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…

I’ve decided that I love racing. Training is great and all, but I am really getting addicted to racing. If I said I was simply racing against the clock, you’d be well within your rights to call me a liar. Maybe other people do, but with my team sports background, I find I need other people to chase or fend off. I am racing against the clock, but I’m using everyone else I see as motivation to shave even seconds off my time. On Sunday, July 13, we headed to Carleton Place to race in the Graham Beasley Triathlon (Olympic distance for us). The weather threatened all of the previous night and in the morning but it managed to hold off for most of the race—just a few sprinkles here and there which really helped in keeping me cool. We hadn’t raced this one before, but I knew…

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…

I was practically begging my coach to let me race. Begging. When he said “it is a recovery week, so go for it. Go all out, don’t monitor your heart rate, just go for it” I was ecstatic. The Smiths Falls Classic is an event put on by Somersault (they organize/own most of the triathlons and running races around Ottawa and surrounding area). We had heard good things about it, but wanted to confirm for ourselves. The sprint distance was a bit shorter than what we’ve done before: * 500m swim * 26km bike * 5km run Kathryn and I quite literally had no idea what to expect. We hopped in the car early on Sunday morning, drove in the rain for an hour to the race site and arrived to find… nothing. We were told to go to the Comfort Inn hotel in town and expected to see lots…

As I mentioned not too long ago, my wife Kathryn and I have decided that we will do another IronMan triathlon. Despite some serious concerns about the health of my ankle after completing IronMan Lake Placid in 2007, we are committed to doing more. There was something about finishing an IronMan race—perhaps it was the combination of exhilaration, exhaustion and raw emotion that makes me want to do it again. Or maybe it is something simpler like getting better; seeing how much I can improve. Armed with the knowledge of what it takes to just finish the race, we are now embarking on a long 18 month journey to complete IronMan Lake Placid in 2009. We know what it takes to get by; now we want to see what it takes to do well. So, we’ve taken a number of steps to see exactly what we can…

I left my IronMan swim with a completely false sense of security. It had just finished the swim of my life, managed to get to the transition zone without slipping or pulling a muscle or tearing anything pushing off the sand. I found my bike clothes, got ready, and headed out feeling pretty good about the day so far. Going out of transition, I see everyone waiting for me at the side of the road. They cheer, I smile, I wave, and it is over. I’m past them in a flash, knowing I won’t see them for another 3 or more hours. All is well. I’m headed down the first hill out of town just about to head around the corner and go up another. And like almost all of my training rides, I hit the same damn pothole at the bottom of the hill and my drink flies…

We’re set. We’ve checked in, dropped off our bikes, our biking gear, and our run gear. We’re with the kids and family that made the trip to support us. We’ve bugged my brother Gavin and his wife Michelle for the last time with questions for which we had no answers. We’re ready to eat our last big meal of pasta and chicken. We’re ready to get to bed early. We’re ready to hydrate. We’ll be up at 4:30 am to eat our breakfast and get our wetsuits and swim gear and “extra supplies” down to the lake by about 5:30. This has been a pretty amazing experience so far, and I only expect that it will continue to be amazing as we get through the race tomorrow. To Tina – you’ve helped get my body to where it is (though I’m not 100% sure exactly where, to be honest). You’ve…

On July 22, 2007, I’m doing IronMan Lake Placid: 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and 42.2km run. The course is beautiful and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not setting really lofty expectations for a stellar time. That’s not really like me as I usually set pretty high goals for myself. In this case, given my experiences training, and that this is my first (only? last?) IronMan, I really need to set reasonable expectations. After having spent 6 of the last 9 weekends training in Lake Placid on the course for IronMan Lake Placid, you would think I have a pretty good idea of how long it will take me to complete the course. Al (who swims with me in the Nepean Masters Swim Club) asked me how I was feeling and what my goals were for the race. I answered that I was: bq. hoping for somewhere around the…

My wife and I have been on the lookout for wetsuits here in Ottawa for some time. We started seriously looking about 2 months ago, and weren’t really able to come up with too many options. Pretty much everyone carries the same brand: Orca. I tried on three different Orcas and really wasn’t too happy with the fit of them – the ones that fit my legs didn’t fit my torso and the ones that fit my torso didn’t fit my legs. Being in the internet world, I looked to Google for help. The problem was that all the sites that turn up when searching for wetsuits in Ottawa are for diving/scuba shops. Searching for triathlon wetsuits in Ottawa gives you a great resource that helps you determine if you need a wetsuit, but doesn’t help you see which stores carry which brands. Basically, searching was useless, and I needed…

The first post, getting the new blog up and running. Chronicling our journey to IronMan Lake Placid 2007. There is something exciting about fresh starts and trying new things. In this case, it is a new blog, and a new sport – triathlon. My wife and I have done three triathlons to date. The first two were “try-a-tri” distances (The Canadian, Sept 2005, Ottawa, Cornwall Transit, August 2006, Cornwall) and the third was a sprint distance (The Canadian, Sept 2006, Ottawa). We consider ourselves novices but are taking it pretty seriously – we’ve committed to completing IronMan Lake Placid on July 22, 2007. This new blog will chronicle that journey: our training and workouts and our thinking over the next 8 months working towards our goals.