Ironman Canada - TriathlonFull Ironman

Standing out on the beach waiting for the pros to go, it finally sunk in that I was doing this again. Why? I asked myself, I knew I'd find the answer in a few hours. I saw my parents standing front and center along the wall of the beach, all dressed up in their silly hats, signs and noise makers. I love them. I should go back to see if I've said this before but THIS was the roughest swim start ever. Punched, kicked, pushed under, grabbed, you name it I got it. I just kept at my pace, drove the panic deep inside and kept telling myself that I'll be fine and just keep going. I wanted to use a slow and steady stroke that would keep my heart rate down and keep my legs from cramping at the swim exit. So a long story short, I sighted well, I swam on the inside of the buoys after the first turn, exited the .water and ran into transition about a minute longer than last year but with more bruises and less cramping than last year.

I think I could have pushed the swim a bit harder than I did, but the result was what I was looking for. I just started this stroke and I think I will keep with it and develop some power to go with it as opposed to my "thrash and crash" style

My time was vastly better this year as I now knew how T1 works and how to get out of the tent faster, I still managed to drop one of my biking gloves THREE times on my way to the rack but overall I am happy with the time. One piece of advice I'd like to pass on to others; do not go to the first strippers, chair or volunteer you see. You will actually save time by going where no one else is!! No line ups at the far end of the change tent, clean and dry with no clutter!

Not too much, I did find a few things to try to streamline for next time like what to put on first and what to get put together while running to the bike or even once mounted on the bike. Oh, and my main ring was in the WRONG gear again! Dummy.

Getting out onto the bike course from the mount line, I came very close to literally running into VancityJ. We both left town at the same time, too funny.
Now this where I usually talk about where the wheels fell off, the plan fell apart or someother dramatic event unfolded that ruined my chances at glory. Not today baby! Boring, consistant stuck to the plan. Dull. And yet my bike time ended up being faster this year than last?!? I know, WTF? Going slower means you go faster? I enjoyed the bike so much that I was able to look around and see the anguish in my fellow racer's faces. Good times! My goal for this ride was to keep my heart rate at 155 or below, I allowed myself a little time into the 160 range but I never saw anything over 163. It sucked going that slow but it now seems like slow is the new fast! THis was the first time I have raced like this and it really seemed to pay off. I talked to my Dad today and he laughed when I told him "new" revelation. He said I have never done anything slowly, head down, pedal down, go for broke. Looking back I guess he's right, might explain some of the concussions I've had in my lifetime.

With the outcome of this race, if I had it to do again right now, I wouldn't change a thing. This winter / spring is going to be spent building up muscle endurance and spinning on my new toy. Kari bought me a Compu Trainer complete with the Canada, CDA and Arizona courses. CDA won't know what hit it!

T2 was a bit funny, I was really hoping to see Kari but since I was in faster than we thought, she missed me by 10 minutes. I was pretty upset and dragged my but getting back out. I had Leah yelling at me to get moving back out for the run, "TEA TIMES OVER! GET OUT THERE!!" So off I went. The change over was good, but I could have easily shaved off 45 to 60 seconds.

Move it a bit faster, carry a cell phone and call Kari to let her know I am ahead of schedule.

Holy S&%@ Batman! Someone left the oven door open! It was hot, jungle hot, Tarzan didn't have it this hot! I left for the run with the legs feeling good. What a change for me to start with legs that were working! It took me until the end of Main St. to really get a bit of a groove going but I did start to get a run going. Out along Skaha Lake the sun was watching me intently, dude it was hot! I put it out of my head and puttered along watching all the runners start to pass me. It sucks, but I do what I can with what I got. For the amount of running I've done over the past few months, I have to be happy with the run time. The highlight for the run course was at mile 19. I was about to grab a water being handed to me from a volunteer when from behind me some A-HOLE came crashing through, "HEY! EXCUSE ME!!" he yells, looking over his shoulder at me like I blocked him! VancityJ passed me!!! My super-super-ultra secret goal of beating the more than famous, the infamous Jonathon went up in smoke. I'm pretty sure he was giggling as he ran away from me with just a few miles left. It was still a great run for me, I finished the run close to my secret goal of 10:30:00, my main goals of sub 11 and kissing Kari before the finish.

More run training - less injuries. That's the plan.

Got the medal, got the finisher's T, ate every piece of pizza around and drank down some water. Kari drove us back to the motel, I showered, got changed and we headed back to the Finish line to watch the rest of the people come in. We saw Crazypop come in as well as a bunch of others we knew, yelled and screamed at all of them. Finally I succumbed and had to go for a massage, after that we (me Kari and Leah) headed back to the motel again (Alex took off for home a bit early) to watch the last hour on TV and then hit the hay.


Arrruuurrgh!!! I'm only a man! I hate this answer! Gravity, gravity limited my ability, my top speed on the bike was 76.6 Km/h, I averaged 38.2 Km/h until I got to Oosoyos, I was punched and kicked in the swim, running is only fun if there is a guy selling ice cream from a truck in front of you! Gimme a break!


Love this race, is it possible to have volunteers better than the IMC people? I doubt it!