Ironman Canada

Hey All,

I had a great weekend watching the race in Penticton this last weekend. It was really motivating and just what I need to get the fire burning. We got to watch the pros race each other head to head on what proved to be yet another tough day for them. Each race seems to have it's tough parts, it could be hot weather, windy, hills, or maybe competition. You can read Cam's blog for a dif. race weekend perspective, I have his link on the side.

One thing that stood out for me was the variation in people's styles. You see this in running marathons, but even more so in an ironman. It includes the pros as well. You'd think that they would all strive to race the same way since some prove that the race should be won a certain way. They don't though, everyone has a different strategy built around strengths and weaknesses. We saw the leader of the mens pro race swim/ride hard to get as much of a cushioning as he going into the marathon. He came off the bike and looking at his running form all three of us said somthing like, "oh he'll be caught, he runs too stiffly, and not fast enough, he doesn't even look like he'll keep that pace". But guess what he kept his even pace and ended up winning having run a 3:03 marathon. Sure in most ironman races that might not have been enough. If there had been a 2:45 marathon in the pack behind him it might have been different. Then there were the amateurs, some have big bounding strides(not many of these after 180k on the bike) some shuffle, some run at an angle or hunched over(back problems, I wouldn't advise this one). Everyone has a unique way to get to the finish. The person who wins is the one who gets from A to B faster then anyone else. This weekend I got to watch one of my favorite pros race and win, Lisa Bentley. She is soo inspiring and runs like a cheetah. She also doesn't look the smoothest(I guess not so much like a cheetah LOL). From watching her you might think she is running a 1500 the way she grits her teeth and pumps her arms. Heather Fuhr on the other hand runs sooo smoothly and efficiently, almost the opposite of Lisa Bentley and there is no noticeble strain. She runs eazy mode so to speak, hardly any upper body movement and no strain on the face, relaxing all of her upper body completely.

I got my spot for IMC 2008 reserved, haven't officially signed up, but it's there saved just for me. I got to cheer on one of my old training partners from Manitoba Michael Krauss. I think this was his second ironman and what a race he had. He did 10:22 I think last year and 10:19 this year. He's so strong in all 3 events, I would never have thought he'd do so well in ironman. When I was training with him he just ran marathons, he started the whole tri thing after I left. I didn't see my other friend Scott Taylor, I used to train with him as well. He's an awsome swimmer/biker, he's not as quick as he used to be, still solid though and finished in the 11 hour range. Cheers,

Darryl