Taper Rage

Bayside Triathlon Club (that Elaine and I belong to) has 61 athletes signed up for Ironman Melbourne - more than any other club. Whilst some of these 61 are experienced triathletes with numerous Ironman finishes under their belts, a lot of them are relatively new to triathlon.

The Ironman specific build started around Christmas. However for the newbies, the increase in (or in some cases, the start of) training began twelve months ago - the day after they signed up for the race. This is a very long period of heavy training. For the last couple of weeks, a lot of the Ironman athletes have been longing for the taper to begin (usually two weeks out from the race).

Whilst the idea of easing off the training load whilst feeling at the peak of fitness sounds very appealing, the reality is often quite different.

• Their bodies have become used to the frequent and generous doses of endorphins and adrenalin associated with the long training sessions. Even though they are still training it is like a heavy smoker dropping from 2 to 1 packet of smokes a day. Maybe someone should invent endorphin patches.
• Unlike the previous two months when they were over fatigued and generally felt heavy and sluggish, their bodies are starting to freshen up. Now they feel like training more, just when the training load is dropping off. This results in them being very toey, often resulting in frustration and irritability.
• Often the body takes a little time to adjust to the reduced training load and rather than feeling fresher, an athlete can instead start to feel very ordinary. If you get the length of taper right, you'll feel good again by the time race day arrives.
• Even though such a long race is going to be very painful, like a pregnant woman two weeks away from giving birth, they have become very impatient and just want the day to finally arrive (more irritableness).

From a personal standpoint, I'm actually more excited about the race this year, even though I'm not competing. It is the best pro field outside of the World Championships in Kona and with so many from our club competing, Elaine and I will have tons of people to support on the day. And the race goes past our front door - which is more convenient as a spectator than it was as a competitor.

Good luck to everyone doing Ironman Melbourne.

XOSIZE Triathlon 5, Brighton

This was the last race of the season for Elaine and I. Since Geelong 4 weeks ago, our enthusiasm for training has waned, although I did to get in some reasonable training in the last 2 weeks after my poor result at Sandringham. Still, the excitement for this race was definitely lacking. In fact when I woke up in the morning, I was struggling to remember what day of the week it was, so the race was definitely not at the forefront of my mind.

Heat has never been my friend in a race and the morning already felt hot. I've never sweat so much during my bike warmup, this was definitely a worrying sign. At 6am it was 22 degrees celsius (72 farenheit) and 89% humidity, however there was almost no wind, so the bike course felt fast and the bay was flat.

Standing on the beach pre-race, the buoys always appear such a long way out. On this occasion there were no sighter buoys before the first turning buoy that was about 300m off shore (looked more like 600m). As a result, most of the early waves (including the elites) swam off course, more often than not heading directly towards the 2nd turning buoy by mistake. This was one of the few advantages of being second last wave, we could observe the mistakes of others.

There were 3 triathlon club/squads having their own wave (ie. club championships like my triathlon club did at race 3). It seemed that most of the faster guys in my age group were in these club waves which meant a distinct lack of good swimmers to draft off. After the first 20 metres I found myself on Ray's toes with only one swimmer in front of him and a couple more drafting off me - we were the lead swim pack. To my right was a much larger pack of 20 or so swimmers. The 2 packs diverged from the start and continued to get further apart. After about 150m the other pack was over 30 metres away to my right - at least one of the packs was swimming off course, luckily I chose the correct one. The speed of the swim definitely felt slower than the last couple of races and I was just happily cruising along until we hit a wall of pink caps (a large bunch swimmers from the earlier wave). We were heading back into the shore and the sun was directly in our eyes making navigation almost impossible. I couldn't see the beach at all, but was able to identify the silhouette of the pub across the road and used that for a sighting reference as I tried to weave my way through the slower swimmers. Naturally I lost the draft and had to swim the last 300m or so by myself. My swim leg wasn't fast, but I used very little energy, so all up not too bad.

Once on the bike I discovered my bike computer was not showing me power, cadence or heart rate - just speed - very frustrating. It was working during the bike warmup, so I couldn't understand what had gone wrong. I spent a few minutes playing with the bike computer trying to get it to work, but once another competitor rode past, I stopped worrying and starting concentrating on my race. In the absence of all my pacing tools, I decided to just go as fast as I could - like a teenager whose parents have gone away for the weekend, I was reveling in this sudden freedom to go crazy. I'd averaged over 40kph (on my bike computer) for every Sprint Distance bike leg so far this season, but had yet to record an official bike split of under 30 minutes, so I set that as my aim for the race. The official bike split includes running with the bike between the mounting/dismounting line and transition (I exclude these bits from the recorded split on my watch). I reckoned I needed to build up a buffer of at least 30 seconds to cover the extra time of running with the bike. My 5km bike laps are shown below:
    7m27s (40.2 kph)
    7m04s (42.5 kph)
    7m23s (40.7 kph)
    6m57s (43.2 kph)
    2m03s (40.7 kph)
As you can see, there are 5 splits meaning the bike course was long by 1.5km.  I completed the 20km in 28m51s, easily enough time to squeeze in the extra bits under 30 minutes, but with the course being 21.5km I ended up with an official bike split of 31m56s. As a minor consolation, at an average speed of 41.5kph it was easily my fastest ever bike split and for the first time this season it was faster than both Clint and Adam.

I passed Ray fairly early on the bike (after he got away a little towards the end of the swim) and unlike previous races he wisely used me to pace him for the rest of the bike leg. He was obviously sitting a legal distance behind me because the only time I sensed his presence was when I could hear him braking into the tight corners. Going by the noise coming from his brakes, I suspect he is not using carbon specific brake pads. Throughout the bike leg two other riders joined our pace line, although one of these riders wasn't so fussy about how much gap he gave to bike in front.  All four of us approached transition together, but as three of us eased off with the run leg now foremost in our minds, Ray charged off ahead and put 100m into us before the dismount line - I didn't see him again until the run turnaround.

Onto the run and straight away Hayley eased passed me looking very strong. I decided to try and follow her which was tough at first, but I soon found a good rhythm and felt comfortable. A lot of other Bayside members who started in earlier waves were running back as we headed out. Adam saw us and put out his hand for a low five with Hayley, but I didn't realise he was going to keep it out for me - so I accidentally snubbed his offer (not a good way to treat the president of the triathlon club).  Hayley has been carrying an ankle injury for a while and has done next to no run training since Geelong. So it was no surprise that her pace dropped off a little about the 1.5km mark, leaving me to take the lead. Soon after I passed Tania doing her first triathlon and then Elaine who was still looking good at this stage of the race.

On the run the temperature had risen to about 26, but the humidity had dropped from 89 to 52%, so the heat was not really affecting me. The first half of the 5km run in Sprint Triathlon is about feeling loose and finding a nice rhythm (and sometimes holding back if you're feeling too good). About the half way mark is when things start to get a little tougher. Voices inside your head start to question why you are doing this and you have to dig into your reserves to fight the urge to slow down. You need a good reason for why you are going to hurt for the last 9 minutes or so of the race - if you don't have one, the voices inside your head win. The result of this race didn't count for anything (for me). I knew I was no where near the podium, I wasn't in the hunt for the end of series prizes, I was not on target for a run PB and there were no other club members near me to race. The average pace for my kilometre splits below show that I definitely eased off for the second half of the run:
    3m52s pace
    3m56s pace
    4m04s pace
    4m08s pace
    4m07s pace

Overall I'm reasonably satisfied with my race - an OK swim, a good bike and an average run. But I'm more happy with the fact that it is the last race of the season.

Elaine fared a bit better - probably her 3rd best race of the season after Geelong and Elwood. More impressively she not only won her age group in the race, but also won the series for her age group. She arrived home with 2 medals, a new pair of sunglasses, earphones and a voucher for a pair of Skecher shoes. Due to her ankle injury, Hayley only managed third in her age group, but still managed to win the series as did Chris and Dale ended up 3rd in his age category. Whilst young Martin took a win in the Mini Triathlon.

Review of Rocket Science Elite Transition Bag

The photos below show the empty Rocket Science Transition Backpack, I think it is referred to as the Elite Bag. It is made of very light but extremely durable material. After a full season of use, it still looks brand new. Any dirt is easily brushed off and it doesn't even smell.

Now I have taken (an out of focus) photo of all the gear I take to a Sprint Triathlon. In hindsight I should done this when packing for the Half Ironman in Geelong (a lot more stuff), but you should still get the general idea.

So above we have runners, cycling shoes, thongs, wetsuit, helmet, sunnies, watch and HR monitor, towel, goggles, backup goggles, anti chafing cream, papaw cream and hair conditioner. The last two items are to assist getting the wetsuit off, which I'll discuss more if I ever get around to reviewing my wetsuit (love my wetsuit).  I don't take any nutrition with me to a Sprint Distance race. I find simple sports drink (usually Powerade) in my drink bottle on the bike is fine for a race that lasts just over an hour.

One half of the bag is devoted to storing your cycling shoes and runners. These are typically going to be the smelliest items (and runners are prone to getting dirty), so it is a good idea to isolate these away from everything else. As you can see in the photo below, I also put the anti chafing cream in with the shoes. There is plenty of room for heaps of other stuff in these compartments (the thongs are actually under the runners), but naturally you need to decide what you're happy to have stored with your shoes.

The other side of the bag has several layers of compartments. In the photo below you can see I have unzipped two mesh separators and also opened the wet item container.  The wet bag is fully waterproof and also contains any bad odours. I use this to carry my wetsuit, 2 pairs of goggles, papaw cream and hair conditioner. After the race, I can also add any dirty clothes to this bag as well

The wet bag is fully waterproof and also contains any bad odours. I use this to carry my wetsuit, 2 pairs of goggles, papaw cream and hair conditioner. After the race, I can also add any dirty clothes to this bag as well. And it is very easy to turn this bag inside out and for easier cleaning.

Below you can see the wet compartment with all my swimming gear just before a zip it up.

There is also room underneath the wet bag. The photo below shows the wet bag folded out with my towel sitting in the space below. If you look closely, you'll see 3 press studs that connect the wet bag. After the race, I detach it and only carry the wet bag into transition to collect all my stuff. The goggles, dirty towel and wetsuit all get shoved into the bag.

After folding the wet bag back inside and then zipping up the mesh divider, we come to the next section. In the photo below you can see special pouches for my sunnies and watch & HR monitor.

When I do Duathlons in Winter, I also put extra warm clothes into this layer (ie. cycling top, vest, arm warmers, gloves, etc) in case the weather is cold and/or wet for the race. However in this case, the overnight forecast was 20 degrees (68 farenheit), so warm clothes were not going to be needed (in hindsight I should have packed a hat).

The next photo shows this layer now zipped up and it is easy to see the two halves of the bag. Sometimes I'll even store stuff in this in-between section for easy access.

Once we zip the two halves together, we have a back pack. Despite it looking quite big, I still find it quite light even when fully packed.

We drive to most races and after parking I put this on my back and walk my bike to the race  venue.

The bag also has helmet and water bottle compartments demonstrated in the photos below. However my aero helmet is quite big and I typically just the wear the helmet and I usually put the water bottles on my bike as soon as I get it out of the car (so I won't forget later on). If we've parked a long way away, I'll ride to the race venue with the bag on my back. Although I typically hate riding with a back pack, this one sits snug and firm and is no problem, although my opinion may differ if I ride with it for over an hour.

In general I love this bag. In fact it was the purchase of a different Rocket Science Transition Bag for Elaine (the Messenger Bag version that I may get around to reviewing) that first brought the Rocket Science brand to our attention. Previously I would take 4 or 5 different bags as I wanted to keep everything separate, but this approach made it very different to transport stuff from the car - which probably explains why I have historically turned up to races very early to get a good parking spot.  Now everything fits neatly into one bag which is very easy to carry, plus I still get to keep everything separate as well - a perfect solution.

There are numerous other pockets on the outside to store all sorts of things, a mobile phone holder on the backpack straps, an MP3 player pocket with special ear phone cable hole. But to be honest I rarely use any of these extra features - it generally gets used as described above.

Bayside Swim Classic

This was a very informal open water swim race held in the Bay next to the Clubrooms in Sandringham. Around 40 competitors including my 3 daughters (Sarah, Rachel & Kerry) entered the race. It was advertised as 1500m, but Clint's GPS watch reported 1650m (however my time made it look more like an 1800m swim). With Peter not entering and Sean in a neck brace from a water skiing accident, I figured Clint would be the favourite with Aurel the next most likely.

After wading out into the bay, to what would be the finish line (marked by Sean standing in knee deep water with a clipboard), we swam about 200m to the start position. During this warmup, I looked back to see Kerry swimming polo (head out of the water). I waited for her to catch up and told her it would be a very long and difficult swim if she kept that up - apparently she didn't like the look of the water (some kids are just fussy). Conditions were perfect and the water was actually on the warm side.

Clint delivered the race instructions whilst we gathered at the start line. After his 3rd explanation I understood the course - 2 and half laps and then back to Sean who would record our time. The first turning marker about 150m away was an anchored boat with people on it, who we hoped were not about to sail away. The second marker was a yellow buoy (a big witch's hat) and the third marker was a large pole (aka 'the stick') about 20m out from a rocky groyne. We would swim in a clockwise direction and skip the detour to the stick on the 3rd lap.

At the start line, the water was just below waist deep. I suggested to Elaine to direct herself, Rachel and Kerry towards the rear to avoid the carnage at the start. I positioned myself behind Clint and Aurel on the left side of the pack and I think Sarah was next to me on my right. The starting gun was simply Clint yelling 'GO' and everybody charged off.

Clint was the obvious person to draft off, so there was a lot of competition for his toes. As a result I got pushed further left and was now swimming beside the pack with nobody directly in front (so no draft). To save energy I tucked in the slipstream of another swimming by sitting on their hip which worked well as we approached the boat for the first time. However I quickly realised I was on the far side for the left turn, so put in a big surge of speed to find a bit of space for myself and was now on the toes of the lead pack. Unfortunately I still experienced a little bit of jostling around the boat and lost a metre or so to swimmers in front and this was all it took for me to lose contact. Having just completed a surge before the boat, I was now feeling a little flat and immediately another swimmer overtook me - a swimmer I recognised as my eldest daughter Sarah. She is a much better swimmer than me, so I was quite happy to sit on her toes.

During the latter parts of the first lap we were joined by another swimmer in Leah. Leah was actually swimming faster than us, but continually going off course so we remained in front. On the second lap, Sarah pulled a gap on me and I thought that was it, I wouldn't see her again until the finish. But soon after I was passed by Leah - I immediately jumped onto her toes and she dragged me back to Sarah. We continued the rest of the 2 and half laps together. Predictably, after we turned the last buoy, Leah and Sarah both sprinted towards the finish at a pace I had no hope of holding (even in their draft). They both would have pulled more distance on me, but I was the only one who seemed capable of swimming straight. Leah beat me by about 10 seconds (maybe a little more) and Sarah beat me by 4 seconds.

I not sure who won the race (I think it is someone I don't know), but a fantastic effort by young Matt to come second and Aurel third. Clint didn't even make the podium, so much for my pre-race predicitions. The results haven't been published yet, so I don't know where Leah, Sarah and myself finished, but I suspect we all made it into the top 10.

After finishing I swam back out onto the course to see how the others were going. I saw a big pack coming in together and immediately thought 'Wow, they're drafting really well'. It was easy to pick out my daughter Kerry at the rear of the pack in her yellow cap and colorful water skiing wetsuit - she was swimming extremely well (with her head in the water). I was amazed to see Brent (who only learnt to swim 6 months ago) swimming in 2nd place and very proud when I realised it was my other daughter Rachel who was out front towing the pack along. Also in the pack was Jan who would have got great drafting experience before Ironman Melbourne in 3 weeks. Brent is also doing Ironman Melbourne (which is why he recently learnt to swim) and I am astounded at how much he has improved in such a short time (and I'm pretty sure it was the first time he has beaten his wife Sarah in a swim).

Elaine wasn't too far back, but swimming alone meant she missed any drafting advantages. The 1.65km is the longest continuous swim Elaine has ever done, so she was extremely pleased with her efforts.

A big congratulations should also go out to Tania, who like Brent only very recently learnt to swim. She did the shorter 750m race, but it was her first time ever swimming in the Bay. I think my first bay swim (in late 2002) was about 100m when I attempted to swim out to one of the sticks at Elwood (I turned early).