Here’s how 2008 went down. I got through IronMan Muskoka 70.3 but I was a little disappointed with my result. I wanted more from myself. I felt like I peaked too early in the season—probably at this year’s Tupper Lake TinMan. I trained hard last year—personal trainer, triathlon coach, weights, flexibility workouts, spent a lot of time on the bike, teaching classes, all of it. I felt more ready for one of our training races than I did for the one that counted, and that just doesn’t sit well with me. By the time the race that mattered came around, my training had already started to dwindle, weight slowly crept back on (partly because of my speaking schedule—delivering talks at conferences with awesome food, and still trying to work on client work back home, means that my workouts suffer and I put on the…

Very early on in our work with coach Dave Harju, he suggested that we do the half iron distance triathlon in Tupper Lake, NY. I thought he was nuts – we were training for the half IronMan Muskoka in September 2008, so there was no way we’d be ready for a half iron race known the Tinman in Tupper Lake, NY in June. As it turns out, he wasn’t exactly nuts. We did it, enjoyed some awesome time away from home (we rented a wonderful cottage in Tupper Lake and stayed there for a week of pre-race preparation and post-race solitude!), and feel really good about where we are. My wife hasn’t trained nearly as much as I have. And, as usual, I still only beat her by a little bit. h4. The Swim I’m fairly certain I pissed a few people off in the swim. I couldn’t swim straight…

What do you do when you know you’re going to be away? For the past 6 weeks, I’ve been at swimming religiously every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Now I find myself in the position where I’m wondering if I’m going to lose the momentum. The whole family has been sick for the last three days (it hit me last) so I’m not keen on going Monday morning, and I’m going to miss Friday morning as we’ll be travelling to see family and friends for Christmas. The week after, I’m also likely to miss Friday. So – how do I avoid that momentum dip? I’m really happy with my progress, but I don’t want to fall behind and lose the progress I’ve made. The thing is – there will be no pool where I’m going to be and the weather won’t be nice enough to run, and biking is out…