Hey everyone! It's now 22:30 and I'm just getting ready to go out on the town! Not really, unfortunately the life of a 29 triathlete does not permit that kind of a lifestyle. If only I was 25 again lol! I'm too old to burn the candle at both ends...unless any hot girls wanna go out, then I'll make a special effort.

Anyway, just a quick update on my week so far. Since my return from the capital (Washington for all you dumbos out there) I have been training pretty hard. After reviewing my race performance last week-end I decided to get back into those mountains and work that bike with my new found excitement to train. Even though I was tired during the bike leg of the race due to hammering those mountains for the past two weeks I was determined to smash through the fatigue and get that strength work in motion. Unfortunately after racing Joe Gambles and Simon Thompson on the Wednesday on a 100km ride, then swimming and running hard, I was pretty much done. Hence the new found enthusiasm and excitment had somewhat wavered lol!

The next day started off positive. The new found drive had returned and the previous day fatigue was long gone. So Lars Finanger and I (his blog is the Daily Expresso) set out early at 06:20 for the BAM open water swim at the Boulder res. I was flying! (even if I do say so myself). We met a few of the guys down there which consisted of Michael Lovato and Chris "Big Sexy" McDonald (Lars calls him "big sexy" mmm) and completed a few laps of the 800m course. I was accused of cheating by cutting the course...but it's ALL LIES I TELL YOU! The session is led by Jane Scott and has BAM members life guarding the res for us. It's an awesome set up. Well I put in some big efforts and was pretty proud of myself at the end of the swim. Michael and I discussed a time to meet for the ride and this is where things turned a little pear shaped.

If any of you guys have read Lars's blog you'll have heard that he's been "really ill" this week lol! He's posted it enough times. Emily (his wife) and I lost all sympathy for him on the 70th time he mentioned from the sofa about how ill he is ha ha! I actually totally understand what he's saying...he's got "man flu!" It's not like the regular flu chicks get...this is far worse, they just can't understand. The only thing that might come close to what "man flu" feels like is actually giving birth, and we all know the women have used that one way too much already lol!

Anyway, back to my story. Michael, Lars and I met for our ride. Lars turned back early as he had to work (and he's been really ill), and this is where the fun starts for me. Michael was like a horse on caffeine (not sure what that means, but you get the picture). He was hammering down on those pedals like he was fighting for his life. I meanwhile was struggling next to him, pretending to sound fine as I was talking about something extremely interesting again to let him know that this pace was easy! But that didn't last long. I blew to bits! After 115km of watching Michael zoom off down the rode, then wait for me, then zoom off again whilst I tried to hang onto his wheel each time this happened, I was done. I informed him of my state of fatigue "Michael...just go...SAVE YOURSELF!!!" Anyway, fortunately he turned off right which allowed me to totally drop the pace and role on home. During this time it dawned on me just how screwed I was. I was just barely turning the cranks on my bike...20km/hour!!! Thats how much I'd bonked. I was starving! All I could think of was cheesburgers, sausage rolls, hot dogs, milk, cakes. I was so hungry I could smell the grass on the side of the road...and it smelled amazing, so good I was tempted to eat it! Everyone out there that has bonked this much knows what I'm talking about. I was just glad Michael...or any of my training buddies wasn't here to see this, how embaressing if they ever knew! I was glad however that my chick radar and libido was still working even in this state. I noticed a woman on the side of the road whilst coming into Boulder...very tasty, so just for that few seconds I had to perk up and ride strong just to impress ha ha! Mission accomplished.

Well if anyone asks me what I think heaven is like. Then I'd say that it's like totally blowing to bits on your bike to the state of deliriousness and then making it home to a fridge or cupboard full of food!!! I devoured everything I could get my hands on and it was the best feeling ever!

By the way, I don't dress like I have in this picture for my rides in the mountains. It's just the only photo I could download with a picture of me on my bike lol!

So the rest of the day was left free to organise stuff...yes you lot, I am organised. I even brought myself a planner to stick up on my bedroom door...oh I also put some posters up of me on my wall next to Mark Allen lol! Motivation technique.

That evening consisted of me being in a semi-concious state whist watching the NUGGETS vs LA LAKERS! Awesome game! So good actually that Lars comepared it to a "dance off"!............Silence filled the lounge. A DANCE OFF! HAHA! That woke me up! Disgraceful! He could have compared it to Muhammed Ali and George Foreman...but a dance off? WTF?! I think he regretted that one straight away. I accused him of watching "So you think you can dance". Which he denied vehemently!

Anyway, as it happens I woke up Friday morning feeling ill. SO the moral of me telling that Lars was ill and the fact that I blew to bits was all leading to the conclusion that I too am ill. Hence why I felt so poor on the bike. I'll be ok though, don't feel sorry for me.

Oh I forgot to mention that I have now had a profile issued on an awesome website called tritalk.com. Check it out, there's loads of awesome athletes, news etc on there.

Anyway, gotta go to bed as I have a big day tomorrow riding in the mountains with a group of training buddies.

Take care readers!

HADLEY

Hey everyone! Well Columbia triathlon has been completed by me once again.

The trip to Baltimore started off pretty good. At first I was slightly panicked as I couldn't find parking at the airport. Once I did I ran through the carpark with my luggage eventually reaching the checkouts with an hour to spare before take off. I was hot and tired and was constanly reminded by my Dads words to me "JIM! Why are you always late??? You have to be more professional! I bet the other Pro athletes are nothing like this...I bet they're here two hours before take off!" I felt disapointed as I realised that he might be right...however I then saw my friend and training buddy Michael Lovato (husband to Amanda) at the airport checking in behind me... he was surprisingly even more late than I was. It was great to see him but even better to know that there was a professional athlete that had a similar regard for time management as myself...I realised then that there was hope for me yet ha ha.

As I went to get my ticket though I was offered to take the later plane and recieve a $450 credit for another flight. I took it, but unfortunatley Michael and I were separated on different flights lol! I felt sorry for him as I know that he must have been so excited to sit by me thoughout the journey to Baltimore, but hey life is tough sometimes lol!!!
I sat down on the seats reading my book looking very nonchalant and cocky as everyone was standing and waiting in line to be seated for the next flight. When I finally boarded the next flight the smile was wiped off my face as I noticed that there was only one seat left, and the guy sitting in his seat and also half of my empty seat was probably weighing in excess of 300 pounds! I squashed myself in next to him as comfortably as possible. This situation was far too intimate for me...I felt like his bitch lying in bed next to him! All I could feel was his hot sweat seeping through my t-shirt! Oh can it get worse??? Well it did. We got delayed on the tarmac for an hour and half! We looked like little and large! I couldn't help but chuckle at first, and that soon became a total giggle fit on the plane which was also embarressing. The only good thing that came out of the flight was that the airhostess that was serving me was the hottest chick I have ever seen!!! I fell in love..for the 3rd time that day (there was two other hot chicks I noticed earlier on in the airport). Anyway, I saved my flirtatious charms as I didn't really didn't think being soaked in another mans sweat by sitting next to the big guy out of Austin Powers was going to be much of a help lol! Don't get me wrong I have nothing against over weight people, I just don't like sharing my seat as I paid good money for it. I wouldn't mind so much if it was female though.

Anyway enough chit chat, lets get to the race report!

Everything went well and the Columbia triathlon was great from the start of the week-end. The organisation was awesome, and the venue was beautiful! We even had an expo at the sheriton that was most impressive.
Race day morning was a little cold for me, but the decision was made to swim without wetsuits. I went out hard with my mate Michael Lovato to the left of me. We got a little boxed out from the main pack on the left hand side which eventuated in me getting dropped by the main pack. Which is frustrating for me as I should have been up there. It was fresh water so very little buoyancy. It made the swim tough but I started to pick it up well in the last 400 meters. I exited the water and hammered out onto the bike course. After 5km Michael Lovato went passed me even though I was thought I was grinding away pretty good. I was cold and my legs just didn't seem to be firing too well. I just put my head down and fought against the rain, but I couldn't help noticing the awesome houses around the area!!! They were huge!
To be honest despite not having ran for 7 weeks I was looking forward to getting off the bike just so I could get warm whilst running.

After 40km and half a bottle of drink I lunged off the bike and made my way to the run course. Now, the cycle course was tough...but the run course was even tougher! Beautiful though. Terrenzo was way ahead in the distance in his battle to win against Andrew Yoder and I was in 6th position holding off the chase from Adam Webber and Holden Comeau. I could feel in my legs with every stride the harsh impact on the tarmac due to the lack of run training. It was cold so the first 3 miles seemed to hurt that little bit more. The calfs were tight and the quads were heavy. Webber caught up to me on mile 4 but to my relief the warmth in my veins had reached the muscles. I got fired up and started to smash the down hills as hard and as fast as my legs could go. I remember Craig Alexander pulled away from me in training one day on a down hill with tremendous speed. He then said to me afterwards "mate...you gotta learn how to run downhill, it's where you can drop them". He was right, and now was a good time to demonstrate that fact.

Anyway, I continued with that effort until I reached the finish line in 6 th position.
Overall I wasn't disapointed with my race, but I am not satisfied at all either. The swim was ok, but not good and the bike portion was a big surprise as I really expected to perform a lot better than what I did. The only thing that I was pleased with was the run. I haven't ran for such a long time, and yet it was my most saisfiable discipline of the day. Anyway, in general i like to take each and every race as a learning experience. The most important part of being an athlete is the state of mind. As long as you maintain a sheer determination to perform at your absolute best at all times, and the fire is roaring in the heart then there is always hope and the dream is still alive. Ha ha! It's true but for some reason it sounded good in my head, but real pathetic on paper!

My next race is Eagleman or Kansas so back to Boulder now to work on the problems that I have exposed from this race.

Anyway, I'm in my hotel room now writing up this and also organising my day trip for tomorrow...well, I am near Washington so I might as well go and see the sights!!!
Take care and speak to you soon

HadmeisterGeneral

Hi there! Me again. Well it's race week! My next race is this Sunday so I just booked my tickets last night to Columbia in Washington DC. I'm not a big fan of writing too much about triathlon as I tend to go off on a tangent about other things, but as it's my job and most of the readers of my blog are triathletes this is a special edition haha! All about triathlon today...well mostly. Infact I've changed my mind, lets talk about chicks and booze. I was actually thinking of changing this blog and grasping the opportunity to use it as a triathlon dating agency. Unfortunately I'm just kiddin'.
Anyway back the pre-race report...All is good here at the moment. I've been swimming hard and cycling like Lance (during his retirement lol!) I still haven't been able to run just yet, so I'm counting 6 and a half weeks or something with my feet off the tarmac. I blame the track for this injury along with lack of massage. So for anyone that's wondering...stay off the track unless you're sure you're conditioned enough to handle it, and don't miss out on massage to save the pennies! But most importantly don't try to race Brad Kahlefeldt in training whilst running track cos he'll hurt you. He's only one of the fastest runners in triathlon, but I was convinced I could take him on haha! I learned the hard way.
Anyway, my race tactics are very complicated, so grab a pen and pad and take notes to refer back to. My tactics are to get a 2 minute lead out of the swim, then out bike the next fastest cyclist by 5 minutes, and then jog the run to win the gold! The crowd will be hysterical..."Hadley is the best we've ever seen!" Got that? What? Why you laughing?...Ok obviously that's crap. I'm gonna hang on to whoever I can on the swim, then draft off of whoever I can draft off on the bike, get a time penalty and then blow up on the run. Lol Just kidding again. Just for the record I NEVER draft. It really frustrates me when I see others doing it.
Really I'm going flat out on the swim, flat out on the bike and then flat out on the run. I'm expecting to hurt bad on the run due to lack of run miles and it's a hard course, but that's ok.
Anyway, I know what you're thinking...forget the race, whats happenning after the race? The party? Sorry, all will be revealed in my other blog hadley@pornspot.com
Anyway, thats enough for today. I have to do some training, so speak soon and I'll write up my race report on Monday. Hadmeister

Hi again. Just thought I'd write a little more as I've just worked out how to put photos on this thing...watch out girls you'll be pasted all over my blog page when you least expect it haha! Especially the hot ones. Did you notice the Maxim hot girls of the day at the bottom of the page...thats for the lads to look at. Sorry girls you can look at the pictures of me haha!...maybe not.

Anyway today was a good day. I found out from my physio Bob Cranney that I have periostitis in my soleus muscle. I know I've spelt that wrong, but hey I can't find the spell check on this thing and really I don't care either. But I've had some cortisone cream put on it so all should be good for next week.

Swimming has been going well as has the cycling so I was thinking of taking a trip up to Denver soon as a treat for training so hard and visiting my favourite bar in the world...thats right, Coyote Uglys. If you haven't been there you should. No really it's not about the girls, I don't go to watch them, honestly, I just heard that the music and the beer is real good lol.
I have been trying to drag a few lads up there to go with me, so if you're intersted let me know. Unfortunatley I don't drink anymore so thats kinda ruined it a bit. But the dancers still look good. Judge for yourself...
Well, I'm going out now to grab some dinner with a few friends. See you soon

Hey, this is the Hadmeister. First time I've ever written anything in relation to blogs or website etc so bare with me. This will probably be full of spelling mistakes and stupid stories. I'm not actually sure how to even view my blog once I've written, but thanks to Lars Finanger (who I'm living with along with his wife Emily...oh and the two dogs Thor and Izzy) I've started to actually post something on a blog.

Anyway it's great to be back here in Boulder Colorado after having spent a few months on the Gold Coast of Australia training with an awesome group that consisted of ITU World Cup athlete Brad Kahlefeldt, Tyler Butterfield and Johnny Polson all led by Aussie coach Chris Lang. Training out there was awesome! Beautiful sunshine and great swimming in the outdoor pools...gives me the chance for an all year round tan!

After training on the Gold Coast I felt pretty fit. Despite badly injuring my soleus muscle that put me out of running for six weeks. I picked up the swimming and the cycling so all else is going good. Fortunatley I have been to see legendary physio Bob Cranney. He is in my opinion the best physio I have ever seen. He always gets me fixed up, hence I'll be back running again by the week end, just in time to race Columbia next week.

I'm actually feeling alright at the moment. It's always hard coming to altitude from sea level. It really takes about 2-3 weeks to start feeling good. I arrived here last wednesday evening so to feel and train this well at the moment is a good sign that my fitness is where I want it to be. Either that or I'm stupid and pushing it too hard haha! I'll have blown by this time next week. As long as I'm not injured I don't care about blowing a gasket.
Oh also I don't know if any of you know a guy called Marek Dvorek or however you spell his name. But he's a single (straight...I think) guy that is looking for love haha! So if you have anyone in mind...a blind date even then come down to flatirons pool and ask for him...he's not fussy so don't be shy lol!

Anway I'm excited to send my first post so thats all I'm writing for today.

Tomorrow I'm swimming and then riding Super James for a bit of strength work with Marek.

Speak to you soon