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 :)

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

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

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

Video with Waikato times

Update, challenge Wanaka

Well we are in to the new year and Challenge Wanaka is just over a week away. I have been ticking off the training over Christmas and New Years. I had a little hit out at the Contact race in Whangamata, it was old school triathlon, surf and lots of chop, a testing bike course with rain like IMNZ and then a 3 lap run with half of it on the beach, which was actually pretty firm due to all the rain. The body got a decent workout and some nice training. I had to ride there and back as our car cant fit Ava, pram + baby stuff + Tracy and me, so some extra complusory training :)

Summer has arrived in Cambridge today so time for some sun which will be good, as central Otago can heat up. I have Scotty from Team TBB staying at the moment, so its been good to catch up and do some training together.

The New Zealand Half Ironman Championships where on the weekend and I had a couple of athletes racing and they all had great races, so it was happy coach on the weekend. The highlights being Tamysn getting 3rd Overall and Erin coming in 2nd in her age group and the fastest womens run split of the day in 1hr26min. Erin took over 25mins off her time from last year so just shows what can be done with some consistent work. Plenty more to come from both of them.

Another update from Wanaka soon, cant wait to get down there.

Update

Well, the time flies at this stage of the year. So the past couple of weeks I tried to have a little hit out at the Taupo Half Ironman, have done some christmas shopping, watched Ava grow, and done some good training.

Taupo Half was a tough day at the office and I decided to call it a day after the bike, the body had some big bricks on its back and couldnt get them off. So a easier week after and I am starting to get some better sensations in the legs and not pedalling squares :)

So what would I like for Christmas? Well next year I am pleased to confirm that I am going to be back with Team Timex and we are changing bike sponsors, so one of the below is going to be just like christmas :)

Update, Taupo Half Ironman

Time has been flying since baby Ava has arrived. A little less sleep at night, some training sessions, coaching and the days seem to disappear very fast :)

This weekend will be my first race in a while, the Taupo Half Ironman, I have had a win, 2nd, 3rd, crash DNF in the past couple of years in Taupo. Its a great course, and a perfect chance to practise on the IMNZ course if you are stepping up to the IM distance or to get a feel of what IM will feel like.

A very good field is due on the start line on Saturday morning, Cam Brown, Callum Millward, Mark Bowstead, Jamie Whyte, Brodie Madgwick, Kerin Doe and a few others so it should be a cracker of a race.

Training wise, I am in the middle of a big build up for Challenge Wanaka ,I have been thinking about this race ever since making some stupid mistakes last year. Check out my old blog if you want the details.

Hopefully Taupo is not like it was in 2009 (see photo below), must thank the volunteers for battling in the below conditions

Baby, birthdays, racing

Well its waiting time in the Williams house at the moment. The little baby is past its due date so should arrive any time now.

So training at the moment involves taking the cell phone and always letting Tracy know where I am going. Candice had her birthday the other day so we had a 10 kilometer set in the pool and I was half expecting the lifeguard to come over and give me some good news, that I would have to rush home, but it didnt happen.

I had a few athletes racing at the weekend and all showed some really good improvements from the work they have been putting in over the winter. All have plenty more to come, good things take time. I like the quote from Percy Cerutty
 "Hard things take time to do, impossible things take a little longer"

Erin 5th and Ange 21st at Long course world champs
Candice backing up her big weekend (K2 + Auckland Marathon) with a win at the Gisborne Duathlon
Tamsyn 2nd at Ashburton Half Ironman

What training did I do today?

So what does a typical friday look like for me these days? At the moment I am working on increasing my bike power and strength which I need for next season.  The basics behind the sessions is too really overload my cycling legs more than usual, while keeping the running and swimming ticking over.

This morning started with a session on the erg (indoor trainer) which consisted of a long warm up, some short intense intervals with a long rest interval, followed by a long warm down. The reason for the longer rest is to let my legs recover completely so I can hit the next interval with the maximum of effort, and hold good form the duration.  I am set up in the lounge in front of the telly, playing a mixture of "The good morning show, Juice TV and MTV."  Its amazing what a good song can do for the brain, the time goes alot quicker and its easier to switch off and just get the work done.  I also learn some great housekeeping skills at the same time.

I have some 'work' work to do before heading out for the next session and then its back on the bike this afternoon. I am going to ride hills for a couple of hours, which will include climbs such as French Pass, Te Miro and Sanatorium.  For those who aren't familiar these range from 5-15 minutes in length, with a range of gradients, from "it dosent hurt much" to "works the legs no matter what"

I will follow this bike session with by putting on the Saucony Fastwitch's and run a number of short intervals, not too many but just enough to get the heart rate up and to remind the legs that to run a fast Ironman you still have to run FAST!

The below photo is from last friday, plenty of Magpies around at the moment, these ones a little worse for wear.

Check the random quote below, I quite like it.

Also, dont be scared to put in a entry to win some timex kit, check out link below
http://keeganwilliams.blogspot.com/2011/09/win-team-timex-gear-kona-picks.html

Complicated

I just read the below quote and think it is a great example of how to many coaches and athletes over analyse everything. Keep to the basics, you don't need to over analyse, x watts, heart rate to the nearest beat, cadence 89.67, 21 grams of carbs. Over analysing causes a lot of lost training and most of all recovery time when you could be resting your brain and body from triathlon, because that is when you are actually getting fitter

I have highlighted my favourite line



Lydiard got back from a European tour in the 60s, while he was away he was introduced to the physiology of what was actually going on. He introduced to his squad the concepts such as anaerobic and aerobic exercise.

He "lost" his squad almost at the outset. Bill Ballie (world record holder 20,000m and 30,000m) chirped up saying "You mean fast stuff and slow stuff, coach?" Olympic Gold medalist Murray Halberg was even more to the point "Coach, does this change anything we are doing in training?" "No, not at all" said Lydiard. "Good, So we can cut the bull shit and get on with it!" replied Halberg.

What does a beginner need to do to complete a half Ironman?

2k swim, 90k bike, 21k run

Well the basics are like what Arthur Lydiard devised in the 50s and 60s to produce multiple gold medalists and world record holders in the form of Snell, Halberg, Magee and Baillie etc etc….
What you need to do is to build up the stamina and strength to complete the distances. And remember it is a triathlon, not a swim race, bike race or run race. If you have not trained enough on the bike it does not matter how good a runner you are, you will not be able to run to your potential if you are not fit on the bike.
The swim is made up of approximately 1 stroke every meter of swimming so approximately 2000 strokes. In order to be able to do this on race day you need to show your body what it is like to swim 2000 strokes, so at least once per week you should build up to swimming a main set of 2000 strokes. One of my favorites for developing athletes is 10x200m on 20sec rest done all as Pull (pull = paddles + pull buoy)
The cycle consists of 90 kilometers. Again you need to build the strength and endurance to be able to complete the ride so you can get off and run. This involves a longer ride each week, and then several shorter rides focusing on building strength. For example another favorite of mine for developing athletes is simply to jump on the Turbo or indoor trainer, and do a 10min wup/dwn and 15x1min in a big gear at a very strong intensity. So you get nearly an hour worth of aerobic work and build strength at the same time.

You can check out the rest of the article here http://www.debihazelden.co.nz/what-does-a-beginner-need-to-complete-a-half-ironman/

Me at the New Plymouth Half Ironman

German Update

Since Challenge Roth, I had a few very easy days and then started rolling again. The body seems to have pulled up well and I have been ticking off some good training. I have just done a Barry Magee weekend running so the legs have had a good working over.

A few things I have noticed in Germany

•  At the pool, a lot of people like to do breaststroke, more than any other country I have been too. Lucky the pool is normally pretty empty so there are never any lane rage issues
• Another pool observation, the women seem to love to wear bath robes to the pool
• The signage on German roads is outstanding, you not only get the street names but always the direction you are headed, makes getting lost a lot harder.
• The road surface here is super, the NZ goverment, local councils, transit etc, need to come for a lesson in building roads. 

A really dumb thing I did in Germany

• So this past weekend I was suppost to fly to London to see some family. I was flying out of Frankfurt but didnt even consider checking if there was more than one airport when I jumped on the train. And guess what? Frankfurt has two airports, and I ended up at the wrong one, completely missing my flight......

My routine of the past couple of weeks is to get the training done and then settle down for some Tour De France action in the afternoon, so next week might be a little different. Also it was great to see our Kiwi runners smashing it on the weekend also, Nikki Hamblin and Nick Willis both breaking the national records.

Next update soon

Some real running

There is nothing like some old school running from the greats to get the motivation flowing. Two of New Zealands greats, John Walker and Rod Dixon in action against Bayi and Prefontaine. They need to show more of this stuff at the schools these days, there are plenty more Walkers and Dixons out there....

How do I recover faster?

 How do I recover faster? Couch + Compressport full socks,  thigh guards + nana nap :)

Update - Winter Training

Daylight saving has rolled around again, so its time to get the indoor trainer out more often and build some good leg strength. A lot of age group athletes I see, waste a lot of time during the winter just because of bad information out there on what you should be doing, ie the typical "build base miles for next summer"

If you want to build some strength on the bike and set some PB's next summer, jump on the trainer and get the legs working through some big gear and hard efforts. For example, one favourite session of mine is 10-15min wup/dwn with 3-4 x15min in a big gear pushing at around 40-50rpm. After the session you definitely know you have completed something and got some stimulus going in the muscles. Using the big gear you can not go anaerobic so there is very little chance of pulling your form down as Lydiard would say

My training has been ticking along nicely for the last week or so, getting some good sessions in which should see me fitter for my next race in Ironman Brazil in 8 weeks time. Time for a track session this afternoon which should be fun, as got a little group together to crank it out at the local Cambridge grass track.

Over and out

Keegan

Potential

Over on the TBB forum there has been a nice little thread about training in Kenya/coaching and I thought I would paste here a few thoughts on athletic potential I wrote there

I will give you another little Lydiard story, in his joggin book I think
He talks about a runner he helped out when he was in his teens, he said he had no
talent, any was only midpack and thought he was destined to be there his entire career
Now this young runner obviously liked running and kept at it, kept at it, kept at it
And 15years later he ended up winning the New Zealand Marathon title in a 2hr15min
Not a bad time for someone with no Talent

So thats a big people cant get over in todays society, the NOW factor
we need everything NOW, not in 2 year time or 10
I think every athlete is guilty of it

And the above just shows you,
No one actually really nows how much aerobic potential to improve your body has
Everyones rates of improvements are so different
Some fast and some slow
Just like children, some grow faster younger, some older, but they end up the same size

Basic Training

I wanted to share a quote from Arthur Lydiard who was the master coach, which sums up the basic principles that all athletes and coaches should follow

"The fundamental principle of training is simple, which may be why it needs repeating so often: it is to develop enough stamina to enable you to maintain the necessary speed for the full distance at which you compete"



Lydiards boys on the Waitaks