Gord Approved...

I got a phone call today, it was from my unofficial coach Gord Brauer. Gord is my friend from Winnipeg. I officially met and got to know him 25 years ago while waiting in the registration line at the Morden Tinman. As much as I ignored him, he kept talking to me.

I actually met him earlier, although I didn't know it was him. At 16 years old he gave me and Peter Ginakas a ride home from the bar one night in his Ford Mustang. Peter was going to throw up and I remember Gord stopping the car and he couldn't throw the both of us out fast enough. He was yelling, "get out of the car, do not throw up, if you throw up I'm going to kill you".

Once I officially met Gord at the Tinman, we did many triathlons, including Ironman Canada together. Unfortunately for Gord, before one of the Ironmans, he was side swiped by a car full of nuns a couple weeks before the race and was knocked over and suffered severe road rash and soft tissue damage. His body didn't fully recouperate from the accident, but he still managed to finish the race in 14 hours and he was a 5 hour half Ironman. The next year, he crashed on the bike and then went to the finish and helped other athletes cross the line right up until the end.

Gord is a manufacturers agent who really should be a personal trainer. His bedside manner is not the best and he's confident in his "rightness". He does come by it honestly, he's a German "square-head", they're used to saying "Ve Du it Tis Vey". At the end of the day, with all his "warts and pimples" (like we all have), I'm proud to call him my friend. Underneath, he's very caring and thoughtful individual with a huge heart.

One quick story about his heart. About 25 years ago, I was on a bike ride and he knew it. It started pouring rain and thundering with lightening. I was about 30 kilometers from home and who pulls up? "Gord". Not Alice, but "Gord". I'd forgotten even telling him I was going riding. He was worried and picked me up just outside of Selkirk, Manitoba. Now that's a true friend.

When I need advice on nutrition, training, supplements or re-assurance on something, Gord's my go to guy. He's one of the few that believes I "should not" stop drinking beer, albeit, "in moderation". Gord has known me for so long, he reminds me of stuff I've long since forgotten.

Today was the first time I spoke to Gord since IMLP. As many of you know, after the Ironman China disaster, he left a voice mail message on my phone and I re-recorded it to You Tube. It was "Classic Gord". I included it below again, for your listening pleasure. I also found an email he wrote me right after Ironman China. I just found it by accident today and I never published it.

Bryan,

I hope you are not seriously ill and feeling better. Please go to your doctors ASAP for tests when back in Canada. You must insure your system does not have anything else as you need to check for kidney, liver damage etc. since this is a foreign illness you contracted. No if ands or butts.

Here is the my " Training Pain." You broke the number one rule of racing and competing yet you did not make your negative experience beneficial in any way to your followers. You did not "man up" and be honest about what happened. YOU DO NOT CHANGE OR DO ANYTHING NEW PRIOR TO A RACE. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TELL NOT TO EAT ANYTHING DIFFERENT AND IF YOU DO MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE IN YOUR CHOICE. WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD EAT A (MISC???) MEAT SAUCE PRIOR TO A RACE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY IN A MASS FOOD SETTING? If you couldn't make out 100% the animal you were eating then why would you?

I gave you the best advice and you chose to ignore it. I told you that you had done enough training and only YOU and other factors will determine your outcome. You could have brought a small amount of Tim Hortons coffee with you and brought some frozen bagels or donuts in your bags in a heavy mylar freezing bag that would have made them completley edible and ready prior to your race. No nuts and fruit varieties and all would have been fine. Don't you remember MASH with klinger getting ribs from Toledo , Ohio?

This may be a bit extreme but I need to make this point. If you had kept my advice in your head YOU would have questioned all that you did including food choices. You left your destiny up to a few staff who hadn't washed their hands or prepared all of the food properly. I don't know how you din't stop dead in your tracks not seeing a real chunk of meat. Who knows what may have been in the mix. This is ASIA and you should have and knew better.

My insight into the humidty also came into play. Do you really think if they told you the truth about how tough the weather could be? They want people to show up and not run away? They lie about the southern Okanagan B.C. weather all the time. People would not visit as much or think they could live there.

TRAIN in similar race conditions. I know your California experience was great but you trained to race in the California desert and not a humid jungle. If you go back to China you are best to go to the Florida Keys ( flat like your race course) and live in the humidity.

My advice about being too light and not worrying about your weight. I hope you were not too thin as the extra few pounds may have helped by giving you more reserve energy. If was really hilly then being a bit lighter would help.

You are a great friend and I had only hoped you did not needlessly sabotage your own race when you had it under your control. You let it slip away. Please write the truth in the blog to the benefit of others. These people look up to you and respect what you have done, do, and will do. Your words will prevent others from making a tragic mistake as in this China race. This will be your "Pay it Forward" from your experience. Setting it straight and have them understand this "Payneful" lesson that will insure, that for decades to come, they will know not to eat as you did and have a great race.

Talk to you soon.

Gord

When Gord sent that email, I chose not to put it on the blog. I had a tough time reading it. I knew it was true and it hurt. It was a very painful read. I just wanted to delete it and move on. It's interesting what time and redemption does for your psyche. I now read it and chuckle and I'm now "man enough to post it on the blog".

The second Ironman was Utah. On this one, Gord wasn't as harsh. I did listen to him more than China. I did have a couple beers a couple days before the race. What I didn't do right in Utah was take in the proper nutrition. I haven't said it before, but I come to realize the truth about Utah and what caused my stomach troubles.

First off, I think it's important to understand that I have a stomach of steel. I've eaten a large Domino's pizza and have went for a run right after. At the beer run I can drink 6 beers during a 5 km run still finish in 23 minutes and change, then drink some more beers afterwards. I've never thrown up from food, unless it's from food poisoning.

In Utah, my problem was I built a stomach bomb. I started the day with McDonald's Bacon and Egg Bagel, then had two more on the bike, then had two or three chocolate bars, Ensure and Gatorade. The stupid part was I never ate McDonald's or Chocolate bars during a race or training before. I figured if the chocolate bars worked for Johan, they should work for me.

On the run, I stopped at every aid station and had some more Gatorade, gels and coke. By the 13 mile mark it was no wonder my stomach started gurgling and I needed to hit the porta-potty 4 or 5 times. I was toxic.

It reminded me of when I was a kid and my brother and I went out for Halloween and would eat half our candy the first night. Then we'd have severe "squirt bum" for the next couple days, our bodies weren't used to the junk food. After a couple days, we could pig out without consequence. Our bodies adjusted.

In Utah, my stupidity caused me NOT to qualify for Kona. If I didn't have to stop for 20 minutes to spend "on the hole", Kona was in the bag. Although, with all that said, I can't tell you how much fun it was to ride by others and "taunt" them with my Bacon, Egg McBagel as they choked down their Powerbar. The Mars and Snickers bars were great too.

Now getting back to Gord. Today he called to congratulate me on my great performance and qualifying at IMLP. He said he watched online all day. He even printed out each of the updates as they happened, thinking I might be interested in seeing them. Like I said, he's a "great guy".

Gord made an interesting comment. He said, "I knew you were going to have a great race after I saw the first transition time. It was much faster compared to my earlier races". Then he emailed me 3 hours before the end of the race, predicting that I was going to do it and finish strong. I couldn't argue with him, he WAS right.

I HAD to go for a bike ride tonight. I was so tired and thought maybe it would wake me up. Even though it was 8 pm and I new it would be near dark when I got back, I went anyways. I'm glad I did, I saw the most beautiful sunset and wished I had my camera, instead I had to use the lousy camera on my iPhone. I rather have a lousy image than no image, I didn't want to forget that sight.

On the ride, I was thinking about the Kona journey and all the mistakes I made along the way. I'm so glad I made them. Had I not, I don't believe I'd be going to Kona this year.

In China, I did two things wrong, I didn't eat properly and I wasn't mentally prepared. I treated China like it was just another training day, I paid it no respect. I felt with all the training and mental winter suffering I did, I'd be near guaranteed a spot. I remember starting the swim thinking, "lets get this day over with", rather than, "lets have some fun, this is what you worked for, enjoy it the best you can".

Had I not failed in China, I would not have done Utah. Utah was purely a "coping" strategy. I was so depressed that I did not finish China, my confidence was shattered. I knew I wouldn't be able to last until IMLP to get it back. I thought I was a "fraud" to my blog readers. I needed to get back on that horse and prove I was still an Ironman.

In Utah, I made some strides. First off, I FINISHED and proved I still had what it took to complete an Ironman. Two, I mentally prepared. I gave the race respect and went with the goal of enjoying myself. Third, I learnt I need to figure out my race nutrition. McDonald's and Candy bars weren't the answer. Although they tasted great!

The tune-up race a few weeks before IMLP was also a learning experience. I did the Welland half Ironman and even though I finished 2nd in my age group and did a sub 5 hour half Ironman, I suffered. A couple nights before, I partied a little too hard and showed up to the race with a high heart rate and it's also not good sign when you're sweating as you put your bike gear in the rack. I really paid the price on the run, it hurt. I was surprised I didn't walk.

Fate is your Destiny. That was a phrase that came to me the other night, I used it in a blog post. Tonight on my bike that phrase came into my mind. It became apparent that if all the "mistakes" and "crap" (pun intended) didn't happen to me, I wouldn't have got to Kona. I learnt from all those mistakes and corrected them for IMLP.

Here was my secret formula to the race of my life

- I didn't drink beer for a couple weeks before.

- I ate healthy for a couple weeks before.

- I didn't taper as much as I used to. (Before my best races, I realized I never tapered much).

- I trained in as much heat as I could. (I figured if it was hot, I'd be ready and if it was cold, my heart wouldn't have to work as hard).

- I got two good nights sleeps (which I never do).

- I rested in my hotel room on my bed and didn't do sight seeing or family activities beforehand. (thanks to reading Chad Holderbaums blog, he was doing it during IMLP and I figured I should too.That's when I even left the family at the movie theater to go home and rest and mentally focus).

- I put no pressure on myself to do well. The only pressure I put on myself was to finish at all costs and in one piece.

- I gave myself a couple of weeks to think about the race and gave it the respect it deserves.

- I made sure I only ate power bars on the bike and I didn't drink too much Gatorade or Coke on the run. (I mostly drank water and felt I would only go outside of water when I stared fading).

Today, the most surprising part of getting Gord's call was him telling me he knew I could do it. He knew I had it in me to race that fast. He actually thinks I can even go lower. That's were I stopped him and said, "I'm happy with 10:20, I'm not sure if I'm interested in the pain and suffering of training and racing to shave 10 minutes off".

I asked him how he knew I had it in me? He replied, "when you did triathlons 23 years ago, you didn't even train and did pretty good, there is something in your body that is made to do this stuff". Like I said, "Coach Gord has a long memory". I forgot how little I trained back then. After he said it, it brought me back to that one and only Century ride 3 weeks before the Ironman to build up the mental confidence that I should be able to get through the bike portion.

I guess I've learnt from 25 years ago as well. If I was to add two more items to the above list of "my secret formula to the race of my life", as profound as it sounds, I'd add......"Put in the hours and Train Properly" and "listen to Coach Gord".

Mod Bike - 56:25 / 30.16 km / 32.1 kph avg

Below is Gords, post Ironman China race voicemail.