Oh Canada!

How does one do an Ironman with almost no training? We are going to find out tomorrow.

Basta decided a while ago that he doesn't need to train much to do events. He didn't train much for the Boston Marathon and finished it without trouble. He wasn't fast, but he hadn't planned to be. He took his camera and shot pictures the whole way. He frolicked with the Wellesley girls. His longest run leading up to that event was 16 miles. He did a smattering of shorter runs, too, but nothing substantial. He never ran more than once or twice a week.

Before that, he did the Palm Springs Century ride with no training, too. He hadn't been on his bike in ages, then jumped on it and rode the course with his group of triathlon friends. They said he was whining quite a bit the last 20 miles or so, but he did it.

Now he thinks he can do an Ironman with similar inadequate training. As I said before, we moved and started remodeling. That whole scenario was very time consuming for quite some time. We're still not completely done with the remodel.

Mostly he's just not making the time to train. He wants his training to be easy and convenient, which isn't realistic. He needs to plan it around work and contractors and social obligations and all of that. He hasn't done it. He doesn't see how people with kids ever get any training done.

He ignored my training plans that I made for him. At 16 weeks out from this event I started to strongly suggest that he start training for it. He said he would. But he didn't.

At 12 weeks out, I told him that this was the longest he could put this off. 12 weeks is considered a minimum training length for anyone leading up to an Ironman. He said he would, but he didn't. He ran a couple of times, so that was something. But it wasn't Ironman training.

I started signing him up for events, just to get him to get some exercise. He did the OCTC duathlon and a few 5ks. He rode his bike twice during the week with a group that rides hills on Wednesdays after work. He did four long rides with his triathlon buddies. 80-100 mile rides with hills. He swam in the ocean, 1-2.4 miles each time, on six occasions. He ran with his dog 3-5 miles a few times, and he ran 14 miles with a buddy once.

That's it. That's the sum total of his training. On all the other days of the 12 weeks leading up to this, he did nothing, exercise-wise. Walking the dog doesn't count.

Now we are here in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. This is a beautiful place. We're here with the core triathlon group, six of us total. Four competing and two of us spectator-spouses.

We're all staying in a condo together and it's been great. We're a short walk to the starting area so the location is perfect. We have a view of the lake, a pool and hottub in the back, a full kitchen, laundry, and four bedrooms. Couldn't ask for a nicer place.

We've been here since Wednesday. The event is tomorrow. We've done the expo and bought a load of stuff. The athlete's banquet was last night. That was inspirational, as it is intended to be. Sister Madonna Buder is here, competing again at 80 years old. She looks fantastic.

The people here are so friendly and welcoming. Canadians are good people. All of the volunteers at the event are local Pentictonites. They love hosting Ironman here.

Tomorrow is the big show. How will Basta do? He thinks he can match his Brazil time, at least. I think he's dreaming. I think he'll finish, because he's stubborn that way. But I think the hilly bike ride will take it out of him and he'll end up walking much of the marathon. I predict a 15 hour finish.