Strengths and Weaknesses

Since the first days of training and racing in triathlons, I have been asked the question "What is your best/strongest or worst/weakest leg?"

4 years ago when I started to take triathlon training more seriously than the occasional and token swim, ride and run, my weakness was in the swim, followed by the run and then the bike - I didn't really have the strength. With a small smudge of fitness and athletic ability, all three legs of the triathlon was a chore. Don't get me started on transitions - that was a real eye opener when I joined Tri Alliance.

Fast forward a few years of training and I have a difference perspective and respect for each discipline. The only way I can express it is by breaking it down to each leg:

Swim Starts

I am still a nervous wreck at swim starts - who isn't?! However I know that I am not the weakest swimmer out there and now have the confidence to not have to stand right at the back of the wave.

Swim

I am still not aggressive enough to swim over people but I am no longer hesitant about swimming past people or drafting ones who appear to know what they are doing. I have started to increase the level of my comfortable swim pace for a long course race. I no longer consider the swim as my weakest leg anymore. To be honest, I really enjoy swim session at the pool and open water. Now I have learnt more about the technique and art of swimming, I am more relaxed in both situations.

The swim leg is the shortest in a triathlon - in distance and time (exc transitions). For some people, their day is determined (by their own mindset) if they are having a good day or not. So far, I have not (yet) experienced what others called a bad swim in a race. Although I am now swimming amongst the bunch - for long course racing, you are not necessarily in waves with only females/males in your age category - I am more confident and stress less when I am punched or kicked. I have accepted that it is part of this sport and there is nothing I can do about it - I can only control how I handle the situation.

I know I have more to improve on my swimming - I know I have many other flaws to correct but this can only come from turning up to swim sessions and having the coaches give me feedback whenever they can. It is very hard to firstly pick the flaws and secondly what to do to correct them without feedback.

T1

So far in the long course races I have done to date (2) - I have put on my (tri) cycling shoes in transition. I can't do the hop-hop-leg over mount and I am not confident in steering with my left hand only whilst putting on my shoes. I also have drink bottles behind my seat too which prevents me from doing a graceful leg over seat manoeuvre. I hop on the bike after the mount line like I do for a normal ride. I few minutes longer than normal but at least I am doing it safely.

Bike

When I first started triathlon, my favorite leg of the triathlon was on the bike. I used to come out of the water last (or on a good day, 2nd last) so when I finally got on my bike, I would ride past people in my wave and see my position from last to not-so-last. I was more confident on the bike and knew that I was able to hold my speed (for sprint distance triathlons) comfortably. Over the past few years, my rides have escaped outside of Beach Rd and my strength on the bike has improved. I did take the bike for granted whilst I worked on my weakness (of the swim) and saw my strength on the bike leg of the race compromised in the previous seasons.

In a triathlon, you spend the longest amount of time on the bike as it is the longest distance out of all the legs - makes sense to work on the endurance to not only ride the bike for hours on end but to also stay mentally alert. I definitely saw differences of my own performance when comparing Shepparton and Geelong. I had more mileage in training for Geelong and was mentally alert during the race. It would be great to compare like-for-like for Shepparton but will have to wait until November of 2013 and hopefully achieve a time < 3 hours. I know that I am far from being good on the bike for long course racing but this will come with spending more hours on the bike in the months to come (post Ironman Melbourne).

T2

I am still not doing any fancy dismounts off the bike due to the bottles behind my seat but I do have my feet out of the shoes so I am getting through T2 bare feet. Sorry for the beginners reading this post - do as I say, not as I do :)

Run

Although I have never been good at running - I blame it on my lack of hips and hence chunky thighs that rub together when I walk - I have seen big improvements within the last 6 months (Thanks Greg). I am able to run more faster than my previous 6:30-7:00min/km run pace and can hold < 5min/km for 250m or so. This is just attributed to being consistent and actually turning up to run sessions up to 3 sessions a week. I fear that I can only do a run when I am running during a coached session and this weekend will be a true test if I am able to get out and run by myself - wait for a write up of this session for sure next week!

I have also started to actually love running - in that I can see the benefits of it for my overall endurance and being able to run past people in a long course triathlon since I have learnt about the art of a good manageable and maintainable pace.

My weakness is still my fitness and strength (still one of the slowest if not the slowest) amongst the Ironman group of my squad but as I have mentioned before - I am ok with that. I know my own pace and I know that I do have the (mental) toughness/stubbornness to get to the end.

30 more days until Ironman Melbourne   

I ran from Frankston...

As I had posted before, the Tri Alliance have changed our long endurance run sessions slightly compared to the normal program leading up to the Ironman weekend for the next 4 weeks. We start out with a swim at Frankston (at the swim course but not doing the entire swim route), then we change into our run gear and run from Frankston towards St Kilda. The distance of the run varies depending on the level of Ironman program you are on. For me, I had a 28km run for the Sunday 17th Feb.

Before I go into the Sunday's run, I wanted to write a little about my first brick session post Geelong Long Course. On Saturday, it was another 4am start at my house, rode 50km before meeting the group at Brighton. On most weekends, we would ride in a group down until the group splits up due to the different levels of fitness and endurance.

We had a big group of cyclist who rode past us then slowed down. We then started to creep up on them (not having to increase our speed) and without having any choice, we had to overtake them. They then decided they would not have a bar of it and sped up whilst half of our group was still on the right hand side. This was very dangerous for all - our squad, that group and any cars passing. Due to the aggression of this group (I know the group they belong to but I am choosing not to disclose it) I decided to slow down and just let them pass so I could not be hit by passing cars. We then caught up to them on Station St and by the looks of things, most of the group had no idea about cyclist etiquette. They once again decided to ride amongst the Tri Alliance crowd (how can you not realise we are a group when we are riding in similar gear) and this was again very annoying and dangerous as they turned off at their will without signaling or knowing the pace of the squad. I ended up doing my own thing with another squad member named Andy. He is another first timer. We rode along Nepean Hwy towards Mornington and was passed by the Hell Ride. They were another aggressive bunch and decided that we took up their path and nudged Andy over to tell them to stick to the left (where there was no path to ride on). This was a very rude thing to do and was an invasion of personal space. If this was to happen to a beginner cyclist, it would absolutely turn anyone off getting on their bikes. These cyclist forget that not everyone who rides a bike can ride shoulder-to-shoulder in a pack.

Nathan 4R Series Belt - I have the pink one

We turned around at Mornington (at Main St) and rode back home which was about 147km (once again forgetting the Garmin for about 10-15km of the ride). The program was a 4km run off the bike and I ended up doing 4.5km with a 0.5km cool down walk back home.

So Sunday...

We car pooled from Sandringham down to Frankston and I did a 1.5km swim where others did 1km or 2km within 45min. We then had a quick change into our run gear and then we ran towards Sandringhman. I know for a fact that I am one of the slowest (if not the slowest) in the whole group of triathletes doing Ironman Melbourne. I am comfortable about this and take my time and run at my own pace. For now, all I want to do is get through the long distances of the program - it is I have mentioned before, it is new territory and not to be taken lightly.

I used the new 4R Nathan nutrition belt but I found that one of the cages was loose and the 8oz bottle came out twice. As the bottles for this belt works like a one way valve (squeeze and drink without a nipple) - the fluid from the belt escaped easily. The cage which had the coke in stained my singlet too. Since then I have discovered that my old Nathan (10oz) flasks fits into the belt too and they are more spout friendly. Will be using these ones for my coke in the future.

I brought 6 gels with me on the run and due to the heat and hence the duration I was out on the road (3:15 - that's a long time for 29km - I am slow, I know), I consumed them all! I ran out of water about 15km in. Luckily there were several taps and drinking fountains along the way which came in handy as I filled up all 3 of the water bottles when and where I could - I also used the water to cool myself down as well as for hydration. I had mentioned before that I have set my Garmin for every 2km in line with the drink stations of IMMelbourne but due to the heat (it was around 30+Degrees Celsius), I found myself sipping every 1km. Fingers crossed that this would not be the case on race day otherwise I will be running with my own hydration.

The program had 28km but I had a feeling this would not get me back to Sandringham as it is 13km from Sandringham to Mordialloc and I had already done 16km+ a that point (Mordi). When I reached 28km on my Garmin (just past Black Rock clock tower) and I then realised that I had to squeeze 2km more till home - mentally I was broken. I had slowed down and walked about 100m to gather my thoughts - I was exhausted both physically and mentally due to the heat and the amount of time I had been out in the sun. I then decided to just harden the F up and picked up my pace until I reached Sandringham.

When I got to my car, I drove home and bought 3 bags of ice, a Gatorade and a super sized Slurpee (sugar free one) and sat in the ice bath for 15min (with no hesitation at all). My legs felt ok after the run (due to the ice bath) but mentally, I was exhausted for the rest of the day.

Looking back on Sunday, I am glad that it has occurred as part of my Ironman training. Mentally, I know that if I am able to run from Frankston to Sandringham (over 29km), all I have left is 13km or so to reach the end of my (Ironman) marathon. I lost nearly 2kg during this session even when I drank nearly 2 litres along the way and had a Gatorade and Slurpee post run. It showed the importance of being hydrated during these endurance events - not only during the sessions but pre and post session too.

This weekend will be a slight change of plans as I am doing the Big Bay Swim (from Port Melbourne - Williamstown 3.2km) and will be doing my own 30km run from my house. Will try to do the remainder of the Ironman route towards St Kilda from Mentone (via Black Rock). Actually looking forward to it!

33 Days until Ironman Melbourne!

Weekly Reflection 11/02 - 17/02

Favourite session of the week: Wednesday swim with Coach Ryan. I don't usually do the swim at MSAC on a Wednesday night. As I needed a good sleep in after Tuesday pm windtrainer and Thursday am was set as a sleep in, I changed my session to the Wed for a nice change. Ryan had the iPad there and took a short video of my stroke and showed me where I needed to improve - this included crossing my left arm over my body when I breathe out of the right side.

Least favourite session of the week: This is not a session that I hated or even disliked but today (Sunday 17th) - I did my longest, hardest and hottest run to date. It was difficult and it hurt but I learnt some valuable lessons from this training session which I will write about in the next few days. It was a tough day in the training office.

Advice of the week: You will learn something about yourself during every training session - some lessons are not pretty but turn those around into a positive for your next session (learn from your mistakes).

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Another Build week coming up (more training sessions) and we have an info session on Wednesday night regarding nutrition. Looking forward to tuning my nutrition strategy for the big day.

Photos from the Geelong Long Course

Just purchased some photos from the Geelong Long Course race from FINISHERPIX

Swim - Bike - Run (used Instaframes)



Swim

T1


Out of T1



BIKE

RUN

Finished - 6:01

A change of training plan!

Last night, the Coaches decided to start introducing the long OW swim and long run combo starting this Sunday. Coach Sarah will arrange for someone to take my place for this weekend's Nissan Corporate Triathlon. I was looking forward to do this triathlon but I know that the long swim and the run from Frankston to Sandy will be more beneficial for me for the big race.

We will be arranging some sort of car pooling thing - this weekend, I will be driving my car (and giving people lifts) down to Frankston then will need help in giving me a lift down to Frankston to pick up my car. I am a pretty slow runner so I don't know how that will be done - either someone patient can wait for me to finish or I will just run to my house and then ride down to Frankston (??) or I will catch a train back down to Frankston from Mentone. But if I am to be driving people down for their run, I will also have their bags with me in my car. I guess things should work out at the end.

Can't wait for this weekend's training - 150km ride with 4km off the bike on Saturday, 2-3km swim followed by a 28km run from Frankston to Sandringham on the Sunday! Things are starting to become real about doing an event longer than a half ironman. This weekend will also give me a chance to use my new hydration belt that I bought from the expo too. One flask will have coke and I am going to train with salt tablets and water (3 flasks) instead of shotz hydration mix.

I love the fact that I am excited about training and ticking off my victories (albeit some are small) in my program.

39 days left until Ironman Melbourne.

Geelong Long Course Weekend - (Not) The Race Report

This is NOT the race report (as the heading of this post suggest) - if you want to read that - it is under this link

Friday

I went to Geelong on the Friday after an easy swim session followed by breakfast, a massage and a quick nap. I had never been so under prepared (in packing) for a race ever! I usually have all my gear packed and ready to go a few nights prior but as this was just another weekend with the family (with a long training day thrown in on the Sunday), I just threw into the car what I needed to race in and some spare clothes.

As I drove along the highway into Geelong, I realised that I forgot to bring/buy several things but because I was so relaxed about it, I just thought to myself "Meh, I will live" - things included in this train of thought was my multi-tool (to tighten up any screws on race morning), electrical tape, pit stop, spare tubes and cylinders, my pump, my arm warmers (just incase the morning was freezing and I would need to put them on in the race) and spare socks (to be used on the Saturday). I also brought my little dog Lucy with me as she enjoys spending time with my family and I can't bare to leave her by herself for more than a night.

Saturday

Saturday was short re-con of the ride, run and optional swim or a 90km ride to Portarlington and back for the Ironman guys. I opted for just the short ride as I needed to see a bike shop for someone to help me with my wheels. Due to the deep rims (HED 6 and 9), I had extension valves put on and they were too tight and so I couldn't unscrew them out and the valve on the back wheel had actually turned down shut so I wasn't able to pump much air into it.

After watching the Enticer and the Special Kids triathlon (my friend Lidia did the race with her son Julian who attends Port Phillip Special School), I headed to the bike shop on Malop St. The bike shop helped out as the mechanic was someone whom I had dealt with in Melbourne and he fixed it for me - phew!

I was no longer worried that I wasn't able to let air out of the tyres when I checked my bike in as I was advised that with my clinchers, 110psi would be ok to be left overnight. That was pretty much the only drama I had on the weekend which would have affected my race if I had a flat and I would not be able to change the valve over.

Time came around to check in (we received a Geelong Multisport Backpack with a small towel along with our race kits) and we also checked out the Expo. A bought a few things that day, this included:

• Peanut Butter Gu (to try out during training, not the race)
• Nathan 4 bottle hydration belt
• A Rocket Science crop top which I wore under my tri suit (tried something new on race day but luckily it worked ok)
• Electrical Tape to hold things down on the bike

Sunday

RACE DAY

Most of what we had for Dinner

After the race, I went to the stage area where they announced podium places for the Olympic Distance triathlon. A few Tri Alliance members got placings which was a proud moment for the club. I then walked back to the transition area where I took my bike out of transition and then headed back home. I called my mum early so she could help me buy bags of ice and to fill up the bathtub in advanced.

I sat in the icebath for 15min and that helped immensly. As it was Chinese New Year and The Canadian's bday the next day, I asked my mum if we could have people over for dinner and luckily (and I love my mum for this) she happily and excitedly agreed and we had a nice banquet of dumplings, wontons, salad and chicken. We also ended the evening with a nice homemade (non baked) cheesecake for dessert (and bday). I didn't/couldn't rest after the race due to too much caffeine in my system. This is why I don't consume caffeine during my long rides as I really need my nap to recover.

Monday

I had little to no sleep on Sunday due to restless legs (again!) but had a small sleep in until 9am before driving back to Melbourne just after 12pm. I had a massage appointment booked in at 3pm and it has helped with my recovery. I then had a session to take for the Nissan corporate triathlon group where we did a run/ride session (within 45min). The corporate triathlon is on this weekend and it is exciting to see new athletes trying out this sport. Its been a privilege to help them out and teaching them what they need to do to complete their first triathlon.

That was  a short summary of my Geelong weekend with a Long Course event thrown in.

40 days until the big event! This week is recovery week which includes the following sessions:
Tuesday pm - windtrainer (active recovery session) and stretch
Wednesday am - pool swim
Thursday pm - SBR combo
Friday am - pool swim
Saturday - Long (early) ride and run off bike then go to Elwood for bike check in
Sunday - Corporate Tri and (fingers crossed) a 10km+ run 2-3km OWS at Frankston, 28km run from Frankston - Sandringham.

Ticking the boxes.

Geelong Long Course - The Race Report

"Treat it as your last Long Brick training day before Ironman Melbourne" was the advice given to the Ironman Melbourne Group by the Head Coaches and this was the strategy I went with for the entire weekend.

Swim - 39:38 (43/49)

My swim wave (F 18-34) went off at the same time as the M18-29. As always, I started on the shore about 3/4 of the way back as I am still not the strongest swimmer and this would minimise people swimming over me as much as I could in the first 50m or so. When the gun went off, I actually found myself swimming through groups (same as Shepparton). I tried as much as I could to not swim over people and would swim on either side, I still haven't found enough aggression during this phase of the race yet.

Around the 1.2km mark was where the wave behind me caught up and because they are the stronger swimmers of that wave, they were also more aggressive. Because I was not as stressed about this race, I reacted very calmly when I was kicked in the cheeks, gauged at the googles, grabbed on the legs and punched on the head. I just kept swimming - what else could I do, it is not like they really could stop and apologised or let me swim ahead of them, I just kept swimming. I did stop twice to check that my timing chip was still on my ankle as my Rocket Science band is too big and the strap was nearly coming off. I swam at my comfortable Ironman pace as per the coach's advice. I knew I could swim faster but I needed to keep my pace. One thing I did differently compared to Shepparton was that I kicked less during the main part of the swim which helped on my bike leg. I came out of the water at 39:38 which is about a 2min PB on Shepparton.

Nutrition - 1 gel & half bottle of Gatorade 15min before start.

T1 - 3:10 (24/49)

Coming out of the water and into T1, I felt great, I looked down at my watch and I knew I had swam at a faster time and when the watch still had a 3 in front (instead of 40+min) I was ecstatic. I decided to race without socks and without an extra pair of knicks. The Elite Tri Suit I just received (Rocket Science) had some padding in it and I found the 2 knicks scenario very uncomfortable during Shepparton. I had some gels taped onto my bike this time around too as I found the 2 gel flask on the back of my trisuit quite heavy and hard to handle. I decided to put the shoes on during T1 and ran out clip-clopping as I wasn't confident enough riding up the hill without having my feet in the shoes.

Bike - 3:09:25 (42/49)

Photo taken by my Mum

The ride up the hill was not as bad as I expected. I did drop a gel but luckily I had taped on extra. I accidentally threw the empty gel packet to the side of the road, this is very unlike me (I always tuck it somewhere) and the sight of gel packets on the side of the road really pisses me off. As I did this, a TO was standing right there and saw it, my stomach turned as I thought I was going to get a DNQ or a warning was going to be given but nothing happened (at the end) but the thought of my first warning played on my mind. Never doing that consciously again!

To be honest, I enjoyed the bike course much better than Shepparton as I didn't get bored. The challenges of the undulated course followed by sharp turns and even sharper U-turns made the course interesting. We had to then ride back into Eastern Beach and onto Western beach before having to ride up the short hill again out. The wind picked up on the 2nd lap of the ride (as always) but it didn't bother me. The difference between this ride and the one at Shepparton was that I actually rode past people. This could be due to the caliber of competitors at the Geelong race more than my own athletic ability but mentally, it was a positive. On the 2nd lap, I also introduced liquid foods (with protein) and I found that this helped to prevent bonking on the course and I rode past even more people towards T2.

When there was a head wind, I just found a good gear to stay on and just paid extra attention to my pedal stroke and repeated the line "J curve, J curve" over and over until the course would change direction or when I needed to take in nutrition (every 30min). The weather was not too hot which resulted in only 1 bottle of water consumed over 3 hours (not ideal) but this also meant that I didn't need to stop for any toilet breaks.

This was also the first long ride with the SRAM RED crankest (53/39 with a 165mm crank length) and I noticed the difference during the race. My hips were not as tight (seat height went up due to shorter crank length) and felt much better during the run.

The course was more trickier than Shepparton (riding through the park, undulated, sharp turns and U turns) but not as much head and cross winds - I rode it with about a 5min PB.

Nutrition - 5 gels, 1 bidon of water, 0.2 bidon (concentrated Shotz), 0.2 bidon of liquid food

T2 - 2:20 (36/49)

No fancy dismounts but I had my feet out of the shoes.

This is where I saw my mum on the side lines, she was proud as punch! T2 was interesting as I had to actually sit down to put on my socks for the run. Other than applying more Vaseline in the tricky areas, I just took my helmet off and that was it. I decided to run without a hat as I hadn't been training with one and I have started to find them slightly annoying.

Run - 2:06:51 (44/49)

Photo by Brianna Laugher

I ran past mum again and she was trying to wave me down for a photo - how cute. The run was interesting, undulated but fun. I didn't stop at all throughout the run and only slowed into a quick walk through the drink stations. I had a gel every 30min on the run and it came close to the timing of the drink stations. I introduced coke into my nutrition at the 10km mark and it made things much easier to deal with. No toilet stops on this race as I didn't drink too much on the bike course and only took small sips on the run. No electrolytes, lollies or bananas, just water (with gels) and coke. Some drink stations had coke which was not as degassed as others and I found myself burping whilst I ran - made for an interesting run to say the least.

At the 19km mark of the run was a bloody steep hill which we all had to conquer. I tried as hard as I could to lift my knees and activate my calves but the last 1/3 of the way up looked like a horse trot rather than a graceful run - oh well at least I didn't walk it. The last 1.5km I ran with someone from Shepparton Tri Club, I said to him "Lets do this last km well, its all we have to do today, nothing else" and he came along with me all the way to the finish line. We sprinted the last km like how Coach Greg taught me during our Sunday runs and ran across the line with everything I had. I made sure I zipped up my tri-suit and took my sunglasses off and sprinted to the end.

Nutrition - 4 gels, water and coke 

I paid little attention to my Garmin watch the entire race - I only looked at it once after the swim, once during the run as I knew I was way off my 6min/km pace (was hovering at 6:30min/km at that point) and at the finish line.

My Stats:

Total time 6:01:26
941 out of a total of 1077 finishers
158 out of a total of 206 for 30-34
44 out of a total of 49 for Females (30-34)

Swim - 39:38 @ 2.88km/h
Bike - 3:09:25 @ 28.51km/h, 2:10min/km
Run - 2:06:51 @ 9.98km/h, 6:01min/km

Weekly Reflection 04/02 - 10/02

Favorite session of the week: This is undecided between Thursday AM interval run session with Coach Greg - we ran the 15km by 3 x (5km of drills, efforts and race pace). It is also great to absorb as much tips & advice from Coach Greg during these sessions. The other session would definitely be my Geelong Long Course Race/brick training session.

Least favourite session of the week: Tuesday AM run session - due to my heavy legs from Sunday's 26km (no massage could be booked on a Monday am), the 14km run session became a painful 10km trot around the lake.

Advice of the week: Listen to your body - when your body needs to be repaired, it will go into shut down mode. Learn the distinguish between recovery due to fatigue and being plain lazy. No one crosses the finish line being lazy.

Things I’m looking forward to next week:

• Active recovery sessions
• A few sleep ins
• A chance to reflect on the Geelong Long Course race and adjust for Ironman
• Nissan corporate Tri on Sunday 17th

Leading up to Geelong Long Course

Today is my last day of work for the week. I have annual leave from Friday through to Monday. I am heading off to Geelong tomorrow (post swim-breakfast-massage-nap-pack) planning on arriving around 3pm.

This race is not branded as a Ironman 70.3 but the distances are nearly identical - 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21km run (rather than 21.1km). - more like 70.2-something (miles).

My preparations for Geelong Long Course have been a mixture of good and not-so-good. To be honest (and I have posted about this before) because my A race is Ironman Melbourne, I haven't really wrapped my brain around the fact that I am going to be doing my 2nd half Ironman (distance) triathlon in 3 more days! My training has been going along smoothly, ticking off 90% of the boxes and my health is still good. Often we are too concentrated on the fitness side to triathlon training that it can sometimes impact on our health (getting sick as a result) - luckily, the body is still holding up. I haven't been working too much on my speed but hoping that the fitness I have from Ironman training will translate to some form of speed for this weekend.

We will have a small training session on Saturday morning - for some reason, the Ironman group will be starting our session at 6am(?!). We will be riding somewhere between 30-45km, run around 5km and then swim maybe 500m-1km and all within an hour (?!) Maths is probably not Ollie's strength. Expo opens at 8am but check-in and bike compound doesn't open until 12pm and 1pm respectively. It's going to be a long day of hanging around.

We received our training program late last week and by the looks of things, we have some recovery sessions next week - a sleep in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday! YESSSSSS!!

I have also put my hand up to be part of the Nissan Corporate Triathlon Team on the 17th Feb for Tri Alliance. I spoke to Coach Greg about this and he has given me the A-OK. If I want to (or feel like it), I can do a 10km run too later in the day but it's not important. The triathlon should take just over an hour to do. Last two years have been duathlons and I completed the race in 53min. I have also been allocated as Team Captain so I will need to be there to pick up the kit on Saturday so our bikes can be prepped (with stickers) and checked in.

Not sure what will be on offer at the Geelong Expo - I need to buy a new helmet. My helmet is still the one I had when I fell off my bike (with concussion) - needs to be replaced. Haven't seen one which I like or can afford yet.

Geelong Long Course - 3 Days
Nissan Triathlon - 10 Days
Big Bay Swim - 17 Days
Ironman Melbourne - 45 Days

Weekly Reflection

I stumbled on a triathlon blog through the twittersphere last week - it is one from a triathlete named Eric Engel - http://ironmandiary.com/

He writes his entries in on a weekly basis - it starts out writing about a perspective of triathlon, then a weekly summary and it ends it with the following questions:

Favorite workout of the week:
Least favorite workout of the week:
Advice of the week:
Thing I’m looking forward to next week:

It is a great idea to add to a triathlon diary as it makes you reflect on the week's training and also makes you think (positively) about next week's training. I am shamelessly going to steal this idea and add it to my blog too. Not sure how much of a contribution it will be as I only have 5 weeks left until my big race and I already answer these questions amongst my regular posts but doesn't hurt to try something new.

So lets kick things off with 28/01 - 03/02

Favorite session of the week: My long endurance run session. It was my longest run distance to date (being 26km) and I ran 90% of it solo, had my nutrition down to a T, used coke with no hassles and loved every step of it even in the rain.

Least favourite session of the week: I wouldn't call it much of a session but due to cramps, I wasn't able to do my interval runs on the Tuesday morning. So it was my least favourite workout as it was one which I didn't do.

My Family

Advice of the week: Don't think of the long distances (of the program) as something impossible or scary. Just get out there and enjoy it - it can be achieved, its on a program for a reason. Trust the program.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am looking forward to the Geelong Long Course on Sunday 10th Feb. It will be my 2nd attempt at a half ironman distance and looking forward to correcting some of my mistakes of Shepparton. I also get to spend a few nights in Geelong with the family (mum and my little brother Sam). Dad is in Malaysia at the moment and Kai is living and working in Dubai. 

Beyond MY Comfort Zone

I feel the need for this blog entry the same way I wrote about my training leading up to my first Half Ironman (Shep 2012).

Over the last weekend (2nd and 3rd Feb 2013), I rode and ran the longest distances to date and I am absolutely amazed - not only at my own abilities to do this but everyone else who is going through this journey with me (within and outside of Tri Alliance).

On the Ironman First Timer program, Coach Ollie has set the distances of both the rides and runs to be progressively longer each weekend. The rides are increased by 10km and the runs are increased by 2km every weekend (exc race weekends).

On Saturday, I started from home again at 4am (this is my 4th time doing so) and with no fox attacks to report - phew! The program had Up to 10km of hill climbing as part of 160km ride but I wouldn't reach Rye as I would have done 45km prior to meeting the group at 6am. Coach Sarah advised that I could do hill repeats of Humphries instead which I did (2 of them). I rode 157km (program was 160km, I miscalculated my turn around point). I felt really good after the ride as I had my nutrition down pat. I have also started to play around with how I would tape my gels on my bike as I am no able to do so on the top tube (too short and my knees will scratch the gels). I also wore the tri shoes with no socks and I am pleased to report that it was ok - no blisters. I didn't have too much time for recovery (20min nap) and went to Sandringham oval to take the Tips and Tricks info session with Bdette.

I am a massive believer in supporting the Tri Alliance squad when I am not racing. Some people don't do this - it is their choice but I believe in "Playing it Forward" with support.  I have only missed out on being at 2 races within the 3+ years I have been with the squad. I spoke to Coach Greg about the possibility of training early at Sandy which gives us the opportunity to support rather than training out at Fairfield at 8am. We decided to run 2 run sessions - one at 6am and one at 8am. I was there for the 6am session and did my 26km run along Beach Rd. Coincidently, the distance between Sandringham oval and Mordialloc is 13km! This made the calculation of my run distance very easy.

I decided to run with my Fuel Belt rather than my Nathan hydration belt as it has 4 bottles rather than 2. I wanted to train with Coke in one of the bottles. I had my Garmin programed to alert every 2km and 300Cal. 2 km due to the drink stations at Melbourne Ironman and 300Cal for the time to take gels. The timing of the 2 alerts were close enough to each other than I am able to take in nutrition when I am close enough to the drink stations. I started on the coke with 6km left on the run (sipping every 2km) and this got me through morning.

The rain poured down around Mentone for about 30min so about 5+km was done in the pouring rain, 15km+ was through a slight shower. I ended up taking my socks off and placed it down my top as they were soaked through and felt like I ran with lead feet. I felt my back tightend up during the run which I had to stop and stretch out, I think it was probably one of the very few times I actually stopped running due to pain.

Usually, I would be in my ice bath after a long run but last weekend, I stayed on my feet and supported our amazing squad. We had so many people who raced last weekend - some doing their first ever triathlon, others completed their first Olympic Distance whilst others had a cracker of a hit-out prior to one of their main races next week (Geelong OD). We had so many people podium and others achieving their absolute personal best. I am so proud of them all.

When the day's event finished, I stayed around to help the bosses unpack the Race Tent which takes up to 1.5 hours to complete. I then bought a couple of bags of ice and a slurpee (the temp soared whilst we unpacked) and soaked my legs for 15min.

I have noticed recently that after a long run on a Sunday, my legs are extremly restless and this disturbs my sleep. Tossing and turning - very frustrating! I am grateful however that they are feeling OK today - slightly tight but no niggles to report.

Next weekend's program is slightly altered as I will be racing the Geelong Long Course. I am looking forward to riding and running beyond 160km and 26km respectively. I am loving this feeling - that I am doing something which is beyond my comfort zone. Every week, I will continue to take on the challenges and fingers crossed that I tick off the distances of the program.

I am asked almost on a daily basis - "How is your Ironman training going?" I always respond with, "Ticking off the boxes" but with a smile on my face - its a good thing!

New Boy - George

On Saturday, after my 6 hour bike ride - 160km (actually, it was 157km, I miscalculated my turn around point), I headed to Sandringham oval as I was rostered on to help out with the Tips & Tricks info session that Tri Alliance does the day before every Gatorade Triathlon Race.

Normally after my long rides (which have been starting at 4am in the morning), I fall into a sleep coma for about 2-3 hours. This particular weekend, Coach Sarah asked me to help out. It meant no naps but plenty of caffeine during training and a strong coffee after training to stay awake.

Electrolyte (caffeinated) drink in one hand and the course maps in the other, I helped out with the Info session followed by the course walk through with the Olympic and Sprint distance athletes. It was this race 3 years ago which lead me to sign up with Tri Alliance. It was the race which I nearly drowned in the open water (no wetsuit, fun distance of 250m).

After the session I decided to go to Jellybean Bikes as they had a Scratch and Dent sale on their run-out frame stock. There are no dent faults on the frames available, just paint imperfections which they were not able to sell off as their standard orders. I picked up a new bike using some of the Bday money which my parents gave me a month ago. I named this bike George as I chose to have masculine colours (blue and green coloured rims on wheels) and with the brown saddle and handlebars, it appeared like a gentleman.

Why this bike? I have always wanted a fun single speed bike to ride around and possibly use as a commuter if I don't want to use my old roadie (Squeeky).

I already have a semi-single speed bike - it was a road bike converted into a single speed using the rear derailleur as a tensioner. Rather than using all of my B'day money to pay the bills, I wanted to spend it on something which I love and I love George.

There are a few things which I will change about George in the coming months:

• Replace the head stem with a shorter and straight one (the current one is stupidly heavy and one which is on an angle) - my reach is further than I am comfortable with and I don't need it to be so high.
• Replace brakes to ones which are more reliable
• Replace pedals to have flat on one side and MTB cleats on the other so I have the option to use cleats if I use it as a commuter (my commute has hills and around 35km each way)
• Somehow fit a drink bottle holder on...

Shepparton 70.3 - 2013 Entry Confirmed



Locked it in. 17th November 2013. Both Entry and Accomodationpaid for.

Goal time 5:50 - Bring it!

Geelong LC - Getting familiar with you....

Monday 28th Jan was a public holiday for all of Australia as the 2013 Australia Day fell on a weekend. I decided to spend some of the long weekend (post Sunday's run session) at Geelong with the family and do a short course reconnaissance on the Monday with a few Tri Alliance and ETPA friends.

Having done the Geelong Olympic Distance last year, I remembered the course being not as flat as I liked. My OD time for Geelong was about 10min slower than Noosa but this was also attributed to a longer swim course and a wet (therefore careful) ride.

It was also the maiden voyage of my race wheels which took 9 weeks to arrive. I also researched into cassette sizes to put on these wheels and opted for 11-25 as I already had 11-26. Having 2 different size cassettes gave me the ability to swap them around if I needed to. I had the cassette tightened on the race wheels on Saturday so it was ready to rock and roll.

We did about a 35km loop without riding into the salt marshes of Point Henry Rd but we did ride up (and down) the hill. Due to my long run on Sunday, I had restless legs on Sunday night and they still refused to play nice on Monday. The ride along the course was not the best and I was clearly struggling. It was only a supposed to be a nice and cruisey re-con ride and I was building up lactic acid too soon, too often in the legs and was not able to keep up.

We then rode through the run course on the way back into Eastern Beach before changing into our run gear for a quick trot around the park. We only did a 3km run (I trotted/jogged/walked) but every elevation (especially the incline) could be felt - I was not having a great day. I do hope that I will have fresh legs for the race in about 1.5 weeks, if not, this event will be a very long and painful day.

Whilst I was packing my bike into my car prior to the run, I noticed the grease had come out of the hubs on the back (race)wheel - hope that this is just the excess grease removing itself from the hub otherwise, it will be a very annoying process of getting it sorted with the wheel distributor.

Due to the Sailing Festival at Geelong that day, we could not do a swim re-con as the boats were in the path of the course. We would not be able to swim in a straight line and it would be unsafe for us to be swimming amongst them We just ended up swimming about 700m around the Swimming Enclosure. There was so much seaweed and spiky things along the sea bed that all of us refrained from touching the bottom as much as we could which made for a funny end to our training day as we were laughing so much.

We will hear more from the coaches about how the Ironman Melbourne group tackle the Geelong weekend - what our tapering and recovery strategy will be (if any). This is not our A race but we need to manage our bodies so it is in tip-top condition for Ironman.

I opted out of the Tuesday am run due to abdominal pains but continued with the 90min intense windtrainer session on Tuesday pm (burnt over 1000Cals). This morning was a 90min pool swim and will be doing a quick (about 1km-1.5km) OWS prior to coaching some of the Try the Tri and Nissan Corporate Triathlon athletes this evening. Thursday will be a double session (am Run, pm SB Combo), Friday am Swim before spending some long hours on the saddle on Saturday. We are still sorting out logistics for Sunday - plan A is to do our usual long run at Fairfield at 8am or plan B - run at Sandringham early (say 6am) prior to supporting the Sandringham Olympic Distance tri.

The Highs and Lows

It has been said that the hardest part of the Ironman Journey is the actual training and the highs and lows you will experience along the way. No doubt about it, training for the Ironman (or any long course-multi sport event) is tough. Whoever said that training is a piece of cake in my opinion, is not doing it right or they have much assistance along the way (not having to juggle full time work, family and have plenty of outside assistance).
I know for a fact that personally, I will (and have) experienced both highs and lows so far in this journey and sometimes, this can (and has) occurred over a 24 hour period.

Warning, the following will include female issues, if you feel uncomfortable, jump to ***
In addition to training for an Ironman, issues relating to my female monthly body works have played a havoc on me since I increased my training load over the last 10 months to long course.
I had never really had much of an issue with these since it started but the impacts of it have sometimes become more unbearable on certain times of the month. I have started to take note on my energy levels, performance, pain threshold as well as recovery times and I have noticed patterns and how they impact one another.

On good days, I find that my (training) pain threshold have been higher and able to push through sessions at greater intensity and for a longer duration in time. On bad days, I find simple things like being on the bike, very uncomfortable on my core muscles, hips and lower back. On these days, I still do the session but I may cut it short or lower the intensity. On really really bad days, I just jump on the windtrainer as I am able to stop (safely) and manage the pain away from the general public. In addition, I have also started to manage the pain with medication but only as a last resort.

***On Saturday, I had on my program, a 140km ride. As it was recovery week, the distance was slightly shorter than the previous. I started my ride once again at 4am from my house, riding towards Mordialloc and then up towards Port Melbourne prior to meeting the group at North Rd, Brighton at 6am. As much as people think I am crazy to be starting my ride so early in the morning, I actually enjoy it immensely:

• No large pelotons on the road (yet) to ride dangerously past me or yell out for me to get out of their way
• No egos to deal with
• Barely any cars on the road, less stress
• I am able to ride solo and work on my own tempo, pace and technique

Early morning rides are nice but I had a little shock to my system when a fox charged at me around Ricketts Point after I turned around at Mordialloc. As I rode along, I could see the fox from about 500m away, it was running towards me and at the last minute, it decided to leap upwards at me with its mouth opened (I could see teeth). Luckily, I somehow anticipated that it was going to do something like that and swerved my bike wide towards the right (onto the oncoming lane) and only narrowly missed it. Luckily no cars were around at that time in the morning or else it would have been a visit to the hospital.

By the time I met up with the group at 6am, I had already completed 50km. For a 140km, the ride would be with the group (until I get dropped - this happens everytime) and then turn the bike around Mt Eliza way. Due to my body not feeling 100%, I turned around at Frankston BP and made my trip home. My 140km ride became 115km. The rest of the day was spent in bed with a heat pack on my hips. This was a low day but I did what I could.

Sunday's program was a 24km endurance run at Fairfield/Studley Park with Coach Greg. Sunday runs had become one of my favorite sessions as I could see improvements in my running abilities. I have not missed this session since I started in June 2012 unless it was a non-coached or it was race weekend.

We did our usual 5km warm up run around Fairfield Park. I will usually start out running with the group but I tend to drop back as I am not able to keep up with the main group's warm up run pace (which is around 5min/km - I am slow).  I like to think of it as doing the group a favour - they get to have a little rest prior to me catching up with them to be brief by Coach Greg about the day's main set.

Instead of a standard 18-19km of endurance running (of which 50% of it must be faster than marathon pace as per program), Coach Greg made it into a Fartlek set at which our on is done at our faster than marathon pace and the recovery part was running at recovery pace back towards Greg and then start again.

Greg asked me what my marathon run pace (plan) was for Ironman. I honestly told him that I would be lucky if I could hold  under 7min/km pace on the day. He laughed and said that I should be able to do much better and so he set my on pace at 5:30min/km for 2km. He then mixed it up and for some parts of the set, I was asked to do 5:10 for 1km and then 6min/km for 3km. The set was not an easy one but I enjoyed it. It pushed me through my pain threshold and set a new benchmark in my speed and endurance limits. This run session was a success - a high. Next Sunday's run will be increased to 26km which will be my longest run (in a single session) to date.

After the run, it was a 15min soak in icy water in the bathtub at the same time, drinking my Optimizer for my recovery nutrition which has been working for me for the last few months. I have been routinely buying my 2 bags of ice in Clifton Hill on the way home from the run as cold water from the tap is not cold enough for any relief.

My legs and hips are currently still feeling the effects of Sunday and dealing with the other issues (prior to ***). I think I must schedule a massage on a Monday morning on a regular basis (until I finish my Ironman) so I am able to carry on the next week's training without any hiccups.