Back in the spring of 2020 before most of us knew what a Coronavirus was, we were all excited about the Ironman returning to Penticton. After a couple of setbacks it looks like it is all systems go for this August.
Even though Susie Ernsting has been the race director for Ironman Canada since the fall of 2019, this August will be the first time the race will actually be run under her leadership.
On the show we talk about the new race course, the legendary Ironarmy, as well as what input she actually has as a contractor for Ironman. Mikey Ross, the head coach for the Abbotsford Triathlon Club ends off the program with his Top Five List. This week he offers us some advice on how to be gracious and grateful after finishing a race. Hear it now by pressing that play button below.
This week on the show we keep it very local. One of the folks who has seen the Mission Bridge in various altered stages resulting from long runs is ATC Coach, Mikey Ross. He’s on the program this week with his Top Five List. As we all know Covid took a big bite out of our personal connections over the past 23 months, Mikey gives us 5 strategies on ways to emerge out of our caves and reconnect with our tribes.
In addition to the list, local F2C Ambassador Roy McBeth joins Kevin with a 15 minute chat on the local as well as international cycling and triathlon scene. We have some results and analysis from the Pacific First Half Marathon and we look forward to the return of the Fraser Valley Granfondo. And this week’s trivia gossip Fitspeeking, Roy seems to have kept the Christmas kilos off but not so much for Kevin. Hear it all right now by pressing play below.
When compared to the common Canadian Couch Potatoe, the average endurance athlete is far from “normal.” And at the faaaar end of the endurance spectrum, you have the ultra athletes. Vancouver’s Lucy Ryan is one of those!
In this week’s Fitspeek, we chat with the indefatigable Lucy. She is a veteran of The Badwater Ultramarathon, Ultraman Canada, and many other far past the edge of sanity endurance events. She is also a hero (my words not hers).
A few years back Lucy decided to become a kidney donor. She has since gone on to finish many more endurance events, just to show folks what is possible to do with just one kidney. Lucy’s latest adventure is another chapter in her book of philanthropic deeds as she is trekking up Mt. Kilimanjaro in order to raise awareness and funds for Kidney Donor Athletes.
From her Kilamanjaro prep to the depths of Death Valley, to a side order of perogies, we have 20 minutes of inspirational ultra-talk with Lucy. Click on the play button to hear her story. Click on the cute red kidney to help out Lucy with her cause.
This March hundreds of provincial multisport athletes will finally get a chance race again for real, as the long-running UBC Triathlon/Duathlon returns. Not only is it a great motivator for some early season intensity, it is also a reason to get that bike checked out and make sure that it is road-ready.
On the show this week, we Fitspeek with some seasoned veterans from the event, Burnaby’s Craig Premack and Vancouver’s Winston Guo. Between the 2 of them, they have almost 40 years of UBC experience. They will be sharing some of their experiences from the race course as well as some tips for folks doing the event for the first time.
Also on the program, ATC Head coach, Mikey Ross returns with his Top Five List . If you have ever had to deal with race anxiety, Coach Mikey has a 5-4-3-2-1 strategy that will keep you focused on the world around you and not the butterflies in your stomach.
30 minutes of family friendly Fitspeek is ready for your consumption by pressing that play button below.
As an average grouper, one of your dreams might be to qualify for the Ironman World Championships and see how well you stack up against the world’s best. But what happens when you win the darn thing?
This week on Fitspeek, we answer that very question as we chat with the 2019 overall age group champion, Ruth Astle, from Leeds, England. Of course, Ruth’s decision to turn pro happened right before the Covid 19 pandemic so races were far and few between.
Ruth however, made the most out of the races she did, winning as a pro at Ironman Malorca and Ironman South Africa. In addition to excelling on the race course, Ruth is also becoming very adept at marketing herself on social media. In our interview, we talk about just what goes into one of her YouTube training videos and about how Cam Wurf may be wrong.
And if you think that Ruth is just another uni-dimensional triathlete living a monastic existence, well then you’d be wrong as Ruth still holds down a very demanding part-time job in the world of finance. She also fancies a piece of chocolate (or two) and a glass of wine….or 2, especially in her lazy-season. You can follow Ruth on Facebook (1) Ruth Astle | Facebook and on Instagram Ruth Astle (@rastle50) • Instagram photos and videos and you can spend 40 minutes with one of the best cyclists in long-course triathlon now, by pressing play below.
As I write this, my playground that is called the Fraser Valley is glazed in a dicey mixture of fresh snow and ice. It’s about 2 above and it can’t decide to snow or rain.
I’m a bit more decisive this morning. I’m dropping the latest Fitspeek. This time we come full circle with reigning Ultraman World Champion and outdoorsman, Jordan Bryden.
Jordan’s life is pretty much based around the sport of triathlon, so when Covid-19 came around, he was faced with a lot of challenges. In our chat, we discuss how a full-time tri-guy makes ends meet when there’s no racin’. Jordan also answers my question “why so fast” when it comes to the current streak of fastest ever Ironman finishes. Ya gotta listen to his ideas (and it ain’t the Viking horns).
somewhere in this happy mess of humanity are two of the folks on this week’s show
To round off this week’s show, if you have ever wanted to go faster in a race (& who doesn’t) you may want to engage with others on the race course to give you that edge. On this week’s Top Five List, Mikey Ross, Abbotsford Triathlon Club coach offers 5 ways to engage and excel, the next time you hit the start line.
So, this is how it feels to wake up without regrets about what and how much went into my body the night before. Actually, that is a bit of an exaggeration, as those years of seasonal extravagance and remorse ended well before anyone knew about the wrath of Justin Bieber on music. I now see that the Ontario lad is now shilling Timbits, so I know a duet with Ian Tyson will soon be on the way and all will be well with the music world.
That other wrath is still with us, that Covid-thing, version…whatever. That thing that has, and continues to, throw uncertainty into the lives of most of us. When I go back to work on Monday, however, it will be without students; that is certain. But is it shocking? Not so much anymore.
It’s usually on this day that I look giddily at a blank piece of paper and fill it with race dates. For the second year in a row, this may become an exercise in disappointment and flushed dreams. For two years in a row I trained for Ironman Canada. For two years in a row, I stood in a wetsuit next to a Big Peach with only a handful of other die-hards who didn’t need a medal and a tattoo and a t-shirt as evidence that we had too much spare time on our hands. Yeah, we did the whole damn thing anyway.
If you had an opportunity to do a real race in the past 20 months you were either rich or lucky or both. Anybody with the money and motivation could scoot over to Andorra or Arizona or Alberta, places where the local leaders deemed Covid “over.” Over here in BC, Bonnie’s abundance of caution cancelled most races.
Folks who managed to race the Vancouver Triathlon totally lucked out as the heat domes of summer had passed, Covid numbers temporarily abated, and the curse of the coyote was averted. Hitting the finish line must have been as much of a relief as it was an accomplishment. Being on a real race course with real salt water stinging your eyes, real gravity pulling you downhill, and having real people pass you was something most of us thought was a right…not a privilege. Truthfully, however, I’m more of a racing is a necessity kind of athlete. A greedy bastard.
And as lucky as you were in actually having a race to do, you may have been doubly lucky if you had a race ready bike to do the race on. In 2021, the worldwide conspiracy against cyclists and triathletes entered stage 2 with bikes and the things that make them move (chains, derailleurs and the like) being in short supply and the prices of used equipment rise substantially.
As you map out your athletic year you need the faith of a pilgrim and the nerve of a gambler. What happens if all the races you sign up for are cancelled? Worse yet, what happens if all the races that you signed up for this year, plus all those races that you rolled over from 2020 and 2021 actually go ahead? Physical exhaustion and financial ruin looms on the horizon. Well maybe not but you have a lot of thinking and soul searching to do before you whip out that credit card and hit register. Happy New Year!
A lot has changed in bicycles and the cycling industry in the past 4 decades and Mission’s Bruce Wenting has been there every step of the way.
As the owner of Wentings Cycle & Mountain shop, for 43 years, Bruce has seen and heard and done it all when it comes to self-powered 2 wheeled vehicles. But there’s a lot more to this guy than Shimano and Orbea and in our end of the year chat with Bruce you will find out what.
Also on the program, the Head Coach for the Abbotsford Triathlon Club, Mikey Ross is back with another Top Five List.
Although Western Canada has been experiencing some dreadful weather recently, Coach Mikey gives us reasons why we should layer up and head out the door, for at least some of our runs. Hear this week’s program now by pressing the play button below.
Another day at the office for the Fitspeek Staff (top of Yellow Lake)
It’s been far too long since we got the Fitspeek folks together for a good ole fashioned roundtable.
On the program today we talk to co-host Kevin Watt about his experiences being an outdoorsy construction guy and working in the unsavoury Fraser Valley weather that we have been having.
Also, along with KW, is our guy for all things cycling and pro triathlon, Roy McBeth. Roy is a rockin’ fast guy and raced at the recent World 70.3 (that’s Half-Ironman) Championships in St. George Utah. He’ll be telling us about his experiences on that day.
As if the high level of competition and difficult topography wasn’t enough, Mother Nature decided to throw Roy and the other racers a major curveball in the form of a short little hurricane. Thankfully Roy, unlike some of his competitors, didn’t get thrown into the ditch.
Roy, who is on the Spaero and F2C elite teams will also be talking about some of the cyclocross events that have been happening here in the Fraser Valley and around the world. Fitspeek 147, with all the news that is fit to podcast is yours with a button click below.
Canadian women’s cycling in 2021 could almost be summed up in two words, Alison Jackson.
Originally from Vermillion, Alberta and now from Abbotsford, this former triathlete and Phoenix Velo rider has had a season that she will remember forever.
She ended off her season with a new contract with Liv Cycling and a memorable experience competing in the first ever Paris-Roubaix women’s event. The previous month, Alison scored an extraordinary double victory at the Canadian cycling championships – yep she won both the time trial and the road race! And of course, there was her very first appearance at the Olympics.
Only one of us went to the Olympics in 2021 but I’ve heard there’s going to be a mixed team trial for Paris….. just a rumour?
With such a busy racing and training schedule, its also impressive that Alison has mastered the art of social media. You can check that out @aliactionjackson . You can hear our interview here
