Decisions, Decisions

A lot has been going on in the Triathlon world over the last couple of days.  One of the biggest complaints, as Ironman goes mainstream, is that its so hard to get into a race.  In order to guarantee your race spot, you have to sign up at the venue one year in advance.  You could try registering on line but that's totally hit or miss.  Or you could *cough* up $1,100 US (good thing the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US dollar) for a community foundation spot of which you would receive a tax deduction for about $550 except as Canadians, that deduction is worthless.  Popular races like Lake Placid, Canada and Wisconsin typically sell out within days if not the same day they open registration.

Rumours have been flying around on Slowtwitch that the WTC is going to open more races in the northeastern part of the US/Canada as it has a combined population of over 50 million people and having only a handful of races available and it finally happened.  On Monday, WTC announced that there would be an Ironman race in Mount Tremblant, north of Montreal, Quebec and if that wasn't enough, a couple of days later, the WTC announced that New York City would host an Ironman as well all in the month of August starting next year.  Online registration starts on June 15th so it should be interesting to see which races sell out (if any).  Like everything in life, there are pros and cons for these races.

Ironman Mount Tremblant. 
Pros
*Absolutely stunning scenery with tons of accommodations as its awesome skiing in the winter time (I don't ski). 
* Family Friendly - I think this place would be similar to Muskoka 70.3 where the race start/finish is well within walking distance of your accommodations and Tammy could take the kids back to the hotel and play around all day while I flounder on the course.   
* Reasonably priced - given all the accommodations, the prices would be reasonable as opposed to Lake Placid where the rates double or triple during race week.
* Driveable - Mount Tremblant is probably about a six hour drive from Toronto

Cons
* MOUNT Tremblant
* Tough tough tough course

Ironman NYC
Pros
* Probably "easiest" of all three races
*  Its in New York City - do I need to say more?
*  Driveable - NYC is about 11 hour drive from Toronto or less than a 60 minute flight

Cons
* Probably will sell out immediately
* Smoking hot
* Smoking expensive.  Rumours of entry fee somewhere between $700-$1,000
* Staying in NYC for a week will be very expensive.  I can see dropping $10,000
* Logistics of the course seem to be a disaster
* Not very spectator friendly
* The thought of Tammy trying to keep track of three kids in New York City doesn't sit well

Ironman Lake Placid
Pros
* Probably won't sell out given the two new races
* Driveable as its only six hours away
* Well known course - both my brothers have done it

Cons
* Tough course
* Accommodations are expensive due to the large demand on a small town
* Race is in July which will make for tough training in April and May - busy time of year for me

So there you have it.  What to do?

I've only run once since the Marathon and gone to see Kevin (chiropractor) a couple of times to fix my shin splints and its definitely working.  I'm almost ready to start running.  I'll probably try tomorrow morning for a short 5 km run and see how they hold up but I'm having other issues with the bottom of my foot near the toes.  Its a little sore when I walk but Kevin said not to worry about it.  I froze a water bottle and rolled with it last night and that seemed to help.

On Saturday I rode 70 km and Sunday I rode another 45 km.  Sunday's ride was crappy as I was pretty tired from the hill repeats on Saturday.  This Saturday, we are going to a friend's cottage and I was thinking of riding the 150 km but I'm not ready to ride that kind of distance.  Maybe I'll ride part of the way except its supposed to pour.

This morning I headed out at 5:15 am and put in a 55 km bike ride before work.  It turned out a little longer than I expected as while I was doing hill repeats, a biker passed me and seeing that I was finished the repeats, I went to chase him down (hmmm a little competitive?). 

That's pretty much it.  Not much else going on