Beijing Day 2

Swim Course Training Day 1, originally uploaded by jfilliol1.

It was a beautiful day in Beijing today. The skies were blue and clear, revealing the spectacular venue where the triathlon will be held. Check out my flickr page for the latest pics. We started the day early with another jog on the bike course. I got in another 50 mins to yesterdays 56 mins - I'm feeling a bit more fit than last year when I could barely make it around one lap of the bike course from the villa (about 8km). Last year Rob H had to practically escort me back to the villa as I'm sure it looked like I was going to die. This year I debated doing another lap or two, but then thought I'd better conserve energy for the remainder of the day.

Our main activities today were a bike ride and a swim on the race course. Since this was the first official training we had to go through the security check point prior to gaining entry to the swim course and transition areas. Fortunately everyone got through without any trouble including Kyle and Kirsten who were able to get in a swim on the Olympic course. The bike ride went smoothly with Gabor on hand just in case any adjustments were needed.

The swim went well with the crew doing about a lap and a half of the course including some mini sets to tune up. Its a unique swim course compared to many of the races on the ITU circuit with one 1500m lap rather than two laps. Its 560m to the first buoy which gives some time for things to spread out, instead of the mad dash to the first buoy which is often the case. Its still be a dash alright, but slightly less hectic that usual.

After the swim the athletes did their CBC interviews with Barrie and then headed back to the villa for some R&R. Tomorrow will be another similar day, with the last official course training before the local organizers shut down the course on Sunday for rehearsals prior to the womens event on Monday.

Tom and I headed off to the Managers meeting as well today. No surprises - basically the same meeting as we've experienced dozens of times, with everything taking a little longer due to the levels of organization surrounding the Olympic games.

Our full team is now here at the villa with Carolyn arriving from Korea this afternoon. The team looks great and the energy is very good. All in all things have gone pretty smoothly so far (it sure helps having excellent food to keep the spirits high).