The audacity of Hope

Besides work , sleeping , family and training lots of training , I have been reading Baraks Obama's book the Audacity of Hope. It is a telling insight into the President of United States perspective of politics in the US , the Democrats , the Republicans and his ideas , how to change the politics and civic life in the USA and the consequences if the United States doesn't change.

I like the title and I have just begun reading the book so I will not be providing a synopsis. What does shine through in the first chapter is the vitality and values Obama seems to have been imbued with by his mother and grandparents who cared for him.Hence I presume the title .

This week leading to Kona , I have been getting updates by Rick Twine who will be racing .I am torn between the excitement of Kona and the sadness at not being there.But it continues to be a dream and hence one must have the audacity to Hope .
How much sweeter the experience of kona for the many who are there after years of endeavouring to qualify.

I have been watching the you tube clips of Macca ridng the Queen K at 50kph and the buff triathletes on Dig me beach .





This has been an easy week for me so I have been able to fit in the more normal aspects of life .Monday was a swim and easy run for 1.15 which was in the evening along the river.The wind was as strong as ever. Swimming was fine , managing approximately 2.4km but as always I have a long way to go with my swimming.

Tuesdays ride was fun as I rode easy with Meredith and only pushed a little harder towards the end and we were not that far off from the middle pack. We welcome a new member into tuesdays ride a world triathlon sprint champion no less.Its the coffee after the ride that makes it all worth while.The tough stuff starts next week as I ride alone at 5.30am for a 1.5 hr hard session.

Wednesday swim was harder with a 600 m warm up and then 5 x400m set with each set 10 secs less.I swam with a Pullbuoy for the last set.Did a 2.6k session. The evening run was fine with only 6 x 1min sets at threshold and the rest easy. On the way back I was overtaken by a girl and managed to stay with her till I got back .saw kim Vivian on the foreshore.

What all this training achieves is i believe a slow and steady improvement.Iam sticking to the plan and not doing more or less.I do know that I have to take a long term approach.i enjoy reading Cuckie V , Gordos and Alan Couzens blogs.
I have attacehd a small part of Alans piece :What it Takes on his blog

So, what does it take?

• Persistence (irrespective of bad races)
• A lifestyle that supports 6-8 years of ‘serious’ training. What is serious training? 18-24hrs/week of aerobic training (3hrs/day, 10 sessions a week, 48 weeks a year).
• A deep love of the process

That means that, to achieve ‘your best’ in triathlon, for almost a decade, you need to be willing to put other aspects of your life in maintenance mode. It is difficult to climb the corporate ladder and the AG ranks at the same time. That doesn’t mean you need to ‘drop everything’, it just means you need the type of job (and the assertiveness) that enables you to block out time for a morning and evening training session most days for the next 6-8 yrs (see Gordo’s latest blog for more on this).
It also means, as an athlete with nothing better than an 11-13hr IM to your name, you need to have the courage or the naivety to ‘back yourself’.

This is a common decision among the majority of the guys (top age-groupers and pros) that I know who have ‘made it’. My buddy, pro triathlete, Justin Daerr comes to mind. At our last camp he recounted how, as a 12hr IM guy he planned his college class schedule around the needs of his 20+ hr training week not because of his pro ambitions, or an impending Kona goal but simply because “he enjoyed riding his bike

So there is hope of improvement .Slow and steady but possible.

Safe training

What It Takes

At the Royal Show on the Ferris Wheel




It has been a great training week with me missing one swim session and Thursday mornings cycle but these days I don't sweat the missed sessions so much and there is more to life than counting every session religiously.

The week began with a holiday in Perth so I had my run (map posted below) Slow and steady and comfortable .Tuesday was the usual hard ride and rode with Ross and the rest (without the fast guys like Lajos ) I managed to keep up and take my turn in the front till the end but after 3 laps or 30km I lost touch in the last 5 mins of the ride .We averaged over 34kph so by far my best result for a Tuesday ride . Wednesday was swimming and did approximately 2.4km and then in the evening did a 1.15 hr run with 6 x 5 min at threshold and that was hard .Thursday I took JJ to the Royal Show so I really just did nothing and was quite tired .Friday , I skipped the swim and ran at lunch time for an hour and managed to run round to South Perth and back through the Narrows bridge in just over 54 mins .It was a windy day .

My sat started a little late with a 6.45am start and I headed to Fremantle via West Coast Hwy and averaged 30.9kph till Applecross .It was undulating but otherwise good .Raced a few riders along the way which wasn't so smart as my heart rate did hit 150s a few times especially climbing the hills in Bicton and Point Walter .

Had a brief stop at Applecross as I ran into Tim and Pixie riding round the river.I then headed to Mt Henry and then down the freeway .I tried to keep it steady doing 20km at threshold x 3 and my heart rate was steady at 144-150 but the heartrate would drift down as the mind wandered. After each session I wasn't able to relax as I was still pushing hard and so the 3 sessions merged into one large session in the end . This was especially after I passed baldivis and turned around 89km from my start ,the wind was hard on the way down.On the way back it wasn't too bad but the wind did hit me head on on occasion .I managed to keep good time and was averaging just above 30.4 kph by Mt Henry . The ride back home was slower with the traffic and the stops and starts along the way.Got back happy with he ride and ran easy for 20 mins.It was a nice day after all the rain we had .So 2 great Saturday rides in a row.The run in the arvo was more a walk and run as JJ decided he wanted to go to the park so I jogged beside him but he had to have breaks on the way so turned out to be a walk and sprint session in parts.But my legs were feeling alittle tired and Iam not sure if the sprinting bits did me any good. Atleast he was happy and after the hour long bike ride he did fall asleep earlier than normal that evening.

Sunday was a rest day but I swam with the rest of the members at North Coast that turn up for the Sunday morning swim .It was a nice morning ,and not too cold.I was a little stiff and slow but after having to change the hood I was wearing for the swim I was way behind the rest who had taken off.There were a few stingers but otherwise pretty good conditions.It was a little swelly but fine. If there was one wish it would be to be a better swimmer.

I saw Paul Newsome on the Sat ride down the freeway and I may just have to go for the video analysis.Speaking to N today at the breakfast about kona and how hard it is to qualify reinforced the view that dreams don't come easy and it will probably get harder but it doesn't stop us from dreaming.

It reinforces the fact that it tales alot of hard work and time .There is the piece from Alan Couzens blog about just how much training for an endurance athlete to achieve the times they need :

Alan Couzens says in his blog:

So, I decided to write this piece as a bit of a ‘reality check’ for those athletes who do aspire to reach their full performance potential in the sport of triathlon. This is in no way suggesting that reaching the front of the pack or the top of your age group is the only worthwhile goal. As Molina says, “take a look around, the fountain of youth doesn’t come easy”. Staying in fantastic shape and having fun are worthy goals.

http://alancouzens.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-it-takes-part-ii.html

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination and hard work”
- Colin Powell.


It can be discouraging or inspiring . It depends how you see it .Putting aside natural ability which I have none , it is possible with time to make some improvement .Whilst some consider me a little obsessive , I have everything in perspective . The primary purpose is to participate and it is a lifestyle choice with the emphasis on Life .The Kona dream is possibly the icing on the cake , if it happens .It is a moment in life it doesn't make or measure the person. As defined in the sport ...it is about Endurance.To last the race , to make it to the end ...to be there at the end. Similarly with life , will you make it to the end , achieving your full potential.

My run on Monday

A Sunday Swim

A nice day for a bike Ride...the long ride day

Saturday 26 September 2009 ...the long ride day

My training week always concludes with a long ride on saturday.Today was no different.I had to ride 150km on aero and at threshold. It was also the AFL grandfinal between St Kilda and Geelong. For the record geelong won .

I got up late for my ride so I started off at 6.30am and rode down to the city then onto the narrows and Mt Henry Bridge.It was a very nice day .It wasn't too cold. From Mt Henry Bridge I then went down the freeway .Met up with john Hawkins and Meredith who was doing a 150km ride from Joondalup. I rode with them for a km or two then went on my merry way.There was a cross wind but I was doing a pretty good speed between 32 and 39 kph but my heartrate was staying fairly low between 130-139.

I went 54 km down the freeway cycle path before turning back at the 76 km mark.At that point my average speed was 30.9kph. The return trip was hard ...the winds were headon . I was averaging 25kph at some stages and about 20 km from Mt Henry ,a group of 4 riders passed me and i jumped on the back of their wheels and hung in there but I did try to keep the regulation 7 meters some of the time. they were flying and i got up to 40kph at some stages.just prior to that my legs were feeling very heavy but once I got on the back of them it wasn't too bad and I felt much stronger.As in previous week I had very little nutrition.Two bottles of water , 12 dates , a bar and banana >I got by in the 5 hour ride on about 35 g of carbohydrates per hour .

In the end I managed to get back in 5.10 averaging 29.4kph .that was with all the lights in the city and traffic back home.Then it was a 10 min easy run.In the arvo i did a further easy run for 45 Min's.

The rest of the week I managed all the sessions bar my interval run on Wednesday. I did my swim sessions on Monday , Wednesdays and Friday in the evening.The Friday session was particularly strong ,I did a 2.7km session with 8 x 200 m at firm ,medium and fast pace.i did it with a pull buoy so I managed to keep up with the swimmers in my lane.In the end the week went well and the total stats were bike 9.5 hrs, run 4 hrs , swim 4 hrs including a swim on Sunday.

Running this week has been particularly cold and wet .But it has turned out to be a good weekend and the weather has come good.particularly on my birthday on Sunday.
The first swim in the ocean since July and it felt like a shock to the system but I managed to acclimatise to the conditions.I did about 1.5 to 2kms. We then all had coffee at hillary's.It was before the crowds arrived and the weather and ocean were perfect despite the cold.It was a great start to the day.

THE NORTH COAST TRI CLUB LANCELIN WEEKEND

THE BEACH AT THE END OF THE ROAD FROM THE YHA HOSTEL WE STAYED AT 19/20 September 2009


The weekend riding to Lancelin and back was a good training session for me. We all congregated at Kim and Rob lees home .I was the first there at 5.45am .Rob wasn't even ready. But I didn't want to be late. unloaded the bike and the light was breaking at just past six am.It looked like there were storm clouds hovering around but it turned out to be a good day to ride.

The little cul-de-sac soon was a swam of cyclist gathering for the start . Everyone had to put their name down and emergency contact details just in case ( you got run over by a semi trailer ) Roger P said that as his parents were in Queensland he did not have any so Maria M just told him to put down Joondalup Hospital.

The first batch started off at about 6.15 and the second smaller group were off at just past 7am I started off alone thinking the main group would catch up and they did about 12km later and then we rode in twos through Marmion Drive on to Two Rocks before getting into single file till Lancelin

I felt good despite only having a bottle of water and 10 lollies so I was really feeling quite tired by the end of the ride. I managed to take my turn at the front for a fair bit but towards the end as I was really grinding hard on the hills and my legs were really tired for the last 20 kms .We caught up with the earlier group at Two Rocks and passed all the riders from the earlier group before Woodbridge.Some of them stuck onto the back of our group .I lost the main lead group and John Domican was about 2-300meters ahead of them as well .I turned off into the road leading into Lancelin but wasn't sure if it was the right way so I tried to ring dave but there was no response .I started heading back up the hill when I saw robyn , tracey and stephen so I followed them down to Lancelin and managed to find my way to the YHA Hostel.Had to wait a further half an hour for my bags which were in Marias car and hung around the courtyard talking about my favourite topic tris.Imust have bored several North Coasters.

Anna arrived and I decide to run with her for an hour which I was going to do in the arvo and felt comfortable witht he run but my heart rate was a little high at 140-145 . I managed to do an even split time running the same distance in the first 30 mins and back.

We walked to the Pub for Lunch and it was a long walk ...atleast 2km away .Thanks Dave.We had lunch till 4pm and then I headed back to my room and promptly fell asleep and woke up at 6.30 for dinner .We had great salads and meats and sausage and lots of deserts.I went off to bed at about 10pm and got up at 6am although my alarm goes off at 4.45am every morning but i get to doze off for a further hour .Had breakfast and then went down to the neach for a few oics and we promptly set off at 7.30am for the return trip .we made steady progress and we had lots of favourable winds .got to woodbridge abd had a muffin break courtesy of sue and then back down to two rocks and Burns beach to Robs place. it rained for the last 20 kms and so we got wet and cold.
i felt alot better on the return trip as i did not blow my legs going too hard up the hills .On the trip up i averaged 31.6 kph and on the trip down 31kph . overall it was an excellent ride and got 8 hours of good training in.Pity I didn't have a rest day yesterday .Atleast Ross isn't reading this blog .

THE RUNNERS GUIDE TO THE MEANING OF LIFE

At the moment if I am not dead tired and asleep in the evening ,I am reading THE RUNNERS GUIDE TO THE MEANING OF LIFE by Amby Burfoot ,winner of the 1968 Boston marathon and author of the Runners world Complete book of running.

it is a short simple book with some very clear messages about the parallels between running and life itself.

Two lessons I have taken from the book are :

The chapter on the essential traits of a Runner which are
1 Patience
2 Balance
3 Stotanism
4 Respect
5 Humility.

A number of home truths hit me when I read the chapter . Amby started the simple section of Balance with the line " I admit to a fondness for obsessive people"

It is hard to find balance and simply put he says if you are having fun you've probably achieved balance.

I am still striving for that balance.

Stotanism is a phrase he has borrowed from Percy Cerutty , Herb Elliots coach when he won the 1500m in the 1960 Rome Olympics. It is about toughness but not an insensitive , superman approach . he accepts the challenges , the injuries , the disappointments without complaining.

I am still striving for that Stotanic ( if there is such a word) level of understanding.

The second and most compelling philosophy is Simplicity and Materialism

In running , runners as in life search for the quick fix solution.

" We search too much for false prophets.Some runners believe that they must move to a running mecca....Other runners believe that they need expensive heart rate monitors or perhaps , regular visits to an exercise laboratory.....these runners believe that they are most likely to find success by discovering new baubles in the physical world outside themselves. I disagree.... The answers lie within not outside.the best solutions are achieved from personal resolve , not from multiple credit cards."

On simplicity , Amby said that in a race in which he came in third he did nonspecific training and yet he ran faster in a 2 mile race by 20secs.

The race taught him a profound lesson : THE SIMPLE APPROACH IS OFTEN THE BEST.

In this busy world we live in it isn't so easy to put this into practise but like sports and running , there are many life lessons I have tried to live my life by possibly not to the level advocated here but it is worth striving to attain these simple truths.

I enjoy the sport of triathlons for the virtues I see in it .It is a relatively young and not so glamorous sport where there is a frontier mentality of athletes who share a common suffering , a great respect and humility for each other in the triathlon community .(I admit a certain bias and I have been fortunate to be surrounded by people I call friends in this sport who I see in them all these qualities .)

I have enjoyed the book and since falling into triathlons , I am reminded by Amby that is is the simple pleasures in life that are the greatest. Whilst it is hard getting up in the morning and I still strive for that balance. Some of the best moments for me is as he himself states is watching the sunrise on a new day . I did not know such an emotion until I had to drag myself out of bed either to run or swim or cycle.

"Our greatest glory is not never falling , but in rising every time we fall" Confucius