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Today I am off, the date I have had circled on the calendar for nearly a year is this Sunday: Ironman Cananda in Penticton, British Columbia. Christy, my two girls and myself are packed and probably well on our way as you read this.

I have set a goal for myself, it has been written over there on the top right since the day I signed up for this event nearly a year ago. That goal is just a number that I have used in order to motivate myself day in and day out. My goal has never been to be invited to any other race or to beat X number of other men in my age group (there are 401 M35-39 registered!) since those are things I cannot control over and therefore have devoted no time to thinking about.

The goal is really just to be 5% better from the last time in the hobby that I love. Last year I crossed the finish line in Couer d’Alene in 10:28, so that puts a 5% improvement just under the convenient mark of 10 hours. I am not sure that goal is possible at this point (and the weather forecast calls for 92 & cloudless), but I know I am very fit and well prepared to execute a smart race and also willing to suffer a great deal in order to make that happen. I also go to Penticton knowing that there will not be another one next year and already knowing I can finish an Ironman, so I do consider this one a race.

In the last 10 months, I have bikes thousands of miles, ran hundreds and swam more than I ever have, built up and broken down my body many times. Like anyone who enters one of these events, I certainly have not done it alone. I owe a big thanks to everyone who has pushed or pulled me up a swim lane, around a track or over the roads and trails of Colorado or encouraged me in some way to keep going when I have felt like doo - which has been often .

So thank you to members of the Boulder Triathlon Club for motivation from November through the USAT Challenge, 30K run and the spring TT series, to Blue Sky Velo for long rides all over Northern Colorado in the winter and spring and the D3 winter swim group in Boulder and Tuesday Night Track group this summer, to the Centennial master’s swim regulars: Jason Kaminski, Ehren Van Melle, Bryan Reid (who himself will be participating at the same time in IM Louisville, KY), Tim Perley, Craig Howie and Ben Bigelow. Also a big thanks to Derek Teuscher, BJ Gumkowski, Mike and Kristina Friesem, the St.George’s, Brian James, Chad Elmendorf and Ben Kuster for the training days. More thanks to Bob Cranny, Amanda MacCracken and Jessica Gumkowski for keeping my aging, tired and inflexible body in one piece over the last year.

I especially owe thanks to Mike Ricci, coach at D3 Multisport, who has provided some structure and discipline to my (formerly) hack-ish training ways. I am very much appreciative of his help and would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a triathlon coach or training plan. Preparation for this felt easy compared to last year and I was happier for it.

Christy will surely be Twittering what she knows on race day, you can follow her at twitter.com/runinaskirt. Otherwise, my number is 818 and Ironman.com will have a tracker where you can see where I am at any given time - you may learn more here than Chris knows - or skip the details and tune into the video stream at around 6pm MST and see my smiling face and very tired body .

Time to cash in on the Karma, withdraw from the proverbial bank and burn the hay… Thanks for reading.
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trip pics

I did some online research on the Ironman Canada course and with what delight did my wondrous eyes find? 1 loop courses!

The swim is as it should be: go swim a mile or so, turn at the buoy, turn at the next buoy and swim a mile plus back the beach. No bullsh*t running back onto the beach and navigating scores of people all over again. Just you, a long swim and your bike waiting on the other side. Never quite understood the two-loop swim thing, seems overly cautious and an easy out for the race director as a few less kayaks and boats are required.

Same with the bike course: 1 long loop that includes 7,400' of climbing. I love to climb, even though at ~190lbs I am not exactly built for it. Nothing I would rather do in techno-wear then ride my bike up a hill. Where I live in Colorado a 1,200' climb is a good start and I'm told what goes up must come down. In Penticton it appears it comes down at a rapid rate. I can tuck with the best of them and let my weight do all the work. The best news part is I don't have to stay hunched in my aero-bars for 5 hours - my flexibility-challenged body is very appreciative of that. I really have no interest in riding a relatively flat bike course like the other late season IM races appear to be. This was paramount in my decision to sign up for this race.

The run course is out and back and apparently not so flat. Perfect, my legs need a downhill once in a while to stretch out a bit...

During last week’s edition of the Stroke & Stride series at the Boulder Reservoir - put on by the great folk of Racing Underground - I had the good fortune to win the season’s raffle drawing and these awesome aero-bars generously donated by Sampson Sports based out of Denver. I am very cognizant of the good fortune I have had this year in my sport. I like to think it is good karma returning to me. Anywho… these are definitely going on the Cervelo asap and the old (new) bars will go to Christy. Those bars are the one thing I have wanted to replace on the bike - aside from the brakes which are extremely light but don’t work so well, but they only fail at slowing me down, which isn’t such a bad thing most times.
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I put in my highest volume of run mileage of the year this week, many laps around the local HS track, 1 bike ride and a couple of long open water swims. This week has been an effort in finding the balance between preparing for the only race I will do this year, IM Canada and feeling somewhat recovered for the Boulder Peak Triathlon Sunday. I am looking forward to this race and feel I am in good enough shape to do well. “Well” as in: destroy my PR on this course that I have done now five times. Last year I was 3 weeks post Ironman Coeur d’Alene, 2 weeks post Vasectomy, 1 week post frozen bag of peas down my undies and definitely lacking any mo’ whatsoever, and the result showed. Just like that last image I put in your head: Ugly.

IM Canada minus 51 days…

Tour de France time! How cool is this image of Fabian Cancellara? He is a ballsy stud and this pic from the prologue sums it up (taken from here).
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Friday morning was the annual To the Top! ride up Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. 13 of us set out from Hygiene (on this route), not everyone with plans to head all the way up. Still, it was a very quick bunch and we made very good time with Kirk N, Steve P, Charles G, and Steven pushing at the front and others going their own sustainable pace. The clouds looked troubling when we approached the RMNP entrance, and Jason K and I were rained on for about 10 minutes but the sunshine came back out and allowed us to get to the top for (my) 7th time. Within a few minutes Christy and the girls arrived to pick my sorry and appreciative butt up. The numbers: 78 miles from my front door, 10,300′ of elevation gain. 12,183′ highest elevation, 44°F w/ wind chill at the top. A good day. Next year is another chance for you to join. Kudos to Kristina and Mike F for pushing through some bike trouble to make it up the Mtn., way to HTFU.
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Saturday I put in my longest run of the last 12 months. I logged 20 miles on my local hilly route and felt great maintaining a reasonable pace on tired legs. Prior to my confidence in my ability to run that long had somewhat waned since up to now I have spent my running time adding distance each week onto short, fast efforts (1000s, now mile repeats) to build some speed. Now, I can stop bugging Coach Mike Ricci from D3 Multisport about not enough run volume and shut-up and listen to what he says. I feel great, fit and much fresher most days than last year’s build up to IM Coeur d’Alene, which doesn’t seem right, but I like it and the results are proof it is working. Thank You, Mike. Whatever stubborn reluctance I had to be a good listener is now gone.
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Sunday is the Boulder peak Triathlon. I love this event. Where else do you get to climb a ridiculously steep sumbitch pitch then - after a brief speed limited section - bomb down the other side at breakneck speed pedaling & wishing you had more gear. There are 214 of us registered in the M35-39 age group. I start in the 7th wave, behind all the female age group waves. I like when that happens, makes for a fun bike ride.

Ironman Canada minus 55 days…