Lanson
Van Dyke

Nearly 13 hours after jumping into the Ottawa river, I crossed the finish line as an Ironman. It didn't go to plan — here's what blew up and what I learned.

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I have one more race for 2025 - Toronto Hyrox. I hope to finish strong and in the 90th percentile for my age group.

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In a previous blog post I talked about signing up to do a triathlon. The day had come and I finally had a chance to experience it.

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My girlfriend and I have been living in Leaside for almost 18 months. Since then, we've grown to appreciate the residents in our building and why they are special to us.

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I tried blogging before in 2017 to document my solo trip to the UK. After a few years, I decided to pick up blogging again for multiple reasons I'll dwelve into.

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After completing my first marathon earlier this year, I've decided to take on an even bigger challenge: an Olympic-distance triathlon. This decision represents a significant step up in my athletic journey, combining three disciplines I've been passionate about individually.

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Meal prepping is my secret weapon for saving time, eating healthier, and reducing stress during the week. Here's how I plan, shop, and cook in advance to make my week smoother and more delicious.

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I decided to commission a Survivor Fantasy pool, and I turned to AI to support this time consuming endeavour. Running a fantasy pool for Survivor can be incredibly fun, but it also comes with its fair share of administrative challenges.

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Running a marathon had always been a distant dream, something I admired from afar but never thought I could achieve. That all changed when I decided to take on the challenge of training for and completing my first marathon.

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Two weekends ago, I had the incredible opportunity to attend my first Toastmasters District Conference. The experience was transformative, filled with inspiring speeches, valuable workshops, and networking opportunities that have taken my public speaking journey to new heights.

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As someone who loves solving problems and driving efficiency, I'm always looking for ways to improve my workflow. Recently, I discovered Cursor AI, an intelligent code editor that promised to revolutionize how I work with code.

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As a product manager at Bell Canada, I facilitated the development of the Insights app from mock to beta — reducing coaching research time by 90%.

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As the 2017–2018 ICSS Grad Rep, I oversaw a $15K budget delivering four graduating class events with record turnout.

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Appointed to captain a new frosh event for Innis College on a $500 budget — we built a bed on wheels and raced on King's College Road.

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August 21, 2026. My fifth time applying to Survivor. I'm Lanson Van Dyke, 30, from Toronto. Dutch last name, a face nobody can place, and five of my teenage years spent in China, where I picked up Mandarin I'm now too rusty to be proud of. I studied math and economics at the University of Toronto, then spent my twenties in corporate telecom before walking away at 29 to buy a business of my own. That's the job now: calling strangers and asking them to hand over the company they built. Most say no. I call the next one. In August I finished my first Ironman in under 13 hours.

Dec 2, 2024. Still didn't receive a nibble, so I'm going to try out a few different styles until I find what works. I figured I'd try to do some long action shots, change my pitch, and embed videos to squeeze in extra information.

June 5th, 2024. Now that I'm no longer living in the basement unit, I had some fun filming in various locations in the new crib.

October 25th, 2023. Let's switch it up! I didn't get a nibble from my first audition tape, so I might as well keep trying!

June 15th, 2023. One day I'm going to become the Sole Survivor. Check out my 1st audition tape!

This is my introductory icebreaker speech and the start of my public speaking journey.