be reading Sammy's new book - Red.

My next race

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

Getting amped for race season

Don't Eat the Popcorn..or maybe not so much

Been to the movies lately?
If you indulge with buying the popcorn combos from the concession stand then take a look at these numbers:

* this info is from this article.

Cineplex Odeon
1,141 calories
67 g fat
1,128 mg sodium
Cineplex said a large popcorn had 850 calories, 40.5 g fat and 399 mg sodium

Empire Theatres
1,116 calories
51 g fat
1,695 mg sodium
Empire said it had 637 calories, 28.5 g fat and 1,297 mg sodium

AMC
1,060 calories
62.6 g fat
883 mg sodium
The company didn't provide us with their own nutritional information

As for why there were such discrepancies, the serving sizes we picked up at the theatres were larger than the ones the companies used in their testing. Both companies also blamed human error for inconsistent methods used to prepare the popcorn.

When the same large bags of popcorn were analyzed with buttered topping, the calories jumped to 1,400:

Cineplex Odeon
1,420 calories
100 g fat
1,095 mg sodium

Empire Theatres
1,225 calories
67 g fat
2,114 mg sodium

AMC
1,138 calories
69 g fat
694 mg sodium

Roddick's Diving Winner a few days ago

Canadian Tennis at it's Peak!

Aside from the night I beat former World Number one, Ivan Lendl in a tennis match -- for fun of course, tonight and tomorrow is history in the making for tennis in Canada.

3 Canadians are in the finals in Memphis.

Tonight Rebecca Marino plays in the women's final.



And tomorrow, Milos Raonic plays in the men's final, and Daniel Nestor (I great guy who I grew up playing against, he even umpired one of my matches once when one of my opponents acted a bit dishonest) plays in the men's doubles final.









Crazy or what? This is incredible stuff and I am so glad that Sportnet has stepped up to change it's regular programming to broadcast it. Including some of the lead up matches.

Go Canada! I'll be watching all of it, or at least following it on the ATP/WTC App.

An oldie but a goodie

Cool or what?

Team Running Free - I'm back

I am proud to be back with Team Running Free for 2011.

Running Free is an great store (stores actually), it is staffed and owned by incredible people.

If you need to get some gear, I suggest that you check there first. You'll get no better combination of service, selection, price, and satisfaction.

Use coupon code 11296 to save a few bucks too. Shop online at Running Free.

Two Legends of Media Together

Last Thursday Howard Stern appeared on Letterman and this was one of the greatest guest appearances of all time. On this night Letterman obviously beat Leno in the ratings. Letterman is such a better interviewer and the show is so much more clever. Who is watching Leno's show to make him slip by Letterman on a regular basis? Hard to believe or even watch that show.

Anyway, enjoy the clip below, and if you are into TV, read Bill Carter's "The War for Late Night." It looks into the whole Conan/Leno debacle. Quite fascinating if you are into that sort of thing.

I get chills everytime I see this

A little reminder of when the Leafs used to be good.

Gotta love the old Maple Leaf Gardens and vintage Bob Cole.

Down goes Brown

To go with yesterday's Sportsline post.

Classic call by the Great Joe Bowen - the best play by play man in the business.

Glad to see Sportsline back

I saw the commercial for Sportsline a few days ago and it brought back some great memories.

Before the coming of all the sports network stations on TV, there was Sportsline. I remember watching it every night at around 11:30pm and it was the best sports show around because it had the full highlights that the regular news wouldn't cover.

And the hosts - Mark Hebscher, Jim Tatti, and Don Martin rocked. They were funny and just plain cool. The Hebsy Awards were great too. I think I had an old VHS tape somewhere will each month's collection on them - I gotta find that thing.

Anyway, the show is back on CHCH. Although it is just Hebsy returning.
http://www.chchnews.ca/index.php/home/item/1469-sportsline-mon-dec-6-2010

What is Jim Tatti up to? Real Estate - likely more money in that anyway. He still talks sports with his blog.

And Don Martin? I don't know where he is right now but the last time I ran into him he was playing golf in Ballantrae. Many moons ago we played the old shinny game together, and as a reporter a few times when he had a better position than me in a scrum of reporters he generously grabbed my tape recorder for me to get my voice quotes. A really good guy.

Anyway, glad to see that the show is back. I hope all those guys are doing well though.

Check out this vintage footage of when Bob McCown hosted the show.

Clijsters busts Woodbridge

It's crazy out there...beware

Protect yourselves.

 

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-electronic-pickpocketing-story,0,5636726,full.story