New Zealand Ironman

Going into Ironman New Zealand I was feeling very good a week out, and I ended up racing as best as I could for 7th but feel I left a lot of time on the table. Next time!

I hate making excuses but race week Ava ended up getting sick, I started to feel pretty average, wed,Thursday and Friday I was having midday sleeps, never the best indicator when you should be jumping out of your skin with energy.  Saturday morning was much the same, but I just tried to convince myself if was nerves.
That pretty much sums up my race as well, I wont go into a blow by blow account, swim felt hard, bike felt hard and run felt harder! Congrats to fellow Saucony athlete Meredith for taking out the women's race and Bevan the men's, I am sure he will be in the mix in Kona.

So some positives from the race, great performances from some of the athletes I coach. Erin had a real breakthrough race for 6th overall, 2yrs ago she went 11hr15min so has chopped off nearly 90min. Shes just been chipping away slowly and its starting to come together now.
Candice got onto the podium with 3rd overall behind two very good athletes in Gina and Meredith, some more work and tweaks and she can be on the top of the podium.
Julie 2nd in her age group and the Kona spot in her first attempt at IMNZ.
Melanie a very good debut, she will still be smiling now I bet :)
Davina also, even though she didn't finish and just missed the cut off, she doesn't realise how far she has come, 1yr ago she was in 9hr half Ironman shape. Next year she will finish it off I bet.

Also got to mention Graham racing on Sunday, 2nd at Escape from Alcatraz just behind Gomez and in front of some very good athletes. A very good start for a series of races in the US.

We had a wonderful stay at the Baywater Moter Inn . They made a banner for each competitor staying there on race day and if you don't want to pay for photographs this is the place to stay. On check out you get a disc and some prints of the day, see some of mine below. Also big thanks to Saucony and Louis Garneau for super fast gear to perform in.

Start of run with Terenzo

On bike

3hr47min Half Ironman Training

Here is a little snap shot of some of Graham's work just before his course record at the New Zealand half Ironman Championships in Tauranga.
Gog works best old school and likes it on the recycling paper :)

New Zealand High Preformance

As seen in the media recently Cambridge has acquired another high performance program to go with the already very successful rowing program and the cycling program which is due to kick off once the new velodrome is completed.

Cambridge is a perfect option for the triathlon program, it has all the facilities you need.

There are several swimming pools and lake access.

Cycling wise it arguably has the best riding options in all the places I have lived in New Zealand, quiet roads, flat roads, hilly roads, rough chip and a fair amount of wind for compulsory strength training. It was obviously a good place to train as shown by the amount of past Olympians to come out of places close to Cambridge including Sarah Ulmer, Tim Gudsell, Pete Latham, Michelle Hyland to name a few which have went to recent Olympics.

Running wise, there is a beautiful grass 400m track (which could do with some rolling J though), several hard packed gravel paths and numerous trails beside the river and grass options on the outskirts of town. Then my personal favourite, the Sanatorium loop, which is 29k of some big hills and wonderful scenery, the Waikato equivalent of the famous Waitaks circuit. Dick Quax, New Zealands 5000m world record holder did many laps around this circuit and I expect the triathletes coming to town will do the same.

So Cambridge has all the facilities for high performance but will it produce the next Hamish Carter or Bevan Docherty? Probably not in my opinion, looking at the last couple of Contact series races where the future champions should be racing, there is a clear lack of entrants. Forget about the performance for an instance, there is just not enough young athletes racing to create a base from where the next Olympic champions will come from. Look at sprint nationals yesterday, 20 under 19 men and women racing in total in the elite category. So from those 10 men tri NZ has to find a medallist, that’s making things difficult right from the get go.  Go further back to the Whangamata and Rotorua Contact races and it was even more disappointing. Graham Ogrady and Clark Ellice clear winners without any young guys clipping at their heals. Rachel Hamill , the 42yr old mum of three winning the womens race in Rotorua with not even a young lady in sight.
Some people might say Whangamata and Rotorua where non drafting races therefore its different to a draft legal race.  But you only have to look at the Brownlie brothers, they are two of the best bike riders on the circuit, that’s one reason they can run sub 30min off the bike. Mikayla Nielsen was the only young athlete out there learning her trade in those races.

So what can TriNZ do to create a bigger base of competitive athletes?

1 - Direct recruitment from the swim clubs , there are plenty of skinny swimmers out there that are built like runners who have never actually ran in their lives. Give them a pathway to get to the top.

2 – Discounted/Free entries to all Contact races for the U19s athletes. Where is the money going to come from? Sell some of the SRMs which are not actually used for any benefit

3 – Get some decent coaches involved in each centre who can look after and mentor the younger athletes. Most kids and teenagers like nothing better to be involved in a squad and if you can create an environment where there is good advice been given and some healthy competition champions will be created.

4 – Any members of the Tri NZ youth/performance teams be contracted to race the contact series

Challenge Wanaka

Well it was back to Wanaka again this past weekend. This was my 6^th time in Wanaka so I am getting to know the place pretty well. As Mark Watson put it, I have been beaten up a few times in the last few years there, but as I tell my athletes persistence is key so I again towed the start line.

After having health problems all of last year I only got out of the rut with a month off including zero exercise in October and changing a few lifestyle things. That meant it was always going to be a pretty short buildup. I also did the Rotorua Half Ironman about a month before which was not very good for my confidence, look up the results if you want to see why J

Well, fast forward a month, and I was waiting for the gun to go off in Wanaka. The morning reminded me of two years ago, I was awoken about 2am with some howling winds blowing against my window, and here we go again I thought. Well the winds stayed and produced a good sized chop on the lake and a swell with a period of about 2sec! So the race started I was in a great position, in the first group after a couple hundred metres with Dylan and Rhodsey already off the front and then the waves seemed to get bigger and I got into all kinds of trouble. Suddenly there was a lot of water been swallowed on every stroke, me wondering if I had been chucked in the washing machine and then even some breastroke to try and get things under control. I have never been so pleased to get to first buoy and change direction and get the swell hitting from a different direction. Finally I emerged from the lake, I knew the time gaps where going to be bad but tried not to think about it.

Onto the bike and out to the first turn around and I could assess the damage. I didn’t bother looking at the watch when Dylan came past, he had given a lesson on how to swim and waited till the group of Chris McCormack, Jamie Whyte, Leon Griffin and Rhodsey come part. It was about 6min and with no one coming from behind I knew I was in for a long solo time trial.

So I got on with the job, the legs felt pretty good, and just did my own thing. The wind was howling, and the 53-11 was getting a good workout in the tailwind sections. This meant on the way back to town it was 39-17 into the head wind! So I got a time split at the 90k mark and it was about 7min so that gave me some confidence as I didn’t think I had been pushing too hard, just riding at my pace. I really thought the group riding at the 7m draft zone would rip some time out.

Back out onto the last lap, big tail wind down to the turn and then the last 30k into the headwind. I saw the group had broken up which was good for my motivation. I arrived in transition in 6^th having taking time out of all of those in front, Macca was only 90sec up the road with Jamie and Dylan about 6min with the other in between.

On with my Ipod (got to love Challenge rules) and into the run, I felt very good the first 10k and tried to hold back. But come the 12k mark I started to get that dreaded fuzz which I went in and out of to the finish. I got past Rhodsey at the 18k mark and then got some encouragement when I could see the Macca, Griffin and the 3^rd place bike at the 28k mark. I got pass Leon up the big climb up outlet road then up to Macca’s shoulder at the 32k mark. Unfortunately once I got there the body didn’t have much left and I couldn’t finish the job. So I ended with another 4^th, I think my 6^th time in #4 position at a Ironman distance race! Big congrats to Dylan for getting the win.

So I am very pleased to be on top of things and moving in the right direction again.

The ladies I coach both had good races, Candice was 2^nd in a sprint finish with Jo Lawn and Tamsyn rolled home in 5^th.

Tracy, Ava and I had a great stay at the Wanaka Edge Apartments so check them out if you are ever in Wanaka. Also if you want a Challenging race and a great holiday destination Wanaka is the race for you.

New Year, New opportunities

Boom, 2012 is over,
From a sporting perspective, I had a disappointing year, but thankfully I found out what was going wrong, had a enforced layoff for all of October and have started to come back stronger. So I am looking forward to some consistent training over the next year to really go up another level. Event wise I kick it off with Challenge Wanaka in two weeks time, but after that I am still in the planning stage on what events to target.
The coaching has been going great, a double world champion, Ironman win, multiple half ironman wins, numerous podiums and plenty of athletes improving across the board.
Family wise, Tracy and I had a great time watching Ava grow up from a little baby into a little person. She always brings a smile to your face if you have had a average day, and seems to have endless amounts of energy to burn off.

I kicked off 2013 with a session on my favourite hill, some laps up and down sanatorium with not even 1 car for company :)

So I have some blogs coming up which I have been thinking about for awhile, 1  - the state of New Zealand triathlon in the future, watching the size of the field in the Contact series race in Rotorua in the younger ranks were pretty disappointing and 2 - what it takes to break through to the next level, the keys of persistence and patience

Update - coaching, ITU worlds...

Its been a busy few weeks in Cambridge for me. Some highlights have been watching some of the
athletes I coach starting to get fit and putting the results on the board

Candice had her first big Iron distance win in Singapore at the Metaman. Those asia races are always a warzone and this one was no different, Candice had prepared well and is a Camel in the heat. She took out some solid names including Cosmor, Granger, Harper and Zelenkova and has moved up another level. Still plenty of work to do on her swim, hardest thing for me at the moment is keeping her away from the 100+ people giving her free advice about her swim.

Rachel got the double at the ITU world championships in Auckland, on the Wednesday she took out the aquathon and then on the monday she won the 40-44yr age group by a whopping 9min. She was also 2nd overall out of all the women 20sec behind the fastest. Rachel has plenty more to come and I am picking her as the Jack Foster of women's triathlon in New Zealand if she wants it. A great result from the mum of three from Te Pahu.

I also have to mention Troy, Kona didn't go to plan but he has been in winning form taking out the overall in his Local Half Ironman. Another athlete Kim had a solid result at age group worlds after a bike crash only a few weeks earlier. I have several other athletes ticking away in the background who will be firing this summer, so watch this space :)

Other news, nearly finished my bathroom, Tracy has been hanging out for a bath as its been out of action for a couple of months now :)

Cindi, Trista and I, finally got to meet some more Timex teamates

Rachel and I after her big win

Elite women's bunch on big screen + real life

Birthday Blog

Well the time has flown since we got home from Europe, I have been getting back into the training after a break and been busy painting, re tiling and renovating the house.
I had my birthday the other day and gave myself a good thrashing before the customary cake

So the day went like this
 5.30am,  alarm goes off, get to the Te Awamutu pools for a swim with the TeA swim club swim session was 1000m alternate free/back, 30x100 free, 1000m alternate swim back so a good solid aerobic set

 8am,     Get home, have breakfast, check some emails

 9am,     Drive to Porrit stadium run track with Candice, Erin is cranking out a big run session and  looking strong. I do a short warm up then 25x400 which hurt a lot even though the pace was not on. It was the first time for some quality in a while, so its always a wake up call

12pm,    Get home, have lunch, get motivated for my afternoon session at the gym.

4pm,     Jog down to the gym, and meet Elliot, Candice for some rowing on the erg. Candice has wanted to give me a birthday session ever since she swam 10k for hers last year. So the plan was to do my debut 2k erg test. After a little bit of warm up and technique advice it was all on. Me vs Candice and the 100kg New Zealand men's 8 rower they had invited to show me how it was down.
Well it hurt pretty bad, the  thighs where already sore before the erg, and they where definitely pumping after it :)
Well we got a display in how to do it, nearly 1min ripped out of me in the space of just about 6min!
but i did beat Candice best ever time from her rowing days so that was a consolation prize

Then it was time for the good stuff, cake.....