A One Handed Blog

On Life with One Hand

Archive for January, 2009

Swimming For Treasure

Monday, January 26th, 2009 by keiron

This weekend Kerry and I participated in the 1st Annual Halfway to Hawaii Practice Triathlon on Treasure Island as part of our training for Lavaman in March.

Now, why swimming in a wetsuit in the frigid waters off Treasure Island in January is considered training for swimming in the warm waters of Hawaii without a wetsuit is beyond me, but what the hell.

So on Sunday we all gathered at Treasure Island with our TNT team mates, many off whom had never done a triathlon before, to take part in a sprint triathlon (which is half the distance of the Olypmic distance we'll be doing in Hawaii). Even though it was a practice, the TNT staffers and volunteers put on a great event and it was pretty much like the real thing. Fortunately it wasn't raining as per the forecast and it turned out to be a great day, considering it's January!

It was funny watching all the participates snaking up the road towards the beach ready for the start, made for quite a sight I'm sure, however, that was nothing compared to watching everyone racing into the water once the race started.

After a quick 14 minute swim I was running back to the transition area for my bike ride.

Cycling around Treasure Island wasn't all that easy, it's a twisty course as you wind around the roads and there are potholes everywhere, I even had to stop a few times at stop signs to let cars pass. The bike probably took a little less than an hour and then it was off for the run, only 3 miles, but, definitely not my favourite part.

After 1hr and 42 minutes I crossed the finish line, pleased it was all over. Kerry was barely 8 minutes behind me, she's getting more determined to beat me and at this rate she might just do it (she's faster on the swim, not too far behind on the bike and just needs to catch up on the run).

So we are doing all this to raise funds for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), we've raised over $1,000 towards our $5,880 goal, if you'd
like to make a donation to help us along our way it would be greatly appreciated, it's easy to
do online: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/lavatri09/kezandkeiron

Tags: Treasure Island, Triathlon, Upper Limb Amputee
Posted in Triathlon | No Comments »

In The Drink

Saturday, January 17th, 2009 by keiron

Another day in the life of a triathlete, today was our first open water swim of the season at Aquatic Park in San Francisco and the water was a balmy 48F (9C), what a joy! Despite the chilly water we still had a great turnout by the team, all in their shiny new wetsuits.

I must say, it was a beautiful day once the sun came out, considering it's winter we've been very lucky with the weather.

After our swim we then headed out for a 40 minute run up to Crissy Fields and back, probably about 3 or so miles. After the swim my feet were so cold that when I started my run they felt like wooden blocks, I just couldn't feel them. The things we do, eh!

So far we've raised over $1,000 towards our $5,880 goal, thank you to all those that have been so generous in these tough times. If you'd like to make a donation it would be greatly appreciated, it's easy to do online: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/lavatri09/kezandkeiron

Posted in Triathlon | No Comments »

Opps!…I Did It Again

Sunday, January 4th, 2009 by keiron

To quote Britney Spears, one of the great bards of our time (not!)…well, Kerry and I have signed up for another triathlon, Lavaman, in Kona Hawaii, on March 29th, 2009. It's an olympic distance race again (swim 1.5km, bike 40km, run 10km) and the course is partly on the Ironman World Championship course, which should be a great experience since I'm toying with the idea of doing an Ironman triathlon in 2010 (that's about 4 times the distances of an olympic event).

We're raising funds again for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) through Team In Training and this season we have also volunteered as staff to help everyone else achieve their dreams. We actually started training back in November and training through the winter is a bit different from training during the summer, not nearly as enjoyable. As you can see from the photo, riding in the rain is just one of the many pleasures.

Admittedly we've been a bit lax on the training so far, but, with the new year we'll have to kick things up a notch as we have less than 3 months until race day!

I'll keep everyone posted of my progress and if you'd like to make a donation to help us reach our $5,880 goal that would be very much appreciated, this time Kerry and I are fundraising together. You can donate via our fundraising page: