Like many of us in the endurance sports world, Deb didn’t grow up as a typical high school jock.
In fact, back in Creston, her parents didn’t encourage sports at all — but they were big on yardwork. Weeding the garden? Absolutely. Signing up for track and field? Not so much.
After high school, Deb explored running and cycling — more for fun than competition. But where she truly stood out was in powerlifting, setting nothing less than a Canadian record.
Tune in to hear about Deb’s journey: from reluctant runner, to triathlete, to one of the top age-group cyclists on the international stage. Hit play below to hear her inspiring story.
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Fitspeek is back with a new episode that reviews the newest thing on the provincial triathlon scene – the T-100. It’s the latest idea from the Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO).
A T-100 distance race features a 2 KM swim, an 80K bike, and an 18K run. It’s longer than a standard distance triathlon but somewhat shorter than a half Iron event.
The T-100 circuit is global. This year the City of Vancouver was fortunate enough to get selected as tour city. On the podcast we have a group of 3 local triathletes who competed in the event.
The guy on the bike above is Vancouver’s Winston Guo. He’s been in the sport for about 20 years. And even though he’s mostly been doing sprint distance races lately, he thought he would give this unique race distance a try.
With a world-class bike and strong run, Victoria’s Paul Auton is almost a shoe-in for a podium spot at most of the races he enters. Even though Paul is more of a longer-course guy, Paul decided to come to the Mainland to experience his first T-100.
The final person in our roundtable is the amateur race overall winner, Luke Tasker. Luke is originally from England but now lives in Vancouver.
My interview with Winston, Paul, and Luke mainly focuses on how they prepared for the event, if they thought the T-100 was good value for the money, and how well the event was run. Hear it now by pressing play below.
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Mission’s Mark Klassen is one of the Fraser Valley’s fast guys when it comes to running. I guess that picture above is proof.
Mark was on the show a year and a half ago as he was preparing for his first marathon in Sacramento, California.
Each race distance, and I mean every distance from a 100 yard dash to Barkley Ultra stuff presents its own set of challenges.
A fair chunk of those challenges are as mental as they are physical. The marathon (the 42.2 K variety) is no exception.
When it comes to Mark’s first marathon, I could tell you he did it in 2:23 (or you could just look at the picture).
I could also dazzle you with his pacing stats, doing pretty much a 17-minute 5-k pace for the whole 42.2, but that’s only a fraction of the real story. The bulk of the story can’t be expressed on a Sports Stats spreadsheet. That’s why we have podcasts like Fitspeek!
There’s a real human element to those 8,600 seconds Mark spent on the race course. In the interview you can hear about the good, bad, and ugly! We delve into those dark moments most of us athletes experience as we are competing and we also get into some advice for first time marathoners. Hear it now by pressing play!
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This week on the show we celebrate our 220th episode with a two-fer. 2 fellas from Manitoba who moved out West and are now race directors at a couple of the most bad ass multisport events on the planet.
We have originally from Gimli, Brad Sowa.
Brad originally came into triathlon as a 30-something who was looking to rise to the challenge of a dare from his friends. He did an Ironman, then an Ultraman, and then something much more difficult – he took the reigns as race director of Ultraman Canada.
From Selkirk, we have Ryan Parton.
Ryan thought he knew what mountain biking was until he crossed the Rockies, the Strait of Georgia, and ended up in Cumberland in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.
Although his first rides in the valley were humbling, he stuck at it long enough to be a local X-Terra hero, making the podium and going to world championships in both Penticton and Hawaii.
That said, he admits his first crack at race directing brought him to tears more than any switchback singletrack ever did.
Our conversations are as much about their paths to being race directors as they are about the races that we wanna tell you about.
Ultraman is that 3 day affair where athletes do a 10 K swim, and a 150 k bike on day 1, a 275 k bike on day 2, and a double marathon (84K) on day 3.
The Dodge City X – is your typical no-holds-barred off-road triathlon that features the requisite 1.5 k swim in a refreshing lake, a 20-something K capital G gnarly cycling route (which we know CAN be completed without a bike seat), and an honest 9 k trail run.
Both events attract athletes seeking more than your Strava-Centric, Instagram-Influencer type of triathlete would. Ultraman’s guiding principle is Ohana. Dodge X guiding principle is DON’T BE A DICK . With a lead in like that how can you NOT push play.
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Based out of Mission, we’ve said Fitspeek is big enough to count and small enough to care. Episode 219 is proof.
The rugged looking dude you see in the picture above is Mission’s Matt Brackley. He’s starting a running club and everyone in town who owns a pair of Altras, Hokas, Nikes….whatever is saying “it’s about time.”
I was saying “the guy has gotta be on Fitspeek!”
…and he is!
We chat about his reason for starting the club and Matt explains the where and when the Mission City Running Club meets.
Beyond the dates and times and places, we have stories (!) and Matt is one heck of a story-teller.
Although he has only been running for a few years, he has gained a lot of experience… including some colossal over-training episodes. Entertaining and informative – that’s what this week’s Fitspeek is all about.
Mission and area runners, you run club has arrived! Click below to hear the stories.
Since changing over from fancy/expensive “sugar-water” to just table sugar, table salt, and water, I have saved hundreds of bucks.
AND my training and racing hasn’t suffered. You just have to drink it.
The Saturday Day ap folks have a series of videos on the topic. Click on the link to learn more about sugar.
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One of the cool inventions in multisports in the past decade or so has been the swim/run event.
There are a couple of names for doing this crazy event, some are called Mudskippers and in this episode of Fitspeek we learn about them from local swim and triathlon coach, Chris Ostenstad
Chris hails from Port Moody and she not only talks the talk, she swims the swim – being an accomplished ultra-swimmer as well.
In our conversation, Chris + I talk about her swim adventures. We also get the scoop on the Canaqua Mudskipper events taking place near us. One of them is the epic Fresh and Salty, which takes participants from Sasamat Lake to the Pacific and back!
Hear it now by pressing play.
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One of Canada’s longest-running triathlons is Penticton’s Peach Classic. The race has had its share of setbacks (Covid) but 2025 promises to be one of the biggest years in its five-decade long history.
Over the years, both Steve Brown (organizer) and Steve King (announcer) have been a big part of the event. In this week’s podcast we get a historical perspective on the race from Steve and Steve.
We also have current race director Dave Michael on the show. He gives us an update on this year’s registrations and reveals plans for 2026 and beyond.
The Peachsicle Winter Triathlon? A kids’ race?
Hear it now by pressing play.
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Once upon a time, not all that long ago, there was a high school guy who wanted to lose weight to impress the ladies.
He ran and ran and ran and he got really good at it!
He got so good he started training for a marathon and had an amazing debut at that distance. But there’s a lot more to this story than the development of just another fast guy.
Dan Simpson from Coquitlam decided to share his passion for running with all the folks from the Tri-Cities area, so he founded. Kamino Running.
As good of a runner as he is, he may be an even better organizer and motivator. Despite a few opening-day hiccups, his organized weekly runs were a remarkable success with dozens of happy athletes.
On the podcast this week we hear about Dan’s passion for running, the training that Kamino does, and also about a running mishap that he had that could have been a catastrophe. If you are a runner in the Lower Mainland you should check out this going concern! Click on the button below to get the full story.
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Learn about Dan’s new race here.
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Our 1st Fitspeek of 2025 is a recap of some of the big tri performances from last year.
2024 was a year that saw Lange repeating, Annett shattering, and Mislawchuck barfing. All in all an eventful year!
Hear Roy and I give our takes on the year that was, along with a few of the things in multisport we look forward to in 2025…
T-100 in Vancouver??
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If you’ve been racing long enough, you know that sooner or later you’ll have a race that doesn’t go well.
There can be a million reasons for this: not enough training, too much training, pacing problems, equipment problems, bad luck, the list goes on and on.
A few weeks ago, two pro triathletes—Adam Feigh, Deb Eckhouse—and I all had races that didn’t go well. There’s was Ironman Cozumel, mine…not so epic, a local 10K.
On the podcast we discuss what went wrong and, more importantly, how to avoid the same mistakes.
Adam’s fix seems clear, but for Deb and me, the answers are still out there… somewhere.”
Of course, just because the last race you did wasn’t the greatest doesn’t mean your whole season was a bust. In retrospect, both Deb and Adam very solid seasons and we’ll hear their recaps.
We also talk about our eternal quest for more sponsors and what our race plans are for 2025. Fitspeek 214 is a lesson on resiliency. Hear it now by pressing play below.
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Save yourself some serious cash in 2025. Use the Saturday Ap to get the scoop on your training and race day nutrition. It’s sugar, it’s salt, it’s water, it’s brilliant. Click on the icon to download a trial of the ap.
