Busselton 70.3 Highlights

A short video clip of the Busselton 70.3 race last week .....Congratulations to everyone who was out there racing , it beats watching it.So a big thank you to the many partners, family members and supporters who sat or stood for 7 hours cheering the triathletes on.Takes more than racing to do that as I found out last weekend .

Busselton 70.3

At the start line Busselton 70.3 2011

It is now 2 weeks before Lanzarote and I have started to taper. It unfortunately went a  little flat . I had a good work out on Monday 1 may with a run and a swim session. Again holding my own in lane one. On Tuesday everyone had a ride round the river but Rod , Rob and myself rode the Nedland circuit and I stayed with Rod for the hour .It was hard and I did not have the strength to take a turn in front but I wasn't exactly struggling more trying to conserve my strength in case there was a surge .it did not come and Rod did slow a slight bit on lap two. It was a good hard workout for me. In the evening it was run training and I had to do 1.15 of laps.I managed about 12.5km although i did not have my Garmin. I was coughing a bit and it was quite cooling the morning and evening.I started to cough that night and was sick for the next 4 days.

I decided not to do anything and largely just had to let the cold take its course. I did go down to Busselton to watch the race. I decided to do my 120km ride in the morning and set off at 5.30am .It was very cold and dark. Not a great plan. The temperature was 7C in Busselton. I was trying out my zipp wheels and my bike after the bike had been serviced. Unfortunately about 10km into the ride , my back wheel went flat , there was no sign of a puncture so I used a gas cylinder to inflate it. I then discovered that the extender valve wasn't firmly attached to the tire valve. the Presta valves were a real problem .it was freezing cold and I had to change a tubular for the first time. I managed to get the wheel off and inflate my spare wheel with a good extension valve on it. I rode back having used my 2 valves and not having a glued Zipp wheel on. I decide to not to do the rest of the ride. It was cold and whilst I felt comfortable I was still coughing  with the cold air. I got back and headed to the start line for the Busselton 70.3.
Got some good pictures and watched the race . it was hard watching and I would have preferred to be racng the weather was cold but otherwise good. There was wind on the bike course but there always is.

A lot of guys had good solid PBs and I would liked to have had a go to see if i would have been able to break the magic 5 hour mark. But with my cold and Lanzarote 2 weeks away , it was time to start resting. I saw Kate Bevalaqua and I assumed she was racing but did not see her name . I had a brief chat with her and hope I will be able to catch up with her in Lanzarote.

All the work is done and the focus is getting well and to Lanzarote ready to race. The experience at Busselton was great but it is always lots more fun to race then to watch. Whilst time , records and PBs are important , the sting of results or the lack of them soothes with time and the afterglow of memories of the emotion leave a more long lasting impression.

It is difficult explaining to someone what it feels like crossing the finish line of an endurance race like an Ironman.It is the totality of my training this past 5 months. For some this weekend it was no less the outcome of hardwork but just more clinical , for others coming through 6 hours later it is no less an achievement .

It is difficult separating the true winners . Those who have talent and win or those who have had to overcome every obstacle to just get to the line. At Busselton there were the professionals and the extraordinary  such as a blind triathlete Jeremy MCCLURE who did  the Half on Saturday in a time of 5.03. then there are the many between the two. I also have a new profound respect for the supporters .I could not stand and watch a race for 6 hours.

Photo Shoot

                     

Photos taken by Lajos Varga fromVargamurphy

I had a set of pictures taken last Saturday by Lajos Varga. We all train in the Exceed group. Most of the group took the opportunity to get pictures done. I told my wife it was a couples photo shoot , my bike and  I ...she wasn't impressed at my infantile humour ....be it a very telling line. I estimate I spend as much time with my bike . I do kid . My son Jonathan who tagged along found the studio in his words "sketchy" which in his speak means not quite sure about the place or looks a little scary. He did report back to my wife there are at least 2 adult shops whilst he was walking with me to the studio .

I cleaned my bike on the weekend and it looks much better after the heavy workout it has had in the past few months. Its in the bike shop getting the final check up before Lanzarote.

Laying it all Down



Sunday by the River 1 May 2011

 The week has rolled by quickly ,particularly as I had 2 days of no training partly as a result of work and meetings and just needing a short recovery.I skipped my Thursday ride and it was probably the right thing to do. I felt a lot better on Friday and had a good swim session. Did a 500m warm up with the Pb with 100m medley.then 300m of swim with breathing at increasing strokes up to 8 . The 4 x 200m building to fast and 100m x 2 and cool down of 300m .Altogether 2.4km.

I ran in the evening along the Swan river and really felt comfortable even though it was an easy run ,I did run 1km at 4.56pace and the rest around the 5.10 minutes pace. But I never felt it was hard.

Saturday 30th April was my lazy long hard ride .it was 160km on the flats . I started off really early.Left home at 4.20am and got to the meeting point with Rod a good 10minutes early. We then took off to meet Rob and then on to Fremantle and round the River to the Narrows Bridge where we joined the exceed group and rode again back to Fremantle and round the river to Shelley and back through Curtin University to the Narrows where we left them and Rod and I rode back via Fremantle again.I had been round the River 3 times .It was a cold day and I had my arm warmers out for the first time. Rod dropped me at Cottesloe as i could not keep up. I made my way back and about 5km from home got a puncture from a 1inch nail on the road. I managed to change the tire but the 2nd tube blew as well and my inflator would not work.I had no pump so my trip ended prematurely at 159.4km I got a lift home and a cyclist and a driver both stopped to see if I needed help. That was nice . I managed to keep up for most of the ride and the legs did not feel too bad. I ran when I got home and did 6km at about 5minute pace. It was a good last session.





It was a good quiet day for the remainder of the Saturday.

Sunday , I was feeling lazy but I did get out of bed and swam at Cott. It felt comfortable and the ocean was nice and calm. Fairly large groups were out for the last swim before the Busselton Half.

I got my programme for May from Ross . Lots of words of encouragement and a short quote:

On that I will leave you with my favorite saying at the moment.



“ I didn’t come here to wear tread off my tyres, I came here to lay it down”


Craig Gordon 24 hr Solo World MTB Champion 2006






Ross

After the long hours of training , I am as prepared as I will ever be. Lots more to learn and develop but at this point I know Iam as prepared and a lot stronger than I was in January. I am encouraged by the weight I am at and although I have a few more kg to lose ,it has always been a slow process for me. Even my strength in all disciplines has been improving at a  slow and steady rate.

Ultimately , the major lesson in any IM race is know your own capability and pace ,pace and pace. The only other minute details are nutrition and equipment .I have done all my rides with less than optimum, nutrition but I have a fairly good idea now of what I need to consume and subject to the weather I should be able to manage that .

Feel it in your heart

Sunday 24 April was a rest day spent doing precisely that , resting . I slept soundly after the long ride on Saturday.

I watched the movie Rio with my son Jonathan who laughed at all the inappropriate bits in the movie ,like a counter cyclical response to normal humour. But its a cartoon. The best line was Blu the rare blue macaw could not fly and being told flying is not in the head , its in the heart . Like training for an Ironman sometimes its better not to think too much about the stats and just go with how you feel.
Read the : Channelnewsasia review of rio

On Anzac day it was a morning swim at Cottesloe. We did a short swim of about 35 minutes and in the evening I did an easy 2 hour run ( was a bit shorter ) . The weather was fine and I ran an easy pace although the legs were still a little sore from Saturday's ride .




Exceed Group having just finished their swim



The start and end of the swim

I did I think was my last 1.5 hour hard session and for the exceed group the last hour of power Tuesday session for several months. It was a little slow on my own but managed to join everyone in the second lap and made it a lot better.One of the riders on Birwood crashed ...possibly hit the curb so Ross stayed with him.He wasn't in out group but was apparently an Australian rower training for the World championships. The little group I was in soon merged with Joe and Rods group and the speed went up a notch. By the end of the session I was having a coughing fit from the cold air and my asthma.

We had breakfast at Northbridge and I rode home with Jeremy .Did 85km for the morning and the legs were feeling too bad.

Remembrance : Anzac Day 2011

Remembrance by Siegfried Sassoon

An Australian digger uses a periscope in a trench captured during the attack on Lone Pine, Gallipoli, 8 August 1915.

AWM A03771

Australian War memorial

Today is Anzac Day . Before Australia and the Anzac tradition I was very much influenced by a book I read about the life of Siegfried Sassoon  Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. A WW1 soldier and one of the great British poets of his generation , he was also a pacifist seeing at first hand in the trenches of France how brutal war is . His poems speak of that time . Every Anzac day I remember his poems . They have a timeless resonance .

Hot & Cold

Katy Perry singing with Elmo ....like my ride It was Hot & Cold

It was a tough day. It was suppose to be 200km but I got home in 180km but it was a hard 180. First getting up and getting out was hard. I had planned on an early start but I only got out of the house at 5.40am .I met up with Jeremy by chance on Alexander Drive and got to the Narrows with lots of time to spare before we all headed down the freeway. I rode behind Jay to the end and then everyone took off at race pace and I was on my own till John came by and I just followed him back till the turn off for Roe Highway . My Garmin was full and so about  10km was not recorded as I had to delete the old data before the Garmin would continue to record the ride. So the overall ride was 180km and I know it.

I was then on my own . I again took a necessary stop at the BP Station on Welshpool Road.Got more water and a bottle of coke. The weather was humid but overcast with dark clouds about and I was worried it was going to rain. I then continued climbing up to Canning Mills road and then onto Kalamunda .It was a quick descent along Mundaring Weir road and the a climb pass Mundaring Weir Hotel .It was 11am and it was now pretty hot. I only had two gels for the ride so I was eating all the sweets and 1 powerbar that I had. Got to Mundaring at 12 noon and had a coke at the dome before the push home. The legs were sore but the last 25 kms were largely downhill. Nearly got cleaned up by a Ute pulling out of a side street as I was coming down a hill in Helena Valley .My bike actually shook from my sudden braking . I felt better towards the end but the hills and heat had taken its toll . I got home after nearly 7 hours . I did a 28 minute run and it was my fastest yet .I ran about 5.5km.

Nutrition:

2 bottles of gatorade
2 bottles of coke
2 shotz gels
lots of sweets and snakes and dates.
1 powerbar
1 breakfast bar
3 bidons of water


Probably the nutrition wasn't quite sufficient but I usually would have 5-6 gels. I lost about 1.5kgs in fluid I presume .

Training for the week.
Swim: 2 hours
Bike: 11.5hours
Run: 4 hours