IronMan 70.3 Wisconsin
In June 2019 I completed my first IronMan 70.3 in Madison Wisconsin. We left Toronto early Friday morning for the 10 hours drive from Toronto to Madison with a full truck load! Thanks to Mike for taking his Land Rover
The Friday we spent settling in, and Saturday we spent time picking up our race kits and checking out the course. Also taking in some of what Madison had to offer. It’s a nice sized city with a cozy downtown. We checked out once of their restaurants and settled in for the evening.
Race day ended up being a nice one, great weather with the water being nice. The swim was a nice one, and the ride was good as well – a bit hilly. But the run was tough, I tried to keep to a 5:30 min/km, but then slipped to 5:45 then 6:00. It got pretty messy after that. Great experience and made me modify my training for the next event.
Great experience overall.
Toronto Triathlon Festival
I always wanted to do the Toronto Triathalon Festival (TTF), because I heard it was really cool to ride up and down the Don Valley Parkway for the ride portion. Overall I really liked the TTF except for the swim. Even though it was July, the water temperature was frigid. Also the wave start was pretty physical with a lot of flying arms hitting me. I’d recommend the TTF for other triathletes, but defiantly not newbies, from the sheer fact the water temperature makes the swim portion a hard one.
Barrelman Niagra
I found the Barrelman the best race of the season for a few reasons: i) it’s very well organized event, at the IronMan level of organization ii) the location was fairly close to me iii) the race views were spectacular especially around Niagra and iv) race photos were included as part of the price.
The race started in Welland at a Kayak/canoe race facility, then the ride took us down to Lake Erie and back to Niagara Falls. The course was fast, but the temperature started to bump over 30C by the time I was finishing the ride.
The run was the most difficult part. I started to overheat until I took the rags that were offered and put it on my head. This helped lowered my temperature and my pace picked up again.
Definitely will consider this race again in 2020.
