Sunday, October 31, 2010

Classic Paddle 2010


Today I competed in the annual Classic Paddle which is a river race from the Narrows Bridge down to the Left Bank in East Freo.

Was the perfect hit out before the big race next weekend and has given me a lot of confidence! We had great conditions this morning and I finished just under 1.15.
Pre race at the narrows, there were lots of boats this morning!
Race finish at East Freo.

With a week to go until Anaconda its time to start the 'taper' and get the gear ready. I have to get every thing organised and sent down with Mark on Saturday morning for him to set up, as Lisa and I will only arrive late Saturday night.

Not to much else to report at the moment. I'm feeling great leading into the race. Can't wait to get down to the start line on Sunday morning!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

10 days to go...

10 days to go until the Anaconda Adventure Race...............

Tanita Body Composition Readings
Weight - 68.9kg
Body Fat - 9.0%

My body composition readings are looking a whole lot better from what they did 3 months ago. I must say it has been very interesting monitoring the changes over the last 3 months. Over the next couple of months I expect my readings to change quite rapidly as I move the from the 'pre season/base building period' into the racing season.

I will be taking my scale down to Augusta and will take a reading just prior to race start and one directly after I finish. I will post the readings up in my race report in a couple of weeks. Should be quite interesting to the see difference!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Anaconda Build Up

Check out the Rapid Ascent website. They have published an article about my goals for the Anaconda Adventure Race in a couple of weeks!

http://www.rapidascent.com.au/asp/NewsInDetail.aspx?e=6&n=1138

I am really excited for the season to start as I am getting bored of training and not having anything to show for the hard work I am putting in.

I had a paddle planned for today after work but the weather has been average today, so I will make up for that with a down wind (something I haven't done for a while) tomorrow afternoon. I have a day off tomorrow which it nice (first in a while), and I have a long run, ride and paddle scheduled.

Mark has invited my to join the Endurance Fitness Busselton Training Camp next weekend. It will be nice to head down to Busso and go over the course and get some solid training done.

It's hard to believe that Lisa and I have been back from Europe for nearly 3 months already. This year has gone way to quickly its scary! With the Anaconda training almost done and dusted for another year I am starting to get some planning done for the rest of the season (I am still 100% focused and committed to my training for Anaconda).

I am hoping to qualify for the World Long Course Champs next year (in the USA) and recently frond out it is the longer version, being 4/120/30. If I qualify it will be an awesome build up to see if my body can handle the work load and I will see if I can attempt an Ironman in 2012.

I am starting to work towards getting my Valuers License (I have to prepare 3 valuation reports) and have an interview. I am planning to get my reports submitted by the end of the year and get an interview as soon as possible after that. I am really looking forward to getting my license and deciding the direction I am going to head with my career.

It's happy times!! :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

A weekend full of racing



What a weekend of racing. The Hawaii Ironman was obviously the main event, and what a race it was. Won by Australian's Chris McCormack and Mirinda Carfrae, awesome result for the Aussies! I was also involved in two smaller events; the first on Saturday, which was the Sorrento Challenge and this morning, was the Champion Lakes Duathlon.

These races were the first of my season and I am generally happy with how things went.

The Sorrento Challenge comprises a 1.2km swim (2 laps with a 400m beach run in between each lap), 7km ocean paddle and a 7.5km run (with a beach section on each of the 3 laps). The race has a reputation of being held in bad weather, however the weather gods put on a show for us and we had a 30-degree day with calm waters. The race start was 12pm so I was able to have a sleep in which was nice :)

I had a bad start to the swim, but managed to get a decent rhythm on the first lap and made up some ground to a few guys in front during the beach run. My second lap was a struggle and took me a while to get going again and I dropped off the back of the second group. Not my best swim but considering the lack of racing I have done I was pretty happy.

Onto the paddle I wasn't in a bad position, but then the stronger paddlers came flying past me. I lost a big chunk of time to those guys during the paddle, which was expected. I was happy to get off the ski, after being on it for way to long!

I had a quick transition into my running shoes and started the 7.5km run. I made up some lost ground in the run but the damage was already done from the paddle! Only one runner passed me, so my running is slowly improving!

I crossed the finish line in 1.46.35 in 12th place.

Sunday morning was the Duathlon and I had planned to ride out to the race venue, but the weather had turned over night and the roads were wet so we ended up driving out. The Duathlon format isn't my ideal race, but I was looking forward to testing how my running is coming along. The format was 5/21/2.5.

I was planning on racing with a Zipp 999 set, but with the slippery roads and the bike course it quite tight with a few sharp turns I opted to just race on my training wheels. Turns out the roads were quite dry by the time the race started, but not to worry.

I was very conscious not to go out to hard on the first run, so I settled into a good rhythm that I could maintain for the 5km. It was an out and back course so we could see where we were in the field at the turn around. I was happy with my first run clocking 18.17.

The bike was a 4-lap course. We had a nice head wind on the long straight section and a tail wind through the windy event path. It was the worst I have felt on the bike during a race, but I put that down to lack to short race pace efforts which is not in my program at this point as I have been building my fitness back from Europe!

Onto the final run I worked hard to consolidate my position. I finished in 3rd place in 1.03.48, 1min behind my age group winner. This was also the State Duathlon Championships, so I got a 3rd place for that as well.

I am happy with how the races went. Given it is so early in the season there are some good signs but also a lot more room for improvement, which will come over the next few months. One thing that needs to happen as soon as possible will be a haircut as it is starting to get a little out of hand! Also, a big thanks to Lisa and Mark for their support at both races. I really appreciate it guys!

Mark like's to 'show' his support!


Next up is the Anaconda Adventure Race, 4 weeks to go. Then we are back into the triathlon season, but the Bunbury Classic and then Canberra Half Ironman.

Andy

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Keeping on track with Tanita


I have been back into training for close to 2 months now and I am really happy with how things are coming along. I have been using my Tanita body composition scales to help access my progress during this time.

Here is some data from my initial reading a few months ago:

Weight
70.5kg
Body Fat 11%
Body Water 63%
Visceral Fat 1
Bone Mass 3.1 kg
Muscle Mass 59.7 kg
Physique Rating 5
Metabolic Age 12

During the past 2 months I have been taking regular readings from the scale which have helped me see what my body has been up to in terms of my weight and more importantly the muscle and bone mass. Another key area which is the body water % which as an athlete, is obviously very important.

Coming back to full time training after 2 months of traveling around Europe was initially a bit of a shock to the system but I am feeling great again. During my holiday period I lost a lot of my muscle mass and got a little but chubby which was quite evident (to me anyway). My weight has been very slow to come down as I am loosing fat during my base building period and my muscles mass is building up again (muscle weights more than fat).

I have noticed as I am changing cycles in my program my weight is slowly starting to drop. Below is some data from today:

Weight 69.5kg
Body Fat 9.1%
Body Water 69.5%
Visceral Fat 1
Bone Mass 3.1 kg
Muscle Mass 60.1 kg
Physique Rating 5
Metabolic Age 12

The data above is starting to show signs of improvement which I am happy about but most importantly I am starting to feel strong again in my training.

My Tanita race top for the Anaconda Adventure Race

I went down to Augusta to check out the Anaconda Adventure Race course on the weekend. It gave me a lot of confidence and motivation for the last 4 and a half weeks until race day. Its going to be a great race!

Keep an eye out on the Tanita face book page for a pre-race update, hopefully my readings will be back to where they were prior to last years race!

Cheers,
Andy

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Augusta Training

I have just got back from a training day down in Augusta. Rapid Ascent put on a course familiarisation day prior to the Anaconda Adventure Race. We are now 5 weeks out from the race and it was a great opportunity to go over the course and see where my fitness level is at.

Here are a few clips and photos from the weekend:







Well, overall a very successful weekend. I had a good look over the course and have a pretty good idea on how I will structure the next 5 weeks. I have some areas which I can really focus on to give me the best chance of achieving my goals for the race.

Mum and Dad are now home from South Africa and Lauren is back from her trip soon so the house will be full again!

First races this weekend! Can't wait :)

Andy