Hey everyone. As you all may know, I am competing in the 2nd Cross Cancer Institute Triathlon on June 7th at Half Moon Lake. Thanks to many of you, I have already achieved the fundraising minimum of $250 to participate in the race. So, why stop there? Thanks to the great folks at SoulSpin Indoor cycling facility, I have the opportunity to raise even more money for the Cross. Jordan Law, the owner of SoulSpin, has graciously offered to put on a Karma spin class for me. In basic terms, you pay for the 45 minute class and I get half the money to put towards my fundraising efforts! Here’s a few details from Jordan to better explain it: “The karma class works as follows: the time is Friday May 9th, 6:30 - 7:15pm, a 45 min class. You can advertise as needed (social media, word of mouth etc) that you're using this class to help with your fundraising efforts, and we will as well (it's still an open class to the public, they just know it's a karma class). People sign up online using whichever method they want (whether it be a $20 unlimited week for new members or the $17 drop in fee or a class pass, it all counts). You will receive 50% of the class revenue via check towards your fundraising efforts. If the class is full you could receive up to $350. A fun way to earn some $$ towards your goal!!” Obviously, the more the merrier! Get a good workout for the heart and lungs and for your soul by getting a sweat on for a great cause. Please join me on May 9th by signing up online at soulspin.ca Thanks!!!!

The "Cow Game"

I posted on Twitter awhile ago that I got to ride outdoors finally and I got to play the "cow game". I thought that the game might need a little explaining. While training for my first Ironman Canada in 2000, I was out for a 3 hour ride on the old Great White North triathlon course. I was out the night before with some non-tri friends so I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted nor did I eat particularly well. I stayed over at a friends place who lived near the GWN course. Since I was up very early and I didn't want to bug anyone, I slipped out quietly without having any breakfast. I think I might of had a Powerbar on my way to Hubbles Lake where the bike course started. It was pouring rain and while I started out well, the lack of sleep and fuel caught up with me and I was bonking big time. Along with the delirium, I was also pretty cold. Basically, a mess. I was lumbering along and a herd of cows were in the field beside me. I mooed at them and when they all turned to look at me, I started to laugh hysterically. I laughed even harder when they started to chase me along the fence line. And that is the birth of the "cow game". The rules are simple: when you ride up on some cows in their field, you moo at them. If even just one of them looks at you (they can't be looking at you already), you win! If they don't look, you lose. Let's just say that I am not unbeaten in the game. Okay, it's childish and silly but I've never admitted to being a mature 45 year old. It is a great way to break up the monotony of a long ride. Try it! You'll be hooked!

I just finished reading "The Secret Race" by Tyler Hamilton. If you are unfamiliar with the name, Tyler rode with the United States Postal Service professional cycling team in the late 1990's and early 2000's. The book was about Tyler's decision to take part in the doping program that most of the riders on Team Postal were following including Lance Armstrong. According to Hamilton, Armstrong not only participated but actually masterminded the whole thing. I'm sure that most people who would read this are familiar with the Armstrong story. I've had a lot of people ask me about the whole Armstrong affair. I usually have a one word answer: duped. I love comeback stories and underdogs. The story of a guy who had one foot in the grave then came back to win the Tour de France was absolutely captivating. I remember watching the highlights of the climb to Sestriere in the 1999 tour. "The Look" he gave Jan Ullrich before leaving him in the dust going up Alpe d'Huez. How he picked himself up off the deck after hooking his handlebars on that kid's musette bag on Luz Ardiden. I watched every July to watch Lance win 7 in a row. I bought the books and the bracelets. I was a Lance believer. Even when the stories started to come out that he might have been cheating, I wanted to believe. He passed every test, he was so convincing in interviews that he never doped, he was more proud of being a cancer survivor than a Tour champ. In the end, it was all just one big lie. I've said it many times to many people: I don't blame athletes like Tyler Hamilton for doping. For him, the playing field was certainly not level. Taking EPO and taking blood transfusions was just what cyclists did. They had level the playing field or they would fall behind. I remember standing at that crossroads myself. It was 1987, the year before Ben Johnson got caught. I was at the UBC spring football camp. I was one year out of high school and hoping to fulfill a dream of playing a sport at UBC. With my Dad being Head Trainer there and later, Men's Athletic Director, there was no other place I wanted to go. I came to camp as a running back. I was 175 pounds soaking wet. Sure, I lifted weights but I just hadn't filled out yet. I was pretty quick but certainly no speedster. Anyways, as I sat in my stall at Thunderbird Stadium, I looked around at some of the guys I would be competing with. It was obvious that some of them were using steroids. I was saying in my head, "that guy, that guy, that guy". The guy right beside me. Thankfully, he was an offensive lineman but there was at least one guy who was a linebacker that was an obvious user. There were other factors at play as to why I didn't end playing there. But one of them was that I wasn't big enough or strong enough to compete. I needed to level the playing field. I vividly remember sitting at my desk in my room with a sheet of paper divided in half. One side said Pros, the other side said Cons. This was how I was going to decide whether or not I would start taking performance enhancing drugs. In the end, the Cons far outweighed the Pros. I couldn't justify the health risks or the cost or the chance of my Mom and Dad finding out with making a Canadian college football team roster. I loved football and I was determined to play at that level, but not by taking steroids. In the end, it all worked out. I worked my ass off to get a little bigger and a little faster. I remember when I benched 300 pounds for the first time, when I power cleaned 315 pounds. I ran a 4.7 40 at 225 pounds. All clean. I was kind of flattered when the doctor doing pre-season medicals one year asked me if I was taking anything. I was proud to honestly say no. *One funny story: my first year at UofA, I was randomly selected for drug testing. My position coach, Coach Tuck, was also the liasion between the athletic department and the Ethics in Sport people that did the testing. He called a bunch of us over, introduced the doctor and told us we were selected for testing. He looked me right in the eye and said, "Noonan, if you're taking anything, get your money back because it isn't working." Ouch.

Go Canada! Yes, I have Olympic fever! Actually, I have Canada fever. It doesn't matter what the sport is:hockey, rugby, soccer, Davis Cup tennis, if Canada is in it, I'm watching. I am an unabashed Maple Leaf lover. I think that is why I am so excited about the WTS Grand Final in August here in Edmonton. Representing Canada in athletics has always been a dream of mine and to be able to do it in my hometown is even better! I'm more excited about his race than any iron distance race I've ever done. I think I have a real good chance of doing well. My goal is top ten but my dream goal is to be world champ. I know that may be unrealistic as there are so many fast guys out there but I still can't get the thought of me wearing my country's colours on the top step of the podium out of my head. When I'm in the middle of a tough workout I think, "What would a world champ do?". Training has been going well. I'm back swimming once a week with Rob and my shoulder has help up through a 4000m workout a couple of weeks ago. I've been using an online bike training program called Trainer Road. It's awesome! I highly recommend it. I've haven't been running too much. It's been really cold here the last couple of weeks. I have been trying skate skiing. My friend, Jamie Burdon, has been a great teacher. We went out yesterday and I felt like I was really going well! I'm hoping that I can buy my own equipment so I can go ski at different places. Maybe next year I'll try biathlon? Skiing and shooting? Way too cool. Speaking of new things, my new job has been going well. I'm starting to understand the ins and outs of the job a little more. I even have my own office now! I still miss being in the classroom and having a little more interaction with the kids. I'm teaching one class of PE 10 boys. 38 of them in the class! And we share the gym with 30 PE 10 girls! It's a little crowded. Fortunately, I share the gym with Sean Reader, a former Saskatchewan Huskie (at least he wasn't a Calgary Dino). He and I played against each other for a couple of years. He's filling in on a maternity leave. I hope he can stay on. He's a lot of fun. Actually, the whole PE department is fun. I miss teaching Math but teaching PE in high school is way better than in Junior High. I have said that I would like to teach a Math or Science next year but I'm starting to rethink that. Athletics/fitness has been a huge part of my life. Why change now? The impetus to update my blog has come from my involvement with the Cross Cancer Institute triathlon. Lindsay, who organizes the event, contacted me last year but I wasn't able to help out but I've committed some time to help them this year. I've sort of an advisor/consultant. Their participant numbers weren't awesome last year. I'm hoping I can help get their numbers up. Anyways, Lindsay put a little bio of me up on their website including a link to my blog. I figured since more people are going to see it, there should be something to read. Here's the link to my bio: http://albertacancer.tumblr.com/ If you're in the Edmonton area, you really should do this race on June 7th, 2014. Yes, shameless plug but it is a great event. Trevor Soll from Multisport Canada is the race director and his races are always good. Paul from Mud Sweat and Gears will be donating some great prizes once again. There is a $250 fund raising commitment but if you know someone who has been touched by cancer, $250 is not a big commitment. Here's the link to register: www.albertacancer.ca/ccitriathlon Even if you aren't racing, races always needs volunteers. Please help make this year's CCI Triathlon a big success. Until next time. Dave

Hey hey everyone! Yes, I am back. I actually have a bit of time to write. Whenever I put up a post, I want to make sure it's good so I want to have time to do it right. I never like half assing anything. You get nothing out of it and the people you're doing that thing for get nothing out of it. There's my piece of advice for you all for today. I've been super busy since Challenge Penticton. Started a new job at a new school, coached my son's pee wee football team and my school's cross country team. My tri club started back up in October and I have been trying to get my own training started. My new job is like an office job. I am my school's Work Experience and Apprentice Program coordinator. There are times when it's a little slow (like now)but most times I'm talking to kids or employers or out doing site visits. Certainly a lot different from the everyday grind of teaching. What I like best about it is that I fund my job. In short, the more kids I have in my program, the more time I get for it. Right now, it's 80%. I teach two PE classes for the other 20%. I'm hoping that by 2 years from now, it will be 100%. Like I said, no half assing. Training has had it's ups and downs. Off season can be tough. You can't go too hard and I have to have some intensity or what's the point. I took pretty much all of September and October off. I felt like I was getting back into it slowly but my left shoulder went bad on me. Which is weird because I dislocated my right shoulder about 4 years ago so it should be the wonky one. It's also weird because last year getting ready for Challenge, I put in about 9000m of swimming a week and everything was great. Two swims in October and I'm off swimming for a month! WTF?! My physio, Codi, is awesome. She has put me back together a couple of times. You can never underestimate the value of your extended health care professionals. Codi thought it was impingement but it turns out it's tendinitis of my rotator cuff tendon. It's getting better but never as quickly as I would like. I miss swimming. I hope I can be good to go for a few hundred metres after Christmas. I'll probably need it. In the meantime, I've been biking and running as much as I can. I've been using this cool new online bike training program called Trainer Road. My new athlete, Chris, put me onto it. It's awesome! I highly suggest it! I've been doing a lot of treadmill running. Definitely not my favourite but the weather here in Edmonton has been a little nasty. We've got a ton of snow (it's snowing right now!)which is good because I took up cross country skiing last winter and I'm want to do more this winter. I don't mind running in the cold but we had freezing rain last weeks and some of the paths are skating rinks. I don't need another fall. I hope the weather is better wherever you are reading this from. TTFN!

In honour of Leslie, who completed her first triathlon in May, Jamie and Darryl who completed their first iron distance races in August, here is a piece I wrote a couple of years ago about some of my triathlon firsts. Hey everyone! I’m back…sort of. It’s a busy time of year for me both at school and at home. Trying to keep kids focused on their work as the weather gets better is a real challenge. Balancing my own training with coaching the Mud Sweat and Gears Tri Team is also a challenge. I find myself not training as much and spending more time getting my four new athletes ready for their first triathlon on Canada Day. I remember my first triathlon. It was the Coronation Triathlon in 1998. It was the week after my stag. My fiancée (now my ever supportive of my tri-addiction wife) was thoughtful enough to pack some running gear with my golf clubs. I would like to say I was committed enough to get out for a run but I was barely in good enough condition to walk a straight line and speak coherently let alone go for even a short run. Nonetheless, the weekend after I was standing on the Coronation Pool deck to start my first race ever. I had some other firsts leading up to my first race: My first bike was a Celeste green Bianchi that I bought from my friend Chris. I didn’t know it at the time but Bianchi was to the Tour de France in the 40’s and 50’s what Trek was to the Tour de Lance. I wish I had kept that bike. It was a classic. My first three hour bike ride. Chris was a hard core cyclist. I showed up on my Bianchi in shorts, t-shirt and running shoes. I looked like a total dork. Then Chris asked, “did you bring any food?” I bought a Mars bar along the way. We did a loop out to Ardrossan and back to the old Co-op at the end of Whyte Ave. I don’t think the feeling came back to my, er, well, you know...down there for 3 days. What I did feel was three hours of riding a skinny road bike saddle without bike shorts on. I still ride some of those same roads today. I look back upon that first long ride and…grimace. My first group swim workout. What a nightmare! I had zero swimming experience except for the backyard pool we had as a kid that was all of 10 metres long. I almost had a head on collision because I didn’t know how the flow of traffic went. We did a kick set that just about killed me. But, I stuck with it and I slowly moved from the slow lane to the fast lane. My first bonk. What was her name again? Sorry, momentary gutter brain. “Bonking” or “hitting the wall” in endurance sport circles means that your body runs out of energy. You know you are bonking when the cheeseburgers that you are daydreaming about suddenly start slam dancing and you look like the walking dead. My bonk happened when I thought it was good idea to get up and go for a swim workout, come home and get on my bike for 2 hours then try to go for a run…all without eating any breakfast. I took half a PowerBar with me on the run. I had to knock on a friend’s door and ask for a Coke and a ride home. Everyone should bonk just once so they know how it feels. My first brick. In tri speak a brick is a bike ride followed immediately by a run. Do I need to explain why you would do that? The name “brick” comes from Bike/Run/ick. Or it’s because that’s what your legs feel like when you try to run after a bike ride. Mine felt like lead. I had to watch the scenery pass by (very slowly) just to confirm I was actually moving. Now, during a lead up to a race, I try to brick once or twice a week. If you are thinking about doing a triathlon, most of these “firsts” are unavoidable. Bonking is completely avoidable but I had no idea that half an energy bar wasn’t enough to keep a guy going. I did find out that a nice, cold Coke is soooo gooood after a long, tough workout. Chris was there so much for me during that first season of triathlon. He showed me how to swim, taught me how to take care of my bike and the basics of training for a triathlon. I am very excited to be a mentor for new triathletes on the Mud Sweat and Gears tri club. I hope I can pass on the same knowledge and love for triathlon as Chris did for me. He obviously did a good job because 16 years later, I’m still at it.

Well, I finished. 11:48 and change. Not the day I had planned on but it's still a great feeling to cross the line. I was 6th in my age group and 65th overall. I paid for it though. Spent a good hour in the medical tent. I was very dehydrated. I'm good now. Definitely not 100%. Who is after a race that long? My head still hurts a little bit but I can pee again which is a good sign. What happened, you ask? Let's start at the beginning. SWIM I felt pretty good going into the race. I had lots of good training in. Coach Cailla and I had a good plan. The swim was tough! The wind was coming into the beach so we were swimming directly into some pretty big chop. I was by myself the whole time. I couldn't find anyone to follow. The wave start was good in that here was lots of room. The disadvantage was that I had to swim through a lot of people from previous waves. My own fault for being a good swimmer! Due the wind, some of the buoys were moved around and it was hard to sight to see where you're going. The way back into the beach was much better. I was hoping for a sub 1:00 swim but it ended up being 1:08. I was a little surprised but knew the conditions were the reason. Time was slow but I had one of the fastest swim in my age group. T1 was good (3:35) except that the volunteers couldn't find my bag. No panic. I got it and out I went on the bike. BIKE I had a great bike...up until 130km. I was cruising down to Osoyoos. Had a good cadence going and was able to pass a few folks. Richter Pass was awesome! I felt great! I was spinning up the hill, even passed a couple of people! I made it to 90km in 2:45 or so. I was right on pace. I was eating and drinking according to plan. Even the infamous 7 bitches weren't a problem. Once I got into the out and back section, that's where things started to go sideways. I started to get a dull headache and I could feel the energy leaving my legs. The end of the out and back to the top of Yellow Lake is a tough stretch but I should have been going a little quicker than I was. I felt like I had to pee but I couldn't get anything to come out. The climb up Yellow Lake was tough but I made it. I still had a headache and that fuzzy, not quite there kind of feeling. The downhills back into down were a welcome relief but it was still tough sledding. Transition was brutal. I got my bag but the outside of my feet were killing me! They still hurt right now. I got my shoes on and out to the run I went. RUN I still had a headache and the fuzzy head but I soldiered on. I ran for the first 7km but I wasn't feeling good. I walked up most of the hills and on some of the flats. I had no energy at all. I took something at every aid station: water, coke or salt pills. I thought that would snap me out of the funk I was in. Quitting was never an option. I was going to finish no matter what. I ran when I could and walked when I felt like I had to. I was mad at myself because I had hoped for more than this. Oh well, keep marching on. The closer I got to town, the better I felt. When I hit the last downhill section, I picked up the pace because I had 5km left to go. Let's get this over with. I was pushing pretty hard onto Lakeshore. On the way out on the run, we made the turn at Power Street. For the finish we had to go another kilometre to the Sicamous! I skipped last 3 aid stations because I was almost done but the push at the end really hurt and I ran the last km on fumes! I saw my family and friends who were waiting for me. My oldest son, Callum, ran with me across the line. He loved it...until I hit the deck right after the finish. Kind of scared him. I nothing left. The volunteers walked me around for a bit then right into the med tent. My blood pressure was really low and apparently I was grey when they got me in there. That fuzzy, light headed feeling was still with me. They laid me down, got me to drink some chicken soup broth. The doctor came back and told me my colour was comimg back. Thank goodness! A bag of salt and vinegar chips hit the spot. A massage, a couple pieces of pizza and I wasn't right as rain but certainly much better than before. POST RACE I went back to my Mom and Dad's for a shower, food and a beer. My wife and super Sherpa Brian went back down into town to see my best friend Dan finish. He is one tough hombre. I didn't sleep very well after. I knew I wouldn't. The race was still running through my head and my legs and feet were hurting. Nothing that a nap and some junk food today won't cure! This will be the last iron distance race I ever do. I made that decision out on the run somewhere. It's not because I had a tough day. All 4 of them that I have finished have been tough. I just don't think my body can handle that kind that kind of punishment anymore. It's been a long year of training and sacrifice both on my part and my family's part. I don't think I can put them through that again. I've done 4 races here. I don't think I have anything left to prove. Challenge has relays so I can still participate that way. I've been a team sport guy almost all my life. I think it would be fun. I'm still going to race. Xterra races have always been something I want to try. I love coaching too. I think I can put a little more energy into that. I can help other do well at the iron distance. I still have Sprint worlds next year in Edmonton. I'm hoping I can do really well there in front of the home crowd. A huge thanks to everyone who helped me get across the line yesterday. The crowds and volunteers were, as always, amazing! Paul and Jeff at Mud Sweat and Gears, the best bike shop around: thanks for the new Trek Speed Concept 9 and the bike fit. Love that bike! All my friends that were out there cheering. Knowing that you were down there on Lakeshore definitely helped keep me going. Coach Cailla, what can I say except sorry I couldn't pull out what we planned. I've learned so much from you. You've made me a better triathlete. I look forward to seeing what we can do at Worlds next year. Super Sherpa Brian: you're awesome! Thank you so much for helping me and Tammy yesterday. We appreciate it more than you know. I hope that I can Sherpa for you sometime. To my Mom and Dad and my sisters, thanks for the place to stay and all your support. To my wife and kids, I can't thank you enough for your patience and sacrifice. I love you all.