Ironman Canada Approaches

Well it’s that time of year again. It’s t-minus 4 ’till race day and the usual nervousness and self-doubt begins to set in. Did I train enough? Are those two donuts I ate for breakfast gonna make me fatter and slower? Is my bike all set? Will I get a flat? Did I forget anything?

Then the excitement starts to set in too. Reading about the race venue got me all psyched up to just be part of the experience. It also reminded me about my hopes and goals for this race, which for me are going to be fairly aggressive. How fast can I really complete this “workout”? I’ve only done two previous races of this distance: The Great Floridian in 2007 and Ironman Wisconsin in 2008, with finishing times of roughly 14 hours and 13 hours respectively. Is it reasonable to think I can cut another hour from this distance?

12:00 or less.

Wait, let’s make that 11:59:59 or less.

Yeah, I may look back on this and think how cocky that is. Actually, I’ll in all likelihood recognize this about 60 miles into the bike course and think to myself, “what the hell was I thinking”? But I know words have power and having clear goals is the most likely path to achieving them, so there it is.

Can’t wait to see you tomorrow Penticton! However it turns out, it’ll be a great trip with even better company.