Year 2012 in Review

My last 8 days of 2012 were quite good training wise. Even though I did nothing on Christmas Day, I still managed 17.5 hours of training including 5.1km swimming, 352km cycling and 36km of running.

Elaine took rest days on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but still managed 2km swimming, 176km cycling and 25km running between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve (about 11 hours of training in 6 days).

Despite what looks to be a heavy training load, being off work meant the week actually felt quite relaxing. It is amazing the difference you feel when you remove the stress from your daily job.

Below are my training stats. 2012 ended up being my biggest year ever. Not only in total training hours and sessions logged, but the biggest in each individual discipline as well. Hopefully this bodes well for the upcoming Summer events.

OVERALL SESSIONS

2012 - 409 hours (377 sessions)
2011 - 305 hours (304 sessions)
2010 - 318 hours (293 sessions)
2009 - 264 hours (225 sessions)

SWIMMING

2012 - 246 km, 98 hours, 108 swims
2011 - 144 km, 60 hours, 70 swims
2010 - 138 km
2009 - 144 km
2008 - 145 km
2007 - 193 km
2006 - 136 km
2005 - 128 km

CYCLING

2012 - 5,326 km, 191 hours, 86 rides
2011 - 4,469 km, 167 hours, 101 rides
2010 - 4,585 km, 173 hours, 95 rides
2009 - 4,117 km, 166 hours, 95 rides
2008 - 3,651 km
2007 - 3,752 km
2006 - 3,731 km
2005 - 2,785 km

RUNNING

2012 - 1,179 km, 116 hours, 161 runs
2011 - 841 km, 78 hours, 117 runs
2010 - 927 km, 91 hours, 142 runs
2009 - 1,023 km, 97 hours, 116 runs
2008 - 655 km
2007 - 1,029 km
2006 - 869 km
2005 - 830 km

Ben Griffin Classic

This is a ride put on by the Bayside Triathlon Club. Ben Griffin is a member of said club, although I'm not sure how the ride ended up with his name. It started at the Clocktower in Black Rock at 6am, travelled up to Sorrento and then back to Black Rock (154km in total). Along the way there were 4 King of Mountain (KOM) sections and 6 Sprints including the finish line at the top of the Ricketts Point hill (sort of halfway between a KOM and a sprint). Each Sprint and KOM not only had a finish, but also a start so that you couldn't steal points with a breakaway - if you weren't amongst the peleton at the start point, you were disqualified. Only the first 3 across the Sprint or KOM finishing line scored points.
Getting to the start line (20kms away) by 6am on Christmas Eve was always going to be a big ask. So instead I left my house at 6:15am and headed off towards Black Rock until I saw the pack approaching (a convenient excuse to get out of riding the full 150+km). I intended to travel a fair distance and get in a good warmup before joining the ride, but the headwind was ferocious and I ended up crawling along at 15kph. Somewhere between BonBeach and Chelsea I saw the pack approach (at least 70 riders big) and I u-turned and joined in about mid pack.

Seaford Sprint

The first Sprint started at the Safeway traffic lights (Seaford Rd) and ended at the next pedestrian lights (about 1km away). Less than an ideal warmup, but at least I would be fresh. Once we crossed the start line the pace picked up. I hung 20 riders back not wanting to go too early. About half way I saw a couple of riders make their move towards the front and I decided to follow. Unfortunately they were able to slot in to position near the front leaving me exposed in the wind. Without any coverage (ie. no drafting advantage) I decided I'd just make my move early and sprinted as hard as I could. Initially I gained about 10 metres, but the pack quickly regained my wheel. However nobody else took the lead, so I kept on sprinting as hard as I could. For I few seconds I started to believe that the riders behind didn't have the legs to pass and that I could be in for the win, but with only 20 metres or so to go, 4 or 5 riders surged past. This was probably the worst result for me - all the effort and no points.

Oliver's Hill KOM

The first King of the Mountain (KOM) climb was only 3 or 4 kilometres after the sprint. It is very steep, but being only 600m long it is more of a power rider's climb so not ideally suited to me. Despite this and the recent sprint effort, I decided to attack it anyway. As we crossed the start line I was in about 5th wheel - perfect position. A small lead bunch pushed the pace on the approach to the hill. As we hit the first steep section the bunch slowed, so I went wide and accelerated, immediately building a nice gap out front. I climbed with confidence until another rider in red zipped past incredibly fast. Glancing behind I could see my gap to the pack was growing, but this other rider in red was just a class above. Roughly three quarters of the way up the steep gradient gets even steeper and the hurt starts to really set in, even the Red Rider looked to be struggling. Unfortunately the pack behind me was now starting to make ground, so I had to start digging deep. Lots of negative thoughts started to enter my mind and I had to fight an overwhelming urge to give up, but then the Red Rider stopped his effort. Unlike me he hadn't studied the course notes and didn't know the KOM finish line was not until the true top of the hill. The possibility of winning the KOM filled me with new found energy and I surged past the Red Rider to take the KOM by a clear margin. In fact the Red Rider ended up only scoring third place as young Matt (who had been chasing me) also managed to pass before the crossing the line. This was my best ever effort up Oliver's Hill, averaging 27kph.

Balcombe Hill KOM

Not surprisingly I now felt really stuffed, but there was over 10km before the next KOM to try and recover. Balcombe hill is not as steep as Oliver's, but lasts 2.4km so I always figured this climb would suit me better. The start line was at the top of a smaller, preceding hill and my strategy was to surprise the peleton and explode down the hill to gain a lead before the actual climb started. Sadly my brilliant plan was spoilt with a badly timed red light at the start line. Lacking imagination I persisted with my original plan. Predictably I hit the bottom of the climb with several riders on my wheel. Still believing the climb suited me, I charged up the hill only the see the Red Rider fly past once again. A couple of other riders also passed by, but their charge was too hard, too early and I re-passed them just after the half way mark. I was now in second place and was slowly reeling in the Red Rider, although he had established quite a gap. Unfortunately I hadn't dropped all the others off my wheel and with 100m or so to go Clint (head coach) and another rider (who we'll refer to as the 'Black Rider') pulled out and immediately pulled away. Having dropped out of a points position I lost any incentive to push further and young Matt passed me as I cruised the remaining distance. I ended up cresting the hill in 5th position which was disappointing, but even though I backed off at the end, it was still my best ever effort up that climb.

Dromana Sprint

Naturally the peleton gets very strung out at each Sprint and KOM point, so we soft pedal until everyone is back together. After Balcombe hill, young Matt and I ended up at the front - not the best position, because you are doing all the work against the wind whilst everyone else enjoys the benefit of the draft behind you. Despite his young years, Matt showed more experience and cunning than me and managed to slip back through the pack and was replaced by South African Kevin. Kevin was riding well and was keen to contest all the points, but sadly was even greener than me when it came to tactics. Being new to Melbourne (and Australia), he wasn't familiar with the area. Oliver's Hill finished much quicker than he expected and he was one of the riders who went too hard and early on Balcombe hill (longer than he expected). So I was explaining the exact location of the next Sprint - starts at the Dromana Drive-In and ends under the freeway overpass. Unfortunately being at the front of the pack was to our disadvantage and when the Sprint effort went past, the immediate gap it obtained was too much to make up, so we didn't even try. On the plus side, we were no longer at the front of the peleton. As we continued onto Sorrento, I managed to have a nice chat with a friend of Peter's and mine called Rob. He has qualified and raced the Hawaii Ironman for the last 6 years, so Peter and I usually refer to him as 'The Legend'. However having had a hernia operation only 4 weeks ago, 'The Legend' was taking it easy and not contesting any of the Sprints or KOMS, just an easy 154km ride (he'd ridden 150km the day before as well).

Sorrento Sprint

The Sorrento Sprint was a tricky one. Nepean Hwy does a sharp left turn and goes up a hill (about 150m or so) to the shopping centre. The sprint ended at the top of this hill where the shopping centre started. I wasn't really fussed about trying to contest this one, but as we got closer my enthusiasm sparked and I found myself in a good position 100m before the turn. Another rider Sean, make a break and I immediately jumped on his wheel. Frustratingly Sean didn't take the sharp corner as fast as I would have liked which slowed me a little. With this slight loss of momentum I was now in way too bigger gear on the hill and in my haste mucked up the gear change by going down too many gears. I was still in front half way up the hill but the moment I thought I was a chance, Clint and both the Red and Black riders flew passed. Out of the points again, I eased up for the rest of the hill as numerous other riders sped past. We stopped at the shopping centre for a toilet break and to refill our water bottles, plus it provided an opportunity for all riders to regroup back together.

Bradford Rd KOM

Bradford Rd is a detour off the Mt Martha Esplanade. The Esplanade is a winding and undulating road overlooking a picturesque bay - one of my favourite places to ride. But it keeps experiencing landslides and the latest issue has had the road closed off for the last 6 months. Unlike the Esplanade, Bradford Rd is featureless and seems to go straight up - not one of my favourites.
The KOM started from the turn off and ended at the top of the hill where it meets Hearns Rd. South African Kevin, still coming to grips with the rules of the ride, took off before the official start point and charged off creating a big gap before we reached the start of the climb - making him ineligible for points. Not that it mattered, cos again he underestimated the hill and went out way too hard, so I passed him about a quarter of the way up.
I was following my usual tactic of going hard from the start to try and generate a gap, but I could tell two riders were holding onto my wheel and I knew one of them was the Red Rider. The other rider was a triathlete called Tom who often races in the Elite category. Knowing that I wasn't going to drop these two, I eased off a little to try and save some energy for the second half of the climb. About half way Tom made a move off the front quickly countered by the Red Rider. They were way too fast for me, so I moved into survival mode to try and maintain my third place.
The second half of the climb contains a nasty pinch (ie. really steep section). Glancing behind I could see another club member Andrew making ground on me. I know Andrew rides with a compact crank, so he was always going to do this section better than me (34/28 compared to my 39/25). As he passed, I could see he was really hurting, maybe even more than me. This gave me new confidence and as soon as the gradient eased off a little, I charged back and regained 3rd place which I was then able to hold for the rest of the climb. It was easily my best effort up this climb and I've moved into 2nd place for the climb on Strava.

Beleura Hill KOM

Beleura Hill is the last KOM of the ride. It is short like Oliver's Hill, but is even steeper, probably the steepest gradient of the whole ride. After Bradford Rd I was really feeling fatigued and I very much doubted I would be able to contest another KOM, but decided to try anyway.
The starting point for this KOM was the round-a-bout at Main St, Mornington. I positioned myself very near the front and when Tom launched a huge attack at the round-a-bout I was able to go with him. We immediately pulled a 50m gap and I was sitting on Tom's wheel suddenly feeling confident again.
The first part is mostly downhill. Then the road gradually inclines up before an extremely nasty last 100m. My initial thought was that I'd conserve energy sitting behind Tom and then pass him at the end to take the KOM and overall King of the Mountains title. In hindsight I should have taken the lead and helped maintain the gap over the others. As we hit the bottom of the nasty incline, I looked behind to see the Red and Black riders on an almighty charge. Tom saw this too and immediately kicked, but my legs had nothing left. Red and Black passed me halfway up (I was barely moving) and then continued on in chase of Tom. Tom managed to just hold on in front of the Black Rider. The Red Rider gave up the chase and struggled the last bit of the climb. If I hadn't given up once they passed me, I could have stolen 3rd place back off the Red Rider, but instead I finished 4th with no points and the Red Rider had won the King of the Mountains classification.

Seaford Sprint

On the way back we stopped at the Frankston BP. Another toilet stop and another chance to regroup and refill water bottles. By this stage I had finished my two Infinit bottles and had also eaten a gel washed down with water.
The start of the Seaford Sprint was only about 2km after the BP, so there wasn't much time to get into a good position. Unfortunately I found myself further back than I'd like and then unable to move up further due to passing traffic.
Once I found a gap in the cars, the move off the front had already happened, but I decided to chase after them anyway. Using Infinit nutrition seems to provide a very constant supply of fuel and you don't experience the highs and lows you often get with gels. But the last nutrition I'd had was a gel and I was definitely feeling the high now. Even though the front guys had gapped me, I was reeling them in. Just not quite quick enough. The Red Rider won (again) followed by the Black Rider, Clint, Tom and I was half a wheel further back.

Parkdale and Finish Sprints

After the Seaford Sprint I was feeling really good and would have loved to contest the last two Sprints. Especially as there were no start points after Mordialloc, it was just flat out for the last 7km or so. But as I approached my house I'd already ridden 123km - longest so far this season. Riding the last 20km to the finish line would also mean riding an extra 20km to get back home and I'd already consumed all my nutrition. More importantly, my daughters had spent the morning doing there open water swim training (in very rough conditions) and were due home right about now.
So I made the wise decision to drop out of the ride and go home. Elaine and the girls drove down the driveway just as I was opening the front door.
I haven't had a clear answer yet, but I think it was the Black Rider than won the finish sprint - and therefore the overall race. The Red Rider won both the Sprint and KOM classifications. Although I didn't do as well as I hoped, it was only because better riders turned up on the day. Overall I was very pleased with my efforts and it was one of the most enjoyable rides I've ever done.

Merry Christmas

It's the Sunday before Christmas and the 2nd day of my 11 day break from work - 3 public holidays and 3 days forced annual leave mixed in amongst 2 weekends. My first real holiday (other than long weekends) since starting my new job 10 months ago and I'm really enjoying the time off, especially since the first 4 days are being spent with my kids.

Training has been going well with only one blemish last Sunday. I was feeling a little fatigued after the 18.5km run the day before. The first half hour was spent battling a headwind that was gradually getting nasty. And then the heavens opened up and I was suddenly drenched. Realising I was not really enjoying this training session, I turned out and rode home, resulting in my planned 4.5 hour ride only last 60 minutes. Elaine's missed a few more sessions, but managed a long run of 16km on Thursday and a 60km ride yesterday.

Tomorrow morning is a special Bayside Triathlon Club Event called the Ben Griffin Classic - 154km ride with Sprint and KOM points. This will be similar to the Bayside Classic event I did in August - where I scored 3rd overall in the King of the Mountain (KOM) classification. Four months later I'm in much better condition, but the ride is an extra 34km longer and long distance is not my friend. The toughest climb (and my best chance for good points) from the August ride - Arthur's Seat, is not used in this ride. Instead we will do Bradford Rd - a climb I don't particularly like and it will be much further into the ride so I'll be pretty stuffed by then. But that's the course so I can't complain and yesterday I climbed Balcombe Hill 20 seconds faster than I did in the August, so this will be the hill I'll put most of my focus into.

As expected when training starts to ramp up, I've got lots of aches and pains. Of particular concern is my knee, back and very tight hamstrings. However I have no actual injuries, so I should be grateful. My friend Peter (his blog) has been suffering chronic achilles problems for the last 4 or 5 months (not long after he signed up for Ironman Melbourne - his first Ironman). Another Ironman virgin is Mark who I have been coaching since April. Training went remarkably well until a slight hamstring strain in November suffered during a basketball (not part of his training program). Luckily the soreness went away quickly and training was back on track until he got sick last week and then yesterday hurt his achilles playing golf (again not part of his program). One of the hardest aspects of Ironman training is getting to the start line. Hopefully both Peter and Mark will recover soon.

North Road Ride

Every morning from Monday to Friday, cyclists meet at the corner of North Rd and Nepean Hwy for a fast bunch ride that departs at exactly 6:00am. The ride up Nepean Hwy from North Rd to Mordialloc is the warm up - about 15km averaging low to mid thirties. However if the pack gets split by traffic lights, everyone in the rear half sprints to re-join. Once through the round-a-bout at Mordialloc it is full speed back down Beach Rd to St Kilda (about 20km averaging mid forties). Tuesdays and Thursdays are extremely fast rides, whereas the other days are just fast. There is also a marginally slower ride that departs from the same location 15 minutes earlier.

I always loved this ride. The fast section down Beach Rd (which is almost devoid of traffic lights) really tests your top end speed (and generally going really fast is always a lot of fun). Triathlon training typically does not develop top end speed on the bike (not many bike sprints in a Triathlon) and I had not done this ride for nearly 2 years. In past seasons I would usually get dropped on the first few rides until I became accustomed to the sudden changes in speed. So I was quite interested to see how I would fare.

As I drove past the starting point, I saw the 5:45am group leave and wondered whether I should have been in that group instead. After finding a nearby parking spot, I got my bike out and managed a 5 minute warm up ride before joining the 60 or so other riders gathered at the start. As the sun lifts above the horizon, the gathered riders quietly chat in small groups. Less confident riders wait towards the back, whereas the more experienced thread their way through to the front. Without any audible signal, the group slowly rolls out at exactly 6am. With most riders now having GPS bike computers, everybody's time is automatically synced via the satellites.

With 60 or more cyclists riding two a breast, the pack stretches out for close to a 100m long. Any changes of speed at the front generates an accordion affect on the pack, amplifying the speed change to those riding at the back. Obviously it is better to ride towards the front, but with everybody having the same idea this is easier said than done. Rather than fight for a good position, I usually end up at the back. Even if I start towards the front, I often find myself shuffled back as other riders sneak in front of me. The other problem of being at the back of a large pack is being chopped off by traffic lights - very common when the pack is so long. Sometimes the warm up feels like the fastest part of the ride if you keep having to sprint to rejoin the pack.

The pack leaders were being kind to us this morning (not always the case) and whenever the pack was split, they maintained an easy pace allowing us to rejoin without too much difficulty. Unfortunately myself and one other rider got chopped off at the lights about 3km from the turnaround (there were probably 5 other riders who ran the red light). The pack was travelling at an easy pace just ahead, but rather than sprint to catch up, I decided to cut across onto Beach Rd about 500m before the turnaround - so now I was ahead of the pack. It is easy to rejoin the pack as it passes. I often take this short cut anyway, rather than risk being cut off at the round-a-bout. Once the pack hits full speed, it is almost impossible to catch back up.

As mentioned earlier, Wednesday mornings are not one of the extremely fast days. The average speed for the Beach Rd section was only 43kph - partly due to a headwind and bad run with the few traffic lights that exist on Beach Rd (including being stopped at pedestrian lights). My heart rate was hitting 174bpm (very high for me on the bike) during the fast patches (top speed 57kph), but I never felt like I was going to be dropped. In previous years I often felt like I was on the ragged edge for the entire ride and would be completely shattered by the end. Today's ride tested my limits, but never really threatened to exceed them and I still felt relatively good by the end. It would have been good to see power figures for this ride, but unfortunately my power meter has been sent back for repair (or warranty replacement).

Last season's Ironman training appears to have improved my cycling (which was already my strength). Having a knee injury meant I couldn't run much, or do any speed or hills on the bike - so instead I simply logged lots of bike mileage at medium speed on flat roads. So far this season my bike mileage has been significantly down, but nearly all the rides have been hilly or fast (cos these rides are more fun). The key now is to maintain my current cycling form and speed, but add endurance in preparation for the two and half hour Half Ironman bike leg (90km).

Eight and a Half Weeks to Go

I've pulled up reasonably well from my 5km Fun Run effort. In truth I often find the short, fast runs are sometimes less stressful on my body, because my running form tends to be better when I run fast. Unfortunately my knees have not really improved and feel a little worse after a visit to the zoo on Sunday. Elaine also has a sore knee after falling 200m before the end of her long run on Sunday morning.

Elaine and I are into the 4th week of our 12 week program for Geelong - I'm racing the Half Ironman and Elaine is doing the Olympic Distance. So far we have both managed to complete nearly all the scheduled sessions, with only a couple of recovery runs being missed. However Elaine is struggling with a lack of sleep which is affecting the quality of some of her sessions. An improvement in time management skills would see her getting to bed earlier, something that is very important when the training load increases.

Tonight I'll be doing my first John Van Wisse open water swim session of the season and tomorrow morning Elaine and I will do our first mid-week Velodrome session. Hopefully we'll both get an early night. The weekend will start with us both attempting our longest run of the season (18km for me, 15km for Elaine), followed by a long ride on Sunday (130km for me, 60km for Elaine). If all goes to plan it will be a 13 hour week for me and 10 hours for Elaine - biggest week of the season so far for both of us.

Emma & Toms 5km Christmas Fun Run

On Wednesday night I competed in a 5km Fun Run at Albert Park Lake (site of the Melbourne Grand Prix). There were 3 reasons I chose this race to try and set a 5km PB time. Having missed the weekend's triathlon due to social commitments, a race 3 days later fitted nicely into my original training schedule. Being a weekday meant I would not lose a valuable weekend of training and lastly the Albert Park Lake track runs around a lake and is therefore completely flat. Unfortunately what I didn't count on was a very windy day with gusts up to 52kph on a running track that is very exposed to the wind.

I like setting 2 goals, an achievable goal and a dream goal. My achievable goal was to break 19 minutes for the 5km (3m48s pace) and my dream goal was a finish time of 18m30s (3m42s pace). I had run 18m30s a couple of times on the first legs of Duathlons that start with a 5km run, but they were always measured a little short and using the average pace from my Garmin GPS watch they usually equated to a flat 19 minute 5km time. So any time under 19 minutes would be a personal best (PB).

As we assembled on the start line I tried to assess the surrounding talent. There were several athletes who whilst not strutting, somehow conveyed a belief in their own speed. But the minutes leading up to a race are never short of delusion, so only time would tell. Disappointingly I saw a fellow triathete who I knew to be faster than me (and in my age group). I told him he should be doing the 10km race (on the logic that anyone faster than me should've been doing the 10km). He replied that he actually signed up for the 10km, but because it started 30 minutes later (and was a longer race), he thought he'd get home too late so switched to the 5km instead (pathetic excuse). After a little deliberation I positioned myself 3 deep from the start line. Close enough to the front to not get caught behind slow runners, but far enough back to avoid the initial stampede. A little concerning was the fact that the 20 minute pace runners had positioned themselves in front of me (remembering I was aiming at sub 19). Designated pace runners are designed to run at a specific speed (ie. 4 min pace for a 20 minute finish), allowing other competitors to run next to them (pace off them) and achieve goal times.

When the gun sounded, I was expecting a stampede, but instead it was like the surrounding runners had been shot out of cannon. Usain Bolt's start in the 100m would have looked slow by comparison. By the time I had moved 20m, the leaders were already 30m ahead and at this point GPS statistics showed I was running at 2m59s pace. Having been sucked into a slightly faster start than I wanted, I concentrated on quickly finding a reasonable pace to settle into. Luckily I found my rhythm early, but by this time there were close to 40 runners ahead of me, including the two 20 minute pace runners. The field started to string out and I slowly picked off runners one by one. It took me until the 1km mark to catch the 20 minute pace guys and as my watched beeped with my 1km split of 3m37s, I explained to the pace runners that they were definitely running too fast. Looking a little embarrased they slowed their speed and dropped back.

The 2nd kilometre contained the dog leg required to extend the lap of the lake to 5 kilometres. This dog leg contained 4 sharp 90 degree corners and a tight u-turn, all of which upset my speed and rhythm. However being early in the race I recovered well, but it slowed the 2nd kilometre split to 3m45s. Combined with the faster first split I was still on target for my dream goal of 18m30s.

At the start of the 3rd kilometre I looked in disbelief at some of the runners who were still ahead of me - I started to doubt how well I was running. This worry soon disappeared once a vicious headwind took all my attention. Even though I was feeling relatively good, the wind was ruining my rhythm and I was now struggling to hold 4 minute pace. This continued for 500m or so util we turned around the top of the lake and the wind became a tailwind - now I was flying. Overall my 3rd kilometre time split was 3m46s. Not too bad considering, but I think the difficulty into the headwind had a signficant affect on my race.

Up till this point I hadn't looked at my heart rate and I was a little concerned to discover it was sitting at 178bpm. So now I was trying to relax in the hope of lowering my heart rate, whilst still maintaining a good speed and dealing with a cross wind that was becoming more and more gusty. I had caught and passed most of the competitors who had gone out too hard. There were 2 runners left who were trying to stay with me, but they both dropped off before the 4km mark. This left me running by myself with a small group containing my fellow triathlete about 40m ahead, the leaders had long disappeared out of sight. It would seem the self belief exuding from those athletes was more than backed up with running talent after all.

As alluded to earlier, there were 2 races distances on offer - a 5km and 10km race, consisting of 1 and 2 laps respectively. I realized the race distance was not going to be overly accurate when the 4km and 9km markers were spaced about 50m apart. Having passed the 4km mark, I now had less and a kilometre to run, but the wind gusts (and high heart rate) had done their damage and it had become very difficult to maintain good running form. This situation became much worse when the track looped around the bottom of the lake and we hit the full force of the wind head on. I was really struggling now and I could hear the two runners behind starting to make back ground. I wasn't overly concerned with my placing in the race. I knew prizes were only handed out to the first 3 across the line and there were at least 10 runners ahead of me. But the possibility of being passed somehow allowed me to find something extra and as soon as I upped the pace slightly I immediately sensed the threat from behind disappear.

As I approached the finish chute I could see the race clock was still under 19 minutes. Another final surge of energy saw me cross the finish line in 18m55s, 12th place overall and 4th place in the M40-49 category. At first I was a little disappointed in just scraping under 19 minutes. However checking my watch afterwards I discovered the distance was 5.06km (60 metres long) and that I actually covered 5km in 18m45s, so this is the time I am regarding as my new 5km PB!

Overall I'm pretty happy with my race. My kilometre splits were 3m37s, 3m45s, 3m46s, 3m42s & 3m53s. Without the wind and the sharp corners in the dog leg, I believe I could easily realise my dream goal of 18m30s. But then again, everybody would do better on an ideal course in ideal conditions, it just doesn't happen very often.

The Mushy Middle

In defiance of Thursday's heat (mercury hit 39 celcius), I still managed a good training day with a 16km morning run followed by a 61km ride and then an easy swim. In the afternoon I did another 6km run and 500m bay swim. However Friday morning's swim didn't go as well. We arrived very late meaning I missed the warmup which resulted in me hurting my back in the first set (butterfly). I struggled on for a while, but without without the warmup and probably a little fatigue from Thursday I never got into the session and ended up hopping out after only 1.8km - very disappointing.

The Saturday Brick session with the Triathlon Club was always going to be the key session for the week. With this in mind I eased off my efforts in the preceding days - only ran 6.9 on Tuesday and cut back Thursday's planned 18km to 16km. This caution seemed to pay off, as although I felt a little stiff, it was probably the best I've felt in a few weeks thanks to a lot of stretching and foam roller sessions.

The Brick session was a 100km Ride followed by a 10km Run. We rode to Mt Martha with 30 minute efforts (race pace) followed by 10 minutes of recovery, repeating for the whole ride. Well at least that was the plan, I ended up riding the whole way back at race pace until the last 5km when my legs finally gave up. I'm not worried about not staying strong for the entire ride. It is still early in my preparation and I have plenty of time to build up my endurance.

At the beginning of the run my legs understandably felt quite heavy. I used the first kilometre as warmup, running at 5 min pace and the legs quickly loosened up. In between a 1km warmup and 1km cooldown, the plan was to run at 4m30s pace (per km) which I believe is a good Half Ironman pace (about a 1h35m Half Marathon). The problem is I rarely run at this pace, so I have no feeling or natural rhythm for this speed. As a result I found myself either running too fast or too slow. Most of the time I was too fast and even though it felt very comfortable at the time, my heart rate would slowly creep up. Around 155bpm is roughly the heart rate I will am aiming for, but by the 6km mark it was 165bpm. Once the heart rate is up it is very difficult to get it back down unless you slow down significantly, so I decided to drop into cooldown mode and make it a 7km run instead.

Most of my run training falls into 2 categories - Slow or Fast. The majority of my runs are slow (around 5m20s pace) with occasional recovery runs that are even slower. When I do speed sessions (I've only done 5 this season) I run the efforts between 3m30s and 3m40s pace. The slow pace running builds aerobic endurance and allows you to build run mileage with reduced chance of injury and better recovery between sessions. Whereas the fast running builds speed and improves your body's ability to manage oxygen debt, but takes more recovery and is more susceptible to injury. In between these two speeds is often referred to as the Mushy Middle. This middle speed pace is too fast to improve your aerobic threshold (because you are not running aerobically) and too slow to get speed improvements. So the Mushy Middle tires you out quicker than slow running, contains more risk of injury, requires more recovery time, limits your ability to build mileage and provides less training benefit.

The exception to my fast or slow run training pace is when I do brick sessions (bike & run). The run off the bike will usually be done at race pace. My early season brick sessions were targetted at the Sprint distance, so fast running (sub 4 min pace). Last season I was targetting Ironman pace, so slow running. Now is the first time in 2 years that I am targetting Half Ironman pace (4m30s pace), so this speed has become unnatural to me.

I've only completed 2 Half Ironman's and both times struggled at the end of the run leg. I believe the key to solving this problem is more run mileage and more brick sessions to practice run pace. Next time I'll set a HR alert at 160bpm which will hopefully help me discover a good rhythm around 4m30s pace.