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.....

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

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 4^th 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 2^nd 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 6^th or 7^th 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

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