We missed you Sylvan

July, 2006.  Somewhere on Hwy 1A between Bearspaw and Cochrane. Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycle.
Annabelle (on her brand new Felt F90 road bike): Hey David, I'm going to do the Sylvan Lake Triathlon next July. Do you want to do it with me.
David (on his 1999 GT Aggressor mountain bike): Yeah, sure.
Annabelle: Awesome. I think it's a half ironman.
David: Uh...what does that mean?

July 2007. Sylvan Lake Half Iron finish line. Big smile on my face (or was that a look of relief?) surrounded by old and new friends. Team J-Force was awaiting the last finisher to find out who would be presented with the first annual Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. And we couldn't have selected a better person than Gail Ungstad.

July 2011. Back in Sylvan Lake, a few hundred yards east of where we last joined our gang of misfits.  Gearing up for another day of trash talking our fellow J-Force teammates. Since 2008 we've taken a more enjoyable and less stressful approach to the Sylvan Lake tri by competing on relay teams.  After a strong, but somewhat blind, swim by Ms. Reid, I was ready to hit the bike.  My goal was a sub-2:45, but what I really wanted was to get Annabelle a big enough lead to ensure she could hold off the blazing Ricky on the run. The conditions were excellent and made for a fun day on the road.  Everything seemed to be firing and asides from a few short mental lapses (oops, why am I only doing 28km/h on this flat?), I was happy with my race. Not having to worry about saving my legs for the run, I was able to attack a bit more than had I been competing in all 3 disciplines.  The bike course has a few decent hills on the back half, but a high cadence and  powering over the crests to pick up some free speed brought me a negative split.  Final time - 2:38.

And Annabelle, in her first race back since our newest J-Force member entered the world, ripped it up with a 1:55 on the run to give J-Force Faster the win...at least against those other guys. But props to Irene, Rick and Chuong for having a strong performance too. I guess. Joke lang.

Watch out for the little one at a Kids of Steel race near you in 2014.

 
We also had the opportunity to present the 2011 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. This time to Carrie Baron, the final finisher on the day. Congratulations to Carrie for showing true determination in that blazing sun to finish her first ever half iron distance triathlon. Now if you are questioning the strength of this award, we just have to go back 3 paragraphs to our old friend Gail. Gail is from Slave Lake and her house was recently affected by the flooding which took many of her possessions. One of the remaining items she found in her house was the 2007 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. She took this as a sign and returned to training for triathlon as a way to get through this difficult time. So through a fire and flood ravaged town, Gail could be seen running and pedaling around town as the rest of the town seemed to question what the heck she was doing. So yes, it would seem that is a pretty powerful award.

Carrie and Gail

Now had I been writing this in chronological order, somewhere between 2007 and Sunday's race, I would have been giddily writing about the final couple of days of this year's Tour de France. But I'm sure most of you know I never digress from a story. We once went to see Billy Connolly in concert and he was telling this story at the beginning of the show and kept going back to it throughout the night until he finally finished it at the end of the night. Now THAT is digression. But I digress. So the last 2 days in the Alps were very exciting. I was going for Cadel Evans to win, so seeing his determination to singlehandedly drag himself back into the race 2 days in a row was thrilling. Andy and Alberto also made for some very exciting viewing. But it was that last day when Dezz and I were truly perched on the edge of the couch watching the Individual Time Trial. Congrats Cadel.

And yeah, my wife is kind of a big deal.

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet. Make me want to move, my running feet.

I love the heat. Not the Miami Heat. (Although I do like Dwyane Wade and I definitely enjoyed the Miami heat.) So you can imagine my excitement when I read the number 26 accompanied by a pleasant looking little sun on both Saturday, Jul 16 and Sunday, Jul 17. I just hoped for once the forecast was actually correct 5 days out. It was!

I've been waiting for days like this, not just because patio beer is so much better when it's this hot outside, but because it was a scorching 40C while riding up to Yellow Lake  at IMC 2009. Last year while volunteering at Ironman Canada at the top of that same climb, I saw people reaching the top in a hypothermic state due to the cold, rainy, windy conditions.  Fortunately I live in Calgary so I've had the opportunity for wet, cold, windy rides aplenty.  But it has been rare this year to get anything close to real heat.

Saturday Ricky and I scheduled an approximately 4 hour ride.  Heading west on Spruce Meadows Trail, South through Priddis and onto Millarville, and returning via the Road to Nepal, we got in 3h45min of actual riding.  Perhaps we should have skipped our nearly 1h stop at the Millarville Farmers' Market and looked for another 15 minutes of open road.  (But, hey, that's what makes those summer day rides memorable).  After Grant put us through our paces on Wednesday and Thursday, the quadriceps didn't feel like they were firing on all cylinders on the hilly road to Nepal. To the point where I flatted at the bottom of a hill, realized it was a slow leak and the hill wasn't that big so I'd be better riding up the hill and then changing the flat because who wants to stop at the bottom of a hill.  For those of you keeping score, I made it 3/4 of the way up the hill to where the gradient lessens and the bout between potential damage to my rims and my laziness swung the opposite way. I managed to attack the top of the remaining 5 hills and powering over to minimize my loss to Rick (who, by the way, seemed to benefit greatly from a week off the bike to rest his knee). Great ride.  And I still managed to get in my beer on a patio!

Today (i.e. Sunday) was another beautiful day, even in the mountains.  An early morning start (9am is early by my standards) saw us on the road to Banff to drop off Rick's vehicle at the Rundleside Trail Head. A short drive back to the Canmore Nordic Centre saw us hit the trailhead on the other side. Although not before checking out a bit of the Canadian XC Mountain Bike Championships. I need a new Mountain Bike.  The trail starts out with 5 km on some gravel cross country trails (I imagine they are probably covered in snow during the cross country skiing season) then hits single track for 8km.  That 8km section is beautiful.  So much so that I was thoroughly disappointed when my 13km run ended today.  Canmore to Banff is mainly downhill with a few small uphill grades, so no excuses for you not to do it.  My knees felt great today and I literally felt like I was floating over the ground. I can't wait to get back out there and hammer a 17km out and back from the other side in the very near future.

Tomorrow that previously referred to website told me it's going to be 30C with that happiness-inducing little sun tomorrow. Work is going to be tough while anticipating my 2.5 hour ride tomorrow evening.

Long may the summer continue. And along with it this euphoric feeling of training. Who knows, maybe I'll even get outside for an open-water swim!

Still lots of time, right? Right?

So I was booking a meeting for work today was looking a couple of weeks ahead at July 21...wait, what?  July 21 is NEXT week?  Oh sh*t.

And so it goes. It feels like this year was PVR'd and someone is fast forwarding the commercials. Now I know how my Tour de France recordings feel every day. In terms of training, I don't feel anywhere close to where I want to be come August 27.  However, I am prepared for some intense training over the next month and Dezz is headed out of town to work for 3 weeks, so my training schedule is set and life will consist of work-train-sleep-eat-TdF. Bring it.

I had a great run on Sunday, July 3. And then the flu hit.  The sun was shining everyday and temperatures hit 25C, tempting me out to play.  My only saving grace was the aforementioned PVR'd Tour de France...and the fact that I didn't have the energy to even walk to the fridge. Knowing that pushing myself back too early would do more harm than good, I managed to keep my butt planted firmly on the couch. Then on Saturday, I had plans to ride Banff to Lake Louise via Bow Valley Parkway with my dad while Dezz and my mum drove support. We took the ride fairly easy, but it felt good to be out on the road again and hit the hills. We had a nice dinner, stayed over in Lake Louise, and then headed up to the lake for a wander around. Then it was time to head home. Dezz is still recovering from a ruptured tendon on her right hand, and since she was joining us for the return leg, we opted for less hills along Highway 1. We got in about 35km and then met my mum and jumped in the car. It definitely wasn't a hard ride, but great to spin the lingering flu out my legs. Yesterday, I was out running again.  Not wanting to push the knees too hard, I planned a 30 minute run to test things out. But everything felt so good I pushed it to an hour with a few short intervals. 

This weekend I plan to race Coral Springs Triathlon (in Chestermere...don't ask) just to get some intensity, especially for the swim. And July 24, a few of us will be doing Sylvan as relay teams. I'm looking forward to winning with Annabelle and Erin! But most of all, it'll be great for J-Force to get back out on the course together again.

Now if I can just find a way to play life at regular speed.

Racing for a cause

My Ironman journey feels like it started a mere 10 weeks ago, not 10 months! Over the last 10 months I’ve had some tough training days, both mentally and physically draining. And more recently, I barely (ok, “barely” is a strong word just added for dramatic flare) struggled through the Chinook Half Triathlon.  Those challenging sessions definitely make me a stronger competitor, but they also serve as a reminder to truly reflect on what the heck I’m doing. And what I’m doing is riding a bicycle and running around the city, two things that make me happy. Swimming is even starting to grow on me…sometimes. So although I may have the odd day when I think “why the hell am I putting myself through this”, I have been fortunate to have the support of great coaching, close friends, and the world’s most supportive wife that seem to make me realize its all worthwhile at the end of the day. Even more rousing are those experiences when you realize what you are going through on the very worst day isn’t even on the scale of real struggle in this world.  Yeah swimming 3.8km, cycling 180km, and running 42.2 makes for a long day, but I turn on my tap to fill up my water bottles, grab a few slices of pizza at the end of the race, and jump in the car to drive back to the 5 bedroom house we’re renting.  One recent experience that has made me appreciate how easy we have it has inspired me to dedicate my Ironman Canada race on August 28 to a bigger cause this year, fundraising for the SSUBI Foundation.

Dezz and I travelled to Africa last summer, taking in the World Cup in South Africa, viewing wildlife in Tanzania, and visiting Uganda to meet up with Dezz’s kickboxing coach and our friend, Phillip Ndugga. Philip travels back to his homeland every summer to rebuild schools and improve the lives of so many people with his family and the SSUBI Foundation. Volunteering with SSUBI Foundation, we were blessed with the opportunity to meet some wonderful people and see first hand what real struggle is. Teachers working diligently to educate their students with limited resources, students struggling to focus and learn under conditions we can’t begin to imagine in North America, and women fraught to find a better life for their families. While helping to build a school in Gulu, Northern Uganda last year (an area that was, until very recently, ravaged by civil war and rebel threats), we were touched by the joy evident on the children’s faces (there were even unregistered kids that snuck into class just for the opportunity to learn)  and the appreciation shown by the locals.  What a way to finish off our 5 ½ week trip.

To continue our support of those amazingly resilient Ugandans and express our appreciation to Philip, I would love to garner support for SSUBI through my journey to Penticton. I considered a few different organizations to support through fundraising, some maybe a little closer to home geographically or emotionally to my supporters. But the impact those smiling faces had on us will last a lifetime; how proud those kids were to show off their English and math skills and to sing and dance for their “visitors” was truly memorable. Coupled with the fact that we have seen first hand how the donations are spent and that were treated like family by the SSUBI crew in Uganda, SSUBI just seemed like the right choice.

I know there’s always a cause to support, especially in this age of social media. But if you are interested in supporting the SSUBI Foundation on behalf of my IMC journey, I would be most appreciative. You can visit my donation page at  http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=13449 and learn more about SSUBI at www.ssubifoundation.org.  

I continue to be humbled by the support offered by friends and family. Thank you all.