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The enchanted island

Sometimes you have to just trust life and let it guide you wherever it wants to take you. I had not had that thought in a while when I woke up on Friday morning.
With only easy training planned for the week-end (actually for all of last week), I just felt like... having an adventure. I just felt like taking my back pack (okay...and also the Blue and my sweet Avia kicks) and leave. Soon enough, I was on a ferry on the way to the enchanted Island of Salt Springs.

I believe life has a way of guiding us if we keep an open eye. I believe there are often signs to guide us on our path. To me, the enchanted adventure started with sign one: As I sat in my car feeling heavy with a smile that was slightly upside down, I noticed a funny man, starting a 40 minute tanning session on the roof of his car. Freedom, there it was, I was going to join the party for sure and one thing was going to be my mission on this trip, relax and find myself again. I gave the door of the car a big swing and headed ON DECK where I could breathe for real and stare at the horizon line! I noticed there were a few people walking around just looking onto the ocean like I was and enjoying a beautiful day. I finally took a deep breath. I started noticing all the mysterious people that really got my imagination going...one girl was sitting on a .... a -ship stem-?...let's call it a ship totem. Anyways, she was meditating with her legs all tangled together like a pretzel. I wondered why it was that I hadn't taken yoga! No one was taking in more oxygen from that sweet ocean breeze than she was, loved it.
As i moved to the front of the ship, I noticed three men dressed in a very particular way (Now I don't want to call them hippies! But it is the best word I find to reflect their fashion statement to you, it is hard to explain, bright colours, natural looking clothes, specially considering one of them was dressed in bouda clothes but also had huge ear phones on.)
Ah! It was going to be so refreshing on the Island! I just knew it.
Well, let's try to ignore that the first person that I heard when I got off the ship (sorry...I mean the ferry) was a person from Quebec...I love the people from my province but this was not a very exotic start. Oh well.
Then, the cell phone connection went dead for a bit.
I was now alone, on an Island I did not really know much about except I found the people that traveled to it quite original and entertaining. There was something quite delicious about that feeling.
There seemed to be one road to follow....and so I followed it...up and over, over and around! Just driving was pretty cool so far. I saw so many little chapels on the road, signs of different artists exposing, vineyards, farms and then started thinking I should find a place to stay so I drove until I found an indication for an info center....14k away. That is how I made it to Ganges ,the main town on Salt Spring Island, and soon enough, found a place to stay and FOOOD. Very important.

Well...it is too bad the picture came out this way. I actualy wanted to show you a reunion of little wood and metal giants. The biggest piece of art I saw on the island. You can barely see them on this picture... :(

Then I realized there was just one thing I wanted to do: Get on my bike and explore the north- west side of the island.
It is at 5 minutes into the ride, that I saw sign two: That sign was much more obvious. See?

...and my mind went on and on with miracle ideas. On the way back, I also noticed that on the other side, this sign said: Too Blessed 2 Be stressed. I liked that alot.

The legs kept on turning calmly over the hills, I was taking it easy and just happy to feel alive, suspended in time with my heart pumping and the most perfect scenery flowing before my eyes.
It turns out salt spring Island has ALOT of steep hill so my easy ride challenged me more than I thought and I think that was a good thing, I needed to feel alive.

Encounter with a deer...if you look REALLY closely, you just MIGHT see him.

Cute little coffee shop.

And right beside it, the weirdest tree I had ever seen. I'm telling you...that Island has something special...

Later that day, I sat down for dinner with more time to think and had a feast and of course, with a delicious glass of red wine and sumptuous dessert. Okay...I was spoiling myself. But that was exactly what I needed to do.
When i woke up on sunday, I felt like discovering the mystery, the people, the Island's secret life. Visiting the artists, going into the little farms and just finding out a little more of what the island was about. But to my dismay, everything was closed. And no....I hadn't thought of that...

I found a coffee shop and enjoyed one of my favourite things (well COFFEE of course). From talking to the people at the coffee shop, I found out that to Salts Springs artists, my name sounded African! HA! I liked it. I guess I didn't mind everything being closed after all, that was not the purpose of my trip, the purpose of my trip was just to be alone, relax, think and get inspired. I decided to tour the north-east part of the island instead. I followed a beautiful road that wen t along the coast.

(uh...what's the english word for this???)

Felt like swimming to that other Island...

The horizontal tree

My secret beach

At one point I just felt like running, so I stopped the car and went. I had fun as I didn't know where I was going and turned whenever a street seemed like it held an adventure. I don't know how long I ran, but I ran until I felt I didn't want to run anymore. No watch on that one. That was against the rules of the island.

A discovery on the run course:

human??

WHew...maybe not!

By the time I drove back to the ferry, it was time to head home.

So I waved goodbye to the funny Lamas...

I still had half an hour so I made my way into another coffee-lunch place that was so cool! I wish I had taken a picture. The music and the decor made you feel like the second hand hippy smoke might just be powerful enough to finally have gotten to you.

Something on that Island had surely gotten to me, I thought, as we cruised back home, and I was sure to come back one day and discover more of the mystery of the enchanted Island.

I am now refreshed and ready to go. Less that FOUR WEEKS TO GO BEFORE THE FUNNEST RACE OF THE YEAR !!!

An adventure to kick off round two!!

Hi everyone!

I have been away from the mouse-pad-on-the-beach (my place in Victoria) for a little while, resourcing myself!!

After the first series of races, I went home to St-Sauveur and took a deep breath. As usual, this was great for me. In the last month, so many fun, inspiring things happened that will keep me going so strong until Clearwater. I am now back in Victoria, happy to be waking up to a sunrise on the ocean and driving all energy into big training days. I AM READY.

So I kicked the mid-season off with a week of recovery at mom's. THANK YOU MOM. I was craving some down time and a little less training. The timing was perfect as Lance had planned a mid-season break. Back home in St-Sauveur, I was mama's little girl again, I spent time with family, gave myself a chance and accepted that I needed to get my mind off my sweet obsession just for a while. Luckely for me, mom is a great cook and won't let me use the kitchen. She also happens to be alot of fun! SHAME on ME! I was such a spoiled baby back there AND apparently, it just made mom smile that I was. She even was present at a few trainings to cheer me on.
I also got to spend time with the weiner crew, which was nice. I find the hug-a-weiner-dog therapy is definitely underated.

On my week off, François St-Onge (Equilibrum sponsor, lives 20 minutes from St-Sauveur), invited me over for another easy ride. This time I thought....François was coming off an outstanding performance at Lake placid IM (so proud of him!) and so, I figured, he would probably not inflict the usual beating to me on the bike. And so I very innocently went to visit the Equilibrum crew once again....and...about 150 MAN SPRINTS later, we had finished our ride. NOTHING CAN SLOW THESE GUYS DOWN!!! Oh well, I need a beating once in a while, a random workout with the boys with lots of hurt in the plan actualy felt quite good. That was a fun day that we resumed with a fun BarBQ. I love hanging with them.

Then training started back up with a little bit of base, I got two long rides in, in which I had destination goals (I LOVE THOSE). I rode from my place to Mount Tremblant on the longest, most hilly road possible, just aerobic, enjoying being on my bike again. The first weeks building back into training were a little hard as I still felt on vacation in St-Sauveur and had to do heat training (Philippines 70.3 was two weeks after that break!). That heat training felt HARD. The workouts were actualy quite easy in terms of intensity but tolerating that heat and humidity was quite a challenge. I remember interrupting the first few computrainer workouts by the pool just to go lean over the side of it and stick my whole upper body in it to make sure I didn't fall unconscious! I was a lobster in boiling water!! I remember the inner dialogue during that week: It can't be THIS hot over there!!! Focus...the water flowing down my knees and elbows are a sign of adaptation! Great! Is this healthy? Can I survive this? Is this going to be enough? This is hard! I can do this! an I do this?... OH goodness.

Philippines 70.3

I was back in Victoria for a few days after St-Sauveur, just enough to do one or two harder training sessions before Philippines. Soon, Lance and I made our way to Manila
to meet our hosts Fred and Kerry Uytengsu and start an amazing adventure.

MANILA

Fred Uytengsu and his wife Kerry were the most amazing hosts ever. Fred is one of Lance's athletes and also the president of Alaska Milk (http://www.alaskamilk.com.ph/). Fred has done alot for more than one sport in the Philippines. He has a basketball team that he supports quite proudly and as president of Sunrise events (Ironkids and Ironman 70.3 Philippines) and as head of the Polo triathlon Club of Manila, he is very involved in the growth of triathlon in the Philippines.

Manila was non-stop fun. We canadian adventurers arrived in the night and I got to see for the first time, a developing city. Action, in a jungle of new things. Everything I could see was new and exciting. Taxis everywhere honking their horns in the night (to make sure the overworking driver ahead was awake), buildings in construction everywhere, strange bicycles and motorcycles with passangers mounted on the side making their way through Jeepnees (transformed jeeps from the second world war), nothing better to keep my eyes open in the night with 14h of traveling now behind me. It was four in the morning and our trip was about to begin. In Manila, I helped Lance with the race preparation camp for the Polo triathlon team. So much fun! Lance gave some talks on race nutrition, got to show off some transition skills, we also did some fun bike-run workouts in a very fun local circuit...actualy a cemetary!
I also got to give a -barefoot running- clinic and apply some of the knowledge from Biomech. That was quite fun. I left feeling like the Polo team was family, we had shared so many smiles in such a short amount of time. Perhaps it is also because part of the camp included throwing each other a pack of 16 in a single swim lane. I also got my own workouts done in the Polo Club's beautiful 50m pool.
(below, Kerry, showing me around the Polo Club of Manila)





Bellow: Fred Uytengsu after the bike-run cemetary workout.




After Manila, Fred and Kerry sailed us away to a second dose of fun. It was time to travel to Caramoan, where we would relax for three days before the race.

CARAMOAN

(Bellow: On the boat to Caramoan)










Then a car ride threw little villages
(Bellow, a Jeepnee crossed on the road to Caramoan)







When we arrived to the ocean, we had to pause at a beach before we could keep on going to final destination. The reason for this is that, the little beach where we would spend the next three days was needed for the -Survivor- crew's Tribal council. That was fine we were quite pleased to visit the surrounding area. Joseph, our -guide- suggested that we take the boat to another island as we waited for our beach to become available. Soon after having taken off, the boat started dancing in the waves, making me feel like a rag doll subjected to acute episodes of laughter.
It was a sunny days, and all I could see around me was beach after beach, Island after Island. I wanted to set foot on each of them. Joseph chose one and out we were, exploring. We were all kids again. Arland (Philippino Elite that joined us on the trip), Lance and I went on a mission and found Star fish, huge shells and explored a strange sea weed culture. Once the first series of explorations were over, we headed back to the -survivor- beach for a first night in paradise.

(bellow: Waking up on the beach in Caramoan)




And each day in paradise was another perfect dream.
(bellow: One of our adventures was to visit some local caves, here I am with Arland and Lance)






During the trip, we mostly relaxed, swam from Island to Island and improvised ourselves as marine biologists. It was not bad at all!!!...thanks to Joseph, we had a boat escort supplying powerade and water to keep us going throughout the day.
One day, Arland, Lance and I, Island hopped our swim. Half way home, we arrived on a beach and as I innocently stood out of the water with my green paddles in my hands, I noticed a camera man, a sound technician and a stange man that looked like a Voodoo stanfing at the edge of the forest, just as perplex as I was.
-ummm....were we interrupting something? I asked...
A Cerbian girl ran out of the forest explaining something with an accent stranger than mine. Her body semmed to say: GETTATA HERE!!! NOW!!!
(they were shooting survivor, I should have known...)
So we did and off we were, body surfing waves, all the way home.
That's the kind of training I'm talking about! OLD SCHOOL STUFF!!! Batteling the waves, underwater combat on the last 500 with Arland! Jelly fish stinging my belly!! (Oh well on the last point, I just found out the next morning that I had a huge red rash on my tummy, souvenir of the Caramoanian ocean. Better than any tattoo! Except so itchy!)
Soon, the trip was over but more fun awaited at the race site and we flew out on a 40 minute Hellicopter ride and got to see the beautiful coast line from the sky!

Race site and race day

What a party it was at the race site too! Race organizers had Transformed the place! The event was so well organized and all guests were definitely spoiled. We lived in little wooden cabbins right on the race site. Three delicious meals a day were served in a tent in the few days before the event and everything just flowed wonderfuly.
The key word for this race was -fun-!
I wanted to have fun with this race, and it was so easy to! It took place on a wonderful playground!

The start, transition and finish line were at a Wakeboard park in the camsur watercomplex (CWC) (http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/). The swim was divided into two lakes (I loved the idea of running out of a lake to jump into another). There was a timex bonus in the wim between the two lakes, which made it even more exciting and ade it feel like a game! I got the bonus on the swim and that was good but came out of the water second, behind Michellie.

After a quick transition, I was on the bike, determined to make it a smooth ride and just stay in front of the race without doing anything crazy (I would need my energy on the run to fight the legendary heat). The bike course led us through little villages all the way to a turnaround at the ocean. On the bike course, the energy was outstanding. It was a party out there! Flags lined the road. And holding these, were children from the villages. The sound of the crowd was constant for 90km, I had never seen anything like it before. It was such a beautiful thing to see those parents and children from those tiny villages, stand smiling and welcome us in the most outstanding way. Event organizers had even set up a contest, the village displaying the nicest cheering squad was to win! I think they all should have won.

And then there was the run. HOT HOT, challenging run. I had mentaly prepared to make it through that run, it was my mission to do a great job at it. I was curious to see how I could do in such heat and humidity. I ran into the trail that took me through more crowd, more happy kids, cheering, more hands to reach for, kids to high fives. High Fives, though, that saddly became hard to do. Soon enough I realized that I would have to respond with an occasional smile. It was time to concentrate on surviving. As soon as I started running, I knew it was going to be a mental combat, I was just going to have to focus harder than ever on putting one foot in front of the other for 21km and never stop focusing on the rythm, until the finish line.
I had an instant ice pack in transition so I snapped it and left on the run. At every aid station, I would drink all I could from a water bottle and poor the other over my head, I would also grab a gatorade whenever I saw one. After each aid station, it was head down again, and focus until the next water oasis. I had never been so hot in my life, part of me kept on wondering how long my body would hold in the heat and I could just hope it would hold until the line. I guess there is no real secret in the heat. For me it was: Focus on moving forward as fast as you can, keep the cadence up and aim for the next available water. Once there, take as much as you can, then look forward, focus and make it to the next aid station. The longest Km of the run was the last. I thought I had made it to the line when I saw I still had a 500m semi-loop to go, even then, I was thinking I had to hold on because anything could happen, I was well roasted and running on a fine line!! But then I heard the crowd, one of the loudest crowds I had ever heard and a saw that glowing finish line right in front of me! That was the moment I faught for. That was the best feeling in the world.
Then it was time to celebrate! The trip ended just as beautifuly as it had begun and I left the Philippines with so many memories that will make me come back next year.
It is back to work now for me. That trip was just what I needed. What an inspiration!

3 in 5!

Three half Ironman wins in 5 weeks!
I now know that listening to the little voice -deep down inside- can bring great things. I placed so many bets in the last weeks, trusted so many new decisions in training and it turned out just super!!

Lessons learned in the past five weeks:
-Balance and happiness are the well underated keys to success
- It is so important to know when to follow your heart and when to just be smart.


These past five weeks have been all about getting to know myself, trusting my coach, trusting myself, taking chances and praying for the best. The result makes me proud and I can't wait to share the story!

I have been negociating threw the first half of my summer as the start of my season was good but not great because of a set back before my first race when training was going so well (big cold that stayed LONG), my first half of the summer has been all about re-adjusting, feeling, taking last minute decisions.

St-Sauveur

The first decision was to head back home after Florida 70.3, -deep down inside-, I knew that I needed to resource myself and take a deep breath.
I had been working HARD all winter and maybe lost a little bit of balance and perspective. I just needed a week home and it was just great! From being in St-Sauveur and visiting with Equilibrum, came the decision to race Mooseman. My sponsor, Equilibrum (François St-Onge) was doing the race and it inspired me to race with my crew from Quebec.

St-Sauveur! My little piece of paradise...

Training with Francois and friends in Quebec before Mooseman was the most fun I had in a long time. These guys are so passionate about their training and are so much fun. Thanks for the easy ride that turned into an -ALL OUT HAMMER- session guys!! These men are QUITE FIT!

Mooseman 70.3

I listened to my heart, I wanted to race with my home crew, it made me feel excited. Reason also was telling me it was my kind of course (CLIMBS, technical DESCENTS)....and had I known it was going to rain? Even better!! haha.
The other reason I knew it was not only my heart is that coach Lance also thought it was a good decision. I was all set. I packed my things, mom and Evita the weiner dog and we were off. It was all going to be a big party. I had a great feeling about it. Mooseman turned out to be a great race shared with mom and my Quebec crew, also my first 70.3 win of the season and the hard win I had always wanted. ouch! YESS!







Then it was time for more work. Back to my sweet training obsession!

The Superwoman- Kryptonite challenge!

I came home to Victoria after Mooseman, refreshed, with a big smile on my face, happy to be home and ready for more training. I got so hungry after the first win, though, that I wanted to race again soon! Sooner than was on our plan. The plan was to train hard and race a 90K time trial in a relay in the next two weeks and do the Vancouver half Ironman but I was not satisfied and wanted another good Ironman 70.3. So I did the relay and the hard training.
The relay was so much fun! The superwoman (Swim=Gaby, Bike=me, Run=Lucy smith), would trash talk the -Kryptonite- (Coach Dan Smith's team). Dan and I have been time trianing together on the bike. (ouch!!)

Kryptonite versus Superwoman trash talking activities.

Dan, at awards.. on a ladder...(???)

The superwoman take the women's team title and the top five overall time of the day.

The Superwoman team race really showed me that my biking was coming around, I had a great time out there with the pro men and used it to build confidence. After this race, and a good week of training, Lance and I decided to go ahead and take a quick decision to do Buffalo Springs 70.3.
I had a good feeling about it!!!

Buffalo Springs 70.3

There was not too much time to get acclimatized or really taper so much after the 90K and training and Lance decided to work me a little harder on the taper and see how I would react, guess you can't get to know yourself if you never take any chances . The week leading up to the race, I had my share of doubts! It was so HOT and I was NOT used to it!!!! The taper felt like lots of work..!! I remembered how Lance had always managed my training so well and decided to trust his one week aclimatization plan and do the workouts before the race. Here, I was NOT listening to my deep down inside feeling about that taper but I knew I could trust my coach.
It turned out it was the right decision. It was, again, not an easy win but it gave me my second 70.3 win in three weeks. Going out there had felt like placing a big bet, but a bet that I had felt -deep down inside-, was a good one.
More smiles, more good times, more confidence built. Wish I could tell you more about that race, it was quite the adventure and my first tri on the new -superwoman- painted Blue bike! Loved it! What a great course, really cool, old school race! I want to go back there for sure!!

Vancouver International triathlon

Last Week-end's Vancouver international half Iroman (Subaru Western triathlon series, http://www.triseries.ca/).

And then came the biggest -do I trust my coach- challenge and more almost angry feelings of uncertainty. When I was in Buffalo spring, I figured I would have to maybe let down the Vancouver International triathlon (half Ironman) that I had planned to do a week later. There was no way, in my mind, that I could race a week after. I had kind of put it aside, in my head. Specialy because I had done alot of traveling heading back from Buffalo springs the day of the race, arriving in Coeur d'Alene for the TYR photoshoot the next morning (this was soooo fun though!), staying there for two days and then traveling back to Victoria for two days only to...meet with Lance...and have him tell me that I should race in Vancouver in a few days. Don't tell anyone but, I actualy thought he was a little crazy or evil (sorry Lance) or I don't know what else. I tried to tell him he was sending me on a confidence suicide mission, but he convinced me that it was the right decision and I figured there would be no harm in trying a new experiment and getting to know myself. I decided to make this race a mission and told myself that I had to get to know my body, one way or the other.
So I went to the Vancouver international half Ironman
At press conference with Heather Wurtele. Ironman St-George winner, fellow Canadian and really cool girl. (Also my favorite GIANT!! hahaha.)
Denise and Curt came along (Denise won her age group by the way and Curt is getting in shape quite fast! Watch out guys!).

I got excited about a trip with my friends and stared feeling like I was heading into another party!!
It is one of my favorite courses and a very well organized event. The run goes along the ocean, it is scenic!! See!!

THANK YOU TO FELLOW CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID MCCOLM for these great race pictures he sent me for my blog!


Even has a part going threw the forest. And tough competition showed up just to boost the adrenaline level!Heather Wurtele gave me a run for my money. Again, it was not an easy win, at all....but that is what I had asked for. A hard earned Victory and a good time, even bettered last year's time by two minutes, 4:12 or so this time around. What a great day it was out there in Vancouver and I learned so much in just one day.

My Blue Bike dream team

ADVENTURE NUMBER 2: THE WIND TUNNEL!!!

In case you haven't noticed.....
My sponsors spoil me BIG TIME.
CRAZY BIG TIME....the day after the race was a REAL TREAT.
I got to travel to Charlotte to meet Chance Regina (Blue Bikes) and Mike Giraud (A2 wind tunnel specialist) at the A2 wind tunnel and got so much out of it!!!!!!!


WOOOOWWW.....this wind tunnel is the wind tunnel of legends. This is the Lance Armstrong and other big names tunnel and the staff that goes with it. The real deal. No joking around.



This man is also the real deal. Mike Giraud (notice the french last name!). Mike is...ummm...some kind of magician that makes you do about 15 intervals sub 70.3 race pace with looongg rest, blows some wind into your hair, fiddles with the bike and ends up taking 20 watts for a 30 mph speed just like that.
We changed some things on my position, made it more aero with just a few adjustments: Saddle slightly up and forward, aerobars down, hands pulled up a little at the end of the bars. A position that not only helped me win lots of free watts at race pace for the same effort but also increased my level of comfort significantly by decreasing the extra work I was doing to support my upper body with my arms, lowering my head relative to my shoulders comfortably etc... unreal. Just miraculous to me.


I also got to know Chance Regina a little better. What I love about Chance is that (well first anyone who knows Chance knows he is just a great person but I knew that already), what I admired this time is the passion he has for the sport and his job and the involvement he has in our success. I feel that he gets personaly involved in our success and I think that is the most inspiring thing a sponsor can do. It definitely also makes you have more of a reason to race HARD!!!!!!!!!!!


The next day was another HUGE TREAT!!! I got to meet Chance again in Atlanta and he introduced me to Mike Skop, president of Blue Bikes . Talking to him also made me realize his involvement. I also got to ask him a lot of technical questions about the elaboration of the bikes aswell as the philosophy and the history of the company.
It is just amazing stuff. Every little detail I wondered about on my bike, the geometry, the weight, the way the back wheel slips into the frame. Every factor on that tri bike is chosen according to the latest research and wind tunnel tests with the best. It's just amazing to see what perfectionists are behind the elaboration of my bike. I loved my Triad SL but now I understand more of the reasons why. This bike is not a time trial bike, it is specificaly designed to be a triathlon bike and every single detail on it is elaborated for that purpose. I am convinced it is the best triathlon bike out there. Blue is a young company and is doing so well. Also a company with a very bright future.

From left to right: Brian, little me, Chance and Allen Heaton. Brian, holding the bike, is the one who did the paint job. Allen took care of putting the Blue together and much, much more!

Every single person I met at Blue was a good person but also a highly driven perfectionnist. From the owner, to the bike techs to the man who did the paint work on my bike. Lots of heart goes into the bikes. wow.
so here is some proof. See my new ride? This is it!! The graphics on it are ment to represent the comic book, fun, concept there will be on my website. We are so proud of it. It was a surprise to me. It was Chance's project, it was my project, it was Travise's project and wow, it turned into something that made us all smile. THANK YOU ALL!!! That is an amazing gift.

I am now preparing for the next race, staying in St-Sauveur with mom for a bit, I needed it, it's very refreshing! The second day here, I got to spend some time with my sponsor from Quebec, Equilibrum. And BOY ....we sure created ADVENTURE NUMBER 3. My next blog!!
Thank you for reading and cheering everyone. I'll race for you.

Let the party begin!

ADVENTURE NUMBER 1.

There is something very special about Florida.


It keeps me coming back....
And I'm not just talking about the 70.3. We vacationed in Florida every winter with my family during all of my childhood and that place just gives rise to beautiful memories.


Training on the course before the race, feeling strong and definitely back into the game.

I hadn't felt the sun and the heat in a while. I love the Florida sun, the oranges, the sand, the humidity....(oh and here's a secret: THE ALLIGATORS...I prefer to say the crocs cause it's more fun). There is something unique about the Long road stretches, speeding down white sprinkeled pavement inmy aerobars to the sound of my new pro wheel (hehe...sorry if I just broke the romance by saying a brand but you have to know, they are truly amazing). No better place to get the legs back into action. It is a course I want to own because I have it in my heart. I want to come back and own my course, everything about it just makes each Florida adventure a bright memory. And it is also a magic race, a race that starts and finishes in the fantasy world of Disney.



Cheer leading crew! Mom (kiki) and Lucas Tisseyre!! haha.


The beloved Lucas Tisseyre the first. haha.


The great Lucas the first.

Me and my ultimate weapons.


But yes, I'll have to admit, Florida is not a course for me, dead flat, swimmers race. But again, I just have it in my heart. I was third again this year and chances are, I will keep coming back and trying to win no matter what. There is not much I can do about drafting, I have tried to talk to officials before the race but it seems that it is something that is hard to control. Maybe on a good day, it is possible to stay -even- with a pack on a solo 90K time trial but it wasn't for me this time. The swimmers rode away with the pro men. Maybe I just had to be prepared and not let it affect me. I let it make me mad at each turnaround, I let it get me in a bad mood and get into my head. Next time, I will accept it and come prepared.


The run course is one of my favorites, you get to run by transition on three loops and the energy of the croud is just unbelievable. I was still in a pretty bad mood on the run, i won't lie, but each time I got to the croud, my smile was back. YOU PEOPLE ARE AMAZING.


My focus on the run was to fight to stay positive and get back into the game, also fight the heat (I had not done much acclimatization but had gotten to Florida on tuesday night so that probably helped). I still had good form on the run and enjoyed the last loop. I always like the loop where everyone is on the course. On the last loop, we had the age groupers out there. I like it because, strategicaly, you get to hide, blend into the croud and also, they always cheer for me as we all suffer together in the sun. They work just as hard as I do. It makes me strong. I still remember a woman calling to me: Go QUEBEC. Crazy to say...but that really helped. Made me so proud. Made me forget about my hard feelings and think that I had to give it my best.



There a great moments at every race. Another great moment at this one was, well, my favorite part of every race. Coming threw the cheers and crossing the finish line. No matter what the race, I will smile when I cross that line.

Another great moment was when I got to see my manager Travis Blanton before the race and some. Travis is my guide, he is not only the best manager one could imagine, he is also one of the most amazing, extraordinary people I know and a great friend, someone that always makes sure I am smiling and I don't get to see him very often so that was a treat. Another great thing was when Lifesport teammate David Kahn told me... he had come in 5th pro man. I knew that was coming. But still...this guy is a full time student, David is studying to be a dentist and still manages to be fifth. WATCH OUT people, he is coming!!! (Remember I said this!)


Another great thing about the race is that our friend, Anders Hamilton came to watch, cheer and hang out with mom and I. We met Anders randomly at bike shops two years in a row in Clearwater, where he lives.
One of those coincidences that are just too obvious. Anders saw me wish for a top ten one year and get on the podium the next once I had joined Lifesport. He is part of the adventure for sure and is of great support.
Anders is now also getting involved in triathlon. He has a busy life but is drifting into try- tri -mania, he has done some training since we last saw him in Clearwater and I feel he will be addicted very soon.

So Florida was still a treat and a definite learning experience. I felt sour for a couple of days, but in the end, the good things always stand out and they are the ones that stay on the record. The rest just goes into making a better plan for the future.

coming up this week: ADVENTURE NUMBER 2: BLUE BIKES AND THE WIND TUNNEL!!! and...ADVENTURE NUMBER 3: MEETING THE EQUILIBRUM CREW!!!
Got lots of pics and lots to share. Promise.