Life in winter

The past couple of months have been busy and cold...

Stressfully busy.... thanks to my new job with LMW Hegeny. I am now a Licensed Property Valuer and started a new job a couple of months ago. It has been a bit of a shock to the system, as I now have responsibilities and dead lines.... I am feeling the pressure, something I am not used to.... but I am slowly starting to find a balance between work and everything else (there have been a few late nights and weekends getting my reports done, something I don't want to be doing come the start of my 'official' Ironman program)

I have a new road bike... A 2010 CEEPO Mamba. Its awesome! It's nice to have have a light road bike up in the hills and in group rides. I have been doing all my riding on it, with the exception of last Saturday where my Venom got it's first ride since Busso (I love my time trial bike). I also had my first ride on my Schnell training wheels - they look great on the bike and do everything I want a training wheel to do!

Johan, Doug and I did a road race up in Pickering Brook. It was a first for all of us and it was great fun. There was a 1 lap individual TT before the 5 lap road race. I didn't have a clue what to do so I just stayed towards the front and stayed with the group. There were lots of attacks but none of them lasted. I finished just behind the bunch, my legs didn't have any power for the final sprint. Looking forward to doing a few more of these over winter.

I am doing the Caffinated 24hr Advenutre Race this weekend. Johan and I have been called in to join Stu and Paul Jackson.  We had a short training session up at Kalamunda on Saturday night with a short mountain bike ride and run. Night mountain bike riding up in the hills is great fun, especially with my bright ayup lights!

I am off with the Luckin's for a cruise form Singapore in a couple of weeks, which signifies the end of my pre season training and the start of my first ironman training program. I am really excited to get into the ironman training! Over the past couple of months I have been pretty easy on my self, missing sessions when I didn't want to train and sleep in when I wanted... this is going to change when I get back from our break.

I am ready to get into the Ironman training. Feeling fit, motivated and looking forward to working towards achieving my goals.

Busselton 70.3 - My best race to date!

The Busselton 70.3 (as it is now known) is the biggest race on the Triathlon WA calendar each year. This year was no exception! With a sold out field of 1,400 individuals and 200 teams the atmosphere down in Busso was great!

We arrived on Thursday lunch time and checked into our house. WOW....It was amazing! I sure hope that will be our regular Busselton house from now on! Lisa and I helped Ian set up the XU1 Sports tent at the Expo before heading back home for my Birthday dinner :-) (I am now 22!)

On Friday Lisa and I went for a short ride out on the course and I also snuck in a quick run. It was then back ot the Expo to help sell some CEEPO bikes! We spent the day there (not ideal pre race prepeartion) with the exception of a short swim the the Eclipse Fitness Squad. We were lucky enough to have CEEPO sponsored athletes Belinda and Justin Granger stop by the tent and leave their bikes on display which was great!

I was lucky enough to use a set of Schnell Race wheels thanks to Karl Hardy from Schnell (also a sponsor of Team LSDsports.com). A quick change and gear turn up and these bad boys where ready to roll!

Race Day
I arrived at transition nice and early and went about setting up my gear for the day ahead. I then went to the Eclipse Fitness tent, dropped my bags and suited up in my wetsuit.

I walked down to the swim start by myself and went through my race plan prior to my warm up. Before long we were called into the starting compound and I found my position out the the left hand side. I was ready and as soon at the start gun went I hit the water hard. I had clear water in front of my for most of the swim which I like. On the way back to shore I started to pass a few of the slow swimmers from the previous wave. I felt I swam a pretty direct route around the course and was generally happy with the swim.

Swim - 27.38

I found my bike easily in T1, it was very easy to spot the Schnell disc wheel! I ripped my wet suit off, buckled up my aero helmet and off I went.

Out onto the 90km bike course I had a 30 second gap to Matty Burton and a bit over a minute to Mark and Scotty. The initial stage of the ride was very important for me to get warmed up and my riding legs ready to go as I knew Matt would come past me at some point and I was going to go with him this time (unlike in Singapore). During this time I focused on keeping a slightly higher cadence and getting my nutrition down. As I was approaching Tuart Drive I saw Guy Crawford (on board a CEEPO Viper) smashing the ride with a decent gap to the the chase pack! Not long after I made the turn onto Tuart Drive and saw my training buddy Johan (in his first Pro race) not to far behind the main pack. I went to have my first gel but couldn't suck it out of the gel flask! (a post race inspection revealed i had not peeled the plastic under the lip off properly...) It took some time to unscrew the lid on the rough Tuart Drive road and of course, a full gel flask quickly became slightly less full as the gel went all over my hands and bars! I was in for a sticky 70km!

At the turn around I could see my gap to the boys and as expected Matty was hot on my heels (or wheels...). I was pretty happy to be able to hold him off that long. He eventually passed me about 30km into the ride and I was ready to go with him. However at the round about where we make a right hand turn back onto Layman Road he overshot the turn and had to back track.

I stayed with him for the rest of the 1st lap and I think I went through in about 1.04 and some change. At the start of the second lap the wind had picked up and we were in for a tough 22.5km to the turn around. I went to the front for a little bit along Geographe Bay Road but could not hold the pace Matt wanted to (sorry mate!). I pushed hard to stay in touch of Matt for the first half of the second lap and there were points the gap went out to about 30m. We picked up Matt (Bulldog) Jennings along the way and the three of us rode to the turn around. On the way back to town Matt put the pressure on, Bulldog went with him but I could not hold the pace. I rode the last 20km solo and got ready for the run ahead. I made sure I got the last of my nutrition and fluids down. I think Matt put about 1 minute on me by the end of the ride.

Bike - 2.11.57 

A had a quick transition on the way out had some support from my family. I was watching my GPS closely for the first few hundred meters to make sure I was not going out to hard and was running my target pace.

I could see Johan starting his second lap just ahead of me starting my run! I was feeling great! I was hitting my target pace and felt my form was good. At the turn around I saw Matt not to far in front and Johan yelled a few words of encouragement. I was very focused on my run and for the first time in a race felt like I was a runner! It is awesome going through the crowds at the end/beginning of each lap and I had a BIG smile on my face at the end of the first! I went through lap 1 in 28.40. The second lap was a carbon copy of the first (add 13 seconds and a few more people on the course). The third was tough but once I made it to the turn I pushed as hard as my body could go, I new I was on target for my sub 1.30. My final lap was 30.43.

Run - 1.28.37

Running down the finishing chute seeing the clock say 4.40.41 (less 30mins as it was the pro time) was AMAZING I crossed the line knowing I achieved my goals was great.

Overall Time - 4.10.41

I finished 2nd in the 18-24 age group to Matty Burton.... Again! Matt finished in 4.06 - the guy is seriously fast. I was 18th overall and second age grouper across the line.

Lisa had a tough day on the course with a great swim and ride, she had a few issues with her legs out on the run causing her to sit out for 20mins! She still beat her time by more than 10 mins from last year and managed to get second in the 18-24 category! Not bad considering her legs didn't cooperate.

Mark also had a tough day out there but stuck at it and finished! Good work mate, you got my respect for not pulling the pin when things didn't go your way.

Congratulations to Helen King finally with the break through win that she thoroughly deserved! 

I was a very happy little man after the race. I could not wipe the smile off my face! 

A big thank you to Ian Mansfield and XU1 Sports, the CEEPO Venom is amazing! Karl Hardy from Schnell Wheels who set me up on a very fast wheel set for the race! The bike and those wheels helped me set a new PB ride time (just under 41km average) and put me in a position to run well off the bike!

Thanks also to Tony and Cam at LSDsports.com for their support throughout the season! 

Stuart Durham my coach from Eclipse Fitness has got me to where I am today, thanks Stu. I'm looking forward to working towards bigger goals in the future! Also my main training partner Johan, thanks for pushing me throughout the season.

I set myself a goal to go sub 4.20 overall with a sub 1.30 run. I did both! An awesome way to finished a great season.

Cheers,

Andy

Busy times

It has been a very busy few weeks for me and I am looking forward to a little break over Easter. In exciting news, I am now a Certified Practising Valuer! I had my professional interview with the Australian Property Institute last week and found out on Tuesday I was successful. I am really pleased about this as it has been the result of 3 years at uni and 2 years work of work experience! Happy Days :-)

Training has also been going pretty well, however I have missed a few sessions over the last couple of weeks as I was preparing for my interview. Last Tuesday (the day before my interview) I went out for our my usual interval session with Johan and managed 10mins of the first 20min effort (in a set that had an hour of efforts). My mind was clearly distracted and not on the job so I sat up and we just rode an easy 60km.

It was such a relief to do the interview, but I had a few days to wait for the result which wasn't much fun. However everything worked out and I am now a very happy chap!

I did the Hillary's Triathlon on April 10th and had a solid race, in pretty tough windy conditions. I finished 7th in the open division, and 9th overall (same result as last time). I did a PB 5km run time in a race off the bike, by 3 seconds which I was happy with!

We had the XU1 Sports/CEEPO display which attracted some good attention. Be sure to come and visit us at the Busso 70.3 Retail Expo. We have been working hard to get everything organised and will have a good range of the 2011 CEEPO bikes, Leppin Sports Nutrition, XU1 hydration belts and bike boxes (on sale!) and AQUADIVA Swimwear. It was been a great learning experience getting this all organised and something I am looking forward to building on in the future!

I got the 2011 CEEPO Venom that I will be riding at Busso 70.3 in a few weeks and it looks AMAZING. I will take it out on its maiden voyage tomorrow morning! Expect a report to follow.

Looking forward to a solid training block for the next 10 days before starting to taper for my final race of the season!

Andy

Full steam ahead

I am back into full training after Singapore and I am already, as the pros say 'in the box'. My training from Monday to Friday was great. Johan, Helen, Scotty, Lisa and I made the decision to miss our Friday morning pool swim and head down to Coogee for an open water swim. It was a nice change for the week and we enjoyed a nice breakfast after (I had an AMAZING choc chip muffin!).

Breakfast after a nice open water swim at Coogee! Nice way to spend Friday morning.

On Friday afternoon Lisa's new bike, the CEEPO Vixen was just about ready to ride! We went to the bike shop and Stu fitted her up on it before putting the final touches on the bike.

Lisa was very excited to be getting a new bike before me....

My motivation seemed to change on Saturday morning as I missed my alarm! (first time in a ages) I still made the ride, just missed the start at raffles (thanks for the wake up msg Johan!). There were only 5 of us out riding and everyone seemed pretty tired and some what unmotivated, the wind wasn't much fun and I think everyone wanted to go home to bed! When everyone is feeling like that there isn't much hope of getting the 'mojo' back! So it was no surprise we were at the Brookton Hwy general store at 7.00am, 55km into our ride.....

We took a short cut to Brookton Hwy. Its always nice to go somewhere new!

The ride home along Roe Hwy was nice for as change....We had a rare tail wind!

We met up with Lisa on our way home. She loved her new ride!

When we got home I had clocked up just about 100km, more then enough given how flat I was feeling. Unfortunately I had no time to nap, instead Lisa and I had to go to Garden City Shopping Center.... Not my favourite place at the best of times, let alone Saturday lunch time! From there is was onto Coogee (a much happier place) for an easy 8km run before a swim. Spencer from Tri Oz Connect came down for the swim. It was nice to put a face to the name finally! Be sure to check out the site http://www.triozconnect.com/ to stay up to date with whats happening in the triathlon world.

On Sunday it was time for the ATTA 80km State Championship TT at Wandi. I did this race last year and was looking to see how things would compare. Unfortunately, not so good! My ride was disappointing but I stuck it out and managed to get through! I finished in 2.11.49 (37.21 km/hr) for the 82km (slightly long). On a positive note my lap splits were relatively even which was good:

1. 16.07
2. 16.34
3. 16.47
4. 16.25
5. 16.28
6. 16.48
7. 16.32
8. 16.08

After the ride I sliped on my running shoes for a quick 6km run. I felt pretty strong on the run and ran at just over 4 min/km. It was then home to bed..... Before going to Coogee Beach for the 3rd day in a row! This time ins and outs were on the cards. Its only ever a short session but it always hurts and gets the heart rate up! We stayed for a BBQ and a relax at the beach after which was a great way to spend Sunday evening after a hard week of training!

On Sunday (10 April) I will be racing the Hillary's triathlon. XU1 Sports will have a display at the race with CEEPO bikes on show. Come and have a chat to us there!

Cheers,

Andy

Singapore 70.3 reflections

Its been a week since the Singapore 70.3 and I have had time to analyse my race and give some thought to the things that went right and the things that went wrong last Sunday.

I am generally happy with how things went during the race. My swim was solid, leading my category out the water. Given the strong current in the water it was easier for the pack to stay on my feet for longer in the first lap. The small run section (only 30m) made it tough to get going again on lap 2. It is a skill we practice and I have done it before in races, however the first 100m after is always painful.

Into T1, after the long run from the swim finish I missed my bike on the rack. A bit of an rookie mistake but I new as soon as I ran past it I had gone to far. I stayed calm, backed tracked a few meters and continued on. The rest of my transition was smooth and controlled. I mounted my bike, secured my shoes, glasses on, nutrition in the back pocket and away I went.

My bike section was great and I felt my nutrition was spot on. I picked up water on each lap (no dropped bottles!) and made sure I was riding efficiently. My lap splits were very even. This is the best half ironman ride I have done to date.

T2 was again smooth, controlled and focused. This was the first time I have used socks during a race and I think it was worth the extra 5 seconds (in the humid conditions).

The run was disappointing. However after giving it some thought and considering I walked every aid station I have realised it could have been a lot worse. The first 4km were just slower than my ideal pace. The next 10km things fell apart. During this time I tried to stay positive and made sure I got the rest of my gels down. I managed to get going in the last 7km which was a good thing. This has helped me mentally for my preparation for the ironman later this year. During the bad times you just have to persevere, trust the training you have done and do what you can do well.

From here it is back on the training track for another hard block before the Busselton 70.3 in May. I can't wait for this race. Last one of the season!

Singapore 70.3 Race Report

Race day was finally here! We were up at 5am and Lisa and I went down to get a quick breakfast before grabbing our bags and heading down to the lobby. A mini bus had been organised for a group of us which was great and we were dropped off right at transition.

Mark and I number and ready to head to our bikes.

First thing to do was to get numbered. They use the number stamps which I thought was pretty cool (just like they do in Hawaii). Then it was time to set up my transition area and head out for a quick warm up jog. After that was done it was time to relax for a while before a swim warm up and our wave start.

Just did my run warm up and final check of my bike. Ready to roll!

I lined up in the front line on the beach and made sure I was positioned far over to the left as there was a strong current. When the start siren went I was very quick off the mark and quickly made my way towards the front. One very fast team swimmer went off the front of the pack and we didn’t see him again. There was a bit of jostling for position for the first couple of hundred meters but I eventually found my way to the front of the pack and got into a good rhythm. The swim course was two laps, with the first one being smaller on the inside of the main buoys. I couldn’t sight the small orange buoy used to mark the inside lap but that wasn’t too much of an issue as I made my way towards the rope that went around the entire swim course! In the last 400m of the first lap we started to pass the slow female swimmers (who started 10mins before our wave). I made the decision to go straight through them and it worked pretty well as there were quite a few gaps.

At the end of the first lap we ran up onto the beach for approximately 30 metres before starting the second lap. It took about 100 metres to get the legs and arms going again after the little run. It is always a struggle to get back into a rhythm. The second lap was congested with the female swimmers but again I didn’t get into too much trouble. I worked hard on the back section into the current but another swimmer got a small gap on me. I tried to bridge it but it was difficult with the congestion. On the way back to the swim exit I had a very good line, slightly closer to shore than everyone else and that seemed to work as it got me right on the turning buoy for the last 50 metres into shore. I had a quick look back once I was out on the sand and there were only a couple of blue caps around! I then started the long run to transition (never fun).

My swim time (including the run to transition) was 33.42 and I was first out the water in my age group and I think about 2^nd or 3^rd in my wave.

After the long run to transition I made my way to my bike, I did have to double back as I missed it by a few bikes. As the swim was a non wetty swim all I had to do was clip my race belt on and buckle my helmet up and I was off. Just as I was leaving my rack I saw Matt Burton run to his bike, this was going to make the ride a little more interesting!

After a quick transition I was ready to get to work on the bike.

Out onto the first of three laps the roads were quite, with only the faster female age groupers on the road and the pros. About 5km into the bike a team rider came past me and shortly after Matt came flying by. Once we were out onto the main section of the bike course (a closed highway with two lanes going each way) I bridged the gap back to Matt and stuck with him until the turn around. At this point I made the decision to hold off as he was going a little too fast for me that early in the race (he went on to have the fastest age group bike slipt). I had a chance to see where the rest of the field was when I made the turn and I was happy with the gap I had after the swim!

On the bike course there is an extension, which is a closed 6 lane highway (3 lanes each way) which was pretty cool (I could image the Abu Dhabi race being like that for 200km). On the way back to complete the first lap I saw a few crashes in the opposite direction and there were many more throughout the day. The course goes back to a narrow tight section before detouring onto a foot path and back onto the service road to transition, not the best course design... It was great going out onto the second lap and to see everyone cheering!

The second and third laps were much busier and the narrow bits were not much fun. I was yelling ‘keep left’ most of the time and the riders were pretty good at moving over. I made sure I drank my water and electrolyte and had my gels (very important given the humid conditions!).

I had a very good ride and I felt in control and comfortable and was in a good frame of mind heading into the run.

Bike Lap Splits:

Lap 1 (30km) – 44.12

Lap 2 (60km) – 44.12

Lap 3 (90km) – 44.25

Total – 2.12.49

I was quite impressed with how consistent I was with my laps!

Into T2 with a smooth dismount, I ran my bike to my rack (not passed it this time) and pulled my socks on a slipped into my K-Swiss Konas.

The run was two laps with a 4km loop heading towards the airport before heading back past transition and the finish line and out for a 6km section. I left transition feeling good and was running in a reasonable rhythm. I kept a keen eye on my GSP and my speed was all over the place! I got to the first aid station and no one was holding out cups for us so it was self serve.

Coming back past transition for the first time it was good to see Lisa and the others. I put a brave face on because I wasn’t feeling great. Tom gave me a split to Matt who was 3 mins up the road. This was better than I thought as he was only 2.30min ahead of me off the bike. We deviate off the foot path on to the grass as we go past the finish line. It is only a 50 metre section on the grass but it was probably the hardest part of my day. I think was I running at 6 min/km pace. Just as I got back on to the path I had to stop and stretch my legs. I continued onto the next aid station slowly and I was hurting. I made sure I got my gels down and walked the aid station to get water down.

It took forever to get to the far turn around and it wasn’t made any easier by the busy foot path. For some reason the race organisers didn’t close the foot path and we were weaving in between walkers, bike riders, roller blades and dogs.

At the start of the second lap I once again saw everyone which was great. I think they all saw the hurt in my face and gave some words of encouragement. I pushed on in survival mode and got my gels down, took on 100 plus, cola and water. Once I came past transition for the last time I knew I wasn’t too far from the finish. I put in everything I had and it hurt! I saw Matt who had made the final turn and was about 4km from the finish (I was about 6km at this point) and gave him a thumbs up to say congratulations. Once I made the turn I crossed paths with Mark and was about 1km in front of him. When I was about 4km from home my calf’s started cramping. I pushed through from as long as I could before I had to stop and stretch them. With 1 km to go I had a quick look back to see if Mark had caught up and I then put in a last effort to get to the finish line and I sure was happy to finally get there!

Smiles all round, finally at the finish line!

I finished the last 7km at 4.13min/km so I was happy I finished strongly. The middle 10km was slow, averaging 5.17min/km! My run time was 1.40.38.

I finished in 4.29.53, 2^nd in my age group, 27^th overall and 7^th age grouper.

The athletes from WA put on a good show with some great results. The Male 18-24 age group was made up of guys from Perth. Matt Burton was 1^st, I was 2^nd and Mark was 3^rd.

Some of the WA athlete on the podium.

LSDsports.com athlete Michelle Wu continued her dominance at long course racing finishing 3^rd, backing up from her win at the Australian Long Course Champs last week.

A big thank you to everyone who supported me during the race. Particularly Lisa, Teresa, Dave and Kate Luckin and Ian who came over to watch Mark and I race!

Cheers,

Andy

(Next up is the Busselton 70.3)

Singapore Day 3 (day before the race)

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning waking up at 8am. I had a really good sleep which is always important two nights before the race. It was then time for breakfast before a final check over the bikes. We checked our bikes in nice and early to avoid the crowds and get it over and done with. We rode down to the transition area, got our timing bands and racked our bikes. A few of us ran back to the hotel as our final run before the race.

Today was a lot hotter than previous days but was not unbearable. I am now thankful for the hot and humid weather we had in Perth at the start of the year! Mark, Peter and I jumped into the hotel pool to cool off! Mark and I went back to our rooms to rest our legs for a while. Ian made it to Singapore at lunch time so we met up with him before eating lunch at Subway.

The afternoon was low key. I had a couple of hours sleep and chilled out in our room before dinner. A group of us went across the street to a pasta shop and then got a sundae for desert! Great pre race food J.

When I got back to the hotel I packed my bag for the morning and watched Monsters Inc!

Only one more sleep!

I am really looking forward to the race, I know I have done the work and now it is time to put it all together.