2015 in Pictures

Too bad I don't publish books and magazines. Everyone knows the pictures are all anyone cares about! Here's my 2015 season recap in action shots:

Clermont Age Group Draft-Legal - the earliest I'd ever started a season, and a sprint tri in the middle of my build for Around the Bay. Caught lead pack on the bike, ran into 5th. I love that age group draft legal races are catching on - it's an incredibly exciting, humbling and FUN style of racing that everyone should try out.

As always, LPC Florida Camp was amazing. Capped off this year by 35k at the Orange Grove with my pal Steve. Maybe next IM year I'll do 3 laps?

 Around the Bay 30k - I accomplished my goal with a time of 1:58:51. It was one of my favourite races I've ever done, and by far the most painful...I couldn't walk down stairs for a week! Can't wait to go back and chop some more time off.

Paris to Ancaster was a lesson in suffering and proper equipment choice. A great experience though in a race I had wanted to do for years.

Final tune-up for tri season, the first BPT TT. 43km/h for 20k was a new PB, which I equalled later in the year on a tougher course (with another power PB)

Welland Half Iron: I continued my strong riding with a 2:15 split, but I pulled out on the run to avoid injury risk with a nagging glute issue. I got it fixed up in time for my next half.

TTF Sprint/Age Group Provincials. LPC went 1-2-3

Ironman 70.3 Muncie: 4:19 in crazy heat was good for 11th overall and my best result in a 70.3 to date.

Most of my season was spent training for Ironman Louisville, and almost all of my training was on the Lakeside Olympic course. Couldn't pass up home course advantage! Second overall and 2:05 in tough conditions.

Ironman Louisville didn't end the way I wanted, but it definitely started well! Despite struggling with sub-par swim splits all summer, I knew I had good fitness and could put it together in Louisville. I cruised through a 58 minute swim to start my day.

I worked harder on the bike this year than ever before and found a new confidence and level of focus on my trusty P3. I loved every mile of the epic IM-specific rides and it showed with a top-15 bike split on the challenging Louisville course.

 Getting off the bike I was ahead of even my best-case scenario time, and I was more confident in my run fitness than anything else. My legs wanted to go but my stomach didn't agree. Louisville didn't end the way I had expected, but I learned the hard way that's just part of Ironman racing. And I'm more motivated than ever to keep learning and give it another crack.

I found a new passion with Ironman training, but for now I need to save some time and money! Next year my focus is on getting fast and racing the local favourites in the Multisport Canada series. And I'll be kicking off 2016 in just over two months in Florida, so I'll have some more updates soon!

Season Redux

I suck at off seasons. It's taken me a while to realize that, and even longer to try to figure out a strategy around it.

Now I certainly know better than to be a November champion...I simply shake my head at triathletes posting their training, or even keeping track of what they are doing this time of year. I understand the periodization of the year, the value of bringing balance back into your life, and that whether you feel like it or not your body needs a bit of down time after a long season.

What I struggle with is shutting my brain off at the end of the season. As with most competitive athletes I tend to end my season with a big year-end goal race. Some years when that race has gone well I've headed into the off-season on a huge high and super motivated to keep racing. Sometimes I've known better and shut down racing, but have been overly keen on crushing the upcoming year.

This year I had a different type of struggle after Louisville. I was so fit; fitter that I've ever been in my life. I almost couldn't believe how well my body responded to long miles. I may have been in 9:30 IM shape, but I was definitely in sub-4:15 70.3 shape and probably even sub-2:00 Olympic shape...and I didn't get to express any of it.

Within 12 hours of finishing leaving medical, I wanted to find another Ironman to do the following weekend. After quickly realizing that was a terrible idea, I wanted to run a fall marathon. After being convinced that too was a terrible idea, I wanted to sign up for Louisville again to redeem myself. After conceding that was not a smart or healthy reason to commit to another Ironman, I finally had to face reality.

I spent over a year looking forward to that race, I didn't get the result I was looking for, and it was going to be a long time before I could give it another shot. That was a really shitty feeling.

It took three weeks of fighting the urge to register for more races or spontaneously run a casual 40k before I finally found the right mindset for this time of year, and find some good takeaways from this past season.

First off, I've been working with Coach James and Coach Mark to analyze my race day files and nutrition schedule to try to identify some possible causes of the GI distress I experienced in Louisville. I've also reached out to some medical professionals about the symptoms I was experiencing. We've come up with a few potential conclusions:

My pacing, while aggressive for a first Ironman, was well within the ranges that I trained in and I was never once above my high-end target. But I was likely a little too strict on sticking to my nutrition plan when my stomach started to turn on the bike. I thought I needed to force it down to survive later...live and learn I guess. I also likely ate too much on race morning and in the first hour on the bike, which may have backed me up for the rest of the day.

There's also the variable of the questionable water we swam in, which was miraculously cleared of the recreational advisory two days before the race, for exactly 5 miles upstream and 5 miles downstream from the race. To add to that, the only time I've experienced similar symptoms in a race was at Elite Provincials a few years ago when the beach was posted for e.coli levels (and Triathlon Ontario took down the sign for our race, before putting it back up for the remaining races in the day). Maybe coincidence... maybe my stomach is extremely sensitive to bacteria in the water. Coach Mark's suggestion to my idea of eliminating each variable was:

 I would try the eating less idea before I tried the drinking Ohio river water idea....

Since the bulk of my racing for the whole year revolved around Louisville it was hard for me to find many positives from my season at first. The training for Louisville was fun but extremely draining. I only raced a handful of events and skipped out on many of my local favourites to accommodate training. I had to withdraw from my first goal race at the Welland Half to avoid injury risk in an IM year. Honestly speaking my only noteworthy results from 2015 were a solid time at Around the Bay 30k, a couple decent local results and cracking 4:20 in Muncie 70.3 with what I considered a sub-par swim and a "just-ok" run.

That's why this can be such a tough sport. If someone were to "Sportstats creep" my season they'd think something was wrong with me. But without question 2015 was my best year in triathlon. When I think about everything I accomplished this year the race results are pretty meaningless. Almost every single weekend throughout the year I accomplished something I didn't think was possible. Whether it was a 26k treadmill run in February, 100 miles of crazy hills in Muskoka, 7-hour bricks in 40+ heat, or heading out for a late afternoon run and finishing with glow sticks in the pitch black.

I wrote this about a year ago, shortly after I signed up for Louisville and posted my reasoning behind wanting to do an Ironman this year. When training started to go really well I developed some extrinsic motivation for Louisville, but this was my true goal for 2015. I'd say I crushed it:

The biggest reason for me wanting to do an Ironman wasn't even for the race itself but for the training - not only experiencing the ups and downs of the big miles but also getting back to basics and nailing down my technical skills in all sports. [...] I firmly believe that focusing a year on base fitness and improving efficiency will not only make me stronger but significantly faster when I go back to racing shorter stuff the following year. Not to mention optimizing nutrition and recovery strategies. Even if the race goes to hell with the unpredictable nature of it being my first IM, I am confident that I'll be racing on a completely different level in 2016 than ever before.

I may not have posted a lengthy resume of results but 2015 was my most consistent year of training and I proved to myself that committing to a goal and following it relentlessly brought me to a level of fitness I didn't know I was capable of. While I was frustrated with many of my swim splits this year, I posted a new 400 PB in the middle of Ironman training. I also swam a sub-56:00 3.8k in the pool, not to mention swimming under 59 minutes in Louisville. All of that was on about 10k per week of swimming.

I also brought my cycling fitness to a whole new level this year. I've always considered myself a decent cyclist, but until recently I was much better at road racing and sprinting than time trialling...let alone getting comfortable pushing out a big effort in the aerobars for 5+ hours at a time. But this year I posted new personal bests in every distance on the bike. Two 20k TT PB's, both were well above any absolute power or W/Kg numbers I've ever put out before. My two 70.3 splits were 2:15 and 2:14. And my Ironman bike split in Louisville was in the top 15 overall despite riding on the conservative side of my power target.

And even though most of my run training this year was focused on building mileage, I surprised myself with going well under 2:00 at Around the Bay and nearly hitting my half-marathon PB at that point in the race. Then I had one of my best sprint tri's at TTF, and ran a second best-ever Olympic-distance run split on rolling gravel roads at Lakeside (15 seconds off my PB literally set on a race track in Montreal). Not to mention I managed to stay healthy and injury free all year despite the big miles.

So after a couple weeks of eating tons of pizza and candy, drinking plenty of beer, and doing way too much thinking...I'm ready for the off season! It's time to take a step back in training, focus on the little things and forget about speed or pace times for a while. And slowly build the foundation for a big season next year. Oh and lots of mountain biking :)

As I mentioned there will be no Ironman next year, though I certainly have some unfinished business with that race. But next year I'm looking forward to getting back to how I started in the sport, lots of fun local stuff, finding new challenges and knocking down some more PB's.

Ironman Louisville

I had one goal for Ironman Louisville 2015. Take a year to try something completely different, learn to truly appreciate the journey to the start line, and train better and more consistently than I ever had. I accomplished that goal.

If you've kept tabs on my blog (thanks for the read!) you'll already know the amount of time and energy I put into preparation for IMLOU. Leading up to the race I wasn't overly nervous or anxious, because I felt that no matter what happened on race day I had done everything in my power to be as prepared as possible for the event.

But I did begin feeling the weight of what an Ironman really entails. Everyone says that it's an emotional journey - that you'll find yourself tearing up on the start line and throughout the race. And sure enough, race week brought a roller coaster of emotions. Even though I loved the training, I had committed a full year of my life to one single day. And everyone around me, particularly Amanda who supported me through the daily grind, was a part of that journey as well. It's a challenging, incredibly rewarding, stupidly expensive and insanely selfish journey.

I arrived in Louisville with Amanda and my mom late Thursday night to the news that the swim - which had been in question due to water quality - was officially a go for Sunday. I settled in, got my race kit and final workouts in on Friday, then spent the majority of my afternoon on Saturday figuring out how to fit all my nutrition on my bike and race belt (I trained with everything on course but didn't want to rely on grabbing gels and chews from the aid stations).

Before I knew it Sunday morning came with a 4:30AM wake-up call to get to transition for a final gear check and head to the swim start. I felt good. Really good.

The swim is a unique rolling time trial start which meant two things: 1. it's a very relaxed start and the race spreads out really nicely, and 2. With 3000+ people in the race, the line-up was over a mile long to get in the water. After debating for days if I was going to try to get there insanely early (ie. before 5am) to try to start up front, I chose the relaxed option, took my time getting myself and my gear ready, and was somewhere near the back of the line (probably 2000-2500 athletes ahead of me) with my BPT mates Nikki and Mike (and all of our lovely sherpas) together. At 7:30 we heard a distant cannon fire and the line started moving. This was really happening!!

Around 7:57 it was our turn to walk down the ramp to the start, and with one last high 5 we were off. Holy shit, I'm doing an Ironman! I took my time getting going, relaxed into that familiar stroke that I've worked so hard at. Smooth and efficient. Strong core. Sight often. Stay relaxed. There were swimmers in every direction, but it was never too congested. I was quickly moving through the field, and not a single swimmer came past me.

About 1200m in we rounded the turn and began the long straight away to transition. I knew it was going to feel like forever, and I was prepared for the mental challenge. I focused on the bridges in the distance that we would go under and just kept swimming. Slowly but surely they came closer, then under them, then I could make out the transition tents, and finally that last turn buoy. My hamstring cramped getting out of the water, but I relaxed, let it release, got to the wetsuit strippers, and off into T1. 58:47 swim in my first IM - my best swim of the year, maybe my best ever. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the day.

I heard some amazing cheers as I made my way to the mount line, and off I went for 180k on the bike. I felt better than I've ever felt getting on the bike - hips weren't tight, back wasn't tight, power came easily. We had driven the bike course the day before and I was ready to take on this crazy challenge of an Ironman bike.

The course is mostly flat to 20 miles where there is a challenging and fun out-and-back section, before two relentlessly hilly 50k loops. A rough time check at the turn-around to the leaders who started 27 minutes ahead of me - I was 27 minutes behind them. I was gradually building into my goal wattage of 220-225W for the first 100k, with the plan of purposely positive splitting slightly on the second half.

My experience in challenging 70.3's really paid off by maintaining a steady power output regardless of the terrain. I was amazed, but not overly surprised, watching athletes who were likely averaging 5-10km/h slower grind back past me on an uphill only to disappear at the top. This is an Ironman! You have to run a marathon this afternoon!! Similar to Rev3 Knoxville the course really rewarded working the downhills to maintain momentum going up the next one. It was a tough course, but I was feeling good.

About half way through the first loop the wind started to pick up, and the mental demons started coming. "You have to do this whole loop again, then ride another 30k back, then run a MARATHON!" It's such a challenge to stay focused on the kilometre you are in, and take it all as it comes. But I was still ticking off athletes, focusing on nutrition and pacing, and still felt good. I kept my mind occupied by thinking of the second time riding through La Grange where my supporters were hanging out :)

Lap 2 was pretty congested with many cyclists on their first time through. There were a few times I had to break my rhythm to avoid some of the craziness. I also had some goof balls intentionally jump right on my wheel as I passed. But I was mentally prepared for those challenges and did my best to keep any negative emotions out of my mind. My stomach was starting to scream at me when I took my nutrition, but my nutrition in training felt completely dialled and I knew I needed at least 80g of carbs per hour. So I forced my gels and chews down.

I was starting to get really sick of the hills, the wind, my aerobars. But my legs were still solid and I was slowly ticking off the miles. After what seemed like an eternity I was finally off the loop section. Just 30k left with a net downhills...but the barely noticeable crosswind we had going out became a stiff headwind coming back in. The mental demons came back, "this isn't even fun, it's just unnecessary!"

With about 20k to go a group of three athletes came by me in a legal pace line. It was just what I needed. I was able to ride just below my target wattage staying VERY safely legal 12-15 meters at the back. It was enough to keep my head in it and stay focused to the finish. After driving the course I was thinking 5:30 was a good bike split goal. Despite starting with well over 2000 athletes in front of me, I dismounted in 5:10 with less than 50 athletes ahead of me. Second in my age group, in the top 15 overall, and Amanda said I looked the best out of anyone who had come in. I took a few deep breaths in transition to gather myself mentally for what was ahead. But my legs felt good and I got rolling.

Of all three sports I was most confident in my run fitness. Two weeks before the race I ran 10 miles off a 4 hour ride at what was supposed to be IM pace and I ended up averaging 4:10/km. The week before that I cruised 36k at IM pace just above 4:30/km. I didn't want to set an unrealistic time goal for my first Ironman, but I was more fit than I've ever been. I was roughly aiming for a 3:30 on the conservative side, but I wasn't going to discount a 3:15-3:20 if things went well. My race time was 6:15 out of T2, I knew I had a LONG way to go but was well below even my best case scenario time estimates.

I allowed myself to settle into the first mile nice and easy to get my legs under me, and Amanda was perfectly positioned to give me a quick pep talk. First mile split was 7:55 with a quick pee stop.

Of course I was tired, but not as bad as I expected 6+ hours into an Ironman. I ticked off 7:25 per mile to the turnaround, but I was getting increasingly bad stomach cramps heading out to the turn around. But I got there. "Time to reset, finish Lap 1 and re-assess".

At the first aid station on the way back I started heaving when I tried a chew, then again when I tried Gatorade instead.

"No worries, ease off the pace a bit and try something again at the next aid station." It came right back up. My legs still felt good so I kept ticking off the miles, but I was starting to get concerned.

"Ok, coke and Gatorade only at the next aid station." Same result. When I was running I was running 7:30 miles, but I tacked on an extra 60-90 seconds throwing up after each aid station.

At mile 10 I knew I was going to be in trouble if I couldn't keep something down. I forced down a gel right before the aid station then took water and coke. Ten steps later I emptied everything in my stomach.

"Thank f**k, maybe I'll feel better now. Time to rally just like Natasha Badmann in Kona!" Back to 7:30 miles.

I got to the final aid station of Lap 1, took a chew, water and coke. I threw it all up. I came around the turn-around where I saw Amanda, my mom, and Sarah from BPT. They were so happy for me...

"You're killing it!!"

"You're third in your age group, keep ticking them off!"

"You're gonna be sub-10!"

I tried to muster a decent looking stride but I felt dangerously close to passing out. I was nearly 8 hours into the race and hadn't gotten any carbs or fluids down in the last 11k. I still had hope that things would turn around. My legs still felt ok. I thought best case, I get through these issues and hold something down and 9:45 is in my sights. Worst case, a 2:20 second lap would still get me under 10:30.

When I got to the first aid station on Lap 2 I knew I was in trouble. I was coming up on two hours of running and was hitting empty. I tried everything they were offering, nothing stayed down. When I got to Mile 16 I stopped and asked for help from the volunteers. The aid station captain was a doctor and was amazingly helpful. He had me sit down and try to relax, and told me he didn't want me to try standing up until I drank something and kept it down. Half an hour later I was still there.

I wanted to continue so badly that I didn't realize how serious it was getting. I still couldn't drink anything without vomiting, and despite the 27 degree air I wasn't sweating, and was shivering sitting in the sun. I was starting to mope, but quickly changed my mindset. I still had almost 8 hours to go 10 miles. With that stubborn thought I got up and walked to Mile 17. A nurse there asked if I was ok, I told her what was going on and she asked if she could call an ambulance for me. I started crying.

I knew my race was probably over, but I didn't want to quit. I took a few sips of chicken broth and forced myself to run. I wanted to give it one more shot to find my way to the finish. I passed Mile 18, ran through the aid station and kept going. Then at Mile 19 I thought of Amanda waiting for me at the finish line, and how stupid it would be to keep going and risk my health for a triathlon. I asked for medical...and my Ironman journey ended in an ambulance back to medical center.

The medical staff were absolutely incredible, I wanted to hug them all. They ran some precautionary tests, ruled out any heart/respiratory issues and confirmed what I already knew - I was simply ten hours into the race, and had not absorbed any fluids or carbohydrates for over three hours. Two hours, lots of complaining about needles, and two IV bags later I was starting to come around and was released. My Ironman badge of honour was a blood-stained elbow and electrode stickers on my chest.

I still have a lot of figuring out to do with this one. I felt so ripped off at first, that I had gone through all the training and 10 hours of suffering and missed out on the ONE thing that made it worth while...crossing the finish line. But that's a load of crap.

I've taken so much away from this past year, I think it will take me a while to figure out what it really means. The first thing of course is to try to determine the cause of such severe GI distress. I'm in good hands between Coach James' analysis of my race and data files, and the expertise of Coach Mark Linseman dissecting my minute-by-minute nutrition and hydration schedule. There are so many variables, but now that it's off-season I have plenty of time to sort it all out.

But there's one thing I know for sure. Sooner or later I'll test the Ironman again, and I'm gonna go for it :)

Ramblings and Racing

Seems as though I've done a pretty terrible job updating this through the summer. Ma bad. It's been over two months since my last post from Muncie 70.3, and things have certainly been busy. I can't believe local race season is almost done! And I'm starting to wonder what I was thinking starting my season in early March and going until mid October...

I'm most of the way through my Ironman build, and honestly I have been trying to come up with a theme or something meaningful to write about for a while now. But it has been just about exactly what I was expecting. Equal doses of amazing highs, feelings of accomplishment, finishing workouts I never thought I was capable of, unexpected PB's...and some of the lowest lows I've ever felt in training from extreme fatigue and lack of motivation, and wanting to quit triathlon forever. I guess if you've gone through the prep for an Ironman you understand, and if you haven't...well you just need to do it to know what I mean. It's hard to summarize but mostly I've just done a shit load of miles in the last 8 weeks.

Some of my hardest workouts were right at the start; long rides and runs that were barely longer than what I do to prep for a half. Which left me pretty unsure about how the whole build was going to go given that I was only at 60% of the distance. But my body slowly started to adapt and I was able to start dialling in my pacing, and taking my attention to nutrition (carbs, caffeine, sodium, protein & fat, mL of fluid) to a whole new level.

The turning point was a 100 mile ride I did in Muskoka - I had only done the distance once, in Florida with lots of friends and lots of snack stops. But this one was solo, with a few thousand feet of climbing and 100k at race pace. When I survived that one I started believing I could actually do this. Then 180k the next week didn't seem so bad, and 200k the week after just felt awesome to finish.

As I've said before, deciding to do an Ironman this year was more about the journey than the race itself. To fully commit to the process of focusing on one race, being relentless with controlling the variables and consistent with my training. Amanda has asked why I needed to do an Ironman to accomplish that, which is a fair question.

I guess the short answer is, because it scares the crap out of me! I can't imagine attempting the distance without feeling like I've turned over every stone in terms of my preparation...become as efficient in the water as possible, tweak my bike position, stay on top of core & physio...the list has been endless. And then I can take that experience to my training moving forward.

So far it has worked out the way I hoped and I've hit a new level of consistency and focus on my training. And I'm already looking forward to seeing how this experience will help me become a stronger and more consistent athlete at whatever distance I choose to focus on next year. Definitely not an Ironman!!

I guess all of that brings me to this weekend...

Lakeside Olympic:

Even though it's a small race - usually a fun low key way to end the season for local athletes - I had actually planned Lakeside all year as part of my prep for Louisville and had been looking forward to it for a while. It's getting late in the year and late in my season and I needed something to break up the grind and mix things up.

Not to mention the majority of my training miles have been endless laps of the bike course for it's nice quiet rolling roads and the ability to refuel easily on a multi-loop ride. So I literally know every hill, pothole and farm dog on the course. I was looking forward to racing hard on my home turf, and having so many awesome athletes and volunteers from Balance Point and LPC made it that much better.

Swim - 23:57

Besides stopping for a coffee and some breakfast on someone's dock during the swim, everything went great!

In all honesty, my open water swims have been a struggle for me for the better part of the last 18 months. I'm still trying to figure out why. I'm swimming PB's in the pool on 10k per week, and three days before the race I swam 3100m open water averaging 1:27/100. So maybe I was tired, maybe my sighting sucked, or maybe I was just sandbagging a bit too much.

There are so many variables in open water though, and at the end of the day my focus this year has been on exerting as little energy as possible getting through the swim. So I can't be too bummed when I don't see the times I'd like and know I am capable of. Long story short, I felt decent in the water but lost over 5 minutes to super swimmer Ben Sayles.

Bike - 1:01:56

The biggest story on the bike was the conditions. Despite the last few weeks being 30+ degrees day after day, race morning brought 8-10 degrees, 30km/h wind and even a bit of rain to make things interesting. Between that and a rolling course with some rough roads it wasn't going to be a fast ride. I was shivering all morning before the race, so I decided to throw on a full-zip bike jersey over my wet kit after the swim, along with neoprene toe warmers. A few extra seconds in transition were worth avoiding the risk of getting sick 4 weeks out from Louisville.

Action shot of...putting my shoes on

I felt good getting on the bike but with two hills and a turnaround in the first 3k I focused on getting my shoes on and getting warmed up before trying to wind things up. I also knew that the last 9k of the course is the most challenging and was going to be into a strong headwind, so my goal was to gradually build my effort throughout.

I decided not to look at my power data at all during the race since I wasn't sure how my legs were going to respond to high intensity, so I wanted to focus on staying smooth and aero throughout. I'm coming to find that while tracking my power in long course is a really beneficial tool to keep things in check, in short course I tend to just get frustrated with myself trying to get the numbers high enough. I'm sure I rode with a little higher variation than I normally would, but it worked out.

Through the first 10k into the wind I was moving well but I had absolutely nobody around to cue off of. So I just kept my head down and focused on bringing up my average speed through 15-30k on the fast section of the course. Ben was far enough up the road that I couldn't see him at all but I told myself that he was going to have to ride really well to not lose any time to me. Turned out we had almost identical bike splits.

I knew what to expect in the last 10k and my average speed dropped very little over the net uphill/headwind. I got off the bike confident in a good ride but realistic that I hadn't gotten any time back. I guess I won't be too concerned that my 39km/h average was my slowest of the year! I was heading out on the run 5 minutes back from the leader, and 5 minutes up on 3rd.

The usual bike dismount derp face

Run - 37:29

Similar to the bike, I decided not to run with a Garmin or even a watch. Given all the run miles I have in my legs I had equal chances of running a PB, or being completely empty and slogging through it. So I just went by feel not worrying about my pace.

Since the run is 95% on freshly graded gravel roads I opted for my trail flats that have some rock protection and a bit of extra grip. Considering how tech-geeky triathletes are, it amazes me that virtually everyone neglects equipment implications on things like running shoes, cold/wet weather gear (and their aerodynamics), goggle/sunglass tint etc. But that small decision made a big difference comfort-wise, and helped me get the fastest run split :)

I felt good getting going, which might be expected since my typical Saturday morning warmup is literally a 1500m swim and 40k bike. So when I felt some leg speed I decided to just go with it and commit to it.

The run was awesome with each aid station being covered by BTP club members, and one by Amanda's hilarious cousin and uncle. And despite the challenging course and strong headwind coming back in, the two-lap run was a lot of fun.

After the first lap I knew I wasn't going to be racing for the win but I was running pretty well and had a shot at my Oly-distance run PB of 37:13. I was fast again going out for lap 2, then the uphill and headwind coming back the second time killed my speed a bit. But I held on and was really happy with my run on tired legs, in those conditions.

My overall time was my 3rd best Olympic behind TTF and Montreal, both of which are such fast courses that they aren't even really comparable. Second and top age-grouper was good by me! Which is more than I could have hoped for in the middle of an Ironman build. I would have liked to swim faster but I executed a good race and gave myself a little more confidence in my fitness. And just like TTF earlier in the year, the good result at a shorter distance has given me a kick in the ass to want to get back to short course next year and get fast! I love racing, and racing hard. So as much as the Ironman build has been a great experience I'm not planning on doing another one anytime soon. I'm looking forward to changing things up next year and finally breaking that 2:00 barrier.

So all that's left now is one or two more big weekends then Louisville. On one hand I can't wait to get it over with and finally relax for a while. But on the other hand I still feel like I need to get more training in and keep building the miles. I'm starting to get the idea that I'll never feel 100% prepared before race day. So the goal for the next 3.5 weeks is don't get lazy, stay healthy and don't do anything stupid!

Ironman 70.3 Muncie

Well, it took three Redbulls and an embarrasing amount of McDonalds to get me through...and that was just the drive home!

Even though Muncie 70.3 fell right in the middle of the summer, in a lot of ways it was like a big end-of-season A priority race for me. Up until now Louisville has been on the back burner while I've been putting in the training for 70.3's. The plan was to get essentially a full season of racing in before dedicating a big chunk of my summer to training miles. Besides a couple longer workouts in Florida and racing Around the Bay, up to this point my training really hasn't been any different from the previous 2-3 years. But that's ALL about to change!

I had targeted Muncie as a good way to "end" the first half of my season that consisted of some small tune-up races, ATB, Welland and TTF. And after Welland not going to plan I had some extra motivation to race well and try to take some time off my half-IM best time.

Shortly after Welland I got in for a long overdue physio assessment to get an idea of what caused my issues in the race, and to be honest had been bugging me in training far too long before that. As I suspected it was nothing serious, just some minor muscle imbalances and tightness which I caught at the right time. Although it took missing out on a good race, I was glad I got it sorted out and in the short turnaround between Welland and Muncie things already started moving a lot better. Still not perfect though, so there was some uncertainty.

After my GPS got me lost a few times in rural Ohio I eventually arrived in Muncie on Friday afternoon. Ironically it was kind of like I had driven 6 hours to end up back in Southern Ontario. The race venue and course was strikingly similar to many of our local races like Guelph Lake, Binbrook or Belwood. Quick race prep, Panera Bread dinner and off to bed for a 4:45am wake up.

Swim - 31:30
It seemed as though Ironman borrowed Multisport Canada's "magic thermometer" for this race which never reads a temperature above wetsuit cut-off. I had anticipated a non-wetsuit swim and was actually looking forward to it. But despite what felt like 78-80 degree water, off we went in our wetsuits!

I guess I understand why Ironman often puts M25-29 in the final wave, to allow the older age groups a little more time out on the course. But this was my fourth straight time starting in the final wave of a 70.3, and this was by far the most congested race I've ever done. I'm not reading into my swim time too much as it seems that all the swim times in my wave were very slow. Whether it was the course or the traffic I ended up about 2-2.5 minutes back of where I would typically come out of the water.

Regardless, I got off to a good start and my stroke felt better than it has in the open water so far. After doing my best not to demolish any old ladies from the earlier waves I got out near the front of my age group. Whatever the time was I'm confident that things are moving in the right direction. Quick T1 and off I went on the bike.

Bike - 2:14:58
Within the first 30 seconds on the bike I knew two things. First off, it was going to be a very congested ride. Second, I was MOVIN'! I thought my Garmin wasn't working properly when I saw 46-48km/h through the first 5k. And it certainly made it a little more interesting with how crowded the course was on some narrow roads that lead to a 2-lap out and back on a wider highway. I did my best to not do anything stupid and be respectful of everyone, but it was quite dangerous at times passing large groups at 45+km/h. However that's part of racing an Ironman branded event, it's crowded and you can either waste your energy stressing and peer-policing drafting, or focus on your own effort.

About 6 miles in I got out to the highway for the double out and back and got to work focusing on my power output. It certainly made things more interesting to constantly have people to pass, compared to Welland where I saw 4 or 5 riders over the entire 90k. I could tell I was moving well and at the end of the first lap I was on pace for a 2:13 split. I still didn't believe my Garmin was right based on how comfortable it felt. My goal was to ride more conservative than in Welland, and try to beat my run time from Knoxville last year. So I was not expecting to be riding faster than my 2:15 in Welland!

The second time around felt a little longer than the first of course, but I was still rolling along well. I had let my average power get a little on the high end with the constant spikes in effort to get past the groups of riders so I decided to back off a little through the final 20k, get some extra fluids in and try to just maintain my average speed to get back.

The 6 miles back to transition were once again painfully congested, but rather than get frustrated I used it as an opportunity to stretch out my back and come in fresh. I was happy to see that I was still under 2:15 when I hit the dismount, my first time over 40km/h for 90k :)

Run - 1:29:09
Another quick transition and it was onto the hot and rolling run course. I had driven about half of the run course the day before, and although it wasn't crazy hilly like Worlds last year or Muskoka 70.3, it was still challenging. The steepest hills were right at the start/end so I took it out nice and easy and settled into my 4:05-4:10/km pace. It was getting HOT but I really wanted to sneak under my run time in Knoxville last year of 1:28:39. It felt easy through 5k but I knew the pain was coming!

I was hoping that at the turnaround I'd feel some relief that I was now on the back end, but my train of thought was more like "f**k, now I have to go all the way back!?" My pacing was still ok and at each aid station I did everything I could to stay cool...ice down the suit, sponge on neck, water on head. But my stomach wasn't absorbing any more fluids so it was hard to get my carbs in. I couldn't get gels or chews down so I tried to at least get half a sip of coke or gatorade at each aid station.

I was still right around my goal pace at 14k, then slowly but surely I saw my pace slipping away and had conceded the thought of going sub 1:30 on the stinkin' hot rolling course. But I had a little motivation that I seemed to be slowing down less than  many others. At 17k I spotted someone in my age group just ahead, and I thought to myself "damn it, I really don't want to pick it up now". But as I went past I had the feeling he was trying to respond, so I did everything I could to get back down to 4:00 k's.

With a mile to go I had brought some time back on my Knoxville time and I told myself if I'm this close I have to go for it. I tried to bring my pace down further, and that lasted about half a mile. I was completely done! But I had one small hill left then the finishing chute, and when I got to the line I was happy to see I had gotten safely under 1:30, and sub 4:20 overall.

In the end that was a 9+ minute PB over the distance. I still am confident that I am capable of running quite a bit faster, and I think I've got a sub 4:10 in me one of these days. But if there's one thing I've learned over the last 4 years of focusing on half's, it's that my improvements have been small but consistent. And I'm just fine with being the guy that always gets a little faster every time :)

So now it's a bit of an easy week, and then s**t gets real!! I'm equally excited and terrified that my true Ironman prep is here, and I've got about 10-12 weeks to get it in!! But my race in Muncie not only left me really satisfied with my results so far this year, but also confident particularly in my bike fitness moving forward.

So from here on out it will be very little racing...maybe one fun one late in the summer to break up the grind. But I've got some serious work to do getting some miles in my legs. First up is going to be a mini solo "training camp" up in Muskoka at chez Switzer in a few weeks! Although I was cursing myself during the race for committing to double the distance, I really can't wait to see what's in store over the next 3 months. I'll do my best to keep this updated!

TTF: Provincial Championships

When Triathlon Ontario announced that Provincial Champs was at the Toronto Triathlon Festival I decided it would be a good opportunity to jump in a fast and fun race on tired legs after Welland. But after last weekend not going to plan I was really motivated to race well and hopefully get a boost of confidence in my fitness. I know its there, but it has also been a while since I've run to my potential in a tri.

After a quick stop in Dundas to pick up some new goodies from Scott at Dundas Speed Shop (more info to come!) I got to Ontario Place for race briefing and kit pickup, then met up with Team Switzer at Amanda's sister's place about 10k from the race site. After a short bike/run along the waterfront we had a nice chill evening getting everything prepped for the race. I think the more I work and the busier I get, the more I appreciate the weekend getaways to local races.

While Amanda's dad Kevin was up insanely early for the Olympic race, we had a relative sleep-in for our race start at 9:30. Despite the weather forcast not looking good for Sunday we really couldn't have gotten any luckier with conditions. Warm-up felt good, except for misjudging time and only getting in about 20 strokes in the water before getting back out to line up.

I took the start out hard hoping to latch onto some fast feet and avoid pulling too many of my strong teamLPC teammates with me :) The first buoy was about 200m in so it was pretty crowded to get there, but nothing I haven't dealt with before. After that it was another 100-150m to the turnaround so I put in a big effort to try to get clear of the main large group. I may have been a bit optimistic with my top end pacing, and around 500 I was starting to suffer. I saw my Hurdle Project teammate Prakash Pandya come up beside me nearing the final turn, and after some crappy navigation I got out of the water just a couple steps behind him. Little did I know this was shaping up to be a great battle!

When I got to my bike in T1 I discovered that someone must have dropped my helmet and the visor and rear extension of my helmet had popped off. I had lost my psychological edge of looking super cool! But in all seriousness, I'll occasionally welcome the unexpected so I can learn to adapt in a race situation. I put the pieces aside and got on with it. I got on the bike a step ahead of Prak and we were both very motivated to throw down a big effort.

When Prak flew by me in the first 3k of the bike I thought he was crazy going that hard...but I know he is a fast runner and I didn't want to give anything up on the bike. When we got on the Gardiner we were hammering and quickly got through the handful of speedy swimmers, and everyone from the earlier wave. I spent most of the ride out to the turnaround just trying to get my breathing and heart rate under control while not allowing him to get more than 50-100 meters on me. It was definitely a bit of a shock to the system going that hard with most of my training geared towards steady-tempo half IM efforts. But I knew I had good fitness, I just had to go to the hurt box to get there!

I had a bit of momentum coming off the turnaround so I decided I'd give it a go and see if I could get a lead. It was definitely the most fun I've had on the bike in a non-drafting race. We were pushing each other HARD, partly to work together...partly to try to get away :) I was really impressed with his bike fitness as a relative newcomer to the sport. I thought that was my chance to get a gap starting the run but neither of us were letting the other get away. Around 15k went by me again and got about 10 seconds on me, but through the technical section back to T2 we came back together and got off the bike almost side by side. After another slightly slower than usual transition to gather my various helmet pieces together I had a few seconds lead again hitting the run course.

I held onto the lead for about half a mile until Prak came past again...at which point I gave up on trying to keep my effort in check and knew I'd be red lining to the finish. I kept him within 5 seconds up to the turnaround at 2k when we got on Lakeshore. I was running fairly well but lacking a bit of top end speed so I was relying on my endurance and willingness to suffer and try to break the hour barrier - I've been within 30 seconds three times. I saw James, Mark and a few fellow LPC athletes on the way back which helped carry me to the finish.

After the later waves came through I ended up in 3rd, behind Prak and another LPCer Lee Rantala, and we were all within 30 seconds of each other. I once again just missed breaking an hour...it will have to wait until sometime when I'm back to focusing on short-course and building my speed. My swim and run were nothing special but I was really happy with my effort and it was right up with my best sprint races overall. And I was able to take the Provincial Championship for my age group and I get to decide if I want to take a spot to Worlds in Cozumel next year.

With so much emphasis in my training and racing this year being on pacing, fuelling, controlling my effort etc. it was a lot of fun to mix it up with some speed. It reminded me of my roots in the sport and I think after my long course adventures this year I might take some time to get back to basics and have fun getting faster next year!

The best part of the race was taking part in an event with so many friends and teammates. Amanda had an awesome race with one of her best swims ever and smoked the bike course with the top female split, and also earned a spot to Worlds. Now we just have to decide if we want to go next year in the new draft-legal format! And teamLPC dominated once again with a ton of awesome performances. It's inspiring to be part of such a strong group, it makes the championship races a lot of fun.

I still have a few things I need to work out before my next race at Muncie 70.3. I have a long overdue physio assessment and I'm tweaking my bike position slightly to try to avoid the issues I had in Welland. A fast and aggressive bike position is pretty meaningless if it affects your run afterwards! But it was nice to put Welland in the past and get some confirmation that things are still going in the right direction and I'm on track for some good fitness moving forward. I've got a couple more weeks of fine tuning before Muncie, then I get to look forward to a mini mid-season reset before IM training really starts up.

Rose City Half

Last weekend's Multisport Canada Welland Half Iron did not end the way I had intended, but I have no second thoughts on the outcome. The reality of endurance sport is that regardless of your preparation sometimes things just don't go to plan, and it's not a reflection of your fitness or ability as an athlete. Get over it and get ready for the next one :)

Coming off the bike in third behind two pro/elites with confidence in my running was a position I've been working towards for 4 years in a half ironman. But the unknown and unexpected is part of the fun in this crazy sport. So I will take it for what it is – a matter of getting what I needed, and not what I wanted out of this race. To be honest I wasn't keen on sharing my thoughts on the race at first, but in sticking with my theme of transparency through the ups and downs of this IM journey, here's the scoop.

Welland and I have somewhat of an interesting relationship. I think I've had the race on at least some iteration of my race schedule every year because it's an awesomely fast and fun course. It's the race you do to set your PB, and then come back again to try and beat it. But Welland and I don't always see eye to eye.

The first year I planned on doing it I posted a DNS, having forgotten half my gear at the hotel room in Niagara Falls. In 2012 I finally had my first modest success at the half-distance, with a still-standing 2k swim PB, 2:20 bike and survived a 1:35 run. Since then I have put Welland on hold, consistently bringing down my run time on progressively harder 70.3 run courses.  Last year when I ran 1:28 in Knoxville it didn't seem like a stretch to get close to 1:20 in Welland and go sub-4:15.

So after surviving some of the hardest 70.3 courses on the continent over the past three years I decided it was time to give Welland another crack. I didn't have any make-or-break time goals, but this was a goal event for me…I was fit and prepared, and I wanted to continue building on my progression at the half-distance. Swimming has been going ok, my pool fitness is good but I'm still working on finding my open water stroke. I'm riding faster than ever and my run at Around the Bay reassured me of my ability to run 1:22-1:24 on tired legs. So when I actually calculated my realistic goal times based on how training was going I came up with 4:10-4:14.

The only unknown I had was a minor but stubborn issue with discomfort and efficiency on the bike over the past month. I had chalked it up to fatigue and tightness from my long rides, but leading up to the race it was getting to the point that I was ignoring some pretty clear signs of muscle imbalances and overuse. I was hoping that tapering for the race would help shed any fatigue and tightness leading into the race, but it actually got worse during the week and it got to the point of just trying to not think about it before the race. Unfortunately hindsight is 20:20, and it seemed to me like a meaningless "niggle" that comes out of nowhere in taper week and disappears on race day. So with that mindset I was looking forward to taking some serious time off my 4:28 from Welland in 2012.

The swim course this year was in the opposite direction from what it typically is, meaning that we would be swimming under the bridge within the first 300m. Everyone in my wave crowded to one side of the start line, meanwhile I decided to start on the very far end in the middle of the canal with a clear line to the first turn. It made for the easiest swim start I've ever had, watching everyone battle it out beside me while I settled right into my pace, and just before the first turn around 500m I slotted in behind a small group.

The pace was pretty tame, but with the long 1k stretch being into the current this time I decided to save some energy and stay in the draft of the group. A couple times during the long straight I tried my luck at picking it up and going solo, but after 25 hard strokes I decided it wasn't worth the extra effort. Whether it was the long stretch up-current, or my decision to conserve energy and stick with the group, or just not having a great swim, my time wasn't what I was hoping for. But similar to my swim in Knoxville last year, given my very limited open water/wetsuit swimming so far this year I was ok with it, and more importantly I felt good getting on the bike.

Plenty of racing left to nail down that swim. At least my new suit looks rad

After a fast transition I got on my bike with just a handful of athletes ahead of me between a few fast swimmers in my wave and a few guys from the pro/elite wave. I settled into my goal wattage and had some free speed thanks to my new teamLPC skinsuit and my Rudy Project Wing57. My power meter died around 22k, because I'm an idiot and forgot to change the batteries last week when it started to go. But on the flat course I was already dialled into my pacing and just got to work ticking off the miles.

There weren't many athletes around to key off of, but I knew I was riding pretty well and had the potential to put down a fast bike split. I went through 40k around 59 minutes and almost couldn't believe how easily the k's were going by. I thought about my ride in 2012 when I was basically toast after 50k on the bike and the rest of the race was a sufferfest. I was careful to keep my effort in check but I had the feeling that I was having a great ride.

65k into the ride, a massive PB for the distance and my best bike split ever

By 60k I was pretty sure that the only two athletes ahead of me were Alex Vanderlinden and Andrew Bolton, both of whom started in the wave ahead and seem to be very fit and fast this year! I got to the turn at 68k when all there is left is a 20k stretch of perfectly flat and straight road left to get back into town. I vividly remember how uncomfortable I was at this point in 2012, and couldn't believe how fast and fresh I still felt in the aerobars.

I knew I was going to be extremely close to breaking 2:15 (40km/h), but once again I thought about 2012 where I pushed the last 10k way too hard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break 2:20 by a matter of seconds, and proceeded to have a death march run. I decided to ease up getting back into town and stretch out my calf and hamstring which had been getting progressively tighter throughout the ride – my "niggle" that most definitely didn't disappear on race day. But I got off the bike with a split just a hair over 2:15, with only Alex and Andrew up the road.  I started doing the math with my cumulative time and knew I had sub-4:15 locked down, with the potential of going sub-4:10 if I had a run similar to my effort in Knoxville last year.

Derp face coming off a strong ride

I settled into my goal pace of 3:50-4:00/km but right away I knew my legs weren't going to agree. Having done a few 70.3 now I know what to expect getting off the bike in terms of leg fatigue, and I knew this was different. I was having specific and intense pain in my left glute, which I quickly realized I had been compensating with on the bike when my right calf and hamstring were causing me trouble. As motivated as I was to lock down a podium spot, I knew something wasn't right. I eased up to 4:10-4:15s and the pain got worse.

By 4k I knew I had to make the decision between walk-jogging through a long half-marathon, or pack it in and figure out these issues before it affects any more of my training or races. It probably would have been a much easier decision if I hadn’t gotten myself to such a good position in the race, but it was the decision I had to make. Amanda had run out on the course to around the 8k mark, and despite her insanely awesome cheering I told her I was done. We made the long walk back together in the rain while I watched everyone run by. It was really tough, but more than anything else it reinforced that I need to iron out these small "minor" issues that will inevitably present themselves when you are pushing your limits in a long course race.

So now it's time to get proactive and determine the cause of what's going on. I quickly ruled out the thought that I rode too hard and blew up. I've ridden much harder in training and run well off the bike, and I've come off the bike in a 70.3 in a far worse state fatigue-wise and gotten through the run. I'm working through a few possible causes between muscle imbalances and re-evaluating my bike position, which I'm running more aggressively than I have in the past for long course. Its likely a bit of both that are playing off each other, but it's given me some serious urgency in sorting things out with another half coming up in a month.

Racing-wise I'm just going to get right back on the horse and jump in Sprint Distance Provincials this weekend. I know I have good fitness and won't be risking anything in a sprint so it will be a good opportunity to put this one out of my head and move on. Then I have a few more weeks to work out the kinks before my first A-priority race of the year at Muncie 70.3. With a similar course profile to Welland I'll take some confidence in my bike split there, and look forward to putting it all together.

One Last Tune Up

At long last, it's almost here! I've been fortunate enough to travel to my fair share of destination races (and my list of "we have to go back to _____ this year" grows longer every season), but there's really no other way I'd rather spend my summer than weekend road-tripping to races throughout Ontario. Particularly when the destination is the Switzer cottage in Muskoka, but that will have to wait a bit later in the summer!

It feels like it has been the longest "pre-season" ever having started my racing in early March. Typically I try to get one or two road races or 10k/half-marathons in before starting my true race season in June, so I'm already in new territory this year. But with the IM coming up at the end of the year I've benefited from having more focus – both during workouts, and with the process – than ever before. Still, despite managing to put together a consistent spring of training and some good early season results I still have that mild feeling of panic leading up to my first half IM of the year.

I'd be lying if I said it has been perfect, I've nailed every workout, never missed a session etc. One of my pet peeves with athletes on social media is their version of life/training/workouts always being awesome and epic. Nobody posts their Strava segments from when they slept in and had to squeeze in half their intended training after a long work day, or cut something short to make time for core & physio. But that's reality sometimes!

The first lesson I've learned in my IM year is probably the most obvious: life is going to get in the way sometimes. I envisioned this year being 12 months of nailing each and every workout. While training has been going well, it's far from perfect. But I am becoming a better athlete in a much different way than I expected – a little better at the overall picture, a little bit at a time.

Putting an Ironman entry fee on your credit card doesn't erase all fatigue, stress and low motivation for the next 364 days. Life still happens. You can either dwell on it or accept it and learn for next time. Maybe it's poor timing on my part that I've chosen to undergo this journey simultaneously while balancing my first year in a career job, managing (sometimes opposing) schedules with Amanda, and adopting a fur child. Or maybe it's what will truly make me a better, stronger and more consistent athlete at the end of this. 

 My running partner, son & occasional shit disturber, Hunter

I was really happy with my race at the Clermont Draft-legal Tri, and even happier with my result at Around the Bay. Since then it has been a bit up and down, having to balance a sometimes challenging work and life schedule, then somehow try to fit in training. At times it has felt like a chore, especially on the weeks when my only day off work has 5-6 hours of training scheduled. As Amanda can attest it hasn't been easy, but I'm slowly learning to adapt and figure out that balance.

All of that is to say, it's been a fun and challenging spring of training…and with my first goal race coming up in a few weeks there's still some uncertainty with exactly what to expect. But last week I was fortunate enough to get one more little test of fitness under my belt, the first ever 20k TT put on by Gabbi Whitlock and Balance Point Triathlon Club.

The weapon of choice. I still don't believe any "superbike" matches the blend of aerodynamics, handling and simplicity of my 2011 P3

The TT was on a course that's pretty popular in London for local clubs - a gently rolling out-and-back typically with a good dose of wind. And luckily I had a good measuring stick to compare with, since I did a solo TT on the same course almost this exact time last year. Last year I hit 29:20 and 308W average (4.2W/Kg)…not out of this world, but I was pretty happy with it coming off an inconsistent off-season. It was a good indicator of where my fitness was going, and I had likely my best season on the bike to date. So that was the high water mark. TT photos are courtesy of Ken Whitlock.

A little bonus speed courtesy of my Rudy Project Wing57 lid

I was a little nervous that those numbers were going to be a stretch given that virtually all of my riding so far this spring has been trying to dial in my half-IM pacing of 255-265W. I was just hoping that with a substantial amount of suffering I could get some top-end out of my legs and take down my time from last year, with a little extra motivation that BPT had gathered over 35 athletes for this TT. It was awesome to have so many people out and giving it a big effort.

To summarize, when all was said and done I managed to finish in 27:55 for an average speed of 43.0km/h, by far the fastest speed I've recorded for a race/TT/training effort. And since I am a few pounds lighter this year, my 312W average power not only was higher than last year, but got me just under 4.5W/Kg. It was one more boost of confidence that I'm still on track for my best fitness I've ever had and things are looking really good for the upcoming season.

Suffering to the finish

And this recap wouldn't be complete without mentioning Amanda's unreal time. I can't say enough about her work ethic. She's been struggling with a lingering run injury for over a year now, but has been working very hard to improve every aspect of her training. She's been putting out big numbers on the bike throughout the winter, so I told her she had to break 37km/h for her TT. She wasn't sure about my lofty goal for her, but that's why it's nice for both of us to have each other as such strong supporters :)

She went 32-flat, 37.5km/h. Mission accomplished. #beastmode

So next up for me is some fun hanging out in Guelph with the teamLPC Hurdle Project squad this weekend before race season starts! I'll just be coming out to watch Amanda and teamLPC at MSC Woodstock before I kick it off with the Rose City Half the following week. I'm really excited to return to this fast course after a few years of racing some of the most challenging 70.3 courses around, and see how much time I can take off my 4:28 in 2012.

After that it will be a short (and likely painful) turn-around to take part in Provincial Champs at Toronto Triathlon Festival, before buckling down for a couple more weeks and racing Ironman 70.3 Muncie, my big goal race for the first half of the year. It still feels odd that the bulk of my tri season is compressed into a 5 week period. But I am really looking forward to focusing all of my energy on logging the big miles from mid-July to late September and get physically and mentally prepared for Louisville. I may throw in one or two Multisport Canada races in there, but after Muncie it's all about the training miles.

Next update will likely come after Welland!