Monday, December 31, 2012

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

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

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

Sunday, September 30, 2012

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.....

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Some photos from Challenge Copenhagen and Europe

Good sausages in Germany

A lot of world history started here

Our babysitter Junea

Getting a massage

Packing!


Uffe, homestay in Denmark, Challenge registration

Swim start - Challenge Copenhagen

Tracy checking timing mat

Jimmy, Tracy + Me

Pizza after the race! all home made, Tracy's sister Ange

Ava sleeping in suitcase

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Challenge Copenhagen Race Report


The aim going to into KMD Challenge Copenhagen was to get to the finish line no matter what. After a couple of past rough races I really needed to get to the finish line. The day ended well with a 4th place which was a bonus.
The swim was a beach start, a few strides and into the water, on my second or third dolphin dive my googles flipped up , I had the split second thought of just continuing without them, but being salt water I decided against it. So I was off the back of the first swimmers from the get go, so I settled into the main 2nd pack. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful in my new blue seventy helix.

Out onto the QR bike and the plan was to ride conservatively for the first 90k and try and pick up the pace in the last 90k, the course is quite rolling with a few technical sections so you can pick up a lot of time if you are riding well.  I thought I was riding easy to start, but at the 140k mark the legs started to fall off, and I grovelled into transition 2, so I was pleased to get off the bike and looking forward to getting some coke into the system. 
Once the legs came around, I felt like I was running quite well for the first 15k, I was quite surprised to see I was in 6th or 7th coming off the bike after a few guys sat out some drafting penalties at T2. It is a 4 lap course with big crowds along the length, Tracy, Ava and Angela where waiting for me at one of the aid stations, so it was always good to run past them. With about 15k to go, I came past Berkel who was obviously having a tough day, Aaron who destroyed the bike was miles up the road, and Jimmy and Mads where also out of touch unless they had a big meltdown. Joesph , my ex Team TBB German team mate was 5min back so I just had to run steady to keep my place. Running into the finish line was a good feeling, a big crowd + Ava and Tracy waiting for me.

So I am very pleased to be back on the scoreboard and back moving in the right direction.

We had a great homestay Uffe and family, it always makes the trip and race so much easier when everything is relaxed and taken care off. We are currently in London for a few days then head back to New Zealand. Check out some photos below



Monday, July 23, 2012

Whats been happening

Well post Roth I basically spent the first week in bed, watched a lot of Tour de France and movies. I am back moving pretty well now and looking forward to KMD Challenge Copenhagen in a couple of weeks time.

I had a interesting ride yesterday, a planned brick session, 3hrs on the bike into 90min run. I could write a whole story on it but the short story is, I was doing a long effort, and completely missed my turn off, thought I knew where I was but ended up extremely lost. Then to make matters worse I double punctured and only had one spare tube, so the last 90min was spent riding the rim home. And to finally top the day off, about 45min from home I started bonking badly, had no money to buy any food, so I arrived home just over 5.5hrs from when I left in a pretty wrecked state.
The next hour involved eating just about anything that I could get my hands on, so moral of the story, ask for directions earlier, take money, take a phone and more than one tube!


2yrs ago in Denmark

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Challenge Roth

Not quite the blog I was wanting to write from the best race in the world. I woke up on Sunday morning feeling pretty lethargic, got in had a little swim warm up. Got hammered at start of swim and was on struggle street the hole way, but tried to put it out of my mind once on to the bike.
So I tried to get going on the bike but the body felt very empty, the small hill out of Heideck I was just about in the granny gear, and then soon after the women started riding past! So I called it a day after the first loop of the bike.
Time for me to get the health back and rolling again.

Highlight of my day was seeing Tamsyn taking 45min off last years time and I know there is definitely another big junk of time to come off once she gets some more miles in the tank and resistance in the legs

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Challenge Roth - What do i do on the wednesday before

Well Challenge Roth is fast approaching, plenty of athletes around, all the signs are up and I am nearly ready to go.

So on my agenda today was;

 - Get up about 6.30, check the emails
 - Have some breakfast, oats and yoghurt
 - Head out for a bike on some super fast smooth roads, ride some time at a solid pace
   Then run of the bike for 20min
 - Get home, have 2nd breakfast with Dominic, the home stay, he likes to sleep in :)
   Had some nice bretzels and toast
 - Had play with Ava, then a nap, which ended up about a hour long!
 - Lunchtime, yes I do eat quite a bit!
 - Afternoon, a quick swim in the stainless steel pool
 - Quickly back home to pick up Ava and Tracy,
 - Go to Roth, have a massage with Andy
 - Go to Autograph session in Roth, need to improve my signature
 - Back home, catch end of Tour De France, Super motivation to see Greg Henderson smashing out a 
   great lead out for Greipel who took the win
 - Write this blog
 - Dinner
 - Bed 9pm

A few photos from the flights to Europe



So it was a 40hr door to door trip to get to Hilpoltstein, 3 flights and a couple of car trips. We had a bit of time to kill in Singapore so I managed a jog at the airport gym, and then we had some more time to kill as our 2nd flight was cancelled.


Jog in singapore airport

Ava having a sleep in Singapore airport - me playing sudoku

Same babysitters I found in the 2nd flight

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Time flies - off to Europe

Well the past month has flown by, I have had my head down working hard getting fit for Challenge Roth in a couple of weeks time. I cant wait to get back, we have a super home stay and race day was cranking last year with the crowds and atmosphere. Check out some photos below of last year.

This time Tracy and Ava are coming, fingers crossed the flights go well and Ava decides to sleep alot :) she likes to crawl around and investigate everything now so we might have our hands full.

Other news, Candice had a breakthrough run last weekend in Ironman Cairns and ran her self up to 3rd place only 3min from the win. Now I just have to install some more confidence in her and she will be on the top of the podium in the future. It just confirmed to me that Ironman racing is largely a mental battle and if you loose concentration or worry about what has gone on in the past you can loose a lot of time.

Run Action

Crowd

Wow

Beerfest after

Cool pool

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Recovery Run

Well today is a super easy day on the legs with just a quick 30min jog around the park to
help flush out the muscles and keep the legs ticking over. I quite often do this with Ava in the pram but today was a little wet so it was a solo effort. The speeds not important, its probably close to 6min ks or about 8min ks when I am pushing the pram.
So time to show you my favourite run loop....

Which shoes to pick??

3.39pm start time on the Timex watch

Chose the Saucony Fastwitch

Out the driveway

Down to the lake

Nice hard packed gravel path around lake
Lake path

Hill where I do short hill reps

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Louis Garneau

So it was just like Christmas when I arrived home from Koh Samui, I got to see Ava and Tracy and also got some new gear from Louis Garneau.
I am going to be racing in there Super fast Vortice helmet. I like it as it doesn't rely in you holding your head in the one position because of the short tail, therefore you can concentrate on riding strong rather than thinking about "is my aero helmet sticking up like a sail in the wind". Its also got a super cool visor to keep the eyes in good condition.

Shoe wise I have started riding in the Tri-300 shoes, they are super stiff and with the moldable sole fit nicely. The moldable sole you simply heat the shoes up in the oven, then put the shoes on and 10mins later you have a perfect fit. A added bonus they match my red Timex kit too :)

Check out some photos below




Vortice helmet

Hot visor

Tri 300 shoes

Calf shot

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Koh Samui Long Distance triathlon

HOT, HOT and HOTTER

We all new when signing up for the Koh Sumai Long distance triathlon it would be a hot one, much hotter and humid than Hawaii. Conditions more reminiscent of the later Ironman China. There where a few other "local" issues to deal with also, such as the dogs, motorbikes and cars.

Up until race week when out training I was thinking the ride could be very interesting but the organisers did a much better job in controlling the traffic than I thought would occur. You still had to be super careful with cars but we basically had one blocked off lane to ourselves, saying that I did have one super close encounter, that had me fishtailing past about 20cm past the edge of a scooter.

Back to the race, a 4k non wetsuit swim two lap swim. I had a boomer start, was with the lead group of 4 until the 300m mark, then my arms exploded, I got real hot in the 30-32 degree water and started going backwards, the second group came past and I could only hang with them until the 1k mark before dropping some feet. I then ended up swimming with Armando and Justin for the remainder.

Out on to the 120k bike and the plan was for a steady ride and hopefully get to the run in good condition to be able to run through to a good finish position. I didn't feel the pace was too hot for the first 90k but then I really lost a lot of power in the last 30k. The 35degree + temps + high humidity had taken there toll.

Off on to the 30k run and I soon caught up to Guy Crawford, we where both out side the top 10 and feeling not to flash, so we jogged/walked for quite a few kilometers, drunk alot of ice cold coke at the aid stations and then about the 10k mark I got running properly again. Once I was going I was moving along quite well but the gaps to the guys in front where to big and I ended up rolling home for 11th place.

So I am reasonably happy with the race, after a short 4 week build up after a break following IMNZ and the conditions it was good to get through it relatively unscathed. Even though the ride home after (about 15k) took about 2hrs as I had a massive bonk and had to stop at the first restaurant I came across and guzzle down some food. I am looking forward to a good period of training and getting back to Challenge Roth and Copenhagen.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

Koh Samui Photos, resorts, dogs and bikes

So Candice and I have moved to the race hotel for the inaugural Samui Triathlon, we have basically went from 1 star to 5 star plus at the Hansar resort :)
I am also looking forward to racing on my new QuintanaRoo and Challenge Tubular tyres.  

Check out some photos below
Challenge Tri Tyre


New Roo at Nids

Big fish at Nids

After walk to town during new years

Nids Bungalows


Hansar Resort

Inside Hansar

View out room



Random dog asleep on restaurant table

Friday, April 13, 2012

Thailand - Koh Samui Triathlon

So I am writing this from my room at Nids Bungalows, Candice and I have been here two days getting ready to race in the inaugural Koh Samui International triathlon. Its raced over a distance I havent done before, a 4k non wetsuit swim, 120k bike or 1.5 laps of the island and then a 30k run. Gerald the orgainser also runs the Embrunman triathlon in France, which would have to be the toughest race around. He has put together a great prize purse, 30 thousand New Zealand dollars for the win and a super field is due to line up on the 22nd, Faris, Bockel, Brown, Farlow, Dellow, Zamora just to name a few are on the start list.

The training has been interesting compared to back in New Zealand, quite similar to what I experienced in the Phillipines. Its quite humid and hot, lots of scooters, quite a few dogs and some water buffalos to keep things interesting. Definetly no wetsuits here, as the water temperature must be 27 odd degrees.

Today is the start of Songkran, which is the Thai new years, which means one big water fight. We rode this afternoon but it was a little pointless, we probably covered 20k in about 1hr15min and got water bombed 1000+ times. Check out some photos below of what it is like