Jared said that this blog sucks lately, so here is a photo of him eating a donut

70.3 World Championships this weekend!

The 70.3 Half-Ironman World Championships are taking place this weekend (November 14th) in Clearwater Florida . More than forty athletes who raced in the Calgary 70.3 race have qualified for the world championships.

At least one Clearwater slot was allocated for each age-group category for each gender, providing there is at least one athlete. If there were no athletes entered in a particular age group, then that slot was reallocated to another category. Additional age group slots were allocated based on proportion of athletes in each age category. Final allocation took place after check-in is closed on race weekend. Pros were also be allocated Clearwater slots.

All athletes had to be present at the Clearwater Registration following the Calgary 70.3 race to claim their spot! No exceptions were be made. Some athletes who qualified chose not to race the World Championships, so after the race there was some keen racers who were waiting to see if a spot would “roll down” to the next finisher.

I was one of the lucky Pros who received a “roll down” spot. I’m looking forward to the race but do admit that it will be a bit more of a vacation and reward for a good year’s effort in triathlon. I think that I'll be asking for autographs before the start of my race. I'm excited to share a starting line with the likes of Greg Bennett, Terenzo Bozone, Luke Bell and more. Hopefully I can finish within 20 minutes of the winner!

You can follow your friends this Saturday November 14th at Clearwater at: www.ironman.com

Good luck to everyone who qualified from the Calgary 70.3!

2009 Calgary 70.3 Pro Video

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/your-h1n1-vaccine-questions-answered/article1348473/

 

 

Calgary 70.3 2010 Open for registration

The Ironman Calgary 70.3 is open for registration. Race date is set for August 1st, 2010.

Just a reminder that last year's race sold out.

Visit http://www.ironmancalgary.com/ for registration details.

Trek Speed Concept at Kona

Myles off to race in Kona

The Hawaii Ironman World Championships takes place this coming Saturday. The race consists of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike race and 26.2-mile run. Competitors have 17 hours to finish. Cutoff times are also applied to the swim (2:20 after start of race) and the bike (10:30 after the start of race.).

More than 1,800 competitors, ages 18-80, compete from 50-plus countries. Upwards of 50,000 competitors attempt to qualify at Ironman qualifying races worldwide. Another 4,000 enter the race lottery, which awards 150 slots to U.S. citizens and 50 slots to international athletes. In recognition of their athletic accomplishment, age group champions automatically qualified for the next year's race.

Myles qualified for Ironman Hawaii at Ironman Arizona. Here are some questions I asked him before the race:


1. How many Ironmans have you done? Which races?

This will be Ironman number 12. I've done Canada four times, Arizona twice, and Wisconsin and Coeur d'Alene once each.

2. How many times have you competed at Hawaii?

This will be my fourth time racing at Ironman Hawaii. After my first time, in 2004, I said "never again". Too hot, too windy. Besides, the grass skirt gave me a rash, and the clamshell bra made my nipples bleed.

3. How has your training been going of late? What sort of training have you been doing?

Training has been going great. I've had a light race season so far, which really just started at Calgary 70.3. I've been coached by Kevin Cutjar since 2004, and we have a solid plan that's evolved over several Ironman races. A typical build week looks like this:

Monday: Day off. Don't even think about triathlon.
Tuesday: AM 3000m base swim; followed by an easy pace bike commute, about 17km downtown from the pool. After work, commute back to the pool the long way, about 32km, with tempo intervals and a few stiff climbs. Then I throw the bike in the back of the Jeep and drive home.
Wednesday: AM upper body weights. After work, a track session; usually several half-mile or mile repeats at 6:30-6:50/mile pace with 2' recoveries between.
Thursday: Repeat Tuesday but with speedwork in the pool, and follow the afternoon ride with a 30-minute transition run.
Friday: AM 4000m swim, later an easy bike or run.
Saturday: Long ride on rolling terrain, 120-180km with a negative split, followed by a 20-30' t-run. Upper body weights.
Sunday: 20' warmup spin, then a 2:15-3 hour run with a negative split, or a 2-hour run with 5' tempo intervals in the last hour. Follow with another easy spin and a cold soak.

The last few weeks, I've been doing hot (Bikram) yoga to acclimatize for the heat and get some stretching in. However, as a typically inflexible triathlete, my chiropractor and massage therapist have been busy undoing the damage caused by some of the poses. I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing! And I think I sweated out beer that I drank twenty years ago.

4. What is the best part about racing IM Hawaii?

The electric buzz around town, Kona coffee at Lava Java, Macadamia nuts, crashing surf, free beer at the awards dinner.

5. Any plans for racing after this Hawaii Ironman?

Funny you should ask! I signed up for Ironman Cozumel as soon as they announced it; but I didn't have my Kona spot at the time. It's seven weeks later, but no biggie; I've done IM Canada-Kona twice before with only seven weeks between. The kicker is, I'm racing the Vegas Marathon a week after IM Cozumel. Or maybe I should say, "participating in". Then I'm planning an induced coma until Christmas (My co-workers likely won't notice a difference). I turn fifty next year, and I'm not leaving my forties without a good fight!

Catriona in Kona

Great shot of Catriona Morrison training in Kona. Photo by Kurt Hoy at triathlon.competitor.com.

Gran fondo comes to North America

Centurion Cycling is North America’s most exciting, new bike adventure. It’s based on the European concept of gran fondos but with a distinctive twist unique to this side of the Atlantic.
In Europe, you can ride a gran fondo almost every weekend from March through September. They come in all shapes and sizes and attract riders of all abilities. Often, they are named for celebrated cyclists such as Gran Fondo Eddy Merckx, in Belgium, or for famous courses like the Nove Colli, or “nine hills”, in Italy.

Each Centurion has the look and feel of a European gran fondo. Traffic is restricted, technical and medical support are in the caravan, officials time and judge the event, food is excellent, and riders are treated like professional cyclists. The experience feels like riding in the Tour de France for a day.

http://www.centurioncycling.com/

IMC from the Timex Team

Sunday Spins at Speed Theory

Scott and I are looking to host another Spin session on Sundays. More details to come. Please email us if you are interested.

Also, Trev is hosting spin classes at SpeedTheory on the other nights. Details can be found here:
speedtheorycyclingteam.blogspot.com/2009/01/spin-classes-for-2009-and-2010.html

“IronSpins” with professional triathletes Scott Curry & Kyle Marcotte at Speed Theory

This bike class will be led by professional triathletes Scott Curry & Kyle Marcotte. This class will be on Thursday nights 6:30pm-8:30pm at Speed Theory - and start Oct 1st-Dec17th (12 weeks). The cost $120 for the 12 class session, or $15 for drop-in (pending room is available).

Requirements: Everyone needs to bring a bike, trainer, block to prop up their front wheel, towel, water/food/fuel, HR-monitor (optional), mat to collect sweat and a keen attitude.

The workout will consist of a warm up which includes drills, a main set, cool down. Following the bike trainer workout, 20min of progressive core exercise will follow. The class will be geared towards athletes with half-ironman and ironman objectives.

Class size is limited, so sign up soon.

Contact:
Scott Curry (ironchiro at gmail dot com) or
Kyle Marcotte (dukyle at yahoo dot ca)
(Classes will start up again as a new session after the winter holidays).

Thursday Night Spin Classes

Scott Curry and I are going to co-host a Thursday night spin class at Speed Theory, starting in early Oct. Details will be posted soon.

Ironman Canada 2009

This was my 6th year in a row racing Ironman Canada. It has become my favorite race over the years. We had a lovely home stay with Bonnie, Sussie and Bill on the highway towards Naramata, overlooking Lake Okanagan and wineries.

It was a busy year for me and I was probably a little less prepared for this Ironman Canada as compared to previous years.

Fast forward to race day.

Race morning I woke up early and gobbled down calories and water. I arrived at the race site early so that I wouldn’t be rushed. It was great to say hello to fellow competitors. It is interesting to note that most of the pro racers are as nervous as the age-groupers come race morning.

Swim: 54:29, 3.8km

I went out hard for the first 800m of the swim and found myself near the back of a very large group. I had no difficulty staying with the group well past the half way point of the swim but unfortunately did not notice a gap opening up two swimmers in front of me. Unfortunately by the time I noticed, I could not bridge up so I elected to stay within the a smaller group. We came out just a minute behind the group that I should have been in, but I was able to get through the swim without having to dig deep. I’ve found over the years that it is much better to come out of an ironman swim a little slower having conserved rather than come out slightly faster but tired.

Bike: 4:47.47, 180km

I was quickly able to catch up to the likes of Scott Curry, Jasper Blake, Michael Simpson et all. Unlike previous years, it seemed to me like people were riding without drafting, keeping distance greater than the 10m zone. The pro race has a 10m rule between bikes and there seemed like officials that were watching us closely. Unfortunately, from what I heard about much of the age-group race where there were a lot more people riding within tight groups.

I was using my powertap, trying not to go too hard early. Scott Curry passed me during the rollers after Richter Pass but I was able to keep him in sight as he seemed to remain about 200m down the road. I passed Scott just after the out-an-back aid station as we started the Yellow Lake climb. I was able to pass a few other riders before the end of the bike. I think that I came off the bike in 12th place.

Average power for the ride was 257 Watts, or normalized to 269 Watts. I used a combination of Powerbars, Powerbar Blasts and PowerbarGels as fuel for the bike. I supplemented my water with electrolyte pills.

Run: 3:11.17, 42.2km

Before I started the run, I made a much needed porta-pottie stop.

I started the run, not feeling good at all. I was passed early by Wolfgang Gumble and Jasper Blake who were moving well. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to run fast today, but I could run consistent so I wanted to make sure that I paced myself well. I went by two guys that were obviously hurting more than I.

The run is an out and back, so I was able to gage my competition. My goal for the race was to finish in the top-8 but it looked like I wasn’t making any ground on anyone.

Finally, with 6.5 miles to go people started to fade. First, I went by Thomas Hellriegal. I didn’t know if that was an appropriate time to ask Thomas for his autograph. Soon after I went by Trevor Wurtele who was in the bushes doing some personal business. With about 5 miles to go, I came around another corner heading back into town and there were Luke Bell and Mark Van Akkeren.

I heard people yelling at me that I was sitting from 5th to 10th position. Up ahead I could see another spec of white, who was Brian Lavelle. I gritted my teeth and kept on going and caught Brian with about 1km to go.

Looking back on my run, I think that I ran a very smart race. I believe that I was very close to even splitting the run, which is a difficult thing to do in an ironman.

I finished with a time of 8:58.34 good enough for 7th place. Not my fastest IMC, but probably my smartest race there. If you’d told me before that I would have passed the likes of Lothar Leader, Thomas Hellriegal, Luke Bell, Brian Lavelle, Chris Dmitrieff, Michael Simpson, Andrei Yastrebov and others, I would had said that you were nuts.

I am pretty proud about my consistency at Ironman Canada

2005: 7th Place
2006: 4th Place
2007: 6th Place
2008: 6th Place
2009: 7th Place

We were very sad to hear after the race about an athlete passing away during the swim.

Ironman Canada 2009 Ride Data

Here's the data from my powertap from 2009 Ironman Canada.

Time: 4:47.47
Average Wattage: 257 Watts
Ave (normalized to 100 Watts): 272 Watts
Ave (normailized to 0 Watts): 269 Watts

The reason for looking at the "normalized" average is to get an idea as to your average wattage not including when you are not pedalling. This isn't to say that there was much flat coasting. The idea is to take out the data when you are screaming down hill and not pedalling.

I would say that I am in a pretty good position for ironman. I could be more aero but the idea is to be comfortable and ready to run a marathon.

Likely because of my slower marathon time, I still went too hard for my fitness level on the bike.

IMC 2009 quick recap

I really had to did deep for that one, but it was worth it. I can my way up to 7th, with not a fantastic run, but a consistent one. I moved from 12th to 7th, all in the last 6.5 miles. It was a windy day on the bike and very, very smoky. I feel like I just worked a bingo. Thanks to all the encouragement from everyone who cheered me on, online, email, texts and phone calls. I was really happy to keep the streak alive of 5 years in a row finishing in the top 7 at this race.

The highlight of the day was when one spectator who was on a mountain bike rode by during the run and said "I met your fiance and she is really nice!"

Congrats to Rosemarie, John White, Badger, Jen Walker, Janelle and the rest of the Kronies, who all seemed to be having good days when saw them. I had my eye out for Mike Healy but didn't see him but you aren't exactly thinking straight at the end of an ironman. Sorry if I missed people.

Beets and Bungy Cords

I am really starting to dislike the taste of beet juice.

Ironman Canada Bike Course to be ridden in Reverse in 2009

In a surprising move, race officials have elected to change the 2009 Ironman Canada bike loop. The bike course will use the same roads but will run in a counter-clockwise route, versus the regular clockwise route.

Officials said the reason for the change was to introduce hills earlier in the bike course in an effort to break up the drafting packs which sometimes form for the first 40km of the bike route.

Jason Lapierre Memorial Time Trial

Kyle rockin' the orange Trek...