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October 11,
2007: Wednesday
with the Pros
Started the day off with a swim designed by US
Olympic swim coach Cliff English.
He
even decided to get in the pool with Sam and I
to do the workout as well.
Having completed the session as assigned I’m
thinking of trying to make the team next year.
From
there we went over to the expo so Sam could hook
up with the guys from Profile and chat with them
about things – and more importantly score me a
much needed water bottle.
We
ran into Jo Zieger who, as always, seemed in
great spirits and ready to go.
From
there it was to Lava Java where I was suppose to
have a coffee with Desiree Ficker. I had the
coffee but no Desiree. Got an email while I was
sitting there that she couldn’t make it but was
I interested in joining her for a swim at the
pier tomorrow? Desiree in Lycra? Yeah, I think
I can make it. Shawn’s been getting these blogs
up in record time so I’m not putting down the
meeting time or every joker in this town will be
down there coincidently going for a swim at the
same time. No hard bodied young tri geek is
going to muscle in on my action!!
I’d
told Jasper Blake I’d visit him at his place
around noon so I jumped on the Magna and headed
over there.
I
think I’ve mentioned the Magna in past
journals. It’s a 187 pound mountain bike with a
lose crank arm and a deafening bottom bracket.
The bike comes with the house we rent and has
been here every year we have. I used the bike
to leap frog Peter in 04. I lost six pounds
that day.
Jasper’s pad was five miles out of town so, of
course, when I got there sweat was rivering (I
made up that word for the occasion) off me and I
was bonking. He and his girl, Jude whipped up
the most amazing chicken salad I’ve ever eaten
and I was topped up in minutes.
Being in the same room with the IM Canada winner
is like listening to Beach Boys music – you
can’t be glum at the same time. The two are
mutually exclusive.
You
can get a taste of the man’s style at his blog
site
http://jasperblake.blogspot.com/
I
promise you it’s worth the time you’ll spend
reading it. Just don’t read it in a public
place or you’ll look like an idiot laughing out
loud.
He
showed me his pimped out Kuato and filled me in
on the plans he and his brother have to carry
their mother, who is afflicted with MS, up to
the Everest base camp next year.
How
a boy treats his mother is a good indication of
his character. I love my mother but I’m not
dragging her ass up to base camp, I can tell you
that. Every day I’m reminded that there are
better men than me out there. It’s humbling.
Jude
is due in February, I believe. They’ll be great
parents.
Of
course we discussed Saturday’s race and his
thoughts on the matter. He’s humble as is
expected of any Canadian (or they take away your
passport) but I know deep inside he’s got the
fire going and believes he’ll run quite a few of
them off their feet. I believe the same.
As I
was leaving he grabbed a pen and paper and wrote
a quick note. He wrapped it around three of the
fattest chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever seen
and gave it to me with instructions to pass it
on to Sam. “Make sure she eats these race
morning. I don’t want to get “chicked" by her
on Saturday!”
Not
sure what the note said, but I think it was
something about the cookies being magic.
Next
it was off to the media center to hook up with
Cam Elford to pick up my media credentials.
Turns out whoever gets credentials also gets a
pair of funky Ironman running shoes. Swag!
Left that place with a spring in my step.
Stopped by the expo on the way home and bumped
into Heather Fuhr. We had a chuckle thinking
about how much fun it was going to be watching
Roch out there racing on Saturday. She sure
seemed to be enjoying the roll reversal.
Saw
Mark Allen and Dave Scott doing a
question/answer thing. Same questions, same
answers, as always. The one thing that made me
raise an eyebrow was Scott saying he was still
interested in racing at a high level and if he
could sort out some niggles we might see him on
the race line next year.
Chatted briefly with Mark after. Like a lot of
people I’ve been running into he inquired after
Peter.
One
person I met for the first time was Fernanda
Keller. I’m always amazed at how good someone
can look on the cover of a magazine and then
when you see them in person you feel cheated..
Not the case here. The lady holds up under
scrutiny.
Before coming home at last, I stopped again at
the Red Bull house. Caught Tony home with crew
of chaps having a great time in a great shack!
We
chatted briefly about the obvious – his brother
Tim. The two time champ has had some much
publicized difficulties the past few years but I
think that crap is behind him. I sure hope so.
After what seemed a very long day I made it
home, poured a Guinness and sat on the deck to
watch the sun set.
My
Skype bell beeped and I was happy to find Jo
Lawn on the other side.
We
killed a half hour chatting away like a couple
of tri geeks!
She’s interested in seeing how these ITU and
70.3 athletes do stepping up to the big show.
Experience counts here. Some of them will
suffer the torments of the damned out there.
Jo’s been here before. She’ll school a lot of
them!
So
that was my day. I better get some sleep. I’m
swimming in the morning! |
