Chances are if you have been reading this blog and listening to the podcast over the past few years you have noticed that many of my guests have a healthy/unhealthy obsession with “doing cardio.”
Nothing personifies this pursuit more than the picture you see above. These are the folks who are doing the Ultraman Canada Triathlon in the South Okanagan this weekend. 515 KM of moving your body under your own energy in a 3 day period. Over the course of the weekend, I’ll be posting interviews with some of the folks connected to the race.
The first person you’ll hear from is Penticton’s own Jen Annett. I first met Jen at the Ironman Awards Ceremony back in 2008. We both had great races that day. She went on to become a pro. I went on to host a podcast. The rest I guess is history. Celebrate episode 200 of Fitspeek with us by clicking the play button below.
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This week we have 30 minutes of information + inspiration to keep you motivated through our Canadian winter. First off on the show is Susie Ernsting. After a few years of cancelled races due to Covid, Susie finally got to experience what it was like to be the race director of Ironmman Canada.
Being any race director is not for the feint of heart and being the race director of the most anticipated race in years is even moreso. Susie has some interesting behind the scenes stories from the event. She also lets us know about next year’s bike course as well as what other things are brewing in the M1 Sports Management camp.
Also on the show is ATC Coach Mikey Ross. We are excited about his new series the 3 Rs. As endurance athletes, we are pretty addicted to going hard. In this week’s segment, Mikey explains not only the physical but the psychological benefits of interval training. The Susie + Mikey show starts with the press of the button below.
As y’all know A2 bikes (that’s A Squared) is our sponsor. They have the stuff that will get you to the finish line in record time without draining your bank account. And with the Fitspeek 22 discount code you can save even more. Click on the picture above to check out their selection of road rockets.
If you did your first Ironman Canada this year, you would have to be doing one every year until 2053, if you wanted to match the current record of Seattle’s Ed Wong.
As one of the pioneers in long-distance triathlon, Wong used his background as a hospital pharmacist to devise a sound nutritional strategy that served him well in his 31 consecutive iron-distance events that included both Penticton and Whistler.
Wong, along with Ed Russell from Kamloops and Dick Ensslen from Edmonton, collectively known as the “Dick Eds” have done almost 100 Ironman Canada races between the three of them, becoming an inspiration for athletes of all ages. You can find out why the DickEds got their name, and how this episode got its name by pressing play below.
I’m not sure if it was another overdose of Starbucks Dark Roast that kept me tossing and turning last night but sleep was nowhere to be had. With time to kill, I switched rooms opened up the laptop, and watched that Battle Royale that held the tri-world’s attention for the past week.
Although some folks debate the validity (or the point) of going for an iron-distance record, the Frodo-Sanders duel generated more You Tube hits than the average cat video. As the minutes passed, the viewing seemed to get a bit more engaging, and seeing Jan’s less than graceful T1, made me appreciate him more as a human and an athlete than him holding 300 watts for 180 kilometres.
And then there was MMA world age grouper champion in waiting, our own Lionel Sanders. Our boy-wunder from Windsor, or is that Tucson, never fails to give a good show, win or not. Once again, it wasn’t his 310 watts for 180 kilometres that impressed me, it was him dropping his water bottle while hobbling out of T2, that made me like this guy even more. And for his less running style, which resembles more of an animal that has just been freed from a leg trap than a triathlon god, well, that’s just icing on the cake.
The production value on this Jan-inspired event was second to none in the triathlon world, and it really showed that when “mainstream” production meets multisport, viewer engagement is sure to follow. The televised bio metrics of the two athletes was often shown on the screen or mentioned by the commentators, and that data enabled us, the mortal triathletes of the world, to gauge our fitness against these gladiators.
But as amusing as the numbers were, as always, it was the final miserable miles of the marathon that entrained and inspired the most. Just like the Julie Moss crawl in 1982, it was the agonized face of the impervious German and the ever-deteriorating gait of Sanders that glued our eyes to the screen and ours hearts to our throats. Some sports analysts say that the champions make winning look easy, Sanders defies that adage when he wins, and when he doesn’t, it’s even “better.”
After the video I went to sleep, with visions of suffering triathletes, dancing in my head. Fast forward to 7AM and I woke up with the motivation to do some suffering of my own and since I am training for Ironman this year, it seemed like a sensible plan.
Fortunately the winds of the Okanagan were only too happy to conspire with my sadistic request. Unlike the dedicated athletes who possess the motivation and good sense to knock out their swim at 6 or 7 or 8 AM, my sloth-like ways saw me show up to the Big Peach at the crack of 9. The prevailing north wind was howling and the lake, as is often the case, resembled the inside of a washing machine set on permanent press. My plan was developing even further. Being the hydro-sloth that I am, my goal was to get in the water and see if I could do the distance is less than twice the time Frodeno did his swim on Sunday.
Unlike the Battle Royale swim course, there was no black line and it wasn’t certified. It was, however the Ironman practice route that athletes have been using for years, which is from between the Big Peach to the SS Sicamous, twice. Likely, this was the same route that Sanders would have taken in his practice swims here back in 2017 when he won the ITU Long Course Championships.
32 ounces of dark roast and a whole wheat bagel gave me the required fuelling for the attempt. My antiquated and torn but trusty wet-suit went on without a hitch but the new goggles that I somehow found in my swim bag were too loose. I cinched them up tightly, knowing that once I was out in the waves, adjusting them would be rewarded with mouthfuls of carp-infused water.
My first trip out to the Sicamous was leisurely and wavy and 22 minutes. I knew things would get only slower. My suspicions were confirmed on the return trip as the waves intensified to the point where I had to just focus on survival, not speed. The suffering that I had so desired was being delivered wave after wave after wave. The next 48 minutes was more of the same but even more so, as those well-cinched goggles began making the temples of my head throb with pain. While enduring this, I kept thinking back to those images of Frodeno and Sanders in their last few kilometers, those grimaced faces sustained me to the end. I suffered. I persevered. And… just like Sanders, I lost! I excited the water in 1:32 giving “The Goat” a 4 – second margin of victory, when you take his time of 45:58 and multiply it by 2.
So, what can be learned from such open water shennanigans? Well, for one, even at the age of 57, I am still suceptible to the influence of televised sports. Just as watching the Super Bowl, made me and my friends go out in the Alberta winter to throw the football around and get tackled in the snow 30 years ago, watching the actions of others still inspires me. Secondly, this stunt reaffimed that one of the joys I get from endrance sports is the suffering. Whether it is 800 metre repeats at the track, V02 max intervals on the trainer, or being bitch-slapped by waves in the water, that discomfort, usually…. puts me in my happy place.
As the 2020 Summer Olympics are underway, no doubt millions of Canadians, of all ages, will tune in and get inspired by the on-screen heroics. It’s my hope that as many of these folks as possible take that extra step towards a bit of physical discomfort, since suffering is only a baby step up from that.
This time around Fitspeek heads back into the basement and catches up with the guy who shocked the triathlon world by; placing third in the world at the 70.3 World Championships in 2011, winning Ironman Melbourne in 2015, and finishing the 2013 Challenge Penticton after a bike crash going down Yellow Lake (yeah) he also won that race.
And yes the guy in the middle, does still work for the fine folks at the Bike Barn in Penticton. In our interview we catch up with Jeff about how thinks the life as a pro triathlete is not that dissimilar from the social distancing protocol that we are all following nowadays. We talk about his role as a swimming coach in Penticton . We also talk about this
You can hear the interview now, along with Zack Neufeld’s list about his top three rides in the Fraser Valley. Start the magic by pressing that play button below.
One of the groups of people in the fitness community hit hardest by the Covid-19 crisis is the race directors.
In Fitspeek 99 we speak with a guy who has been a race director on Western Canada’s triathlon scene for decades.
Penticton’s Steve Brown has darn near done it all, the owner of a running store, Ironman athlete, Race Director and saviour (?) of Ironman Canada, founder of the Ultra 520K Triathlon. Steve has seen many things in his years being involved in multisport.
In our interview, Steve tells us about how he got into triathlon, his role on the board of directors of Ironman Canada, the amazing community support of his home town, and how he is dealing with the Covid-19 situation. Here it now, along with the Mikey Ross Top Five list by pressing play below.
Fitspeek is brought to you by Tri*Joy} The Spirit of Multisport, reminding you to phone your mom & wash your hands!
This week on Fitspeek, we are pleased to give you part two of our interview with Jordan Bryden. After suffering a crash in an Olympic qualifying race in Australia a few years back, Jordan set his sights on long-course racing and is enjoying great success. One of his biggest successes, however is motivating his dad to do an Ironman!
All gritty to git er dun. That’s the Airdrie Advantage!
Also on Fitspeek 90, we have co-hosts Zack Neufeld & Kevin Watt back to chat about what going on in their lives & in the community for our roundtable segment. And yes! Race results from the Mission Hypothermic half. Get it all by pressing that play button.
Fitspeek is brought to you by Tri*Joy} The Spirit of Multisport. With regular progress assessments we keep you motivated & on track to accomplish your goals. Get started with a free in-person consultation & goal-setting session by e-mailing kknnheinze@yahoo.com
Just like this guy in the van, Fitspeek host Kevin Heinze, did his first ultra distance triathlon at Steve Brown’s Ultra 520K in Penticton back in August of 2017. Unlike this guy, Kevin is NOT the 2019 Ultraman World Champion! Hear the story next week on Fitspeek.
As you know the Ironman World Championships are being held this Saturday in Hawaii. One of Canada’s top females at the distance is Penticton’s Jen Annett. We had a chance to talk to Jen about her superbottles, preparation for the race and her lioness within! Check it out now!
Tri*Joy} The Spirit of Multisport is your Fraser-Valley based coaching company. We meet with you face to face to discuss your goals and map out a plan to achieve them. E-mail now for your free in -person consultation. kknnheinze@yahoo.com
There’s few people in Canadian Triathlon that are as well known as Penticton’s Steve King. He’s right up there with Lori Bowden, Simon Whitfield, Lisa Bentley, and Peter Reid.
Of course most people will recognize Steve King’s voice from the finish line of the Granfondo Axel Merckx, Vancouver Marathon, and Ironman Canada from the 1980s to the 2000s but there is a whole lot more to this man than just the voice!
At age 70, Steve King keeps a schedule that would tax most folks half his age. In addition to keeping up his ambitious announcing duties, he holds a day job as an addictions counselor and a night job as an aspiring rock star. In Fitspeek’s feature interview, we speak with Steve King about how he fell into the role as a race announcer, his views on Canada’s “Golden Age of Triathlon” and of course what the return of the Ironman to Penticton means to him. Hear that interview, plus our Fit Tip of the Week on how to improve your short-term memory by pressing play below:
Fitspeek is brought to you by Tri*Joy} The Spirit of Multisport. Based in Mission, BC we are your local multisport coaching company. We can meet with you face to face to discuss your goals and design a plan to achieve them. E-mail me at kknnheinze@yahoo.com to set up your free in person consultation and goal-setting session.
