Edmonton ITU Para National and Patco champs.

We just got back from a whirlwind week in Edmonton. Not only was it the national and pan am champs there was also a para coaching summit and LTAD conference which Ryan and I both attended.

We hit the ground running with the summit, and spent the better part of Thursday in board rooms. Lots of important stuff was discussed and strategies plotted. Both of us hope to be heavily involved with triathlon Canada over the next four years with Rio on the horizon.

This is going to be more about the race than all that!

This was a unique event for us as we had our own race on the friday morning. The itu rolled out the carpet and we had the same treatment as the pros. The itu pro transition is brilliant! Lots of room and short distances to mount lines.

The course was going to be unusual. The swim was one loop (in a pond that had been heavily chlorinated for the races) the bike was 8 loops within a park. The run was 3 within the same park.

The race started at 10am so it was a leisurely start to the day. Once at the venue we didn't need much time to get set up. Headed out for a quick run and then to the water to warm up.

Before the start we were brought in by a piper and were introduced. Into the water to wait for the gun.


The start was easy, and Ryan and I were quickly to the front. We opened up a gap quick and kept pulling away the whole swim. I kept Ryan honest by pushing the pace, and he managed to hold on!

We were out of the water in around 11min. The run into transition was easy. We has a quick transition and were onto the bike. The first couple if Laos were mostly getting our legs under us. After that we pushed solidly for the next 5 before easing off on the last one. This course was fast and we were off the bike in under 30 min.

A pb transition of 40sec and onto the run. Not being fully used to the pace and intensity of sprints (yet!) we were hurting for the first lap. We were leading the whole race by about a km at this point on any runners, however we needed about 2km to hold off any of the wheelchair athletes as they can pull off 12 min 5km's. A wheelie passed us just after we started the second lap. At this point we knew it would be tough to win overall. We pushed hard and opened the gap on the runners but the wheelie was gaining fast.

With about 600m to go we saw him behind us. He passed us at about 500m to go at about 45kph down a hill. We kept the gas on as we wanted a fast time, but any close racing was over. We crossed at 1:05. Pretty much on target with our goal and putting us solidly in podium contention for worlds.

We finished second overall. First in the t6 category. So two titles in one for Ryan!

The whole event was professionally done. We enjoyed the special treatment.

Thanks to the ITU for putting this on, and thanks for triathlon Canada for flying us out and putting us up!

Some early pics from Nationals.  1st in division 2nd overall.  Good Day!

New kick's for Edmonton.

Canada! Suit ready for nationals!

Going Fast!

This year has been interesting in that I am trying to retrain my body to go fast over the shorter distances. Welcome the pain back into the workouts!

The biggest hurdle I have found is staying healthy when trying to run fast. It seems like I have been constantly battling lower leg issues (calf and Achilles).

I seem to have figured out the calf thanks partly to my trigger point rollers, but the Achilles are still vexing. Good weeks and bad weeks. A solid warm up is key for me. I need to ease into my workouts or else I can't finish them due to the Achilles. I have also learned to stop as soon as I feel a tweak. "co e back to fight another day!". I used to fight through but then hobble for a week.

The bike has been fun. I have a new TT route (5km loops) which has gotten me pushing harder than ever on the bike. My cycling is improving fastest which is good. This will set me up to run strong.

Our goal this year is to run sub 20min of the bike for a 5km. I hope in Edmonton to get close, but we shall see. If we go to worlds in Auckland it will be necessary to get a good result.

So just a post about nothing in particular. Kinda keeping me honest and posting goals to look back at.

San Diego ITU

On May 12 I guided visually impaired triathlete and running free team member Ryan Van Praet at the inaugural San Diego ITU champs.  This was the first race of the season for us and the first opportunity for Ryan to demonstrate to triathlon Canada just how fast he is!  

We arrived in San Diego on Thursday and were excited to get the bike together.  The rest of the day was spent tuning the tandem and trying to not let his aunt and uncle get us drunk!

Friday saw us head down to the venue to get registered.  We ceaselessly amazed how much attention the tandem always receives.  Once the registration necessities were completed, we settled in to watch the women's pro race.  This the first opportunity that I have had to watch an ITU race live. It was exciting and very interesting to see how fast these men and women are.  We were also lucky to watch the men on Saturday which was even more interesting than the women's race.  The whole weekend was filled with pro spotting as many of the top names in triathlon were there.

Saturday arrived with the type of weather you would expect in Southern California, beautiful!  We got the bike settled and transition set up.  This was to be the shortest race Ryan and I had done together.  We were not entirely sure of how things were going to go, as this was early in the season, and the bodies were untested.  There was also the concern of a major hill in the middle of the course. 3km with a large part if that at over 13% grade.  This is really a concern with the tandem as once the grade exceeds 5%, it feels as though we threw an anchor out. We knew we would be tested in this section.

The swim was held in a small bay.  Calm waters greated us.  The start was not too bad as we held the inside line. By the time we hit the first turn buoy the crowds had cleared out.  We had a good strong swim coming in at just under 11:00. This was a pb for Ryan at this distance.  Transiton was very long and we were set up at the swim exit.  We had about 100m to run to the mount line so we just carried our shoes so we didn't destroy the cleats. Once on the bike we started motoring pretty quickly.  The roads were very rough.  We were worried about getting a flat so we took extra care to avoid as much of the potholes and rough patches as possible.

We got to the hill into La Jolla which begins with a long gradual uphill. It then rapidly spikes to 13% and holds there for a couple of km.  This was hard.  Many people got off and walked sections.  We were very thankful to reach the top. The end of the first of the Hill was a relief but there was a short 15% section of 200m before we headed back down again.   Once we made the turn at the top it was time to get on the brakes on the way down.  While a tandem sucks on the way up, it is a rocket on the way down.  We decended relatively conservatively but were still blowing by many of the other competitors.  The decent turned out to be not too technical and in hindsight we could've gone significantly faster.  We still spent a fair amount of time near 70kph.

The rest of the way back was fast and uneventful.  I managed to lose my speedfill A2 at 45kph when we hit a nasty pothole while passing two age groupers.

We made it into transition with a not too stellar 46min on the 26km bike course.  The hill really killed our bike split.  Onto the run we both had some cramping under the ribs which we attribute to climbing on the tandem at those grades.

Things settled and we got into a solid groove and picked our way through the masses of runners.  The run went out along the bay and back along mission beach.  Almost entirely on bikes paths.  This made things challenging as it was hard to get us both by them side by side.  Most athletes were very nice and gave us lots of room to get by.  At about half way through the run we were passed by another paratriathlete for second.  In hindsight we should have tried to stay with him,  but I think we are not used to having to actually race head to head with other athletes in our category as we are normally all alone.  A little lesson for next time as this athlete only beat us by 40seconds.  The course was long (not sure how long, but atleast 500m). We finished the run in 24:00.  Much slower than our goal, however we felt good about it.  We were hoping it would be accurate to get a better gauge as to what we need to do to go sub 20min off the bike.  We ended up 3rd best paratriathlete with most of the top talent in North America there.

All in all it was a great experience and as Ryan says, a great job interview with triathlon Canada.

Next up is a local sprint race and then a trip to nationals in Edmonton which is the important race for the year.

Around the Bay

Elbows up!




Guided visually impaired athlete Ryan Van Praet through the 30km Around the Bay course on Sunday.



I’ve guided him through numerous triathlons, including an Ironman. This was more challenging.



We started a little far back and ended up having to pass a lot of people. This cost us some time and energy. It is easy to weave through a crowd as one person, but a whole different thing with another straped to you. On the plus side, it makes it easy to keep your mind of the pain while you are worrying about getting through the crowd.



I was wholly undertrained for this one. The plan was to go well under sub 2:30 but for reason’s beyond mine, and Ryan’s control, lack of training and injuries got in the way. In reality, this race was more to check it off of Ryan’s “to do” list than anything else. So time wasn’t a huge issue. Which was a good thing!



Besides being busy the first 15-20km went allright. Our bodies were holding in at our goal pace. Around 23km I started to feel different issues in my legs. Some as a result of the injuries I had being dealing with, some to do not doing enough running this year. We made it to “the hill” and up it holding on quite well. I was actually pleasantly suprised how I felt going up the hill. Unfortunately, once we hit flats on top, reality came flooding back. I swear that the 27th km of this race was one of the longest I have ever run. A little different than normal. Trying to maintain a pace, not just for yourself, but for the guy racing with you. Trying not to slow him down. On Sunday, I did slow him down. I now don’t feel too bad about it (sucked at the time) because I know that he has been trying to make me really hurt in a race. Mission accomplished Ryan!!!



It was a good day. We didn’t meet our goals, but didn’t miss by too much. I was worried about even making the start line of this one, and if I wasn’t guiding Ryan, I would most definetely not have toe’d up.