We are athletes and we love a good challenge! A good challenge is why we race and that's also what motivates us to train. With no live races going on, it continues to impress me how so many of you in Team Triumph are being creative in finding your own ways to challenge yourselves and or trying one of our challenges.
Read below to discover what challenges are going on!
What is going to challenge you in November??
FRED CARLE RUNS HIS FIRST HALF MARATHON....IN THE WOODS!!
Running a half marathon for the first time is a challenge in itself but Fred lives in Gatineau and loves to escape into the woods for his runs. He decided to train up to the half marathon distance and complete it on the beautiful, very hilly trails in Gatineau Park with his wife.
Congrats on completing your first half, Fred!!!
Here is his inspiring story!
After not doing any kind of serious training for the last couple of years, the isolation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic got me to find ways to stay mentally sane. I started running and cycling on a regular basis in June and by July I made the decision to start training for a triathlon.
One month in, I started looking into triathlon clubs in the region and that's when I found out about Team Triumph and got to meet Julia (virtually of course). Julia set me up on Training Peaks with an awesome training program and at some point in September, I traced this 21 km trail run that I really wanted to do before the snow arrived.
Before August my longest run ever was 11 km so we slowly increased the run distance to the point where this past weekend would be the big 21 km run.
My wife Emilie, being the amazing person that she is, decided to join in on this challenge. With all the rocky ups and downs, the mud and the multiple water streams, it took us just under 3h to complete the run. As I'm writing this, our legs are completely dead but we're already looking forward to the next challenge!
Way to challenge yourself, Fred and Emilie!!
OTHER CHALLENGES:
Indoor 70.3 TriathlonBruno Baril made a fantastic attempt today to complete an indoor 70.3. duathlon but unfortunately his hip had other ideas. He completed the 5km run, 90km ride, and then at the 8km mark on the 2nd run, his hip said that was enough. So smart to shut it down Bruno! Congrats on a fine attempt!
Dan Begin completed a speedy half marathon on Saturday on his own! Congrats Dan, great work coming back from that calf injury in August!
TOP 3 GOES TO:
1) Steve Swanwick - 38 Rides (he commutes to work a minimum of 30 mins and he has been riding on Zwift with us!)
2) Julia Vlaming - 24
3) Francois Menard - 22
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR FINISHERS!
Debi Zaret - 16
Julie Deimling - 16
Gary Maxwell - 16
Anita Taylor - 14
Brad Vlaming - 14
France Girard - 15
Fred Carle - 14
Randy Graham - 16
Erik Shantz - 14
Darius Skusevicius - 14
Heather Dunn - 16
Renee Robert - 14
France St Denis - 14
November we are challenging our members to strength train at least 20minutes 3 x a week. For this crew it should be no problem.
A year ago I could only tread water and had not run since childhood. With the amazing Virtual Olympic course, support, guidance, and tips from of all the folks at Team Triumph I've ended the season with my first Olympic distance triathlon under my belt and am hooked! Really looking forward to the 2025 season and even to the hard work over the winter to prepare. Karen Houle
I wanted to let you know that the Perth triathlon was a great experience, I somehow placed third in my age group! What a supportive group of participants (including Team Triumph athletes), cheering bystanders and volunteers.
Thanks to your swim lessons, I learned the technical basics and gained confidence to get back in the pool after decades. And it was really special doing this with Ann Laidlaw, my bestie for many years. We did a couple of additional swims with Kevin and Team Triumph people, also a great way to continue learning and practicing good technical form.
I will continue with lane swimming and who knows, maybe there's another triathlon in my future!
I love the accountability and the structure of the Virtual 70.3 Half Ironman training program. I don't think I would have gotten this far without the program. The accountability is huge for me!
Deborah Jackman