Month: July 2026

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Comparing My Summer Training Regimens (So Far)

Every year I hesitate to sign up for races, knowing I haven’t really trained to the levels I used to, and knowing I won’t perform to the levels I used to. My wife always encourages me to sign up, because she thinks with the carrot of an upcoming race (and the stick of the spent fees) I’ll train more, and thus be happier about my health, less stressed, and have something to look forward to. And she’s mostly right, of course – but the fear and shame don’t seem to go away.

I’ve done the Cultus Triathlon for 3 years in a row now, and stuck to the sprint distance. Every year I think I’m going to 1) move up to Standard/Olympic Distance (i.e. double the distance of a Sprint) and/or 2) switch to the Vancouver Triathlon, and try my hand at a new route/venue – including an open water Swim in ocean salt water! Yes, it’s option 2 for 2026.

I survived my under-trained attempts from previous summers, so I wanted to see how badly off I am this year. I pulled my stats from Strava and we’ll have a look at them one discipline at a time.

Swim

It can be hard to tell, because I don’t record pool swims online, but I found no evidence of having swam in June or July of 2025. I know that some of that July was occupied by our trip to Japan, where exercise was mostly walking around and an occasional run. As of this writing I have completed 2000 meters of swimming in our community pool. So 2026 is winning the swimming.

Bike

June 2025: 25km biked

June 2026: 29km biked.

July 2025: 34.5km biked

July 2026 (so far): 25.4km biked.

None of these are high, but I’m glad to see 2026 beat 2025 in June, and July looks promising too. July 2025 had my ride to downtown Abbotsford going for it, and this year had the Stanley Park Seawall, which is part of the Vancouver triathlon so that’s good preparation.

Run

June 2025: ran 14.5km

June 2026: ran 14.4km

July 2025: ran 12.6km

July 2026 (so far): ran 13.1km.

Junes are always for the Run for Water. This year, my foot was hurting badly (ankle tendonopathy) and my back seized up so it was more of a walk. It seems odd that June mileage lines up so closely from year to year. July, on the other hand, belongs to 2026, thanks to me taking aim at the Vancouver Tri and consciously upping the mileage of my runs.

Looking Ahead

Last August saw me swim 6km in open water, bike 36.9km, and run 8km. I should be able match or beat those numbers, and subsequently survive the Vancouver Triathlon. I may still sign up for Cultus the week after, we’ll see.

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A June of Firsts Part 3: A Ride Around Stanley Park Seawall

I heard the Stanley Park Seawall has a dedicated bike path that only travels in one direction so I thought it would be nice to ride it as a family. We had to do a pick-up in Delta in the late afternoon anyway, but it did mean our ride would be time-bound. I found lots of potential routes – while the Seawall path itself is clear, finding an accessible starting point with parking is up for some debate. Some I found started in the streets of downtown Vancouver, and bike lanes or not, I knew I’d have an easier time selling it by avoiding streets. I found this map, and parked at Denman and Georgia as suggested.

There were 2 public lots, and since I’ve had my car broken into in Vancouver before, I was a little leery. I picked an Indigo lot where people complained about being ticketed in spite of having used an app to pay for parking. Sure enough, I saw someone get ticketed while I unloaded our bikes and arrive shortly thereafter. Spoiler alert: Luckily we did not have the same problem.

On a Saturday the trails were crowded, especially at first. Whenever you’re at a standstill, it’s difficult to merge into the traffic, especially since traffic contains not just cyclists of all levels, but e-bikes, e-scooters and inline skates which all have wildly different speeds.

There were many sights to enjoy so we did stop often and had to deal with that merging challenge. Still, I wish we had even more time to really explore them. We were also blessed by the presence of public washrooms, which I didn’t know I could count on.

By far the nicest site with the biggest potential for stealing your day away was Third Beach. I didn’t go in the water but the Lightning Kid said the temperature was OK, and it was certainly a beautiful blue. We held off on getting ice cream or drinks from the nearby stand/restaurant, but maybe next time.

All three of the “June Firsts” were adventures that could have been all-day affairs. Maybe next time!

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A June of Firsts Part 2: The Grouse Grind (a.k.a Masochist Father’s Day)

I wanted an active, but fun family outing for Father’s Day and after some consultation, we decided to go to Grouse Mountain, partially because the Observatory is a fine dining establishment where we could get a good meal to commemorate the day. When you book a table, the gondola ride is included in the meal price, so it’s a good deal.

We didn’t leave Abbotsford till the mid afternoon, so that the outing wouldn’t eat up everyone’s entire day. I would live to regret this. The Grouse Grind is “2.5-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain, commonly referred to as ‘Mother Nature’s Stairmaster'”. The elevation gain is around 850m, so it’s shorter but steeper than Stawamas Chief, and way harder than the Abby Grind. I had been watching people on Instagram tackle it for the week prior, and I saw extremely fit people (including a 9 year old girl) do it in 45-50 minutes. I was banking on 75-90 minutes for myself. I took both sons along, but my wife opted to take the gondola up; obviously, she’s the brains in this operation.

Looking good at the start

The stairmaster description was apt. A lot of the trail is stairs, though there are rocky trail sections too. Some of the steps are uniform and sized appropriately for any leg lengths, some others, not so much. At the 25% mark, there was a defibrillator, which was kind of a grim reminder that my blood pressure isn’t in the best zone lately. That waypoint also had a sign for people to check in with themselves to see if they were really up for the challenge of the remainder of the climb, which would only get narrower and steeper.

While that was intimidating, I did note that after that point we encountered far less hikers coming down the other way. I wasn’t expecting any at all, because descending the grind is actually not allowed – you have to purchase a ‘download’ ticket to use the gondola. Luckily, ours was taken care of by my wife’s reservation.

We noticed numbered trail markers that increased in number out of a total of 40, so that made it easier to feel like we were getting closer to our goal (“only 15 more to go” for example). Defibrillators showed up again at the half-way and three quarter markers.

I started getting disheartened when I saw that we were going to take well over 90 minutes. We needed frequent breaks to catch our breath, and mosquitoes found us quickly whenever we would stop moving. Luckily the trail has a good tree canopy to stay out of the hot sun. Eventually we found ourselves clambering over the last few metres. I think they make that last stretch even more inhospitable to discourage people from descending.

By the time we got to the top we didn’t have enough time to ride the coaster like I planned, and the ropes course apparently takes two hours. Next time we come to Grouse Mountain, we’ll make a day of it. I also missed a bird of prey show, but luckily my wife caught a few photos.

She also saw the Grizzly Bears. They are there for rehabilitation and are not capable of surviving in the wild.

Before dinner, we were able to cool down with a drink and enjoy the view.

The Observatory spoiled us with a delicious prix-fixe menu; the boys and I selected the steak option. Luckily we had brought clothes to change into rather than eat in sweaty t-shirts.

I found the Grouse Grind exhausting enough that I’m not in a hurry to try it again, but it would be nice to get it done faster, if possible. I hadn’t stopped the Strava until well after finishing it, and it presents ‘moving time’ not actual time. Maybe under 90 minutes next time..