Big weekend

Its been a huge weekend! A PB for all half marathons and my longest ride ever over two days have left me exhausted, but pretty stoked.

Saturday dawned warm (18C) and dry and Andrea (3rd time half marathoner), Chris (first timer), Stephen (seasoned marathoner), Geoff (only his third or fourth half, but a very good athlete nonetheless) and I (half marathon No. 12) were itching to get to the start line of the Southern Lakes Half Marathon. At the start conditions couldn't have been more perfect, the temperature had a dropped a few degrees, it was overcast and hardly a breath of wind.

We all had high expectations for the race: Stephen, Andrea and I were aiming for PBs; Geoff was hoping for a placing and; Chris was aiming to beat 2 hours in his first half. In fact I was aiming for 1:45, but I knew I hadn't done enough long runs to warranted that target. I was bouyed by my PB in the 5km on Tuesday so was still hopeful. I was well on target at the 5km mark (23:27) and still close at the 10km (48:40) and even with 6km to go I was bang on target pace. Unfortunately the wheels feel off a little over the last 5km (confirming my feeling of being slightly underdone), but I still managed a PB of 1:46:40 (2:44 off my old PB set at Cromwell last October and 4:52 off last year's time for this course). Chris also broke 2 hours, Andrea smashed around 15 minutes off her old PB, Geoff placed 4th overall and 2nd open male and Stephen did another sub-1:30 half just outside his PB. All-in-all a hugely successful race!


I was feeling great on Sunday and decided to get Carleen and the kids to give me a head start and head off on my bike before they left for home. I jumped on my bike at 9:30am and headed off with Carleen and the kids to leave at 10:30 and pick me up en route to Cromwell. I expected to do about 30-35km before they caught me at about 10:45 so set off at a reasonable pace so as to make the most of the 75 minutes of so. There was a slight cool southerly which slowed me a little and by the time I got to the 35km mark I was only managing about 25.5km/h. Carleen and the kids were also nowhere to be seen so I continued on, thinking they'd be along any minute.



At 52km (2hours) they finally caght up and I was less than 13km from Cromwell so I decided to keep going. I finished up in Cromwell at 12:06pm, 65km from Hawea (see route above) and 2:36:30 on the bike - just under 25km/h. My arse was killing me and my quads had about as much as they could take. It felt great though and I am really looking forward to more long rides.



Today has been a day of active recovery. 30 minutes in the pool at lunchtime - it wasn't pretty but it got things moving again - and a 30 minute run this evening which has pumped the legs clear.



I feel completely knackered, but strangely I feel more alive than I ever have. If my legs aren't slightly sore everyday, I feel something is not right and feel a weird kind of guilt if I miss more than a day's training, even if it as supposed to be a rest day. I think I have well and truly caught the bug now! I am just going to have to be careful not to overdo it (as my folks so frequently remind me).

The week that was (Week One)

This is the end of my first week of triathlon training. Up until this point I have been laregly training for running events, with the odd duathlon and triathlon thrown in for good measure.

Its been an interesting week, just figuring out how I can fit everything in around the rest of my life. Its been a bit of a juggling act but, with a bit of time once every fortnight or so, I think I can schedule in everything. One thing its going to mean is that I am going to have to be a lot more organised with my life and I am going to have to run a very tight calendar to make sure that it all works. I guess that is an added element of discipline that comes into the whole exercise of training for and completing an ironman distance race.

This week I had 8 training sessions (including the 5 km race) and I trained for each of the disciplines 3 times (some sessions included two disciplines). I swam for a total of 1 hour 25 minutes, ran 1:25 (15km) and rode 3:35 (88km). By the end of this 6 week block of training I will be doing around double the amount of time each week in each of the disciplines, so I will really have to have my schedule in place. BRING IT ON!

Visions, Goals and PBs

I set another PB tonight! This time over 5km - 23:29 - and I'm stoked! Thats a whole minute off my previous best on that course. (I know, most of you are laughing about how pathetically slow that is, but it is light years ahead of where I was 18 months ago.)

I find doing regular races of varying distances and disciplines is great for keeping motivated. For example over the last month I have done three 5km fun runs, a corporate team triathlon bike leg and a 150km duathlon. This weekend, I have a half marathon and the following Friday a triathlon.

I don't try to acheive a PB at every event, but I have goals in mind for each. I never set out just to finish. I always set a time that I know is achievable, but still a challenge. So for the Rail Trail Duathlon I set myself a goal of 9 hours (I bettered that by 30 minutes), which I knew I would have to work hard for. For the three fun runs, I set out to improve my time over series (I improved from 25:03 minutes, to 25:01 and then 23:29 albeit on different courses). For the bike leg of the triathlon my goal was to average 30km/h (I achieved 33.5km/h). This weekend I am aiming for a PB and will set three targets for my splits (one to achieve 1:45:00, another for 1:47:30 and another for 1:50:00, all but the slowest will be a PB).

Each time that I do better than I had hoped, it spurs me on to do better the next time and to train that little bit harder. I also try to visualise crossing the finish line in the time I am hoping for in the week or so leading up to a significant event (the 5km races I don't usually bother though). The visualisation helps me train and also helps me on race day as I feel like I've done it already. Visualisation really does work, but only if you are realistic about your goals.

Freedom

I've done two rides (one Saturday 43km and one today 23 km) over the last few days as I start my program. I love the bike! I love the movement and the speed (just as I do with skiing)! But I am still not 100% confident with things. Its taken me a good long eight years to be confident enough to get on the bike and ride it without looking over my shoulder the whole time. The memory of my accident was still too fresh in my mind.

For now I am loving the freedom that the bike provides, but I am riding well within my abilities. Cornering is cautious and careful and down hills are fast but not top speed. The memory of gravel rash (not the worst of my injuries, but certainly the most painful) and of blacking out from the pain of having my wounds cleaned in the days following my accident will long be in my head and I am not sure how long it will be before I can finally let loose.

Saturday's ride was with a fellow cycle accident victim (James) and it has taken him six years to get back in the saddle. It was kinda strange the two of us cycling around the Taieri Plains discussing various aspects of cycling and neither of us not once mentioning our accidents. We both enjoyed it a lot and, had both of us been a little fitter and more confident, I think we would have joined the race that started exactly where we started.

Bring on long rides (with James and others) over the coming months and the awesome feeling of the wind rushing by. (I can do without the sore arse and numb nether-regions though!)

Note to Self:
Remember to double check when the pool is closed for a public holiday. I turned up at the pool this evening and wondered why the car park looked so barren... Otago Anniversary Day is why.

New Tri Training Program

Katie sent me my first six week program this week and its really started to dawn on me the sheer volume of training that I am going have to do over the next 8 or 9 months.

Actually I have decided to ease myself into things by aiming to get to the weekly target of around 13 hours of training per week in week 6 of the program rather that from the get go. I was doing a lot of running last year and just prior to the Southland Marathon was averaging 9 or 10 hours per week, but since the Marathon it has been more like 5-6 hours per week. As such I am going to be cautious about upping my training level so rapidly.

I think Katie's program looks awesome and will be definitely cranking things up over the next 6 weeks. Lets hope the weather holds as I don't want to have to spend my rides in the basement on the wind trainer, I'd rather be out on the road enjoying the autumn air.

I'm going to start my program next week at around 6 hours for the week and gradually add to the length of individual sessions and to the length of each.

Niggles & Wisdom

Over the last 18 months of training for my races, I have almost always had little niggling 'injuries, strains and pains'. These are usually in my legs, but also appear in my back and shoulders.

THANK GOODNESS FOR GEOFF WILLIAMSON! Geoff owns and operates Muscleworks sports massage. His regular rubs are what keep me going. I have had a lot of massage and physio over the last couple of decades (a decade playing in the front row of a rugby scrum does that to you) and ONLY Geoff has been able to make a significant difference every time he massages.

Geoff is a top athlete in his own right (especially in the mountain running arena) and is training for the Lake Wanaka Half and then the New Zealand Iron Man in Taupo in 2011. He is also coach to a number of top up and coming athletes, so his advice while I am getting a rub down each month is extremely helpful.

Geoff is also a fantastic motivator and his words of encouragement are a huge help. He also does things like drop by local events that I am doing while he is out on a training ride and cheers me on. It is great to have some people out there barrocking for you even though you are well down the field (thats one of the things that I really enjoyed about the Lake Wanaka Half this year)! Geoff is going to join a bunch of us next weekend at the Southern Lakes Half Marathon and we've been for the odd open water swim together too. So, even though I am nowhere anywhere near his league, I am still able to learn from him.

Swimming

I had my first pool session tonight and I hated it! My technique is crap. I get the arm bit (with a pull buoy) and the leg bit (with fins and a kick board), but not both together and not without any bouyancy. My kick is really dragging me down.

I really need the lessons that I have been meaning to get. I arranged to join a triathlon swim squad at the start of this term, but it was on Friday's at 6pm and at a pool about 30 minutes away. I didn't really need an excuse to chicken out because I was already worried about looking inadequate, but with that timing and at that location, I found an excuse not to join them. I can't avoid it any longer, next term I'll be joining up.

My tri 'coach' (Katie Menzies, who incidentally just won the 20-24 age group and the National Trophy Series in Wellington - Yeah coach! - god, I hope she doesn't mind me calling her coach as its not really that formal) has just given me a 6 week training schedule with a heap of swimming in it. It scared the living daylights out of me! So I've bought a 12 month pool membership and there's nothing else for it, I just have to start doing the lengths...

Training Networks

Saturday's 95 minute hill run was exhausting but necessary as it made me very aware that I needed a few days' rest. I have not had more than 24 hours of break since my 150km duathlon two weeks ago and my legs are really starting to fatigue. So I'm having a couple of days off and a light week (less than 3 hours in total) to rejuvenate before the Southern Lakes Half Marathon 27 March.

Saturday's run and a chat today with Jenny (an old school mate and now friend of my wife) has further expanded my network of training partners by two. I now have a core group of about four or five running partners I can call on any time and a bunch of about 7 guys that I can run with once a week over the winter, two cycling partners plus the winter runners to cycle with over the summer and two or three casual open water swimming partners and a potential swim squad once I start lessons after Easter. I also have access to an elite age group triathlete and my massage therapist (who is also training for ironman and who trains several elite distance runners) for advice on various aspects of the sport.

These informal networks are great as they provide inspiration, motivation and sometimes that extra drive to make me train just that little bit harder. Most are not into triathlon and actually I think that helps a little because it means that they are usually focussed on the discipline I train with them for and they are able to help me with that discipline. I get the specialist triathlon advice from people with expert knowledge and that helps.

Hell, this makes me sound like a pro, but my philosophy is that I want to learn as much as I can about the process of training over the next 12 months and not just blindly do the training so that I can finish. I think I get as many kicks out of learning how my body works and how to make it do things it shouldn't be able to do as I do out of the events themselves.

Talking crap...

Just a short run today (30 minutes) with Stephen but enough time to reflect a little on some of the things that I really enjoy about my training. For example, being able to just run where your feet take you and letting the conversation meander from one topic to the next - no apparent point to it and not necessarily anything deep and meaningful, just a release.

Today, for example, Stephen and I covered everything from the relative merits of amalgam fillings and the cost of visits to the dentist to our past rugby careers, and hair cuts.

Its great to put the brain in neutral and just go with the flow!

From hit and run victim to iron man(?)

In August 2001 I was almost killed when a semi-trailer literally ran me over. 75 days in hospital, 13 surgeries and 8 years of recovery later I begin my road to Challenge Wanaka 2011. Sick of chronic pain and inactivity, in 2008 I decided to embark on a training regime that has seen me complete 11 half and 1 full marathon(s), several 5km road races, duathlons and triathlons (most in a team) and the 150km Otago Central Railtrail Duathlon. But the real Challenge still lies ahead!

In the months that follow I hope you will come along with me to experience the ups and downs of training for one of the worlds most scenic ironman distance triathlons.