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Diverse goals for local Ironman athletes

Finishing is the goal for some, world championships in Hawaii for others

To put that into perspective, that's the equivalent of swimming 152 lengths of the pool at Meadow Park, then biking all the way to Vancouver and back to Squamish, then dropping your bike and running all the way to Whistler.

Some of the top male athletes will hit the finish line in Penticton in a little more than nine hours, while others will be running after dark and trying to make the 17 hour cutoff at midnight. After midnight the official timer is shut off, although athletes will continue to push themselves to the line for a few hours after that.

It takes years to work up the courage to train for Ironman, and most athletes started training in earnest back in January.

As usual, several Whistler athletes will be in the race this year, ranging from veterans to first timers.

John Blok, a trainer at The Core, will be making his seventh appearance at Ironman Canada, once again chasing the goal of qualifying for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. He's come close before, but knows he'll need the race of his life to make the cut.

"I thought this year I would have a pretty good chance if I didn't do other races," said Blok. "It's still on my bucket list to get to Hawaii, and I'm going to keep trying until I get there."

Blok, 56, moved up an age category last year to the 55 to 59 group. There are over 100 athletes in that group this year and Blok knows he has to finish in the top-three to be guaranteed a spot in Hawaii - or possibly top-five if any of the top three athletes turn the invite down.

Last year the third spot to Hawaii went to an athlete in Blok's category who finished the race in 10 hours and 53 minutes, while Blok's personal best on the course is an 11:07.

"I would have to have a really good day to finish under 11 hours, but it's not impossible," he said.

Blok headed into Ironman with a different training regimen this time.

"Because my job is really physical and I'm pretty exhausted at the end of the day if I do too much, I left training until late this year so I wouldn't be tired at the start line," he said. "And I'm feeling great... this is the first year where I haven't been in the pool for the whole year, I've only been doing some open water swimming on the lakes here. I don't think I'll lose anything because of that, or gain anything - the swim will be what it always is.

"I started training around May, which is really, really late. Really, you can train for about 16 weeks and after that you wear yourself down. My job is training anyway, I just needed to train to go the distance."

The temperature for Penticton is expected to be in the low 20s, which worries Blok. He generally does better on hot days, partly because other athletes generally do a lot worse.

Next year Blok says he will focus on half iron distances, which he says are a lot more fun. He also wants to get back into mountain bike races, something he skipped this year while preparing for Ironman.

For her part, Gillian Woodward will be appearing in her first Ironman on Sunday. Her main reason for enlisting is the need to get away from her desk.

"My job has always been pretty demanding and I needed to have a goal that was bigger than my job to allow myself to have a more balanced lifestyle," she said. It hasn't always worked out as she hoped. Her work as a water systems engineer picked up recently, which she says took away from her training time.

Adding up her training times, she expects to be out on course for around 14 hours, but her only real goal is to finish.

"That's the main goal. I don't want to throw up or feel bad, I've done that enough when I've been racing," said Woodward, who used to compete in adventure races. "I want to enjoy it. I don't want to think about being out there that long and not having fun with it."

Woodward says the only event she's nervous about is the bike leg.

"I'm mostly concerned with the heat, I went out for a five-hour ride in 32 degree weather and it was tough. I'm also concerned because of the length of it, that's the longest stage for me - or hopefully it's longer than the run. I'm not dreading it, but if I'm nervous about anything it's that section."

Woodward has been training with local coach Christine Suter, which she says has made a huge difference. She had a tendon injury in the beginning that kept her running in the pool through the first part of the winter. But with the proper coaching and a program she is heading into the weekend injury-free.

"It's so important to have a coach who knows what it's about. You can easily over-train or under-train for an event like this," she said.

That said, Woodward says it will be a while before she considers signing up for an event as demanding as Ironman.

"I'll do some shorter length triathlons or cross country races for sure, but probably nothing of this magnitude," she said. "Of course," she jokes, "that's what they all say."

Stephen Wheeler, originally from Scotland, has been training for this Ironman for the past year after managing to get a spot in online registration last August. Due to the popularity of the event it's almost impossible to get in unless you show up in person on the Monday after the race.

Wheeler's only experience with triathlons is a half iron he did earlier this year to train for the race. In many ways he started from zero.

"I had to go out and buy all the gear - the wetsuit, the bike and whatever, and just got involved a year ago with Christine Suter as my coach," said Wheeler.

Why sign up for an Ironman?

"I was thinking about going back to doing some marathons, but I had some injury problems with my Achilles tendon with all that running, so I thought I'd break it up into three different disciplines so I wouldn't put as much time into running," he said.

He's aware that the run leg at Ironman is full marathon distance, but the fact that he's run less during training to focus on the other disciplines has made a world of difference for his injury.

Although he doesn't have a set goal other than to finish, Wheeler thinks he could finish between 12 and 13 hours if everything comes together on race day.

"If it's hot I know I'll struggle a little bit because I'm a pretty big guy. But realistically I'd be happy to finish under 13 hours, and failing that, happy just to finish."

Wheeler says his best event is the bike and his worst is the swim, but says he wouldn't call himself "outstanding" in any of the events. Still, he is enjoying the challenge.

"I actually enjoy the training, especially the five or six hour bike rides," he said. "The runs are not too bad, either. I'm not too fond of the swimming, but I do enjoy getting out on the lake to train - it's far better than training in the pool. All-in-all, I think I will enjoy the race."

Mike Edwards is pulling out because of work obligations, while Nicole Waine was injured recently in a bike crash. Also registered for the race is Fero Piliar, who also has done some training with Christine Suter.

Live timing will be available on race day at www.ironman.ca.