Some GoPro Action up Mt Hotham

I plan on writing up a report of EnduranceTeam’s camp at Falls Creek, but with packing for Bond and saying goodbye to friends I don’t have the time yet. In the meantime here is a short video from our squads ride at Mt Hotham courtesy of James Chronis (link to his website here). The plan for the ride was pretty simple, climb Mt Hotham, one of Australia’s most iconic (and difficult) climbs. 

We were told to take it easy for the first part and then when we hit the ticket station (seen in this video) we could go full gas. Regardless of what anyone says the opening 30mins of the climb at over 4w/kg wasn’t easy, especially as I was less than a week into my return to cycling after a six-week injury induced break (with 4kgs of added weight to show for myself).

In the video I attempt a half-arses attack, (60s at 471 watts average, 7w/kg) and to my dismay James and my coach Jarrod Evans held my wheel….unfortunately due to some technical difficulties there is no footage of me getting spat out of the back about 5mins after my attack ;)

All in all it was a ‘satisfying’ day, would’ve been more enjoyable if I was fit. 

By the numbers:

Time: 4.07hrs (I didn’t do the extra 60-120mins that the rest of the squad did)

Normalised Power: 230 Watts (3.4 w/kg)

Temperature Range: 8c-30c

Calories Burned: 2728

Elevation Gain: 1928m

Elevation Range: 280-1807m

Garmin File Here

Summer Holidays 2013 in Pictures

I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last ten days at our farm in country New South Wales……here is our holiday in pictures

No need to send in congratulations, I am not pregnant :) Took a minor tumble on my mountain bike

The riding around ‘the Border’ is some of the best I’ve done. With everyone in holiday mode the roads were mercifully quiet. A highlight was cycling around the ‘Hume Weir,’ this damn (I think) is larger than Sydney Harbour. The views were breathtaking….unfortunately with my iPhone and sub-par photography skills I wasn’t able to do it justice.

From around the farm.… More pics can be found here

Blog Post: Injuries, Open Water ‘Splashes,’ Plans for 2014

My last post ended on a positive note. The struggles leading into Noosa were surmountable as I was able to post probably my best ever result in the most competitive field I’ve ever raced in. I was hoping that my struggles with injury were over, that this period would be a brief footnote in an otherwise enjoyable and successful season. 

Here is the link to my (LONG) Noosa Race Report

These positive feelings were dashed almost immediately. I pulled up incredibly sore in the medial-tibia (inside of both calves), added with a new tingling sensation running along the aforementioned area. Each injury has presented an even greater mental/emotional hurdle to overcome. In the past six weeks I’ve had various MRI’s, ultrasounds, blood tests and x-rays. We are still searching for a definite answer to what is causing my legs to tingle at the faintest hint of running or cycling. Neither of which have been performed beyond ten minutes since early November. Mentally ‘not-knowing’ has made the process a lot more difficult than something definite with a set timetable of recovery such as a stress-fracture. Moreover it’s been hard to lose that feeling of fitness and to see my pre-Noosa physique (6.9% body-fat) disappear under a sea of cellulite.

Tomorrow I’m having a full MRI done on both my calves, that ‘should’ give me a good indication of what I have. FINGERS CROSSED!

These injuries were a result of a number of factors, most of which can be attributed to personal failings of mine, overtraining, pushing through pain and not effectively communicating with people. Accepting this is both difficult and painful. I found this article from Dr Ross Tucker from the Sports Scientists on the principles of success in business and elite sport. His comments about the nature of failure were extremely interesting, and has been a decided influence in my future plans.

The paradox of failure is that those who wish to be successful are also those who are best able to fail – the “good failures”.  Being a “good failure” means understanding that innovation, progress and improvement are never smooth processes, that failure is inevitable, and is an opportunity to learn.  It’s not really failure, even, but rather the successful learning about what did not work! A good failure requires one to learn from previous failings.

It is quite clear that this year hasn’t worked out as I planned, not only from an outcome, but more so a process standpoint, to that end I’ve made a number of big decisions regarding next year…I’ll get to them later.

Fortunately I’ve been afforded some measure of ‘sanity-saving’ in the form of swimming. On that note I’ve been able to race in two open-water swim races. Writing about swimming races brings back similar emotions to a few exams I had at university. In both instances I’m trying to write on something at length with very little information of the matter. My last exam at ANU was such an example, I was given one hour to write on the border disputes in Kazakhstan, highly relevant stuff! Beyond knowing there was a dispute between two groups (whose names disappeared from memory the instant I walked out the exam) I knew nothing, it required some serious padding! In the same sense there is only so much one can write about a swim race: the scenery is sparse, there is no real interaction with anyone else and it’s over pretty quickly. Looks like some padding is in order!

 The first of these swims was the Funkytrunks ‘Splash.’ The aforementioned ‘splash’ served as a euphemism for a 2500m open water swim. As is the case with open water swims, the course always looks considerably longer and more intimidating than a run/bike course of similar length. My warm-up consisted of swimming the 50m over to the start line, running all over the start line trying to find a good position and talking trash to fellow EnduranceTeam members.

I started well to the left aiming to take the most direct line to the first bouy 150m out to sea, this proved as a mistake as the main pack of what would be the super-fish started about 20m to the right and although I had a shorter line I missed the draft. Up until the 400m I was holding onto a precarious position with the leading few swimmers, this ended when the person in front of me stopped to adjust her wetsuit, the inevitable happened and I was off the back solo. I waited up and got onto someone’s feet. I went from one extreme (lactic acid pain) to the other, as I spent the next 2k’s barely kicking and doing semi-catchup, yet going around him (I tried a few times) showed that I was not going to A. drop him and B. increase the overall pace by much. Apart from a basketball sized jelly-fish bobbing worryingly close past my head and the resulting minor-panic attack and turbo boost of speed to ‘get the f—- away!’ there wasn’t much to report. Luckily we were blessed with near-perfect conditions, no wind and a clear sky. Our duo doubled in size in the last 400m as we caught one person and another (ET member Michael McGuire) caught up to us after a brief stop earlier in the race. Rounding the last bouy with less than 150m to go I came around my draftee and put on my best impression of a helicopter (think flailing limbs, adopting a quantity rather than quality approach). I passed my swimming buddy, but to my chagrin Michael and someone else had similar ideas. We exited the water in a horizontal line, fortunately (for me) the unnamed tripped over his feet (a specialty of mine), one down! However Michael just pipped me in the sprint to the line. I finished with a time of 32:09 for 2500m finishing 2^nd in open and somewhere around 7^th overall (Still NO results a week on). Altogether it was a fun race (as is possible with open water swims) but the best thing was the finishers t-shirt, the coolest I’ve ever received!

I had a pretty standard week on the injury front, with six separate appointments for diagnosing and treating my ailments. On Friday I had a blood test, my first in 3.5 years, not being a fan of needles it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. The (probably German) technician wasn’t the most understanding of people, operating with a brutal efficiency in keeping with the most base of Germanic stereotypes.

Saturday morning was another open water swim race, using a popular political euphemism I had gotten a little ‘tired and emotional’ into the early hours of the previous night (first time in many months) so wasn’t on my A-game that morning. To rub salt in the wound I had forgotten my wetsuit (the water was at best 16c!). I started badly, drifted further back and then lost a few more spots at the finish. Swimming in cold and very choppy water, without a wetsuit and a raging hang-over was a deserving punishment for my frivolities of the previous night.

The ET crew….I had about 4 layers on was so cold after the ‘race’ (survival would be a more apt term for me)

It’s been an interesting year moving back to Melbourne, as much as I like to complain about Canberra it had a number of redeeming qualities, first and foremost being its relative size. I could leave college at 5.53 and be there for the opening of the swimming pool doors at 6am. In Melbourne I need to leave the house at 4.40am to get there for a 5.15am start. The drive home normally takes 40mins. On average I was spending between 90-120mins in the car a day, and that wasn’t on days I drove to Geelong. The constant driving really got to me, and affected my recovery, took away time I could’ve spent with friends and family and just generally made me grumpy. With my injury over the last four months, and all it ensuing appointments, time in the car has only increased! In all likelihood my season is over, with even a best case scenario of instant improvement, It would take me months to get any form of ‘acceptable’ fitness back. To that end I’ve decided to go back to university full-time and get my Masters in International Relations. Getting my Masters out of the way means I will not have to worry getting a degree further down the track, especially if I am serious about triathlon. Moreover taking away the pressure of returning to full fitness ASAP will take a big burden of my shoulders, I can focus on my weakness (my swim) and enjoy cycling and (especially) running in its purest form, just for the sake of doing it. I’ll know when I’m ready to race again. On thing about injury is that it tests how much you really want something, I can’t emphasise enough how much I’ve missed being able to train. It has reinforced that I love what I am doing and that I am in for the long haul! My undergraduate degree has courses credited from Melbourne Uni, Monash Uni and the majority from the ANU. I prefer smaller universities where I live on campus, it’s a 50min trip for me to get to Melbourne (something that I struggled with this year). Moreover I wanted a place where I could train easily, have good weather and spent as little time as possible in a car.

Speaking to my mum one Wednesday I suggested Bond University. In her typical fashion she grabbed upon that opportunity and the wheels were set in inexorable motion. On that Friday I had a meeting with a Bond advisor and on that Sunday I had flown to the Gold Coast, that Monday I had sent in my application, all in the space of five days! What attracted me to Bond was its small size (1/10^th as many students as Melbourne), being able to live on Campus with rooms that overlook at 50m pool whose squad contains people such as Ky Hurst and Courtney Atkinson.

The pool at Bond…I’ve got a feeling we will be seeing A LOT of each other!

Effectively the whole university at Bond (including accommodation) 

The weather is close on perfect for triathlons, and even better, with a tri-mester year, all my contact hours would be done by August 18!! Not the end of November at Melbourne/Monash/ANU. This Friday past I accepted my offer into Bond, I look forward to starting there on the 6^th of January. On completion of my coursework I will plan on spending the majority of my time in Geelong with only Fri-Sun in Melbourne. Being in daily contact with my Coach Jarrod Evans and the rest of the squad should provide a competitive advantage. I’m hoping that these plans will lay the foundation for a much more enjoyable/productive year than unlucky 13.

Til next time.

 

Hoping to be on the other side of this fence in the near-future.

Noosa Triathlon Race Report 2013

It seems to be a common trend that race reports (well at least the ones I read) are written at an altitude approaching 10,000m, after an annoyingly long wait (50mins) on the tarmac due to a paperwork ‘stuff-up’ I’m finally allowed to boot up the Mac and help pass time with my own account of the Noosa Triathlon and events preceding it. This 2hr flight will most likely bring about a very long post….you’ve been warned 

The last few months, well precisely since August 24 have been extremely challenging. That was the date of my last injury-free run. A few days later I was diagnosed with a stress-reaction in my Tibia, then a five weeks later on an innocuous easy run I ‘overcooked’ both my calves. The recovery from this second injury has been longer and more frustrating than the first. The amount of appointments I’ve had with at various physio’s, podiatrists and myotherapists must’ve provided a decent-sized stimulus to Victoria’s healthcare sector.

It was only three days before the race that I had my first truly pain/tightness-free run since my injury woes, hardly confidence-inspiring stuff. I would go into the race with only two runs above 10ks in the last ten weeks. What gave me hope was that I was in the best swim and bike shape of my life. The latter highlighted by a second-fastest 56:57 bike split at the State OD champs two weeks before (the course was 800m short). 

The Alter-G was a novel means of allowing me to return to run sooner

Our whole family made the trek up to Noosa staying at my sisters boyfriends parents flat 2ks from transition. After some brisk mornings in Melbourne it was a VERY welcome change to experience the sun and surf that Noosa provided. My only previous visit was six-years ago when I experienced a nasty bout of gastro and vomited close on 50 times in one night. It really feels like another world up in Queensland, the warmer humid climate, the lack of daylight savings (its fully light at 5am, perfect for an early riser like me) and its tanned/fit/generally-hot populace are most welcome.

 

The days before were dominated by my usual taper-grumps, as I mention before every key-race….I hate tapering!! Much of my spare time was spent in Hasting’s street, the people watching was gold! IM tattoos/branded-apparel, compression socks and general ‘peacocking’ was abound.

Unfortunately 48hrs before the race my taper-grumps were only heightened by the unmistakable signs of a sinus infection, a standard illness of mine. The headache, saw throat, swollen glands etc. were hardly ideal, unfortunately no amount of medication seemed to improve the symptoms. 

Saturday was spent registering (a process taking over an hour with the enormous queues) and racking my bike. The transition area is one of the most impressive sights I’ve seen in triathlon, literally 5,000+ (very expensive) bikes lined up in a sea of rows. Noosa is the second largest triathlon in the world, behind only London. There were 53 waves separated by over 3hrs. The racks were so close together that it was impossible for two people to pass each other without one or both angling sideways whilst performing some hot-coals dance to avoid various shoes, visors, gamins etc lying in front of the bikes. 

Mercifully I was racked in a different area with the Pro’s, other Open competitors and the ‘premium mates wave’ (whatever that was).  Even here space was at a premium. After some authoritative bossing of an aforementioned ‘premium mate’ I won myself a little more room, totalling about 10cm2.

 

The morning of the race dawned bright (literally with the early sunrise) and early. The four alarms set on my phone were not needed as I rose at 3am and tucked into my customary (first) breakfast of a bagel (yes I eat multiple breakfasts). Ever since Boulder I’ve been obsessed with Bagels! They pack A LOT of carbs, are easy to ‘cook’ (about as far as my ‘cooking’ ability extends especially at 4.30am) and seem to sit easy in my stomach. 

Transition was spent doing some more bossing of ‘premium mates,’ I managed to negotiate a few more centimeters to place my shoes and my race number on the ground. 

Swim: 21.54

Fortunately it was only after the race that I found out there was a snake in the water, quite a sociable one at that. As Firstoffthebike elaborated:

The women’s race began with a scream.  It came from Emma Moffat, one of the hot favourites for today’s event. The scream was justified, as it soon became apparent that a water snake had joined the girls in the line up.  Once the snake went on its way, so too did the women, quickly, and in the opposite direction toward the first buoy.

The gun went-off and ensued the usual flurry of arms and legs and the reappearance of ‘larry-lactate.’ From early on a clear swim-hierarchy was enforced with three people of the front and large group of swimmers (including me) in distant pursuit. In all honesty the swim wasn’t particularly difficult, I didn’t have the ability, let alone the desire, to try and enforce the pace. I started next to Christian Wilson who is a low 11min 1kLCM swimmer and after 30s realised there was no way I could hold his draft. I excited the water in 12^th, but only a handful of seconds behind 4^th. By all accounts the swim was about two minutes slower than last year (unfavourable currents), so there would be no PB (as I had hoped).

 Bike: 1:00.29 (58.30 according to Garmin)

The early part of the bike is always high stress, after a mishap with my shoe (the strap came out of the holder) I was away and pedaling hard, passing a few weaker cyclists in the opening few minutes.

Coming out of T1

At the 13k mark at the bottom of the ‘Garmin Hill’ I was sitting 100m behind a group of 4 cyclists with two others further ahead out of sight. I held a steady pace up the hill, which had the effect of me bleeding time (25s according to results) to the pack, it was a calculated risk as I didn’t want to go above threshold and harm my back-half of the bike. The strategy payed off and I caught and past the group in the immediate 5ks proceeding the 6min climb. Riding with a power meter has made me appreciate the impact of power-spikes on overall performance. 

At the turnaround I saw I was sitting in 3^rd place with gun Junior (a 15.20 5k runner) Matt Roberts and Nick Hull (who raced as a pro at Geelong earlier this year and in ITU races the year before) ahead of me. The famous descent lived up to all expectations. I had ridden it in training twice clocking speeds in the 70’s, this time with my inhibitions of personal safety blunted by adrenaline and ‘white-line fever’ I attacked the downhill like a maniac. I’ve heard  six-time winner Craig Walton had managed 100km/h on the same descent, at 67kgs, I was pretty pleased with my 86.6km/h max speed (I’ll be able to tell if my mum has read this…simply by her cracking the shits at me for ‘putting my life in danger’). On a TT bike it was quite scary, one mistake an I’d be guaranteed to be providing more economic stimulus to the healthcare industry, I’m glad I wasn’t wearing white shorts!

Unfortunately for me I was caught by a group of four after my attempt….that’s the so-called 7m draft-zone for you! For the last 7k’s the pace slackened as it was clear no-one could get away.

On that note I can understand why the organizers can only enforce a 7m draft-zone for the age-groupers, but for those who start at the front with a completely clear course there is no reason why it shouldn’t be 12m. For pro’s it is effectively a draft-legal race as backed up by a study of the times. A 7m gap provides a very noticeable energy-saving as compared to riding solo, especially as the latter half was predominantly into a headwind. The bike was ticked off in 1:00.29hrs, I had the fastest ‘open’ time, my Garmin resisted 58.30, I suppose part of transition must be included.

Run: 36.43

Out of T2 I exited in equal third having already gapped the other two guys. As I’m sure many fellow triathletes would agree, prospects of a good run time can be ascertained within the opening steps of the run. In my case I came off the bike with zero idea of what I was capable of, I hadn’t run fast nor long in ages! My longest run since August 24^th was 12ks and that was two days before my calves were re-injured. I didn’t even have full confidence I’d be able to do the run without both my calves popping and writing myself off for another few weeks.

Fortunately my nerves were settled with an opening K ticked off in 3.24, not blistering, but for where I was, I happily took it. Just after that the guy I was running with said something on the lines of ‘we are going out too hard,’ taking this as a sign of weakness I put in a surge up and over a bridge dislodging him 1500m into the run.

Passing one of the female pro’s

At this stage I could just make out Nick in the distance, Matt was well up the road. The remainder of the run was hot, lonely and exceedingly painful. OD’s are my least favorite distance in terms of the pain it inflicts. It’s short enough that you need to go full-gas, but long enough that it wrecks you.

At the turnaround I saw I had a decent grip on 3^rd with over a minute to 4^th. I was on target for a 35flat 10k. Shortly after this the wheels started to fall off, my feet became a blister, bloody mess, my calves started to hurt and my lack of fitness started to rear its head. I went from urging myself to stay below 3:30pace to 3:45. I was lucky to have fellow EnduranceTeam member Sarah Lester and a some random nice guy yell out splits to me during the run. I wasn’t going to catch 2^nd, but I was unlikely to be caught from behind. I ended up running 36:43 on a slightly long (200m) course, only two people in our category (both finished behind) ran under 36mins.

I’d like to say I enjoyed the last 2k’s with the enormous crowd, but my fear of being caught and the general pain of nearly 2hrs of racing robbed me of that. I crossed the line in 1:59.07 absolutely spent and emotionally drained.  The overriding emotion was relief, I wanted a good result and I had got it. It was my first time under two hours. My illness which had been somewhat contained, came out in full-force post-race, it has been a very long time (gastro aside) I’ve felt that bad.

Total Time: 1:59.07

 

It was a bit of a family affair out there with my dad and sister competing in the teams event, with dad doing the swim with his mates and my sister being a last-minute fill in for the team of Kieran’s (a fellow ET member) dad. They both (moreso my sister) had a ball, it was great to share the experience of competing at Noosa with other family members. I couldn’t do what I do without their phenomenal support and patience!

My sister 2ks into the run

I would post a photo of my dad, yet there is only one picture of him from the official even photographer. Apart from looking like he’s on the verge of a heart-failure there is nothing untoward about dad; however, the same cannot be said of the man pictured directly behind. Not only does he have (from the waist to his neck) the left side of his body COMPLETELY tattooed (i.e. there is no skin to be seen) he is wearing the most see-through set of white bathers (or more likely Bonds underwear) possible. He might as well swum naked, for all the covering up his bathers provided.

Some other notes

• Doing events of the magnitude of Noosa makes you appreciate just how big triathlon is in Australia, it’s a shame this grassroots participation is not mirrored with better television coverage and prizemoney for professionals.
• Waiting in transition my sister sore another team competitor applying makeup
• On a scale of a pit bull’s bark, to a cat’s meow, I can judge how well I’m doing in the race just by my mum’s ‘encouragement’ of ‘go William!’
• Noosa must be the only place in Australia to challenge Canberra in its round-a-bout fetish. SO MANY!! They would have been very treacherous in the rain or for the majority of age-groupers who would encounter significantly more congestion than I did.
• I don’t get the obsession people have with doing all their taper sessions (whether it be swim/bike/run) in their trisuits, especially when they go for breakfast after…still in their tri-suit.
• Tri-Alliance must be seriously cashed up; they had one VERY impressive waterfront mansion adjacent to the start.
• The pro’s were (collectively) the most relaxed in the days/minutes proceeding the race than any of the age-groupers.
• Massive kudos to the lady who sat roadside for the whole race and told literaly thousands of people that went past ‘only 1 more K.’
• The level of friendly support out there was incredible!
• I want to move to Queensland
• On the flight over there was an interesting interview with Darren Smith, one of the questions asked related to how he teaches his athletes to cope with pre-race nerves. Paraphrasing his response…nerves are a response to an athletes belief in poor-preparation, a well prepared athlete should have no need to have pre-race nerves. I took this advice onboard and was the calmest I’ve ever been in the minutes proceeding the gun.
• All I have to say one white-trisuits……

On a final note I want to thank the countless people who’ve supported me in my buildup both over the last few months and in the nearly four years that I’ve done this sport. Triathlon is the first individual sport I’ve done properly, I spent my childhood as a cricketer, its ironic that in an individual sport I’ve never felt more a part of team. I am so lucky to be a part of ‘EnduranceTeam’ headed by my coach Jarrod Evans. Two years ago he took me on as someone who had never even podiumed in my age-group nor cracked the top 100 overall in local races. My progression is testament to his coaching and the people I’m fortunate enough to train with day in day out. My family have been there from day one, their support is the reason why I can do the sport in the first place. My mum especially has been a rock, her mid-race shouts of ‘encouragement’ (resembling a pitbull’s bark) have definitely driven me (or was that pushed me to get away from her vicinity ASAP). It was great that I could share the experience with the rest of the family, hopefully next year I can get my other two sisters and mum to participate in the Noosa triathlon in some form.

Til next time….

Bendigo and Injury Woes

It’s been two months since a proper post, in the back of my mind I’ve been planning a post on the ’20 things I learnt at Boulder,’ a myriad of reasons, namely laziness has prevented thought bubbles turning into a meaningful post. I put a lot of time into these posts, there’s no point writing a blog if its going to be short (this will easily be over 1000 words), riddled with grammatical errors and clearly written on the fly. The last two months have been a ‘challenge’ to say the least. Obviously there was going to be some ‘coming down to earth’ following Boulder. The contrast in weather alone was enough to challenge the soul. Moreover its quite easy to get a little blasé about being able to train with some of your triathlon idols. Probably the biggest challenge was re calibrating myself from midday swim squads in Boulder to the 4:15am alarm back home. Regardless, the quality and quantity (especially the latter) of my training has been really positive, with the swim and bike improving nicely….although the same can’t be said for my run.

Injury

I’ve been running for four years and have been fortunate enough to avoid any injury actually requiring time off. My only serious injury was in December 2009, (about one month into my triathlon journey) when I went over the handlebars 100m from my house and did a Level 3 AC separation.

The shoulder 3.5 years on

High as a kite on morphine

This experience was entirely different, my emotional engagement with training, especially running (my favorite of the three sports), is considerably greater. In short, injured me=grumpy me.

I had some residual pain through both my calves, being slightly naïve I ran through the pain. On my last run before my injury I felt absolutely shocking during the warm-up, stupidly I decided to try my hand at the efforts. The efforts actually felt quite good, even the recovery was fine. It wasn’t until the next day that when I tried to run I felt a sharp pain in the lower posterior of my calf. Following a visit to my physio, GP and MRI (all in the space of one day!) I was diagnosed with a low grade ‘stress reaction’ in my tibia and a low grade strain in the ligament. The upshot was I had two weeks off running and another four weeks of gradual building (in week three now) until I can resume full training. It’s been very frustrating! Fortunately the recovery is going well, and (much to my families relief) no one was harmed in my injury-induced grumpiness :)

Bendigo

This past weekend the EnduranceTeam squad gathered in Bendigo for a triathlon camp with a local club race thrown in. This camp holds special memories for me as it was where my journey with EnduranceTeam started two years ago. With PBs of 18.21 for 5k and 6:05 for 400m, I knew I stood no chance of being accepted into Jarrod’s squad, the only other coach I emailed gave me a flat ‘no.’ Under the pretense of wanting some swim filming I got in contact with Jarrod, somehow this morphed into asking if I could come to one of his camps. Long story short, I went on the camp and had (at that time) the race of my life, one thing lead to another, since then I’ve been with EnduranceTeam.

It was good to get some training in on unfamiliar routes, and get in a bit of playful banter (well I enjoyed it) with other members of the squad. The two days prior to the race were a mixture of some riding (with hard 15s efforts thrown in for good measure) swim filming and (for me) running around in circles on a grass oval.

Group ride….photo courtesy of EnduranceTeam

The morning of the race dawned cold and wet, fortunately though the sun came out, making the hilly and technical course a little less forboding. I decided that since I’ve only ridden the TT bike once since March I’d take the cautious approach and stick with the roadie, (that and I hate riding TT bikes with a passion only matched by my dislike of kick-sets).

The Race

The swim was unique in the sense that it was a pool start, the idea being people self-seeded so as to avoid too much argy-bargy. Our lane had both the Huggett’s, Chloe and I. After a frenetic start and a little contact with Chloe (apologies) I settled in on Ben Huggett’s feet and enjoyed the draft his two-meter frame provided.

Into T1 there was a distinct group of four, Ben and Jamie Huggett, Nick McGuire and I. Ungamely I mounted my bike in second, having not done any transitions since March I was very rusty. The early portion of the bike was frenetic, with Jamie moving to the front and me trying to regain time lost from my pedestrian transition. I struggled to find good power in the first few laps, evidenced by my peak 5min power coming in the last quarter of the race (on that note, getting a powermeter is probably the best investment I’ve made!). Nick and I were the only ones at the front riding on roadies, this was a blessing up the hills and around corners, but on the flats we struggled. Midway through the second (of four laps) I passed Nick and Ben. Knowing that I wasn’t going to run, I was happy to really bury myself. By this stage Jamie had built up a 20-30s lead on us, my goal was simply to have a good ride and preferably be the first in on a non-TT bike.

In the last lap Ben passed me, I was happy to sit back a legal distance and let him pace me over the last two K’s. I entered T2 in equal second pleased with my day, especially since I didn’t have to run :)

All in all, it shows that my prep towards Noosa and the draft-legal series races are heading in a really nice direction.

Not the best picture of me…..even with a slammed 140mm stem (front-door brag) I always look a little cramped on my bike (long arms)

Highlights and Lowlights

• Highlight, getting a Strava KOM on ‘Bendigo Tri Loop’
• Lowlight, it was done two days before the race
• Highlight, getting lost on the way to the race, to find that I actually took a shortcut.
• Lowlight, 8 watts of all-time max watts on the Saturday
• Highlight, Beechworth Bakery, MaCafe, JoeJoe’s
• Lowlight, over-indulging at Beechworth and spending the drive-home feeling sick.
• Highlight, Club Races, love the relaxed atmosphere of these things (along with the Benalla Tri), also getting away from the pancake flat Beach Road!!!
• Lowlight, wishing the course was ‘pancake-flat’ during the latter portions of the bike leg.

Til next time……

Boulder Musings, Part 3

This blog post was 75% written 8 days ago (please ignore timeline)…training induced laziness has meant it has sat on a word document untouched for days now. Regardless here are my latest ramblings from Boulder. Unfortunately I am in the homestretch of my stay here and my room (yes I’ve checked) is being taken the day after I leave. Already planning next years (longer) sojourn.

Training

Trying to add ‘colour’ to the inherent monotony of training is quite difficult. With swimming there is only so far you can go in describing 10-12hrs a week in a pool, routinely battling ‘larry lactate.’ Swimming in an outdoor pool at more civilized times (7.15am has been my earliest session, but generally I go to the 9 or 11am sessions) has been really nice, it will be a rude shock going back to the 4.20am wakeups in Melbourne.

There are three coaches whose sessions I go to:

1.Wolfgang Dittrich: If Jens Voigt was a swimming coach I’d suspect he’d be like Wolfgang. In his own right he was a super-swimmer, consistently having the fastest swim times at Kona, finishing 3^rd overall one year. His sessions though are not only a test of physical but also mental (especially mathematical) prowess. Sessions are never written on the board and they are never simple. Here is the instructions I received at the start of one session:

 “Okay, you have 9 75s, 3 on 5, 3 on 10, 3 on 1. Then you do, 9 1’s 3 on 25, 3 on 30, 3 on 20, then 9 50’s 1 kick on 1, 1 choice on 50, 1 swim on 40. Okay Go. Don’t waste time, especially at your age.”

Try and remember all of that whilst swimming! Generally as the end of the session nears, he likes to throw in a mileage booster, e.g. 2x500 paddles on 10s rest max. By the time you’re finished he has most likely gone.

In spite of all of that, he’s probably one of my favorite swim coaches I’ve had.

2.Jane Scott: Sister of Dave (I think), frequently refers to us as ‘hooligans,’ e.g. “okay hooligans, hold up, hold up!” Meaning, stop warming up. Like all other coaches at Flatirons, there is no gap between sets, if your sitting at the back of the lane, desperately trying to hold the cycle (and dig yourself out of oxygen debt), its quite crushing to make the last rep, to already see those infront of you already starting another main set! Her sessions are generally the smallest but best attended by the resident freak swimmers.

3. Dave Scott: 6 time Ironman World Champ, Dave Scott’s sessions are a must for any triathlete spending time in Boulder, always new people there. They are generally the biggest with nearly 50 swimmers spread across the 7 lanes. One perk of being an ‘improving’ swimmer is that the two fast lanes have the fewest swimmers, generally only 4 or 5 people per lane. Las Thursday it was me, Tim Don and Craig Alexander! 

Boulder cycling tip, if you want to head into the mountains, its best to do it mid-week rather than on the weekends, as many of the Colorado locals will hoon up the canyons to camp on weekends. With that in mind, I moved my long-ride a day early to Friday, or has it has become known, ‘f-ed up Friday.’ The plan was for a long-ride trying to get in a heap of climbing.

To those who know Boulder my route was: Flagstaff x2, Old Stage Road x2, Jamestown and Ward. 139k’s in 5.31hrs (yes my average speed was very low.) What was a hard ride in and of itself, was made even worse by some of the most brutal conditions I’ve ever encountered. At the top of Jamestown it was still well into the 30s. 30mins into the final climb to Ward the weather turned. The heavens opened with a ferocious thunder-storm and torrential rain. It was quite an eery climb, I barely saw anyone (cars or bikes) for the entire 70mins, moreover there were people shooting on the side of the road (cue some slimily to a horror film). I reached the top freezing. Fortunately there was a small store at the top. Armed with $10 I had a hot chocolate, a coke, bought a garbage bag, a plastic bag and some hospital gloves. Unfortunately I didn’t have the money to ‘upgrade’ to the full yellow suit. With the garbage bag down my front, the plastic bag on my head and with gloves on the descent became almost manageable, I was freezing, probably the coldest I’ve ever been on a bike. The descent in torrential rain, whilst shaking (due to cold) was very sketchy! I was lucky I had Bronti back home to fill me full of warm liquid (once she got over the shock of seeing me in such an uncharacteristic cycling attire). 

On another note, I crashed my bike last week. As usual it was one of those silly crashes when I wasn’t concentrating. I hit a pothole and went over the bars, fortunately I landed on my back (which was cushioned by my backpack). On that note I was VERY lucky that I had a good helmet, it took an enormous impact, getting torn to shreds, my head was fine. If I wasn’t wearing a helmet I’d definitely be in hospital.  

No crash is complete without a complementing pic :)

Boulder Aquathon

In the absence of results posted there is not much detail to give. It was a very weird (and painful) feeling running fast for the first time since March 22^nd, let alone trying to squeeze back into the tri-suit (its feeling a little tighter than I remember!).

About 100 people took to the swim, I’d say nearly half were ‘bandits’ just doing the swim (and not paying!) and (luckily for them) avoiding the run, did I mention my Garmin was reading 41.1c 1hr before the race (added to the fact we were racing at 1600m, this was a brutal experience).

 

With the heat I decided not to wear a wetsuit, the water temperature was about as warm as the Flatirons Pool, I was hot in my trisuit! I excited in a decent position, but a little off the leaders.

 

Out onto the run I thought I was in a decent position, although it was hard to tell as the short-course race were already onto the run. As I’ve mentioned on number of occasions running at altitude is pretty horrible. To put it into perspective at the Boulder Peak Tri, the winner (Tim O’Donnell) ran a 34.50ish, and 2^nd and 3^rdran 36mins.

 

Running sub 4min/ks for the first time in months, in heat and altitude was a perfect storm of suffering. I was moving pretty well (thinking I was sitting around 2^nd from 1k in), one guy caught up to me around the 2k mark, I tried to keep up with him, the pace dropped from a very pedestrian 3.40, to a very uncomfortable and slightly less pedestrian 3.20. This brief foray into mediocre running was short-lived.

At the ONLY aid station I was sitting in 2^nd, my arms started tingling (a tell-tale sign of ‘larry-lactate’ hitting). With a little under 2k’s to go I gave up any hope of holding onto said runner and drifted back into a more sustainable pace. I crossed the line in 3^rd, roughly 20-30s behind the winner. I was spent and very relieved to get through the race. The post race (free) food and the stop at Lucky’s Bakehouse was at least one perk of the 41mins of suffering.

 

Other Notes

-Our homestay has left her house (to go to New Orleans), unfortunately she has left the cat (Barney or Barry, can’t remember). Now, as previously mentioned, I am not a cat person (and also allergic to them). Barney has decided to sleep in my room every-night, despite my best efforts. I went to the toilet today, and suddenly he appears out of nowhere right in front of me.

-The state of coffee has turned me into an espresso-drinker (don’t think I ever had one in Australia). On a better note LOVE bagels!

-There’s an annoying trend of people wearing wetsuits to squad so they can swim in the fast lane…please cease and desist!

-Dave Scott didn’t turn up to coach our squad session yesterday, Tim Don turned coach for our lane…that guy is one funny man!!

-On one hand it is very convenient having the Tour De France on at 6-9am each morning, in spite of the incessant ads. Yet there is something kinda cool about staying up late and watching it back home on SBS (in spite of Anthony Tan’s woeful ‘expert’ analysis).

-Boulder has an obsession with categorized waste disposal, I can deal with ‘Trash’ and ‘Recycling,’ but when they throw ‘compost’ into the mix it really complicates matters. I definitely feel like I’m being judged when I’m disposing of my food at Wholefoods (my favorite haunt).       

-I don’t get why I’m expected to tip at Café’s when there is no table service and you are expected to clean up after yourself.

-We have a new person staying in our house. She wanted to get the Wifi code from me, so I said I’d email it to her….fail!

-My awesome housemate/college friend Bronti is leaving in two days, unsure how I will survive without her cooking for the remainder of the trip. 

-Feeding Guide ‘Snooze’ for Breakfast, ‘Wholefoods’ for Lunch, ‘Boom’ Frozen Yogurt anytime, ‘Amante’ for pre-ride sustenance, ‘Spruce’ for post-ride Sustenance, ‘Pasta-Jays’ for Dinner (and eye-candy)

Till next time