2026 Ironman Muskoka 70.3 Race Report

Three happy Barneses

Muskoka 70.3 was my Retirement Race, the last triathlon, ever. We've heard that before, but honestly, I think I mean it this time.

TLDR: Good swim - 31:46; Long T1 - 4:37; Hilly Bike, unable to generate speed - 2:57:27 (164W Avg, 185W Nml @ 170lbs); Ok T2 - 1:49; Hilly, hot run 2:10:01. Finish Time: 5:45:39. Didn't get discouraged during a tough day, and actually enjoyed myself.

Half-Ironman History

Date	Event	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Final
2007	Tupper Lake Tinman	0:36:21	0:01:40	3:03:28	0:02:41	2:02:06	5:46:15
2013	The Canadian	0:34:06	0:04:32	2:46:44	0:02:32	1:52:00	5:19:52
2015	Tupper Lake Tinman	0:33:42	0:01:20	2:51:12	0:01:32	1:45:52	5:13:39
2016	Challenge St. Andrews	0:30:13	0:05:51	2:50:05	0:02:11	1:45:18	5:13:36
2016	Barrelman Aquabike	0:33:55	0:01:28	2:28:09			3:03:30
2017	The Canadian	0:33:30	0:03:36	2:45:20	0:03:14	1:52:14	5:19:27
2019	Puerto Rico	0:34:33	0:04:50	2:39:41	0:01:54	1:59:13	5:20:11
2019	Tupper Lake Tinman (1)	0:32:51	0:01:37	3:09:54	0:01:47	1:42:18	5:28:26
2022	Tupper Lake Tinman (2)	0:24:35	0:01:36	2:18:25	0:01:55	2:03:20	4:49:48
2026	Muskoka	0:31:46	0:04:37	2:57:27	0:01:49	2:10:01	5:45:39
Notes: (1) Lost 28 minutes on the bike with 2 flats - could have been close to sub 5-hours (2) swim was only 1600m and bike was only 78km

It was Laura's 70.3 debut, and she did remarkably well, even beating my bike time.

Going into this event, I was battling a weird heel injury. I'm still not sure if it was plantar fasciitis, a bone bruise, or tendonitis - regardless, my 18-week lead up included only 18 runs, for a total distance of 89km, with one "long" run of 10km. Oh well, "enjoy yourself" was the advice from friends going in. And honestly, during the race, I did reflect a lot on my triathlon career, and I did make sure I enjoyed it.

At one point, I asked myself - what would 2004 Phil think of you? You're doing a half ironman! You've done 9 full ironmans! you've been to the Ironman World Championships! You're riding a freaking Cervelo.  Your wife is an Ironman, she's been to the World Championships, and now your daughter is doing a 70.3!

I think 2004 Phil would be pretty stoked. 2004 Phil's massive training day was a 20k bike ride followed by a 5 k run. 2004 Phil was super pumped to have finished a Try-a-Tri.