End of July and August has been very exciting for both myself and all the Aerobic Power athletes. Between triathlons, bike events, and run events I think everyone has had a very fulfilling season but still with numerous marathons, 70.3 events including the World Championships and the Worlds IM Championships still to come for Aerobic Power athletes.
Just to recap some big events.
EDMONTON PTO EVENT
Dave Van Reeuwyk
6 Overall and first in his age group
Brian Hrynkow
10th overall and 5th in his age group.
Such a great race 1 minute separated 6th overall and 10th overall.
Jordan Hirtle
22nd Overall and 7th in his age group with a Sin 7 100 miler as his taper 2 weeks ago so pretty amazing outing for him.
Coach Kevin
I could almost say it was fun, things went pretty smoothly from get up to the finish line. To make the day complete ended up first in the old guy 50-54 category.
Jason Dust
25km Event
2nd in Age Group with an exciting sprint finish.
CALGARY 70.3
Maren Barros: 1st Overall
IRONMAN CORK RESULTS
Edward Cosgrave:
Anything as long as an Ironman creates a very large window in which many types of adversity can be thrust upon an athlete. And unfortunately for Ed he had to battle though some of the toughest.
Following a bad bike crash and 50 minutes with medics Ed got back on and finished the ride and marathon all the while managing some bad road rash and banged up body parts.Fortunately this was just a tune up and he gets a second shot at IM Arizona.
Mt. TREMBLANT RESULTS (Honour Roll Story)
Rob Ellis
Rob (aka FOMO) competed with a huge (self imposed ) weight on his shoulder, as we all do to ourselves. Rob and his wife Kim have had a huge goal of competing at Kona together. Kim had won her spot already so it was left to Rob to get his. Even after numerous podium finishes Rob was just shy of that elusive 1 spot for his age group. As crunch time approached the pressure increased, and Rob got his nick name, Fear of Missing Out, as it was coming down to 1 last race in order to do Kona in 2022. Well it was a story book ending and Rob crushed his fellow competitors making sure he got his Kona spot and would loose the nick name FOMO forever. To top it off, even though Kona is separating male and female race days, when you are a mature male like Rob you get to race on the same day as the females so Kim and Rob will be out there competing together and accomplishing a partner goal they have had together. Congrats to both.
IRONMAN CANADA RESULTS
Congratulations to these amazing athletes.
Alan Perrott:13:09:02
Shane Mascarin: 14:55
Heidi Obermeier: 14 hrs
Coach Kevin: 11:41
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF COACH KEVIN
August was everything for me. It packaged up my 50 year old birthday wishes from an adventure trip to a competition and more performance focused event.
In early August I was extremely lucky to have signed up with Golden Retreats to run the Esplanade Range. Best way to describe it is a back country ski trip in the summer for runners. We took a helicopter up to our starting point and spent the next 5 days running over mountain ranges and ending in a new location each night. Each location had a beautiful mountain hut equipped with rooms, kitchen, living room area, a Sauna and a crystal clear mountain lake where you would end your day with a refreshing swim, and then high tail it to the hot sauna. I was very lucky to have a good friend sign up with me but the rest of the group all became great friends as well.
Following the mountain trip I had to realign my focus again back onto a very large undertaking, Ironman Canada. The PTO Edmonton had gone as well as possible in late July but I knew doubling the distance was going to be more then 2x as hard. We had done it many times in the late 90's and early 2000's and fell in love with the people, atmosphere and appreciated the positive impact it had on the whole town in many different ways. I was very excited about the idea of going to Penticton and being a part of IM again in Penticton but was surprisingly quite nervous about the idea of getting through it.
RACE DAY!!!??!!
The swim was great, really like the new rolling start system. Seemed to keep it smooth and spread out. Toughest part about the swim was coming back into the sunshine. Time target hit +/- a couple minutes.
Out on the bike I went old school, with the clip ons, on the road bike. And although, if I had a well fitted Tri Bike I would have used it, being out on the road bike on this very tough, hilly Penticton course was not all bad. The long climbs were a lot more comfortable and probably a little quicker on the road bike. So Richters Pass went well and I even enjoyed the 7 rollers after Richters which doesn’t happen very often. Riding the road bike definitely had me thinking about what advice I might give a newbie/intermediate triathlete particularly on a bike course like Penticton.
Time target missed by ~ 15-20 minutes.
The addition of Vancouver Hill to start the run was a little bit mean. Now being at the start it was not the worst I felt, and for many was probably worse going down then it was going up. This lead into a ~4km out and back on the KVR. I did not mind this either, a false flat heading out but and nice smooth return back into town.
I knew before the day the run was not going to be like I remember so my goal or my mantra was “one foot in front of the other”, and for the most part it worked. I remember how the loops through town helped in 2003 when I actually had my best IM finishing time there. The loops through town really helped when someone in your head is always whispering, "you should walk". I think its really nice for the athletes to be able to be in the middle of spectators and other athletes especially in the latter parts of the marathon. The old days had runners strung out along Eastside road all the way to OK falls and back, dark and lonely.
Target missed by ~ 45 minutes
My mindset, and my approach is always about chasing performance and improving. Although based on numbers it did not look as successful, I am pleased with my mind shift and the acceptance of the situation through the event. My goal of one foot in front of the other while doing anything but walk was the hardest I have pushed, possibly ever. I’ve had faster runs but none were as hard or hurt as much as this one.
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023
Training is a tough commitment. Its hard on the body and hard scheduling within our other day to day commitments. I always encourage athletes to commit to an off season like they would their
in season. Dedicate more time to enjoying more of life's treats, more movies, more social time and more lazy time. I would suggest 3-4 weeks minimum of unstructured and decreased amount of activity. Also try some different activities. If you ride road bikes regularly then try some fall mountain biking or cyclocross riding. Grab some trail shoes, fall is an amazing time to be hitting the trails.And most importantly get your winter strength training program set up or at least commit to something that starts at a later date.
When it's go time again, Aerobic Power is offering a FREE month of training in December for anyone who registers and starts training October 1.
