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By Rory, February 28, 2010

I was able to sit down with Ben Collins at a coffee shop in Boulder this weekend and pick his brain.

CTT: Where are you living?

Ben: Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. Although, I still consider Seattle my home.

CTT: How much time will you spend in Seattle this year?

Ben: Probably just a few weeks. After the Seoul WCS race and when the season is over.

CTT: How much time will you be spending living out of a suitcase?

Ben: Months. I am thinking that between training camps, traveling to Asia and Europe, I will be living out a giant K-Swiss bag 40% of the time.

CTT: What do you do in your spare time?

Ben: I am trying to learn Spanish and the guitar. I use Rosetta Stone while on the trainer. My mini aero bars support my laptop so that helps me learn. However, I have noticed that when I go to Mexico I forget the stuff that I learned until I get on my bike. Then all the phrases come flooding back.

CTT: And the guitar?

Ben: I go back to my dorm room at the OTC, close my door (because I am embarrassed about how bad I am) and play the 5 chords that I know. Matt Chrabot and Kevin Collington both play guitar as well, but I am too embarrassed to play with anyone else.

CTT: Do you know any other languages?

Ben: Not very well, but at the Olympic Training Center there is an athlete center with books to read, DVDs to check out, couches to relax on, as well as computers set up with Rosetta Stone for different languages. So I can sit down in front of the German Rosetta Stone before going to Kitchbuel, Austria.

CTT: How are you preparing for the season opener in Florida?

Ben: I am headed to Miami in less than two weeks to race in the Miami International Triathlon. I am excited that I have gotten a bit of elevation training in. My winter went well, I have a good base built, and Miami will be a good test of my fitness.

CTT: The weather will be different in Florida from Colorado. How are you going to deal with that?

Ben: It helps that I spent 8 weeks in Honolulu over the winter. Those adaptations don’t just disappear. I have been overdressing for my workouts and consuming more Nuun that I can count. Now I just count on my fitness and hydration.

CTT: Thanks for your time, enjoy the Colorado weather.

Ben: Thank you.

Boulder, CO 2-28-10

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By Rory, February 22, 2010

To allow our fans more access to our team we will be doing interviews that will give more access into our thoughts and lives. The first athlete is Andrew Russell of Canada. He is a self proclaimed “sport addict”. After a few weeks of hard training in Maui last month, he is ready for the 2010 season!

CTT: What annoys you?

AR: I’m not easily annoyed but do lose sleep over poor drivers.

CTT: How did you get started in triathlon?

AR: I got started in triathlon at university after I broke my neck on a  trampoline and was forced to retire from rugby.

CTT: Are you parents athletic?

AR: My Dad is quite athletic I get my awareness and knack of multi sporting from him.  I feel i get my ability to push through pain from my Mum, she is so strong.

CTT: Ever take a vacation (without SBR stuff?)

AR: Yes,  I go skiing, both alpine and nordic.

CTT: What is the last book you read?

AR: Gullivers Travels

CTT: What races are you looking forward to the most in 2010?

AR: Right now I’m looking forward to my first race of 2010 at the Monterrey WC.  Down the line I hope and would be very excited to start at the WCS in London.  I have a lot of family that would come to watch in that area and I did a student internship during University, right beside Hyde Park (race site)!

CTT: Who would you like to thank?

AR:  I’d like to thank my family for their support and belief in my crazy ways.  Champion Systems and Saucony Canada for their backing. Triathlon Canada for having a great Centre available to its athletes here in Victoria and my host family and best friends the Allards.

Stay tuned for more and feel free to email questions to info@checkmatetriteam.com!

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By Rory, January 19, 2010

As some of the team members are in Hawai’i training, I thought that I should direct you to Andrew Russell’s latest blog post. It has a great video of how convenient running is in Hawai’i. Ben Collins is shown swimming in Waimea Bay in our last post. Meanwhile, winter plods along for the rest of us as we get ready for the 2010 race season.

Andrew and Ben will be training together (along with a bunch of other Canadians) in Maui until Ben heads to the US Olympic Training Center. Stay tuned! Sounds like a good time, eh?!

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By Rory, January 7, 2010

Via Ben Collins:

Sunday I raced in a local “biathlon” put on by theWaikiki Swim Club which consisted of a 5k run followed by a 1k swim. This “Christmas Biathlon” was supposed to be held last month, but lucky for me they had to postpone it until I was here on the island and ready to race. These local community events are really fun, and a great way to reconnect with other athletes in the area. Equal in enjoyment for me, however, is the ability to bring humor to a race where the primary goal is to have fun.

So, I wore a pink Splish suit with big bubbly eyes on the front and my K-Swiss K’Ruuz. I figured nobody wanted to lose to a guy in a little pink suit, and with my K’Ruuz it would be pretty hard to beat me. One guy, Brandon Laan (6th at the Honolulu Marathon this year!), did outrun me, however, and the swimmer of his relay was Bill Goding (we used to duke it out at swim practice a few nights a week). They beat me, but nobody else did!

[From left: Todd Iacovelli, Stefan Reinke, Ben Collins, Bill Goding Brandon Laan]

From the gun I followed the lead of Todd Iacovelli and Brandon, both very good local runners. I did my best to stay on their heels, and when Brandon put in a surge at mile 1 my legs shouted at me for not having done any speed training since early November. Brandon gained a few meters on us and I pulled ahead of Todd to try to close the gap. I didn’t see Todd again, and about the time I got back in Brandon’s draft he surged again, creating a 20 second gap over the next few minutes, which remained for the rest of the run race.

I crossed the timing mat at the start of the swim in 15 minutes 50 seconds – 23 seconds after Brandon tagged Bill to start the swim. Jumping into the water, I felt like an old rubber tire trying to swim. Running and swimming are different muscle groups, so I didn’t realize how much of an affect one would have on the other. Somehow in triathlon there’s not so obvious a connection between swimming fast and running fast. It took me a long time to start swimming smoothly, my tummy felt like it was dragging on the bottom, my arms couldn’t seem pull any water, and every wave knocked me around like a turd in a toilet bowl (sorry, for some reason that was the first image that came to mind).

Coming back into the finish I finally started feeling a bit stronger. Bill was LONG gone, but my legs were able to kick again, and my arms were able to pull again, so I kicked and pulled as hard as I could and when the bottom came up to meet me I stood up to hear my fans shouting and telling  me to go away. Apparently, in the pre-race briefing when they said, “keep all the buoys on your  right” they meant “keep the two turn buoys on your right, and the final buoy on your left”. So I went back out and swam around the buoy, I lost very little time and it didn’t make a difference at all in the outcome of the race. After a few more people went to the wrong side, however, they sent some volunteers out to direct the swimmers to the other side. All was well.

[Left: Bob Havrilak drove me to the race and took pictures. As you can see, I’m more worried about what’s going on in the pre-race briefing than looking at the shutter. Pictured is Me, Courtenay, Sarah, and Than (Courtenay’s sister and brother)]

Courtenay raced as well, and we were both the first individuals of our respective genders. Go us, right?

On January 17th is a the second race in this 3-race series. Same course, so it would be an excellent way to judge improvement, or get in on the fun if you missed it the first time around. Check out the WSC website (linked above) for entry info.

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By Rory, January 2, 2010

Via Andrew Russell:

When I took up tennis as a passe temp with friends in high school we had no real lessons or coaching. We watched Pat Rafter win the US Open and then would go out mimicking the serve and volley style, or we’d focus in a Greg Reusedski, aka scud, and learn how to serve.
Monkey See, Monkey Do

Sunday marked the beginning of a solid week here in Victoria. A lot of swimming to get done paired with some efforts in both running and cycling. For the first swim on Sunday I arrived a little early which is unusual for me. The Commonwealth pool breathes High performance and Sunday was no different. As I started to get some blood flowing the Swim Academy, coached by Randy Bennett, was in the midst of their first post-christmas session. Up until Christmas swimming for me was feeling laboured and forced. No real rhythm was happening and I was lagging behind. Warming up my shoulders that morning I found myself really paying attention to the academy swimmers. Right in front of me was high performance swimming, what better way to find a rhythm.
Monkey See, Monkey Do

The rhythm is returning and I feel I owe it to that morning of being a Monkey for 15 minutes. All of the centre athletes are so privileged to be on deck as the academy finishes their main set and cools down. Ryan Cochrane is the best distance freestyler in the western Hemisphere and he swims 5 feet in front of you….going back and forth.

Privileges are to be respected and then made the most out of.

10k swim on the horizon…

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By Rory, December 9, 2009

Collins regularly write a blog on the Garmin website, here is an excerpt.

Garmin-sponsored triathlete Ben Collins shares his training and racing experiences with Garmin fitness devices.

I decided this year not to take a break from running during the off-season. I spent so much time this year getting back on my feet and managed to make significant gains during the fall…

Read more

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By Rory, December 5, 2009

Thanks to Andrew Russell for this. When is the team going? Stay tuned.

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By Rory, November 26, 2009

Clearwater – 28^th MPRO November 14, 2009

Russell doubles the distance with Clearwater 70.3 World Champs

With the completion of thirty-three Ironman 70.3 races hosted worldwide in 2009, the qualification spots had all been filled and the World Championship at the 70.3 distance was set to begin.  Clearwater, Florida has hosted the 70.3 WC since 2006, and with each successive year the field of professionals has become deeper.

In 2009 sixty-five professional men anxiously crept forward, anticipating the canon to strike the beginning of what would be a world record day.  High winds and ocean chop had caused the swim portion of the race to be moved to the inner Clearwater harbor.  With now flat, and shallow water, the 1.9km swim set the tone for a very fast day when Marko Albert exited the water first in 21:35.  Russell found himself right up in the mix exiting in 7^th position just ahead of eventual race winner Michael Raelert.

Quickly on to the bike the early pace was strong.  For Russell this race marked the end of a somewhat roller coaster season.  Coming from an ITU racing background it also was a race where he could see where he fell in comparison to the worlds best 70.3 athletes.  Taking a relaxed and carefree approach to the race Russell felt he would have a go on the bike and stay in contention for as long as he could.  Riding relaxed and focused at the task at hand Russell rode with the front group of athletes until the 80k mark of the 90k bike.  At this point the pace become simply to high, and Russell rode the remaining 10k at a more controlled effort.  With flat roads and calm winds the bike splits were blazing at just under 2 hours!

Coming out of T2 Russell sat in 20^th position, less than 2 minutes of f the leaders.   Starting the run relatively conservatively Russell moved up into as high as 17^th position before having several second group athletes move past him on the second loop of the course.  In the closing stages of the run Russell eyed the reigning 70.3 World Champion, Terenzo Bozzone, laboring over the last miles of the run.  Rolling back the eyes and digging deep Russell made the pass and crossed the line in 28^th position just behind legend Greg Bennett.

As mentioned, German dark horse Michael Raelert ran a 1:09 half marathon to take the win convincingly in 3:34.  Julie Diebens of Great Britian took the women’s title finishing as the first women to ever break the four-hour barrier in 3:59.

With the season now officially over, Russell will enjoy a few weeks of downtime with some Whistler skiing and visiting of friends and family. As always, stay tuned to http://andyrussell.blogspot.com for updates.