Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Count down to IRONMAN 2011

Yesterday registered for IRONMAN Canada 2011.

Let the training begin

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Lake Chaparral Triathlon

Last triathlon of the year.

One week after the Calgary 70.3 I decide to do the sprint distance at Lake Chaparral, but due to some encouragement from my Dad and brother I moved up to the Olympic distance.

I was so tired at the start I did not feel great about how the race was going to go but everyone was there and I paid for it so I just went for it.

Swim - Have I ever said I hate swimming well I still do, started with freestyle but still have not gotten it figured out so backstroke it was, slow and steady not sure of the time but I think it was about the same as the last Olympic I did

Bike - Not sure I said I hate hills but I do the coarse was 5 laps so I got to do the one long steep hill 5 times, I finished in over 2 hours longer then last time but tougher coarse so not overly bad.

Run - All good I was felling good for the run, it was OK.

Finished and won my age group, heck I always win my age group but thats what you get when you race yourself I will take it.

Kids of Steel


I am the proudest dad in the world, heck I am tearing up writing this (So lame).


Jack my 5 year old did his first Triathlon a kids of steel event at Lake Chaparral in the 7 and under age group.


Swim - After waiting for over two hours they got in to the water, my wife took him in she said that he cried and wanted out once it got deep and as he got closer to me watching on the dock he wanted to get out with me but she convinced him to swim toward her and that worked out. as they were getting out of the water he wanted to stay in as he was getting it.


T1 - Once out of the water he was soooo happy he was fist pumping and so proud of himself.


Bike he race out of T1 got on his bike and took off I followed as I was not sure how he would do but he rocked it, he was passed by one kid was was determined to get him fun to see his competitive side, he rang his horn and into T2


T2 - Met my mom at T2 she took the bike and he was off.


Run - He was fast really fast I could not keep up he only slowed down to find out which way to go, I just encouraged him from behind. He them sprinted to the finish it was awesome he totally rocked the whole thing.


It was over in the blink of an eye I am again so proud of him and hope that he continues to kick ass both him and his brother will do it next year.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Calgary 70.3 Half Ironman




First thing first I have to give a huge thanks to my Dad and Brother for being my support crew for this race (Without them I would not had finished), and second a big thanks to all the volunteers and organizers.

August 3rd @ 2am I was awaken to thunder showers and rain on my skylight it continued until I left so I knew that it was going to be wet I was just hopping that the wind would be going my way.

I arrived at ghost lake around 4:45 half way on my way I realize that I left my nutrition at home so had to turn around and pick that up but had left early enough to no big deal.

When I got to ghost lake it was raining still and muddy, I got my bike ready and the rain started to end, at the same time all the buses started to arrive with the other athletes so it got a little busy but I was pumped, I met Cheryl a race official she was super helpful in getting me organized and was a super support the whole race.

6:10 the race starts I am in the water swimming freestyle well I suck at that and cant sight to save my life, I end up way off coarse so I switch to back crawl I still cant swim strait but better then freestyle only real problem is its so slow, at about the halfway point I get caught by the next wave then around 3/4 of the way through I get caught by the wave after that.... I hate swimming I was slow and frustrated but kept on going, I finally got it done in 50:45

Get up to my bike change and get on the road, transition was 6:13

So I am on the road and I feel good there is no wind so that makes me happy, I had done the first part of the ride so knew what to expect the only thing I was not ready for was the mosquitoes I was attacked by them it was brutal, I was also passed by many people but was expecting that and everyone was very supportive.

When I got to around the 50km mark I was ahead of schedule and still felt really good, headed up the Cochrane hill and still felt good my average speed was just right....But then I started to crash well not so much crash but just got beat down the climb out just kept going and going and going and to top it off I could feel a head wind coming up.

I got to the top and was happy that I was on my way to the "fast" section of the coarse well I got a head wind so the section I was counting on to make up time was a huge fail, the closer I got to the finish the more I new I would not make the cut off, now I did not know for sure what the cutoff time was I assumed it was at 12:00 and knew that I would be in around 10min after that but would be close to finishing in under 5hours.

I pulled up to the last right were my brother was waiting for me, I had missed the cut off, I continued to T2, I was not able to cross the timing mat due to the cut off but with a quick call to a race official I was told I could keep going so off I went total time for the bike was 4:53:40

So onto the racing chair I went nice downhill to start then a slight uphill, I then came to the first big down hill, I met up with my dad and brother here I was able to get down no problem, off across the bridge to the south side there are some very large hills at over 9% and one at 15%. On the big hills I received support from my brother to get up them (with the RD Approval) the run was had definitely not a good coarse for a racing chair way to hilly and narrow so had to watch out for runners but being that I was so far behind there was not as many of them on the coarse, also a thanks to Tony my police escort.

I approached the finish slowly it was on an uphill grade (nothing but hills all day), I started to get tunnel vision and started to break down I was physically and emotionally done I crossed the line and it was over, got my belt buckle and finisher shirt.

Total time for race was 7:53:16 under the 8 hour cutoff!!!

The days that followed I felt pretty good not overly sore but definitely fatigued.

Unfortunately due to not making the bike cutoff I officially got a DNF seems lame as they let me continue and I ended up finishing under the official race cutoff so I guess I will just have to kick some bigger ass next year!!