No, I will not be breaking out in some 1980’s Hall & Oates tunes; this is all about our wonderful Canadian Government.

I seem to be on a Canadian theme with my topics for the last month but I just can’t help it this week.

Even though Harper and his crew eventually changed their minds about this ridiculous change the National Anthem thing, I am still a little fired up from the whole notion in the first place.

Is Harper and his clueless crew that out of touch with Canadians? Obviously so I suppose, especially when over 90% of the people disagreed with changing the anthem. Where would such an idea come from? We just celebrated our most successful Olympic Winter Games, and arguably Canadian patriotism was at an all time high, so now was the time to change the anthem? Are you kidding me?

We’ve got a lot of other issues to deal with in this country, and this comes up as an issue? Someone had a lot of time on their hands during this proroguing of Parliament. Aren’t you glad that your tax dollars are being well spent on these elected officials?

How about changing something you said you would change Mr. Harper? Do you remember a promise of Senate reform? Oh well, why change that? Let’s blow some more six figure incomes on an absolutely worthless level of our government.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see politicians live up to their promises? It is amazing that this country is as great as it is. But I think that is due to all of us.

Keep on being the best person and Canadian you can be.

O Canada, I stand on guard for thee.

Have a great week!

Roger

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As I’ve been saying for a few weeks already, I am always proud to be Canadian, but maybe today that pride is accompanied by a little bit of a swagger.

Despite the naysayers, the negativity of the ink stained wretches in the Canadian media and abroad, and our own Canadian Olympic Committee, our athletes sure came through in flying colours. It may not have been perfect, but it was a historic and most memorable Olympic Games. Canada has a great legacy going forward from today. I enjoyed last night’s closing ceremonies, which along with all of the sports coverage was time well wasted for me.

Now for some final random thoughts:

1. Why are the Canadian women’s hockey team getting flak for their not-so-covert celebrations, while Jon Montgomery got no criticism for drinking beer from a pitcher in public while walking down the street. I have no problem with either. I’m just saying – what’s the deal?

2. By winning the most gold medals (14), didn’t we sort of own the podium after all?

3. Despite the above, I still maintain that we have to get more money to the athletes themselves and minimize the amount of people feeding from the public trough. Hopefully, lessons are learned from these games and we will be even better in 4 years. Imagine that!

4. Is this the first time the people in Vancouver have seen television cameras? I admire their enthusiasm and energy though. Aside from the constant waving at the cameras, they made us look good to the rest of the world.

5. I will forever have Joannie Rochette’s performance etched into my mind. What a wonderful exhibition of grace, inspiration, and how to perform under adversity and pressure. And Clara Hughes is a true Canadian sports legend and great role model. I don’t know whose heart rate was higher during her final race, hers or mine.

6. Brian Williams rocks! If you caught any of the NBC coverage, you know how good we have it in Canada. Too bad CTV felt it necessary to include bits and interviews some of their D level personalities. Thank goodness they got rid of most of that during the first week or only did that junk in the morning hours when no events were going on.

7. I believe I’ve heard enough of that “I Believe” song. Although, it does work nicely when they put it with footage of our medalists doing their thing.

8. How many times did you sing “O Canada” in the past 17 days? I hope more than 14.

9. You had to love those moose antlers. Vancouver certainly stepped up their game for the closing ceremonies. 100% Canadian flavour and a lot of fun to watch, I wanted it to keep going.

10. Hopefully it did not take these Olympic Games for you to realize this but….Canada is The Greatest Country in the World!

Now it is time to support our Paralympic athletes. Go Canada!

Til next week

Roger

Now if you must lay blame and accountability, heap it on the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Own the Podium folks.

Check this out. $110 million was spent on this Own the Podium program ($66 million our tax dollars). These guys then spread the money out where they saw fit (visit this site to see the funding breakdown – http://www.ownthepodium2010.com/Funding/winter_sports.aspx). Realize why we were non-existent in ski jumping? There are lots of stories from athletes about the tight restrictions made by the organization – preventing them from training they way they wanted.

Most of our Olympic athletes constantly deal with the problems of trying to get the quality training and nutrition they need, along with working to make ends meet. According to my math, there was more than enough money to take care of our athletes so that they didn’t need to be distracted or occupied by thoughts of wondering how they were going to make next month’s rent.

So lets get the money where it needs to go to – the athletes. We need to get rid of the waste that is spent on the administration of these programs (http://www.ownthepodium2010.com/About/structure.aspx). I am guessing these people are not all volunteers – if they are then my apologies. But at any rate my point still stands. Show the athletes the money!

We’ve got 206 athletes on the Canadian Winter Olympic Team (183 if you take away 23 for the professional hockey players), so if you split up $110 million equally that is $601 092 for each athlete, or $150 273 each year for 4 years. That should take care of things, or at least be a heck of a lot better than they are now. I doubt they are getting anywhere close to this. This would not be a free handout by the way. In return for the money the athletes need to do school visits, speaking engagements, etc.

Until we get some real leadership at the COC (Why not put more pressure on our athletes with some more ridiculous statements? And thanks for giving up on them today.), gain ownership of our money, and make sure it is spent properly, and then maybe we can think about “owning the podium.”

Go Team Canada! You’ve still got six more days to show your stuff. Medals or no medals. But I certainly hope you make your naysayers eat large servings of crow.

Roger

Actually, other than the performance of KD Lang, I was not particularly blown away by those ceremonies. It was nice but it seemed to lack that special something for me.

I don’t mean to be negative but where was the acknowledgement of the Canada east of the prairies? How can they ignore Terry Fox (a B.C. native) the way they did? Sure they had his mother hang onto a flag with a bunch of other known Canadians but it seemed like a toss-inn to me. Then we had to watch Wayne Gretzky hang on for dear life at the back of a pickup truck for 30 minutes. Was it horrible? No! Could it have been done better? Yes! But maybe they are saving a little something for those closing ceremonies. At least I hope so.

So why am I proud to be Canadian? There are tons of reasons but most recently I am proud of how Canadians came to the aid of Haiti. Whenever people are in need we always seem to be the first to step up.

Don’t get me wrong though, I thoroughly love watching all the great TV coverage of the Olympics. There is nothing better than watching the best athletes in the world performing under pressure. The performances that were turned in during that tension filled pairs figure skating competition last night was incredible. And watching our flag being raised when a Canadian wins a gold medal gets my emotions going every time. I am seriously thinking of making a DVD that has an infinite loop of Alexandre Bilodeau’s ski run and medal presentation. If that can’t get me though a tough trainer ride then nothing else can.

I will admit to feeling an extreme sense of pride during that medal presentation when the entire crowd enthusiastically cheered for Alexandre, and sang “O Canada.” The atmosphere was electric and great to see Canadians pour out their emotions – something we tend to be more reserved about than our neighbours to the south. And if you caught Brian William’s interview with the Bilodeau family, you had to feel proud of having such a humble, confident and quality individual be the one to win Canada’s first gold medal.

Keep it coming Team Canada! While, I am already proud of being Canadian, and proud of you for representing our country, maybe I feel just a bit more pride when you show your mettle on the world’s stage.

By the way, please visit the new Triathlon Magazine Canada website. It is tons better than the last site, there will be lots of unique content, and it will be updated daily – that is where I come in. Check it out at http://triathlonmagazine.ca/ or connect with us on Facebook too if that is more your thing.

I hope you are all doing well with your fitness goals, as far as the 20 lb Challenge is concerned, I am now down to 178 lbs. Replacing candy with salad and staying away from all u can eat restaurants is certainly helping.

Have a great week!

Roger

PHOTO GALLERIES

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 THURSDAY MARCH 4TH

OPENING CEREMONIES

WEDNESDAY MARCH 3rd

ALPINE SKIING

THURSDAY MARCH 4TH

ALPINE SKIING  CURLING  FIVE-PIN BOWLING  MEN’S HOCKEY
INDOOR FIELD HOCKEY  RINGETTE   SNOWBOARDING

FRIDAY MARCH 5TH

AIR RIFLE/AIR PISTOL  ALPINE SKIING  BIATHLON
BADMINTON  BOXING  CURLING  DIVING
FIGURE SKATING  FIVE-PIN BOWLING  FREESTYLE SKIING
GYMNASTICS  MEN’S HOCKEY  WOMEN’S HOCKEY
INDOOR FIELD HOCKEY  JUDO  RINGETTE  SPEED SKATING
SQUASH  SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING  TABLE TENNIS
TAEKOWDO  WEIGHTLIFTING  WRESTLING

SATURDAY MARCH 6TH

AIR RIFLE/AIR PISTOL  BIATHLON  BADMINTON  BOXING
CURLING  DIVING  FIGURE SKATING  FREESTYLE SKIING
GYMNASTICS  MEN’S HOCKEY WOMEN’S HOCKEY
INDOOR FIELD HOCKEY  KICKBOXING  RINGETTE
SPEED SKATING  SQUASH  SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
TABLE TENNIS  TAEKOWDO  WRESTLING

SUNDAY MARCH 7TH

BADMINTON  DIVING  FIGURE SKATING  MEN’S HOCKEY
WOMEN’S HOCKEY  KICKBOXING  RINGETTE  SQUASH
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING  TABLE TENNIS

JANUARY 2010

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

Over the past weekend quite a few people stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park. Williams and Federer at the Australian Open, Bosh with the Raptors, Burke with his blockbuster trades (for all you Leaf fans), but most of all everyone who came out to support the Training for Solidarity event on Saturday.

Despite the minus 19-degree weather that greeted runners and walkers in the morning, over 500 braved the conditions and covered the 10-20 km distance. Others volunteered, cheered, but most importantly everyone combined to raise over $80 000 to help Haiti. Wow! I think this is more of a Grand Slam than a regular home run.

Donations are still being accepted so that $80 000 will surely grow. Please consider anteing up with a few extra dollars you might have. This charity was actually in place before the Earthquake happened and addresses the long-term health of Haiti. You can donate by visiting here http://www.runningfree.com/missionhaiti.aspx and to find out more about the charity.

Thanks again everyone.

By the way, if you have a chance make sure to catch the special showing of Race Across the Sky at Cineplex theatres on February 7th. I saw it last week and as an endurance athlete I loved it. The film looks at the very tough Leadville 100 mountain bike race, and you get to see the Lance Armstrong do his thing in an off-road setting. Lots of great scenery shots, and side stories too.

20lb Challenge Update: I’m actually in the 170’s now, 179.2 lbs to be exact – finally some progress. I hope it is going well for those of you doing this in anonymity.

Roger

This past Saturday I did a scouting mission and ran on the beautiful Marin Goodman Trail along the shores of Lake Ontario. Actually, it was more about me screwing up and for some reason thinking that the Training for Solidarity Run was a few days ago – maybe I should read my own posts – the Haiti: Training for Solidarity run happens this Saturday January 30th starting at the Palais Royal.

When driving in the area, I’ve always seen people running, biking, roller blading, etc., along the trail and thought how cool it would be to have easy access to that trail on a daily basis. And when I finally got the chance to run on it, I loved it. I hate driving into the downtown Toronto area but this was totally worth it. I would even move down there to be able to use that trail every day. The scenery was great, you can observe nature (much more in the summer of course), and there were lots of other people out there enjoying the trail with me despite the chill in the air. If you have never used this trail make sure to head down and check it out, it is worth the trip.

The perfect opportunity to use the trail comes this Saturday with the Training for Solidarity event. You can come out and run or walk the spectacular Martin Goodman trail, pay a visit to the historic Palais Royal, meet a lot of great people, and support a charity that does ongoing charity work in Haiti.

The details are below; visit http://www.runningfree.com/missionhaiti.aspx for full details and to pre-register for the event.

HAITI – TRAINING FOR SOLIDARITY will be a day the running community to come together for an up to 20km training run in support of our friends in Haiti. This will be a “pay what you can” event.

Running Free and Runners Den will provide the venue, commemorative bib’s, food and support on the course. Pace bunnies will be available to guide 10- 20km training runs at paces from 4:30/km up to 6:00/km.

This will be a great opportunity to enjoy a paced training run and support this very worthwhile cause. Let show our neighbours to the south we are thinking of them in this time of need.

All donors will receive a commemorative bib #, sponsor goodies, coffee, refreshments and snacks. This is a “pay what you can” event. Donations can also be made by calling our Running Free Markham location at 905.477.7871.

Toronto Event

Saturday January 30, 2010 – 9:00am registration

The training run will start and finish at the historic Palais Royal on Toronto’s waterfront. The Martin Goodman Trail is one of Toronto’s best running routes. Many Runners already enjoy this trail all year round. If you’ve never trained on the trail, you are in for a treat!

We will have pace bunnies running 4:30/km up to 6:00/km paces for distances of 10km and 20km. It is your choice to run with a pace bunny or on your own. WALKERS are certainly welcome. The distance you run or walk is entirely up to you. Snacks and refreshments will be ready to serve at the Palais Royal from 10:00am – Noon. 

Where

• Palais Royal

• 1601 Lake Shore Boulevard West

• Toronto, Ontario, M6K 3C1

• www.palaisroyale.ca (The Palais Royal has graciously donated their beautiful facility for this event without hesitation – We thank them for this incredibly honourable gesture)

Training run will take place on Toronto’s waterfront trail. Please email Nick Capra at missionhaiti@runningfree.com for more information.

Hamilton Event

Saturday January 30, 2010 – 9:00am registration

• Westdale High School (Main & Longwood)

Roger

With today being Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the USA, I too have a dream – That we can come together and help this suffering nation in their time of need.

Please consider participating in this event, or donating to any relief effort wherever you can.

HAITI – TRAINING FOR SOLIDARITY will be a day the running community to come together for an up to 20km training run in support of our friends in Haiti. This will be a “pay what you can” event.

Running Free and Runners Den will provide the venue, commemorative bib’s, food and support on the course. Pace bunnies will be available to guide 10- 20km training runs at paces from 4:30/km up to 6:00/km.

This will be a great opportunity to enjoy a paced training run and support this very worthwhile cause. Let show our neighbours to the south we are thinking of them in this time of need.

All donors will receive a commemorative bib #, sponsor goodies, coffee, refreshments and snacks. This is a “pay what you can” event. Donations can also be made by calling our Running Free Markham location at 905.477.7871.

Toronto Event

Saturday January 30, 2010 – 9:00am registration

• Palais Royal

• 1601 Lake Shore Boulevard West

• Toronto, Ontario, M6K 3C1

• www.palaisroyale.ca (The Palais Royal has graciously donated their beautiful facility for this event without hesitation – We thank them for this incredibly honourable gesture)

Training run will take place on Toronto’s waterfront trail. Please email Nick Capra at missionhaiti@runningfree.com for more information.

Hamilton Event

Saturday January 30, 2010 – 9:00am registration

• Westdale High School (Main & Longwood)

Visit here http://www.runningfree.com/missionhaiti.aspx for more details.

Roger

20lb Challenge Update – 181 lbs

Have an awesome week, and I hope you find this review helpful.

Roger

SLS3 Compression Sleeves

Proper and speedy recovery from training and racing is of utmost importance to me. It is quite simple. If I am not recovered from my workouts, how can I expect to perform my next workout properly and gain all of the benefits of that workout?

I am always looking for extra assistance wherever I can get it, and utilizing compression gear to improve recovery is a no brainer for me. Heck, I have to wear, socks, bottoms and a top anyway, right? Plus, it works!

I’ve tried almost every brand of compressions sleeves out there, and while I’d love to see them make the sleeves in a colour other than white (black would be great), the SLS3 brand is my clear favourite. By the way, I love their socks too.

In addition to using them post race, I also make use of them for racing. Many do not deem them as beneficial during a race but I figure it can’t hurt. My empirical view is that it reduces my muscle soreness post-race, and if helps me go faster in the process then all the better.

Why sleeves and not socks? I love Fox River socks, so the combining the two works perfectly for me. I do tend to save my SLS3 sleeves for my longer or big races and this is why?

They have more compression (26-28 mmHg) than most of the other brands but they still remain very comfortable. I put them on at home/hotel, drive to the race site, swim, bike, and run in them and leave them on after the race to help with recovery. At my last Ironman race, the total time in them was over 15 hrs (pre, during, and post race) and I did not notice them at all.

They are hydrophobic. I wear them during the swim (under the wetsuit – to save time in T1), and they dry off rapidly during the bike. However, in hot, humid conditions, the material actually has a cooling effect. In close to 30-degree heat, I was totally comfortable.

Conversely, they keep me warm by shielding the wind during the early portions of an Ironman ride (which tends to be slightly chilly). There is also 50+ UV protection.

Finally, here is another piece of evidence, and goes to show how it increases blood flow. Not too long ago I was playing pick-up hockey and took a puck off the shin. The result was a sizeable bruise and hump of swelling. Once I got home, I put on my SLS3 compression sleeves and by the next day the swelling practically disappeared. I continued wearing them for a few days later and the discolouration was gone.

I was sold on the benefits of compression gear when I utilized them to recover from my Achilles surgery, and that confidence has only built with this past season. As a guy who often races twice in a weekend, or on occasion twice in one day, the use of compression sleeves and other compression gear is must and if you are serious about recovery it should be for you too.

Below is more information from SLS3 and a great explanation of how compression apparel works:

SLS3 Compression Sox average around 26-28mmHg. This is considered firm compression that helps with severe swelling, reversible lymphoedema, moderate to severe fatigue and cramps, and severe vein insufficiency. Above this there is yet more compression to be had BUT it is for medical indication such as irreversible lymphoedema and elephantiasis.

Scientific tests have shown that the SLS3 Compression Sport Sox boost bloodflow about 34%. This increases oxygen delivery to the working muscles to enhance their performance. The circulation improvements also help the body to eliminate metabolic wastes like lactic acid. The combination of these effects allows you to work harder and longer.

The SLS3 Compression Sox also offer significant support to the Achilles tendon, tibia, calf and ankle. This boosts the ability to reduce common ankle and foot injuries.

The supportive effect and the compression of the SLS3 Compression Sox reduce the muscle vibration drastically, which leads to less damage of the soft tissue and less sore muscles.

How Compression Apparel Works

Imagine this: Your leg is a two lane highway with little to medium traffic at rest. Now you’re racing or training hard which equals rush hour. The result: traffic jams, delays in arrival and return. Major lactate acid build up resembles new construction sites….it will only get worse from here.

The SLS3® Compression Sox mean a widening of your two lane highway into a four lane freeway. Workloads of high intensity training, long durations and racing are now able to move without being held up. Traffic aka oxygenated blood gets all the way into the foot, lactate acid can be transported out at the same time without major delays.

As a result, you will be able to work longer, harder, faster and get back to it earlier!