Another day, another destiny

I was riding with a dear friend the other day, and she asked "and just how long have you been at Speed Theory?"

It was February(ish) 2006, and the email for the UBC Triathlon Club (I was treasurer at the time) received a message about a new triathlon store that was opening up in Kits.  Pop your head in and say hi, it read ... and at the bottom of the message, a note that they'd be looking for some full time and part time staff.

Shortly thereafter, I met Jeremy "the MoJ" Wilson, and some months later Nicole "ShopGirl" Akeroyd.  I earned my title (or self-appointed, I honestly can't remember) of Manager of Awesomeness.  I sold bikes, fit wetsuits, and helped a lot of new cyclists learn that road biking doesn't need to be scary.

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If you're in suspense, wondering about this retrospective, I'm writing it to let you know that, pretty soon, I'll no longer be an everyday face at Speed Theory.  I'll be entering a new aspect of the sporting industry, working as the Pearl Izumi Cycling and Running rep for Mainland BC.

Here are some things that won't change with me:

- I will still be coaching, both private clients and with Leading Edge Triathlon Club
- you will still see me out training and racing (though my race distances might shorten up a bit)
- you will still see me around town sporting my Speed Theory kit (I did help design it, after all)
- if you ask me a shop question, I will still smile, then take a second to put my "shop hat" on

But here are some of the new things I'll be doing:

- I'll be selling running shoes and clothing (something I'm really excited about)
- I'll be meeting a ton of new cycling and running retailers, seeing how experts around the province outfit their customers for awesomeness
- I'll be managing Pearl Izumi Run & Ride demos at a local Run/Ride store near you!

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Selling stuff with the crew at the 2008 ITU World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver

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All kitted up for cold weather at English Bay

Lookin' fine volunteering at the Diva's Only races

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We called ahead to make sure we'd all match

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"Hey, let's go ride bikes" - "Where to?" - "Who cares!"

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If you've ever come into Speed Theory and seen me work, you know that I love what I do.  And it's all because of the people - the first time cyclist making sure they can ask a stupid question (there are no stupid questions!) or the seasoned veteran talking about the latest gear or training technique. 

And a very special thanks to Jeremy, Nicole, Mike, Murray, Brandon, Erin, Cam, Rachel, Katrina, Rob, Jeff, Kamal, Alli, Chris, Sarah, Calvin, Katherine, Kurt, Jennica, Sheldon, Steve, Paul, Paulo, Chris, Jenna, Jared, Mark, and Greg.  It's been a blast

~ liquid

New CrossFit PR

Personal Bests are always great to celebrate!

This morning, at our (relatively) new gym at CrossFit North Vancouver, we ran our first 5k.

I was excited.  And you can only get how excited I was if you knew the old run course that we did for a timed 5 kilometer "race."

Have you ever biked or run down to Deep Cove - like, all the way down to the end of the road at the turnabout.  Then turned around and come back OUT of Deep Cove ... trying to run for time?  Yeah, I think I broke 20 minutes on that run once (20 minutes is decidedly NOT fast for a 5 k run).

So our new route was not only fairly straight, but most definitely flat (or at least flattish).

The new 5 km course runs out-and-back along Dollarton Highway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I managed to take a FULL MINUTE off of the run time - 18:40

Now, granted, this still isn't a spectacularly fast 5 km time (certainly not my PR for a road race), but taken as a pure training run (and in this case, after just having front squatted 215 lbs) it was pretty damn exciting.

And I got to run in some brand new Pearl Izumi running shoes (more on that in a couple of weeks :)

The Pearl Izumi Road N2 shoes : Project EMotion

Love the run

~ liquid

Thank you Challenge

It was with a heavy heart that I sent the following email to Challenge Penticton last week:

Hey Challenge Penticton,
Wondering how I go about withdrawing from the race this August.  I've had to make the heart wrenching decision to be in town for my pregnant wife's due date.
I wrestled with it - been looking forward to racing in Penticton on my 30th birthday for a long time.  But I'm going to go with my wife on this one!
Let me know how to proceed

Indeed, racing in Penticton in 2013 has been my athletic goal for the past 4 years.  With the race always being at the end of August, I took a look at the calendar to figure out when the race would fall directly on August 25th.  It turns out that it did so in 2013 - coincidentally my 30th birthday.

But, in December, Elizabeth and I got the most exciting news, with a due date of August 20th (shortly after letting our parents know, my Mom quietly said to me "I think you should reconsider doing that race at the end of August")

Thanks Mom, I'd already come to that conclusion!

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If you haven't looked into Challenge Penticton yet, or you're thinking about the future of long-course triathlon racing in |British Columbia - considering the prospect of Challenge Family versus Ironman - I would highly recommend you stick with Penticton.

I won't post the email specifically, but the response I received was nothing but positive, offering their congratulations, and wishing me the best in the future.  Oh, and they wanted to know my address so that they could send the refund cheque for my registration.

Thanks again Challenge - when I get the go ahead from my family to once again race long-distance triathlon, yours will be the first race I enter.

Just so you know, you're awesome

~ liquid

... and we're back

I know.  It's like when your favourite TV show has an exciting season finale just before summer hiatus.  And then the show doesn't come back in September, and you wonder "what happened?"  You wait with baited breath for a new episode ...

Well, here we go:

So I signed up for the Diez Vista 50km Ultra at the beginning of April, fulfilling a long-term goal I've had for a while (to be clear, the goal was just to sign up for a 50km event ... actually crossing the finish line is a separate goal)

Luckily, I enjoy running through the trail of North Van, though usually I wouldn't be spending so much time in December and January doing long runs.  I say "long" in terms of duration only ... slowly but surely I'm renegotiating my sense of speed and pace when logging over 1000 feet of elevation gain in given run.

From my front door, I can quickly get to the Seymour Demonstration Forest, up Lynn Loop, or over to Mount Seymour.  It's also possible to head straight for Grouse and the section of the Baden Powell trail there, though my training runs haven't taken me that direction yet.

Oh yeah, and I'm also running into work at least once a week ... 16 km each way.  It's kinda peaceful running back over the Lions Gate bridge at 7 o'clock at night (it's also rewarding passing cyclists!)

Today's run was a fairly standard route:  up from Park & Tilford to the Demonstration Forest, up and around the Lynn Loop, and home again:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/265935641

I had some pretty pictures too, but I hate my phone and it's not downloading.  So if I figure it out, it may just mean that you get 2 blog posts in one day!

Keep your feet movin'

~ liquid