Race Simulation

Our Triathlon Club ran a Race Simulation Day, a Clayton's race if you like. There was Long Course and Short Course wave start, transitions (including bike racks) and an aid station on both the bike and run course. However there were no road closures, we had to obey all traffic rules, there was no timing and no prizes. In fact you were free to draft, cut the course, how you participated was completely up to you.

Mark, Peter and I were doing the long course, while Elaine would be taking the short course option. Peter swam the full 3km distance, I swam 2.5km and Mark did 1.9 - we all finished the swim fairly close together. I was originally planning to do the full 3km distance (5 loops), but started to fatigue so decided 2.5km was plently when I was only training for a 1.9km swim. Mark did the shorter 1.9km (3 loops) on my suggestion because I wanted him to finish the swim amongst (or just ahead of) the main group and he has already done several long rides off a 3km swim. He found another athlete to draft off for most of the swim and was very happy with his effort. As expected Peter blitzed through the swim with no concerns at all.

The short course event started an hour later, so Elaine was still preparing for her 1.2km swim when we headed out on the bike. Peter and I were planning to ride 120km, and Mark would ride for 4 hours (which ended up being 103km). While Peter and Mark practised their Ironman pacing, I would be riding at Half Ironman pace (about 40 watts harder than Peter), however I managed to get stopped by every single set of lights between Sandringham and Mt Martha, so Peter was never very far behind. It was a fairly nasty headwind for the first 45km to Mt Martha. Combined with the constant stopping at lights I never really found a rhythm. As a result it was difficult to keep my power at the target of 240 watts and my heart rate was generally sitting in the mid 130's - which is Ironman effort (I was expecting something closer to 150bpm). Coming back we had a tailwind that certainly made the ride more enjoyable (and much faster), but I still got stopped at most lights and only had a few small periods where I fell into a nice constant rhythm. The ride stats show my best 20 minute effort was 234 watts, a little disappointing when I wanted to average 240 watts for the entire ride of nearly 3 hours. Part of the problem is that I have no feel for this in-between pace. It feels easy at the start and then gradually gets more difficult as the ride progresses until it is a real effort towards the end.


My total ride time ended up be 2h53m. I would love to say this is the fastest 120km I have ever ridden, but the truth is I only did 92km on the bike. On the trip back to the clubrooms I was deciding where I would ride to make up the extra 28km. But as I got closer, my knee starting hurting and I could feel saddle sores beginning to emerge. My target race in 2 weeks time only has a 90km bike leg, and giving in to these extremely convenient excuses I pulled into transition to start my run leg. Fortunately Ironman training instills a stronger will and both Peter and Mark avoided temptation and completed their full distances. Elaine was also very good and after completing her 1.2km swim, she rode 52km as instructed.


I'm getting better at finding and holding 4m30s pace (per km) on the run, but despite a softer than intended bike leg, my run pace dropped to 4m40s pace in the fifth kilometre, before I reverted to cooldown pace in the last kilometre of my 6km run. This is frustrating, but I didn't feel at my best for the whole day. This week was supposed to be a big training week, yet I missed 2 swim sessions due to a sore neck (and general tiredness), skipped a recovery run and then shortened the swim and bike legs of the Race Simulation. So my planned 15 hour week ended up being only 10 hours of training. Somewhat disappointing as it feels like I've lost some of the momentum I had leading into the last Sprint race. Hopefully next week will be much better on the training front, before I start my taper.

Peter, Mark and Elaine also did 6km runs off the bike. Elaine looked to be running very well when I saw her. Mark was feeling so good he had to hold back to stop from running too fast and Peter finished the entire session without any achilles issues - which is absolutely fantastic news.

XOSIZE Triathlon, Elwood

This was one of two 'A' races for the season, the other being Geelong in just under 3 weeks time. Elwood was our Club Championships, but more importantly a Selection Race to qualify for the Australian team at the Age Group World Championships in London.

Conditions were close to perfect. Early morning temperature was around 16 to 17 degrees celsius, not cold or hot, just a perfect temperature for racing. The water was very flat, warm (but still cool enough for a wetsuit), no current and unusually clear for Elwood. I believe the water quality in this area has improved significantly over the last couple of years and I saw lots of fish during my warmup swim. On my warmup ride there was a definite headwind coming back from Port Melbourne, but it wasn't too bad and it also meant a nice tailwind on the outbound section.

All up there were 62 Bayside members racing the Sprint distance (and several others doing the mini). We had our own club wave start, so it was very much a race amongst the club members. As I only breathe to my right (when swimming), at the start line I lined up towards the left so that I'd maintain a good view of the other athletes whilst swimming. As you would guess there was a massive charge into the water as soon as the starting horn went off.

During the initial wading and porpoising I deliberately hang back a metre or so whilst I size up the best location to slot into. I want to try and draft off a smaller pack containing swimmers who look relaxed and avoid those over exerting themselves with arms flying everywhere. I found a good pair of toes to follow, but quickly discovered there was competition for this location. A swimmer on my left kept pushing into me - we were both trying to draft off the same person. As I breathe to my right, I was being blindsided by these attacks and eventually lost my draft after 200m or so. However it seems this first 200m was enough to clear away from the main pack and although I didn't realise it at the time, I was now swimming towards the front of the pack. The rest of the swim felt very easy, I found a good rhythm and just concentrated on technique and swimming straight. Out of the 62 Bayside competitors, I was 11th out of the water in 13m02s which included the run to transition (before we ran over the timing mat). So actual swimming time for the 750m would be closer to 12m30s - this would equate to 1m40s per 100m which is a touch slower than I'd like, but the swims are usually measured long. Considering I outswam numerous athletes from the fast lane at swim squad (I swim in the medium lane), I was extremely happy with my swim, especially since it felt quite easy.

Last race in November, my transitions were terrible, so I had been doing a little practise in this area. Of particular concern was getting the wetsuit off quickly. This time I remembered the paw paw cream on the inside (ankles and knees) and the hair conditioner on the outside of the wetsuit to facilitate it slipping off over itself. Whilst still far from perfect, my wetsuit removal was vastly improved from the previous race. In my haste for a quick time, I forgot to grab my sunnies for the bike ride. My initial urge was to run back (about 50m) to get them, but I quickly decided this would be a waste of time and I would not really miss them on the bike. After all, Olympic Gold Medallist Alistair Brownlee does not bother with sunglasses on the bike. My T1 split was 61 seconds, 6th fastest in the club and only 10 seconds slower than Ray (who had the fastest transition time).

My pre-race plan was to hammer the bike (play to my strength). Luckily my power meter arrived back after a warranty repair and was fitted to my bike on the Friday before the race. I decided to be ambitious and aim to hold power between 300 and 320 watts. Once on the bike after a flying mount (which I had practiced 20 or 30 times at the velodrome the day before) I was feeling really good. After 30 seconds I glanced down at the bike computer and saw a power figure of over 400 watts - way too high. I immediately dropped it back to around 310, but I could feel a little sting had already been taken out of my legs, hopefully I wasn't going to pay too badly for this little rush of blood. As expected heading out was very fast with the tail wind and coming back into the headwind was a little more difficult, but I rode to power and felt comfortable for the whole ride. Worried that I may have overdone the bike, I eased off a little in the last 5km back into the headwind, but overall I was extremely happy with my effort on the bike. The official bike split that includes running out and back into transition was 30m48s, but the actual riding time recorded on my bike computer was 29m34s for 20.1km at 40.9kph. My fastest ever bike split beating my previous best at the last race in November at Mordialloc. For the first time ever my bike split was faster than head coach Clint's, but President Adam beat me by 18 seconds.

On the bike I had passed several club members including Dale, young Matt and Ray. Unfortunately Ray sped back past just after the dismount line. I've never seen anyone race through transition so fast, as he screams out at people to make room as he comes through. After the race Ray asked if I followed through the gap he created, but I replied that there was no way I'd be able to keep up with him. My transition was reasonably good (and I remembered to grab my sunnies this time), but as I started the run leg, Ray was already well out of sight. My T2 split of 84 seconds was 4th fastest, but 18 seconds slower than Ray.

When running through transition my calf muscles had felt very tight. So once on the run I concentrated only being loose and the muscles quickly began to feel better. Some people struggle in the first 500m off the bike, but not me - my first kilometre off the bike is nearly always my fastest. Even after my best ever bike split, Strava shows I ran the first 400m at 3m37s pace (mins per km) and it actually felt slow. After a few glances at the pace being shown on my watch, I applied the brakes and reverted to 3m50s pace, which is something closer to what I'd be able to maintain for the full 5km. I saw Clint coming back the other way as I approached the half way turn point. I knew Clint would be leading but was quite surprised that he was not further ahead. Not far behind Clint was Ray and he was looking great. At this point I thought Ray was going to cause a huge upset and take the win. There were not many competitors between Ray and myself and I studied each one carefully and did not recognise anybody from the club - so it was possible I was now in third place. Once I made the u-turn I saw young Matt running with Adam and they seemed to be very close behind. Even worse, Dale was only a little further back and looked to be running very well. Up til now I'd been under the false illusion that my bike split had created a nice gap, but this cushion was disappearing and now everything depended upon the last 2km of the run. Concentrating on technique I was able to maintain my rhythm and speed until the end and crossed the line without being passed. My run split was 19m23s for 5km, again my best ever run off the bike and 8th fastest in the club.

At the finish line, Clint and Ray confirmed that I had finished in 3rd place. After seeing Ray closing in at the turn point, Clint had finished strongly to hold off Ray by 16 seconds. Dale had managed to run past both Adam and Matt and finished in 4th, 16 seconds behind me. Adam was another 10 seconds adrift, 5 seconds ahead of Matt. I never expected to finish so high up but some of the fast members (Swanny, Sean, Andrew, Darren & Griff) didn't race. However you can only race who turns up and I'm sure my effort would have seen me beat at least some of the above mentioned names.

Like me, Elaine was mentally tuned in for this race and it showed in her results. She swam well, pushed hard on the bike and had one of her best runs in while. Elaine was very pleased to beat quite a few other club members and even more excited to come 2nd in her age group. 2nd place means lots of selection points for London and pretty much guarantees her a place in the team.

I only managed 6th place in my age group. However I'll be in the next age group for London, and my selection points are based on my relative position within this older category. My time was faster than anybody else in category above, so my selection points should represent me as winning the age group!

It is now just under 3 weeks until our Geelong races. We both pulled up well and feel ready for 10 or so days of hard training before starting our taper.

Neither Mark nor Peter raced at Elwood as they both concentrate on their Ironman preparation. Mark has been churning out some killer sessions, whilst Peter's achilles injury is showing definite signs of improvement.

Ready to Race

After feeling very run down after 3 big weeks of training, I've eased off this week and now feel ready to race. Which is lucky seeing as the Sprint Triathlon at Elwood is this Sunday. This race will be our Club Championships (our Triathlon Club gets its own wave start) and a Selection Race for the Age Group World Championships in London. I'm currently in the M40-44 Age Group, but because London will be raced next season, I'll be trying to qualify for the M45-49 category - hopefully an easier task.

All my training so far has been with two specific races in mind - Geelong 70.3 in Feb and Elwood this weekend. Geelong (1.9/90/21.1) will be a test of endurance lasting over four and half hours (hopefully less than five). Whereas as the shorter Elwood triathlon (0.75/20/5) should take a little over an hour - short enough to feel like an actual race (as opposed to just trying to finish).

Due to the club wave, I won't be starting with the others in my age group, so instead I'll focus on racing those in my Triathlon Club. Apparently there will be 53 starters in our wave (male and female). Head coach Clint is the obvious favourite for first across the line. In the females Hayley will be favourite, but will get some stiff competition from Sarah if she decides to race.

My first aim is to try and beat Hayley. She is a much faster swimmer than me, easily my equal on the run and unfortunately for me not far behind me in cycling ability. The next (and more difficult) targets are Ray, Andrew, Swannie & Griff. They are all much faster runners than me, but their swimming is equal or only marginally better. My only hope is to match them on the swim and build a 2 minute gap on the bike - both these tasks are very big asks and even if achieved will still not guarantee me victory. In truth it will be a small miracle if a even get close to any of them, but sometimes you have to aim big.

There are several other athletes who will finish somewhere between Clint and myself. Whilst I'm a faster cyclist than most of them, their swim advantage will outweigh any time I might pull back on the bike and I haven't got the running ability to chase down any of the top guys. There are also numerous members who will be nipping at my heals including President Adam, Dale, Martin and Young Matt. Not to mention a few others that I haven't raced against recently like Fishboy and Hayley's husband Adam.

With so many other members to race against (who are similar in speed), it should be exciting (and probably painful). Obviously I need to swim, bike and run fast, but my plan for the race is to push the bike very hard and risk blowing up on the run. Cycling is my strength and I'll need to exploit this to its fullest if I want a good result. In the short sprint race, blowing up will cost me less than a minute on the run leg. Combined with a 30 second faster bike split means a net loss of only 30 seconds, so worst case it should not cost me many (if any) qualification points. And of course if I don't blow up I'm 30 seconds better off - a worthwhile gamble. This theory does not work for the longer races.

My other focus for the race will be quick transitions. In my last Sprint Triathlon in November I had terrible transition splits - 45 seconds slower than Ray. So I'll be doing some secret transition practises before the weekend.

Mark's Ironman training is taking precedence, so he can't afford to take a weekend off to compete in a Sprint Tri at this point in his preparation. Peter would have usually raced (and done very well), but with the race ending with a fast 5km run, the risk of further injury to Achilles is high (however he has often made surprise appearances in similar circumstances in the past).

Elaine will be racing, but her focus will be more directed towards a good time rather than racing other individuals. However, even with her current back injury, I wouldn't be surprised if she knocks off a few people in the results.

Discovering My Limits

It all sounded good on paper, but predictably my body wasn't quite up to the task. My last 3 training weeks have been 15.5 hours, 13.5 hours and 13 hours. First week went very well and I hit every session. Second week I only missed Sunday's easy 2 hour ride as I recovered from Saturday's Mega Brick. But this week I cut 3 sessions short and skipped the last 2 due to a sore knee.

It started off very well and I was extremely happy with my 20km run Wednesday morning - longest run since Ironman. Thursday was an annual leave day from work to do a 140km ride. Perfect weather and the ride went well for the first 70km, but then fatigue set in and I found myself just pedalling for the sake of it. This sort of training wasn't doing me any good, so I cut the ride short at 100km. After lunch I fell asleep on the coach and ended up sleeping for most of the afternoon before dragging myself up to coach a swimming session in the bay. I was obviously more fatigued than I realised and I was hoping the big rest would set me up well for a weekend.

Something I discovered when getting my bike ready on Friday night was that my rear tire was completely flat. I'd obviously suffered a puncture during the Thursday ride and didn't notice - I'm sure this would have contributed to my bad feeling on the bike.

Head coach Clint had organised a big ride out at Tynong (past Pakenham). He'd mapped out 2 loops (48km and 22km) - all with left turns on flat country roads with no traffic lights and very little traffic. This would allow athletes to practise riding for long distances on the aero bars (race practice). Not doing Ironman, I didn't think I needed to do this ride. So I scheduled Mark to do it whilst I planned something more interesting for myself. Due to ending Thursday's ride short, I starting to reconsider my plans for Saturday. Both Elaine and I were umming and ahhing about what to do, until finally at about 10pm Friday night (after several beers and wine) we decided to ride at Tynong (which meant getting up at 5am).

After the initial shock of the early alarm Elaine and I arrived at Tynong in good spirits for the session. Elaine's plan was do 2 short loops (44km) and then a 15 min run while Mark and I would do 2 big loops followed by a short loop (120km in total) and a 15 minute run. After listening to instructions from Clint (that sounded pretty simple), we all set off together (although Clint stayed behind to deal with the late arrivals). Most of the athletes were training for Ironman, so my Half Ironman training pace saw me ride off the front. As it turns out I was the only one who understood the simple instructions and everybody else accidentally turned early (at Bunyip River Rd) and did the small loop by mistake.

Disappointingly I could not maintain my target Half Ironman pace and ended up resorting to Ironman pace instead. I felt slightly better on the second lap, but started to struggle in the last 10km - it was an easy decision to finish my ride at the end of the 2nd big loop (96km in total). About 3km from the end I saw a runner in triathlon gear and figured it was someone from our group, maybe one of the short course athletes who had done a smaller bike distance. I was very surprised when I realised it was Mark. He wasn't supposed to run until after he had ridden 120km and even then he was not supposed to run that far. My first thought was how could he have misunderstood my instructions so badly. When I got back to the car, Elaine told me his bike had broken. Mark later explained that a bolt had snapped on his aero bars sending him off the road. Luckily the country roads had grassy edges and he didn't suffer any injuries (or damage to the bike). He rode back to the car (holding the aero bar in place) and did a 15km run instead. A bummer for him to miss the session, but Mark has been training really well and I don't believe it will make any difference in the end (thanks to all his other training being so good).

Elaine's session went well. She's been suffering from a very bad back for the last 2 weeks which coincided with me lowering the front of her bike. Hoping this was not the problem, I left the handlebars in their lowered position and fortunately this did not irritate her back any further. Her back injury still exists, but it did not hinder her on the bike or the 15 min run.

I was trialling a new nutrition plan. I had Infinit (280 Cal, 66g Carbs) in my water bottle on the head stem and a 50% concentration of NAPALM (500 Cal, 120g Carb) in my Aero bottle. The NAPALM would need to be washed down with water, so I'd swap the Infinit bottle for plain water after the first lap. NAPALM only comes in one flavour - grape. At first I nearly gagged, but surprisingly got used to the taste after a while. At full concentration, I could get 1000 Cal and 240g of Carbs in the 600ml Aero bottle - that equates to around 3.5 hours worth of nutrition (would be very convenient for Ironman). It certainly simplifies the nutrition plan, but I'm still undecided whether or not I'll use it at Geelong - still time for more experimentation.

After my shortened ride I set out on my run. I was now feeling quite good, but unfortunately that feeling didn't extend to my knee. The patella injury (that I've now had for 16 months) was aching a little on the bike, but I didn't think too much about it. As soon as I started to run it was obvious that all was not well in the patella region and not wanting to risk further injury I cut the run short at only 200m. This not only ended my session, but also ruled out any training on the Sunday as I figured rest was the best way to finish off my big 3 weeks of training.

Hopefully the knee soreness is nothing serious and is simply a result of 3 weeks of hard work. Whilst disappointed I couldn't quite get in the full amount of training, I'm still very happy with what I ended up doing. I'm now looking forward to an easier week leading into the Sprint Race at Elwood next weekend.

Mega Brick

I've been looking forward to this session for a while, which is kind of like looking forward to a dentist appointment. You know it is going to be very painful but you're hoping the end result will be worth it.

The Mega Brick session was a one hour ride, followed by a 25 minute run - repeated 4 times. Allowing 5 minutes for the transitions in each set, this equates to a 6 hour session (4 hrs riding, 1h40m running & 20m transitions). The plan for both Mark and I was to do at least 3 repeats - we both ended up doing 4 rides, but skipped the last run. So it ended up being around 5 and half hours. Due to Elaine having the car, I used my ride to and from the club rooms as my first and last rides (almost an hour ride each). My running gear was left at the club rooms on Thursday night (and is still there after the session), so I didn't have to carry anything extra on these rides (I hate riding with a backpack).

All brick sessions are really good for testing pacing and nutrition. However during straight 4 hour ride I would loose concentration and my pacing would end up all over the place. Breaking it up into 4 x 1 hour rides allows me to remain focused and I also stay in close contact with all of the other club members. The group atmosphere is probably the highlight of this session. I didn't count, but we may have had nearly 50 members doing this session (with differing number of repeats). But as it was mainly based upon time, most people would transition together - minor chaos - but it definitely added to the group session feel. There is nothing quite like sharing the pain, especially when you can see it so obviously displayed on other club members' faces.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, my pacing was compromised by not having my power meter or heart rate monitor. So I only had speed to go by (I usually rely upon my power meter for pedalling cadence). During my last brick (described in the Mushy Middle blog post) I struggled to maintain my goal Half Ironman run pace of 4m30s per kilometre. The solution I came up with was to set a heart rate alert on my watch, but without heart rate this was obviously not going to happen. As the run pacing seemed the most important aspect of the session (ie. my weakness), I decided to ride on the harder side to really test the affect it would have on the run.

The official session started at the club rooms at 6am, you could start at 7:30am if you were doing less repeats. I had intended to leave home at the same time, but ended up heading off at 6:10am. With it being such a long session, I thought it would be wise to have a nice coffee before I left (to avoid the caffeine withdrawal headache). Leaving a little late would help me ride faster on the first bike leg, but even though I arrived at the club rooms in good time, I was still behind the main pack and it was almost impossible to find a spot to park my bike.

I took the first kilometre of the first run at 5 minute pace just to ease myself into things (didn't want to blow up too early). From there I found it fairly easy to sit just above 4m30s pace and was quite happy with my 5km run split of 23m15s. For the first time I was trialling a new nutrition product called Napalm (from Infinit) which I carried in a small 5oz running flask. The only flavour it comes in is grape and my initial mixture was too strong. So the first thing I did when I got back to the club rooms was add more water to the flask. I also tried to adjust the Cobb Max saddle I was riding for the first time. It needed to be dropped lower at the front, but the allen key I brought along with me was too small (correct size for my road bike), so I suffered another bike leg in pain.

I headed off with the main pack on the second bike leg and maintained a good effort throughout, averaging 35kph for the 30km, which was quite good considering the number of lights I was stopped at. Although not the 41 degrees celsius of the day before, it was still reasonably hot and very muggy, so the general populace was heading towards the beach (inconvenient for cyclists like me riding along Beach Rd). Even though I rode fairly hard I still felt great on the 2nd run averaging 4m27s pace for 6km (including 4m45s pace for the first kilometre which is mostly uphill). The watered down Napalm tasted better as well. However I kept spilling it over my hands which started sticking my fingers together. When I got back to the club rooms I was lucky enough to find someone else with an allen key and was able to adjust my seat (but the saddle sores had already appeared).

The third set was always going to be the ride/run of truth (could I handle it). Head coach Clint suggested another Rob (aka Fishboy), Ray and I do a longer bike leg on this set. I think I'm a marginally stronger cyclist than Ray, but Fishboy probably has an edge on me and he had race wheels and an aero helmet, so I knew this bike leg was going to be tough. About halfway through Fishboy pulled off to go home, which initially gave me relief, but within a kilometre or two I caught up with the main pack (who had skipped the extra 2km near the start). A wise man would have stayed with the pack, but I prefer to ride out front when I'm doing Bricks on my tri-bike, so I surged off. All the way back from Mordialloc to Sandringham I could see the shadow of a rider on my wheel. I figured it was Ray or Clint and wondered how many others were slotted in behind. When I slowed to undo my shoes at the Sandringham Football oval (just before our clubrooms) I discovered the rider was not part of our club - just a random rider drafting off me. And of course I had ridden this bike leg way too fast. The average speed was only 35kph for the 34km, but the wind had picked up and I'd been stopped at even more traffic lights as more people were crawling out of bed and heading to the beach (3 of my 5km splits were well over 38kph average).

I knew before I started that the last run was going to be ugly. My calf muscles felt like bricks and I was really starting to feel the heat. Not wanting the injure myself (at least that was the convenient excuse I came up with), I only ran 4km at 5min pace for the last run. It still meant that I ran 15km for the whole session which was my original target. It also highlighted that despite the bike being my strength, I still have to moderate my efforts if I want to run well in a Half Ironman.

After my last run, I sat on a chair outside the clubrooms, rehydrating myself and watching the carnage around me. Club members were arriving back from the 3rd run looking like death. Some of them were short course athletes who had only done 2 sets, but still looked wrecked. A lot were heading off for a dip in the bay (the clubrooms are on the beach), while Clint was trying unsuccessfully to convince the numerous Ironman virgins that they should do a fourth set.

Mark arrived back from his 3rd run, looking exhausted but still better than most. He decided he'd do a 4th ride but skip the last run. As the first half of the ride was the same as my trip home, I joined him on the bike. I'm usually a much better cyclist than Mark, but on this occasion I was so wrecked, I was struggling to keep up - a promising sign for Mark's Ironman prospects.

All Saturday afternoon I felt completely shattered. This morning I'm a bit better, but decided to skip any training and rest instead (or drink red wine like I'm doing now). My original program had a long run scheduled for tomorrow, but I think I need to completely rework next week's training program.

On a different topic, despite suffering terrible back pain all week, Elaine still managed a Personal Best time at the Portsea Classic 7.8km Fun Run on Saturday night. I had just enough energy to support her with the girls, however a fair bit of that time was spent lying on my back in the grass identifying different shapes in the clouds.

Controlling the Controllables

IMTalk is a weekly podcast produced by two New Zealand triathletes - John Newsom and Bevan James Eyles. Episode 341 released on Christmas Eve included 30 minutes of Bevan talking about Process. Essentially, rather than focus on the goal, focus on the processes required to reach that goal. He obviously goes into a lot more detail, including a Process Challenge to help you find the better version of yourself. But it was the idea of focusing on the process rather than the goal that struck a chord with me.

Putting processes into place is something I believe I do well, except I think about it as Controlling the Controllables. Doing training sessions by themselves is not enough. You also need a good night's sleep, a healthy diet, regular stretching, core strength exercises, foam roller and spikey ball sessions. On top of this you need to keep your bike(s) in good working condition, maintain stocks of sports nutrition and hydration and make sure your sports gear has been washed. However this is looking at things from a very simple level.

Anyone can say they need to follow a heathly diet, but how do you make that a reality. What happens when you get home late from training and just want to go to bed. Do you just eat a few pieces of toast, dial a pizza or pop into the McDonalds Drive-Thru on the way home? How you do manage a nutritious breakfast around morning training sessions? Elaine is a huge help in this matter, as most weekends she cooks up a storm to produce numerous healthy meals that we then put in the freezer (we're lucky to have 2 freezers). We have freshly cooked meals most nights, but we have a fall-back for whenever time is tight (we also have frozen lunches and breakfasts). Time management is another important factor. I usually always get all my sports gear ready the night before. This doesn't work if you start getting the gear ready late at night and end up with less sleep as a result.

The most important part of improving your processes is to identify factors that get in the way. Most people will complain that they don't have enough time - but how much TV do they watch. Everybody has their favourite shows, but how often do we sit in front of the telly for the sake of it - surely there are not that many people in the world who actually like Two and a Half Men. TV will not be everybody's problem, sometimes it will be playing computer games or social media (ie. reading this blog). People love to relax, but you will be far more relaxed if you know you've already got everything ready beforehand. In fact when a person executes good time management they will nearly always end up having more time available.

Another aspect is understanding your training program - not all training sessions are equal. I've seen athletes feel so good during their Thursday 10km run that they go for an extra 5km. This results in them pulling up sore and not being able to participate in the key training session on Saturday morning. This key session (that they have now missed) was probably a key requirement for them reaching their race goal. Luckily at the moment neither Elaine nor Mark (the 2 athletes I'm currently coaching) suffer from this problem (although Mark sometimes sneaks in Basketball and Golf games without my knowledge).

The real reason for this blog entry is describe my complete fail in regards to Controlling the Controllables. The Mega Brick session this Saturday was one of my key sessions (maybe the most key session of the season). Problems initially started with my crank based Power Meter not coming back from warranty repair in time (so my tri-bike had no cranks). Foreseeing this problem Elaine kindly took both my bikes to Cyclespeed to get the cranks from the road bike put on the tri-bike. But I still would not have a power meter which meant I could not pace the bike legs to wattage (major annoyance). Instead I would have to rely on heart rate for all my pacing. Stupidly I left my heart rate strap at work, but it wasn't a major problem because Elaine lent me one of hers. With Elaine not training Saturday morning due to resting for her Fun Run that night, I wouldn't be able to drive the car to training. Again foreseeing this issue, I left a bag containing all my running gear and extra nutrition bottles at the Triathlon Club rooms Thursday night (allowing me to ride to the session). Friday night I had my bike ready and all my gear laid out and I also got to bed early despite the heat wave continuing on into night.

Maybe it was the heat or just being tired from the first week back at work after Christmas, but my attention to detail the night before had not been good. I knew I was using a different heart rate strap, but didn't bother trying to pair it the night before. If I had of tried, I would have noticed my GPS watch had been left on (using up battery). In the morning it was below 50%, a worry considering I was about to embark on a training session that would last almost 6 hours. As I rode towards the clubrooms, I discovered the heart rate strap would not pair. I'm not sure why, but on the bike I obviously had no resources to investigate the problem. Had I tried this the night before, not only would I have had the manual and internet, I could have simply chosen to use Elaine's other heart rate strap. One of the main purposes of the Mega Brick training session was to dial in my pacing for the upcoming Half Ironman race - now I was doing the session with no Power Meter or Heart Rate.

Believe it or not, it got worse. This was the first time riding on the new Cobb Max saddle. I knew it would need minor adjustments as the session went on, so I made sure an allen key was packed in my saddle bag. But I didn't check that it matched the bolt on my seat post. While it works for my road bike, my tri bike needs a bigger allen key. Luckily one of the other club members had an allen key that worked, but by the time I fixed it - I already had saddles sores from the seat's previous position.

Obviously the Power Meter situation was out of my control. But the heart rate strap and allen issues were easily avoidable. The Mega Brick session was still a great session (I'll write another blog post about it), but it would have been much better with heart rate and a comfy seat.

Big Block of Training

I'm currently half way through my 3 week big block of training and everything is still on target (for me). Three big days in a row last weekend (60km hilly ride / 17km run / 55km ride) has sidelined Elaine with a very sore back - mainly due to tighness in the glutes. Hopefully this will encourage her to use the foam roller and spikey ball that she has been avoiding for the last 3 months. I haven't heard from Peter recently, but Mark thinks he is over the Achilles injury which is great news and perfect timing because we both have a big training session tomorrow.

Today the mercury hit 41 degree Celsius (106 Fahrenheit). Luckily the only session scheduled today for Mark, Elaine and myself was an early morning swim (how's that for good planning). A cool change is due overnight and tomorrow's forecasted top is only 29 Celsius. Which is good considering the Triathlon club's planned session tomorrow - 1 to 4 repeats of a 1 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run - 6 hours if you do all 4 repeats. Mark and I plan to do at least 3 repeats.

Elaine gets to skip the mega-session because she is racing the Portsea Twilight Fun Run tomorrow night. A very undulating 7.8km trail run. She had big hopes for a good result at this race (it will be about her 5th attempt). We just hope the sore back doesn't derail her efforts too much.

Last week I did over 15 hours of training. This week should end up being over 16 hours. Next week will top out at 18 hours (including taking Wed off work to train) before I ease off leading into the next race at Elwood. This is a Sprint Race (750/20/5) that will act as our Triathlon Club's Club Championship Race as well as being a qualifying race for the Age Group World Championships in London (that Elaine and I are hoping to qualify for).