3 More Stepz

3 Stepz is Closing

2005-11-01T09:19:00.000-05:00

Flks,
This will be my last post on 3 More Stepz. I need to support the family and I am migrating my blogging activities to Yahoo 360. I was skeptical of this product given past experiences with big portal Blogs but I found this cool since it integrates well with my photo albums on Yahoo, LaunchCast and even Flickr.

Here is the new Blog URL so please update any links:

http://360.yahoo.com/lancemartel@rogers.com

You've got to be drunk to watch the Saints...

2005-10-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

So last weekend was quite possibly the worst football weekend of my life. Here is the summary:

Saturday - No Notre Dame game
Sunday - Saints lose 52-3 to the 0-4 Green Bay Packers. To make this worse the Saints best player Deuce McAllister is injured and lost for the season (torn ACL). That injury is usually a career ender.

Today the Mayor of Baton Rouge says this:
"I think you've got to be drunk to watch the Saints these days. It would be hard to watch them sober," Greco said.

The statement is in regards to this article:http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2189807

The good news is that Notre Dame is playing USC in the biggest game of the season on Saturday. If the Irish can win this game they may be a serious contender for the National Chanmpionship and end SC's 2 and a half year college football dynasty.

The Saints (2-3) and can move into contention in their divsion with a win over the the rival Falcons (3-2).

I feel good about both games coming off last weekends disasters.

Some Random Thoughts on the Industry

2005-10-13T16:33:00.000-04:00

Yahoo, Microsoft join IM hands
Looks like the battle lines are being drawn for the next generation of Web wars. Microsoft has been suprisingly open with it's IM operability if you recall that days when MS attempted to interoperate with AOL's AIM without AOL permission. Great news for us Canadian who primarily use these 2 services over the AOL suite of IM clients.

John Battelle thinks this may set the table for AOL to work with Google Talk. Which leads into this store:

Google, Comcast in talks to invest in AOL
I find it funny as a former AOL employee that Google would even consider this. It's knee jerk to the MSN/Yahoo relationship along with Google's concerns of losing it's Ad words revenue from AOL's membership base if AOL is acquired by someone else..say Microsoft? I would caution Google to look at AOL's past performance with "partnerships". Time Warner, Netscape, ICQ....hello?

Apple unveils video iPod, new iMac
Growden and I discussed what this COULD have been prior to the announcement and our idea was much cooler. An iPod PVR...dock it by your TV and record all the shows to your iPod and watch it on the embedded player or any other TV. Pay for video is also cool.

Michelle...you can have my mini :-)

Like Nascar....but with Rockets

2005-10-03T18:11:00.000-04:00

www.rocketracingleague.com

Looks interesting...maybe one or two races before the first big disaster.

32...not quite over the hill.

2005-09-28T16:32:00.000-04:00

So I turned 32 yesterday.

I realized I have been able to drive a car for half of my life now (32/2 = 16) . Tough year..I think I like the odd year birthdays better. I got some great gifts from Michelle and the work people not to mention a free lunch and beers! Thanks!

I forgot to post about the U2 concert we attended on Sept 14th. Unbelievable show and an experience I will never forget. We arrived early and manage to secure a spot 2 people off the circlular walkway around the stage. Bono stopped multiple times in front of us to view the "horns". One downer was the pathetic girl who barged in front of us and them attempted to pull her friend into Michelle's spot. I was pretty pissed and she eventually left.

Tailgating at Notre Dame

2005-09-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

Group shot on Saturday Sept 17 for Notre Dame homecoming against Michigan State.

One and One

2005-09-21T15:18:00.000-04:00

We are two weeks into the NFL season and the Saints have manage to split their first two games.

Game 1 against Carolina was inspirational as they managed to pickup a win over a team many people are picking for the Super Bowl. The following week the Saints received more press coverage than I have ever seem them get and many have dubbed them "America's Team".

In week two they had their first "home" game against the New York Giants in New York (huh?). It was a nationally televised Monday nighter which is rare for the Saints. In true fashion they were terrible in front of the national audience. Even worse the Canadian networks only picked up half of the game and switched to the Dallas-Washington game just before half-time. The Saints looked tired and a number of pre-snap penalties showed that they were screwed by the NFL in being forced to play a road game.

Not a bad start but I am concerned with the sloppiness of play and Aaron Brooks is terrible.

My college team, Notre Dame, has had a decent start and are 2-1. I was in South Bend last weekend to see the Irish lose a tough one to Michigan State. Seeing a live Notre Dame game is an experience like none other. Go Irish!

Hole in the Roof

2005-08-30T14:13:00.000-04:00

My beloved Saints were embarrassed in the pre-season game against the Ravens last week. Upon returning to New Orleans they were evacuated because of Hurricane Katrina.

The Super Dome in New Orleans survived the hurricane but 2 holes were ripped in the roof of the dome. I suspect this may cause some problems for home games in the first couple of weeks of the season.

Funnily enough the owner of the Saints hates the Superdome and has been threatening to move the team to another city if a new deal for a stadium isn't reached. I imagine he was hoping the entire stadium was destroyed! In any case, any team that goes through this must deserve some good karma...please!

The Great Thornhill Flood

2005-08-29T11:04:00.000-04:00

Michelle's parents house back onto the Don River system which last week flooded. As you can see the water level covered both fences and was half way up the gazebo. The damage was amazing as the entire back fence was bent in half and the large wooden bridge in the back had moved about 3 feet.

Luckily this happened after the wedding since we had pictures taken here.

Fyker is Getting Hitched

2005-08-25T21:45:00.000-04:00

So my good friend Brendan got hitched to his girlfriend Amy this week. I am very happy for both of them. We are heading to a campground to meet up Friday after work and enjoy a few celebratory beverages.

Congrats buddy!

HEL Weapon

2005-08-24T16:18:00.000-04:00

Military laser brings 'Star Wars' reality closer

I imagine every test pilot is dying to try this out. In a war 20 years from now when the US decides to invade yet another country the CNN coverage will be quite cool with laser beams everywhere.

Where has Lance been??

2005-08-04T13:34:00.000-04:00

So it's been over a month since my last post and given it's probably been the busiest month of my life it could be difficult to catch up.

In July I was married, spent 2 weeks in Greece on a honeymoon, returned to complete chaos at work, attended the longest Toronto Blue Jays game in history and went to see Cinderella in concert.

The wedding was absolutely amazing and it could not have went any better. I have pictures online if anyone would like to see them.

I'll detail more once I get some time to update the blog again.

The time is near....

2005-06-30T13:33:00.000-04:00

wedding
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

The wedding day is nearly here. I am officially on my last day at work and wrapping things up for a nice 2 week vacation.

Michelle and I were engaged on Dec 20, 2003 which seems like along time ago now. I recall the day she first posted our wed-site on the Knot. It read 500 days to go...now in the picture you can see it's 2 days. The entire experience and particularily this week has been surreal. Time just seems to fly by and I grow more nervous each day. The nervousness is knowing that Saturday is the biggest day of our lives and every friend and family member will be there to share it with us. I'm torn between wanting it to be here but also sad that this is the one and only time Michelle and I will organize anything like this together.

I guess it's time to remind myself that a wedding is not about the planning and the event itself. Its about starting a new life together...in good times and in bad; in sickness and in health.

I will see you on the other side....

Putin Steals Super Bowl Ring

2005-06-29T11:24:00.000-04:00

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8606343

How funny is this:
Kraft showed the ring to Putin -- who tried it on, put it in his pocket and left, said Russian news reports.

It's like something from a Seinfeld episode. I'll be interested to here how this gets resolved. Hopefully not World War 3.

Happy Birthday Roscoe

2005-06-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

Today Roscoe turns 2 years old.

Happy Birthday Eve Mathew Growden!

Things to not do the week before you get married

2005-06-27T16:22:00.000-04:00

Get injuried severaly enough to warrant a cast, crutches..etc. Antyhing that will result in an inability to move or wear a tuxedo.
Beware of facial lacerations which could results in serious post-production work on the photography.
Don't trash talk your peers are work since they will likely need to cover for you during the honeymoom.
Do not make any promises in regards to pre-wedding night partying or pre-ceremony beer funnels.
Do not forget to get a haircut.

Let your dog get even with this evil bastard

2005-06-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

Political Pet Toys Bin Laden The most wanted man on Earth is now the most wanted pet toy. Let your dog get even with this evil bastard. . 5.75"Hx5.25"Wx3.25"D

Weekend Festivites

2005-06-20T09:36:00.000-04:00

So the triathlon relay was a complete disaster. I'll admit my swim was pretty poor given it's not the strongest event in the first place and I usually make up lots of time on the bike and run. Cinnamon's bike was horrific! It started off with a good plan that Cinnamon would take it easy for the first 5km and then adjust his pace accordingly. That plan went on the toilet when Cinnamon's adrenaline took over and he burnt himself out after the first 3km. At 3Km there is a large hill which he had to walk the bike up...??? In total the 20km bike took him 49 minutes which is beyond terrible.

This gave us some good laughs on the way home and coined his new nickname "Pace".

Ryan's run was decent but we still ended up last place in the relay.

Michelle's stagette took a turn for the worse when she polished off a bottle of vodka and didn't even manage to leave the hotel room. Not sure if there will be a make-up date for the stagette or not. :-)

15 Days

2005-06-17T09:22:00.000-04:00

Holy crap the wedding is two weeks from tomorrow. Don't forget to buy us a gift. :-)

This weekend is Michelle's stagette. Looks out for her on the College St bars since I think that is where she is going. To keep myself busy, Keefer, Cinny and I are going to Muskoka to run the Sprint Triathlon Relay on Saturday at 4pm. I have ran this race myself before although I wanted some company for the drive. So I'm doing the 750M swim which should take about 15 minutes.

After we are heading back to TO and a few of us are going to head out for some drinks. We will see what sort of shape Michelle is in on Sunday.

Finally....a Space Elevator

2005-06-15T13:16:00.000-04:00

Space Elevator - wikipedia

Toronto Storm

2005-06-14T21:41:00.000-04:00

storm in toronto
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

Crazy weather tonight when so very low black clouds rolled through mid-town Toronto. It looks like a black way rolling across the city. I took this shot and some others posted on Flickr. Bogacz eat your heart out.

Lost Balls

2005-06-14T12:34:00.000-04:00

Minor crisis at work today around a book called "Lost Balls".

How appropriate is that!

I think the balls are found at this point and under control.

Cycling is fun

2005-06-13T17:11:00.000-04:00

Michelle and I and another couple went camping this past weekend. We left Friday afternoon and Michelle dropped me and the other guy off in Stratford to complete the remainder of the trip by bike. It amounted to 80km in bad heat with T-storms warning.

Approximately 10km in I began to feel the heat a little...not that I was hot but things didn't quite feel right. That is the danger of cycling in heat is that the wind cools you off but you lose a lot of water without noticing. At this point I began taking my gatorade consumption very serious since I knew it would be a long trip if I didn't hydrate properly. From that point on no real problems from heat.

My buddy was looking a little rough at 20km and I took the pace down a notch. At 40km he blew a flat and we changed it in 10 mintues. At around 70km I felt great and took it up a notch for the last home stretch...was moving at a good clip of 35-39km/h for the last 5 kms. Could have easily did 10km after...any more than that would have been tough.

It total..the ride took just under 3 hours and we averaged 27km/h. I drank 4 bottles of gatorade and 2 power gels.

By the time we arrive Michelle had set up the tent at the site and I had a few beers. The trip itself kinda sucked due to the exteme heat and the bacteria warning at the beach made me hesitant to spend too much time in the water. Came home sunday mid-afternoon craving some air conditioning.

Bachelor Party Summary - Day 2- Saturday

2005-06-09T17:26:00.000-04:00

I woke up feeling pretty good all things considered the night before. Had a little breakfast with Litkey/Martin. Went up to Fykers room and the chest paint was out. I hooked up with the "E" in "Go BLue Jays". See pictures a few posts before.

Headed over to the Jake and it was an amazing stadium. Here are the highlights of the game:

- Non-stop heckling of Jay's announcers PatTabler and Jamie Campbell
- Heckling Coco Crisp
- Long rain delay caused everyone but my Slop, Hedge and Cinny to stick around.
- Tabler mentions us on the sportsnet broadcast as a "boisterous" bunch of Canadians.
- Beers got shut off too early so we suffered through the last couple innings dry.

Jay's lost but it was a great expereince. After leaving the stadium there was a cool bar across the street. Sure enough there is Keefer, Howe and Marty drunk as skunks. The had also made friends with a Stag and Doe party so we drank with these people. Had the shirts off in the bar for pictures etc. Marty was totalled and was spitting on people..he has a problem. Finally went back to the hotel to find everyone else HAD A NAP and quietly watching a movie. From here on in pure chaos:

- I funnelled numerous people using Molson Kick for napping.
- Marty passes out and I poured beer on him.
- Headed to a cool bar with a rooftop pation.
- 3 tequila shots in the first 3 minutes upon arriving.
- Few other bachelorette parties should up and my buddies had my shirt off and were letting girls sign me.
- Ended up completly covered in markers and pen (front and back) and barely remember anything after the tequila's
- Got back to the hotel and I recall a brawl in the elevator and nearly getting injured.

All in all it's a miracle I lasted all night and is a testament to red bull and Molson Kick..you can party all night on that stuff.

Bachelor Party Summary - Night 1 - Friday

2005-06-09T09:53:00.001-04:00

Here is a timeline of the activities:

DAY 1 - Friday
1pm - Meet with the boys at Kipling station to begin the adventure.
3pm - After stopping at duty free and buying 100 cold shots (for 5 guys) we crack the first one in the car in Buffalo. Driver Pat does not drink.
4:30pm - Eat a MacDonalds somewhere in Pennsylvania.
4:35pm - Sloppy shits pants in car
4:45pm - Drive resumes after Sloppy runs into the woods to change his underwear.
6:30pm - Arrive in Cleveland and Jay hands my a huge red bull type drink.
7:00pm - Partying in rooms has commenced and everyone has arrives. Someone brought a stupid wig that I have to wear.

After that time seems to fade away but here are the remaining memories:
- Funnelling 3 different times in the hotel room
- Visiting the strip bar and getting numerous lap dances. I was well behaved.
- Matt Knucklestein
- On stage at the strip bar and getting whipped by my own belt. Also some punched to the back of my head from the three strippers who beat me up on stage.
- Kuhner livid that I didn't get naked on stage.
- Crowd gets split and we end up at a dance club. Brad K is picking up every girl in the place.
- I begin to feel ill and Ryan/Pat and I grab a cab home.
- I pass out in the room and Cinnamon sometime after breaks into my room and jumps on me. I resume sleeping.
- Kuhner is so drunk he pisses on the floor of his room.

Pretty eventful given that was only the prelude to Saturday.

Go Blue Jays

2005-06-08T10:19:00.000-04:00

gobluejays
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

This is a shot of my bachelor party in Cleveland. We were on our way to see the Blue Jays play the Indians and a number of us had painted our chests with Go Blue Jays.

We spent to majority of the game yelling at Jamie Campbell and Pat Table (Jay's announcers) and Coco Crisp. Game had a rain delay but a couple of us stuck around until the end. There was a lot of beer that day.

Cleveland Mis-Spelling

2005-06-08T10:17:00.000-04:00

g__ay_s
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

I got called out to blog a bit more about the stag and upcoming wedding. Here is a picture from Cleveland just prior to the game. Just a drunk mis-spelling.

YMCA 5KM Relay Challenge

2005-06-02T09:29:00.000-04:00

So the first race of the year is in the book. My company submitted a number of teams and I ran on a co-ed team with some co-workers in my department.

Our combined total was 1hh 40min which put us around 25m 12s per runner. Not bad considering the heat was a little much an it's early in the season. I struggled and was not feeling so good...I think I've had a bug this week since I have been really tired every day and a little achy. Overall it was a good time....

Results posted here.

Cardboard Cut-out

2005-05-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

Apparently at Michelle's shower this past weekend, the bridal party took a digital photo of me and blew it up to a life size cardboard cutout.

This cardboard Lance will be making another appearance at Michelle stagette and frequenting several Toronto clubs.

I'm a little concern what will happen although I would like to get my hands on it so I can use it as a stand in at work.

Triathlon Season is Upon Us

2005-05-18T16:16:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling good about the bike and swim. Run still needs some work but I'm close to being ready to. It's snuck up on me this year so I'm not too sure about this Sunday's race but we will see I guess.

Schedule:

Sunday, May 15		Victoria's Duathlon
Sunday, June 5		Milton Tri/Du
Sat/Sun Jun 18/19		Muskoka Tri/Du
Sat/Sun Jun 25/26		Guelph Lake Weekend
Sunday, July 10		Peterborough Tri/Du
Sunday, July 23/24		Niagara Tri/Du
Sat/Sun, Aug 6/7		Belwood Tri/Du
Sun Aug 21		Northern Tri/Du
Sat/Sun, Sept. 3/4		Guelph Lake II Tri/Du
Saturday Sept. 24		Niagara-On-The-Lake Du

Muskoka falls on the same day as Michelle's Bachlorette party..I figure might be a good race to keep me busy. Niagara, Bellword and Northern are all possibilities...we'll see what kind of shape I'm in after the honeymoon.

Bachelor Party

2005-05-17T08:26:00.000-04:00

Back from a weekend in Cleveland and still feeling the pain. It was better than I expected and definitely a trip to remember. I recommend going to Cleveland to watch a baseball or football game and the city is more entertaining than I would have thought.

Labatt Sterling - Worst Beer Ever

2005-05-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

Keeping with the beer theme. Last night Michelle and I hit a patio called the Manor Arms. I was not in the mood to drink but given the nice weather I thought I would try something a little lighter. The waitress informed us they had the low-carb beer "Labatt Sterling" on tap. "I'll try one of those I responded".

The waitress delivered the beer and after a large first gulp I said to Michelle. "That is the worst beer ever".

The lady and gentleman sitting next to us both snapped look at me after my response to the first sip. I found this a little strange until I noticed the women was ordering her second pint of Labatt Sterling. They struck up a conversation and told us that Sterling was his wife's "favorite beer". I felt a little uncomfortable after implying I thought the beer was crap. The wife then proceeded to tell me she lost 10 pounds drinking Sterling and I should give it a chance.

As I drank the remained of the beer I realized that Sterling tastes like club soda with beer flavouring. It was a big mistake ordering it and I told Michelle on the way home it was like ordering and drinking a beer but it wasn't really a beer...it's the beer that never was.

Sleeman's New Beer

2005-05-06T10:57:00.000-04:00

Last night Michelle, Jen a I went out for a 10K run. After the run we decided to stop into the Fox and Fiddle for a beer. Luckily, 2 Sleeman reps were in the bar giving out free beers for their new product "Sleeman Original Draught".

It was good ...and FREE!!

Seemed to have high poundablity and I'll pick up some more this weekend.

Nuke LaLoosh for a Day

2005-05-06T09:27:00.000-04:00

Check out this eBay auction.

I figure I could hold down right field without any problems for an inning. The at bat would be a disaster and I imagine the pitcher would throw not stop curveballs. The kind of curveballs that a normal person would bail out of the batters box for fear of being hit only to see the junk bend right over the middle of the plate. 2 of those would put me down 0-2. Last pitch would be a 90mph fastball that would blow right by me a I swung my purse at it. 3 pitches and out.

Not sure if that's worth $8,000.

Time Travel Convention

2005-05-03T10:39:00.000-04:00

Time travelers to converge in Cambridge

Mark your past and future calendars, "Phantom Toll Booth" devotees. A time traveler convention, being billed as the first, last and only, will reportedly take place at MIT's East Campus Courtyard on Saturday, May 7.

Technically, only one such convention is needed, the press release points out, as time travelers from all eras could meet at a specific place and time, and then make as many repeat visits as they wanted. "Write the details down on a piece of acid-free paper," implores the announcement, "and slip them into obscure books in academic libraries! Carve them into a clay tablet! A note: Time travel is a hard problem, and it may not be invented until long after MIT has faded into oblivion. Thus, we ask that you include the latitude/longitude information when you publicize the convention." We realize this is kind of last-minute notice, so if you're busy next weekend, not to worry. You can always attend in 4678.

2 Months and Counting

2005-05-02T13:02:00.000-04:00

Michelle and I are getting married 2 months from today on July 2nd. The last 4 months have flown by and I can't believe it's nearly here.

Between now and then as have 2 other weddings, a camping trip, my stag weekend , Michelle's stagette, Michelle's shower and the usual Mother's Day/Father's Day activites. What that means is the next 9 weeks are going to fly by at warp speed!

Hard to believe the biggest day or our lives is just around the corner.

Sporting Life 10K

2005-05-01T22:19:00.000-04:00

Sunday May 1st Michelle and I ran the Sporting Life 10K. The race had a huge turn-out and I have never seen a more packed race course.

Michelle beat her personal best time and we both finished in 57 minutes. Check out our times here.

I was happy to run with Michelle and help her to the finish since this was only he 2nd 10K and we had only decided to do that race 3 days prior to the event. It made for an excellent Sunday and the weather cooperated nicely.

Looking forward to a triathon in June although I have not decided which one as of yet.

Martian Traps and Stacked

2005-04-29T16:53:00.000-04:00

Mars rover is stuck in a dune on Mars. I figured the Martian's would get annoyed by it's little battery powered motors whizzing around their mall parking lots.

I put a link in the right to Pamela Anderson's blog called Stacked. I actually watched that show once and found Christopher Lloyd very amusing.

If only I could find Tommy Lee's blog.

Episode 3

2005-04-28T15:31:00.000-04:00

I just read some spoilers on the next Star Wars flick - Revenge of the Sith. I read them since I'm sick of being dissapointed by Episode 1 and 2 and this film sounds amazing.

I won't spoil it but it sounds very dark and has several cool ties in to Episode 4. Hard to believe those movies are finally coming to an end after like 28 years.

2005 New Orleans Saints Draft Picks

2005-04-26T09:05:00.000-04:00

Here they are..ready for hazing:

First Round - OT Jammal Brown, Oklahoma
Best run blocker in the draft. Can't go wrong with this pick.

Second Round - S Josh Bullocks, Nebraska
Not the guy the wanted but good ball hawk, fast. Should be a good replacement for Bellamy.

Third Round - LB Alfred Fincher, Connecticut
High motor guy. Went to run stairs after being drafted. Can't have enough good work ethic players.

Fourth Round - WR Chase Lyman, California
Strange pick. Could be a good 3rd receiver when Horn retired.

Fifth Round - QB Adrian McPherson, Florida State
THE FUTURE. Major risk. Could be better than Michael Vick if he stays out of trouble. Best athlete in the draft.

Sixth Round - DT Jason Jefferson, Wisconsin
Good character player. Could server a backup role. Comes from a good program.

Seventh Round - DL Jimmy Verdon, Arizona State
7th rounder..whatever.

Blue Jays

2005-04-25T15:32:00.000-04:00

Michelle, update the wedding registry. I found something I would like:

Blue Jays Mascot Costume

Can't believe Amazon sells these. This would be great for the game in Cleveland.

Weekend Wrap-up

2005-04-25T13:48:00.000-04:00

Another Friday, another AOL going away party, another hang-over.

Saturday watched the draft and headed over to a friends place for dinner. Was introduced to the band Keane, had heard of them but never really listened. Liked it alot and highly recommended.

Finished off season 1 of "24" on Sunday and I predicted Nina was bad. Palmers wife is a total bitch.

Back to back Contender episodes which may have taken over as my fav reality show.

Hope to watch less television from now on.

Google Ad Sense

2005-04-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

You see those ads on the right of my blog. Those are Google Sponsorder links...so far I have made 27 cents.

Two words: Supplemental Income

NFL Draft

2005-04-22T14:31:00.000-04:00

15 minutes ....1st pick
15 minutes.....2nd pick

2 days later...last pick

I f*ing love the NFL draft. Saints suprise me every year although I suspect a rather boring draft with them taking a CB in the first round. Maybe a QB in the later rounds.

First Sign of Summer?

2005-04-22T08:53:00.000-04:00

Last night, as I rode my bike through an unusually rough area of East York, an area where I felt I could get bike-jacked at any moment. There they were....

Carnies!

SWAT Monkey!

2005-04-20T10:48:00.000-04:00

Reuters:

Send in the SWAT monkey.

It's not an order police commanders are accustomed to giving, but that could change if an Arizona police department follows through on a proposal to train a capuchin monkey for high-risk police operations.

A Special Weapons and Tactics veteran from Mesa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, has researched the possibility of landing a $100,000 federal grant to fund a pilot program to train one monkey.

Later on in the article a funny quote:
"I've always heard you can train a monkey to do anything," said Steve Smith, a board member of the National Tactical Officers Association when reached at a convention in Nashville. "Does this mean he's going to have on little black fatigues?"

Run Philosophy

2005-04-19T21:58:00.000-04:00

It's now around noon on a hot summer day and you have spent the last 2-4 hours riding a bike and swimming. Funny the irony in triathlon that they would leave the most difficult event until the hottest part of the day. Here are the things I focus on in training:

Bricks - Not sure where the name originated but this is the concept of practicing the bike-run transition. This technique will allow you to train your legs muscle for the switch over. Personally I prefer short interation of bricks.
For example: 10 bike;10 run;10 bike;10 run
These work well when training indoors in the winter.

Occassionally I'll mix in a longer set for endurance. 1hour ride, 30 min run.

I find these help with the most difficult part of a race which personally is the 1st mile of the run.

Hills and Speed - Running long weekend sets is important although I like to mix in at least one power set a week of hills or speed. It's mentally very challenging to be working these high intensity sets although I find if really helps endurance in the 2nd half of the race when people start bonking on the smallest of hills.

Hills - 6-10 reps of a 400 M hill. Slow jog down the hill. Try to maintain contact pace on the way up through each set.
Speed - 6-10 reps of 400M. Slow jog between each set for 30sec - 1min.

Now that the weather had improved I'll periodically update my training progress.

Viagra ruled kosher for Passover

2005-04-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

From Missing Links blog:

Looks like those who adhere to Passover laws forbidding the consumption of leaven can make an exception when it comes to one type of rising agent--Viagra.

According to Wednesday's Jerusalem Post (free registration required), rabbis have found a way to work around the fact that the pills' coating contains leaven, which is to be avoided during Passover to commemorate the story that Jews escaping slavery in ancient Egypt were too hurried to let their bread rise.

The Jerusalem Post points out that drugs taken for life-threatening conditions, even if they contain yeast, baking powder or other "hametz," can--and must--be taken during Passover. Since erectile dysfunction can hardly be considered life-threatening, few rabbis approved Viagra's use during the upcoming festival of freedom, which begins on April 23.

But after receiving queries from religious men and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals-Israel about whether Viagra can be taken during the holiday, prominent rabbi Mordechai Eliahu ruled that men can take the drug if they purchase special empty capsules made from kosher gelatin before the holiday, then insert the blue pill into the capsule and swallow.

Gold!

2005-04-15T09:19:00.000-04:00

My amusing fact tells me there is lots of gold in the ocean. Why? Is it from pirate ships?

I doubt it...if only Aquaman was an evil doer he would have all the gold and be king of the ocean and land! Unless the Sub-Mariner had something to say about it.

I heard a conspiracy theory that Aquaman and the Sub-Mariner are gay. I think that's why Aquaman grew a beaad. The Sub-Mariner may just be metro-sexual.

WTF?

2005-04-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

Toronto Blue Jays are 6-2. They have won all three of there series this years (Tampa, Boston, Oakland) and their pitching is looking good. Alex Rios is going to be a superstar.

Seriosuly....that is f-ing great.

Cycling Training Philosophy

2005-04-11T22:46:00.000-04:00

Riding a bike in not hard. Riding a bike fast for a period of time and them attempting to run is very hard. I've learned in my various races that the bike can win you a race alone. I saw a ex-pro Mountain Biker turned triathlete win Lake Placid Ironman even though he had never run a full marathon. He had established such an enormous lead and had enough energy to get through the run and that was all he needed.

On a 57km ride in the 2004 K-Town tri I averaged an even 32km/h. Not bad although the leaders get up around 36-38km/h. I picked up a Cervelo P2K for this season which is custom fit. I'm hoping to average 33-34km/h in some sprint races this year.

A couple things I attempt when training:

Ride with Intensity - Many cyclists like to go out for 150km casual ride. That is far, don't get me wrong, but that sort of ride doesn't do much good during a 40km sprint. I try to ride shorter distance with intensity and mix in the occassional long ride when I have time.

Bike Setup - Make sure your bike is fit to you. A good aero position in a tri geometry bike will utilize more hamstring muscle and save you during the run. This is not expensive to do at a good cycling shop...it will also solve any mental crises that your stem is too high. :-)

Run Philosophy later this week.

Winter to Summer

2005-04-11T09:03:00.000-04:00

Sunday's weather in Toronto was unreal for early April. Excellent day!

Blue Jays are kicking some tail and took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox. I was at the Friday and Saturday game and both were two of the best ball games I have seen live. Variteck hit the 5th deck, Jays hit back to back to back jacks, Zaun hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th. Phew.

Slash rocked Oh Canada.

Revenge of the Sith - Nerds Unite!

2005-04-06T08:20:00.000-04:00

From Slash Dot:

More than a month before the premiere of Revenge of the Sith, fans are already lining up. Outside Grauman's Chinese Theater, eleven diehard Star Wars fans (i.e. lifelong virgins) are waiting for tickets to go on sale. Unfortunately, it appears that the guys with girlfriends will have the last laugh as the Chinese Theater isn't even premiering the film.

Training Philosophy - Swim

2005-04-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

I've complete 8 triathlons in the last 3 season. Distance vary from sprint (750M, 20Km, 5K) to long (2000M, 57KM, 15K). I'm considering half-ironman in the next couple of years and maybe even a full ironman someday. I'm not a pro and try to find time to train in between work and regular life. Here's my philosophy on the swim:

Note: I went from a 19:48 swim in my first 750M race to a 38:00 2000M swim in my last race.

Swimming -
1) Get coaching - Most public pools have Masters programs that can be joined for as little as $5 per session. This will help you identify your stroke problems and work on correcting them. Swimming is not power or endurance...it's technique. Reach, bi-lateral breathing, etc.

2) Volume - Now that you know what's wrong you can work on fixing it. Problem is that if your endurance is sub-par, technique get's dropped. Building endurance will allow you to focus on technique and fixing problems. I recommend 2 swim sessions a week with anywhere from 2500M to 5000M in volume. (I was doing 5000M/week for approximately 6 weeks and I saw the greatest improvement...the more the better)

Next time - Bike Philosophy

Not Fair

2005-04-03T21:23:00.000-04:00

So I get an awesome new bike and mother nature refused to cooperate. This has better be it for the snow.

I was stoked for a ride this weekend but there was no way with 50km/h winds, snow, rain,!!

At least we get the extra hour at night now so I should be able to get some after work rides in.

The Contender

2005-04-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

I was very skeptical about this show given Sly Stallone's involvement and it has taken a few episodes to warm up to it. Although I am still annoyed by the bizarre editing during the actual boxing I find the show pretty emotional.

The unique thing about this reality show is the contestants have one common trait. They are poor. And many of them have families that they are attempting to support being a no-name boxer. If they lose duiring the show the loss is officially put on there record..so not only do then not win, they end up worse off than when they started.

When a fighters loses and is eliminated I feel quite bad for them since this truely is there only shot in life. You can really see this in the emotion from them.

Not a bad show but Eco-Challege is still Burnett's greatest creation.

Cheaters/

2005-04-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

If you think basbeball players are cheaters look at this:

Ms. Wheelchair stripped of title for standing up

Reminds me of George Costanza pretending to be handicapped..classic.

Amusing Facts

2005-03-31T10:23:00.000-05:00

I have added a feed from amusingfacts.com which will provide even more reason to visit 3stepz.

Enjoy the new addtion in the right hand navigation and feel free to amuse yourself with facts daily.

Great Couple Sporting Moments

2005-03-30T08:53:00.000-05:00

It was January 2003.
On a cold Sunday the AOL Flag football team was engaged in a physical contest against some social league team with a witty name like “The Go Nad's”.

With less than a minute to play the AOLers were down and looking to tie up the contest. Lance takes the snap deep in his own end and drops back for the pass. He looks to his primary receiver who is covered. Down field he sees Michelle “shake and bake” a defender and begins striding towards the end zone…without hesitation he throws a Hail Mary pass. Michelle leaps into the air and above two defenders catches the pass! She lands both feet in the end zone for a touchdown.

The AOLers go crazy but the team was still down by 1 point and we lost.
We had some good laughs about that on the car ride home. I’m not sure why I thought of this on the subway today.

Great QB –WR duos:
Young–Rice
Culpepper – Moss
Manning-Harrison
Martel–Stephens

Cervelo P2K Frameset 2004

2005-03-21T09:35:00.000-05:00

Cervelo P2K Frameset 2004
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

Cervelo P2K

2005-03-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

After a long and hard search for a new bike I finally decided on the Cervelo P2K. Michelle and I went to Enduro Sport on the weekend and I put a deposit down. Next Saturday I am going to get the bike custom fitted and I'll be taking it home.

It's actually the bike I wanted initially but it was out of my price range. After researching significantly I up my price range slightly and then discovered that the 2004 P2K was on sale and I got an additional discount from visiting the bike show. Turn out to be a great deal for what is considered likely the best mid-range tri bike out there. I'll post a picture.

13 Things That Don't Make Sense

2005-03-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Cool article: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense

Check out the Homeopathy and Cold Fusion items. I had a Naturopath explain Homeopathy to me but I have never tried it. Anyone have success with this?

Anyone manage to produce Cold Fusion reaction in their bathtub?

St. Paddy's

2005-03-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not Irish although I know a guy named Patrick.

I'll have some Guinness to celebrate on behalf of them tonight.

The big green leprechaun hat is dusted off and ready to go!

I like this holiday...no gifts, no church, no phone calls...just hard beer drinking.

March Madness

2005-03-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

It is Madness!

Why suddenly does everyone care about a college basketball tournament? Why do I care about this? I don’t like college basketball for the other 50 weeks for the year. I don’t care if Gonzaga beats Winthrop?

I have a bracket printed off.....
and money.....
and pools.....
and the insanity of all this!!!!

It's the crack cocaine of sports I tell you.

In other news: Cops Shoot Unruly Fan in Groin

Mini Me

2005-03-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

Mont Tremblant Jan 05 019
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

Ever wonder what you would look like if you shrunk yourselve to approximately one quarter of your normal size and decided to sit in a Muskoka chair?

Roll Up the Rim...to Win?

2005-03-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

Has anyone noticed that Tim Horton's annual "Roll Up the Rim To Win" promotion seems to be lacking the "Win" portion of the promo.

I recall when this first launched I guess 10 years ago now..I would win something on every 2nd or 3rd coffee. Each year my winning has gotten progressively worse. Finally this year Michelle and I are a combined 0 for 12 during the first 10 days of the promotion. Not even one cookie!! I'm getting bitter and every time I lose and let out a sarcastic remark as I toss the cup in the trash.

I have a theory that is based on the fact that I seem to win more often when I'm in small towns (like Kingston). I wonder if Tim Hortons considers those a stronger growth market than downtown Toronto and therefore send more winning cups to those destinations. Seems to make sense? Either that or Dave Thomas and the Wendy's corporate machine is taking it to us loyal coffee drinkers.

Anyone else notice this?

Lance out.

Euro or Gyro?

2005-03-08T09:15:00.000-05:00

Do you think Greeks often confuse these two terms? Michelle and I had a mix up when asking her if she ate Gyro while on her last trip to Greece. I was inquirying since our honeymoon will be in Greece in July. Michelle responding by saying the Euro was adopted by Greece a couple of years ago. Kind of a funny moment when I looked at here stunned.

I suppose the only people who mix these up are Canadians who bastardize the word Gyro anyway.

Wild Animal - Beware

2005-03-04T09:31:00.000-05:00

Roscoe as a pup
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

Introducing Roscoe...He's a 1.5 years old miniature schnauzer.

Chimps Attack!!

2005-03-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

I thought chimps were fun and smart and could hang out with you like Tarzan did. Apparently not. Chimps critically injure sanctuary visitor

I found this excerpt entertaining in that the people would bring their chimp a cake on it's birthday. As a dog owner, we also get Roscoe something for his birthday...not a cake though.

"The couple had brought Moe a cake and were standing outside his cage when Buddy and Ollie, two of four chimpanzees in the adjoining cage, attacked St. James Davis, Martarano said. Officials have not determined how the chimps got out of their enclosure, he said."

Buddy and Ollie sound cute but the story then proceeds to detail how they severed his foot and testicles!! That is more gruesome than any horror movie I have seen and I guess we should remeber that any wild animal should be treated with caution..even Roscoe?

Kinda spooky that we evolved from chimps and they are that violent..no suprise I guess especially considering they are American chimps.

On a lighter note...big night for Michelle and I and we are hitting a Mid-town restaurant called Grazie. Should be an excellent dinner and the atmosphere at that place is fantastic.

Lance out.

Random

2005-03-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

Lost and Alias are great shows. That tells you about my Wednesday night.

Michelle's b-day is up this weekend. We have dinner plans Fri, Sat, Sun so should be a good time. Tonight we are hooking up with some of the AOL crowd at Scallywags.

Lance out.

National Fat League?

2005-03-02T12:45:00.000-05:00

Another complete waste of time study.

So NFL players are fat...duh. Here's the photo evidence.

Personally I an not a fan of BMI calculation and think it's seriosuly flawed. Let's look at Ricky Williams who was 5'10 and weighed 225 pounds during his pre-pot smoking days. His BMI was 32.3 which is considered obese. During those times., Ricky Williams could run a 4.5 40 yard dash and had approximately 7% body fat. Hmmm...doesn't sound too obese? The problem with BMI is it doesn't factor an individuals muscle mass.

So why would anyone spend research dollars conducting a study using BMI with known flaws to a group who spend more time lifting weight and building muscle than anyone else. Yes there are some overweight NFL players, but don't over-exaggerate the results of your study and apply a flawed formula to legitimate great athletes who are not overweight!

Joyce Harp and student Lindsay Hecht please leave my friend Grady Jackson alone..he's just trying to earn some bling to hit the Sonic drive-thru in his Escalade.

Painting

2005-02-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

So we painted this weekend and here are the unofficial results:
Number of Rooms - 2
Time Completed - 2:00pm Saturday
Number of Arguments with Michelle - 0
Colour of Walls - Blue Fox

It looked quite good in the end and I think we might have potential for another career.

We hooked up with some friends Saturday for impromptu drinking and I ended up losing to some rookies in texas hold'em and toppling the jenga tower. I then proceeded to throw back a few pints at the Bow and Arrow. Woke up with a nice headache and then mouthed off a guy in Tim Hortons (that seems to be happening a lot lately) who was complaining because I got my bagel first when in reality I had ordered first.

Day got better as Michelle and I managed to get a 30 minute run and some weights in. Michelle's birthday is this weekend coming up...

Lance out.

Missile Defense Shield

2005-02-25T15:01:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to say Canada is out of this ridiculous project.

I particularily like the quote at the bottom of the article from the US Ambassador:
"We don't get it. We think Canada would want to be in the room deciding what to do about an incoming missile that might be heading toward Canada."

I'm perplexd that the ambassador to Canada would not realize that no one wants to shoot a missle at Canada...and hence there will never be a case where we need to be "in a room" deciding what to do about it.

To America..please send a new Ambassador.

The Other Motley Crue at the Loose Moose

2005-02-25T14:06:00.000-05:00

The Other Motley Crue at the Loose Moose
Originally uploaded by lancemartel.

Nice pic of the group before the Motley Crue show...excellent night.

Altercations with Women.

2005-02-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

This morning I took my usual subway ride to work from mid-town Toronto to downtown. The subway was quite busy and I was up against the exit door. As each stop approached I would look for anyone trying to exit and enure I stepped out of the way. At one particualr stop however I noticed several people attempting to exit as we neared the station...I prepared to step out of the clear the way but before the doors were fully opened a very rude lady began shoving me and attempting to squeeze between me and the half opened door. This was so annoying that someone can't even wait 1-2seconds for the door to fully open so I can step out.

If that lady happens to read this all I can say is I feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with you on a daily basis because you seemed like a total b*tch.

This reminds me of another near altercation when a women at the grocery story rammed her cart into the back of Michelle's legs. When we trurned around the lady was pissed off at us for some reason. Words were exchanged and the woman never actually apologized. She seems like a rich middle aged women who had everything given to her and drive around in 700 series BMW but thinks the world owes her a favour.

Don't think I'm a a misogynist..because I'm definitely not...I think the world would be a much better place if women were in charge. Just some crazy people who think everyone owes them a favour...they need to wake up.

Motley Crue - Toronto Feb 23rd

2005-02-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

Last night myself and approx 15 other friends attended the Motley Crue concert at the ACC. All I can say is they don't make'em like they used to. Here's a recap:

The show starts off with some strange looking circus characters coming out of a box in the middle of the stage. Behind the translucent curtain a line of fire start and as the curtain went up the Crue launched into "Shout at the Devil". At this point they let off more pyro than I have ever seen at a concert and it was almost unwatchable due to the brightness of the fire. The Crue played a bunch of older stuff and some rare oldies as well such as "Red Hot" after Nikki Sixx told the crowd they we not going to be like other bands and play all the same shit. They also played Live Wire, Looks that Kill, 10 Seconds to Love, Louder Than Hell, Too Fast for Love.

After approximately 10 songs there was a short intermission. The ACC was jammed with all sorts of characters...Crue look alikes, business people..etc. I returned to my seat just as the 2nd half kicked off. They launched into some newer stuff in this half including Wild Side, Girls (x3)Dr. Feelgood, Sick Love Song, Kickstart My Heart. There was a short package of ballads including Home Sweet Home, Glitter, Without You, Don't Go Away Mad. Tommy had an excellent drum solo which them turned very weird when he was pulled to the roof of the arena and played some techno stuff on two suspended drums sets. He was flying between drum sets attached to a wire. Seemed like a cool concept but the techno drumming wasn't really going over with the crowd. Later in the show Tommy also broke out the "Titty Cam" and was filming girls flashing..too many overweight women showing their breasts here.

Show ended off with a 3 song encore includig Helter Skelter, White Punks on Dope and Anarchy in the UK. During the encore we tried to get closer to the stage and managed to sneak by a couple of guards but when we finally got closer the show was ending.

Overall it was a great time and a good opportunity to hook up with my buddies which we rarely do anymore. The Crue are amazing although the show I saw a few years ago at Massey Hall was much better since it was a smaller venue at we were right at the stage.

Michelle and I are painting the bathrooms this weekend so I should have some good stories about that adventure.

Commentary on Folksonomy

2005-02-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

So I signed up for the following sites today:
43things.com
vimeo.com
flickr.com

Each of these site rely on tagging of content by individuals to build a relevant taxonomy of data. This is extremely beneficial since as a former AOL employee I was challenged by the question as to how to apply a meta data taxonomy to the vast media library of Time Warner. It's a simple solution...let the netizens do it. It will be more relevant that any algorithm or existing taxonomy.

Problems
- Will this work globally. I don't want links about Man United if I'm searching for football tags...I want NFL.
- Tag spamming...this could be quite ugly an there needs to be measures to prevent this.
- Adoption....will the average person want to proactively use these features? Certainly not manhy people I know.

We'll see how this one goes over the next couple of years although I suspect it will end up being used by a very niche market.

Lance out.

PS. Crue at 8pm today! Yeow.

Rock and Roll Circus

2005-02-22T14:39:00.000-05:00

Drinking KickOff in 27 hours!!

Circus Begins in 29 hours!!

Toronto Weather - Feb 22

2005-02-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

I promise this is the only post ever about the weather.

It snowed Sunday night with about 10cm of accumulation. The first half of February was beautfiul and was actually starting to feel like spring. Now, the whole city is a total mess, slush everywhere, my dog gets covered in snow when we go for a walk, salt stains all over my pants. I am sick of winter...if we didn't get that dose of spring I might be ok. I'm going to try and enjoy a little more snowboarding but I want to take the bike out soon. I can't wait much longer.

1 more day until Motley Crue at the ACC! YEOW.

Lance out.

Texas Hold 'Em

2005-02-17T17:21:00.000-05:00

Super Bowl Sunday I went to a friends house to watch the game. Prior to kickoff he suggested that the 4 of us play Texas Hold 'em poker. I had watched this on TV before and found it quite simple and also intriguing. We proceeded to play for approx 1 hour and it started to run a little boring...once I blew all my money I proceeded to watch the game.

This past weekend at a friend's Jack & Jill party another game a Texes Hold'em broke out. THis time I also lost all my money but did enjoy myself while having a few drinks and observing a drunk girl pulling chips from her clevage.

Now, I'm finding myself craving Texas Hold'em...I even sent a email to friends about playing this weekend. Is Texas Hold'em that addictive? Is it saving Canadian males from sheer boredom after the hockey season was cancelled? Please explain this to me?

I'll leave you with three words..........

"I'm all in!!!"

Mom's Background

2005-02-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

Hello,
This past weekend Michelle and I visited Kingston to celebrate my Mom's brithday. Kingston is approximatley a 2.5 hour drive from Toronto and is located at the point where the Great Lakes feed into the St. Lawrence river.

On the ride down Michelle suggested we should ask my parents for some old wedding photos of themselves and if possible my grandparents (both sets are still alive). I was a little skeptical since my parents had moved around quite a bit and did not seem to keep a good inventory of nostalia. To my suprise, my Mom had recently vistied her parents and scanned a number of old photos and had copies along with an old album. Amazingly there were photos of my grandfather as a young man in the 40's but also even older photos of his grandmother. That would be my great-great grandmother...she was born in the 1840's and there was actually a picture of her that looks to be taken sometime in the 1890's based on her age in the photo. This was absolutely unbelievable to me and we have borrowed the ablum to make some scans.

Most facinating however was in the album was my mother's childhood photos. Everything from her as a baby up until her wedding to my father. I had never seen any photos of my mother older than her wedding pictures and this was amazing to me to see her as a young girl. The album even included old report cards from grade school. I realized when looking through those photos that I had never even really asked or wondered about my Mom's life before meeting my father. I'm not sure if that was ignorance or selfishness on my part...although I am certainly happy to have seen them know and will ensure this history is kept closer to me.

Lance out.

I'm getting Married

2005-02-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

So another important thing to mention is that on July 2nd, 2005 I'll be tying the knot. My wife-to-be is named Michelle and is obviously a very important part of my life. I'm really lucky to have met her and it's amazing she puts up with me...in fact she even likes "The Darkness" due to the constant loud playing on the CD in the car.

The wedding planning has been going quite well and aside from a few minor things the entire event is planned. Should be a great time and I'l really looking forward to it. We are spending 2 weeks in Greece for our honeymoon which I actually booked earlier this week. That whole process was painful to sort out hotels and everyone has an opinion on Greece.

ie. "Athens is dirty" , "Mykonos is a party island", "You need to stay at Hotel x".

Eventually we went with a package that seemed to meet out needs and does a bit of island hopping but also good relaxation time. I'll provide complete coverage of the trip (parts anyway) in July 05.

Lance out.

Canada

2005-02-09T20:05:00.000-05:00

Quick pet peeve observation. Why is it when creating an address or profile on the web (including on Blogger) and selecting "Country" does the United States get defaulted but to select Canada I type:

"c" - Cambodia
"c" - Cameroon
"c" - Canada

Seriously...3 key stokes...(I know it's alpha ordered) how many people in those 3rd world countries are online? Please re-prioritize Canada.

Signed
Canadians.

Opening Ceremonies

2005-02-09T17:42:00.000-05:00

Hello,
Welcome to my new blog. It's been a while since I last told the world about my ongoings....I am a former AOL employee who used to use the AOL Journals service but now have upgraded to Blogger. I'll post my last blog entry that should tell you a bit about on portion of my life and will continue to document my mis-adventures in Toronto. Enjoy. BTW...I quite enjoyed my writing style in this entry but don't expect that level of detail all the time.

Aug 2004

Subject: K-Town Tri 2004Time: 4:59:35 PM EDTAuthor: martellm Mood: Happy
So K-Town 2004 is done with and I'm back at work with some very sore legs. It was an interesting month leading up to this race and I found myself both excited and nervous to compete in the longest event of my life. Preparing for this race was very difficult to fit into our already very busy schedule but I felt very prepared heading in to the weekend.
We spent Sat at Elissa's place and enjoyed a nice BBQ that evening. I couldn't eat any corn although due to how it would digest :-) After dinner I wasn't much fun to be around due to the anticipation of the next morning and mostly kept to myself. Went to bed around 10:30pm and slept pretty well.
Race Morning
Woke up at 5:30 AM and ate my usual oatmeal breakfast. I headed down to the race site alone and began to prepare my transistion area. I ran into Bill (who I swim with in Toronto) and it's was good break from the nerves to chat with a buddy. As race time approach I put my wet suit on and saw Mom and Michelle arrive. It was nice to see them both and they gave me words of encouragement..I felt confident that everythings would go fine.
The Swim
I started the 2KM very slow trying to avoid traffic and get into a rhythm. The weather was perfect and I felt great around 500M. I planned to take a break at the half way point but to my surprise I was very energetic and feeling like speeding up. The second half of the swim was a blur and I came out of the water in approx 38 mintues....an unbelievable time for me. I knew I had a long way to go but the nervousness had left me and the race was going smoothly.
T1
I took my time at T1 and actually had a short chat with some other competitors. Relatively fast but not a blazing transition. Probably 2 mintues total..crosses the timer at 40:46.
Bike
Took it easy at the start of the bike even though I felt like pounding the pedals but knew 56KM was a long way. I noticed there would be a head wind on the way back so decided to conserve some energy. By the halfway point I was starting to feel some fatigue but still held a good pace. At about 40K we merged with the short course, I blew by a bunch of the short coursers and felt really good. Unfortunately, in doing this I was also usinga lot of energy. Finished the bike at 1:45 and averaged 32.0km/h....exactly my goal.
T2
When getting off the bike the race was already 2h:30min old and I could feel the stiffness in my leg. I again took it easy in this transition and almost fell over putting my socks on. I estimate about 2 minutes for this transistion.
Run
Heading out for a 15KM run was mentally very tough and now is when the emotional and physical pain really started to hit me. The first kilometer I just couldn't get going..no energy at all. It was also very discouraging seeing the short course athletes finishing when I still had 1 hour or more left. After leaving the short course my attitude improved knowing it would be a lot quieter and those other racers were likely having as much pain as me. The first 5km was about on pace of 5:30/KM ..roughly 27:30. I began think that at that pace I could substantially beat my 4 hour goal...little did I know just how difficult it would get. By the turn around I felt ok and had a chat with a nice guy but the sun was hot and I have having lots of difficulty cooling down. Around 10k we hit some short step hills, I decided to walk them and conserve energy..to my dismay even walking them was extremely painful. By 12k I was a wreck..the legs were barely turning over but I was still ahead of my 4 hour goal. The hill in front of Kingston Pen was definitely the low point as I struggled up it knowing that I was almost there. Those last 3k's must have taken me almost 20 minutes but as I ran towards the finish I saw Dad and Emma...they gave me some motivation and Dad shook my hand...moments later Michelle, Mom and Elissa were yelling at the top of their lungs...I recall wanting to smile but not sure if I was actually able to move those muscles..Michelle yelled encouragement to beat 4 hours and I looked at the clock 3h:58min.
I crossed the finish line at 3:59.02. I didn't stop at any point of the race and proudly wore the medal aroumd my neck.
After the Race
Strange feeling after finishing that race...not sad, not happy but another emotion..I suppose it was relief. I guess any strong emotion can bring about a strange reaction ...when I saw Michelle I almost broke down..she sensed it and consoled me. Strange to feel such a way after such a great accomplishment but I guess that's what happens when you do something you never thought you could do and experience a lot of agony while doing it. The entire family was very supportive as I told them the story of my race. Shortly after Mom and Dad went home as did Elissa and Tyler ..they had been outside for 4 hours so I understand they wanted to leave. I was in no mood to party so Michelle and I quietly packed up and headed back to Elissa's. That time was very somber...I reminded myself of the accomplishment but relief was still the prevailing emotion.
Today is 2 days later and although very proud of myself I don't feel the need for another race of that distance. I'm going to take triathlon less seriously and still compete for fun in shorter distances..it's a great hobby.