::Ironman Specialized regearing::

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Nathan

In March on 2011 I decided that I would get my butt on a new bike after riding on my three ring Kona. I researched many different bikes and decided that I would go with specialized pro transition. After a full season of racing on this bike, I was super happy with it and felt that now I wasn’t at a huge disadvantage.

::old one::

In June I rode its first race in Oliver and took a 93km bike to a 2:36, in 2010 I did 2:54, taking 18 minutes off. I’m not all the credit goes to the bike since I’d been just 7 months new in the world of skinny tires.

In July I raced the Vancouver Half Ironman and continued to take time off my bike with a 2:44 but this time it was only 6 minutes. The difference between June and July was that the race course in June was a flat course and July (Vancouver) had a three looped course with a nice hill climb at the start of every loop. (as well as riding the IMC course the week before) Then finally in August I went into ironman and raced close to my goal time but got totally deflated by the time I hit the run.

I am always learning and after a long (still long) winter, looking over what I did wrong and what I can do to change and challenge my goals for 2012, I decided that the gearing for this bike isn’t right.

It came with a 53 chainring which after talking to a few guys at Velocity…is large. I felt like my old bike was pretty good for hills with the old three ring chainring. Ironman Canada is considered one of the toughest races on the ironman tour with its hilly climbs, but with Ironman St George thrown into the mix for this years racing, I’m told it’s even tougher. With stories of people walking their bikes up some sections, I thought I better get the gearing right.

::new one, ready to be tested::

So a 50″ s-works is thrown on for some faster rpms up the mountains. I’m hoping to get out on this guy here soon once the snow clears and gets a bit warmer. I look forward to the gearing difference and what sort of results that will come with the change.

::Ironman St. George::

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Nathan

After continuity beating my head against the wall, I decided to sign up for Ironman St George on May 5th 2012. My 2012 race plan has already been thrown out the door and replace by this crazy race! I am pretty pumped up and have regained focus for 2012, and look forward to a new challenge.

I'm hoping this doesn't happen again.

Being hailed as the toughest ironman and as far as I know the only one that doesn’t sell out, without a doubt, be my hardest test to date. I can’t stop thinking about what I could have done differently to finish off my Ironman Canada and can’t seem to wait a whole 9 months to race another ironman. This one is probably not the best one to start my season off but comes at the best time of year for me personally.

Summers are a tough time of year for me as our work schedule peaks at the time of Ironman Canada. I’m hoping that I will enjoy Utah and shift my training around so that this will be the race I focus on, instead of IMC in August.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research with hopes that I can learn from last years mistakes and push myself to a better finish. A Sub 10 hour race doesn’t seem realistically possible this year but I will be looking to complete and hope to make a strong case for Kona spot. It will be a massive grind with a very large portion of my training been indoors on the trainer, as well as no prior knowledge of the conditions or course experience. Every write up or video I read or watch, I get more and more pumped up to see how much this race will kick the shit out of me. One of my favorite sources has to be a local BC girl and her husband Trevor and Heather Wurtele. These two seem to be the experts of this race with Heather winning it the last two years by a massive margin. A lot of good info from these two and just a good all around good site about life as a professional triathlete.

I’ll be driving down with the Creeper on the truck and be ready to race in May. If anyone else has info to share for this race or have done it before I would love to hear about it! Link me or send me your write ups.!

After doing Ironman Canada in August and not happy with the result of my finish, I couldn’t go through a whole winter without a chance of learning from my mistakes and

Photo Thursday :: On Thursday

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Nathan

I’m getting into some big weeks leading into peaking out for a few more weeks. I know I have said this before, but new routes and a change in scenery makes things a lot more enjoyable. Saturday started out with a trip down to second beach pool for a quick 2k in their salt water pool. Amazing morning with a few jerk regulars that I had to smoke out. Then went out for a 25km run through False Creek, Olympic village, Granville, kits beach, and Jericho. Then did 3 loops of Stanley park on the bike, and finished on a super busy seawall for a last 10km run to end off the day.

It was a total zoo on the beach Saturday. After 11am people just poured in. I wanted to take more photos but just wanted to get the hell out of there after all the training.

Sunday I headed out a bit later in the day for a trek to Hayward lake for some hills and then headed east to finish my ride at Harrison. Great ride with some good tail wind. Great route that had a mixture of everything, including a ton of motor bikes heading to the show and concert at the Sasquatch Inn.

Some great light on the way home from Harrison

This old lady gave me a good giggle. wasn't fast enough to get the front of her but it was pretty funny seeing her ripping around in that thing.

Heading into Kelowna Friday night for their open water swim Saturday Morning. Looking forward to it! Last race before Ironman.

IMC ink work.

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Nathan

Some shots from this afternoon, Dan and I didn’t endure enough pain so we took a trip down to i-candy. We didn’t go for the generic symbol that you probably have seen on a lot of legs if you where down watching the Ironman on the August 29th. Spent quite a few hours trying to figure out how to draw it out, pleased with how it looks on Dan’s bicep. I ended up getting the IMC on my forearm, with the three characters, swim, bike, run, on my rip cage.

Jay tackling Dan's arm

...

Weekend Wrap-up.

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Nathan

Took off friday night with the camper in tow, and headed for the Walmart in Penticton. Got in @ 11 and crashed there for the night, even though they have signs everywhere with by-law crap on it. Other then a few groups of drunken kids walking through, we had a good sleep, and hit the road.

We took off @ about 8am with the sun and course ready for us. Goal is to ride the whole 180km ironman course, and still have some energy for a run on the Sunday. Slugged it out and finished up at about 2, and was so happy to get off my bike. Felt really good til about 120km and then had to fight it from the Bear fruit stand back to Penny. In the short time that I have been cycling, I am really starting enjoy it, the distances and scenery you cover is awesome.

Two solid weeks of training before Oliver half Iron, looking forward to another race. It will be a great learning and test for me.

Here is a great write up on the course.

Walmart morning

Traded straight up for this hog

First Fuel up stop @ the husky in Osoyoos

2010 Race Year

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Nathan

Looking forward to a busy year, with a few things on the list to get ready for, half-marathon in February, Full marathon in May, and one maybe two half Ironmans in June and July with the Ironman in August. The two major focuses are, another try at a Boston qualifier in Vancouver on May 2nd and a solid finish to the Ironman in Penticton on August 29th. I’m looking at a top 100 finish for the Ironman but wouldn’t really know where I stand until I finish a half Ironman. A 10 hour 15 minute race gets close to that list but might be a bit quick…I guess time will tell.

I’ll be using the Heart and Stroke Foundation to raise some money, and will be hopefully getting some shirts made up in the near future with a section for donation off this site. Should be a fun and eventful year with some excitement mixed in.

Tri-Training Day

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Nathan

Had a weekend that didn’t have me booked up so I decided to kick myself into gear. I needed to get a long run in (for Vegas) and also wanted to get a solid start on riding the old bike. I picked a hell of a Saturday to do it, with hail and some good down pour sessions. Some people might have heard me dropping f-bombs in the early afternoon after riding into a few hail storms. All in all was a nice long day of training and felt pretty good.

I have been getting pretty board of the usual training routes and sessions, so I thought I would get a little more creative. I headed to the pool out in Walnut Grove for an 8:30 start , did a 40 minute swim. Drove out to 232nd and the number 1 hwy and left my truck there. Suited up for a 31km run back to my house. Once I got to my house I hucked some food and water in me and headed out on a 32 k bike ride. The whole thing took almost 5 hours but was a nice little saturday. Oh and the sun came out right when I hoped off my bike. Awesome….

ON the way on just after jumping into the truck. Never found the gold.

On the way home just after jumping into the truck. Never found the gold.

The Finish to the day. Sun rolling in.

Clouds moving out

Bike Time

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Nathan

As of yesterday I officially finished sign up for Ironman in Penticton. (already paid in August but now have all my info) I almost forgot to do it, September went by so quick, just remember during a long training run on the weekend…oops.

I did also manage to find myself a bike, indoor trainer and pedals,to get myself started. I also picked up, the apparently super important, bike shorts, can’t wait to find out how sore my ass will get. Getting pretty pumped to get a few good rides before the ugly weather comes.

Did the old craigslist hunt and grabbed, everything for 800 bucks. (bike, shoes,pedals and trainer) I wasn’t too pumped about getting a super expensive bike without even riding before, so hopefully this one will get me started. We will see if I will need to get a new bike by spring.

Kona Haole-- had a compter with it too.

Fairly new trainer for indoor riding.

Da Shoes

Ironman Weekend

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Nathan

Headed up to Penticton Once again this weekend, this time for the ironman. Had a friend in it last year and watch him conquer that bitch. He skipped this year but him and I and a few others went up to watch and sign up this year. Great weather, good time, and pretty pumped up for next year. Camped in the line up over night so we could make sure we would get our spot.

600 dollars for 3.8kms of swimmin, 180kms of bikin, and the old 42.2kms of runnin. The worse 600 dollars I ever spent. I plan on doing some fund raising with this stupid adventure and bloggin as much interesting info as possible.

Unfortunately this year one man die in the events 27 year history. A 60 plus man died of a heart attack just after the swim. I am seriously thinking about using the heart and lung foundation as my charity of choice, but I am open to suggestions as well.