Buntzen Lake is the new Sasamat!

In the GVRD where I live, there's really only two good lakes (nearby) to swim in: Sasamat and Buntzen. I've only ever swam in Sasamat Lake for training, although I've spent a lot of time at the dog off-leash area at Buntzen (as well as running in the trails around the lake; they're amazing trails, not too technical with a good variety of undulation, climbing, and flat!) After a solid 5km swim at Sasamat yesterday, the water was so damn turbid that I happened to tweet about it. Shortly after, some comments were made about how amazing the water was to swim at Buntzen lake; I knew it was far cleaner (glacier fed,) but also much colder. Well, today I decided was the first time to go for a dip, OW swimming style.

GORGEOUS! Can you think of a better place to swim?

Nici and I swam the length of the lake and back (close to 6km's return trip,) and I tell you, I WON'T SWIM SASAMAT ANYMORE!!!! That's right: Buntzen is in, Sasamat is OUT! The water was like glass, I'd refer to it as "God's Mirror," as it was THAT perfect! Nici and I were even greeted by a beer can mid-swim, very thoughtful of the lake! The water was absolutely perfect temperature, SUPER clean & clear, and the perfect length for a solid swim. Even though I had an epically large breakfast, MAN was I starving to death by the end. With 1k to go I was almost sick to my stomach I was so hungry. Same with Nici.This swim completed 16+ km's of swimming in the last 3 days, I'm SUPER thankful for my new Compressport Arm Sleeves to help with recovery; I find they make quite the difference to keep my arms feeling fresh for the next batch of swimming :-)

Relaxing in my arm sleeves, refreshing bevy in hand!

The lake is perfect, I would say it's even nicer than the legendary Thetis lake in Victoria (yeah, you can quote me on that!) Nobody really knows about it, so keep it on the Down Low eh? A giant EMEND recovery shake, along with a delicious frappuccino from Starbucks hit the spot before lunch, enough to keep me going through to a big ride this afternoon (last big one before I head to Penticton to train on the Ironman Canada course.) Get out to Buntzen, and enjoy it! But like Sasamat, you'll need to get there early to avoid the parking lot getting full!

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Happy training everyone, enjoy the sun!

Nathan

Wow....people really read this?

Today was the Vancouver Half Ironman, and boy was it an amazing day! Once I get some photos from my dad (mum and him came out to spectate and CHEER their hearts out, along with dad's fancy-pants new SLR digital camera,) I'll do up a race report. I apologize for not doing a Victoria Half Ironman race report, I started my big move to my new place the next day (yet ANOTHER post that needs doing,) which pretty much had me booked from sun-up to sun-down every day the last few weeks.

But I digress. Yesterday at the expo I met a rather friendly fellow who said that he's been reading and following my blog. Rather surprised, I had to have a few chuckles when he referenced some funny things I have posted in the past, some of them a LONG time ago! What surprised me most was that PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ MY BLOG! Granted I have a 'page view' counter, I mostly assumed that was people accidentally clicking on my links through facebook (kinda like those annoying spam ads.) The man said I went flying by him in a race, and he thought 'KILLAM' on the butt of my suit was some kind of motivation name or something (you know, "Kill'em!" And yes, in 25 years, I have heard EVERY variation and play-on-words of my last name. 5 year olds can be so cruel.......) But when he saw my name on the results, he googled me and found my blog. What really made my day was when he said he had gotten Compressport gear after reading how it had made such a huge difference on my racing, training, and recovery, and had used all the information and tips that I have imparted in my rather random blogs to help him with his training and racing. I find the most joy in helping others (example: a friend of mine met a German cyclist racing in the BC Superweek Delta Criterium, but was unable to race due to a damaged bike frame. I lent him mine, and he went on to podium on it during the race last night. Awesome!) So to find out my blog has a positive impact on even ONE PERSON makes me want to continue posting and blogging, even if they are usually rather random things.

So, here's to me trying to blog more. No promises, but hopefully enough exciting things happen to me that I can keep you entertained, and I find enough time to ACTUALLY put it up here. But that's for another post.

Cheery-o, enjoy the ridiculously AWESOME weather going around! You should be OUT THERE enjoying it instead of reading this!

Happy Training!

Nathan