Paper or Plastic?

As seemingly warm and mild as it may be, if you're out on the bike some extra toe protection than that afforded by your Sidis and your DeFeets will likely be required. Nothing can suck the fun out of a ride like cold, wet feet. Overshoes or neoprene socks are the tried and true solutions, but perhaps there's a third way.....

The TA was in a coffee shop recently having a post-run coffee (we have no truck with the theory of rehydration obviously). We won't say which one other than it was the one Dr Evil invested in several years ago. We're not saying the chain itself is evil, just an investor, and a fictional one at that! It reminds you of that saying that there are only two famous Belgians, and one of them is fictional. But wow, we really are digressing today, where were we?

Oh yes, the not-evil-at-all coffee shop. Anyway, we bumped into Tyrone "Now known for reasons of national security as" Grande and Harry Reddin, just back from a bike-ride. Like all self-respecting pieces of Victoria-era furniture, Tyrone was keeping his ankles covered lest they inflame the baser desires of the Barristas, but we were rather taken by how he was doing this ....



Yes those are bags from a local supermarket. Sobeys actually. SuperStore charges (or used to charge) 5c/bag and as was it pointed out if you can do it for free, why drop a dime on keeping your toes warm? The TA has been known to use this trick, but we use Petes Frootique bags on the off-chance they were either locally sourced, organic or British imports (reminds us of home)!

We will say this though; if you can keep the bag tucked in not only can you keep your feet warm and dry you will also keep the sleek below-the-ankle look all cyclists should aspire to! Not to mention the drag savings!

Speaking of dodgy below-the-belt attire keeping you warm on the ice, the Norwegian men's curling team trousers; yes or no?


Tell us!

AD

Det fins ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær

After a week's respite, the TA was back to running in, and on, snow this morning. I'm sure it came as an unwelcome surprise to a few (but we understand at least one of our number was racing, yes racing, under slightly more clement conditions). Anyway, it seemed like an opportune time to look at the results of the "what are the craziest conditions you have ever run in?" poll.

Fully 60% of you had ventured out in -20C temperatures or less. We didn't ask you to factor in windchill, but even so, these brave-hearts amongst us are lucky to have all of their extremities intact. Or do they?

Some 15% of you went the other way. You seemingly embraced the worst that a Canadian winter can throw at us and voted +30C and humid instead as being the worst they'd run in. Tolerance to extremes of heat or cold are somewhat personal but it seems to us that it's easier to dress to deal with really cold temperatures than really hot ones. For the former it's just layers and layers and some layers can come off if required, whereas for the later there is only so much that can come off before facing a caution under the Criminal Code of Canada. Det fins ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær indeed.

Interestingly, a quarter of you went for "Bluenose 2005". For those of you new to the province, this was the second running of the Marathon (and associated other events) and whilst the first BN was wet, this edition set records. It was about 4C with 60 kph winds and it rained, torrentially, all day. The TA ended up doing the whole thing in long bottoms, flappy jacket, big gloves and a toque; we intended stripping off the extraneous layers as we warmed up but somehow that time never came! More than one ended the day in the medical tent. Sure, there are some people who always end the day in the medical tent but this was ridiculous. This edition, more than any, earned the BN it's bad-weather reputation! Nonetheless, many TNSers took part with 30% of the top-ten in the full marathon and the 10K being triathletes.

For those of you planning your spring campaigns, Bluenose registration is open by the way. As we contemplate the start of our seasons (the first RNS event of the year is just around the corner and Boston is in eight weeks, arghh) we wonder; how many races did you do last year?

You'll Never Get *That* Past The TD!

One of the things we would like to set up on the TurnAround is a blog-roll, well two actually. One of triathlonly blogs we follow and a second of blogs written by TNSers themselves. If you have any nominees in either category, please stick the URL in as a comment below (you can do this anonymously if you're recommending "blackcyclingsocks.blogspot.com").

The TA's favorites are BikeSnobNYC and Fat Cyclist. Both are known for witty and cutting writing, and both have taken triathletes to task, and often ("Triathlons, Doctor? For shame" and "the mankini of shame" are two phrases that spring to mind) and so may not be high on your reading list. To be honest, however, BSNYC pretty much has it in for everyone, so don't take it too personally.

As for Fatty, well, the TA doesn't cry often, but Fatty made us cry recently, and some significant life events have softened him somewhat, to the point where he is going to do a triathlon. An IronMan no less. We don't think he's even done a Sprint before. given he once dimissed swimming as an activity that allowed him to travel as fast as a small child can skip, and therefore not worth his time trying.

So Fatty's in the pool, and inverterate tech-head as he is discovered (well blagged) this......


...oh yes, you saw that right. Plug in your iPod Shuffle and off you go. There must be something about this as apparently even Micheal Phelps (the guy with the wing-span, 5000 calorie a day food habit and drawer-full of Olympic medals) uses one or at least doesn't object to having one Photoshopped onto his likeness.

I have to admit feeling a bit ambivilent about this one. Granted the TA has been known to use music on the run, but never on the bike, but in the pool? We can't help but feel it would take way from the concentration required to hit that stroke each and every time, but then for a long slow swim? Our own mental jury is out on this one. You?

Just don't try and get one past the TD on race-day! Despite being brand-spanking new they are already covered in the competition rules and yes, the officials will be watching!

AD

This Week In The News

Firstly, the story of Dan Martin from the UK, setting off on a world-wide triathlon which will see him swim the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to France, ride across Eurasia, swim (again) to Canada and run across Canada back to NS. Seeing Nova Scotia get name-checked twice in the one article (on the BBC no less) sent a frisson down our collective Orca. We see he'll be riding across Siberia in the winter, when the weather promises to be anything but clement. Of course, if he was any kind of triathlete at all he'd get on the trainer and virtually ride across Siberia, but there's no accounting for taste, eh?


Perhaps more alarming than even riding across Siberia in the snow is the story that GPS network performance is about to be significantly degraded by solar activity. Being an august and venerable news organisation the BBC reported this in terms of degraded sat-nav performance for emergency services or even public transit (apparently some trains won't open their doors until the GPS tells them to! In our day there was a bloke in the rear carriage who pressed a button when all was clear, kinda old and klutzy we know but he wasn't sensitive to solar flares!). Anyway, surely of more importance is what will this do to our Garmins, and by extension the Garmin-Transitions pro cycling squad? Will the latter just fade away for ten minutes at random intervals? We're used to the sporting pro's "woulda, coulda, shoulda" (in any sport) but I'd love to hear Vaughters use that as an excuse. And then there are our wrist-mounted units. They are finnicky enough at the moment without this. The TA knows of one person whose Forerunner has a Bermuda Triangle Of Death around the Robie/Cogswell interchange where it just point blank drops out every time. Interference from the Armories condo development or perhaps the donair/pizza joint on the corner, who knows? The last thing we need is an even more wavering signal. On the other hand, we can't wait to hear this in TZ or the finishing corral "well I missed a PB due to solar activity".


At the banquet Luke MacDonald from A1 did a variation on his usual shoe-draw and the upshot was that one TNS member donated eight (yes eight) pairs of running shoes to the Kidsfest programme and ended up scoring two pairs of runners for themselves. We wonder if the lucky winner read about the way running shoes have supposedly changed the way we run (and this was in Nature so it must be true!). Does the proliferation of hip and knee injuries (not to mention all the associated parts in-between; ITB anyone)? correlate to those nice cushioned shoes we're all in? Certainly some people think so. I don't know if it means anything, but Pheidippides did the original marathon either barefoot or at most rocking a pair of circa 490BC Athenian Army issue unposted sandals and whereas he might have dropped dead at the end of it, no mention is made of whether his feet were, in fact, killing him.

Finally, there are many routes into triathlon. The swimmers may win all the medals, but that doesn't stop the runners from joining in and having a good time. In fact hockey players, soccer players and skiers have all found a home at TNS. The TA, as you may have noticed, came into this through cycling and is following avidly the kick-off of the European racing season. We noticed that Tom Boonen won the sprint in Stage 3 of the Tour de Qatar with a 72.8 kph sprint. This is pretty much the TA's all-time speed record, which we set coming off Arthur's Seat in the 1998 Hogmanay Triathlon (the descent somewhat enlivened by a mini-roundabout half-way down!). Looking at the pictures we realized that Tornado Tom does in fact, bear a striking resemblance to ex-TNS treasurer Gerrad Lewin. Separated at birth? We need to know.



Speaking of which, what it your bicycle speed record? Let us know!

Stay warm

AD

What's wrong with being board?

Last Saturday (January 30th) saw both the awards banquet and the AGM. The awards banquet was well attended, with over 80 people at the Banook Canoe Club to eat, drink and generally be merry. Many thanks to all who helped out with the evening; big kudos to Sarah Wood for pulling it all together and herding the cats, to Luke MacDonald from A1 and Peter Eagle from Maritime Campus for a table of sweet draw-prizes and to our guest-speakers local ultra-runners Dave Nevitt and Ray Williams.

We also recognised our champions from 2009; Ryan MacDonald and Heather Doucette won the Provincial Championship race over the Oympic distance at Bridgetown back in August. This is the second time that Heather's name has been engraved on the Provincial Champions' trophy, but it was the first time that Ryan's name makes an appearance. We suspect it will not be the last. Bridgetown also saw the inaugural Provincial Sprint Championships, won by Emily Wood and Parker Vaughan. All the top-three winners at Bridgetown received plaques at the banquet from RD Mike Parker.

2009 Olympic Provincial and Points Series Champions; Ryan MacDonald and Heather Doucette

A full list of age-group winners, based on overall performance in all TNS events over the season, will be posted on the website, but both the womens' and mens' series saw a tie at the top. For the ladies, eleven events run over a variety of distances were unable to separate Emily Wood and Heather Doucette, whilst in the men a similar state of affairs left Ryan MacDonald and Parker Vaughan at the top.

2009 Point Series and Provincial Sprint Championship winners; Emily Wood and Parker Vaughan

The 2009 TNS Community Award was awarded to Jennifer and Jason Lawton, and Jason was present to accept the award on behalf of them both. Jennifer and Jason are stepping back from their coaching duties at TNS but have left behind them a robust coaching scene, having established a cadre of trained coaches who work at the Elite and community level. The award also recognised their work in relation to the Canada Games. where they coached athletes who more than held their own against the triathlon powerhouses that are British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec and firmly put Nova Scotia on the national triathlon map.

Jennifer and Jason Lawton at the 2007 PATCO C'ships in Edmonton

A few affairs were sorted out at the AGM that preceded dinner. Treasurer Philip Caulier presented the finances. Last year he presented a balanced budget and we came in right on the nickel. This year, the budget is $900 in the red. We have enough in the bank to cover this shortfall this year, but we will look more closely at both fund-raising and costs.

After much discussion it was not felt necessary to change the fee-structure and it remains unchanged from last year. It will cost $40, $25 and $10 to be full adult, youth or KOS members respectively. Juniors (16-18) will pay the adult fee. Day-fees are $20 for adults and youth and $5 for KOS. As with this year, if you do two races as a day-member, you will eligible to be a full member. Unfortunately, the TNS Prospective Member Tracking Software is as defunct as the TNS Member Tracking Software ever was (surely we can get a computer to do this) so for the time being you'll have to gently remind us at the TNS table in TZ that this is your second race as a day-member and it will be done. There is also a $30 day fee for teams. You will be able to pay your 2010 membership on-line at Atlantic Chip soon.

The board was also elected. We welcome Ken Grandy back to the Board, in the position of Athlete and Coaching Development. Kevin Piggot was elected to the Board for the first time, taking the position of Elite Team Manager. Also on the Board for the first time is Brett Philips, as a member-at-large. Rounding out the numbers are Andrew Dacanay (President), Kevin Doran (Vice-President), Philip Caulier (Treasurer), Linda McLeod (Technical), Sarah Wood (KOS Director) and as members-at-large, Paul Shaw, Mike Todd, Ryan Kemp, Pat MacDonald and Shannon Read. Good luck all as we go into another year.

Many thanks to everyone for both the AGM and the awards; good work was done at the AGM and good fun was had afterward at dinner. It was great to spend an evening amongst friends, and we hope you had a good time too. By the way, the TA forgot it's collective camera, so if you have any photos of the evening you'd like to share with the TA, and by extension the TNS family, please send them on.

AD