The Liverpool resident will have from 7 a.m. to midnight to complete Epic Dartmouth’s iron race. The event, happening for the first time this year, is slated to take place in Halifax on July 1.
As well as training for the event, Muise is also fundraising for Cystic Fibrosis Canada. His goal is to raise a minimum of about $1,200.
Muise jumped in the pool when he was nine, and that’s when his competitive swimming stint kicked off. A couple of years later, Muise started running.
“Triathlon’s something I’d heard about but never knew that much about,” he says.
When he was 14, Muise says he participated in his first race. The following week, he raced in the annual Bridgetown Triathlon.
“May have wiped out, left a little bit of blood on the road,” he says about the second triathlon.
It was at that triathlon in Bridgetown that a race director invited Muise to travel to Quebec with the Triathlon Nova Scotia youth team. So off he went.
He says going to Quebec with the team made him gain an appreciation for how far he might be able to go in the sport.
But getting somewhere in the sport certainly doesn’t come without training, and Muise is no stranger to the T word.
He pulled up to Queens Place on his road bike for the interview and when asked, “How do you train for a triathlon?” his response was, “Lots. Lots is how you train.”
Muise, who swims on Mount Allison University’s varsity team during the year, says he had the goal of continuing to train once the swimming season ended, but schoolwork caught up with him.
He says the swimming season is about six months long and includes cross training (such as running) and weight training.
“Getting worked up doesn’t do you any good, and it’ll just tire you out before you start.” - Graham Muise
In the summer, Muise says he’ll wake and do a three or four kilometre run. Later in the day, he might do a lane swim. When there is no lane swim, he will hop on his bicycle to do his favourite loop from Milton around Western Head.
“It’s got so much wind and hills, and it’s just so miserable and fun to bike that if you can go there and be OK with it, you can go anywhere,” he says.
As for an actual triathlon, Muise says the swim, which is the first section, is when the adrenaline begins to kick in. He says it takes some time to find the rhythm for the cycling part.
“Then you’re biking and it’s feeling good,” says Muise.
Epic Dartmouth will be Muise’s longest triathlon yet. The longest he has done is an Olympic distance triathlon, comprising a 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bike ride and 10-kilometre run.
“My goal is just to get through it, so I need to get my base endurance way up,” he says.
Before a race, Muise tries to clear his mind of everything. He tries to stay calm and mellow.
“Getting worked up doesn’t do you any good, and it’ll just tire you out before you start,” he says.
In the meantime, while waiting for the big event, he’s returning to Sackville, N.B. to take spring courses at his university. His plan for last week was to get as much fundraising done as he could.
“By the time I leave, I’m hoping to have $400, which means the next couple of days are going to be very busy,” he says.
Anyone who would like to donate money to Graham Muise for Cystic Fibrosis Canada may call 902-354-2803.
