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!