We have landed

Hello everyone from warm and beautiful Whistler. The 24 hour trip from Wanaka to Queenstown to Auckland to Vancouver to my bros house in North Vancouver went pretty good. Poor Flynn wasn’t too impressed his parents didn’t bother to book him a bassinet for the 14 hour flight across the Pacific. Fair to say we have one booked for the return journey!
After a night with the bro and sis-in-law we hit the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler and our temporary home for the week (thanks to Hamish and his sailing friends Ross and Marcia). I have seen the entire bike course by bike, highlights being the scenery, huge climbs and descents and the shorts and shirt riding weather. I expect the bike will sort the men from the boys and I cannot see drafting as being a problem out in those mountains (over 2000m of climbing in the bike stage, a few hundred more than Wanaka). It’s hard to say how I think my ride will go but as always I will back myself to recovery some ground after the swim.
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I have swum in the race venue water of Lake Alta. Pretty damn stunning too, although the water doesn’t taste as clean (as I accidently sample it at random moments) as Lake Wanaka. I have also seen the run course by foot, where highlights follow the common theme of beautiful scenery and shorts and tee conditions (and yes Mum – sunblock has been applied). The run seemed fairly honest to me too. It will be a little foreign with so much hard concrete, but I better get used to that if I want to do more of these races.
Amy, Flynn and I have also spent time looking around town and relaxing by the lake so Flynn can eat grass, sand and whatever else his little digits are dextrous enough to pass to his mouth. We are having a great time and I am so happy to have my little family here for my crack at Ironman Canada
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The pro field looks easily as strong as I had expected with multiple Ironman Champs littered throughout. Names like Luke Bell, Paul Ambrose and Jeff Symonds. Admittedly I have traveled across the world to set myself up against such company and see how I compare, so things are quite exciting for me right now. Next week will feel a little more business-mode as we near race day, but for now I am relaxed and enjoying our escape from inversion layers, black ice and wind trainers.