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).

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.

Planning a Big Day

After a reasonably big training load last week (equal 2nd biggest week of the season), I've been feeling quite sore. My hammies, calf and quad muscles have been very tight for while, but on Sunday my knee flared up. After suffering for most of last season with a patella injury, any soreness in the knee is a cause for worry, although this time it feels a little different (lets hope so).

I skipped my planned recovery run on Monday to give my legs a chance to rest and then we missed our usual Tuesday morning swim due to a massive thunderstorm. However I later discovered the squad moved the session to the indoor pool, so in hindsight we should have gone (but we enjoyed the sleep in).

Most of Tuesday I was still quite sore and was very tempted to skip the Run session at the Athletics Track - which would mean 2 days in a row with no training. In the end I decided to run, but cut it down to a small session that included some 100m run thrus and 3 x 800m efforts. My average pace and heart rate for the 800s was 3m42s (160bpm), 3m39s (162bpm), 3m39s (163bpm). These were slower than my efforts the previous week, but a more realistic 5km pace. However despite being slower with a lower heart rate, they actually felt a lot more difficult. I think the stiffness in my legs prevented me from finding an easy, flowing rhythm. Elaine experienced the same problem.

The good news is that despite not being happy with my run form, I actually feel a lot better after the session. It seems to have loosened things up and I'm no longer as stiff and sore (even my knee feels better). The smaller session totalling only 6.9km (including warmup and cool down) appears to have been exactly what my body needed. Hopefully my condition will continue to improve throughout the day, because I have a big day of training planned for tomorrow.

Due to social engagements, we are unable to race the Enduro Triathlon this Sunday. This also means that my availability to train this weekend has been compromised, so I decided to take Thursday (tomorrow) off work and make it a big training day. The plan is a long run (up to 18km), a bay swim (about 1km) and a 60km ride. With a forecast top temperature of 38 degrees Celcius (over 100 Farenheit) I'm hoping to finish all this by lunchtime and then laze on the beach during the afternoon. This is a little on the small side for a big training day, but the plan is to be fresh again for a big brick session with the Triathlon Club on Saturday (100km Ride/10km Run). If all goes to plan, it will be my biggest training week for the season.

A First Triathlon

On Sunday, my daughter Rachel competed in her first Triathlon at St Kilda - 150m Swim, 7km Bike, 1.5km Run. We picked this event because it is one of the smaller triathlons, but Rachel would have preferred a much longer swim (around 3kms longer) and a shorter bike leg.

Rachel's older sister Sarah kindly agreed to make her bike available to Rachel for the race. Sarah's bike is a girl's hybrid with gears, a significant improvement over Rachel's very small kid's bike with no gears. Unfortunately Rachel has never ridden this bike before, nor has she ever used gears, or even brakes on the handlebars (her bike brakes by pedalling backwards). So the night before the race we did a few laps up and down the driveway, mainly concentrating on how to use the brakes (which I figured was probably important).

The local triathlons run 2 distances at each event. The smaller Mini distance starts at 7am followed by the longer Sprint distance at 8am. With Rachel competing in the earlier race (and being 2nd wave), we were a little more squeezed for time than usual. Pre-race was spent finding a park, registering, getting in that last toilet stop, finding the club tent, applying stickers to bike and helmet, getting arm numbering, placing everything in transition, getting the wetsuit on and heading down to the swim start. This didn't leave much time for worrying about stuff and before she knew it, Rachel was standing on the start line surrounded by the other competitors in the 15-17 division (both males and females in the same wave).

Being a good swimmer, Rachel breezed through the swim leg and then sped into transition. The wetsuit came off relatively easy, but it took a while for her to put on socks and shoes. More experienced triathletes don't bother with socks, but we didn't think the time savings were worth the risk of blisters. Once out on the bike leg, things slowed down a little. Rachel does very little bike riding. She was riding an unfamiliar and very heavy bike with knobby tires, so we never expected her to be fast on the bike.

Meanwhile, Elaine was also racing the same event. Usually Elaine would race the longer Sprint race, but wanted to race with Rachel to give her more support. Due to the different wave starts, Elaine didn't start her swim until 10 minutes after Rachel. Desperately wanting to make up the deficit, Elaine probably did her fastest ever swim (and without a wetsuit). She sped through transition and then proceeded to push the bike to her absolute limit. With a kilometre or so still to go on the bike, Elaine finally caught up to Rachel. You are not allowed to draft or ride side by side in a triathlon, so Elaine sat 7 metres behind Rachel, slowing down to match Rachel's speed.

Back at transition Elaine leisurely racked her bike and put on her runners only to discover Rachel had whizzed through and was already heading out on the run. There are no rules about drafting on the run, so once Elaine caught back up, they ran side by side for the rest of the race.

Overall Rachel's first ever race went very well. She was understandably a little slow on the bike, but the statistics below (out of 350 starters) show a great result:

  Beat 14 Competitors on Overall time

  Beat 254 Competitors in the SWIM (including Elaine)

  Beat 49 Competitors in Transition One

  Beat 11 Competitors on the BIKE

  Beat 106 Competitors in Transition Two

  Beat 65 Competitors on the RUN

Elaine's effort was a race of 2 halves. She went flat out trying to catch Rachel, and then slowed to complete the race at Rachel's pace. Elaine finished 2nd in her category, missing first place by only 42 seconds with the winner passing her on the run leg (3rd place was another 2.5 minutes back). For the first time ever Elaine registered the fastest swim in her category and probably would have scored the fastest in every leg if she hadn't slowed down. It is worth noting that the Mini races had 10 year age brackets (longer races have 5 year brackets), so not only was there more competitors in the category, she was racing women aged up to 6 years younger.

I didn't race, but instead acted as photographer, although even on automatic settings a lot of my shots ended up out of focus (they were obviously moving too fast). My training week ended up being 10 hours consisting of 2 swims totalling just over 6km, 4 runs for 38km and a 119km bike ride on Saturday morning. I'm currently a little sore with tight calves, hammies, quads, a sore left knee and a saddle sore which it turns out hadn't healed from the 103km ride the week before.

4 Days In - So Far So Good

I effectively started my 12 week program for Geelong two days early with the 103km ride on Saturday and 17km run on Sunday. This was followed by an easy 4km recovery run on Monday, 3.2km squad swim yesterday morning and a 9km run session at the Athletics Track last night.

Last night's run session had intervals of 1km, 500m & 150m done 3 times. My speed and heart rate for the 3 sets was:
  3m44s pace  159/171 bpm
  3m29s pace  169/177 bpm
  3m33s pace  170/179 bpm
I started off relatively easy and then built speed through the session. However despite feeling pretty comfortable at a good pace, my heart rate tells another story. Hitting max heart rates of 177 and 179 is going to see me go into oxygen debt well before the end the of a 5km race (planned for 5th Dec). So I am going to have to aim at a race pace somewhere between 3m40s and 3m45s per kilometre which would give me a 5km time of between 18:20 and 18:45 - which is coincidently my initial target time (I just got over ambitious last night).

Planning to run 52km in 5 days (Sat-Thu), including a speed session, had me concerned - was I getting over ambitious again? However I've upped my stretching, icing, foam roller and rehab exercises and my legs have managed the training load remarkably well so far. They feel fairly tight and a little sore, but that is pretty normal and I feel confident I'll be OK for tomorrow night's 18km run (famous last words).

However for some reason I'm feeling a little tight through the neck and shoulders, an area that has been remarkably pain free for the last 2 months. I've also been experiencing minor spasms in the back and it feels like the slightest thing could re-ignite my lower back injury. So as a precaution I've decided to miss tonight's swim and may also skip the easy 4km recovery run planned for today.

12 Weeks before Geelong 70.3 (Testing Infinit)

Monday will be the start of my 12 week program. This means the training will move from 8 to 10 hours a week up to 15 hours, with a couple of 20 hour weeks thrown in for good measure. Naturally all of this planning assumes that my body will hold up (it does not have a good track record).

In preparation of this training load, my recovery period ended this morning with a 100km bike ride and tomorrow will hopefully see me run 17km. Up till now I've been getting away with only one ride per week (usually 2 to 3 hours). While this obviously worked well for the Sprint Distance Triathlon last weekend, a Half Ironman (90km bike leg) needs significantly more bike mileage. So from now on I will endeavour to get in at least 2 rides most weeks, with a longest ride of 140km. I'll also increase my running by doing short and slow recovery runs (about 5km) every other day. It is planned that my long run will slowly increase and hopefully I'll manage at least one 25km run (which would be my longest ever training run).

It is also time to start thinking about (and practising) race nutrition. With this in mind I recently purchased a bag of Infinit nutrition. In Ironman I used Endura Optimiser, but I think Infinit is more specific to my needs (Optimiser is primarily a recover drink that can also be used for race nutrition).

The Infinit mixture can contain anything you want - you configure the ingredients on the website before ordering. Basic elements that can be configured are Electrolyes, Carbs, Calories, Protein, Amino acids, Strength of taste and caffeine. To start off I picked a pre-configured mix called 'Go Far' in Lemon & Lime flavour. This is highish in Carbs, no caffeine, medium in everything else and has an osmolality of 271 (concentration of dissolved particles). The osmolality of our blood is around 300, so anything under this figure is easily absorbed.

Using Infinit means all your rehydration and nutrition requirements are in your water bottle. No more need for bars, gels, sports drink and water - it greatly simplifies everything. However it does implement a level of inflexibility. When the temperature increases, you need more hydration. With Infinit this would mean consuming too many carbs because everything is combined in one bottle. So you would have to pick up extra water bottles from the aid station, assuming you had somewhere to store them. And conversely, if it is too cold you probably need less hydration but still need the same amount of carbs. This was my problem at Ironman Melbourne where I simply was not sweating enough (barely sweating at all), resulting in me taking 3 toilet stops on the bike.

I trialled the Infinit on my 100km bike ride this morning. Leaving home at 6:30am, it was not exactly warm and while the weather was pleasant, it never really got hot. As a result I only finished the first water bottle at the 80km mark, although I tend to under eat (and drink) on training rides - probably why I'm experience unwanted weight loss at the moment. In general the Infinit seemed OK (much better than some of the other drinks I've been trialling), my first change would be to tone down the strength of taste. When I sampled it the night before (when I was mixing the bottles) it tasted good. But it often happens that you are more sensitive to sweetness when exercising and need a milder strength taste. It is difficult to comment upon the other aspects, I'll need a much harder training session to get a better gauge. At the moment the taste is not as good as the chocolate flavoured Optimiser, maybe next time I'll trial the Fruit Punch flavour.

Post Race Thoughts - Never Satisfied

I was very happy with my race and hit all my pre-race targets (average better than 40kph on the bike and run at sub 4 min pace). Now my targets have changed. Having achieved my previous targets is proof that I can do better.

Overall I finished in 64th place (out of 531 competitors). However 20 of these competitors ahead of me were Elites (they have different rules allowing them to draft on the bike), so I prefer to think I placed 44th out of the Age Groupers and 7th in my Age Group (out of 54) and 9th in my wave start (M4044 + M4549) that contained 90 competitors.

When I first started triathlon the run was easily my best leg. I soon became very proficient in transition and my T1 and T2 times would rank better than my run split. After a few seasons my bike improved to be my best leg. I was always a weak swimmer and used to pride myself on the fact that nobody beat me with a slower swim. Now that my swim has improved (still not fast), of the 43 Age Groupers that beat me on Sunday - 4 had slower swim times than me.

With the fastest bike split in my age group, the bike leg is still very much my strength, but everything else has changed. My unusually slow transitions made them the worst ranked splits. But more surprisingly, my swim was ranked better (9th in my age group) than my run split (10th in my age group). And just like my swim, of the 43 age groupers who beat me on the day, only 4 had slower runs than me (they were fast swimmers).

So the focus now is getting faster on the run (and a few transition practices). My kilometre run splits were:
  4m01s, 4m03s, 3m51s, 4m03s, 3m58s
In the beginning I had to force my legs into running at the pace I wanted. Then magically just before the 2km mark my hips loosened up and I started to run freely. Not only was my running now effortless, my speed improved by around 10s per kilometre (at the same heart rate of 165bpm). If I was able to run the entire distance with this free flowing style at 3m51s pace, my 5km run time would be 19m15s instead of 19m56s. So my new target is to run a 19m30s 5km run split off the bike. Unfortunately a lot of the competitors who beat me had run splits starting with an 18.

This week is a recovery week, which my body badly needs (quite sore from the race). During the next 2 subsequent weeks I will return to doing the Tuesday night Run Speed session on the Athletics track. Hopefully I'll be able to find and lock in that free flowing rhythm allowing me to able to access it more easily on race day. Although this theory is ignoring the possibility that my fastest ever bike split adversely affected my run, in particular causing me to stiffen up through the hip region.

Elaine and I will not be racing the Triathlon in December due to other commitments, so it opens up the opportunity to do other events. Depending upon how well the Run Speed Sessions go, I'm planning to enter the Emma and Toms Christmas 5km Fun Run at Albert Park Lake in December. My aim is to break 19 minutes (really hoping to get closer to 18m30s). Looking at the results for the last few years, the overall winners are typically running the 5km in 17 minutes flat. So I'm no hope of winning, but I might manage an age group podium position if I'm lucky.

Triathlon - XOSIZE Race 1, Mordialloc

After missing 2 weeks of swimming with my hand injury, my swim mileage this week was just over 10km (biggest this season). I also snuck in two runs, 16km on Tue and 7km on Thu, plus a 65km ride on Saturday morning. Not a bad week and definitely more than I would usually do leading into a race.

During my warmup on the bike before the race I felt a bit flat. On my Saturday morning ride I felt great, but it is not unusual for me to feel a little lethargic the morning of a race, so I didn't worry too much.

The swim is my weakest leg and I've been putting in a lot of work to improve it this season. I did a bay swim on Thursday night in my old 2XU C1 wetsuit (saving my good one for the race). This would be the first race in my new Rocket Science wetsuit and even during the warmup swim I immediately noticed it felt better and faster than my old suit. The swim leg for this race was only 500m, but I did it so easy it felt even shorter. Exiting onto the sand I felt no fatigue whatsoever and was worried this meant I hadn't tried hard enough and would have a slow swim time (not unusual for me).

Every season I forget to bring something to the first race. This year it was Hair Conditioner. I apply this to the outside legs of the wetsuit - it stays on for the swim and then allows the wetsuit to easily slide over itself when you take it off in transition. Even though I remembered to bring paw paw cream, I forgot to apply it to my knees and ankles - again to help the suit slip off. So it is no surprise that I had a lot of trouble getting it off in transition. It doesn't help that it is only the second time I have ever worn this suit, so I am far from practiced with the nuances. Comparing my transition time to the last time I did this race - 21 seconds slower (and 30 seconds slower to some of my competitors). Transitions used to be my best leg, today it was my worst (proven my the rankings in the results).

Usually the bike leg in a Sprint Triathlon is 20km. For some reason the Mordialloc Triathlon always has a 16km bike. Although 4km less is not much, psychologically it feels like a short bike ride and with conditions on the day being perfect (slightly warm with very little wind), I decided to hammer it on the bike. I wanted to catch other members of my new Triathlon Club, many of whom were in my wave start, a lot of whom would have had faster swim and transition times. After going flat out for the first lap and only reeling in one Tri Club member, my plan didn't seem to be working very well and I was worried I was using too much energy (need to save something for the run). So I eased off a little on the second lap. With one kilometre on the bike to go, I passed my main target (Ray), unfortunately much later than I would have hoped. As I approached the last corner just before the dismount line there was a lot of congestion including a young rider just in front of me. I backed off to keep out of trouble and Ray snuck back passed me on the inside of the corner. Not only did he take the lead, but also managed to clear most of the congestion before heading into the narrow transition lane with me helplessly watching stuck behind numerous, much slower competitors. My aim for the last 6 or 7 years has been to average over 40kph for a triathlon bike leg - today I did that with a 40.1kph average (very happy). In fact my bike split was the fastest in my Age Group and 8th fastest for all Age Groupers in the race (the elites are allowed to draft on the bike, so I have ignored their times).

Another slow transition. This time due to my feet still being frozen and also using a new pair of runners in a race for the first time. I obviously need to start practising my transitions again.

Initially on the run I felt OK, but not great. I was holding between 4m00s and 4m05s pace, but there was no real rhythm and I feared my pace would slowly drop throughout the run - I suspected I was going to pay for my fast bike leg. There was another competitor in my age group about 10m in front and I concentrated on trying to keep pace with him. Then just before the 2km mark I suddenly started feeling good and my running started to flow. I immediately passed and then gapped the competitor I was following and continued feeling good until the 4km mark. Predictably the last kilometre did not feel as good, but promisingly my pace didn't really drop off, I just felt a lot worse. My run target for the race was to run sub 4 min kilometres, but when I checked my run split it was 20m19s. However when I looked more closely, the run leg was 5.1km, so my pace was 3m59s pace and Strava shows my 5km time as 19m55s (happy again).

Ironically, even though I was very happy with my run, for the first time ever my swim was ranked better than my run (in my age group, overall standings my run was ranked a little better). This highlights that I need to work on my run. Looking at the results, all the club members who beat me had much faster runs.

Ignoring my bad transitions, it was definitely one of my better races. I only managed 7th in my age group (out of 55), but being the last year in this age group (ie. oldest) it is not going to be a good season for results (I would have placed 3rd in the age group above).

Elaine also raced and did very well in all disciplines - ironically she had one of her best ever transitions. However due to a strong field in her age group, she only managed 4th place. But in overall standings her results were much improved over recent years, so she is on track for a great season.

First Triathlon of the Season less than a Week Away

Only minor scarring remains on my left hand, but the right hand is taking a lot longer to heal and has kept me out of the pool. With the first Triathlon of the season coming up this weekend, I had intended to increase my swimming to 3 times a week. So going 2 weeks without any swimming is extremely frustrating and will probably cost me up to 30 seconds in the 500m swim leg. Just like a student cramming for their year 12 exams, I'm thinking of swimming up to 4 times this week - tonight (Mon) and Wednesday nights at GESAC, Thursday night in the bay (weather dependant) and Friday morning at GESAC.

Run traing has also been hindered by tight calf muscles. I feel fine when actually running, but afterwards my calfs are getting progressively tighter. Tight calf muscles greatly increases the chances of achilles or plantar fasciia injuries, so I have backed off the run training in the hope my legs will start to recover. Whilst I'm still running 2 or 3 times a week (would prefer to run 5 times a week), it has been over 3 weeks since my long run (15.6km) - all of my recent runs have been under 10km. This lack of run training should not impact this weekend's race much as it is only a Sprint race with a 5km run leg (my big race is not until Feb), I just hope I don't experience a leg injury during the race.

It is not all bad news on the training front, as I had a great session on Saturday morning with the Bayside Triathlon Club - 82km bike and 6km run. The bike leg was was split into roughly 6km easy sections followed by 12km at race pace, repeating this cycle for the full 82km. Most of the Club members added an extra loop to the end of the bike to round it up to 100km, but with it being my first long ride on the new Cobb Saddle I decided 82km was plenty for me. I was extremely happy to not only be able to hold race pace and continue to feel strong, but also achieve it with a low heart rate. In hindsight I should have hit the lap button on my computer for each interval, instead I left it recording automatic 5km laps. Below are some of the instances when the auto 5km laps matched up with my effort intervals:

  251 watts - 150bpm - 38.4kph
  288 watts - 153bpm - 40.3kph
  283 watts - 156bpm - 36.8kph
  270 watts - 152bpm - 39.3kph

As you can see I was able to hold good power whilst keeping my heart rate in the low 150's. The speed varied depending upon the wind direction and how hilly the section was. The training camp at Bright has really helped my cycling. Ironically I was pacing the session more in line for the Half Ironman in Feb, rather than the Sprint Race this coming weekend, but the good form should transfer well to the shorter distance.

Even with all the rest intervals (going slower) and loss of momentum continually stopping at lights, my bike stats were actually better than my bike split at the Geelong Long Distance race in Feb this year (last season). Although it was pouring rain at Geelong and I did crash half way through the race (times shown below are based on moving time).

  Geelong Long Distance: 79.79km - 2h22m20s - 33.6kph - 215 watts - 134 bpm
  Saturday's Session: 81.92km - 2h21m04s - 34.9kph - 219 watts - 137 bpm

The good news from Saturday's session continues with excellent results from the 6km run off the bike. Again I was pacing the session at Half Ironman speed, but was able to hold 4m30s pace very comfortably and my heart rate stayed low for the whole run. Below are the kilometre splits with the first and last kilometre removed (first km was up a long steep hill and the last kilometre was used as a cool down). I believe avoiding the speed work and instead concentrating on doing all training runs at my aerobic threshold (137bpm) has served me very well. I obviously went over 137bpm in this session, but I was treating this as more of a race simulation to judge pacing and nutrition.

  4m18s - 149bpm (downhill)
  4m26s - 153bpm
  4m26s - 154bpm
  4m36s - 155bpm (up hill)

My nutrition for the session was two water bottles - one water and one orange hydralite sports drink (tastes terrible) and 3 gels on the bike - 2 Chocolate Powerbars and 1 Raspberry Endura. The Endura Gel definitely tasted better and went down much easier, I found the Chocolate Powerbar Gels had a huge aftertaste, almost felt like it was burning my mouth which at least ensured I washed it down with water. I didn't bother with anything on the run. Elaine managed the session with water, an apricot flavoured EM's Power bar and 1 coffee flavoured Endura Gel on the bike. Before the session we just had scrambled eggs (7 eggs between us with a bit of added cheese). Minimising carbs before training (or racing) definitely helps in keeping the heart rate down. Any Hi-GI food (typically carbs) before exercise will raise the glycemic index which promotes sourcing energy from glycerine rather than fat. Once you have started exercising, the body is much more receptive to carbs and can quickly absorb Hi-GI products (such as Gels) without the unwanted increase in the glycemic index.

Elaine also did the Saturday session, however she followed the Short Course instructions of a 50km ride followed by a 4km run. I had given her heart rate targets to hit for the easy and hard sections, but unfortunately she accidentally left her bike computer at home so she had to ride on percieved effort. During longer effort intervals (ie. 12km) it is very easy to loose focus and let the effort wane. Having data displayed on a bike computer in front of you can be a huge help in maintaining the intensity. You can even program the bike computer to beep when the data values drop below (or rise above) a certain level. Despite the lack of electronical aides, Elaine did very well. But obviously we don't have any stats for the session.

We received our new XOSIZE/Rocket Science tri-suits last week and I decided to trial it on the Saturday session (Elaine decided to save her first trial for the race). Still suffering lingering saddle sores from the Bright camp and it being my first long ride on the Cobb Saddle, it was probably not the fairest of tests - much better to test one thing at a time and without a pre-existing sore bum. I'll save any reviews for a bit later, but I think both Elaine and I both need further tinkering in the positions of our Cobb Saddles before we can make any solid opinions. My seat was good for the first 40km, but then slowly got worse as the ride continued. Elaine was ready to throw hers in the bay by the end of her ride. But surprisingly despite these current complaints, they are both still better than our previous saddles.