Continuing the Relentless Pursuit

Simon Whitfield, an athlete and a person for whom I have the utmost respect, talks a lot about 'the relentless pursuit' [of athletic excellence]. It's a philosophy based on great preparation  great performances, and having pride in your craft. I'm pretty passionate about my hobby and really want to perform well. Going forward, if I want to take it to the next level, I'll have to change things up a touch.

I worked hard in training for Ironman Melbourne. I put in a lot of miles and a lot of hours. I trained in the cold, in the heat, in the dark, in the snow, in the rain, in airports, open roads, crappy pools, dodgy surf, and even in my bedroom. And, I did most of it solo, flying-blind as it were. I didn't know a huge deal about periodisation or the optimum blend of intensities for an Ironman. I learned a lot in that race. I learned something key to endurance training, something that many others have experienced also, and I'll share with you 140-odd characters from Matt Dixon which really sums it up (it kind of has to, it's only 140 characters!):

If you are judging training success by 'counting your weekly hours/miles' you are doing something seriously wrong.
— Matt Dixon (@purplepatch) April 4, 2013

Simply, it's not just about clocking the hours - there's much more to it. It begins months and months ahead, involves skills, technique, strength, speed, endurance not only physically but mentally. I didn't tick all those boxes, no sir.

So. Now I find myself in the "off-season" for the next 6 months. There will be the chance to dabble in a few events such as the City2Surf in August, but I am going to totally revamp my training and commit to a smarter training philosophy using the experience I gained in the last couple of races, and knowledge I gained from Pete Clifford and Triathlon NSW's Coaching program.

In the pool I have been doing a lot of drill work. I have a number of technical things I really need to work on. I'm also going to try and learn a number of new skills like dolphin kicking, and new strokes. It's going well so far!

The new hoops!

On the bike I've got myself a power meter, in the form of a Powertap, and I'm really looking forward to training with it and using it to really make bounds in my cycling capacity. I did a VO2 max lab test back in November for a mate's lab work and it basically showed that my peak power is OK, but my FTP could use work. I tested today, showing a 3.44w/kg FTP which isn't great. It's not pathetic, but it means there is a lot of room for improvement. I reckon I could write a post on that alone.. stay tuned!


My running could use some work, too. Once my legs begin to feel sharp (still a little sluggish after IM), I want to start hitting the track. Might even get another Half-Mara PB in September if I don't slack off.


So with my refreshed desire to improve and train efficiently and with purpose, I'll be looking forward to [hopefully] making my way up the placings a bit and being competitive with the studs on race day.



Enjoy a little Simon...

Recovery

It's been about 12 days Ironman Melbourne, and I must admit, I'm feeling scarily good. For a year, I had read or heard stories of long recoveries - several months long. And for a few days, I thought I would be in that boat, too, having shelled my legs at the big dance. Then, after a few good nights' sleep, some light activity (namely walking around and some easy swimming), eating reasonably well and doing plenty of stretching and trigger-point, I came back to life pretty darn quickly.

Last weekend (6-7days post-race), I did a couple of light rides at a recovery effort and felt really good. I tried a first jog early this week. It, however, did feel cumbersome and laboured - similar to the end of a +2hr long run. I ran today, and felt great. Not 100%, but 85% - which 12 days post-Ironman I am pretty happy with. I feel like I'm riding really strongly at the moment, as well, having done a couple of hilly little loops this week I was really please with the legs!
Had a good swim this morning with the local squad and even though they beat me up a bit, I still felt pretty good.

Nothing too much on the horizon, though, so there's no rush to do any more or push any harder than what I feel like on a day-to-day basis. I'll just keep training lightly and try to improve technically where I can. I've started doing more strength training, as well, which is a pleasant change.

To summarise for all you folks who skimmed lazily to the bottom in hope of something really exciting, here's Cliff-notes version of why I feel amazing only 12 days after an Ironman:

• Getting in protein straight away - i.e. right after crossing the line
• Good sleep
• Good food
• Light exercise
• Stretching
• Trigger-point (poor man's massage)

Recovery begins here, at the finish line.

Race Report: 2013 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship (Ironman Melbourne)

Where to begin? I completed my first Ironman triathlon last week in Melbourne at WTC's Asia-Pacific Ironman Championship. I completed the race in 9:19, finishing 235th overall, and 25th in m25-29 (Link to results).

This is a journey that began, I suppose, with my first triathlon a few years ago - it was inevitable that one day, I would do a 'big one'. 12 months ago, one of my best mates, Jeremy, talked me into signing up for the race. And so, in early April 2012 the journey had a finite timeline.

Jez getting rego'd up

In leading up to the race, I believed I had trained pretty well. I had nailed some good, consistent weeks of 20-odd hours each from the Christmas holidays on-wards, and felt my swim and run form was really good, particularly. Of course, I was a self-coached Ironman first-timer training solo, so my view on training was pretty subjective. After having a week to think about the race and my lead-up, I have learned a lot and would make a number of changes next time, but we'll talk about that later.

Pre-Race: I arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning. Jeremy and I headed down to registration that afternoon, picking up our kits, getting well-wishes from Ironman World-Champ Pete Jacobs, and all that jazz. We picked up my gear -kindly transported by my parents to Melbourne- and Audrey that evening and set about preparing our bags before heading to bed.

The beautiful Teschner 703 ready to go, loaded with USN fuel!

On Saturday, Jeremy and I did our 'warm-up' ride/run on a windy Beach Rd, which would give us a little taste of Sunday's weather. Afterwards, we did our final packing then headed down to Frankston to check in the gear, drool over some of the pros' gear, and get a good look of the chop coming across Port Philip Bay. At this time, there were some rumors of a changed swim course, or even a swim cancellation. We tried not to think too much about it, and headed back to have the 'last supper', and head to bed.

I slept pretty well, surprisingly, but woke to loud gusts of wind outside.We set about having breakfast and coffee before jumping in the car and driving, once again, back down to Frankston.

Jeremy and I before the start.

Breakfast was: a bowl of porridge; 4 squares of dark chocolate; a cup of coffee, and; a banana.

We hit the port-a-loos with plenty of other nervous folks before heading over to do final prep on the bikes. By this time, Mike Reilly was announcing that there would be a shortened swim due to the rough conditions, on a changed course. Jeremy and I, along with plenty of other folks, were pretty gutted. I guess when it's your first one, you want to tick all the boxes. As we would find out though, the race would still have plenty to throw at us.

Swim: 00:27:24 (1500m; 388th OA). It was disappointing enough to have such a shortened swim. The course the RD came up with, though, was truly heartbreaking. Mass start from the beach, hard right turn at the end of the pier, swim out and do a U-turn around a few cans, then head back past the pier, go hard left around a third can, and into the beach with the swell. Great. An out-and-back swim. A mass of swimmers, in chop, going head on at each other. I've no idea what that Swim Course Director had for breakfast. It lead to, first and foremost, dangerous swimming, and secondly, cheating where plenty of folks turned at the first buoy (SEE HERE).

The conditions for the swim

My swim was good, though, and I did actually enjoy heading out in the swell. Despite starting close to the front, the initial few hundred metres before turning was a mess. It was simply too soon to turn for such a big group (HAVE LOOK HERE AT THE START, YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN). I ended up quasi-bodysurfing my way into the beach which was really fun. The shortened course, though, lead to a lot of congestion in T1, and the first quarter of the bike leg.

T1: 00:03:29 (180th OA). Run up the beach, into the tent, grabbed my helmet bag, wetty off, helmet & sunnies on, run out, grab bike, mount and off we go. Easy.

Bike: 05:18:59 (477th OA). Out onto the bike, the course was pretty darn congested. With the shortened swim, we probably had half the field on there in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately, this lead to a lot of drafting - a lot of it blatant cheating, some of it unintentional and somewhat forced. I can proudly say that I didn't partake in any group riding, and dropped back once passed. I did enjoy some pacing with other riders, though, something I don't often get to do.

Heading out from T1

Climbing out of the tunnel - a good opportunity to have a stand

Loads of folks down at the turn around

The first out section was into a brutal headwind. Going into the tunnel was a real buzz, and heading back with that knarley tail-wind was a lot of fun, on the first lap. This pacing and the buzz of finally being out there racing Ironman, lead me to probably over do it on the bike a little. I went 2:34 for the first lap, and roughly 2:45 for the second. The wind had picked up and was coming across us in a more gusty fashion by the second lap, which was reflected in most folks' splits. That said, I didn't feel quite as strong on the second lap, and the winds were less cooperative.

In terms of nutrition, my trusty bottle of USN Australia nutrition was serving me well, and I found it a really simple way to keep on top of the calories and the electrolytes. In it, I had about 1800 calories of nutrition which, over 5 hours, gave me about 400mg of sodium as well as plenty of other essential electrolytes. I was noticing I had a lot of salt on my suit, something I normally didn't have accumulated after most 5hr rides. Given this, and know the wind had the potential to 'dry us out' a bit, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade each lap, instead of purely drinking water, to ensure I was getting enough sodium.

Even though I was well aware I had ridden too hard, I was really glad to dismount, and get into the run which is usually my strength.

T2: 00:02:36 (339th OA): Dismount, bike to amazing volunteer, bag handed to me in tent by 2nd amazing volunteer, helmet off, socks on, shoes on, hat on, race belt on, slap on some sunscreen, head out. Done.

Run: 03:27:03 (159th OA). I headed out on my usual long-run pace, about 4:35/km, and felt great. I was passing plenty of folks. The thing with drafting is, it makes a lot of riders ride harder than usual, way out of their comfort zone. There were a lot of overcooked athletes out there. By about 18km, I was still feeling really comfortable, with one exception: my feet. My socks were too thin and it felt like I was quickly getting blisters. It became harder and harder to ignore the pain. There was, also, a huger camber in the road until about 18km at Mordialloc, which may or may not have influenced it.

Feeling good early (maybe because I
was finally leaving Frankston?)

Still holding a decent clip; you can clearly
 see the salt on my suit, though.

At this point in the run, we ran down along a path by the beach and, into the wind. This was the most brutal part of the run, and the wheels fell off a little bit. This was my wall. At aid stations, I was drinking 1-2 'cups' of Gatorade and felt that was my limit, stomach-wise. My thought, then, was that this was the consequence of pushing my effort on the bike. I kept on pushing and walked through the aid-stations, taking my time and making sure to get the fluid in. My pace was slowing, too, but remained under 5-mins/km with exception of walking the aid stations. I stopped twice, also, to have a pee.

Chugging along and feeling pretty ordinary, the crowd kept my spirits up. Everyone -and I mean everyone- who was lined up on the course was clapping, cheering and giving me a shout out. "Looking good Stephen", "Good job Stephen", etc was heard often, and I tried to thank everyone. This was the amazing part of Ironman - the crowd support. Loads of kids wanting hi-fives (which I was happy to indulge) and great support from volunteers and the crowd really kept one going. Not to mention the amazing support from my own family and friends - Jeremy's did Lindsey, in particular, was fantastic as he rode the run course and said g'day every few kms.

Once I hit 32-odd km, it felt like a mental barrier had been broken. Only ten km to go. I've done this a million times. My pace began to quicken, in a relative sense, and I felt great ticking over the kms. From about 3kms out, you could see the finish line, and knowing there was only 15-odd minutes to go, was a real boost. 

I'm not sure where the energy came from, but I picked up the pace and ran in the last km really pumped up and geed up the crowd as much as I could down the chute. It was a lot of fun! I crossed the line in 9:19:33, to finish 235th Overall.  

The finish chute was epic!

What a feeling!

Post-Race: I was elated to be done and went quickly over to grab some water, get a protein shake in and absorb the feeling. I sat on the grass and Jeremy came along not too far behind, crushing it in 9:25. At this point, I was feeling cold, and began to shake a little. I went over to see Audrey at the fence, and, feeling light-headed I decided to make my way to the med tent. They checked and monitored my vitals, which were good, despite my skin temperature falling. I rested up for about 40 minutes (I think?), before being let go once my temperature had stabilised. We went and grabbed a meal and a beer before going home to rest and head back to Sydney on Monday morning.

Elation: we're done!

Feet up in the med tent - the ambos were amazing, thanks guys!

I can say that I learned a lot in this race - more than any other. It's such a different challenge to anything else, Half-Ironmans included.

Before I race another Ironman, I want to get a lot more half-iron racing under my belt, as well as >12months with a Powermeter, which will allow me to train and race much more smartly, and efficiently. At the moment, I'm thinking 2014 in Whistler or Mont-Tremblant, but we'll see. I can say that my bike training was not intense enough. Despite doing consistent >300km weeks, the intensity just was not there. There was too much 'easy' or 'LSR' riding.

In anycase, I am glad to have raced Ironman Melbourne. It was an interesting, challenging and fun event. I hope that organisers can learn from the mistakes of this year's swim, and implement a better strategy in future years should unfavourable conditions arise.

Thanks a bunch to everyone who supported me, and put up with me on the road to the startline. You've all been amazing! Special thanks goes to Audrey, my beautiful wife who has been there with me the whole way, and to my parents who've been great as well.

Teschner Bikes, USN Australia, Saucony and O2 Creation have all been brilliant - thanks a lot for the support and the faith, guys!

TEAM USN: Australian Triathlete March feature!

Stolen sneakily from OzTri's twitter

Kym and I were featured in the March issue of Australian Triathlete (the one with BAMF Annabel Luxford gracing the cover after crushing Auckland 70.3).

USN has been looking after us really well with some great gear (and more to come!). Looking forward to executing a good race in Melbourne fuelled by their amazing products.

The Ironman Melbourne nutrition plan will be published in next month's issue, which will hit stands soon.

Being powered by some amazing stuff!

Anyway here's a snapshot of the article..

Taper Time

Checking in now and it's in the middle of my taper (the wind-down in training before an event). I began tapering three weeks out, and I must admit, it's an odd period of time.

Going into the taper, I had a good few solid weeks of training, including Husky LC. 

Weekly totals were:

• 21h25m (Week of Feb 11)
• 21h48m (Week of Feb 18)
• 23h05m (Week of Feb 25)

I was pretty happy with how things went following Husky. I pulled up pretty well (much better than last year's long course race in MT) and within a few days was getting around training as-per normal. My only regret is not getting in any really killer swim sessions. Would'a, could'a, should'a.

My plan for the taper, in a nutshell:

• Week 1: an 80% run load vs. the average of the prior month, with similar swim/bike totals.
• Week 2: 80% of Week 1's running; 65-70% of cycling average volume; Normal swim volume.
• Week 3 (Race week): Bugger all, save some small sessions i.e. few 15 minute runs and bikes.

It'll be important to keep a good amount of intensity in there and not simply fall into a "short and slow" trap which will inevitably lead to a flat day. 

Anyhoo. 9 days to go!

Training Update: February furlongs for Frankston

Well February, that little short month between January and March, is over. That happened quickly. It was a really busy month for me, actually. Earlier this month was chillaxing and training, before I had a hit out at Huskisson Long Course, then straight into University work. The last two weeks, with uni, have flown by faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.

That being said, I did get down to some good training this month. With Ironman Melbourne now only three weeks away, February was always going to be that 'key month' (even though I don't really believe in 'key days/weeks/months etc).

Let's have a look at it, shall we:

January: 2.83hrs/day average

February: 2.91hrs/day average

In the last two weeks, I admit my performance - or quality - of training has perhaps suffered. After Huski, I was straight into a hectic week of Uni then a weekend in Sydney to complete a course. My sleep suffered and my stress levels were a bit higher. The last few days have been great, though, and I had a fantastic long brick (170km+15km) on Friday afternoon.

Run taper begins next week! Yay! I feel really ready for a taper, and more sleep!

Here are some shots of around the place taken during rides, for your perusal: 

Specky morning in Culburra

Roos hanging out in Currarong

Bald Hill on the way down to Wollongong from Sydney

Race Report: Huskisson Long Course Triathlon with VIDEO

Short Version: 4:24:22, 10th m25-29, 129th Overall (1400-odd competitors)


Long Version: Every race, I learn a lot. That being said, I am still quite an inexperienced athlete (certainly as far as long course racing is concerned). Ironman Melbourne (no less than 5 weeks away!) is the A-Race for early 2013. Huskisson LC, being only 5 weeks prior to the big dance, meant that having a really good rest beforehand would not be possible. Despite wanting to race well, I would have to 'train through it'. In essence, this would mean a near-normal training week would precede Husky, with a few tweaks, such as cutting out a tempo run and shifting a day forward in the cycle in order to get a full rest day on Saturday. In the end, I gave myself a few easy days on Thursday and Friday, and a complete day of rest on Saturday. I did feel quite well rested and ready to go.  It would be only my second long course race (meaning IM Melbourne is to be only my third!) and the first which would be a "B-Race".




Pre Race: With the roads closed at 6:30, I wanted to get to Huskisson early. We were out of bed at 5am and in the car 40 minutes later, coffee in hand. We got there and set ourselves up on the beach with our picnic breakfast of porridge to watch the first waves go off. The Pro men began at 6:30am, some 2 hours and 20-odd minutes before my wave which was the second last. After a bit of spectating and finishing my coffee, it was time to get into the transition to set up, before it re-closed at 8am. Once everything was set in the transition, and a visit to the can was out of the way, we had time to relax a bit and wait for my eventual start at 8:50am.

2km swim: 31:31. Despite having all the time in the world, I managed to almost miss my start. I had my wetty  half-on, and was sitting around with Audrey and my parents near the transition. I wandered down to the beach only to jump in the water to have a warm up and a piddle. It was then, standing ankle deep in the water that I heard the announcer say 'Next wave, men under 30 and Clydesdales'. Shit. I got to the start line OK, but didn't get a chance to warm up.
We were off and the first few hundred metres was quick as we headed out to the first can. We ran into a lot of folks doing their second lap and, at times, it was a little messy, forcing us to go around a lot of folks. It was easy going for the first lap, but by the second, my goggles had fogged up pretty badly which led to the poor decision of just following some random guys feet as we headed out into the sun again. Mistake. I ended up swimming 50-100m towards the right of the first buoy and had to stop to clear my goggles before restarting. I swam 'angry' for the rest of the second lap and felt like I was moving through a lot of the other swimmers, which was a nice feeling.

T1: 1:59. Small run up to transition was uneventful and I made it to my bike. It took my a little bit to get my wetty off. I must trim the ankles.

83km Bike: 2:26:32. This was the difference between me and the top-5 in my AG. I have the slowest split in the Top-15. On the first lap, things were good and I biked steadily. I did drop my nutrition bottle and had to stop to get off my bike and walk up the road to get it, costing me a minute or so, maybe. Once settled, I thought the second lap would be a bit quicker. Not so. I slowed, in fact. Not because of a lack of effort, or trying, I just didn't have the power. The third lap was a bit better and I was able to pick things up a little. Disappointing. I think it was simply a question of not having an ideal lead up to the race in terms of rest resulting in being flat on race day. All that being said, it was a really fun course with lots of rolling hills. Despite being a touch crowded on the first and second laps with stragglers from the first batch of waves, the TO's did a good job in pinging those who drafted.

T2: 2:00. Socks are slow, but I didn't want to risk blisters with a few important weeks to go.

20km run: 1:22:18. I felt good on the first lap and held a steady pace. There were lots of folks out on the course, including Macca and Paul Ambrose hamming it up with the crowd, and it made for some quick-footed moves around some of the slower runners. I was feeling strong until about 16kms when I started to develop a few nasty stomach cramps. I think I overdid it at an earlier aid station. I stopped to walk and massage them out a couple of times. In the end, I was able to pick it up to a decent clip and finish well.


I'm happy, in hindsight, with the race. I swam well, I cycled OK on tired legs, and ran strongly. I have learnt a lot and now I'm really counting down to Melbourne!

Thanks a lot to supporters and Elite Energy for another great weekend.



Husky Triathlon 2013 from Steve Crossman on Vimeo.