Happy Canada Day!!!! What a Country!!!!

In true Canadian fashion let's celebrate our great country on July 1st! Yum - beer!

 Cheers!

Holy Crap! It's Been A While!!

Life's been CRAZY! I've been back and forth to Ottawa a few times, Northern Ontario, Lake Placid, Niagara Falls and fit a race in there somewhere. After one of my Ottawa trips I went out with Logan to his school playday at Dofasco park. As you can see from the pic above it was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast.

From there it was up to North Bay and Huntsville for work. On the way I made the stop at Webers - yum! The weather turned mild and cloudy but remained rainfree.

I got 13k in on the Muskoka 70.3 run course. Very hilly, very scenic.

Muskoka beauty!

I also got 3500m at the Centennial Pool in Huntsville so a solid training day was achieved.

At the end of the next week it was off to Lake Placid for some course scouting. It rained extremely hard most of the drive down and only stopped about 1/2 hour outside Placid. Peter, Sara, Logan and I arrived at 6:15pm. We quickly unloaded and Peter and I decided to head up Whiteface Mountain and make the summit before sundown.

After 1:10 of climbing at 7.9% grade (average) we made the summit as the sun was about to disappear. It was an interesting decent with the last few kms in darkness but we safely got down and the view was spectacular.

Cool pic of the Whiteface climb.

The next day I ran 6k with Sara then did 21.5k with Peter on the Ironman run course. From there we suited up for a swim in Mirror Lake.

The water did not look warm and it certainly wasn't. It was probably hovering around 60F - a little cold for my liking.

With nuts now cowering up inside our guts we ventured out. We did one loop of the swim and that was enough given the temperature.

The Saturday long bike was a perfect riding day - clear and mild. Whiteface Mountain was in full view.

Peter on his new Cervelo machine. I put 155k in and Peter went well over 200k as he continued to ride with Sara for 50k once we were done.

Now the reward! We went to the Adirondack Steak and Seafood Restaurant for some beer and red meat - DELICIOUS!

Sunday was travel day back to Ontario but before that we drove up Whiteface to explore the summit some more. This pic shows the switchbacks near the top.

The Fam at the true summit.

Logan and his buddy Peter.

Once back from Placid I immediately went to Ottawa for a couple of days then the following weekend I was off to Niagara Falls for a conference. In between these I did the Welland Sprint Triathlon. The distances were 750s/30k b/7.5k r. I was happy with the race and performed decently even with the wind and heat. Welland is FLAT! I averaged 1:50/100m for the swim, 36.7k on the bike and 4:41per km for the run. I ended up 32nd overall and 6/27 in the 45-49 age group.

What a view. Up next for me? I begin my final buildup to Ironman Lake Placid to the start of my taper on July 15th. Things are going well - I hope to drop some more weight and get a few more long workouts in all disciplines. If I manage that raceday should be fine. Love the process!

Cheers!

Swim, Bike, Run, Repeat

With training for an Ironman, consistency is key. It's not your longest swim, ride, or run that will make the difference - it's putting in the work week in, week out that will determine success. I've been getting consistency for the most part. Family and work commitments always trump triathlon so sometimes schedules force unscheduled rest days. The forced rest, however, is probably not bad especially for the older athlete.

I'm pleased so far with my cycling. I have two 100+ mile rides in the bank and several in the 50-60 mile range. I recently did a 35 mile TT with strong winds and managed to average 21+ mph for the session. Sustained strength is coming around - good sign.

More consistency here. I usually run 3 times per week - one tempo, one mid-range and a long run. My tempo is usually 6 miles, mid-range 8-10 miles and long always 13+. Today I did 15 miles - the fourth time I've at least this distance in the past 7 weeks.

Of course, the sessions are not always enjoyable but these serve to make you mentally stronger and will come into play during the later stages of the run.

Ironman racing requires positive self-talk, focus and sometimes you have to curse at yourself - whatever gets you to the line.

Chuck's right!

Cheers!

Follow the Sun

The great thing about late May to mid June is the amount of daylight - love it! I wish it would last longer. The sun doesn't go down to after 9:30pm. I find my energy levels follow the daylight - once it goes down I get tired.

The Boyz!

This week saw a couple of days of the hot, humid weather we usually get in the summer. With the humidity it was 35C. I had time in my schedule so I decided to go long on the bike. I went to the other side of Caledonia and back for the first third, met up with Sara for the middle portion to Grimsby and back, and then back out to Caledonia for the remainder. I ended up getting 170km in and I was quite pleased how my body responded to the heat. That makes two 100+ mile rides in the bank.

The journey continues.....Cheers!