REMEMBRANCE DAY CEREMONIES 2010

I attended Sir Wilfrid Laurier High School today as the Guest Speaker. It was an amazing experience; 1500 students, staff and honoured guests. The gym was packed. I am very glad that I went to speak with the students last week to gain an appreciation of what it is they feel about Remembrance Day and its relevancy in today's world. When I initially asked the question, what to you think of when you remember…and, why do you remember…to my surprise the answer was, 'its too difficult a question to answer!'. So I decided that I would help them find a small part of their answer. I focused on the journey of the injured soldier.

There is no Highway of Heroes for the injured soldier. There is no ticker tape parade celebrating their return. No on really knows who these people are or how they are doing? Its like the injured are hidden away from the public eye, never to be seen again. While this is not entirely true, we rarely remember the injured because we rarely see them. I secretly wish that someday we will see injured soldiers in uniform in the main street parades atop military pattern vehicles specially draped with wound stripes or some other sort of insignia denoting those that have survived serious injury and sitting atop this vehicle. Its a way for the faces of injured to come forward. Its a way for the injured to be integrated and welcomed back into their units. Its all about INCLUSION.

I believe that the definition of the ultimate sacrifice needs to be broadened somewhat. I believe that the definition should include the sacrifices of the injured. When a soldier loses an arm, leg, both or all four limbs, or with a traumatic brain injury - these are parts of their bodies that are never coming back. Is this not part of the ultimate sacrifice?

I remember because I can. I remember because I do not want any injured soldier to feel that they have been forgotten and that their sacrifices have gone unnoticed or even worse, forgotten. I have decided that I will take notice and I will remember them. I am still on active duty because I decided that I am STILL FIT TO FIGHT for my country.

Kim on Oprah

Yes, seeing is believing !! 1Leg (me) appeared on Oprah in Oct 2008 in a segment with Alicia Keyes and the cast of Life According to Bees. It was an awesome experience. My picture is featured at the very end of the song & video - look out for the yellow bike jersey. Caption reads, "Kimberly / Amputee Triathlete / Captain / Canadian Air Force". My two seconds of fame is the greatest ever but only because it was on OPRAH !!

COLD WATER SWIM TRAINING

At zero dark buffalo this morning, icky here dawned her wetsuit for the last
of the seasons open water swims. Its October 8th and I am about to step
into the lake at Petrie Island.

To be honest, the water is not that cold. About 14 celcius so not that bad.
I would not want to stay in the water any longer than 25-30 mins though. It
was 6:45am a few minutes before sunrise when I took my first step into the
water. I was pleasantly surprise; not too bad at all. The water was as
still as ever this morning. As soon as the sun broke the horizen, the most
beautiful hue of orange and pink streamed through the clouds and onto the
water. It made for a picturesque camera shot for sure.

The best time to do cold water training truthfully in the fall. I truly
dislike the early spring swims because the water is infinitely colder. I
forgot my ear plugs this morning though...my only regret. Ear plugs do a
great job to stop cold water getting into your inner ear and causing brain
freeze. Very annoying particularly when you are trying to get up out of the
water. Its like having vertigo - inner ear imbalance. Good thing I
remembered them for Budapest.

It was a beautiful morning and I feel refreshed. Mind you, I just took a
long hot shower so I am feeling awesome. A hot cocoa in front of the
fireplace and by lunchtime, I should be ready to go for a run.

Have a great long weekend everyone.

Kim got the Bronze!!!

I've got a soaking wet, slightly disappointed, but overall content Kimberly upstairs here in the hotel.  She had a great race, but just couldn't run as hard as she wanted to - the mind was there, but the leg(s) couold only do so much.  Once I look after the care and feeding of my little triathlete, I'll write more!!

Day 5 in Budapest

Quiet day in Budapest.  Lots of race prep.  Getting ready to head down to the transition area to drop off Kim's bike - it's rainy, so we are going to get wet!!  Got some nice emails from CF members (including the CDS - thanks sir!!)  Kim seems pretty calm and ready to race, so all is good!!

End of Day 4 in Budapest

Well, it was a long and busy day here in Budapest.  Got up early for a team breakfast, followed by a trip (for Kim) down to the race site for registration.  I headed into Pest to recce out the other spots we would be visiting today.  We linked up for the Paratriathlete Briefing at 1330 and went to the Team Canada Meet and Greet at a local sports bar (owned by an expat Canadian and, supposedly, Wayne Gretzky).  This was followed by the Team Canada photo.  While the rest of the team headed out for the opening ceremonies, we headed over to the Hotel Intercontinental to get Kim classified.  So, according to the experts, Kim is actually missing her right leg above the knee - can you see the sarcasm at all?  Anyway, she has officially been classified and can qualify for medals now.

We will head down to the race site again tomorrow, to check out the newly-set up transition area and to drop Kim's bike off.  After that, it is all race prep, all of the time...

I think I will go and drink a tasty beer now...

2010 Accenture USA Paratriathlon National Championship

Day 3 in Budapest

Hi All,

Overall, another good day.  Did a bit of bike work with Kim this morning.  I (2Legs) then went out for a 16k run (not entirely intentionally...)  Went to the Race site and watched the Aquathon (Swim/Run competition).  Had a good lunch, then a nap, then some mental skills training.  Kim is now writing out her race plan for Saturday, while I am slaving away over this blog.

The race site is pretty nice.  The only issue we are having right now is that the water temp is 14 friggin' Celcius - kinda chilly.  This may stop the paras from going for a pre-race familiarization swim, as they tend to suffer in the water more than the average age-group athlete.  I ran the bike/run course today - relatively flat, so it should be fast!!

Took lots of pictures, so they will be up as soon as I figure out how to upload them!!

End of Day 2 in Budapest

Busy day!!  As mentioned earlier, Kim went for a swim with the team.  She got to meet some of the elite Team Canada athletes and had a good workout.  Did some mental skills training later with the coaches, put together her bike and did some transition training.  Had a nice meal at a swanky restaurant and am now thinking very hard about going to bed.  Tomorrow will be a route recce of the bike course and some more mental skills training.  As far as I'm concerned, Kim doesn't need any mental training...

Have a good one.

Here in Budapest!!

OK, we made it.  Long flight but all right.  Bit of an adventure to get downtown from the airport, but nothing too crazy.  It is 0900 on Tuesday morning - Kim is off for a Team Canada swim with her para teammates.  There are about 8 of them, along with 2 coaches.  I am off to look for coffee - in my humble opinion, a more important mission than swimming...

Budapest is very nice.  Lots of old buildings and tons of tourists.  It is sunny outside and a bit cool.  All of the triathletes are contemplating what they are going to wear on race day because of the coolness.

Our hotel is nice.  Food is pretty good and cheap - paid the equivalent of $10 last night for a pizza and a 1/2 litre beer - most awesome, I must say!!

We'll put together Kim's bike later this afternoon, then do a transition skills session.  Tomorrow we'll go for a bike ride - you take your life into your hands biking on some of these roads, so I'll have to do a bit of a recce later.

More to follow later!!!

One week until Budapest!!

This week had a few rough patches, but training has gone well. I am fit and I am so ready to race. I have been ready for over a month now and trying to stay mentally sharp has been a challenge. Run training this week was phenomenal - thank you Helen Cooper. Bike training was also good. We had some major winds to contend with this week - parts of Hurricane Earl, I think. Really challenged me to figure out how to handle my bike with race wheels. Its all good. So if there is any wind, I'm still going to burn up the course. Same same with swim training. I am very ready. Many thanks to Vicki Keith and Tom Anzai.

Mentally, I have had to re-read Terry Orlick, Pursuit of Excellence (some chapters more so than others) to help keep my brain in the zone. I find the 'waiting' for the race rather tiresome and my mind tends to stray away. When I do that…I tend to start picking apart my training in an effort to get the technique a bit stronger, or more fluid or whatever. What I did was in effect, start getting down on myself. NO NO NO…not a good thing to do. So, I had to go back read some of the passages that applied to me, and revamp. I am as ready for the race as I have ever been. Trust in my training, trust in my coaches, and trust in me !! I'm good. I can start to taper and just enjoy life.

Next week is Team Canada's inaugural paratriathlon training camp. The focus is mental skills training, and race course familiarization. I'm so thrilled by this opportunity. It will give me a chance to learn how to analyze the course and determine a race strategy. I have my own race mission (which I will execute flawlessly)…but having a strategy based on what the ground tells me, will help me tweak the execution. Always be flexible…this is what I have learned. If you have never seen the race site - I have never been to Budapest - you have to have a race mission that is flexible. If there are mountains to climb, or cobblestones to run over…the plan will change slightly !!

My bike is packed and my suitcase is 1/2 packed. I will finish up tomorrow by noon. Then its off to the airport for 1400h. Our flight does not leave until 1715h but I want to be early to permit the Transport Authority to inspect my bike box before I seal it up. That way, I can avoid having it re-inspected while in Frankfurt and my bike should arrive all in one piece.

I will try and blog everyday right up until we return home…to give everyone a play by play of how I am doing and feeling as we get closer to race day. How exciting. I'm so stoked !!

Update from Kimberly

Hi everyone!

Well a couple of good things have happened since my last post.

I had a great interview with Carolyn Waldo of CTV Sports. She's an amazing women and a true inspiration to me. Carolyn is helping me document my road to the World Paratriathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary on September 11th. Please be sure to watch !!

I also had some promotional photography done by G.R. Martin photography. Julie and Guy are phenomenal photographers and I am so fortunate to be working with them. We did a running photo shoot up at Major's Hill Park. It took a few 100 snaps to get the right shot, but I believe we got it. Sunset and Parliament in the background. Can't wait to show them off.

Unfortunately I had a bad fall while running over the weekend. Road paint, wet weather conditions, and a running flex foot don't mix !! If they call it road rash when a bike slips off its wheels, wonder what I should call a slip off a prosthetic...a road wax? Was thinking that leg wax can remove hair on your leg just as effectively as the road will falling off your leg!! I am out for Nationals in Kelowna however. My running leg goes in for a tune up next week. I want to make certain its ready for Budapest and there are no surprises.

Gotta go.

Post New York City Tri & Ironman Lake Placid

Hello everyone.  1 Leg Reporting - Well, the NYC Tri was a blast.  Had an excellent 1500m swim (00:22:17) which was a personal best, and beat the two USA girls I was told that I would never beat !! Ha ! Swimming in the Hudson River - not so OK.  Salty and the small amount I swallowed (accidentally) caused me some gastro issues that took a week to resolve. Very very humid day, 102 F.  Made the bike hard - made breathing hard.  Great day overall.

OK, a week later and we are off to Lake Placid for the Ironman.  Curtis and I were both a little nervous - me moreso because I was not feeling so great following the NYC Tri.  Remember, I swallowed water from the Hudson.  The weather was absolutely perfect though.  Water temperature equally perfect.  The race started at 0700h.  Off we went.  The first loop for Curtis was uneventful.  He started wide and swam inward towards the buoy.  I drew the straw to wait and then pick my way through the slower swimmers.  Plan A - Curtis' plan - worked like a dream.  Plan B - Kim's plan - sucked !!  I got some dude's big toe up my right nostril that gave me a bloody nose.  Grooming gentlemen…they care called toenail clippers !?!  After I shake that off I run into another kook who's punching out everyone who passes him.  The guy clocked me so hard, it popped my ear plug out and I was seeing stars.  I was so angry, and swam up beside the guy and elbowed him in the gut and then blasted off past him.  Can you say 'jerk' or what?  Guy had issues with being passed by a chick with one leg.  Well get used to it buddy…I'll be back again next year too !!  My race was slower than my norm, but I finished the full swim and that was the goal.  Curtis had a great swim too and a really good bike up until the 120km mark.  His left knee started to bother him so he took it a bit easy for the last 70km.  No biggy, onto the run.  It was a tough run, but he made it through.  CURTIS SMITH YOU ARE AN IRONMAN; 15:25:10.  Long day, but a great one.  I am so proud of my IRONMAN.  He rocks !!

Ironman LP is here!!!

Here we are - Kim and I are sitting in the Starbucks in Lake Placid, waiting for the transition area to open at 5am (it's currently 0429). We are both kinda nervous, but excited too. Actually got a bit of sleep - whenever I happened to wake up, I grabbed a bite of sandwich (peanut butter, of course) or a sip of my Gatorade.
Swim should be fine - key is to stay calm and to swim steady. Same strategy for the bike - easy for the first hour so I can eat and drink, then pick up the pace for the remainder of the first loop and all of the second. Key to the run is to start easy and pick things up (and people off) on the second loop.
Kim is doing the swim. When asked for a quote she said "Blah, blah blah" (I wasn't paying attention...). Actually, she said "Time to get it done. Be glad when it's over!"
More to follow!!


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Busy Weekend!!

Hi all - 2Legs here,

Racing season has officially begun!!  My first race was actually last Sunday (Limestone), but this weekend is chock full of goodness!!  I'm doing the Law Day 5K today in downtown Ottawa - nice and easy, just a workout.  Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Cumberland Duathlon with the lovely and talented 1 Leg - I'll do the first run and the bike (2.5k and 20k respectively) and she'll do the final 2.5k run.  Still haven't decided what bike I'm going to use - my old reliable Trek 1000 or my borrowed Quintana Roo Tequilo.  Got some work to do tonight to sort that out!!  Finally, on Sunday, I'm doing some kind of run at the Place d'Orleans race - 1/2 marathon or 10k (depending on how I feel).  Watch here for our results!!

Limestone Race Weekend 5K

22:37 - not bad, but not great...

Decided to do this race as of last Tuesday.  Figured that it would be a good test and it would also give me the opportunity to visit my Mom for her 49+ birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!)

Went in wanting to do somewhere in the 20-21 minute range - 20:32 would have been ideal, as it would have beat the recent time of one of my Lions Track Club Teammates (Hi Cathy!)

Nice day in Kingston - cool to start, but good overall.  Had a good warmup - had just enough time to pick the Mayflies out of my teeth prior to starting the race.  The Town Crier made a bit of a speech and off we went - 5K & 1/2 Marathon runners started at the same time, from in front of Kingston City Hall.  I had a strong 1st km, bringing in a 3:57 - right on pace.  Then the wheels fell off...

At the 2 km point, I started feeling really winded and the energy kinda left my legs.  I was in some trouble, so I had to make a command decision - I stopped running and walked for about 20 sec.  People were passing me, but I didn't care - I needed to do a "hard reset" and get back to work.  I started running again and felt better.  I caught a few people who had passed me, but kept an evil eye on my pace - it was measuring between 4:15 and 4:17.  Afraid to go any harder, I kept at this for the next 2 km,

I picked things up a bit for the final km and came in fairly strong.  I learned a few lessons here (negative splits!!!) and will put these into play at my next race - NEXT WEEKEND!!

Thanks to 1 Leg and my Mom & Dad for cheering me on!!

Running the Hills

Everyone please take note! I conquered Blair Road hill....me... the chickadee with one leg. It was tough but I now know that I can do it. The tough part was actually coming down the hill. I have no break ability on my prosthetic. So in effect, I'm hopping down the hill on the steep parts. As it slowly flattens out, I can start running again. It was a little 'out of control' on the first time down the hill. I really had no control of the speed, so I decided to just to be one with the wind. Thank goodness I didn't fall - it would have hurt - alot !!

YEAAAAHHHHHH...I did it !! Another mountain conquered.

Lots of Stuff Going On!!

It's been a while since we've put anything up here and there is A LOT GOING ON!!!

First off, we got an email from Triathlon Canada this evening - Kim has officially been named to the National Paratriathlon Team for the 2010 World Triathlon Championships being held in Budapest this September.  Yay!!!  We've been waiting for this word for a while now and it came at absolutely a perfect time!!

Second, Kim has recently gotten some absolutely awesome support from her coaches and a few sponsors have stepped up to the plate to support her efforts.  We'll blog a bit more about that soon, as we want to give these great people the attention they deserve.

Our training has been going very well.  Kim is running better than ever (as am I) and we are both swimming fairly strong.  More to follow on the biking - we have to hit the roads harder!!!

Stay tuned!!

Good Training Weekend

Hi All,

So, Kim & I had a good solid training weekend. Started off with a 3:15 bike on Saturday (our longest yet) at Cyclelogik. Ian put us through our paces and we left with sore butts!!! Nothing that a soak in the tub couldn't cure, though.

Sunday was the Winterman 1/2 Marathon. I went in with two goals - 1. Beat my time of 1:49 that I laid down in Afghanistan in November, and 2. See how the body reacts to a long post-bike run. I am happy to report that I did beat my Afghanistan time (not by much - depending on who's timing you use, it was either by 5 or 30 seconds!) and that my body reacted fairly well. Sore knees today, but I am walking around reasonably well. On another note, if I had entered the 5km race, I would have (in all likelihood) won my age group - thanks Helen & the Lions!!

Stay chilly!!

The 3-Hr Bike Challenge

Yes, we accepted the challenge and we both made it !?! It was a very tough class but exhilerating at the same time. Using our heart rate monitors, we started at a relatively low heart rate level. The goal was to maintain a good solid spin rate with a stabilized heart rate - something you could easily maintain for an extended period of time (for about the first 60 mins). Then the paced picked up and by about the 2 hr mark, we were spinning at the top of our zone 3 (very hard). While we were up in this range for 3 sets of 3 mins high zone 3 followed by a momentary reprive in the low zone 3 range. OK, let me explain that low zone three is NOT a reprive by any measure. We maintained this tempo for about 12 mins in total. I thought I was going to puke after the 3rd set. Curtis and I were both in the hurt locker. Spinning beside Curtis is always a challenge when we are working hard because he sweats so much. Gadzuks there was a pond developing below his bike and it was heading my way!! When sweat is flying everywhere, the last place you want to be is right beside him. Good thing I love him dearly!! Once our zone 3 sets were over, we started our decline back into the more gentler kinder zone of 2 and then 1. You would have thought that at the end of 3 hr class there would have been a resounding 'hooray'!? But no. There was only silence. I felt great afterwards. My muscles weren't sore and my butt was in good shape, but I didn't want to be the only one to yelp, 'good job'. I must admit that sometimes, I do have the advantage in having only one leg. I only feel half the exhaustion, pain and stress. I can use my prosthetic leg to give my biological leg a break. So if my knee is starting to hurt, and use my prosthetic side more to give my biological side a break. Its particularly advantageous for longer distances. Thank God. I have finally found the one advantage over people with two legs where a prosthetic actually comes in handy. Things to make you go, hmmmmmm !

Kim Running - January 2010

As promised, here is a video of Kim running 6 months later. See how much more relaxed and smoother her stride is. Awesome!!!

Kim Running - June 2009

Here's a video of Kim running on an outdoor track in June 2009. Compare it with the video that I am going to put up in our next post. You rock Kim!!

Busy Week!!

Well, Kim & I just had a very busy week!  After getting back from Lake Placid last Friday (1 Jan 10), we had our first spin class of the year at Cyclelogik.  I found it pretty tough to get back on the bike after just 2 weeks off, but managed to gut it out for our 90 minute session.  Kim had a good workout and our "Red Green" fix for her cycling leg (i.e. duct tape) seems to be working fine.  This past Saturday (9 Jan 10) was good too - this time it was 105 minutes!!
I finally went back to work on Monday after a full month off.  Should be a good job - wearing DEUs again will take some getting used to!  Kim and I have our pick-up/drop-off situation relatively sorted out - she kicks me out at King Edward and Rideau in the morning and picks me up at the gas station across from the Constitution Building at night.
Had two pretty good workouts with the Lions this week, too.  Kim's run is coming around very well - she should be good to go for her races this summer.  I had a strong session on Monday and managed to top it on Wednesday - one of the members of our group was flying and the rest of us just tagged along for the ride!!
I booked a vacation for Kim & I this week too - we're heading to Orlando at the end of March.  Looking forward to warming up a bit and getting in the water - Kim's buying some swimsuits as I write this!!  I managed to get us into Sea World's Discovery Cove to swim with some dolphins, something that Kim has really wanted to do for a while.  Cool, eh?
Keep watching for some photos from over Christmas!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

Happy New Year everyone. We just returned home from Lake Placid. The trip was a lot of fun and I am glad we went. We tried out the bobsled run ! Holy crow !! Think we managed to get up to speeds in and around 55mph (89km/h)...and our start point was only 1/2 way up the race course ! Not for the faint of heart. A highly recommended activity if you have a need for speed. The skeleton course was also open to us, but somehow barreling down this same course head first just was not in the cards for either one of us. We also tried Biathlon. OK, this was a bust for me. I now know why they push the sleds on AK amputees. The range was fun though - typical for a military soldier. Curtis hit 5/5 targets. I shot a whopping goose egg !! This is where I have to admit that I actually needed my glasses. Drats !!

We are heading off to our endurance cycling class very shortly. Looking forward to burning off a few calories from our New Years Eve dinner. If anyone reads this blog, we highly recommend the Paradox Lodge. The rooms are cottage like, and the chef is world renown. Chef Fred (or Red as he likes to be called) is amazing. I had lamb and Curtis had venison, and I don't think we will need to eat for at least one more day.

Well that's all for now. A couple more days to go before we head back to work. Aarrgggg.