Latest News

Our apologies for not updating sooner but we have both been sick with the plague since arriving home from Ottawa just over a week ago. We were in the Nation's capital taking part in CF Swimming Nationals. It was a great weekend with almost 50 swimmers from across the country (Army, Air Force and Navy) and a few posted outside of Canada taking part. The swimming was held in conjunction with Master's Ontario Provincials...in all, almost 600 swimmers competed in the weekend's events. We had the privlege of watching Alex Baumann swim competitively (At the 1984 Olympics, Baumann was selected as Canada's flagbearer for the opening ceremonies. He won gold medals in the 400-metre individual medley, setting a world record time of 4:17.41, and the 200-metre race, lowering the world mark to 2:01.42. The 400-metre gold was Canada's first in swimming since 1912.) - it was very impressive especially since he set a national or world record in every event he competed in for his age group (45-49). The swimming was great with both of us setting PBs in a number of events - Amber even got a gold in the 400m Freestyle in her age category! In total, there were 11 swimmers from the Navy Masters Swim Team - by far, the largest regional team. Lots of lessons were learned and many great memories were made.

Here's a picture of the West Coast team at the Awards banquet - we claimed 11 gold medals overall (Thanks in part to our Michael Phelpian Coach, Tony Zezza who brought home 6 gold medals himself).

On the posting front, now that our messages are in, we've started the daunting task of finding a house in Kingston. Looks like we'll go out for our house hunting trip in a few weeks and move in June.

Training is going well, despite being sick, especially now that we got our new speedy Tri bikes - the Argon 18 E112 (in mini-size for Amber). Here is a picture of Matt's bike before the UBC Tri.

The Good and The Bad

Bad

I'll start with the bad. A friend, co-worker, on occasion boss, and fellow Sea King pilot died last Thursday in the Sikorsky S-92 aircraft off the coast of Newfoundland. Tim Lanouette, who had over 20 years in the Air Force retired in the summer of 2008 and started working for Cougar helicopters. It ended up that he was one of the pilots on the helicopter. He leaves behind 4 young children. He'll be missed by all.

Good

On a more positive note, it is official, I recieved the posting message this morning and we will be moving to Kingston this year to start a new adventure in a new location. Until then, it will training as per normal.

Take care. M

First Tri of the Season

For our last weekend of leave we headed to Vancouver for the first triathlon of the season and both raced the Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run). The weather was definitely daunting but the snow held off and we ran the race in about 5C which was better then expected - although we are looking forward to warmer weather for the next one! It was a good opportunity to get a gauge on our training and see where we are at - as well as learn a lot about what to do better next time around.

I finished 2nd in my age group (101 out of 226 overall) with a final time of 2:55:31.6 (Swim - 31:38; Bike - 1:31:38 Run - 52:17)
Both the swim and run were strong but I've definitely got to work on the bike part!

Matt finished 5th in his age group and 22 out of 226 overall with a final time of 2:33:58.0 (Swim - 28:55; Bike - 1:15:57; Run - 49:08)
Matt had to run over the finish mat not once but twice(!) due to a timing chip malfunction - so his time was likely faster then posted.

It was great to get back on the road - we're definitely hooked! Next tri of the season will likely be the Sooke Spring Sprint Tri in May. Until then... swim, bike, run... A

A Couple of Days Away

We decided to head over to Pender Island for a couple of days to relax and get away. We've taken this week off work but didn't want to head anywhere too far away so we planned this little getaway for a few days. Since we always go to Salt Spring Island, we decided to change it up and head to Pender.

We've been staying at a place called Poet's Cove. It's the off season so it's been nice and quiet.



Last night, we ate at "Aurora" here at the resort. The food was fantastic with a beautiful view. Matt had the beef tenderloin and I had the rack of lamb and we finished the night off with two decadent chocolate desserts.

Today, we went for a rainy run along Gowlland Point Rd. Luckily, I was only out for an hour but Matt had to battle the elements for an hour and a half. We had lunch at "Syrens Lounge" and then had a couples massage at the Susurrus Spa. After the spa, it was nap time! We spent the rest of the afternoon planning the rest of the week. We're just about to head off to dinner and then relax for the rest of the night. A