Weblogic

Who will win Ironman Hawaii this year?  The World Championships take place on October 10^th (Saturday).  Ironman.com will have articles and interviews throughout the week on the build-up to the big day.  We will also try and get some updates from our Coach Adrienne as she prepares for her first Ironman World Championship.    

We’d really like to know who your favourite racers are?  Who are you pulling for? 

Both the men’s and women’s race are really deep this year.  Yes, there are some favourites.  Chrissie is heavily favoured to repeat again but the other women are gaining on her.  Plus, does the fastest always win?  It is a long day and a lot can happen.  Keat, Wallenhorst, Csomor, vanVelerkan, Carfrae and Morrison make this the most competitive women’s field to date.  Interesting things happen when more that one racer puts pressure on the favourite.

It seems many people are picking Crowie to repeat.  Its tough though.  The men’s race is much closer and tighter.  There is very little room for error and a lot of men who want that title.

Take our survey and we will post the results later this week

Not sure who to pick or who is in the hunt?  Check out these two articles on Slowtwitch that give a really good summary of the top contenders (women, men).

Janelle had a breakthrough race at Ironman Canada a few weeks ago.  Last year she was 8th overall and first amateur.  This year, in her first professional race she placed 3rd and saw a big improvement in her overall time.  However, Ironman racing is always full of surprises.  I will let her tell the rest of the story here.

Back in July, we ran a Triathlon Training Camp for athletes getting ready for this years Ironman Canada (coming up this Sunday!).  It was the first time we went all out to run a FIRST CLASS training camp.  I am proud to say the feedback was tremendous.  Many thanks to the volunteers who helped out and to the athletes for coming and experiencing the Okanagan lifestyle for a week.

As a result, we will continue to run this camp and add a few new camps next season.  In 2010 we will offer a Winter Camp in Kona (Hawaii), Spring Camp at Easter time in Penticton, a Summer Camp in Sunriver (Oregon) and the Iron Blast Camp in Penticton once again.

Adrienne summarized the camp on her blog and I don't think I could have said it any better:

"Factor 9 Triathlon Coaching just finished up its first Iron Blast training camp and it was... a BLAST!.  This camp combined fully supported Ironman Canada preparation with sightseeing and fine dining.  We had a great group of athletes (from Portland, Victoria, Vernon, Calgary, and Penticton) who worked their way through Scott’s carefully planned, challenging week of training.

Some of the camp highlights included cycling up Carmi to a tasty dinner at the Lost Moose Lodge, cycling to Burrowing Owl Winery where hungry triathletes enjoyed some fine dining, kayak supported one-on-one open water swimming, a complete ride of the IMC bike course, tackling 22 miles of the IMC run course with aid stations and cheering crews along route, AND post camp massages (by yours truly).

My favorite parts of the camp included being out on the kayak guiding/filming swimmers along the IMC swim course, and seeing everyone tackle 22 miles of running on tired legs at the end of the camp.  What an accomplishment for all!"

Here are some pictures from the 2009 Iron Blast Camp: