Timing is everything...

Yesterday, I forgot to mention my secret motivation that drove me to finish strong at the "Syracuse Ironman 70.3".

It was "fear".

I felt I needed to have a decent race because if not, I was going to get "ridiculed" by Matty O and Simon. Knowing those two, it would be never ending. It was one of Matty O's pre-race blog comments which incorporated Simon's pussy comments that got to me. It read:

Keep up the good work and keep your head up. I would hate to have to start jumping on the band wagon and start calling you a pussy as well. You have this weekend to redeem your status in my book. If you fail, you will never live it down HAHAHA.

It's amazing what "motivates" someone to do well. Essentially, I did not want to "never live it down" by having a bad race. As I was running and I wanted to slow down, I kept thinking about that comment and it motivated me to push harder.

Thanks Matty and Simon. Now F#ck Off, I don't need anymore high pressure motivation from you two "Training Payne Wanna-bees". Although, I am looking forward to returning the "motivational" favour.

Another interesting observation from Ironman Syracuse 70.3 was the amount of "woman" competing, there was 611 out of 2098. I've never been in a race where I've looked at so many women's bums, which was a perk. On the bike, I was a little "bummed" out, pun intended, it's more of an "ego boost" to pass men's bums over women's.

I'm definitely seeing a trend of more women doing triathlons. Every race, there seems to be more and more women. I general, I put women in "high regard". Nowadays, many woman are moving up the corporate ladder, all while raising kids and managing the household, and somehow they are also able to train regularly and race triathlons. Some are even single parents. I find that remarkable.

A third observation was how "social of a sport" triathlons are. The sport is perfectly suited to meet and talk to new people. At every race there is nothing but time to interact. It could be at the registration, the expo, the pre-race meal, the transition zone preparation, the waiting before the swim start and the post race finish at the food tent or post awards banquet. It could even happen on the bike or the run.

At every turn, there is an opportunity to say "hi" and "talk a little triathlon" and get to know someone. For me, I've come to realize, "I love the social aspect of triathlon". On the beach at Syracuse, I had a really great conversation with a 47 year old woman from Quebec who just set a PB at the Boston Marathon with a 3:11. Her biggest training week was 170 kms / 105 miles of running.

On the bike, I met a guy from Texas and we spoke for a couple minutes during the end of the ride. Then, after the sprint to the finish, I talked to Todd Seeber, the guy I beat out to the finish. For that moment afterwards, we were "brothers in arms" and had a post-race get to know each other conversation. I googled his name afterwards and found out he's a Bass Player for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. How cool is that.

Lastly, I was "shocked" when I was walking back to my car with the Captains hat on and someone I didn't know, wished me luck at Kona. I stopped and thanked them and asked, "how did you know I qualified for Kona?"

The guy told me he saw me and the Captains hat at IMLP and saw a picture or read that I had qualified for Kona. I thought that was cool, the "Captains" getting noticed and it was just another example of how "social" and "supportive" the sport of triathlon is.

Today, I felt pretty good. We didn't stay up too late and didn't drink to much. This morning Rich and I went for an easy hour ride. My legs felt okay and my mind is "burnt out". I'm glad it was slow social ride. My plan until Kona is to pare down on the "physical training" volume and pump of the "Positive Mental Attitude" training.

Before Rich and Davis caught their flight back to Winnipeg at 6:30 pm, we had a few beers around the bar in the "man cave", chatted, and watched some UFC fights. I think Rich is "on the bubble" and is motivated to do his first ever Ironman next year.

Rich and Davis may come back next year to do the Rev 3 Series Iron distance race in Sandusky. If they do it, I'll sign up and do it with them. With that said, I'm still thinking of doing it regardless.

Later on in the evening, Jamie came by and I got one last beer out of the Kegerator. It is now officially empty. In less than two months, I've went through 3 large kegs, which is the equivalent of 495 bottles of beer.

For the rest of the night, we finished off the remaining bottles of beer I had in my bar fridge. I'm now "Officially" beer-less. I have NO beer in the house and I'm not going to get any until Post-Kona. I don't want the temptation.

Easy Recover Ride - 59:23 / 25.27 km / 25.52 avg km pace

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