Trains, Travels

We’ll see how this breaks down, but as I approach the end of race recovery and the start of next years block of training it’s time to start writing up goals and the plan to get there. I have my 9:20 Ironman in the bank. I’m drawing plenty of confidence from it though I know it was a fast course to do it on. The aim now is to build on this and start recording solid results in my future races. If I can do this then I firmly believe that come October next year I will be in Hawaii.

I’ve learnt a lot over the past few months in the run up to Ironman Western Australia. Add to that all the free time I had during my taper and you have ample opportunity to come up with future plans. Some things have changed in the overall plan compared to earlier in the year.

I’ll be racing fewer races than I’d intended. In fact I’ll only race one or maybe two races in the run up to Ironman Australia. The first 3 months of the year will instead be focussed on solid, consistent training building up to my major race. This means I’m not going to be racing the Australian Long Course Champs or the Gold Coast Triathlon. Instead I’m substituting in a training trip down to Geelong to spend a week with Toby Radcliffe another Brit currently racing Pro.

However I will be racing a lot once we hit the main part of the season. If I get to Hawaii I am likely to be racing 5 or 6 Ironmans next year. Yes, I know, that’s a lot. We start with Australia after a 3 month build. From there it’s 7 weeks to Lanzarote which should give enough time for a little more training. I’m fortunate enough to have a little break and won’t race again till Quelle Challenge Roth in July. Then here’s the big test for me, 3 weeks later it’s Ironman UK. That’ll hopefully leave me with a couple of months to recover and prepare for Kona. I may race the Long Course Worlds, but I’m not sure on that one. I have every intention of returning to Busselton though and finishing out the year with Western Australia.

Sounds busy… I’m well aware this is going to be challenging, but also believe in my current position I am ideally set-up to attempt this racing load. I am very closely watching recovery right now to see how I am going. There’s good and bad. I’m feeling pretty recovered, but as a short run and massage revealed today my muscles have a way to go. For future races, more massage post event and better application of stretching and compression are called for. I eat well for recovery (anyone will tell you I eat well!), but could use more sleep. I’ll put more details on this in a future post.

As I see it from a training perspective the year will give me a few build cycles leading up to blocks of big racing. January through March is the major training block of the year. This is where I really aim to establish a new level of fitness for my year’s racing. I see the most significant work and improvements happening in this period. Ironman Australia will give me a chance to test the results. The aim here will be to repeat the 9:20. With Port being a tougher course than Busselton I’m looking for a step up in performance again.

Straight after that race I’m briefly back in the UK then off to Lanzarote for a month. There’s a short period to get a little bit more quality training in before I taper down for Ironman Lanzarote at the end of May. It’s 7 weeks between the first 2 races I’ll be testing out some new recovery strategies and then aiming to go under the 10 hour mark in Lanza. Ambitious for sure, I’ve heard plenty of people tell me how tough the course is. So I’ll be looking to put in a respectable bike, but really crack it with a fast run. My experiences with heat over here suggest that temperature won’t be an issue for me.

Then I’m back in the UK for a while, hoping we’ll be having a nice hot summer with plenty of sun. If it worked I’ll put my new recovery plans into play and get myself in a few weeks of training before I head over to Germany and Roth. This one isn’t part of the Ironman brand so there’s no Hawaii place on the line here (though hopefully that’ll all be resolved by then). Fast, famous course though, my objective is to put together a good race and get a time down near the 9 hour mark. If you’re going to go to a fast course, might as well aim to go fast. My ability to do this will depend on the fitness I’ve achieved by Lanzarote and the quality of my recovery.

This is the really new (as of this morning) bit, Ironman UK. A mere 3 weeks after Roth so the aim will be to recover and get myself into racing shape in that time. You won’t build anything in that gap so it’s not even worth trying. This will be really new territory for me. Two races that big, that close will be a new challenge, but I hope to have nailed my recovery processes by then. Without a course announcement it’s hard to judge what a realistic goal will be. The bike course is claiming to be fast by UK standards at least. Let’s say sub-9:30 and watch this space when the route is announced!

I’m going to briefly mention that if it’s there I’ll have a couple of months to build for Hawaii. Not saying anymore as I don’t want to jinx things! (That’s why I never put Hawaii in the schedule, not even as a tentative.) I will say I’m planning to book my trip to Hawaii early whilst it’s cheap, nothing like a financial incentive to motivate you!

The final Ironman of the year will be Ironman Western Australia again. My favourite Ironman and a chance to go back and attack the 9 hour mark! That’ll be the goal next time a better swim, a better bike and a better run. Simple. This time podium in my age group and secure a trip to 2010 Hawaii early.

That’s the coming year on the line. The goals, the periods to train for them, the lot. I’ll post later on some of the details of this plan. How I’ll approach training and recovery. Objectives with my weak points, things like nutrition and my swim.

This is the race report, well one of the race reports as I have others promised too. If there’s one advantage to being sore and stiff post race it’s you can’t sleep in so end up getting on with things. As I’ll be putting more than one report online I want to try to keep them at least a little different. For this one I will focus on the execution of my plan with a few bits on what did and didn’t go well. It may be a bit sterile for it, but I promise more interesting stuff in other posts. This may not be too long as Tom was keen to have a report to read before his morning turbo! Hope this helps get you motivated. I look at the weather back home and can’t say I miss it.

I have to confess that at times I didn’t stick to the plan as well as I should, there were a few little heart rate spikes in there for a start. However I focussed on executing what I set out to do and mostly delivered. It was a good job I’d put 10 minutes spare room into it as it turned out I needed it! But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining about what was a great day for me and finished off a season on a high.

My swim surprised me, I’ve got used to coming out of the water and finding I was just a little slower than I’d hoped. Yesterday things went right though. I didn’t place myself right on the front line, but near enough and managed to avoid getting boxed in like in some previous races. Whilst I did go out a little bit hard, I didn’t blow myself up in those first few minutes. People overtook me, but I got my rhythm and stuck with a group. Once a bit more space appeared I moved forward to other groups a little. The entire swim I benefited from a draft so things felt pretty easy. Not being able to check my watch and without having to work overly hard I really had no clue how I would do. Coming in under the hour was a great way to start the day.

I’ll leave Laura to judge whether my transitions were up to standard or not. For me they were efficient, but I can’t claim to be fast. Got out onto the bike and immediately broke the heart rate rules I’d set myself! However I didn’t break them that badly and with one exception never spiked the heart rate above 150BPM. The first lap was fast, a result of 3 factors. I was working a little harder than I should have, the winds were low and I was part of a lead pace line. The pace line whilst mostly legal, definitely made a difference to effort. At 4 bike lengths you do gain a slight advantage and sheltering along with the psychological benefits.

Unfortunately I got dropped off the rear at a turn-around and from then on I was on my own. I focussed on keeping that heart rate under control, whilst at the same time trying to keep a good pace. At the last minute I’d added average speed to my bike computer display so there was an added incentive to keep that higher. As the winds picked up working on your own got tougher and I regretted missing the pack more. Occasionally riders with disc wheels would come past me and I also regretted not owning one! I started to become paranoid about the sound of disc wheels hearing them coming up on me all the time! Though the guy playing maracas on the Highway was more irritating: I was on my own heard this rattling and before I spotted him was worrying about impending bike mechanicals!

By the third lap the wind seemed a lot tougher than expected. I can’t say how much was fatigue and how much was really the wind. I kept pushing at the target heart rate and noted I’d switched to a big gear/low cadence approach. I have to admit I’m not much of a spinner really, and as longer races go on tend to switch more naturally to a larger gearing. I’ve seen debate about this online lately and at the moment will stick with the approach that seems to work for me. This wasn’t the time or place to experiment though. By about 150K of lonely, windy roads you just want things done.

I got in under the 5 hour mark for the bike with plenty of room for transitions. Again things went smoothly and pretty efficiently, at least as well as they can if you use compression socks. I headed out onto the run feeling pretty good. Again I went out too fast, though it’s hard to be certain as I’m not convinced the distance markers were entirely accurate. Once I knew I was going too fast I was true to my word and slowed. I don’t think I held back enough at times and later down the line I paid a little for this. However the biggest contributor to my run issues was fuelling. If I come away from this race with any goal it’s refining my race food plan and coming up with something that works for me.

With 8Km to go and having had a few stomach issues to I just ran low on energy. I pushed myself to the next aid station and walked it taking on as much as I could. When I started again I didn’t get very far and decided it was time to walk again. Fearing I’d end up sticking that way I allowed myself one minute. Then back to running and things started to click. As I got down to the last 5Km it was time to go for it and I lifted the pace. I pushed through to the end from here on in, hurting pretty hard. Checking my watch I knew 9:20 was on the cards it all came down to seconds here or there. So final big push in the last kilometre and I was home, 4th Ironman complete and a new PB!

More to come later, they’ll be reports on both Tri247 and Jaggad in the next few days (once I’ve written them and sent them over!) I’ll put a more personal account of some of the events of the day up here a bit later too. Hope that helps you get fired up for the turbo Tom!

Because in a short while I’m off to watch those still out on the course and eat some of those unhealthy foods I’ve been studying so closely all week.

I did just want to mention though that I set a new PB for me - 9:20:22. Which got me my first top 50 position in an Ironman and my first top 10 in my age group at one. I came 48th overall and 7th in my age group. All told it was a great race for me I mostly executed my plan, the run had it’s hiccups, but the end result can’t be complained about.

Real race report type stuff will be available later!

The past few weeks this race has been like an obsession. I’ve been right here in Busselton training every day on one bit of the course or another. Most days at least some conversation about the race has come up. I’ve talked about my race goals, debated how achievable they are and tested my ability to meet them out on the road. I’ve plotted charts of the speeds and times needed to make that goal of 9:20. I’m at the point where I feel my theory is complete, it now just needs testing. Honestly, right now I am nervous, but believe my objectives are realistic. Conditions allowing this is the place to make a bit of a breakthrough and get in around 9:20.

The plan starts in the water. Actually it starts just before I get in, because if I’ve learnt one thing from the increase in open water swimming I’ve done this year it’s wetsuit fit makes a massive difference. Poorly fitted and I’ll load my shoulders more and find the swim a much tougher slog. I’ve swum round the Jetty here 3 or 4 times and been out there in conditions ranging from calm to choppy. I know what to expect and that if the wetsuit is on right I needn’t worry about fatigue too much.

In terms of the swim the key for me is to place myself trying to avoid getting blocked in by lots of swimmers, ideally pick up a draft most of the way and work from there. I know that whilst a draft can be a real benefit if it’s too crowded I suffer over swimming alone. The other important thing to avoid is sprinting at the start of the swim and building up some oxygen debt. I’m swimming the full Jetty and back in an hour without going too hard and I need to work off that basis. Keep the focus on good quality strokes and even breathing. The swim goal is to come in at around an hour which should be perfectly achievable for me.

Onto the bike and the aim this year is to go under 5 hours. That equates to holding an average speed over 36kph. On such a flat course with good roads this isn’t too hard, unless the winds work against you. One or two sections of the course are particularly exposed and wind can become a serious issue here. My bike is in full race set-up which has the downside of no Powertap to work with. Much as I have a goal to average over 36kph more significantly I’ll be working based on keeping my heart rate in a comfortable aerobic range. The aim is to ride as efficiently as possible reserving energy for the run. Coming back to the potential headwinds, if I encounter them I accept my speed will drop and continue to work based on heart rate.

The Half-Ironman in Port Macquarie showed me how well this worked, though there the focus was power. Far too many people really attacked into the wind, but then when it was behind them, they eased. A tailwind is deceptive, you’re moving fast and it doesn’t feel that hard. Whilst there can be benefits to cruising a little, perhaps allowing a bit of recovery, a constant effort will produce the better result. So Busselton is very much about managing the effort at the top of my Ironman range and letting the results come from that. I must remember the occasional stretching break on the bike or 5 hours in the aero position is likely to leave me seized up!

At 3 laps my plan is to keep the first feeling pretty easy. Get comfortable and find my grove. Wash out the salt water from my mouth and start getting in some calories. I’m opting for the gel only approach again with one bottle packed with about 18-20 High Five gels this time. I know it’s not that appetising, but it’s simple. I’ll start to build a little in the second lap and try to lift the effort. Fatigue will be more of an issue by the third lap so the aim will be to maintain the performance from the second. Chances are that will feel harder than it did the previous lap.

I’m going with the compression socks for the run no matter what people say about the look! So T2 will be slightly slower, but with proper seats in the tent it’ll be easier to pull them on. I’m actually hoping to record a sub-5 hour for the bike including both transitions so I’m a little more ambitious there than I was letting on. Back out on the run, it’s 3 flat laps again, possibly windy and possibly very sunny. I’m good with either and prefer it to be hot to cold.

Having recorded two Ironman marathons in the 3:25 to 3:30 region and getting that down to 3:17ish in Switzerland this year the aim is 3:10. It’s a step up and will require focus to achieve, but I’m more confident in my run training this time. The pace is far from fast by running standards and not much more than I routinely knock out for my long runs during a big training week. I’m looking to be running 4:30 per kilometre by my calculations, perhaps a little under. Generally that’s a pretty comfortable pace for me and should enable me to put more effort into getting some calories onboard.

I believe one significant issue in my previous Ironman marathons is not getting enough calories in during the early stage of the run. The result is a dip in energy sometime from halfway to somewhere around the last 6 or 7 kilometers. I usually stick to what’s on offer at aid stations and whilst I’ll be taking this, I am planning to use a gel every 20-30 minutes in the first half. It’ll be a case of trial and error, I do know I find the gels hard to stomach after so many on the bike, but they are an efficient way to top up energy reserves. Getting the balance right and keeping the stomach settled is the tricky part.

Over the 3 laps the aim is to work off a pace and stick to it. If I’m going faster than my 3:10 goal I’ll slow, if I’m going slower I will try to lift the pace. The only exception is in the last lap, as I close in on the finish and enter the final 10km if I feel good I go harder! I say this knowing in my last 2 Ironman events following the lull for the last few kilometres I’ve picked up the pace to something that’d be respectable in a 10K road race. With the motivation of completing it’s certainly possible to get moving. Next step is neutralising the lull and still getting that boost at the end. Considering the laps you could regard it as keeping the first 2 easy to steady and building on the last.

Add up my times and you may notice they come in under 9:20. The goal allows for a spare 10 minutes or so just to put some room in for mishaps. If my theory works in practice, if my fitness is where I think it is, if my taper has freshened me up then I really do believe I can hit that target. There’s just the little matter of doing the race in the way and hopefully then a blog post reporting on a successful practice of the theory.

P.S. I was saving this to post Saturday, but then Tri247 linked here and much as Jaggad does well from my last post I wanted something more serious!

Taper madness is truly setting in. I have far more time on my hands than I know what to do with. Every little twinge or niggle fills me with fear that perhaps I’m falling apart. Am I getting enough sleep? Going too hard? Too easy? Have I run enough lately? Was that massage too deep? Am I eating too much? The questions are endless as is the time to mull them over it seems. On the plus (maybe) I have rediscovered crosswords and made big headway in completing my current book of them. Yes, it is an exciting and glamourous life I lead.

However if crosswords were all that was going on I don’t think I’d bother to write a blog post. Instead I’m going to put aside all the niggles and talk about why Ironman Western Australia is a race everyone should fit in their schedule. I admit that for most of the world it’s a bit out of the way, even for Australians it’s a fair way to go. However my experiences this year in the lead up make me feel it’s worth the effort. I’ll concede that arranging a local homestay, getting here over 2 weeks early and getting involved with the local club makes all the difference. If you’re coming from overseas and you get in touch they’re really accommodating and go out of their way to welcome you.

The past week I’ve biked, swum and ran with the locals and of course joined in the coffees that happen afterwards. I’ve been introduced to loads of people a good 50% I can’t remember the names of! I can only apologise, I’ve never been good with names and when you get 10 at a time there’s no chance. I’ve been quite open with my time goals even though, as I commented to someone on the ride today, if things don’t go to plan they’ll be way off. Everyone is very encouraging and likes to hear about someone taking the chance on a year’s training. It’s a real boost on the mental side of the race as I feel I’ll have a lot more backing out there and will probably know people at the aid stations!

Outside of the club which is unsurprisingly keen about the event many of the locals love it too. The shops are encouraged to put Ironman decorations up in their windows. New banners are up in the street all for the Ironman. As I was out doing my final long run on the course yesterday a bunch of school kids riding home wished me luck! I have to confess that now more athletes are starting to turn up it’s almost disappointing. Like my secret training spot has suddenly been discovered! Still I’ve really benefited from the local knowledge and support so far and it’s helped make the final taper training more interesting.

The real highlight of the Ironman course itself is the swim round the jetty (be very clear it is a jetty, not a pier). Conveniently the jetty is about half the length of an ironman swim, so an out and back works perfectly. From the athlete’s perspective sighting is easy as, just keep the jetty on your right and you’ll be fine. Much as you should be focussing on your swim technique as you swim out and back the shallow bottom is always visible letting you watch the sea life swim below. This morning I swam round the jetty with another Russ, the conditions were near perfect, ideal for race day. One warning though, last Friday I swam with the club and the sea was pretty choppy and that’s certainly happened on race day before. Then it’s a battle to get out to the end of the jetty, though the return isn’t so bad. The occasional little stinger jellyfish is a slight pain, but fortunately no sharks so far!

Most of the club rides don’t follow the Ironman course, instead going out on Sues Road to one of the local ‘hills’. You’ll not improve much as a climber here, choices are limited. For the race it doesn’t matter, it’s pan flat and potentially fast. I say potentially because the winds will really dictate things. Whilst Tuart (don’t pronounce the a too hard… I’m getting lessons from the locals on how to say there things!) Road is sheltered by trees most of the course is quite exposed. Large flat expanses give plenty of room for the winds to build up and if they’re anything like Sunday you’ll be flying one way and grinding the other. Wind aside the only other issue likely to occur on the course is stiffening up from holding the aero position so long. With no undulations you need never move. I’ll concede at 3 dead flat laps it’s not the most exciting of routes, but I think the swim and run make up for this.

My final long run was a lap and a half of the run course. It stretches along the beach front for roughly 7Km making for three 14Km loops on race day. As with the bike course it’s flat as again making for potentially fast times. Last year I had a bad run really, this year I’m aiming to set a new Ironman PB! I hope the stomach issues of my training run yesterday weren’t a bad omen! Again it’s exposed so can be a bit windy, I actually felt running into the headwind was tough going yesterday. Once it was behind me it was great, though if the heat is up it won’t be so comfortable. I’m feeling fairly good in my running right now, it’s all about holding form right till the end.

The race expo and centre is being set-up at the moment. Tents are being put in place and excitement for the race is definitely building. Athletes are arriving now, I chatted with a couple from Switzerland at the cafe this morning. They thought I might be Swiss as I was wearing an Ironman Switzerland T-Shirt. They’ll be a few more people I know or rather know of and will get to meet in the next week so should be good. I foresee much more time spent indulging in coffees and resisting the cakes (whilst making a mental plan of all the things I’ll let myself eat in my recovery weeks!). Speaking of which I have a cycling magazine I need to read over a coffee on my way to my massage.

The 2 month review will come later next week, sure that’s over 2 months, but let’s not be picky now. I’m back in Busselton tapering down for the big race and I have to say I’m really glad to be back here. I had forgotten just how beautiful the region is. As a destination race I really recommend it. As a race I really recommend it too, the community gets behind it 100% they’re already building up for it.

Before I get to the past day or two over here I have to say I had one of the worst journeys of my travels to get here. The night before I left more storms hit SE Queensland, the thunder sounded like explosions at times and went on throughout the night. I got up early, not very well rested, but hoping for a relatively straight-forward day. My taxi driver had little concept of being quiet when he picked me up, talking loudly even when I told him people were sleeping! I was already irritated and I’d barely left the house.

I got to Robina station with plenty of time for the first train, caught it without a single problem. After a slow start the driver announces that due to the storms we will be restricted to 40kph for the first half of the journey. So I spend the train journey trying not to check my watch too much because there’s not much I can do about it anyway. Then 1 station before the airport they terminate the train! Everybody off and wait a few minutes for the next one. I got to the airport 35 minutes before my flight, 5 minutes before cut off for boarding.

Turns out I’ve packed everything, but the kitchen sink as my bike bag weighs in at 33kg! So I pay up for the weight and wait whilst they phone to check if the baggage handlers will accept it (they can refuse over 32kg). Fortunately there’s no problem and I’m straight off to board the plane. Our flight is late to take off and then we have a headwind the entire journey which adds an hour to the trip! Once I’m in Perth I catch a small shuttle bus to the city busport and learn they’re as scary to ride as they are when you’re a cyclists near them. At the busport the lift and escalator is out of order so I have to lug my bag upstairs to the coach office. Fortunately I can leave it there and go an find food in the city. From then on till I arrived in Busso at 9pm it all went relatively smoothly!

My terrible journey aside I’m loving being back here. I have excellent homestay, they’ve been really good to me and the location is perfect. The weather has been good so far, though a little cold now I’ve acclimatised to the Gold Coast! The views are spectacular and the people friendly as. I built my bike up on Friday morning and popped over to the bike store that’s 3 minutes away. They discounted every single item I bought for me! Maybe everything is just priced up, but it seemed I was getting some bargains.

A moment to mention some training details I’m afraid. I decided to ride for a couple of hours and head west to the next town in Dunsborough. It was a pleasant ride, though the road is pretty busy at times. The winds weren’t too strong and though I don’t have the powermeter with me to gauge it I felt I was going well. Based on heart rate and speed a nice and easy 120bpm was comfortably getting me 35kph! It was a little bit of a confidence boost for sure. The ride today was a bit different, but I’ll come to that shortly.

I had my lunch at a local sandwich shop and whilst I waited thought I’d look at the local paper. The headlines included a ‘2 Weeks to the Ironman’ banner and some more details inside. So I went to look at that, impressed that it was already getting featured. To my surprise the photo used in the article had me in the background from last year! I decided that had to be a good omen! Another article talked about how in the first year one local entered the race and now 84 have. Later that day I’d be chatting with that local over coffee after a swim along the pier.

One of the great things about the community involvement is they love having people from all round the world visiting and encourage they get involved with the local community. It’s through this scheme I’d sorted my homestay and also had been given all the information I might need to train with the local athletes. So Friday evening was a 2km swim out into a choppy sea and back. It was hard work, a real slog and certainly nothing like my memories of last year’s swim! I’m not very experienced at sea swimming, but hopefully I’ll get some good practice the next couple of weeks. After the swim the group had coffee and I spent a lot of time chatting with Max the veteran triathlete of the area. He’s raced all 5 Ironmans there and this year is really taking it seriously.

Today I met up on a chilly (18C for those in the UK!) morning. I joined the fast group which proved to be good fun. We went out at about 32kph and we came home a lot faster. Strictly speaking I should have been doing a long steady ride, instead it was a shorter hard effort! I haven’t hammered myself that hard in a while. We rode fast to the base of the local ‘climb’ and I jumped off the front, I was reeled back in, but it was worth a shot. After the climb the pace picked up a little until the turn-around at which point people go for it. I did some far too long pulls on the front at over 40kph until I’d really got the lactic acid flowing. Ultimately I blew up about 15k from home, missed the tail of the lead group and tried to work with a smaller group to catch them, but it wasn’t happening.

My plan to ride another hour was aborted for coffee and a chat with the group. My plan to head off shortly after a coffee and get the rest of my ride in kept getting postponed. The group here is really friendly and I kept putting off leaving till I was one of the last there. I left with a local Mick and a Scotsman Alex, we popped in on Max and had a chat there and then I rode over to the place Alex was renting for more coffee and conversation. Ultimately I did ride that extra hour or so I wanted, though it’s value is questionable given it was interrupted every 15 minutes! Still I more than made up for duration with intensity and just hope I didn’t over do it. I’ll be riding with the group for the next couple of weeks, but taking things a lot easier.

I’ve wandered the town since then, on tired legs it had to be said. Had lunch and coffee and started planning my next block of training in a little notebook. I think of it in terms of how I need to put aside some issues from the past month, step up to the task at hand and start truly living the pro-athlete life. You have to live the way you want to be, not just think about it. I’m also trying the same in my taper, though what with meeting friends I’ve not seen in a year tonight I may have to excuse myself a little!

OK, 2 month review to come next time, and then hopefully some good posts about life over here in the West. Feeling pretty positive about things. My legs are sore and stiff, but I’ve got some massage lined up and have been recommended someone by the group here. I’ve been told it’s the House of Pain and very effective. Hopefully I’ll be getting a work over sometime later next week. The training I’ve done this week has been less than intended, but the last 2 days I also think there’s signs fatigue is shifting and I’m getting stronger. And finally the friendliness of the group here just encourages me more. I openly admit my race goals and hope I can live up to them.

The hard work is done, it’s time to start the taper and let the body recover ready to race! Things come around fast, it doesn’t seem that long ago I arrived out here and started training. Actually it’ll be time for a 2 month review very shortly. I wonder if anyone ever enters their taper feelings that they’ve done enough? I have to admit to doubts in the back of my mind about whether I’m ready. It’s too late now though so I just have to put them aside and get on with it.

I finished off my last bit of training by racing at the other end of the scale to usual. A local sprint tri so just a 400m swim, 15km bike and 4km run. All I can say is that was bloody hard work give me 9 to 10 hours of racing (preferably closer to 9) any day! Still on the plus I can stick with some of the faster short course guys still so it’s not all bad! Oh, and my Polar HRM broke! I can’t stop the timer anymore. I really don’t need to have to buy a new one right now, but it’s kind of an essential.

My swim was a bit of a disappointment. I thought I was going fast, but looking at my watch when I exited the water apparently not. A humble 7.5 minutes for 400m apparently, I hope the course was long, because I cruise that distance in the pool faster than that. I’ll be getting some swim analysis done on my way back from Busso, hopefully it’ll find something I can work on to get me past this plateau. Consider it a project for next April, the goal is a comfortable sub-1 hour Ironman Swim. Let’s not be shy, I’d like to be putting out a 55 minute Ironman swim. I’ve 3 months and largely unlimited pool and open water access to achieve that one in.

I have a long course approach to transitions, so lets skip over that bit. A 15Km bike course is a bit like a warm-up really! Normally I don’t warm up by going as hard as my legs can manage though. I have to admit they weren’t at their best, they’ve been getting better as the week goes on, but need some more time. I’m just making excuses here and as I write this I have no idea how I actually did! I put in a solid effort can’t say I was overtaken much that I noticed, but with 1500 competitors in numerous waves it’s a little hard to tell. What helped a bit was a couple of mates further up the road I’d see at each turn around. They’re short course focussed and it spurred me on to try to catch up with them.

Another transition to skip over though this one was one of my faster T2s! I’d opted for the Zoot shoes again and this time they worked better than in Noosa. 4Km is a tiny run so it was a case of hit it hard and hope you can hold on. My legs started hurting a few hundred metres in and that pretty much set the tone. Again the mates up the road were there to try and reel in, but it never happened! I don’t think I was running my best, but I had a good turn of speed out there and claimed a few more places in my age group for it.

Over the finish line and lots of fresh fruit to refuel on, a few cups of gatorade, a cappuccino and then ride home. I’ve since done an easy ride out and about with a lunch break in the middle of it. Storms have rolled in though and so my training options are pretty much done. The week wasn’t anywhere near as big as planned, it was still a solid effort though. As I said at the start of the post, it’s too late now. There’s some expression about money in the bank or something or other that’s probably relevant!

For those that skim the training posts I realise that’s been pretty much every post for the past couple of weeks. With the taper starting and some travel lined up I’ll get some other stuff up here for sure. Hopefully some decent photos from out West. At least I need to test out my modelling skills with my sponsors kit. I don’t think I’d mentioned that my page on their website is up! Fame at last!

On that note time for some rest. I have a lie in to look forward to tomorrow and some easy training. Plus prep for my trip out west, 3 more days to go and I’m off. There’s going to be a few changes when I’m back, but more on that in December.

Noosa may struggle to get results out on time, but Port Macquarie Half-Ironman had the results online in a matter of hours! Which makes it much easier to get on and do a race report on the day. I very nearly wrote another piece last night as I waited for the race, I wasn’t entirely happy with the last post. Some of that will end up in here instead as I’m starting the report with the day before the race.

Preamble

After arsing about trying to decide what to do for training I ended up going out on the bike. I rode most of the course, would have ridden it all, but for a puncture. Yet again the Aussie roads take their toll on my bike, this time a thin piece of glass buried in the tyre. One puncture wasn’t enough though, I rolled back to town and registered for the race. I get back to my bike on the rack and the rear wheel has punctured again. After an awkward walk home with the bike I decide the rear wheel needs an overhaul. Fortunately there’s a cycle shop a minute from my motel so new tyre and tubes were easy (but expensive) to get. There are so many cuts in my old tyre I couldn’t rely on it anymore, I’d spend the whole race paranoid I’d puncture again. Back in the UK amongst the bike bits I left behind is a box of about 20 spare tubes… Here I’ve run out and they cost twice as much! There is a conspiracy between the Aussie roads and the bike shops to keep us buying.

Needless to say everything got sorted, bike into transition and relax. Once again I got everything ready early on in the evening so I’d not have to rush and then tried to chill out. My pre-race nerves remained at a reasonable level and I considered the objectives for this race. Last year I raced Port and came in around 4:42 (checks own results page!) if I had any objective this year it was to beat that. Other than this I wanted to make the top 10 in my age group.

I should qualify a couple of things about that 4:42, firstly I was riding a tri bike with Xentis TT wheels and my aero-helmet. Secondly I punctured and experienced my first emergency tubular change and then rolled my ankle on the run (they’d filled in that pot hole this year). I’d made the call not to race with aero equipment and instead go for power data again. I just hoped the nasty headwind I experienced returning to town wouldn’t be there race day. I’ll come back to this particular choice later on. Opting to go with no aero gear had a potential impact on my bike performance, but aiming not to roll my ankle could only help my run! To add a little bit more to the challenge the race would take me up to 60 hours of training and racing in the past 2 weeks! I’m very aware I’m far from fresh right now.

Race Day

Enough preamble, onto race day. Firstly another alarm based apology. I’d like to apologise to anyone staying at the motel who got woken by my smoke alarm at about 4:45 in the morning. What can I say it’s clearly very sensitive, there wasn’t any smoke, it was just the toaster! My motel was ideally positioned about 10 minutes from transition so I wandered down and set-up without fuss.

Water temperature was 21C so nice and warm, but meant I got to use my wetsuit for the third time since I arrived here. Port is a mass start in the water with a self-seeding system based on estimated swim time. I have no idea what I estimated, but it put me up the front just behind the pros. As it was I swam 29 minutes which isn’t particularly impressive. I really don’t seem to be making progress with swimming, well rather in performance. The odd thing is my comfort in the water had improved markedly. I am definitely lacking top-end though, not having a good squad to swim with hasn’t helped here. Something I noticed in the swim was I struggle in the first part, finding I come off badly in the initial frenzy and tend to flood myself with lactic before the first few hundred are over. I clearly need to work on this and find a way to minimise the impact of this initial stage. Once I’m in clear water and my breathing settles I get into my stroke and start to move up the field a little. For long distance swims I’m not actually in too bad a shape, but clearly the skills of swimming in a bunch is something I need to work on.

Onto the bike and I can’t say I felt great! At the same time the powermeter told me that I was putting out a reasonable effort for me. Riding with a powermeter is great for controlling your race. I spent a lot of my time reminding myself to hold back and measure my effort. Initially this meant I watched a few people go by. Later though it started to pay back dividends as the second lap I picked up a lot. My power output seemed to increase a little and I was able to push more on the hills. I started to take back a few places I’d lost and move up the field. The previous days wind was gone and replaced by a headwind in the other direction. This really cut the speed as you headed south, again with the powermeter I knew how hard I was working and didn’t let this worry me.

Unsurprisingly packs formed though I was shocked on lap 2 when a guy invited me to join his group of 4 working together! I politely declined and powered away. I was a little worried the group would come flying past me, after all they had an advantage, but I’m pleased to say driven on by anger and feeling better on the bike I never saw them again. I have to say that was the most brazen attitude to drafting I’d ever encountered in a race. I raced clean to finish the bike in 2:40 according to the powermeter. The heavy winds this year made the bike course much tougher so whilst I did my puncturing the day before the race this year I wasn’t surprised not to have gone faster than last year.

I’ll admit I am left wondering what difference an aerohelmet and my Zipp 404s might have made over my normal helmet and open pro box rims. Enough to try to look up some information online and not get any clear answers. I think I can fairly safely say I would have gone faster with the aero stuff, possibly by several minutes. I can’t really say how much faster so it’s all speculation. The way I view it though, this race and power data is great feedback on my condition at the moment. Come race day in Busselton the bike will be set-up with the aero gear and I’ll be ready to reap the benefits when it matters.

T2 was once again a slow affair on my part. I wasn’t racing the Zoots after the problems in Noosa so had opted for the knee length compression socks with my Saucony type As. The socks add at least 2 minutes to my transition times though! That said I felt great the whole run, not sure if they contributed or not, but my recovery should hopefully be quicker too. I don’t have too much to say on the run. I took 1:26 which isn’t my fastest, but isn’t too bad on the course and again with fatigued legs. I felt pretty strong throughout and wasn’t feeling tired when I picked the pace up towards the end. I wondered how much longer I could keep up that feeling and pace… I’m looking for a sub-3:10 in Busso, I don’t need to run that fast, but can I keep a slightly slower pace for the whole marathon?

On the run I used the women pros as markers to pick off, managed to beat all but the winner Charlotte Paul. She had a couple of minutes on me in the end. My time was 4:38, so I achieved the aim of improving on my previous year’s time. I was also 10th in my age group so that gets me the top 10 position too! Overall I’m pretty happy with that result. I think I’ve put up enough excuses for reasons I might be slow, but that was a solid enough performance. I’ve some good race data on the course for one of my Ironmans next year. I also know I can run well here which gives me a lot of confidence for next year. My run was 17th fastest overall, I think a slight improvement on last year. Generally I think that whilst I’m tired and my muscles are tense my performance is definitely on the up and hopefully ready to peak in December.

This is getting long so I’ll save further thoughts on the race and the data I’ve collected for another time. I drive back tomorrow and try and get some decent training for my first day of my big week. So I’ve tried to eat plenty of good food (feeling a bit too full now actually!) and next to get plenty of sleep.

I’m typing this on a very British day in Port Macquarie. A nasty drizzle has descended and the skies are grey. My intentions of a 2 hour bike with a run off it have kind of gone out the window as it doesn’t look like a good day to be out there. Especially when in your packing you’ve neglected any kind of rain jacket. This pretty much sums up my week!

Training has not gone quite to schedule this week there have been a few lows both on a personal level and a physical level. The personal stuff won’t make it here I’m sorry to say, but it’s not that interesting anyway. However if I learnt anything from it it’s how even as a full-time athlete life can impact training. To be honest if I stick to my principles of training as my ‘job’ I shouldn’t have let things affect me as they did. I could go further than that and say I shouldn’t let a bit of damp stop me getting out there on my bike! Putting those issues aside, I’ll just add they are pretty rapidly coming to a very positive resolution.

Physically the week really has been up and down. Monday I struggled through workouts clearly fatigued from my effort at Noosa (still no results up for me!) Tuesday I had a fantastic day with a really solid long ride, run and swim combination. Wednesday it all went to pot, fatigue was heavy in my system and the other issues had cropped up. Then Thursday I was back on form again and had a respectable if unremarkable training day. Finally yesterday was largely lost to travel, it takes a long time to get here from the Gold Coast and driving all day takes its toll. In my case the toll is mainly knots in my glutes!

So it’s the day before the race, my training this week hasn’t gone to plan and today looks to be following that pattern. It’s too late to worry about the past though, just got to take what I can from it. There are positives amongst all this, from the very trivial fact I got a good long sleep last night through to feeling like fatigue is finally shifting. I can go into Sunday’s race a little fresher than I perhaps intended and finish the week really strongly. Sure I missed one or two key workouts this week, primarily my long run, but a solid Half-Ironman is worth more to me right now. If we went purely on hours then I am still within that target area for a basic weeks training anyway. I’m not losing condition that’s for sure.

The drizzle gets worse! My plan for today, roughly anyway, is to wander over to the race expo and sort out a few bits and pieces I need for race day. After that it’s back here and rain or shine an hours run, I figure a run in the rain is easier than a bike. After that it’s time to register and drop the bike into transition. I’ve opted to stick with the training set-up for this race too. With the weather not looking fantastic for race day I don’t really want to have all my best gear out there for a B race. Also it’s another opportunity to get some power data over a slightly more relevant distance. Sure the lesser aerodynamics might cut into my bike time a little, but I can cope with that.

I’ll try and find the local pool on my run as I want to get a swim in later today. Swimming has suffered a little this week in terms of volume, I’ll at least try and keep regularity up. Then with all that done it’s just a case of chilling out and relaxing till race morning. With a short walk to transition I shouldn’t need such an early start to get things ready this time.

That’s the end of this rambling post. The week has gone a bit off track, things have been missed out on and problems have been encountered. But I’ve dealt with them, moved things along and hopefully will be better for all this shortly. I’m less fatigued than I expected to be and can give a bit more to my race tomorrow. I’ve missed a workout or two, but put in some solid efforts in the week and still done some decent hours. I’ll go out there tomorrow and have a great race and that’ll be ample compensation for a few missed sessions. Then next week is my big week and I promise to be back on track because I know when it’s over it’s time to recover and taper!

It was only a training race, I know, but I’d like some results! It started off with simple frustration that the timing company didn’t have the servers to handle the results. Then today, growing impatient checking online (OK I was busted breaking the no morning internet rule!) I went out and bought the paper. Noosa is a big enough event to make the Queensland news, the Courier Times actually prints out a full list of results.

The only reason I bought the paper was because when I scanned the 2:15 region I wasn’t there. I needed more time to check and felt guilty reading the paper so thoroughly in the newsagents. To be honest it wasn’t a well thought out plan, my clock time says 2:15 and it’s not wrong. That’d put me respectably in the top 200 overall so top 10% which isn’t too shabby all things given. But I have no detailed splits, nor proof to back this one up! Unless I’ve miraculously been added onto the website I can only go from memory. So the following race report will rely on rough figures and you’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

I started the day early, really early, 3:50 in the morning. I’d done a reasonable job of getting to bed early the night before, though not a great one. At least it’s the night before the night before that’s the important sleep they say. Everything was planned and laid out for the morning so I could get through brekkie and getting ready quickly. All went pretty smoothly, except for hitting the alarm button on the car keys rather than the door unlock. I can only apologise to any motel residents who might have been woken by the horn honks.

The idea behind such an early start comes from getting to the Gold Coast Half with my mate. Being a race TO he had to be there before competitors, being my means of getting to that race meant so did I. As it was it made transition and prep a very relaxed experience that morning. I figured I’d repeat that here, especially when you take into account a few thousand competitors. My expectations were long traffic queues to park up and get to transition. Turns out most people prefer to sleep in a bit longer, I arrived at an empty car park, got the first bus to the transition area and joined a dozen people waiting for it to open.

After about 5, maybe 10 minutes at most I’d done all I could to set up my transition area. This left me with about an hour and a half till my race started. That’s a lot of time to mill about. I discovered that I’d wasted my time bringing the wetsuit, the water temperature was 24.9C so no wetsuits allowed. I did all the usual stuff, eventually got changed down to just my race kit and dumped my bag off for after the event. The beach area where the waves started from was nicely laid out with plenty of fluids available whilst you watched earlier waves head off. Whilst a lot of waiting around was involved at least my race morning wasn’t rushed or stressful so in that regards a big success.

After a few waves had gone off we get to mine and to the actual race report. I wasn’t too phased by a non-wetsuit swim, I’ll admit I’m used to European races where there’s little question about needing one. That said I’ve always felt far more comfortable swimming without so the opportunity to race without one was quite exciting. I placed myself up front but too far to the right so as we funnelled down towards the first buoy the typical swim melee took place. Two or three more buoys down the line and finally people were spaced out enough to get into a good rhythm. I never feel I come off to well in the initial bun fight of the swim, but once the waters open up a bit I seem to move quite well through the field. I got out of the water in about 25 minutes, not spectacular, but not bad for me without a wetsuit.

The plan for the bike was to ride as hard as I could and gather up some good power data. The course is roughly 20k out and 20k back with a tough little climb in the middle of the first half. I knew what to expect from the climb, what I didn’t know about was the 8k of undulations that followed it. I was an early enough wave that I was lucky to avoid the famous Noosa drafting and never really had any run ins with any bunches. Come the turn around and it was straight into a head wind. The return journey is where you have the most to gain if you’re lucky enough to have the wind behind you. But not today, it was firmly in my face the whole way back so the pace dropped whilst the effort remained roughly the same. In the last 5K I did pick up a couple of guys who felt that it was easier to ride in my slipstream. Bike time was roughly 1:05 for 40K which given the 20km into a headwind, the climb and the only aero equipment on my bike being aerobars I’m pretty pleased with.

After a pretty messy T2, I really need to work on these, it was out on the run in my new Zoot shoes. It’s the first time I’ve run more than 5K in them and the first race. Unfortunately there were issues, the tight fitting size seems to lead to the front of my big toes rubbing after a while. I am going to experiment with the lace tightness to see if I can get my shoes snugly held at my heel as part of the problem is that being a forefoot runner I’m pushing my toes towards the front of the shoe. Currently though it doesn’t look promising for the longer distance events. Alternately a larger size may be the solution, but right now that’s not in the budget.

Along with the shoe issues my legs felt pretty dead for the first 5k of the run. I didn’t seem to be able to pick up the pace and had one or two twinges hinting at calf cramps (no compression socks this time). I suspect this was shoe related as I tensed my right foot before striking if I wasn’t careful. At 5K I decided enough was enough and just picked up the pace and held it through to the end. I remember reading some advice from Daniels that if you’re not feeling comfortable try going faster first as sometimes it works. This time it definitely did and I pushed the whole way home, really going for it in the last 1Km. That said I think the run time was disappointingly close to 40 minutes, quite slow for me. Perhaps the harder than normal bike slowed me, but I suspect it’s simply cumulative run fatigue.

Race done with a watch saying 2:15:18 whatever happens about official results! I had no idea then if that was any good, or any way to find out. Watermelon was on offer in the recovery area, otherwise you were limited to greasy food outside. Watermelon is pretty refreshing after a race, but something more substantial to go with it would have been nice. Generally triathletes are pretty friendly and so are Aussies so it wasn’t long before I’d chatted with a few others. I ended up spending the next 2 hours chatting with another guy from the Gold Coast whilst we waited for transition to open up. Long discussions about training approaches, thoughts on swimming, and possibly a lead or two to some good swimming coaches to contact round here.

Looking at the results in the paper my watch time puts me somewhere around the 182nd place, not sure of where in my age, but I think in both cases comfortably in the top 10%. Can’t claim it’s my best result, though there were a fair few elites and pros ahead of me. Still I’m not going to make excuses I would have liked to have been racing better, but hardly put myself in a position to race fast by training through it. You can’t have everything and my focus is maintaining a consistent training regime. Part of the expense of that is I’m not going to get to race every race fresh and ready to really go for it. However it’s amazing to see how being in a race so drastically impacts your performance over training. It would be hard to just go out and train like that on my own at the end of a big week’s training. Clearly it’s physically possible though.