Ironman Canada....Complete

WEll, just a quick update. I will do a full report tomorrow. I have now completed my first Ironman and it was great....and very painful. I had some serious muscle cramping issues about half-way in to the bike which hampered the rest of the day. My goal was to finish 11:00-12:00 and I am glad to say, I succeeded. Final time - 11:54.08.

Unfortunately, I will not be doing IMC next year but I'll be coming up with a race plan in the near future. M

Twas the Night Before...Ironman!

Well, the time has come for the big day. Ironman Canada kicks off tomorrow at 7:00am (Officially) but I'll be up around 4:00am for some food. Last night was the carbo load dinner which was a good time. Amber and I had a great time hearing about all the amazing people that will be competing this year.





Today was a non-eventful day. Well, not really but we tried to stay low key. George and I did some last minute tune-ups and got our stuff ready. We hit the transition area just after lunch to drop our stuff off. It went pretty smoothly.

Amber, the Comisso's (George and Sheila), and the MacMillan's x 4 (Billy, Pearl, Mark, Ashley) spent the day wine touring at Mission Hill, Quail's Gate and Sumac Ridge with a nice pit stop for a late lunch/snack in Peachland.

Tonight, we got together for a family dinner to celebrate Amber's birthday. To my surprise...and embarrassment, Amber had t-shirts made ("IronMatt Support Crew"). It was pretty funny.



Anyways, it is just after 8pm and I am off to bed. Not really nervous, but pretty anxious to get on with it. This will be the culmination of a lot of work. We will update after the race. I'm #287 if you want to follow at ironman.ca.

George (#619) and I the night before.

Wine Anyone?

Well, the Okanagan Valley is definitely known for its wine. I, unfortunately have had little opportunity and have been the DD for the rest of the family. It's been actually pretty relaxing. Here we are at Road 13, a small little BC winery.

We've been having some great food and I've been getting in some tapering with some short swims, bike, & runs. Amber was even kind enough to join me in Lake Osoyoos for a swim. I managed to bruise the top of my left foot which has not been the best but it only is slightly painful running. Lots of polysporin to help with the scratches.

Today we made the journey from Osoyoos to Penticton. I left Amber and the gang and made the drive early in order to meet up with a friend - George. We accomplished a lot today. We registered early to avoid the crowds, got some free recovery Crocs, did a bit of training, got a few other things and relaxed. Amber and the parents explored the desert and downtown Penticton. I'll try to avoid the crowds over the next couple of days as people tend to be pretty tense. I am sure it will only get worse as Sunday draws near.

Speaking of Sunday, the temperature is supposed to be close to 35 degrees Celsius so that should prove to be interesting. Good thing I have been training in the humid, hot weather of Kingston.

Until the next one, keep it easy. M

In the Promise Land

Well, we made it to Osoyooss yesterday and it is really nice to be out of Kingston, not working and just focusing on next Sunday. Both Amber and my parents made the journey with us, so it is nice to have some people around to take the mind off of things.

Amber and I managed to upgrade to business class for the flight from Toronto....so...I took advantage.



We arrived in Vancouver and we had all of our luggage which was very nice. Mind you, we did not travel lite.



Once we arrived in to Osoyoos, we met up with my folks at Spirit Ridge. I did not stick around long as I headed for a 15k run to shake out the legs. Run went well despite being pretty stiff from the plane and van.

Now we are just relaxing and I'm getting ready for IMC on Sunday. Just about to head out for a quick spin on the bike to make sure everything is working properly. It is very nice and not humid (quite the change from Kingston).

M

13 Days!

Well, things have definitely been moving along. We have been settling in to the school and the kids are great...aka very funny. Air conditioner in the house was finally fixed on Saturday and not a moment too soon as the weather has changed drastically. The temp has been getting close to 40 w/ humidity. It has been tough. No A/C in the office so it's hard to work.

Training has been moving along and I'm in to taper. Have had some right knee issues stemming from being too tight and IT band problems. After multiple massage, physio, chiro, and some hard work, I've turned the corner and things are looking good.

We'll be heading out to BC this weekend and prepping for the big day. Amber, her folks and my folks will be joining the journey so while I prep, they'll drink (wine tour anyone?)

The plan is to bring the computer so I'll post some blogs and pics on the way.

Got the race number as well (#287) so if you are interested, you can follow athlete tracker at Ironman Canada

Until next time...M

Home Sweet Home

Well, hectic as always but here is a pic of our new home....finally.



Hopefully we will get more up soon. The house is coming along slowly. We managed to get some more furniture delivered yesterday and a friend got some buddies to help us out with some electrical issues and an air conditioning unit that is not functioning (home inspections are not worth the money b/c you can't go back when they screw up).

It was a busy weekend with lots of training. The 2 big events...180k bike on Sat (I ended up having a guest for the last 3.5hrs - Tony O'Keeffe - 23 times Ironman finisher, RAAM solo rider finisher and 4 time Ultraman World Champion 2nd place - definitely nice to have someone with that much experience to bounce ideas off and just listen to) and 21.5k run today which was very humid.

That's about it. Take care. M

August Already

Well, it's August and less than a month away from Ironman. We've been up to a lot and we'll fill you in tomorrow. Since the last post, we've moved in to the house, bought furniture, I've flown back to Penticton for a training camp with Coach Noa, and we will compete our first race in Ontario tomorrow.

K-Town Tri is tomorrow and we will both be doing the long course. The weather looks iffy but we'll see how it goes.

Until after the race...have fun. Good luck to the guys in Calgary doing Ironman 70.3.

Ciao. M