Ironman Calgary Huge Success!!!

First off, I would like to thank everyone at the Talisman Center, particularly my coach, Jon Bird. He has pushed me to achieve a higher level and has become a great friend, and an inspiration.

I have been anticipating this event for some time now, not only as a participating athlete, but also as the Marketing Director for Ironman Calgary. For months I have been busy during the day designing logos, t-shirts, jerseys, finishing medals, advertisements, course signage, basically the entire brand experience for the Ironman Calgary 70.3 event. In the evening I would be training 3-4 hours riding the bike course or running through the downtown pathways at the dedicated pace set out by coach. Its hard to believe the race is now over.

The expectations I set out before the race was this, Complete the swim in about an hour, bike the course within a heart rate of 135-145, and kick it in high gear for the run!

My nutrition was perfect, (Special thanks to Kelly Drager my Nutritionist & Jack Vandyk for calories per hour) Ive been experimenting with various solids and cocktails over the last few months and found what works best for me.
Breakfast- 3 hours before the race - 2 pieces of toast with all natural peanut butter and jam, 2 hard boiled eggs, one banana, glass of orange juice, water, and coffee.
Swim - 10-15 minutes before the swim, 1 Hammer brand power bar
Bike- One 24oz bottle of concentrated (4 scoops) Hammer brand Perpetuem, one 24 oz bottle of water, 2 Hammer gel packs, 1 Hammer power bar, 1 bag Gu chomps, 8 Hammer Endurolyte tablets. I would eat or drink Perpetuem every 15 minutes ingesting the suggested caloric intake of 380 calories per hour and sip on water whenever required, 1-2 Endurolyte tablets per hour depending on heat. Approximately 5km from Transition 2, I consumed 1 gel pack and 1 Endurolyte tablet gearing up for the run.
Run- 2, 8 oz bottles mixed with NUUN tablets.

The swim was a bit disappointing, and did not go as well as planned. I was the very last division to take to the water at 8:30am, a 1.5 hour anxiety ridden wait. At this time in the morning, the wind started to pick up which created 1-1.5 foot swells by the time I reached the last buoy. I forced myself to crawl despite the seasickness and swam my way up the boat ramp by the skin of my teeth at 1:06:19! Cut off is 1:10:00.
When exiting the water, I had deja vu from my previous Sylvan Lake Half Ironman experience, being the very last out of the water. Dorrie, a friend of mine who I train with at the Talisman Center was there to cheer me on, it was great to see a familiar face, and after that hard swim, she was a muchly needed boost! Transition was a Ghost town, the volunteers had begun dismantling T1, and I had to stop a volunteer to retrieve my transition bag who was packing them up to transfer them to T2. I took my time in transition, re-grouped, and was off on the bike.

The bike course was beautiful, on two different occasions, deer crossed the road not 10 yards in front of me. I kept pace within my allocated heart rate zone of 135-145 and averaged 32.8km/hr, by no means was I pushing my ability. Having all the required nutrition with me, I confidently passed the two aid stations. At KM 50, the side of my right knee (Lateral Collateral Ligaments) started giving me issues. I concluded it was due to the recent change of my bike cleats and were not set properly. A few weeks earlier, I rode out to Canmore and on my return rode over some glass that slashed my rear tire. I had to walk 5km back to Canmore which trashed my cleats, and required replacing. I took the remainder of the ride easy, not wanting to aggravate my knee any more and rode into T2 under three hours (2:51:47).

My cowboy fan club was there to cheer me on (My wife Jaime, mother Elaine, Julie, Tara, Sonia, Tobias, baby Lochlan, Fletcher & Kelly) Another casual transition, I chatting it up with the wife, tied my racing flats, strapped on my fuel belt and was off for the run. At this time, the weather warmed up and the direct sun became hot. I started with a good pace of 4:30 and wanted to hold it for the full duration, but after about 8-10k the knee started flaring up. I decided to back off the pace and finish the run casually as I did not want a looming injury for the upcoming Ironman Canada event. The best part of the event (and any event) is having your friends and family cheering you on for the last 100 meters to the finish, and being able to share the experience with them.

I completed my second half ironman distance triathlon with a time of 06:03:18.
Next up, Ironman Canada on August 30th... There is allot of swimming to do until then.

Random Photos from friends and family

Some amazing photos from Jay Prasuhn