IronMan Canada - the detailed version.

The first alarm went off at 4 AM; the second at 4:15 AM but I was up eating my muesli up by then. At 5 AM I met some of the team in the hotel lobby to catch the shuttle down to the starting area where a stream of athletes were heading into the transition areas. My first stop was to drop off my special needs bags and get body marked. After a quick trip to the porta potties, it was time to put on my wetsuit and get ready for the swim. The transition area was buzzing with activity by now with two and a half thousand athletes making their final preparations. Before I knew it it was 6:30 AM and we were being herded onto the beach accompanied by a constant beeping noise as our timing chips were activated as we crossed the timing mat. The atmosphere on the beach was electric with athletes hugging each other and their friends across the fences that separated the supporters from the beach. The light was soft and the water calm and smooth. I moved over to the far side of the beach and hung out with Joe and Kamal who, like me, were planning to enter the water towards the back of the pack so as to avoid the masses. At 6:45 with the sound of a cannon the Pros headed off, and we waited for our turn.
Here are a couple of pics of the beach area just before and one from above just after the start.





At 7 AM the cannon was fired once more and we were off. I waded into the water for about 100m and then dived forward and begun my 2.4 mile swim. The start of the swim is potentially one of the most difficult parts of an ironman as two thousand odd people fight for room to swim. It is not uncommon to get wacked about a bit or swam over as everyone jossles for space. The worse case scenario for most athletes is being kicked in the face and losing your goggles. For some reason this start was very civilized. I didn't bump into anyone until about 15 minutes into the swim. In all the swim went smoothly. I settled into a rhytm which I held throughout the swim, and exited the water after 1 hour 26 minutes.
One of the nice things about ironman triathons is that they have strippers! Wetsuit strippers that is. So instead of struggling out of your wet suit on your own, you get thrown on the floor by three strippers who tear off your wet suit for you, and boy, are they quick. Once my wetsuit was off, I grabbed my transition bag and headed to the tent to change into my cycling gear.
The first 40 miles of the ride were reasonably flat which made for a fast ride. I covered the first 40 miles in 2 hours. There were two major hills on the course. The first, Richter Pass, came after about 40 miles which consisted of a long gradual climb over about 6 miles followed by a fast steep descent. Before the second climb there was a curious out and back where the special needs station was located. Before I got there I had a flat which took me a few minutes to sort out. Unfortunately, none of the water stations had a pump so I had to ride for about 20 miles on a back tire that was not quite fully inflated. This was fine while I was on the flat but I was a little concerned that I might have to descend on it. Eventually, I spotted a bike tech at the side of the road assisting someone and managed to get sorted. A minor irritation I know but it seemed like a big deal at the time. The second big hill, Yellow Lake, started at about mile 92 and peaked at mile 100. By now, my backside was getting a little sore but I was holding up well otherwise. Although this hill was late in the ride, I knew that it was downhill all the way once I reached the summit. Also, there were cheering crowds all of the way up to the summit which lifted my spirits. This is where the benefit of being in a TNT top pays off - All around the course there were TNT supporters who gave an extra cheer when they saw the purple flames. I knew that I had made it to the top when I saw my coach Wayne who ran along side for a while to see how I was doing. I was also pleasantly suprised to see Raj who had driven up to cheer the team over the hill. The rest of the ride back down into town was a breeze. I completed the ride in 6 hours 23 minutes at an average speed of 17.5 mph.
Here I am on the bike.



Now came the run. After another change of gear, I set out on the run course. The impact of the heat was far greater on the run than on the bike. As I headed along the lakeshore for the first time I passed Jasper Blake who was finishing in first place on the other side of the road. This played with my head a little as I pondered on the fact that I still had the whole marathon to run. I tried hard to run below 10 minute miles for the first couple of miles but quickly realized that I would have to ease off if I was to survive the heat and be able to complete the whole marathon. My strategy was to run to each water station, which were approximately 1 mile apart, where I would walk while I drank a cup of water and Gaterade. It seemed to work fine for the first 13 miles except that I took to constantly checking my watch to see how many minutes I had to go until I reached the next water stop. This started to drive me a little crazy. So much so that when I saw Raj at the mid-point I deposited the watch with her and ran the second half of the marathon without it. The run course was quite stunning. Once we had cleared Penticton we run alongside Lake Skaha to Okanagan Falls. Much to my suprise at about mile 6, I passed the first of three pro athletes that I would beat home - they must have been having a miserable day. As the run progressed the sun gradually decended and the heat eased off a little. I stuck to my run-walk strategy for most of the run except that I did give in a couple of times to walk up a hill on the way back. The run back to town was a major mental challenge. I had never ran a marathon before and had not run more than 20 miles in our training program, so I was entering unknown territory. Here I am on the first 1/2, still looking reasonably fresh!



I smiled when I reached mile 17. This is Raj's favorite point in the marathon as the remainder of the run is in single figures. One of the nice things about the course was that it was an out and back route. This meant that I got to see some of my team mates as they were passing on the other side of the road. Also I got to see some of my training buddies who had come out to support us. As I came back into town I was first joined by Lara and then my Mo who urged me on towards the finish. The final mile came unexpectedly, and I found myself heading back out along the lakeshore before I turned back towards the finish. It amazed me that I could still manage to find a surge at the end. I suprised myself by figuring out that I needed to outpace the two runners just in front of me so that I could cross the finish line on my own and ensure that the photographer got a clear shot of me. Crossing the line was a blur. I heard my name being called out and then I was collected by one of the catchers, had a medal put around my neck, was wrapped in aluminium foil, given a cap and T-shirt, and had a bottle of water thrust into my hands.

For some reason, I decided that I wanted to seek advice from the medical crew. Although I had drunk a huge amount of fluids during the day, I had yet to pee. I thought it might be wise to ask them how long I should let this go but they would not let me go so I had to sit in the medical tent for an hour while I drank 3 litres of fluids. It was like a major disaster zone in there - there were scores of sorry looking dehydrated athletes vomiting all over the place. I think that being there was making most people feel worse. Anyhow, after an hour I talked my way out and went to find Raj. We walked back most of the way to the hotel to where she had parked the car and headed for our room. After a quick shower I devoured a pizza and watched the last hour of the event on the TV. It was fun seeing some of my team mates finishing. It would have been more fun to have been down at the finish but I really didn't have the energy. The event closed at midnight with a firework display although the finish line was left open for a while to allow some of the late finishers a chance to cross the finish line.

Overall, it was an amazing day. The event was extremely well organized and the support from the locals was unlike anything that I have come across before. Penticton is a relatively small town, yet over 4000 locals volunteer their time to help make the event happen. It is no suprise that this is one of the most successful IronMan events in the world.

Once again, I would like to thank all of you that have taken an interest in my journey to completing my first IronMan. It has been a great experience that was enhanced by being able to share some of it with you all. So much of a great experience that I have signed up to do it all again next year! Don't worry, I am taking a year off from fundraising, so you do not need to run when you see me - not that you would get very far...

IronMan Canada 2006

As you can see from the photo, I completed IronMan Canada in 12 hours, 55 minutes and 14 seconds!

Here is a quick overview of the essential stats. I will add a more detailed race report in a few days time, once I have a chance to catch up with myself.

The swim (2.4 miles): 1 hour 26 mins 29 secs
Swim ranking = 1836 / 2451

The bike (112 miles): 6 hours 23 mins 12 secs
Average speed = 17.54 mph
Bike ranking = 1502

The run (26.2 miles): 4 hours 44 mins 15 secs
Average = 10.5 min/mile
Overall ranking = 1050

Thank you again for your support. With your help I raised $7745 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. Our team total exceeded $750,000!!

This week I'll mostly be doing an IronMan

OK, this is the final week leading up the big event. I travel to Penticton with Raj on Thursday morning via Vancouver on an nice and early 6:14 AM flight. We have a couple of days prior to the event to settle in, register and get our acts together. The race itself will start at 07:00 AM Sunday morning. If you are interested in following along on the day you can click onto the link for IronMan Live (embedded in the title above) and see how I am getting on. The site will have details of my progress including my swim time, and bike and run splits. My race number is 1154. Check it out! Also, check back a few days later when they will have posted a video of me crossing the finish line - Yes, I am going to finish!

The latest weather forcast is for a high of 91. I was hoping that it would not be this hot but the forcast was for 70 a few days ago, so who knows.

It is time to taper

The time has finally come to start tapering our training in preparation for August 27. Last weekend was our last major training weekend which I celebrated by doing the Marin Century. This is a fabulous 105 mile ride around Marin which starts in San Raphael and heads north out to the coast and back via Petaluma. Although it is a beautiful ride, it is also one of the hilliest rides that I have done for a while taking in such classics as the Marshall Wall. The ride is well supported, and ends with a well stocked barbe that even had Hagan Das ice cream bars! If you didn't know already, ice cream has become my essential recovery food after a big ride.
On Sunday, I joined some of the team for a couple of laps of Aquatic Park, and a 10 mile run which I did with Susie.
Monday was a rest day and the start of week 1 of our 3 week taper. The first week doesn't seem much easier than usual but things start to look noticably lighter as time goes on. By the end of the taper, I am hoping that I will be energised and ready to go. However, I had better go easy on the ice cream or I may not be able to get off the couch.

The Triple Brick

The peak of our training program came this last Sunday with us taking on the triple brick. The event was held in Danville in the East Bay which had been experiencing some super hot temperature over the last few weeks. The previous time that our group had a training session here, the temperatures were above 100 which took it toll on several team members. Fortunately for us this time the temperatures didn't get beyond the 90s - which was hot enough.
A brick, in case you were wondering, is a bike and run done back-to-back. A triple brick is a bike and run done back-to-back three times. In this case each brick consisted of a 30 mile bike ride followed by a 50 minute run. In all this translated into 90 miles of riding and about 18 miles of running.

Here is a picture of me on the second run trying to keep up with Kim who ultimately left me in the dust! I am wearing our teams racing vest which we will all be wearing when we do our Ironman.

And the beat goes on....

The weeks go on and on and on....and the training goes on and on and on....it seems almost endless. But the end is almost in sight. This week will finish with us doing the infamous triple brick - a day long event where we ride for 2 hours and then run for an hour, and then do it all again, twice. The bonus is that we get to do it all in Danville which has been experiencing temperatures about 110 degrees F. Nine hours of fun in the sun. The triple brick is the peak of our training after which we get to taper until the big day.

On that note, some of my team buddies competed in IronMan USA at the weekend and completed their first IronMan. Congratulations to Cesar, John and the rest of the team.

And I moved it back again!

Well, I tried a new blog site but as much as I like how it looked, I must admit that it is much easier to maintain this one.

So what have I been up to for the last few weeks? The good news is that I have made my minimum fundraising total!!! Thanks to all of you that have supported me. My total is just over $7500, and our team total is up to $537,000 which is quite amazing.

A quick update on training - we still have another month of heavy training before we start tapering off. Last week was another landmark training session. We set off to do a 104 mile ride around the vineyards up in Santa Rosa but due to some dodgy map reading ended up doing 120 miles by mistake. The last 15-20 miles were rough as it was quite hot out there which made it hard to tolerate the liquid energy drinks. I think that I must have been running pretty low on energy.
The following day we had an interesting pool session where we simulated a mass swim start in the pool. Basically, this involved trying to swim down a lane lined with the rest of the team trying to bash you with their swim belts. I woud heartily recommend it as a hangover cure.

On July 4th, I swam 2 miles in Aquatic Park in an hour with Steve and Cesar, and managed to keep up with them. Maybe I am getting the hang of this swimming business.....