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
One of the sure signs of Christmas in the Fraser Valley is the annual Salvation Army’s Santa Shuffle and over a decade the person at the head of this cornerstone community event is Marie Lashley. Marie has had another active year, not only as the race director but as a very enthusiastic runner herself. In our chat we find out about her local adventures over the past year, as well as this year’s Santa Shuffle.
The event is going to be held virtually and will be on December 4th and 5th. One of the exciting things about this year’s event is that all participants will be getting a technical running shirt. Here’s a chance to help out the community via your contribution to the Salvation Army and build up your family’s Christmas cheer as we head into a very special time of year. 15 minutes of Bing approved yakkange starts with the click of the button below.
Exactly 100 episodes later, we check in with the dynamic Jamie Imai from Mission. When last we chatted, Jamie was attempting her first aqua-run. Since that time the whole world has changed and so has Jamie.
She can now add ultra-marathoner to her resume. After spending almost 30 seconds being bummed out because of Covid, Jamie started taking her adventures off-road on the mountains around Mission.
She found a like-minded group of fearless females and she found herself (that’s a story in itself) on the start line of her first ever trail ultra marathon back in September.
She took the challenge seriously. With meticulous preparation and consistent training, she was ready to go when the gun went off. What happened over the course of the next 11 hours and 55 minutes is the stuff of legend. Soggy shoes, blown legs, and missing pickles are all part of the story. A great story of overcoming adversity starts with the press of this button below!
This week on Fitspeek, we spend 45 minutes with one of Canada’s premier endurance athletes, Kelowna’s Meaghan Hackinen. This unstoppable athlete was prepared to go to California this fall to defend her crown as the World 24 Hour Female Time Trial Champion, then Covid struck! No, not her, but her boyfriend. She had to isolate after that and was unable to do the race.
With all that training done, and after all heath precautions were honoured, she wanted to see what she was capable of, so she found a route, did some planning, started riding, and then______! You’ll have to give the show a listen to find out what happened.
Fortunately these were about the only 2 things that did go wrong for Meaghan this year. In addition to improving her riding on the road, Meaghan (like many of us) found gravel and decided to take on one of the most demanding races in the province, the BC Epic 1000. Not that it was only 1000 K long, it was also held during that oppressive heat dome that we had back in early July. Hear about Meaghan’s conquests and more by pressing that button down here!
Your Fitspeek Friday drops in on this wet weekend with a great conversation with a guy whose middle name should be “git er dun.”
As you may know, the Vancouver Triathlon was held, as a TRIathlon and not an aquathon last month. No small feat with all the challenges of Covid-19 protocols.
Add to the mix, the morons who thought it would be fun to start feeding coyotes to set up their perfect social media shots, turning these usually elusive critters into a dangerous nuisance in Stanley Park. Heaven help us when these bozos start chumming the orcas! In our conversation, we talk to Trevor about those last stressful days leading up to the race. Talk about pulling a rabbit out of a hat. And although you can’t satisfy everybody, the fact that the race went ahead was a welcome breath of fresh air in a very stagnant smelling 2021 race season.
Also in the interview, we ask an obvious question “why the hell would you want to be a race director?” as well as the obvious follow up question, “what does a race director do to feed his family (pictured above) when they ain’t no racing?” All this and more including references to Fitspeek’s big BOY brother, and Mikey’s Top Five List, comes your way with the push of that button you see below.
Fitspeek is brought to you by Tri*Joy: The Spirit of Multisport. You can experience the joy with a very limited time offer. The Tri 4 50 special is back on. Wanna play Tri? Click that link below!
