Guelph Lake

This weekend was the Guelph Lake One Triathlon, my first race of the year. I love this event because all 3 legs are tough and the field is usually strong. If you've never done Guelph Lake, I would highly recommend it.

A few years ago I found a TV Broadcast of the 2002 Guelph Lake One Pro Race, with a local pro Jeff Beech competing in the field. It's really inspiring watching your coach race, and race so fast!

Last year I finished 5th overall in a time of 2:08:58. This year I had the swim of my life getting out of the water in 21:09, and good bike in 1:03:55, but the run was dreadful. I now understand why Macca had so much trouble at the beginning of his comeback to ITU Triathlon. Ironman training makes you strong, but if you want to go fast you need to train fast. Also, with the volume of training that Ironman requires, it takes a lot more time to recover to get ready for a fast race. I finished 14th overall and 2nd in my age-group with a time of 2:09:57. 

Looking ahead to the time I have left, I start to realize how important every training day is. Each time I put on my goggles, helmet, or shoes I think about race day. 5 weeks until my second race in Muskoka, then 4 weeks to Ironman.

When pressure builds, I find a lot of people start to take things too seriously.  

I mean come-on...we all want to win but is it worth losing your shit over?

Every time I get frustrated or overwhelmed I try and find something to laugh at. Hopefully I can find something funny on race day to get me to the finish line - and if I can't, I'll just withdraw things like this from the memory bank.