It's been three days, and my brother woke me up before 5 again. This time, I was okay with it; I was going for an early ride with the team. Besides, the race will be going off in the early morning, so I might as well get used to waking up early.
Today was a hard training day. I went out for an early ride with a few people from the team, just scouting out the bike course. It is beautiful; very picturesque. I wish I brought my camera. It is also quite technical, full of hills and turns.
After an amazing breakfast, we went to the training venue, almost 4 miles (5 bus stops) away from our hotel. This was the practice area at the 2008 Olympic Games. There are 2 50-metre swimming pools, a 400 and 200m track, soccer field, weight room, and a bunch of other things. During my swim, I happened to see Lukas Verzbicas. For those of you who don't follow running, he is a phenom at both running and triathlon. He recently won USA Nationals for triathlon and won the World Junior Duathlon Championships last year. He also won USA Foot Locker Cross Country Championship in 2009 and 2010, and the Nike Cross Nationals invitational in 2010, as well as holds a number of National high school records. He will be attending the University of Oregon this year. Unfortunately, this is going to be his last triathlon for a while, as he wants to focus on running exclusively.
I noticed that there were many more athletes arriving today; a number of them being from Canada. The hotel is much more busy with hundreds of people in it (as opposed to four of us, like yesterday) but the internet is far slower. I'm typing this from the business centre, due to the lack of speed.
In the afternoon, I went back to the training centre, this time to run. The track was completely locked up, but there were quite a few people on the track. I eventually snuck my way in somehow. Most of the people were locals, but a saw a man and a woman jogging around the outside of the track. They stopped, and the woman asked me (in a very Australian accent) where the bathroom was. So I told her. Even though I didn't know the way. Because that's the kind of guy that I am.
As she wandered off, I started talking to the guy, asking him of they were competing (yes), what distance (Olympic) and where they were from (he from Germany, she from Australia, obviously). He said to me, "That's Emma Snowsill." (Oh, SNAP!!!) For those of you non-triathletes, Emma is a 3-time ITU World Champion (2003, 2005,and 2006; Silver in 2007), 2006 Commonwealth Games Champion, and 2008 Olympic Champion (right here in Beijing, on the very same course!).
We did our workouts (I, 200's, she, 400's) and it prided me to know that I had done the same workout as her, doing twice as many, 10 seconds faster. Then again, she is tapering (as if that's any excuse). I then ran back to the hotel after my workout (about 4 miles).
We went out for dinner at the Auspicious Business Hotel, one-and-a-half bus stops away. This was the hotel all of the Team Canada athletes were supposed to be in, but were kicked out. A bunch of dignitaries are staying there now (whatever that means). Eleven of us met at the restaurant there, after hearing some good reviews for it. For about $14 each (85 RMB) we got a good twelve dishes. All of it was very good, but the duck was AMAZING!!! Everyone says that if you go to China, you have to try the see the Great Wall, and try the Peking Duck. I haven't seen the Wall yet, but I can absolutely say you have to try this duck. My brother hadn't really been eating a lot, as the cuisine was foreign to him, but even he devoured it. Needless to say, we went back there for dinner the next day.
It was quite a day today. I did a triple (I swam, biked, and ran), met famous people (LV and ES), and had great food (buffet breakfast and roast duck). I felt amazing. So I slept like crap.
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