Perfect weather, water was comfortable, almost didn't need the wetsuit. Start time for the Guelph Lake 2 race was 9am. This is my 7th Triathlon here at the Guelph Lake and I'm still loving it. Finished with 2:26:18, nothing spectacular, but I had a good time as always.

My goal for this year is 1000 miles running and I'm very well on target. I didn't run much on our trip out west, so I didn't spend much time on the bike either. I had an excellent race in June and that's good enough for me. Looking forward to next year, it will be a good year again.

It was a picture perfect day. The 5Peaks race started at 1860 meters above sea level. To get there, we took the gondola up to Whistler Mountain, then the Peak to Peak gondola to Blackcomb. Getting to the start line was already an experience, very picturesque.
We started at 11am in waves of about 20 runners. The trail was single track most of the time. Two steep climbs up some hills with no name, at least I don't remember. I had enough to do with my running and the elevation, we were well above 2000 meters.
The picture above is close to the finish line. The last 400 meters was down a gravel service road.
The race was an experience and I'm happy I participated and finished. My time was 2:10 and the distance about 10km. I don't know how much climbing we did, but if the breathtaking view on top is an indication, it was a lot.

10 more training days until the 5Peaks race in Whistler. It looks as if Whistler Mountain outside Jasper is not climbed very often. I'm number 771 that did the hike and took the gondola down. The hiking trail starts about 1km before the gondola parking, just by the Hostel. The hiking trail is 6.8 km with just over 1km elevation to the top.

The Jasper Tramway shows these numbers: The Lower Station is at 1304 metres (4279 ft) above sea level and the Upper Station is at 2277 metres (7472 ft)
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On our way to Whistler, we had to stop to visit the Badlands in Alberta. The scenerie is breathtaking and the abundance of dinosaur bones and smaller fociles is overwhelming. We spent three days here to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the Dinosaur Provincial Park.

The first day we walked the trails at the Dinosaur Provincial Park and booked a guided tour for Sunday.

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I did two practice swims the weekend before to get ready for the Guelph Lake Triathlon. I accumulated plenty of running practice with about 900 kilometers up to now. I only put in two biking practices, but I didn't think that this will be an issue.

Weather was great and as always, I enjoyed the random chats with the participants, volunteers and exhibitors. My time was 1:41:40, a new personal best time. In the overall ranking, that is place 499 out of 607 participants. When I'm looking at my splits, I spend way too much time in the transition, 6 minutes to change. I have to find a better system to get the wetsuit off and socks on my wet feet. The swim, bike and run times are ok. I may be able to improve the biking with some training, I did a 27km/h average. I'll leave this for next year. My 2011 goal is already set and I'm right on target - 1000 miles in one year. But more about this later.

Unlike last year, it was wet. Drizzle from the start line to the finish line. But still I enjoyed the Mississauga Marathon like every year before. Finally managed to get a sub two hour time again. I finished with 1:59:18

Thanks to the 2:00 Pace Bunny, I could finish somewhat relaxed. Knowing I'll make it in the 2 hour limit. And now the cross training starts again, the triathlon is coming up soon.

An almost perfect summer comes to an end, with temperatures that make a summer proud ... except on September the 5th. Preparation for the Guelph Lake Triathlon as usual, 20 minutes before race start a swim in the lake to cool-down. This time, it was a warm up, the water was so much warmer then the air. More and higher waves then usual, but still within the comfort level.

5 minutes before race start, a delay was announced. Another 10 minutes later, the swim was cancelled. The rescue boats were not able to hold the positions due to the high winds. So the swim was replaced with a 3km run. Eventually the race started. The 3km run was OK and the drizzle only started when I got on the bike. Compared to last year, the 30km took me over 11 minutes longer. The final 7km run went OK, ignoring the wet running shoes, pants and shirt. I finished the race in 2:26:52.

Trisport posted this on their home page
"Congratulations to all our athletes who survived the worst race conditions we have seen in over 20 years of our triathlon history! "
I'm not surprised, it was ... 'challenging'.

Just back from Algonquin Provincial Park with lots of new memories. As in previous years, we arrived with our tent and canoe. Needless to say, we had a good time on the lakes and the trails.
But this is not the reason for this post here, it's the lack of any GPS coordinates in our Garmin nüvi when it comes to the Algonquin Provincial Park. So we started to set some favourites and saved them here. We were too busy with canoeing and enjoying the beauty of the park to create a complete list of all the camp sites and trails, maybe next time. The most important points are here and they will bring you to the park. They include both Highway 60 Corridor gates and the Sand Lake Gate for the Barron Canyon.
Click below for the Garmin Waypoints and a list of the coordinates. Enjoy your stay in the park.

Updated May 2011: We updated the file with the waypoints to include all the trails and other points of interest. Instructions and details can be found at stdi.com/Algonquin
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