Training

Training at a high level is challenging. It demands so much from you; both mentally and physically. When training at a high level, you set your goals, and then you sacrifice so much to achieve those goals. You sacrifice those late nights out with friends, those tasty treats and anything else that may prevent you from getting to where you want to be. Where I want to be is on the podium as the age group champion at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in October of this year.

I know that getting to where I want to be will be a challenging journey filled with ups and downs. However, I am 100 percent committed to embarking on that journey and suffering through the hard times and staying even during the good times. I know that come October 8th, I will have prepared to the best of my abilities and I will be ready to race to the best of my capabilities.

Over the last 4 weeks I have begun my 24 week training program leading into Kona. This transition has been challenging. Physically I am beat by the end of each day. However, this has not been the most challenging part. I expect to be tired by the end of my workouts. The part that I have had the most difficultly with is that I have seen very little of some of my friends over the past 4 weeks. For two weekends in a row, I have finished my Friday workouts and have been shattered. Instead of picking myself up and going out for an hour, I have stayed in and gone to bed. Now my body thanks me for this, but I still miss my buddies. However, in order to achieve my goals, I need to sleep. And the best part is, my friends understand and support me. These guys have even put together a golf tournament to raise money to help cover some of the costs involved with racing in Kona. That is a sign that you have great friends! I am fortunate to have these guys in my corner. They believe in me, and help me believe in myself when I don’t have much confidence. I have great friends and they are part of the reason I suffer. I want to make the people who support me proud! If you are interested in joining in on The Gordon Palmbays Golf Classic on June 11th please send me an email and I'll let you know all the details.

So training has going great! I have been fortunate enough to have my friend Jon Dow move back to Orillia. We have been training together as he prepares for Ironman Lake Placid. He has pushed me in workouts and forced me to put in a complete effort each session. Because of this, I am getting fit and fast. I am running well. I am biking very fast on my new Scott Plasma 5 Team Issue. I have put in lots of time in the water and it is starting to pay off. On top of everything, I have surrounded myself with the best possible team. Moniek is there for me everyday. Dr. Duffy and the whole team at Bell Chiropractic and Back to Function, have been keeping me healthy and Barrie Shepley and C3 have been putting me through the paces at their C3 workouts. I know it is very early in the season but I believe this is going to be a special year. I am very excited to put my fitness to the test at my first race on July 10th (Muskoka 70.3).

#GordonPalmbays #Fundraising #Training