Hillary's Race 1 - A good day out!

This morning I raced in my first local race of the season up in Hillary's. The plan was simple: 1 hour, hard, no excuses.

The open wave (with the juniors) was off first at 8am from a beach start and we headed out to sea, before making two right hand turns before the return journey to shore. I had a good start and put my head down and went hard for about 10 strokes. There was a bit of contact on the way out and a pretty big group was forming. I was swimming well and in the main group with no one getting a break on the way out to the first turning buoy. On the way back to shore it spread out a bit and I came out the water about a minute down on the leaders.

Swim - 11.11

I worked hard on the run to T1 and made up some ground on the boys just in front of me. It was a non wettie swim, so the changeover was very fast and I was out on to the newly resurfaced 3 lap bike course ready to work hard for 20km!

The weather prediction for the day was 22 knot winds, so I had my front training wheel in the car just in case. During my warm up ride I made the decision to use that, rather the then 808. I think it was a good choice as it was pretty windy out on the bike. My bike computer magnet was on the 808 so I didn’t have a computer during the ride, but given it is such a short race and my race plan it wasn’t an issue.

The first lap of the bike was nice as we had no one in front of us. I didn’t have a specific plan for the ride, simply try and catch whoever was in front of me. I rode as hard as I could and picked up a couple of places. Nick Murray (who has just got his pro licence) was in sight just ahead but it took be the better part of a lap to catch up to him and it was only just before the end of the bike where I finally caught him.

Bike - 33.18

Nick and I got into T2 together and I had a very smooth transition into my new K-Swiss K-Ruuz racing flats and was out just before him. At this point I was in 5^th. Nick then came flying past me and that was the last I saw of him! I went about settling into my rhythm and felt I was running well. I was really focused on my form. At the half way point Craig Scott came flying past me and I tried to stay with him, but he continued to gain ground on me, Brandon and Mark were about 500m behind me. When I reached 1km to go, I pushed hard to hold onto my 7^th place with the fast finishing Brandon hot on my heels.

Run 18.55

Overall - 1.03.26

In summary, I was very pleased with my race. I finished 7^th in the Open Category, 9^th overall (two age groupers were faster than me). I have race up at Hillary’s a number of times and I did a PB time over the course and more importantly, did the fastest 5km run off the bike I have done.

After the race Lisa and I went home and had a quiet afternoon watching a movie and relaxing. I haven't got my program for the next few weeks, but with Singapore only 4 weeks away I'm assuming it’s going to be pretty hard.

Cheers,

Andy

New race shoes!

Last week I received a package in the mail from LSDsports.com with some gear from one of our team sponsors K-Swiss.

I got a pair of the light weight K-Ruuz race shoe. I have put on elastic laces with toggles and the weight of BOTH shoes is 385 grams!

With the Hillary's sprint distance triathlon tomorrow I though I better give them a run before the race. I had 100km on the bike this morning on the flats before a quick transition and i was off a short 4km run off the bike. I slipped into the K-Ruuz shoes and they felt fast and very comfortable. I did a few efforts and was happy to be holding a fast pace, giving me some confidence for tomorrow!

During the LSD training camp in Falls Creek earlier in the year, I got some great advice from the team, especially from Campbell and Brad. The information and advice has changed my attitude and focus to training and racing in a really positive way. I have a lot more belief and confidence in my running ability and that is defiantly showing in my training. I really love getting out and running now and I feel like I am really improving.

First local race of the season tomorrow and I am pumped! I am racing in the Open category :)

Body Composition Update!

With the use of my Tanita Scale I have been able to track the changes in my body composition. Below are a couple readings, the first is from before the Anaconda Adventure Race in November 2010 and the second is from today.

Weight 69.5kg/68.0kg
Body Fat 9.1%/7%
Body Water 69.5%/66.6%
Visceral Fat 1/1
Bone Mass 3.1 kg/3.1kg
Muscle Mass 60.1 kg/60.1kg
Physique Rating 5/8
Metabolic Age 12/12
(bold figures are my current details)

My weight and body fat has dropped and my physique rating is now 'Thin & Muscular' :-) (is was 'Standard' before! haha).

The scales have been an important training tool over the past few months to monitor my weight loss in the hot and humid temperatures we have been experiencing. I weigh myself after all my long training sessions and take note of my weight difference to make sure I am re hydrating adequately during my recovery.

Quick trip to Dongara!

I have just come back from a weekend up in Dongara (about 4 hours North of Perth). It was a last minute decision to go and it was great to have a relaxing weekend away.

The plan was to just do my planned training up there, however that didn't happen! I woke up on Saturday morning to get my ride in but it was raining so i gave it a miss. I haven't had a sleep in for a while so my body really enjoyed it! I still got my run in so I'm happy enough with that.

We spent the rest of the time relaxing at South Beach (probably one of the best beaches in the world!) and eating crayfish! We always live well when we go up to Dongara.

I don't have much free time at the moment as I am back to working 5 days a week! I am really excited to be racing the Hilary's Triathlon next weekend. This is my first local race of the season! It is only a sprint distance race, something I haven't done for a while!

Only 5 weeks until Singapore! Looking forward to working on some speed over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow is a very exciting day.... I get to check my lotto ticket from the $20 million draw on Saturday night! Fingers crossed!

Busselton Weekend of Racing

Busselton Half Marathon

We are currently down in Busselton for a weekend of racing with the Busselton Half Marathon which was this morning, followed by the Busselton Jetty Swim tomorrow morning.

The half marathon this morning was the first stand alone half I have done. I was pretty excited to see where my running fitness is and see how my Archilles is holding up!

I had spoken with Stu and had a plan to build into the first 3-4km and then maintain that pace and I had set the virtual partner on my GPS to a 1.24 race time (4min/km). I was racing in my K-Swiss K-onas with socks on which felt a little odd!

The run course was 2 laps on the beach foot path of Geographe Bay. The start of the race was fairly casual. I was very conscious not to go to hard and try and have a nice even pace.

I was following my GPS and was quite happy to see I was in front of it coming up to the first turn around. I was feeling strong and catching a few guys in front! The wind was pretty tough coming back and I held a solid pace. I went through the first lap in 41.52 (3.58 min/km).

The second lap was all about staying focused, concentrating on holding form, staying relaxed and keeping a steady pace. After making the final turn I was worked hard to keep that pace on track to do 1.24! There was a couple of times my virtual partner was a couple of metres in front but when I saw that happen I showed it who was boss! I finished the second lap in 42.07 (4.01 min/km).

I was very happy to cross the line in 1.24.12 (3.59 min/km) 8^th overall!

Johan finished 2^nd in 1.16 and Helen and Caitlin ran the race together!

We had a BBQ lunch before heading to Simos icecream for an afternoon treat. I did a short 20min recovery run with Lisa riding Helens bike (Lisa’s first time on a TT bike) and Helen, Johan and Scotty did a longer run.

We are off to the movie to see Black Swan tonight and doing the Jetty Swim in the morning.

Busselton Jetty Swim

Black Swan is an intense movie! That’s all I can say about that.

I woke up with sore calf muscles and felt a little tired. It was pretty cold and the tought of swimming around the jetty wasn't to appealing!

It was pretty windy and very cold standing in the water waiting for our start! I was shivering and only got wet at the last second. The start was good and not as hectic as a normal triathlon start which was nice. This was to be the longest open water swim I have done so I went out nice and easy for the first half with the aim to push hard on the way home.

The water was rough and there was quite a big swell. The stingers were out in force and attacked me all over. At one point it felt like I got electrocuted! The first half of the swim to the end of the jetty went by pretty fast and I was feeling good. The return journey was a different story. It was a hard slog into a nice cross chop and I was getting pushed away from the jetty and had to continually re adjust my line. I felt like I was making no ground at some points but i eventually got there. I was very happy to be on land and in some warm clothes!!

Not ideal conditions but happy I did the race. I finished in 1.01.09, 73rd overall and 3rd in the 20-24 age group.

I slept most of the car ride home after some solid training/racing!

Lots of training to be done over the next 6 weeks before the big one in Singapore!