An Iron Will

By Avery Wolaniuk

A triumphant Maj Guillette crosses the finish line 10 hours, four minutes and 37 seconds after starting the gruelling race.

Over seven hours of swimming, close to 90 kilometres of running, and almost 400 kilometres of cycling. A week.

That's the training schedule Major Luc Guillette endured to get himself ready for a triathlon against world-class athletes this fall. "It adds up to another day in the week, another 24 hours."

The Ironman Triathlon World Championship is a gruelling competition in Hawaii's hot, humid weather, challenging an elite group of athletes to finish the 3.8 kilometre swim, 180 kilometre bike, and 42.2 kilometre marathon at the end.

Maj Guillette rose to the challenge on October 21 this year, finishing 404^th out of the 1750 competitors, and 85^th in his age range of 35-39 year-olds.

"The sun got out just in time for the 42 kilometre run, and it was really hot and humid for the marathon at the end," said Maj Guillette, who was the 12^th Canadian across the finish line with a time of 10 hours, four minutes and 37 seconds. "The last 10 to 15 kilometres were really tough. Your legs are pretty tired at that point, and your body is getting pretty hot. You have to watch your nutrition, what you're eating and drinking, just to make sure that you finish the race."

Maj Guillette's been competing in events in the U.S. and Canada for six years, his first being the Ironman Canada in Penticton, B.C. in 2001.

"I was a competitive swimmer as a kid, and when I joined the military, I started running like everybody else — didn't have much choice there," he said. "A friend of mine told me ‘you're a good runner, a good swimmer, you should start cycling and you can do triathlons,'". And so he did. He's competed every year since, and in 2003 he qualified for the world championship in Kona, Hawaii for the first time at Ironman Canada. He repeated that performance in Lake Placid this July, once again earning a place at the championship in Hawaii. "I improved my time by 16 minutes since 2003, and I was very happy with that," he said.

After a week off for recovery from the Ironman Lake Placid this summer, Maj Guillette was back on the bike, on the run and in the pool, getting ready for the October competition. "All of my training buddies were done with their triathlon season, but I had to train until October, so I was on my own for most of it," he said. He put in 24 hours a week training, most of it on weekends, until the end of September, when he started to taper the training so he'd be recovered for the race. His military training helped him throughout that period. "The mental toughness and the discipline really helped. You need that mental and self-discipline to just keep pushing forward and to put the training in. That's what I got from the military."

This hasn't been a solitary effort, and Maj Guillette wants to acknowledge the people that helped along the road: his wife and two children for their support, his co-workers in Contingency Planning, the 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters, the 17 Wing Personnel Support Programs (PSP) staff, and Roy Hillier, International Sports manager, PSP Ottawa, for their encouragement and support.

And Maj Guillette has no plans to slow down anytime soon. "A triathlete is never fully satisfied with a race— there's always something we want to improve," he said. "I've got that in mind for two or three years down the road, and hopefully my times will get faster with age."

Avery Wolaniuk is a reporter for the Voxair newspaper at 17 Wing Winnipeg.