Adventures in Tri

The G-Factor

2012-01-02T00:00:00.001Z

After last weeks little “miss-hap” I thought it was about time I explain it all a little more. If you’re not a twitter follower (@JonHotchkiss) then just to explain, the miss-hap wasn’t anything to do with failing to make it to the toilet in time but rather a nutrition related problem.

For about 5 years now I’ve suffered with an intolerance to gluten. It first arose shortly after I went through a very intense 6 or so months, where I basically stretched my body beyond its limits and something “gave in”. As an endurance athlete, I was rightly subscribing to the school of thought that I needed to “fuel the engine” and this meant loads of carbs. In our western diet this tends to equal, bread, pasta, cereal etc etc. When my body began to give in to the demands I was placing on it, the excess of carbs and in particular wheat based carbs, resulted in my body beginning to reject things. Some people are born with this, which is known as Coeliac’s disease; others like me develop intolerance to it. We (the latter group) can grow out of it, but it takes a lot of time and isn’t always possible.

Fast forward to last week and I’m now what I would consider a fairly well educated (in coeliac terms at least) a gluten-free savvy chap. Gluten is a protein found in certain grains (most commonly known being, wheat, rye and barley(malt), though there are many others too. It is basically the thing which makes bread and cakes hold together in a nice squidgy, soft and elasticated way. To those of us [sufferers] who an eat it, the damage caused by gluten to our bodies is in the simplest terms focussed on the intestinal lining. Back to biology now… stick with me… The intestines (small and large) have a folded structure all along the inside to maximise the surface area and consequently the ability to absorb all the good stuff from what we chuck in our mouths (hopefully this food actually contains good stuff – Christmas pudding sadly doesn’t fall into this category!). When gluten does its damage, it basically erodes these folds in the intestines and increasingly damages the body and its ability to absorb anything from food. Over time, with continued exposure, this damage can be substantial and incredibly dangerous to people’s physical health (and as you’ll see, mental health too).

What this all means in real terms is that the body isn’t getting the fuel… or anything it needs to keep itself operating properly. Now where an added complication comes in, is the wider, more external and internal symptoms that sufferers experience. Coeliac’s disease is often referred to as the chameleon disease, because it can have many different and changing symptoms and different people suffer some different ones. Often confused with IBS, eczema, fatigue, depression, vitamin deficiencies and more, sufferers can spend a long time treating those issues without realising the real cause.

My landlady (who is also gluten intolerant) will get severe stomach cramps and start throwing up if she gets gluten in her and will feel ill for 2-3 days. For me personally, it's longer lasting and in what I do (the whole triathlon malarkey) very damaging. Some of the symptoms will be itchy rashes (oddly only on certain parts of my body like my face, feet and knees), poor hair and nail condition, bloating and extreme fatigue!

You see, it's not only the calories from food that I’m not absorbing, but the vitamins and minerals too. So all the things I need to actually do anything, like create energy (remember the Krebs cycle from biology???) create new skin cells, maintain hair colour or create chemicals in my body like hormones simply aren’t getting absorbed into my body enough. It's basically an extreme example of what bad or malnutrition does to you body. The problem I face is when I accidentally get gluten in my system, (provided it's only a short term exposure to it) the damage is done, and it takes quite some time for my body to recover. The erosional damage that’s been done, needs to be repaired and this takes time and of course energy, proteins, minerals etc… all of which, I’m already not absorbing enough of anyway.
So last week, when I accidentally bought some nut and dairy (but not gluten) free muesli, within 12 hours of eating my first bowl, I was already noticing the tell-tale signs appearing. Falling asleep during the day, itchy knees and a complete lack of metal motivation led me to retrace my eating steps and discover the killer muesli lurking like a “free-from” assassin!!!

The reason why this is so bad for me and triathlon though is that I simply cant and also don’t even want to train. More than an hour of hard exercise and I’m shattered for the next 2 days. Mentally, I loose almost all motivation, concentration and focus. On Friday morning, my turbo session warm-up felt like a threshold set, and less than 5 minutes into the first interval and all I wanted to do was fall asleep on my bike. I literally could rest my head on my handle bars and doze off! This is neither good for training, or for functioning generally as a human!
The good thing is it's not permanent, though I’m sure every time I suffer from it; the damage isn’t quite fully repaired to its previous state. It's normally about 4-5 days before I start to feel an improvement and can begin to train again; 2 weeks later and I feel back to 100% and can train and function in general, like I would expect to.

However, I’ve learnt that what's important when this happens is to make the most of it. Just because I can’t physically get fitter doesn’t mean I can’t be getting better! My coach (@T2Coaching) reminded me of Kipling’s epic “If” poem; and adapted my training so that we still used the time effectively. Things that didn’t require motivation to endure, such as flexibility and conditioning work; technique work and also mental skills are all still possible and easier to accomplish when it's only 15-20 minutes of focus that’s required. I read recently (vague paraphrase here) that the best athletes are the ones with the best “Plans B’s”. Hopefully the last weeks worth of plan B has been pretty good and effective in still improving and moving forward without wasting anything. In the mean time, I’m going to check labels more than the price when it comes to buying from the “Free-from” section.

Working 9-5.... err more like 5-9!

2011-12-16T00:00:00.002Z

I recently decided to take the plunge during the off season and head back to a "normal" job. It often makes me laugh when people don't think what I normally do (the lycra wearing, training and self-inflicted suffering that is being a full time athlete) is "work". In truth, whilst I love it and it has many, many great benefits, its the hardest job I've ever done. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that there are jobs that are FAR harder and more demanding -teachers, nurses policemen or being a full time mum to name but a few that I admire immensely- but the demands we must make on ourselves as full-time athletes, both mentally, physically and emotionally are huge and at times VERY tough. But I digress....

After (as you'll know if you read my previous blog) deciding to make some much needed changes for next season in order to get my performances back on track, I needed to put in place a number of things... and some of these, as with most things in life, required money. Hands-up MY fault, I'd not got the results this season to enable me to actually have these finances in place; rather than sulk about this though I decided I had to fix it... my mistakes meant my responsibility. So by Gods grace, at a time when more and more people are unemployed and the financial world seems all doom'n gloom, I find myself back in an IT job and sat behind a desk for much of the day and commuting into an office at rush-hour (on my bike of course).

2 weeks in and I'll be honest, life is now relentlessly hectic! The days are passing without me even noticing. I'm up at 5am (sometimes earlier) and still training at gone 10pm some nights. In a way though, exhausting as it is, its actually quite refining for me. I've been forced to get VERY 'lean'n mean' with my time... no moment can be wasted! Even my love for Masterchef Australia and Grand Designs has been snuffed out in the name of effective time management. My time now can only be divided between Jesus, my girlfriend & family, training and work. Unfortunately there isn't time for anything else.

The interesting thing is, that the result of being SO time starved, is that I'm finding I'm actually getting things DONE! Or maybe that should be the important things done (however as I write, the Christmas shopping hasn't yet made this list yet... GULP!). With no time for dawdling and with all systems "GO" from the moment the alarm goes off, I'm actually not feeling stressed or exhausted but actually (though still tired) quite effective and productive. With the expert and very understanding advice or my new coach Tom Bennett (T2 Coaching) my training is now all about bang--for--buck time effective sessions, no waste or junk miles allowed :-)

The other thing I've realised is that a lot of bad habits that had crept in and I'm sure helped lead to sub-optimal performance, have now been broken too. There's no option to "wait for the rain to stop before i head out for my run"... and then fail to actually get out the door at all; there's no "oh I'll just watch the end of this program and then go for my recovery nap"; and there's no "hit the snooze and take 5 more minutes" when i wake up in the morning. Its quite nice to feel like I've got some disciplined control back. Its not so much a transformation though, as it is conformation.

Having said all this however, I simply have NO idea how people do this all whist also having kids too! I tip my hat to you all because you must have somehow invented the 25th hour in the day or the 8th day in the week.

As Tom recently quoted to me "In every situation there is potential value, believe this then begin looking for it" - Norman Vincent Peale

How did I get here…

2011-10-31T21:00:00.001Z

Once again, the time between posts is too long!!! This time, I think I need to be honest with myself and recognise why this is though. The season from the midway point onwards didn’t go well for a number of reasons and I’ve simply not felt like I had anything that anyone would want to read… that no body would want to bother. It's funny how the brain works sometimes isn’t it, and how easy it can be to let (if and when we choose to) external factors determine our thinking, attitude, actions and reactions. I always say, “You always have a choice, even if you don’t have control” and yet for some time now, I’ve not remembered this for myself.

You see, I’ve been forced to do a lot of what I guess some would call “soul searching”… I’d rather call it honest [very] critical assessment and what I’ve realised isn’t something I’m happy with; not in the slightest am I happy with it! As I’ve looked back upon the last 6 months of racing, training and life, I’ve had to follow the trajectory well beyond that time frame and realise that in triathlon at least, I’ve let things slip in a BIG way. I can see when and why these things started and even appreciate many of the understandable causes behind it. But what I’ve got to accept is that I’ve let all of this germinate beyond simple “events” that I go through (as we all do in life), to become seriously negative impacts that grow to be excuses; that grow to be habitual (attitudes or actions) parts of me that that are quite frankly cancerous to me as an athlete.

It's only been in this time off at the end of the season, faced with the reality of a [poor] set of race results for 2011, that I’ve been able to get any objectivity; in part this is one of the problems. But I don’t want to dwell (anymore) on all of that. Mistakes are only wasted if not learned from and used to make changes for the better in the future. I realise I’ve been un-professional in many ways to training, racing, preparation, structure, support, finances… the list goes on. Watching some of the pre-Kona footage this year I was struck in particular with how methodical Craig Alexander was to every single aspect of his training and racing, but more so, that even he as a 2 x world champion, actually handed over the responsibility for almost everything to other people; to experts!

The hole that I realise I’ve been in, in terms of training and racing has been dug solely by me… largely because I’ve been the only one doing the digging! Not only is this sub-optimal to doing any one thing well and consistently, but I’m also (I guess somewhat arrogantly) thinking I can do as good a job in things like for example nutrition, as a expert elite sports nutritionist. If I want to perform in a world class, professional way, then it makes sense to get world class professional help!
Who knows why or how I let myself get into the rut of doing things in the way I have been (I’m sure some of my friends might cheekily put their hands up and say “err… we knew”). I can see now just how far removed from the attitude I used to have and athlete I used to be, I’ve ended up.

So it's time to change things… everything! No more trying to do everything and actually doing nothing particularly well in the end anyway. It's time to seek out the best and let them take that burden off of me so I can do what I need to do as well as I know I can and must do, which is train and race!

So there are changes afoot for next season. The next few weeks are all about putting the perfect people, support and situations, plans and preparations in place to enable success and achieve it too. I’ve got some incredible sponsors who faithfully look after me and I’m incredibly grateful to VO2 Performance Road Bikes, Powerbar, CompresSport, ProFeet, ProHab Performance and Greepers. There will be more “back ground” people joining the “team” for 2012 and I’m for the first time in a long time, extremely excited about things again. The old enthusiasm is back and with it so too a confidence in myself (and those around me) to deliver what we truly believe is possible.

Pride is [wrongly] lorded nowadays as a positive attribute to have. I think humility is a far greater attribute to have but it's also certainly far harder to truly become. I’m grateful that God, in his grace helps me realise I need help and then also supplies every need to strengthen.

The log in my own eye...

2011-03-02T23:21:00.002Z

Started this yesterday, but only finished it this evening and decided it was still worth posting :-) ... Hope it is...

I’ve felt moved today to write something in response to one of the major news stories currently filling our papers and TV screens. Whilst the Middle East tears itself up in revolution, we find ourselves oddly miss-focussed on two young sportsmen –Mr Cole and Rooney- and contemplating their recent behaviour.

For simple contextualisation purposes, Ashley Cole, the Chelsea and England defender is currently having to explain how and why he ended up shooting a young work experience kid with an air riffle, at the Chelsea FC training ground. Wayne Rooney, also an England international has been somehow cleared of a clear-as-day act of violence in Saturdays game with Sunderland (?) where he is shown to deliberately elbow an opponent without any obvious justifiable (if there could ever be) motive.

But I don’t want to talk so much about the actual incidents themselves, but more the bigger picture that surrounds it all. Whilst out on my long run today, I was thinking about these things and also the reasons why I myself, do what I do as a professional sportsperson. What's the reason… and I wonder what would be the answer Mr Cole and Rooney would give to this question.

The irony of these two news-hitting incidents is that for all the criticism and “outcry” that we see and hear from the papers and the public, come tonight when Chelsea play Manchester Utd (and both players are allowed to play) there will be nearly 80,000 fans cheering… dare I say it… worshiping these same two men regardless of their personal misdemeanours. Should it strike us as surprising therefore when people in their position do such things when the long term response they get is adoration and love. The perception of the reality of all they have is clearly lost… and it's easy for “us common folk” to sit back and point at them, criticising; yet are we any better? To what end do we do things, what's the reason and how morally superior do we stand up to them? It's easy for us to say “they don’t know what they have” and accuse them of being ungrateful and abusing their privileged lives, but are we so different ourselves?

In the pursuit of “idols” we can all too often I think, find ourselves doing things we try to justify or even choose to ignore and accept as “wrong”; and yet in the grand scheme of things how important are those things that we pursue, crave, follow… live for…worship? I know the word “worship” might seam alien to many, but when we ask ourselves do we sacrifice time, money, friends or family in order to get these things, or for these people? This ‘thing’ might be money, status or clothes; or these people might be spouses, celebrities or sports-people. Either way if the answer to those questions is ‘Yes’, then worship is maybe not so misappropriate a word to use.

Providentially the book I’m currently reading struck me with some quite hard hitting things on this very subject today. It's called “Don’t waste your life” (By John Piper) and here follows a short exert from it that brings some sobriety to some of the things in life that we all end up placing value on, yet find it all too easy to criticise others when they fall:
“At these moments, when the trifling fog of life clears and I see what I am really on earth to do, I groan over the petty pursuits that waste so many lives – and so much of mine… it is like a multi-layered dream world of insignificance expanding into nothingness…

[Contemplating the immense courage and sacrifice of World War II]… I cannot make peace with the petty preoccupations of most [modern] life. Reading [one] story I wanted to speak to every youth group in America and say ‘Do you want to see what cool is? ...Well listen up about Jack Lucas.
He’d fast talked his way into the Marines at fourteen… assigned to drive a truck in Hawaii, he had grown frustrated… stowed away on a transport out of Honolulu.

He landed on D-Day [at Iwo Jima] without a riffle. He had grabbed one lying on the beach and fought his way inland.

Now on D-Day+1, Jack and 3 comrades were crawling through a trench when eight Japanese sprang in front of them. Jack shot one of them through the head. Then his rifle jammed. As he struggled with it a grenade landed at his feet. He yelled a warning to the others and rammed the grenade into the soft ash. Immediately, another rolled in, Jack Lucas, seventeen, fell on both grenades. “Luke, you’re gona die,” he remembered thinking…

Aboard the hospital ship Samaritan the doctors could scarcely believe it. “Maybe he was too damned young and too damned tough to die,” one said. He endured twenty-one re-constructive operations and became the nations youngest Medal of Honour winner – and the only high school freshman to receive it.”

Now whilst that might not straight away seam like it has anything to do with football, or celerity status and lives… or you and me; I feel it actually has all too much to say to us all. As John Piper put it, can we ourselves make peace with the “petty preoccupations of most [modern] life”? How much time do we ourselves waste on things that serve no purpose, or that often actually have underlying damaging implications? Just because my mistakes aren’t so publicly shown and commented on, does this mean I should be any less prudent with the choices I make and the things I do? I would suggest not. Trust me, it's something that’s becoming more and more weighty in the choices I make and hope it will help me to ensure as many as possible are good and purposeful ones.

How easily we can read a gossip magazine and tear apart someone else’s lifestyle and ironically see no fault on our part for doing this. Or how readily do we pay extortionate sums to attain a possession we deeply crave or “need” without a moment of guilt for the selfish use of the money that could have so easily transformed the life of an earthquake victim, or Aids orphan.

This might seam like a pretty big and deep subject for my blog here… but this is what's been going through my head today as I’ve trained. It's certainly spurring me on to try and ensure I don’t waste my life and the gifts I’ve been given. I want to try and use what I do in sport to serve a greater purpose. I hope and pray that every decision and action I take towards this end won’t be wasted and that I too, won’t get caught up in petty preoccupations… or just as bad, pointing the finger at others who might – there might just be a big plank of wood in my eye while I’m criticising the spec in theirs.

While we may feel frustrated with the behaviour of such people as Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney, paralysed to impact it all in any way, I am beginning to realise that actually we can change it all more than we realise. Though speaking directly to such as these two sportsmen is highly unlikely, we can make changes in our own lives that impact in positive ways beyond simply getting one or two famous people to live lives we would deem “good”. Even that notion of “good” is something to be more closely examined (another day maybe) but for now I think I will start by trying to ensure that each conscious decision I make has a purpose that is greater than my own. If we all try to do this, then I think the difference would be far more profound that one of two sportsmen toeing the line of quiet, peaceful living. Challenging for me… but it's a challenge that has purpose and surely therefore, is worthwhile.

Race Report - the "bigger picture"

2010-12-17T10:54:00.003Z

I said after my win at Taiwan 70.3 that there "[was] SO much MORE to last Saturdays win than what simply went on in the 4h09min of racing..." I wanted to write about EVERYTHING that had gone into achieving that result, but decided to wait until after IM Western Australia as this helps give extra dimension and further "body" to all of it, maybe for some of you reading this, extra credibility too. You can read race reports for both those races below & on my website to hear about the race days themselves; what's here though, to me, is FAR more important and significant than the normal post-race waffle I might give about 'race strategy and the nutrition I took onboard etc'.

Both these race performances have been a LONG time coming and despite MANY setbacks, something I always believed I was capable of. Yes there has been a LOT of hard work and perseverance but SO many people have been involved in getting me through some very tough times and to those results... I'll try to mention as many as I can here and explain their significance. I owe a HUGE thanks to them ALL.

I should probably pre-empt all of this too by pointing out that the win in Taiwan on October 30th, was almost exactly 1 year to the day since I’d returned to training after an enforced 10 weeks of complete rest having been hit with chronic fatigue. 2007,08 & 09 had been incredibly draining years for me physically, mentally and emotionally; the stress of which had gone un-acknowledge by me. It all lead to a gradual deterioration in both training and race performance and eventually to me imploding in August of 09. I was an empty shell with nothing left inside but my faith that God was still in control and would use this for good somehow. He was, and did and I’m actually very grateful for this time as I learned some hard, yet important lessons and grew in lots of ways that I needed to. We can learn our greatest lessons from our biggest defeats, and I certainly did, leading eventually to 1 year on feeling like I had been restored and I hope, better for it all.

But back to the race report “bigger picture”…

Undoubtedly, without my parents none of this would have happened; not least because I was at the point where I couldn't actually afford to fully pay for the trip. Without their help I wouldn't even have boarded the plane to get to the race in Taiwan. But far more than this is the unceasing support they have given without hesitation in so many other ways. Always encouraging and believing in me... and trusting in MY self-belief EVEN through the really bad and low times, when MANY others didn't. Last year when I literally fell apart physically and emotionally with chronic fatigue, they never questioned or deterred me for continuing and they did ALL they could to help me try to fully rest and recover. I know I'm INCREDIBLY blessed to always have my mum, dad & brothers behind me. Coming to races to support, help and simply sharing the pressure, the early mornings, feeding me the HUGE quantities of food I consume :-) ...the list is endless, but personally NEVER goes un-noted.

My church 'family' too, have been wonderful over the last few years. Some VERY close friends have supported me, encouraged, prayed un-ceasingly and also believed in/with me when things didn't seam to be going too well. When, at 10.30pm, the night before the race in Taiwan I was STILL waiting for my bike to arrive they were back in the UK praying for me. This kind of support is hard to put a price on... you can't, but knowing I'm never "alone" when racing even when 1000's of miles away has been key to me being able to race closer to my potential. They understand my desire to use sport as a "missionary field" where I can hopefully show and speak about my faith. (You can briefly read more about this at www.ForHisGlory.co.uk ) I know they share in my delight as the results come and it opens doors - such as this blog - to speak about why my beliefs as a Christian are so important... THE MOST important thing. In particular Chris, Linda and Jen, have shared every hard and easy road as I walked (sometimes crawled) on it and I really can't thank them enough.

I'm also very fortunate to have a very big but close circle of friends most of which I've known since I was a very little kid. We've grown up (I hope ha ha) together and they've known me as the Wimbledon tennis ball-boy, footballer, the "lads holiday" boy etc... I know its quite unusual to have a large circle of friends whom have been together for over 2 decades but in recent times, when training and racing has meant sometimes 2-3 months between seeing them, I've realised how close and important they all are to me. They too have understood when it didn't make sense and never undermined what I was trying to do even if the evidence at the time didn't seam to back up what I believed. They've also come to races, helped when money got a little tight and very simply been good, solid, loving mates; even their parents have helped me at times! To quote one of them recently in jest (himself quoting Morrissey) "We hate it when our friends become successful and if they're Northern, well, that makes it even worse..."

Others like Wayne who has been a great mate, fellow tri-geek to waffle tri-world chat to, share dozens of website links about the latest bikes :-) GREAT massage therapist and also massive help during some tough times in the last few years. His treatment of my legs before Taiwan was critical I'm sure, to my legs feeling SO GOOD in that race despite the mammoth journey I made so close to race day. It's little things -well actually to me they're HUGE- like his giving me free treatment and helping so much when I was injured earlier this year, that kept me going when sometimes I didn't feel like it. When I've been feeling a little low, their belief in me has restored mine or simply given it added strength when maybe mine was waning. I know particularly with Wayne that he's struggled himself with his training and racing recently so I hope that my results will give him a little personal satisfaction too and encourage HIM to keep chasing his dreams.

I am also, very blessed to count one of the worlds current greatest athletes (in ANY SPORT in my opinion) as a close and dear friend. It's says something of what she has achieved in triathlon and increasingly beyond it too, in such a short space of time that as I write this she has just received an honorary doctorate from Birmingham University and today is preparing to meet the Queen to receive an OBE! [It's often said that the BIGGEST stars need only be know by their first name so...] Whilst Chrissie has been destroying world records, beating most of the men in the world and racking up World Titles she’s also been a CONSTANT supporter, encourager, adviser and friend. Earlier this year literally HOURS after she broken her own world record she emailed me to wish me good luck for the race I was soon to do! This kind of thing is what all the on-line wana-be's and "haters" don't know about her. They don't see her fighting my little corner whilst they write complete rubbish about her, as they hide behind on-line pseudonyms; but I can't tell you how much it helps to have her also showing complete belief in me, even when things were going REALLY badly at times. Others previously very close to me have ended up very negative and un-supportive, but when I’ve have the best in the world saying otherwise its helped pull me through and I can't thank her enough. She deserves her royal honour and continued success in the future more than anyone I can think of.

The more I think about it, the more people spring to mind. Friends overseas who paid for me to have a holiday with them when external issues left me exhausted and emotionally drained (thanks to my American "family" for that!). There are SO many and it stirs up within me a deep sense of gratitude, love and humility when I stop and take it all in.

Sponsors too, have been very supportive and this year PureTri, Powerbar, CompressSport, ProVO2, Greeper and DC Leisure have really made things much easier when it comes to equipment, kit & nutrition that I quite simply couldn't afford on my own. It's nice to be able I hope, to repay them if only a little so far with the results and increased exposure of recent times.

Finally though comes the single most important influence and helper and the one who deserves ALL the credit for anything "good" I'm ever able to achieve... as a Christian I KNOW (as I wrote in my IM WA race report) its ALL a gift of Gods grace; I simply get to enjoy it... When things have fallen apart, it’s been my faith in Jesus ALONE that has kept me going, given me hope and purpose both in and beyond triathlon. I explain this on the website I linked to earlier and I hope you'll take the time to read it... because its not just what suits ME and helps ME, my faith isn't a crutch I lean on when the #### hits the fan; its truth, its real and I hope I can continue to share this and show it through how I train, race, speak, think and live. The bible speaks very clearly about endurance (Hebrews 12:1-2), but importantly, enduring with a purpose and NOT wasting the suffering that we ALL go through (1 Peter 4:11-16). Knowing this truth makes suffering, failure, hardship and defeat (as well as victories and good times etc) things I'm actually able to rejoice in... I know that seams like a complete oxymoron, but it’s true. And just by way of an example, consider that not less than 7 years ago I did my first ever Olympic triathlon at London finishing not far off 3hrs. A lot has changed since then (I'm nearly twice as fast now and as I write this I'm currently ranked in the top 30 guys in the world for Ironman and 70.3 racing); weaknesses have been turned into strengths (Hebrews 11:34). I've seen so many answers to my prayers and His hand SO CLEARLY at work in my life during this time, but I've only become increasingly humbled by my awareness that its all a gift, and I need to look after each opportunity, this body I've been given, every word I get to speak and use them as God wants me to... to reveal HIS glory :-) Soli Deo gloria

So you see, it’s certainly not as simple as swim, bike, run but nor does it come to watts, heart rates and energy gels :-) I know that Taiwan and IM WA don't make me a big "star"... they are only 2 reasonably decent results, but I certainly hope the start of more. Whatever though, Gods in control and I'm just happy I get to see a little of "the ride". I hope next year I get to share more of this with you all.

IM Western Australia 2010 Race Report

2010-12-09T22:40:00.002Z

Having been away from home for so long prior to this race (since just before my win at Taiwan 70.3 back in October) there's a LOT I could write around this race... but I'll save that all for a later post. In short though I'd had a fantastic 4 week build up to this race staying with my good friends Andy and Melissa (and their boys Noah & Lucas) on the Goldcoast. The weather was great - certainly better than the snow back home and with 50m open air pools, runs along the beach and awesome riding up in the hills I couldn't have asked for a better prep for my 3rd and I hoped 1st successful (result) Ironman.

I'd also had a great time with my Homestay hosts Dennis and Liz; who'd welcomed me into their home so warmly and run around after me all week. With the picturesque town of Bussleton as the setting for the race, perfect race conditions and a flat fast course, I had no excuses not to be excited before the race.

With everything going smoothly the morning of the race, I found myself standing on the white sands of the beach waiting for 5.30am and the Pro's swim start. I was putting no pressure on myself and instead of a swim warm-up, chose to stand on the beach and take it all in, reminding myself that success or failure, pain or pleasure it was all a gift of Gods grace that I was blessed to be able to enjoy. This was going to be my approach to the whole day!

So when the gun went and the 50 or so Pro's all launched into the washing machine frenzy that the swim start always is, I found myself incredibly relaxed and calm. I quickly found my stroke and rhythm and settled into the the 2.4mile swim up and around the famous jetty. Crystal clear, warm water meant a great view of the wildlife underneath us including plenty of jelly fish that I kept cupping in my hands as we swam. Finding myself leading a large-ish group that i assumed was the 2nd pack, alongside number 35. He seemed happy to be sighting regularly so I simply swam alongside him, with 10 or so others tucked in behind us both. For the first time in a while I really enjoyed the swim; I felt relaxed and smooth and happy the day was starting under control, so I was really pleased to see the clock still on 52mins as we finally exited the water onto the beach and ran through the crowds into the transition area.

As with Taiwan, I was only focusing on racing my race today, and so even in transition I tried to be quick but calm and relaxed. I lost a little time on my fellow swim companions due to this but quickly caught this back up once on the bike and heading out of town onto the 3 loop VERY flat 112 mile bike.

Sticking with the plan, I actually quickly found myself passing them all and by the first short out-and-back section at mile 8 I was clear of them and pulling away. I timed myself here to the leaders and they had about 6mins on me... that's ok I thought, but as normal now, instantly disregarded this info and just pressed on at my pace. The ceepo venom is such a great stiff bike and MADE for TT'ing on a course like this and it wasn't long before I was already heading back into town to complete the first 37mile lap. By this time I had passed more guys who'd now become shall we say "legal-ish" passengers behind me. Once we started the 2nd lap heading back out of town I caught and passed fellow Brit Scott Neyedli and good friend Guy Crawford (doing his first IM). We exchanged a few funny words as I went by and pulled to the front once again. I was now feeling fantastic on the road and with the wind picking up settled into a nice big gear and just enjoyed the ride. I was extremely surprised to see that within 15mins I'd dropped them all and was now on my own... but more surprising was that I was catching everyone apart from race leader Luke Bell, who wasn't pulling away however. "nice" I thought. The halfway mark came and went in 2h10 and the main chase pack of 3rd-8th came into sight. Catching them again without trying to actively pursue them was a great feeling, not least because current champ Patrick Vernay was leading this group. I decided to drop in at the back, but quickly changed my mind - the pace felt too slow and I wanted to stick to my pace. So I moved to the front and into 3rd place over-all. Now having caught most of these guys for at least 4mins over the previous 100km, I should have been able to ride away, but lets just say the 12m rule the race org was trying to enforce wasn't adhered to by all of them... ignoring this however I stayed true to the plan and just pressed on at my pace, now with a motorized camera crew filming me for company. The rest of the bike went by without an issue. I got all my powerbar nutrition down as planned and happily, eventually got rid of my "passengers" at about the 100 mile mark too. Coming back into town in 3rd place was a REAL buzz and I was now really looking forward to staring the marathon and seeing how my legs had REALLY faired during the bike...

The Newton trainers went on and I headed out of T2 through the massive crowd now packing the new 4lap run course around the town of Bussleton. The first short out and back loop down past the finish on Queen St was a very exciting place to be right now. I clocked the gap to 2nd at about 2mins but was still very happy to run at a pace that FELT right and just see what happened. However my speed work recently has been going VERY well and I knew within the first km I was running faster than I probably should and yet it felt comfortable. I checked my split at 2km... 7m30 WHAT!!! That was WAY too fast... even if it DID feel comfortable; but maybe the marker wasn't quite right or I hadn't started my watch early enough. Luke Bell soon came past on the return leg of the short westerly out-and-back; He looked strong and smooth. I went past the supporters starting to build along this section to first turn around and first aid station packed with super enthusiastic and helpful volunteers and took another split at the 4km mark... 7m40! Ok I was running too quick without question regardless of how good i felt. I consciously tried to ease back as I passed back though town, along the beach path and out to the longer easterly turn point. More and more crowds were lining the course and being in 3rd over-all I got such a buzz from the energy and noise they were ALL giving out. I couldn't help but remember what a privilege it was to be able to do this.

6km point came... and my pace split was slowing though still too fast. I decided to follow my good friends advice at this point and simply "make hay while the sun shines". At the far turn around point though I simply HAD to stop and "make use of the green facilities" -porta loo - hopefully it would help me restart the run at a more sensible pace.

For the first time in an Ironman the run didn't daunt me. I simply concentrated on ticking each lap off as a task in itself rather than a full marathon. As I headed back towards town one of the best parts of the run started... two young ladies at about the 8km mark shouted as I passed "great ass" (insert Aussie accent) I laughed and replied "shame about the coating of salt all over it!" Referring to the nasty white coating all over my 2XU race kit from the sea water... and my sweat.

I passed the transition exit point where I'd first started my watch... the 10.5km mark. 39m30 was showing on my watch and that INCLUDED the toilet break OUCH I'd seriously gone WAY too fast! I made a conscious effort now to run at what felt like jogging pace. Dennis (my Homestay) and his family cheered me onto the 2nd lap and he gave me a split that I was gaining on 1st & 2nd. The atmosphere in the town continued to build as the crowds grew and more runners came onto the course. The 2nd lap went by nicely and included another great boost from my 2 cheerleaders out on the run course. My efforts to slow were working though I still went through 21km in 1h22, still too fast, but i continued to feel ok. In fact for the first time in an Ironman I was actually racing the run and the distance of the marathon wasn't over-whelming. However, not long past the 21k mark, my quads began to say "hello", I could tell my pace was slowing beyond what i wanted and by the far turn around at about 27km I had to walk the aid station. This was the start of a rapid decline in my running and despite more amusement from my new supporters and Dennis still cheering me through town I knew it was now about survival. Marty Whyte passed me and Pete Jacobs and Patrick Vernay had closed the gap I'd built up, VERY quickly. As I started the final lap I was now reduced to walking each aid station and just past the 32km mark both Pete and Patrick passed me with no ability to respond in my legs. My quads were now KILLING me... odd I thought given what a flat course it was. I was now in 6th and it was about hanging on through gritted teeth to the finish. The walk run strategy worked well enough and on the final turn for the finish and 4km to go I had over 6 minutes to 7th place. I could afford to take it easy, which was about all my legs would allow anyway.

It was though, still with great delight that i re-entered the town and ran through the final few hundred meters and onto the packed Queen St for the finish. I died on the run more than I'd wanted for sure, but I'd finished this one, raced it most of the way and in a field THIS strong, I had plenty to be happy about. As I'd tried to focus on right from the very start, it truly was a day to be enjoyed as a gift.

Congrats to the other Brit who raced too (Scott, Jo, Tim and Lordy all had great results) and a HUGE thanks from me to Liz & Dennis, Mel & Andy and all my friends & family back home who were incredibly supportive over the past few days and weeks.

As ever, also a BIG thanks to my sponsors PureTri, Powerbar, CompressSport, Ceepo, ProVO2, DC Leisure and Sanctuary Church Guildford.

Now its time to go home, enjoy Christmas, some great food and times with friends and relax for a few weeks.

Taiwan 70.3 Race Report Part 1 - "the bare bones"

2010-11-03T20:20:00.003Z

This is part one of my race report and will be a very simple (but maybe not so short ha ha) "how the race went" type of affair. I'll post again soon with what I'll call "the bigger picture" race report as there's SO much MORE to last Saturdays win than what simply went on in the 4h09min of racing... and there's A LOT of people without who's help i couldn't have got there. Whilst i know this isn't the be-all and end-all in terms of results - its not Kona - it does mark a point (and i hope the start) that I've been working towards for A LONG time and so is incredibly valuable to me and SUPER exciting.

Taiwan 70.3
Riding the short 3 mile trip to race start at 4.30am and actually just happy to even have a bike full stop (mine had only arrived from delayed luggage on my flight at 11pm the night before!) i noticed two things: 1. it was still very, VERY WINDY and 2. my legs felt GREAT!

Having got to the transition area, racked my bike and set everything up i headed off for a short 15min jog to get the blood moving around the body. my observations from earlier still remained... it was still VERY windy and my legs still felt fresh and ready to go. As mentioned in my last blog post, one of the keys i wanted to work on during this race was the mental side of things and i was going to focus on positively impacting what could control and not to "over-think" everything. So with the wind, i simply interpreted this positively thinking that "i like it being windy, it will make the bike tougher, and i want everyone else to have a hard bike" - i couldn't change the wind, but i could change how i dealt with it.

Time past quickly before the race and we were lined up on the beach waiting for the start before i knew it. As we dove into the gorgeous blue, crystal clear waters it quickly became apparent that wearing a wet suit wasn't such a good idea all of a sudden. with the water temp at 24 degrees, it was optional (meaning a DEFINITE for weaker swimmers like me) but i found myself working harder to stay with the front pack than i wanted and i was soon seriously over-heating! i had no choice but to back off a little and conserve energy and try to prevent my race being wrecked in the first 1.9km swim. I tried to carry on the mental approach though and focused on turning this around positively. Swimming as efficiently and controlled as i could, remaining relaxed - positively impacting what i could control.

Not wearing a watch i had no idea of my time as i exited the sea and started the long run to T1. i knew I'd have lost time to the likes of Kieran Doe, but not knowing how much or worse still trying to guess meant i couldn't over-think things and put pressure (negatively) on myself. The 2XU wet suit was off quickly and i was out onto the bike course jumping on my Ceepo, heading up the first (of many) climbs up to the start of the 2 loop, 90km bike course.

The wind was still blowing strongly and gusts making me swerve quite a lot at times as my disc wheel got caught. I wasn't feeling great now and the over-heating during the swim had certainly had an impact, but again i turned this around in my head to simply focusing on riding as strongly as i could until the body recovered. No pressure to catch anyone any time soon, just focus on controlling what i actually could control and doing its positively. I could see my HR was able to get high enough, so i knew my body was OK, it just need time to settle.

After about 10km of the bike there was a short out and back section up a decent climb that would allow me my first change to see how far in front the others were. I as actually really pleased to see Kieran only 4minutes in front and the chasers behind him space between 2-3 minutes. this was less than I'd expected given how the swim had felt and very encouraging. Again it reminded me that who i was "feeling" wasn't always a reflection of the reality of a situation. I stuck to my focus for the race tough, which was "race MY race" and didn't set about chasing anyone down. i wanted to ride my effort level and we'd just see where that got me.

The bike course was relentlessly up and down and the wind continued to blow. According to BG (Belinda Granger) the gust's were stronger than Kona and i certainly felt this when at times, despite riding down hill, i felt like i was toe'ing an elephant! But again, i took this all positively; the harder it was fr me, the harder it was for everyone else. I told myself that it was hurting "them" more than it was me. And so i just keep focusing on riding MY race.

I seamed to be catching and passing guys ahead of me at regular intervals and shortly before the end of the first lap, i caught and passed 5 time Ironman Nice Champion Marcel Zamora. this was a HUGE boost to me, though given how positively i was thinking about everything, somehow didn't take me by surprise. As i hit the turn around point on the out-and-back look at the start of the 2nd lap, i clocked the gap to Kieran as only 2minutes and to the now only 3 guys in front, at just 1 minute! despite once again being hugely encouraged by this, i still stuck to the mental game plan of riding my race. It took me another 20km to catch and pass positions 4th, 3rd and 2nd though and i didn't manage to drop them when i did pass, so spending the last 10km with some "passengers" behind me. the course was a great one and other than nearly getting "totalled" by the occasional wild dog insisting on playing chicken with me in the road, it passed without incident. Turning off the main loop and heading back towards transition on the short 5km stretch my legs felt great, and i was looking forward to seeing how i could run having done exactly what i wanted to on the bike - ride MY race. A ridiculous head wind had one final swipe at us as we headed back to T2, but again, i just told myself that i would "hurt" everyone else much more than me... it was a positive thing (despite barely riding faster than 20kph downhill!!!

As i turned into transition in 2nd place (3rd and 4th just behind me) i saw Kieran heading out onto the run. He looked strong, but ii was now barely 1 minute down on him and HUGELY satisfied to have made up so much time on the bike. my recent bike "companions" were through transition quicker than me, but as with the rest of the race up until now, i wasn't stressed. The newton's went on, Greepers laces tied, visor on and i was off and running about 30m down on them by now. This distance was closed within about 60 seconds though and without letting anything in my approach to the race change ("my race,my pace" i was past and back into 2nd place and began pulling away. I could see Kieran about 500m up the hill, but put no pressure on myself to catch him. i settled into a rhythm and would simply see what happened and if my speed was fast enough to catch him.

The sun was out in full force now and compared to the 0 degree's I'd been running in, back in London only 3 days earlier, the 80 degree's felt like an oven. wit the first 5km almost completely uphill too, the body wasn't about to have it easy. Again though, focusing on just running my pace, i told myself that the harder it was, the better... it was hurting everyone else more than me. Of course at no time in the race, did i know this to be true... but mentally to have this frame of mind really helped me repsond to the tough conditions and course in a positive way.

I knew i wasnt running "fast" and that wit people like Marcel behind me somewhere, it would be a hard 21km run today, but by 7km i'd managed to catch up to and pass Kieran, moving into 1st place!!! this is always a big boost but i tried not to let this change how i was running. i didnt look back to see if/how much Kieran was falling away behind me or if for that matter anyone else was catching me though. I tried to clock off the km's and set the target of the next aid station in my mind and just keep looking at the lead police car escort i was getting at the front of the race (VERY cool!). Despite the heat, i wasnt suffering any cramping issues, which is testiment to my Powerbar nutrition. The race oganisers had done a fantastic job in every way in this race and with aid stations every 2km's it meant i had plenty of opportunities to get fluids on board. the helpers at each aid station seamed more interested in taking photo's of me as i apprached, than handing me cups of water; they found it imensely amusing too as i went through my routine at each station of water > mouthfull > spit > sponge > over head > over back > water gulp... carry on running.

Km's 1-5 flew by, 5-10 were OK to, despite probably 75% of all the running being uphill. 10-15 began to hurt and i knew my pace was slowing, but refused to look back to see if anyone was catching me. From that point on though, km 15-20 it seamed like i was running through treacle! SO much of the course was uphill and the aid stations were coming along more and more slowly. the run course was a point to point course, so didn't finish back near transition and it was only at 19.5km that there was a small loop back where I'd just come from towards the finish line outside the YoYo hotel. This was the first chance i had to see what kind of lead i had and if I'd need to sprint for the finish. with no watch on, i counted my steps until 2nd place went by the other way - 85 meant about 2 minutes... with now only 1km left i was pretty sure I'd done it... i was about to win my first IM 70.3 title. As i rounded the final bend of what felt like the longest km of my life i could see the read carpet of the finishing shoot, which was lined with cheering spectators. knowing i had enough time, i swerved and walked down this "high-5'ing" the crowds as i went and soaked up every second of the victory i could. Crossing the line in 4h09 it certainly wasn't my fastest time over the distance, but on that course, in that wind i could care less it was my first 70.3 win and i was over the moon letting out a massive yell of relief as i crossed the line to the cheering crowds and the bank of photographers and camera crews behind.

As ever, a HUGE tanks to my sponsors who help me SO much - PureTri, Powerbar, CompresSport, Greepers, DC Leisure and ProVO2.

Update from Taiwan

2010-10-29T12:18:00.001+01:00

I'm sat on the bus leaving T1 heading back to the race hotel for the "carbo dinner" and thought I'd use the time for a brief blog update.

I'm in the first few days of a pretty long trip away, culminating I hope with a great performance at IronMan Western Australia in December. That race is the main focus of this trip, with 4 weeks of training prep in Australia near Brisbane leading into it, but first I've "stopped off" in Taiwan for the 70.3 race here this weekend.

I've not "tapered" for this race and as IM Oz is the focus, nor has my training focused on a "peak" performance. However IF I can have one of "those days" that you sometimes get during training (when you feel really good) then hopefully I can have a decent race.

The last 2 days haven't in truth been ideal for a great race though. A LONG journey in time, distance, flight changes and energy drain so close to a race isn't the best. Worse still is that as I sit here now, my bike STILL hasn't arrived. Building my bike (assuming it gets here tonight) at near midnight, then racing on jet-lag and hardly any proper sleep, well its about as poor as preparation can be. BUT I'm not bothered by any of that and certainly won't be using it as excuses for whatever happens out there tomorrow. One of my favourite sayings is "you always have a choice even if you don't have control". It's about making choices with what I CAN control. So I'll do all I can, to do everything as well as i can. And most importantly, I'll do it all with a positive attitude and expectation.

I've been trying in the last few weeks to really work on getting "mentally fitter", having realised that this was an area I'd grown weak and sloppy in. Tomorrow should serve to really test all of that and I'm quite looking forward to it. Keys to this will be not to over-think and over-analyse everything, especially external factors. And if/when the tough moments come, just to try and focus on positively impacting what I can control.

So... food (i hope at least some of it gluten free) awaits and then a night of as much sleep as possible and bike building, followed by a really great race. I'll report back soon on how it all works out. :-)

Blogged VIA email...

Getting Retul'd

2010-09-08T18:42:00.006+01:00

Those of you that follow the world wide side of triathlon will have heard the word “Retul” a lot recently. Over the past couple of years it has been more and more widespread to hear of some of the best athletes in the world seeking out the advice of the specially trained Retul bike fitters to tweak and perfect their positions. The likes of Norman Stadler, Craig Alexander and Mirinda Carfrae cant be wrong and more recently the newly formed Trek / K-Swiss Triathlon team (including top Brits Julie Dibens and Fraser Cartmel) have been publically showing off their new bikes whilst receiving the Retul treatment.

But what is all the fuss about and what exactly does it involve? Fortunately, through my new sponsors this year ‘PureTri’ I was recently able to head up to VeloMotion in Milton Keynes and receive a Retul bike fit for my Ceepo Venom. Right now in fact, PureTri are offering either a FREE Retul bike fit with every “Blue Triad & Triad SL” or a discount of £40 with all other “Blue” Bikes purchased from them. Check out www.PureTri.co.uk for more details.

It's been a long time since my last proper bike fit and in that time, like most people, I’ve slowly tried to get lower, narrower and more aggressive in my position in the pursuit of being more aero and therefore, I hoped, faster. I was interested to see what the initial assessment of my position would be.

So having arrived at the fitting centre, my Ceepo was put onto a platform on a turbo and I was donned with numerous small sticky balls all linked together by a wire. Sitting side on to the measurement camera I pedalled at various intensities whilst the camera took thousands of readings from each sensor, every second and began to calculate various measurements and angles. I repeated the procedure facing the other direction so that both sides could be analysed and calculated. (We DID turn the bike around too of course!)

Once this had been done, Mike, the Retul engineer let the system process all the data and then brought it all up on screen. There was an abundance of numbers, angles, graphs and lines displaying knee tracking and every little movement I’d made during the testing. He then began to very precisely explain to me what each number meant and represented and most importantly if things needed to change and why.

He explained that I was riding too low at the front, preventing my hips from being open enough on the down-pedal stroke, and too closed when at the top of a pedal stroke. This would lead to un-necessary fatigue in these muscle and a reduction in run performance… crucial for race results where increasingly, even at 70.3 and IM races, it really is coming down to running FAST off the bike. Interesting I thought… I’ve long had cramping issues when stretching these muscles and if I swam the same day as I’d already ridden.

He ran through everything that needed adjusting specifically for me and (without me now giving away too much info) began to outline all the changes that he felt needed to be made. Interestingly enough, some of them would undoubtedly reduce my aerodynamics, but the increased run performance, lung capacity and nutrition absorbance of the stomach that would be achieved would more than off-set this reduction in pure speed from wind resistance.

I jumped off the bike, sat on the sofa and mike set about working on it all. He changed my saddle height by a fraction, put a new stem to change the reach at the front end and made some adjustments to my cleats too. 15minutes later and I was back on the bike trying out all the new tweaks and the Retul sensors were pulling in the data once again.

After a repeat spin from both sides, the same data was reproduced but with slightly different numbers. Just as Mike had said, I now had more open hips and could feel less “cramped” around my mid-rift. I was also much more relaxed in my upper body; both the ease with which I now felt I could breathe and also the comfort of my arms and shoulders at the front end.

I left a short while later with high hopes for the impact the changes would make on my race performance and particularly my run speed off of the bike. Having raced a Sprint Triathlon (F3 midweek Sprint) the night before the Retul fitting and with a Human Race ‘Eaton Super-Sprint’ coming up at the same venue in the next 3 days, I would have the perfect opportunity to see how the changes felt and improved (hopefully) my race performance.

Prior to that though and with bad weather hitting Putney for a couple of days I was back on my turbo in “Hambro Institute of Sport” for a couple of bike sessions. Being someone (maybe the ONLY one) who actually enjoys turbo sessions… my 3 hour ride with half ironman race pace intervals was a great first eye-opener to the improvements of the Retul changes.

I instantly noticed that there was NO saddle soreness kicking in like usual after the first 45minutes. I was able to happily stay on the aero-bars without even shifting my weight around and remain completely comfortable for ages! This was really good sign! Having been in Mike’s words “toe-y” in my pedalling style, due to my cleat position, the new more central i.e. further back cleat position took a little getting used to, but even here I could feel that the leg muscles I wanted to remain fresh, were now getting a little reprieve that they hadn’t done in the past.

So with two very encouraging and PAIN free turbo sessions done, I headed to Eaton for the race on Saturday morning. After an “OK” swim, I hit the bike course with the same aggression as I had on the previous Wednesday evening. Riding my same, slow cadence and grinding the big gear I was delighted to find that I was riding faster, the legs felt fresher and the back was perfectly happy to remain tucked on the aero-bars without any stiffness throughout the hard riding of the 20k flat, fast course. As I racked my bike in T2 I knew that the run would be were I would hopefully see some of the biggest gains… or at least feel them. And true to Mike’s prediction, the legs felt great. I was able to run seriously hard, but felt in complete control all the time, largely I’m sure because my legs (and particularly the hip-flexors) were in better shape after the hard bike. I managed to polish of the 5k run in 16:29… about a 15second improvement on Wednesday night. Not huge you might say, but over 5k that’s pretty significant, but most importantly for me and the longer distance races I’m focusing on, I knew my legs would be in MUCH better condition for a 21 or 42km run in my forthcoming “A” races.

I really can’t stress enough… if you can’t stay on your aero bars for more than 15 minutes without your back aching, or if you REALLY struggle with saddle sores, or if you find certain muscles such as hamstrings, hip flexors or calves get tight, cramp or tired… then you really need to consider getting a proper bike fit done.

And of course, if you’re considering a new bike any time soon, why not get it with a new bike from PureTri!!!

Ironman Pro changes...the proposal

2010-07-01T14:16:00.005+01:00

Below is a statement/email that's been sent to all IM Pro License holders concerning proposed changes that the WTC wish to implement to "improve" the sport. I'll post my response and thoughts, along with those of others tomorrow... but for those who haven't read any of this elsewhere on the internet here it is... This has HUGE potential to be VERY good... or VERY VERY BAD!!! (I'm afraid some of the formatting isn't great as it requires tables so I've put them in as a image file - click on this to see it in more detail)

PROFESSIONAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING,
PRIZE MONEY & POLICIES

Athlete Comment Distribution Draft

Ironman Professional Athletes

Introduction

WTC is circulating this document to all its pro members. The policies and rules changes stated in this document are not final.

Before announcing a final version of these rules and procedures, WTC will take into consideration all constructive comments from our pro members. Comments must be submitted to promember@ironman.com no later than July 2nd, Tampa USA dateto be considered. Please include your name and pro number on all comments.

WTC intends to publish the final version of these rules and policies on July 9th with the changes having an effective date of September 1st 2010.

These new rules and polices are the product of long-hours of debate and consideration by WTC's pro working committee. The committee concluded that the current pro incentive policies, which have been in place for over 25 years, are outdated and that the new rules and policies are best calculated to achieve these five primary goals:
Rewarding the sport's best athletes for their performances
Creating income opportunities for new and regional pros
Qualifying the most deserving athletes to the World Championships
Controlling the number of athletes qualifying for the World Championships to assure fair and exciting racing
Creating additional media interest in pro races through points standings and more frequent head-to-head racing

I. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING

Overview and Philosophy/Rationale

The objectives in creating a points based World Championship qualifying system for pros are to assure that the most deserving athletes qualify and to limit the number of athletes in order to assure fair and exciting racing.

Pro Qualifying Program - Kona World Championships

Definitions:

"Kona Qualifying" means qualification to the Ford Ironman World Championship held in Kona, Hawaii each year.
"Races" means Ironman branded full-distance and Ironman 70.3 events worldwide that are authorized by the World Triathlon Corporation.
"Qualifying Year" means the period between September 1st and August 31st.
"Kona Pro Rankings" (KPR) means the ranking system to determine pro athlete eligibility to race at Kona.
Effective Sept. 1, 2010, the single-performance slot based system will be discontinued.

Beginning with Races on Sept. 1, pro athletes will earn points for Kona Qualifying correlating to their finish position. The top 50 male and top 30 female pros* in the KPR at the end of each Qualifying Year will qualify to race in Kona.
(* The proportion of male to female pros may be adjusted in future years to reflect the then current percentage of registered male and female WTC pro members.)

KPR will be determined as follows:
Athletes will be ranked according to the number of points that he or she has accumulated during the Qualifying Year. See the Points Table below.
Each athlete's five highest scoring Races will count toward their KPR. All lower scoring Races will be "thrown out".
Athletes may accumulate points from any combination of Races PROVIDED that each athlete completes a minimum of one full-distance Ironman race during the Qualifying Year. A maximum of three Ironman 70.3 races are included in an athlete's score.
Athletes are not required to do more than one full-distance Ironman race in the Qualifying Year to be ranked. Athletes may score five full-distance Ironman races.
Athletes finishing the Ironman World Championship (Kona) race will be awarded points that are retained during the Qualifying Year.
Scoring points in Kona DOES NOT fulfill the requirement that each ranked athlete must score in a full-distance Ironman during the Qualifying Year.
No points carry forward from one Qualifying Year to the next.
The 5% rule is no longer applicable.

Automatic Qualifiers - Kona

Past Kona champions will receive an invitation/exemption to enter the pro division in Kona for a period of three years after his or her last championship. Past champions will not be required to qualify during this three-year period. Past champions entering as pros will be required to validate their entry by completing a full-distance Ironman race during the Qualifying Year.

In keeping with the tradition started by Valerie Silk, past champions will continue to have a lifetime invitation to race in their appropriate age group category. Past champions making this election will not be required to qualify or validate their entry. Past champions must abide by all WTC, national and international federations rules regarding professional and age group status and switching between these categories.

Automatic Qualifiers will be accepted into Kona in addition to the 80 available pro slots. If, for example, a returning champion is ranked in the top 30 women, the 31st ranked woman will qualify for Kona.

Entry & Roll-Down

The final KPR will be published as soon as possible after the last Race of the Qualifying Year (end of August) but not later than September 1st. Qualified athletes will have until September 3rd* to complete on-line registration for Kona. An on-line roll-down will be held for any unclaimed slots with entries rolling down to the next highest ranked athlete. Details of the roll-down procedure will be made available at a later date.
(* Tampa, Florida USA date)

Wild Card Entries

In 2011 and following transition years, WTC retains the right to award "Wild Card" pro entries into Kona. While Wild Card entries may be awarded at the sole discretion of WTC, these entries, if used, are intended to "fix" any holes in the new qualifying system. Wild Card entries are not intended to provide any athletes relief due to injury, illness or other external factor.

70.3 World Championship Qualifying

Pro qualifying for the 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Championship will be based on a similar format with the primary difference being that full-distance Ironman races will not count in the pro rankings for this Championship. Details will be announced as soon as the 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Championship race date is announced.

II. PRIZE MONEY POLICIES

All Ironman races will comply with these prize money standards (This does not include the two World Championship events which have separate prize standards)

Championship Events

Ironman $100,000+ (Paying through 10th Place)
70.3 $75,000+ (Paying through 10th Place)
Including Asia Pacific 70.3, U.S. 70.3, European 70.3 and regional Ironman championships to be announced

Ironman Series Events

Ironman Series events will offer total prize purses in one of two amounts:
$25,000 (Paying through 5th Place)
$75,000 (Paying through 8th Place)

70.3 Series Events

Ironman 70.3 Series events will offer total prize purses in one of two amounts:

$15,000 (Paying through 5th Place)
$50,000 (Paying through 8th Place)
Notes:

The total amount of 2011 prize money will exceed the total amount of prize money offered in 2010.
At minimum 2010 events will pay prize money as advertised.
The 8% Rule is no longer applicable.
The prize money break-down for each prize purse amount and the 2011 event listing will be provided at a later date.

III. ADDITIONAL POLICY CHANGES

A one-day Pro License will be offered to allow local and regional pros to compete at events in areas of the world where there is only one Ironman race such as 70.3 Philippines. A one-day license will be more affordable for these athletes to participate in one event. The suggested one-day fee is $250 USD for 70.3 races and $500 USD for full Ironman races. One-day licenses may be "upgraded" to an annual license with the one-day fee credited toward the annual $750 fee.
A Pro membership 'scholarship' program will be available to waive or reduce membership fees for athletes from developing countries who can't afford to pay the membership fee. Local Ironman race directors will recommend deserving athletes.

IRONMAN KONA QUALIFYING POINTS TABLE

IRONMAN RACES

70.3 RACES

The Hurt Locker

2010-03-11T21:52:00.004Z

With “The Hurt Locker” doing so well at the Oscars recently I thought I’d write a little about the phrase used as the award winning films title, that is generally part of my day to day life. It has also been inspired somewhat by a recent photo my friend over in the states posted from his first race of the season.

Mikkel was doing an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5k/40k/10k), and finished the 10k final run without any noticeable pain in his foot… well not that wasn’t being over-come by the general pain you endure (by choice – we are a strange breed) during a triathlon and the adrenaline that accompanies it. It was only after finishing that someone pointed out to him that his shoe was literally saturated in blood! Upon taking his running shoe off, he discovered that somehow, the flesh between his little toe and the next one in, has completely split between the bones!!! As you can see from the “after” photo below… it was nasty!!!

I’m well known by my friends for having bad feet, but Mikkel, you’ve well and truly won that one mate. Rest up and recover quickly… and see you in a few days in L.A.

So how on earth can that kind of thing happen without even realising, let alone race 10k’s after riding 40 and swimming 1.5? Well that’s where the regular visits to “The Hurt Locker” come in. This sport is my job and so I have a number of different offices…. Below is one of them, which has been affectionately named “Hambro Institute of Sport” by Liz, my landlady.

It's the scene of many an hour spent riding my bike, doing my job of trying to grow stronger, faster, fitter…. Sadly in order to grow in these ways, the body responds best to being pushed beyond its current abilities and then adapts so that the next time, it can cope better. So my daily routine is to do just that, push beyond what I think I’m capable of and the recover so that I’m a little stronger. It's called “super-compensation”.

It's by choice then, that I climb onto my bike, or do up the laces on my Newton trainers, or don the speedo’s and dive into the pool knowing that part of the next few minutes or hours is going to hurt; sometimes REALLY HURT! There are of course sessions and days when this isn’t the case. Just like the film, you need down time to let your body and mind recover from the punishment it's just been dragged through. It's interesting in the film to see how the bomb disposal men let off some of this steam. I’m generally quite happy to watch a movie, or hang out with friends without it ending in a little free-for-all scrap like the movie. But there are also days when I take myself away from everything, switch off the phone, computer… and just go for a LONG walk in a local park, spend time with God praying… maybe have a whole day of complete mental and physical relaxation – my silence and solitude days. They are bliss and something that I realised with my over-training woes of last year, are just as important to my improving as an athlete (and indeed a person) as any training session is.

With this kind of recovery, I can mentally put myself back into the hurt locker again in the next hard session, run myself so hard that I throw up and almost faint (sorry to those people at Wimbledon Park track who had to witness this the other day – I was enjoying it, honest!). Almost every day there will be a time when I want to stop, get off the bike, take that extra 10seconds rest before pushing off the pool wall… but each time I manage to ignore that voice I know it helps make my ability to stay in “The Hurt Locker” that little bit easier, the size of the locker, that little bit bigger. Someone once said that “pain is just weakness leaving the body”. I’m not sure I think it's quite that simple, but when the stars are all I can see in the middle of a hard interval on the bike, it certainly gives a purpose to it that helps to endure it a bit longer.

Just like the main character in the film, who is addicted to being exposed to the pressure and stress of his job… it can become addictive to train hard. It's nice to do when you’re feeling strong and fit; you can feel your body working efficiently, as it's designed to do; you can feel the power you’re generating. When you’re unfit and out of shape, as I was back in November after my 10 weeks break, it's horrific and the suffering feels 10 times as bad. But the satisfaction of conquering it is always the same and always makes it worth while. Hopefully I’ll see some of the fruits of time spent in the locker at races in the near future… though of course I’ll spend a considerable amount of time IN the hurt locker during those races too…. There’s no escaping the “locker”.

Late addition: having just had a massage this evening after writing this earlier on… I can also add any time on my friend Wayne’s’ massage table to the list of “Hurt Locker” locations… it will feel great tomorrow I know but MAN it HURT tonight!!!

Back on form

2010-02-17T16:59:00.001Z

Well, my goodness me, even by my standards it's been a long time since I’ve posted. For many of you who know me or follow triathlon in the UK, you’ll know the reason; but for those who don’t I had to take a LONG extended break from pretty much everything last autumn when it became clear I was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. I could barely get out of bed some days I was so exhausted. It was a real test of my faith and resolve for a long time… but so much was learnt through it too. I’ll post more on it all in the next few weeks, the when’s, how’s and why’s etc.

For now though a quick update on things currently.

Outside of triathlon much in my life has changed. Some good some bad, some easy some not so easy. But change opens as many doors as it closes so I’m excited about this next year. I’ve moved out into “Hombro Institute of Sport” as we affectionally call it. It's basically this great MASSIVE house in Putney, SW London that is something of a home from home for triathletes. Complete with turbo room in the basement next door to a cinema room and a sauna… NO joke! It's perfect for any lycra loving, gluten avoiding (Liz the owner of the house is also a Ceoliac) athlete. Currently myself, Chrissie and her boyfriend Tom wonder the huge halls and rooms, with a former swimmer (now coach) making up the house guest numbers. It's about ½ a mile from my gym and pool and has HUGE larders, fridges and freezers too… so pretty much everything I need in one place. It's been hard to move out of home after so long with my hugely supportive parents; without whose help in recent years I wouldn’t have been able to race full time at all. I really miss not being around them more, but I think the change will help me re-focus on my job and knuckle down to the serious training required to bounce back from last years problems and make this year a real success.

And so that’s basically what I’ve been doing for the last 5 weeks. Ticking off each session one by one, each day… then each week. It's proving to be working too as I’m hardly missing a single session now and feel in better shape than ever before for this time of year. Being in an environment (similar to Boulder I guess… only without the 90 year old naked men in the Jacuzzi at the pool) where it's so keyed into and easy to focus on training and rest is really helping.
When I first returned to training back in November after my 10 weeks of complete rest I was not in good shape. I could honestly barely manage 200m in the pool without stopping and I think my first session back totalled 1600m… and I was SHATTERED! But one of the lessons I’ve learned from last year is the need to be patient and so this is what I’ve been trying to do. Building slowly and accepting I can’t run as fast as I want to just yet. Letting the strength and speed actually come before I do the intervals I want to do. It's been tough at times and I’ve been forced to eat large slices of humble pie on regular intervals… knowing you’re not able to push a gear 3 levels easier than you used to, doesn’t do the ego much good… but that’s not a bad thing of course 
So I’ve found myself here in the middle of February feeling really good physically. I’ve got to try and do everything I can to not ruin all the hard work though, remaining patient and continue to let the fitness come instead of forcing it. I’ve also accepted that rest is KEY. Not just from the physical exertion of the exercise, but from other external things too. Some personal issues that have been on-going for some time now have meant that there have been days (including today) where I’ve just accepted that my body and mind are telling me to give them a break. Though it breaks with the program I now know I need to listen to them. It will mean that Friday and Saturdays training will be far more positive and beneficial than if I try to force myself through it.
The first target for the year is California 70.3 at the end of March which I’m really looking forward to. It will be the first 70.3 race I’ll go into confident with my swimming and genuinely optimistic that I won’t spend the entire bike trying to catch the front people. We’ll see, but with 6 weeks to go the anticipation is already building… New exciting sponsorship opportunities are on the horizon too; many things are looking really good right now. Despite so many things in recent months not being… God has been faithful and good throughout and I truly believe this year will see some real fruit coming 

Vitruvian Race report - from the other side!

2009-09-06T22:00:00.003+01:00

Vitruvian Race report

This is probably the strangest “race report” I’ve ever written... seeing as I didn’t actually race!!! But I have to say its one of the best days I’ve ever had since getting involved in Triathlon many moons ago!

Having sadly withdrawn from competing a few weeks ago after being diagnosed with stress related chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue, I had decided that as the Vitruvian (and the peeps from PaceSetter Events) had been so good to me over the years, I still wanted to be there for the race and give a little back by helping out.

So on Saturday morning, instead of racking my bike, I was directing competitors to their racks and helping check bikes for numbers and working brakes. There were a surprising number of shall we say… sub-optimal brake set-ups going on. Peoples were oddly surprise at being asked to go and adjust the brakes so that they actually STOPPED the wheels. As was the number of people who turned up to the transition area with less than 5 minutes before it closed… or the few that rocked up AFTER it was “shut” and the race briefing had begun. It seamed odd to me that people who I can only assume had committed weeks and months of time, energy and sacrifice to this day, would jeopardise the whole thing with poor preparation at the last minute.

By 6:20 I was on the jetty by the lake, eagerly anticipating the mass swim start… in the dry for a change. I got a great view of what would have been my wave set off in the mass chaos and washing machine flurry of arms and legs. It was odd to see how slow it looks from the side though… when in the middle it feels like such an intense, flurried and fast first few minutes. Needless to say, two swimmers very quickly pulled away from the pack and began to build a sizeable lead. As the sun rose on a gorgeous day over the dam, it made for a really spectacular sight to see. One of the many reasons this is one of the very best races to do in the UK.

I made my way around to the bike mount/dismount point by transition exit. Standing by a pedestrian crossing point right next the mount line, it was again interesting to see how many people had made the mistake of not leaving their bikes in a low gear. (Maybe some of the “late” comers to transition before the race?) Some struggled so much to get the pedals turning in the 53/12 gear they fell off. But in the truest spirit of the sport, it was all treated well and soon hundreds of cyclist were heading out onto the course. Thereafter I made my way to my first main point of assistance for the day as a marshal at the bike feed station.

This proved to be a great place to be with loads of other volunteers already filling hundreds of High5 water bottles with High5 energy drink and plain water. The crowds were now making their way round to this point at the end of the first lap for the cyclist, in anticipation of their friends and families coming through. Loads of Tri-talk’ers and Pirates were either helping out or cheering each athlete as the came by, making for a really great atmosphere. On a personal level, I was really enjoying the whole event – much to my surprise as I thought I’d find being there and not racing a pretty hard thing to do. But I loved cheering on each athlete as the rode past and attempted to grab a water bottle from my hand. It was a couple of hours that for me, epitomises this race and why its so good. Everywhere there were great volunteers in cheerful abundance and equally cheerful supporters lined the sides of the barriers at the side of the road. I cheered on a couple of athletes as the went through and took splits to try and help the leaders know where they all were to each other… something I know I’m always grateful for.

As the leaders began to return I took splits and in particular, a big cheer of encouragement to my mate (and my pre-race favourite), Joel Jameson who was about 2 minutes down coming back into transition.

I stayed on the bike feed station with the banter between us all continuing and making the time fly by far quicker than expected. The sun was shinning and every athlete that past us seamed to be having a great time. I have to say though that some of the bike handling as they took on and threw away drinks bottles was a sight to behold; but the near misses with dropped banana’s and “in the zone” competitors seamed to keep everyone amused.

As the leaders turned to start the 2nd lap of the 21km run, Joel was now in a commanding lead. I had been asked by race director Ian Hamilton, to head to the finish line and hand out the finisher medals and so made my way over. Its easy to find at The Vitruvian, you simply follow the tremendous music and commentary coming from Sib’s on the PA as she cheers each and every competitor from 6:20am all the way through to the last finisher at nearly 3 in the afternoon; Another thing that makes the atmosphere at the race so fantastic.

Right on queue at a little over 3 hours and 55 minutes, Joel came back to the finish to take his first Vitruvian title in. It was great result for him and a very good time on a day that though warm and sunny, was very windy.

This initiated for me, what was probably the most enjoyable experience of the whole race. I spent the next 4 hours putting “winners” (they’re all winners in my opinion) medals around the necks of everyone who crossed the line. It slowly began to sink in to me what finishing this race meant to each and every one of them. And had the awesome privilege of seeing the look on their face as they went from intense pain, right up to the finish… to complete joy as they received their medals and it sunk in that they’d done it!!! This moment of agony to ecstasy was seen over and over again. It really was an honour to get to see this. To see people over-come with emotion and burst into tears, was for me quite emotional too.

As the hours passed my hands became more and more sticky with the sweat, snot, sugar and who knows what, on the hands I shook before giving them their medals. I simply laughed when anyone of them apologetically wiped their hand before shaking mine; they weren’t the first and wouldn’t be the last to leave me with a wet hand! I stayed for as long as possible doing this, until the presentations began and I got the further honour of along side Triethlon legend, Thomas Hellriegal, being able to present the awards to all the 2nd place finishers in each age group.

Though I came up to help with the intention of simply helping Ian, Mark and their team, in return for the times I’ve enjoyed racing here so much in the past. As it turns out, I got FAR more back than I could have given. I got to see what “this” all means to so many people. To see the enjoyment and love for the sport etched on the faces, re-ignited a little flame in me again… something that has slowly gone out in recent months as the fatigue and everything has taken over. I left Rutland water for another year, shattered… but though not with a winners medal to my name, I think it was almost more satisfying and certainly more empowering.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words of encouragement too. I was blown away by how many of you took the time to chat to me. I can’t wait to see you all again next year… and hopefully share and equally damp congratulatory handshake again!

Meeting Budding Triathlete Jenni Ohren

Presenting awards with the "Legend" himself!!!

Banking it

2009-07-01T10:18:00.003+01:00

I guess it would be amiss for me to write something at the moment without mentioning Wimbledon. It struck me at the start of last week that it is exactly high my lifetime ago (15 years) when I was first a ball boy at the Al England Club. They were great times that I remember fondly, but its incredible to think just how long ago it was!

Murray mainier has of course hit once again, and rightly so I think. He’s number 3 in the world after all and so has a genuine chance this year. His game the other night finishing at near 11pm (I was long tucked up in bed) was an epic match by all accounts and shows a real maturity in Murray over the last 2 years; both physically and mentally. The funny thing is though, that listening to a phone in on the radio the following morning on “if Murray could win Wimbledon” I had to switch off with frustration at the “British” mentality to knock and undermine our successful sports people. Caller after caller, focussing on the negatives, saying how he’s not “like the top players”… err… excuse me, but isn’t he NUMBER 3 IN THE WORLD, I’m pretty sure that MAKES him one of the “top players”. It never ceases to amaze me the speed with which people in this country are prepared to put forward their “expert” opinion and how more often than not, it’s NOT a positive one in support of our sports stars. Somehow I doubt the same would happen in Australia or the US.

Anyway….

Last week I spent some time visiting some sick relatives up in the north of England. I took the turbo and trainers so I could still train of course. However a small gluten issue (not sure from what, but possibly some fruit squash) meant that from Wednesday through to Sunday I probably averaged about an hour a day of training and about 5 extra hours a day of sleep. It really does have this much of a dramatic effect on me. However, at least I was able to train even if just a little, most days. With my first Iron Man less than 2 weeks away this is less than optimal preparation though. I was really looking to have my last really solid weeks training and clock up close to 4hours a day instead of a measly 1. Then on Monday, I woke up feeling terrible. A head ache, joints aching and elevated temperature meant that I had to take the whole day completely off too. More frustration…..

Talking about all of this with Chrissie though it was good to be reminded that some times you just have to take what you can get and “bank it”. It is what it is and nothing you do can change it, so just get what you can out of the training and accept it. Last week this meant as little as 45mintues on the turbo before I had to get off with exhaustion; but that’s 45minutes more than nothing. A good saying I once heard says “some days are pebble days and some are star days. One is very plain and feels like not very much and the other is amazing and makes you feel awesome – however both are made from the same thing (rock) and can have the same effect of your fitness and ultimate performance”.

Thankfully yesterday saw a really good solid days training, including 2hours on the turbo with some hard efforts in there… oh and it was 38ºC in the sun lounge whilst doing this session and I felt fine – that’s a good sign. The run off the bike in this session was at my goal IM effort and though a little slower than I’ve done in recent weeks, again I’ll take it and “bank it”.

With IM Switzerland now only 12 days away that’s all I can do. Nothing I do now will improve my fitness before the race, but I can certainly jeopardise my race day fitness by doing too much or the wrong thing. Hopefully I’ll get the balance right, it’s a heck of a long way and I don’t want to leave my best performance in the training log rather than on the roads of Zurich.

ITU Asian Long Course Champs - Korea

2009-06-29T20:01:00.001+01:00

ITU Long Course Champs 2009 – Korea

I arrived in Korea on the Thursday before the race. I decided to do this race pretty late but thought it would be a great way to earn a little money and also test the new nutritional strategy I’d been working on with Chrissie. All expenses paid and some great prize money on offer meant that despite the distance and HUGE amount of travelling (both getting to Korea and also once there) it was a good race to do. Unfortunately a LOT of other TOP Pro’s had the same idea and the field was much stronger and deeper than most of us expected.

The course was largely uphill on the bike, with a split transition meaning the run was up at over 1400m altitude. Not a problem for me though, having spent the last few weeks training in Boulder. However, the drive of the course with all the other athletes had opened our eyes to a MUCH harder bike that we expected. The first 40k was flat with a small amount of ascension but the final 40km was almost completely up, up, up with no small amount of steep climbing in there. It was definitely going to be a long tough day at “the office”.

With all the travelling to and from various hotels and venues for the race organisers in the 2 days before the race, not much training had been done, so when race morning arrived I was feeling very fresh and ready to go.

A mass start, small beach run began proceedings for the 2lap 3km swim. After my disappointing (compared to training times) Florida and Blenheim swims, I was determined to remain relaxed this time and quickly found my rhythm in the wavy sea waters. I lead a small group (that I assumed was the 3rd pack) for the first lap and glancing at my watch as we exited the water for the small run before starting the 2nd lap, I was really pleased to see both that I was under 20mins for the 1500m and also that I was actually leading the 2nd pack! The new 2XU V1 suit was working a treat and had me cutting though the water nicely. The rest of the swim went well, other than avoiding the numerous Korean AG’ers who had started 2 minutes behind us, still on their 1st swim lap and were already hanging onto the swim buoys!!!

I was out of the water in under 40 minutes, just slightly ahead of my desired time, a great start. The announcer said I was almost 4 minutes down on the leader(s) however!!! WOW they must have been swimming quickly.

Onto my lovely Ceepo Venom and off to start the 80k bike; it was nice to know I didn’t have such a HUGE gap to bridge to the leaders like I’ve been used to. So I set about reeling in the next person up the road.

The bike course starts off worming through the small town, with GIANT dried sting-rays hanging in shop windows and happy locals all out clapping and cheering. Once onto the main roads, I settled down onto my TT bars and began progressing through the athletes in front.

I knew it could well be a long day in the saddle despite only being 80k long, it was such a tough bike course. So I kept repeating the mantra in my head “Ride with humility” whilst monitoring my cadence to ensure I didn’t drop much below my desired 85rpm. As I sped through the Korean countryside on the Ceepo, it was really funny to wave a the race helpers (generally school kids) at each intersection and see and hear their excited squealed giggles in reaction. Clearly the site of a westerner, wearing tight lycra and silly big pointed helmet was amusing to them… I’ve no idea why…?

By 40k the road began to go up the first major climb. But by now I had rider number 1 in my sites. Jimmy Johnsen from Denmark who is a regular podium and top 5 finisher in 70.3’s and IM’s. It was nice to catch up with him so soon into a race. This helped give me confidence that despite my speed at times feeling slow, sticking to my race plan of pacing and cadence wasn’t having too many detrimental effects on gaining time back on the leaders. A small pack of 4-5 guys was about 200m up the road, and Jimmy was sure this was the leaders. I was surprised with this as I felt sure I couldn’t have caught up 4 minutes on them ALL within 40km. Jimmy and I road together for the remainder of this first big climb, other when I dropped my chain and had to stop and put it back on again. But by the time we hit the top at about 55km, we’d all but caught the “leaders” up. As we passed the aid station at the 60km mark Jimmy fell off my wheel with some mechanical problems so I pushed on to catch the 3 guys I could now see up the road.

We started the final LONG and STEEP climb of the day at this point. I kept to my race plan and reeled them in slowly but steadily. By 70km I was along side Tim Marr and asked who else was “up the road”. He said Cam (Watt) was just 10-15s ahead, but that Kieran (Doe) was “out of sight”. That meant I was now in 3rd/4th place…. I was REALLY pleased with this news. Tim and I caught Cam up with about 5km to go as we neared the top of the climb. It was now VERY foggy up so high and we could barely see 50m ahead to the next corner. This also meant that I had NO idea when transition was looming. I took one foot out of my shoes a good minute before the fence around the Olympic Training centre where T2 was, suddenly appeared through the fog.

Now would be the time when I’d know if the pacing strategy I’d used would help make the legs feel better. It was also the time when I’d find out if the new approach to my nutrition that I worked on with Chrissie, would help me execute the type of run split that my training has indicated possible, but over the last couple of years has been evasive. As I threw on the Newton’s, Tim and Cam got the jump on me out of T2, as did Rasmus from Denmark, who’d ridden up to us just as we entered T2. They were only about 20,30 and 50m up the road respectively, but in the dense fog, I could barely make them out.

As I ran, I could feel a stitch doing its best to break out in my stomach/chest, so I decided to keep things really easy to begin with and wait for it to hopefully settle. My legs felt awesome, like I’d barely done the previous 80k on the bike, this was a GREAT SIGN. I waited patiently for the stomach cramp to go and kept the pace steady. Even with this though I could see I was catching both Cam and Tim; Rasmus had got off to a flier and was passing them both and running into second.

We descended down a short steep hill into the fog and the first turn at 1.1k. Back up and past T2 gave me a chance to see where the guys behind me were and I took time splits on the next 2-3 to check at the next turn to see if I was pulling away. Running up the hill eased the cramps and going back past T2 I past Cam and moved into 4th. Tim was now about 25m up the road as we hit the 2nd turn point at 3.3k. We headed back down towards and past T2 on this first mini-loop section of the run. By the time we hit the 1st turn again at 5.5k I was running shoulder to shoulder with Tim. My legs still felt fantastic and the 2XU calf guards I was wearing (and had been throughout the bike leg too) were clearly doing their job perfectly and keeping my lower legs feeling fresh. We climbed back up to pass T2 and I increased the pace a little to try and drop Tim. It worked, and I was now in 3rd place. I was pleased to still just about be able to see Rasmus up the road through the fog too. With the stitch now gone I was ready to increase the pace and catch him. Kieran, I’d seen was over 2km ahead and unless he blew, too far to be caught. But by the time I hit the 2nd turn point at the end of the mini-loop section at the 6.6km I was within touching distance of Rasmus. We ran past the turn onto the next part of the run, which would be largely off-road finishing at the luxury High 1 Hotel.

I decided to really let go as we headed down the road towards the 10km mark where the road turned into trail, and see if I could pass and drop Rasmus. I passed him just as we headed up a small incline and onto the trail. The run course profile showed it as being slightly downhill from start to finish and not too undulating with it. With my legs still feeling good and the Newton’s springing me off even this rough, rocky trail, I opened up on another down hill in an attempt to put some distance between me and Rasmus and secure 2nd place. At times, the trail was more like an X-terra run course and it just kept going down and down. At about 12km I turned to see If Rasmus was still with me and was a bit disappointed to see him little more than 30m back. I continued on, or should that be down, as the trail now getting muddy in the foggy drizzle wound through the woods. I was half expecting my old implosion problems to rear up but there was no real sign and my pace and legs still felt good. Suddenly the trail stopped going down and as I rounded a corner I could see through the fog that in front of me was a BIG and STEEP hill. The path appeared to wind all the way up it… but the course profile didn’t show anything like this…we wouldn’t be going up there surely!!! Sadly though, we were. Naturally my pace went from 6th gear to 2nd in a few strides and I began the long slow climb.

I had to keep reminding myself that despite feeling like I was barely even running, everyone else would have to get up this hill and I told myself that they would slow down even more than me – no need to panic!!! I continued up and up, trying to dispel the thoughts in my head about what I’d expected from the run course. At about 14k I took a gel just to be safe, but this has also in recent races coincided with a dip in energy and run performance. It would be part experiment to take it now. Sadly within about 2minutes, my energy levels began to drop and my paced slowed even more. Rasmus was breathing down my neck now and as we past 16km and up another incline, he passed and put about 20m into me. The camera crew on the motorbike that had been following us the whole way, was to-and-fro’ing between us as I slowed more finding it harder to keep the legs turning over. I focussed hard though, determined not to let the gap grow too much.

Finally I began to feel better by about 18km as we broke out of the woods and could just see the hotel in the distance through the Fog. A steep down hill and then very steep (17%) run up hill to the finish was all that was left…. All that was left. Rasmus was only 30-40 meters in front but I just couldn’t catch him. I looked around and saw no one in sight behind me and just focussed on getting up the final killer climb to the finish shoot.

I crossed the line in 4h30, just 30s behind Rasmus, but nearly 8 behind Kieran who’d destroyed the swim and bike course almost completely on his own. I was delighted it was over, but more so to have come 3rd and especially to have felt the running legs return again in a race. Hopefully it bodes well for my forthcoming IM and executing a race there that I believe I can and mixing things up a little.

Thanks to my sponsors 2XU, Ceepo, Newton, High5, Total Fitness Music and Sigma Sport for all their help and support.

Staring at the jigsaw puzzle too long…?

2009-06-05T00:47:00.000+01:00

Well I’m back in the UK now having completed my near 7 weeks training in Boulder. I’m really happy to be back home, its great to see family and friends but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be back in Boulder. If you’ve read any of my post whilst I’ve been away you’ll be more than aware of all the reasons why. Needless to say, it’s now time to put “pedal to the metal” so to speak and start the real reason for why I went to Boulder in the first place – RACING!

My race schedule is somewhat undecided right now as so much depends upon the two main goals for the first part of the year - The ITU Long Distance Champs in Korea and then IM Japan. There are two priorities from these two races; Money and a slot at Kona (the world champs in October).

I raced last month at 70.3 Florida and had something of a mixed race. The result was disappointing, more so the implosion I once again experienced having ridden and run myself into the top 10. But there were still positives to found and the important thing is to take them and transfer them across to the problems I suffered in order to correct them!

Shortly before heading home I spent some time with my good friend Chrissie Wellington (www.chrissiewellington.org). It’s nice when you have friends like that to help you out (she’s the current 3 times Ironman and Long Course Triathlon World Champ and arguably the best female triathlete around right now). We chatted about what I felt had gone wrong in Florida and how I’d planned and executed the race. A bit like a person who’s been studying a jigsaw puzzle for too long, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees; thankfully Chrissie straight away pin-pointed where I was going wrong (at least one of the areas anyway ha ha). With all the problems I’d suffered last year and the year before with chronic fatigue, failing to even finish races and not being able to train more than 90mins a day I’d messed about so much with my race nutrition that I was eating nearly TWICE as much as I needed. When the intensity of a race is as high as it is, the temperature as hot and humid as in Florida this was always going to be a problem. But from where I was seeing it, I was running out of ‘puff’ and therefore needed MORE not LESS! But I couldn’t see things clearly, it was a problem I’d been looking at intensely for too long and therefore it all blurred into one big baffling mess.

But now Chrissie was helping me see with regained clarity and suddenly things were coming back into view. I used to be a real student of the sport, of the methods others used; the advice of the best people out there. I’d spend hours trawling the net for a little hint of a secret from one of the world greats – a session structure, training protocol, nutritional advice; I was desperate to get any tips and advantage I could. More recently I’d stopped doing this largely I think because I’d got so bogged down in worry about trying to fix things. I couldn’t see the easily fitting pieces of the puzzle that were right in front of my face.

I really hope that this has resolved the biggest issues I’ve had most recently in races. I’m tiring of doing races and KNOWING I’m underperforming in big way. There is only so long though that I can keep having the same kind of things happen. And yet I will continue to press on, not because I feel I should in some blind foolishness, but because I genuinely have faith that what I’m doing is the right thing, pursuing “this” is right, and a big part of my life as a Christian too. Sometimes faith in this is all I’ve got, but I’m happy it’s all I need.

The run, which used to be my biggest strength, has become something of an uncertainty, and I don’t feel like I’ve had a good run in a race for nearly 2 years….maybe more?! The way training has gone indicates that I can run way faster then I’m doing in a race. I don’t seam to be able to get anywhere close to a run splits I managed back in late 2006. With all the extra training I’m doing, I should be running FASTER not slower. When I do, I know, I’m convinced I can achieve the results I believe I can and actually make this whole thing work. Having taken Chrissie’s advice, I’ve tested it in race simulation days during training and it points to really good things. I just hope that for a change I can transfer these training performances into race results and soon!

Korea will tell me a lot and be a great indicator for the upcoming Iron Man. There’s no way I want to be getting off the bike in an IM, having just ridden 112 miles, and be wondering if my legs will show up or disappear completely like they have been over the last few months and years. It would be really nice for them to come back so we can start making a proper go of this triathlon malarkey!!!

Florida 70.3 Race Report

2009-05-22T19:51:00.002+01:00

Florida 70.3 Race report

Well the first race of the year is done and dusted and is always the case, there’s plenty to mull over. Good and bad, questions answered and some still left open, but here’s how it went for me.

I got to Florida on the Thursday; flying in from Boulder (Denver) where we’d had a couple of warm (mid 70’s) days, but mainly pretty mixed and mild. So the first thing that hit me was the humidity. The weather was in the mid 80’s and the humidity was up to 90% making it feel even hotter. I was staying with Dion Harrison for a night in a Holiday Inn Express, before moving on the Friday to another place arranged by his friend, Mikkel Bondesen from Denmark/L.A.

We’d totally landed on our feet, with the place we ended up in looking more like an “MTV crib’s” apartment than the type of place I stay in when travelling to a race (fully fitted kitchens and MASSIVE flat screen TV’s aren’t what I’ve grown accustomed to at races). Mikkel is a great guy and super enthusiastic about doing Florida for the second time and hoping to qualify for Clearwater in the 30-35 age group. So we all passed the last couple of days hanging out and doing a little swimming together. My prep sessions went well and I didn’t feel any adverse effects from the heat on the bike or the run, even when doing my hard efforts. I felt really positive about Sunday and was looking forward to reaping the rewards of the last 3 weeks training at altitude in Boulder.

Sunday rolled around and with great efficiency everything at the race site went to plan. Hats off to the organisers who run this race and to Disney who open up part of their site and close off some major roads for the bike course. So at 6:20am 2,500 athletes and countless more supporters all lined the beach area of the lake for the American national anthem before the Elite men got under way for the non-wetsuit swim.

My swimming has been going well recently and I was looking forward to seeing how it transferred to a race performance despite it being a non-wetsuit swim. Nearly 40 Pro men meant it was going to be pretty frenetic for the first few hundred meters, but also plenty of feet for me to follow. This I managed to do fairly quickly which is a first for me. I felt I was holding the water pretty well and the effort, though a little below what I should be working at, felt good and I was happy to stay behind my man in front. The water was pretty warm, even without the wet suit, but I definitely noticed the benefit of the altitude as my breathing was really under control. The new, somewhat ugly stroke (that has taken many poor pool sharers out in recent masters sessions in Boulder) was working well too. As we turned around the first buoy at the 800m mark, although I new I’d missed the lead group and (possibly) the second pack too, I saw Dion to my right and so knew that I was swimming better than I have in the past (Dion has always been faster than me and is a 24min 1.9k swimmer). I continued to stay on the feet in front all the way until about 150m to go when I drifted slightly to my left and lost him for long enough to not be able to get back on his tail.

We exited the water in just over 28 minutes, not fast, but for me, without a wetsuit a good start, and seeing Dion to my right meant that the swim must have been either very slow generally or a tad long. Either way, it was a good start for me.

I had no idea how far behind the next group I was (as it turns out I came out in the 3rd pack, about 90seconds down on 2nd pack and 3mins down on the leaders) but set off on my new Ceepo Viper for the first 12miles of the bike course on the closed roads of the Disney resort course.

The Ceepo has been noticeably stiff and fast as I’ve got used to it on the Boulder roads and it felt great as I road down the smooth flat roads towards the first turn around. I timed the gap to the lead 3 of Luke Bell, Bryan Rodes and (eventual winner) Dirk Bockel with the next slightly spread out group about 1min50 in front of me. I saw Fraser Cartmell at the front of them all and was pleasantly pleased to only be this far back so soon after the swim. I figured I’d be able to catch them by mile 15 and just set my sights on the 3-4 guys I could see closer up the road.

The bike course in Florida has 3 out-and-back turn-around’s where you get a good chance to measure the gap to those in front of you. By the second, I timed the gap to the now sizeable, but legal (I should stress) group that had now formed. The 3 leaders were just under 3 minutes ahead but I’d only put 20seconds into the chase group. Still I thought that over the rolling roads of the next 20 miles, I’d be able to catch them before we hit the largely flat final 12-15 miles that today would be into a head wind. I was now stuck well and truly on my own having caught and passed about 5 guys. Sadly I just didn’t seam to be able to gain any more time on the large group and the final turn-around showed I was still 90 seconds behind. That was the last I saw of them and I ended riding the entire bike leg on my own. I felt OK and the legs were fine. I took on as much High5 Energy+ drink and gels as I could with some salt tabs in there for the added electrolytes. The heat and humidity didn’t feel too bad, but every time I looked down at my body it was literally dripping all over. I went through nearly 2 litres on the bike, but guess I still probably lost nearly 3kg’s in sweat at the same time – not good numbers for a good run.

I made one slight mistake towards the end of the bike though. With the fairly complex final few miles back in the Disney Land grounds, it had been impossible to drive this section the day before, mainly due to the complete absence of anything that resembled a decent road name or sign post on the roads. I had no real idea of how long I had to go until I needed to get ready to dismount. It’s always good to try to get the legs a little loose at the end of the bike as well as getting your feet / shoes ready to dismount. I ended up riding for about 5 minutes with my feet out of one shoe, expecting to see T2 around every bend. Mental note for next year!!!

Once into T2, I quickly put on the new Newton racers and was out running through the pretty large crowd before I you could say “did someone put another log on the fire???”. Onto the footpath that starts the first part of the 3 loop course and a spectator/coach called out I was 40seconds down on the next guy. Once again there were out and back sections to the run which served really well to show how close you were to everyone else. I got another time check from Heather Furr that the leaders were 6mins ‘up the road’. Those 3 guys were well out of reach, but I could see 4th-10th was well within my grasp spread out from 1-3minutes. I made a conscious effort to hold back as I ran, but still clocked my first 2 miles at 5:40ish pace. Faster than I wanted to be running, but I really felt like I was keeping the brakes on.

I gradually caught and passed some of the guys in front and could see that I was moving away from those who’d entered T2 behind me too. The run course is about 50% road 50% grass. It isn’t too bad though and after all is the same for everyone, so is no excuse for anything. I was enjoying the run in the first loop and by the mid point of the second, about 10k into the run I’d moved up into about 6th place…. And then suddenly all those thoughts of “its not too hot actually, this is OK” evaporated and were replaced by “who’s turned the thermostat up?!” It really hit me that suddenly and my pace began to falter and slow considerably. But, I thought, ‘it’s the same for everyone else, just keep moving forwards’. I finished the 2nd lap much slower than the first (nearly 3minutes slower) but still felt that if I could keep this pace, I’d hang on to a top 8 finish and some prize money. But by the first turn of the last lap, it was clear that that wasn’t going to happen. Guys I’d passed and pulled away from were quickly catching me and I was soon passed by 3-4 of them in quick succession. I just tried to stay focussed on moving forward, you just never know what might happen around you so I concentrated on things I could control like putting one foot in front of the other.

By this time the run course had close to 2000 of the total 2500 athletes on the course and was becoming crowded. It was increasingly difficult to tell who was who so as I ran down the last out and back section and cramp kicked into my right quad muscle, I had no idea how many or who had passed me by. All I knew was that stretching my quad made my hamstring cramp, but then stretching that made my quad go again…. The ministry of funny walks then began as I tried to get moving, whilst stretching the front and back of my leg at the same time. Eventually it seamed to ease and with only about 3 miles left I set off to finish as quickly as I could. The money was now well and truly gone, as was a top 10, but it’s still important to give everything to the line – I’d at least get more from the race physically doing this and hopefully grown stronger mentally if not physically.

The final corner and finish shoot seamed to take an eternity to come. but eventually I completed my last lap, some 6 minutes slower than my first and I found myself sat down in the recovery area dousing myself in cold ice and water. I’d crossed the line in 16th, but disappointingly nearly 16minutes back on the winner; Too big a gap for my liking. My whole body was on fire and tingling, my face and lips were tingling too and a rather concerned looking medical helper took me off to medical. Thankfully there was no need for an IV this time, but it took me about an hour to properly cool down enough to step out from under the wonderful cold towel and stop drinking Gatorade like my life depended on it.

Though the race itself for me didn’t go according to plan, there were still some positives to take from it. Not least sharing in my friend Dions debut as a Pro and seeing Mikkel cross the line looking strong and taking nearly 15 minutes off of his time from last year – an awesome achievement!!!

I’ll be back next year I think, with a little more acclimatization under my belt and another minute off my swim time, ready to mix it up at the front, instead of getting mixed up myself!!!

Doubt

2009-05-13T17:41:00.001+01:00

Firstly I guess I should follow up on my last post concerning the swimming which wasn’t going so well at the time. Well thankfully almost the next day I think it was, things clicked back into place in the pool. I started to re-focus back on what I had been doing for the previous few months – both in terms of session structure and actual swim technique. Whilst it wasn’t an instant return to form and speed in the water, it did pretty quickly ‘feel’ better and more like it used to. The Friday swims weren’t fantastic in terms of the times I was hitting, but they were better and mentally it felt good and I knew that the feel for my swimming was returning. Within a couple of days I was back hitting the times I should be and starting to improve on them as I’d hope to. As I write this entry into my blog, my confidence in the water has returned and I’m enjoying getting wet once again. Its so much easier to face 7.5k (300 lengths) in the pool, as I did yesterday, when I can tell its making me stronger and faster, and I’m not feeling like I’m fighting it all the way. Yesterday I did a session with Julie Dibens, Mary-Beth, Rinnie (Marinda Caffrea) and Joe (Gambles) – Most of whom are either current or former World or European Champs of some kind. We swam a set that I’d NEVER have been able to do before and the times I was managing to hit were HUGE PB’s for me. It nearly killed me and the ride in the afternoon was tough due to this, but it was well worth it and another example of why training here in Boulder is so great. To be pushed by this calibre of athlete (i.e. the worlds best) is impossible to over-value. Hopefully I’ll remember this last couple of weeks next time I feel a plateaux in my training and need to be patient again 

But back to this post then…. though in some ways still following on from the pool work.

Here's a little picky from a ride the other day. Gorgeous, but hazy day... those mountains in the distace are HUGE. We rode up over 8000ft on saturday. the air up there is REALLY thin and i was breathing SO hard just trying to get to the top of one of the climbs

When you’re training day in, day out and your livelihood depends upon how well you do, how fast you are, how far you can go – when the clock, times, splits, distances, speeds etc all become your “monthly review”, if you let it, it can leave you in good places or bad places. Mentally I mean, at least.

Because getting faster, fitter, stronger, lighter are all targets and the clock, the power meter, the scales DON’T lie, you can easily be faced day in day out with feedback that tells you exactly where you’re at. Many triathletes and I’m sure other athletes too, can get bogged down in this and let it really get to them. I’m sure people in various other types of jobs feel this pressure too – a teacher with SATS results for example. Recently I’ve had both ends of the stick but have noticed how I (people in general?) respond to the different ends of the spectrum. I touched on the negative a little last time, but on the positive I’ve noticed that actually, instead of receiving good results for what they are and tell me, I can be prone to doubting… even when it’s something as solid and unquestionable as a time. Swimmers will all tell you “the clock doesn’t lie”…. So why if it tells us something good, do we then doubt its ‘honesty’?

For example, I sometimes ride using power as a gauge for my performance in training. It’s measured in Watts and just like the clock, doesn’t lie. One second is the same as the next, and one watt is the same as another one. On Sunday I did a certain ride, with a particular goal in mind for the ride of the number of watts I wanted to produce. I did this, felt good and happily held the wattage I wanted to – both an improvement on last year and also a BIG difference to when I first arrived at altitude. Instead of trusting the results, I found myself questioning its truth. That’s kind of like looking at a clock and questioning if one minute was slightly slower that the one before. On Monday I did a run, again with a certain target speed in mind. I ran it, timed it and thanks to GoogleMaps measured the distance. When I worked out the pace and it was exactly as fast as I wanted it to be…. I still doubted that I had actually done it. Even in the pool, where things have been going great, I still constantly want to prove to myself that I CAN swim a certain time per 100m because as soon as I do actually DO it, I still doubt that it was real and question that I can do it again.

It’s an obsession that I guess drives me on to keep trying to prove to myself how things are going, if I’m improving etc. Not a bad thing on the face of it, but I think it’s important to celebrate and receive them (at least internally) when goals and targets ARE actually reached, instead of belittling them and casting doubt over them. Otherwise this can prevent confidence from growing, which is really important.

Faith plays a massive part in my life and who I am; and faith and doubt don’t sit well together. There’s a great verse in the Bible in Hebrews where it says “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.” I think this is so important to remember when we do actually achieve something we’ve hoped for (and often worked HARD for and believed will happen). When we allow this to happen, it grows faith and shrinks doubt and this allows us to hope for, work towards and ultimately achieve even greater things.

What I feed will grow, so I’ve been trying to feed the confidence in recent results so that it will grow instead of the doubt.

Patience

2009-05-03T11:08:00.000+01:00

Things in the last week have taken a turn for the better in some regards and for the worse in others. First the good…

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the altitude has really taken some getting used to in a number of ways. Recovery, volume, intensity have all had to be adjusted in my training as my body adapts to the reduced O2 up here. But last week, actually the Sunday before last, for the first time I noticed whilst riding back from the track, that I was able to apply some proper(-ish) power to the peddles whilst going over a small climb. Gradually as the week has progressed I’ve been able to work at something like the normal effort I would expect to in harder sessions. Up until now, I’ve simply not even been able to push that hard, my lungs were working overtime well before my arms or legs were able to. A good solid 1 hour run on Tuesday has been built on through the week by some good sessions on the bike (turbo sadly some days due to the STILL mixed weather) and again more good running sessions. This included a velocity at VO2 (almost “all out max” effort) run which I managed on LESS rest that I had been doing so back home – a good sign! Unfortunately I slipped up with some food somewhere along the way and ate something with mustard (which includes barely vinegar a.k.a. evil Gluten) in it and struggled through a couple of days. Being reminded of the same feelings of both mental and physical fatigue of last year wasn’t good. It is just SO draining when this happens and I have to just get as much done as I can. But a couple of easier days and by the weekend I was back feeling good again. I managed a really tough 3 hour turbo session on Saturday followed by some swimming and then on Sunday completed one of my favourite (when its finished at least) sessions, which is a threshold (race pace) brick (run/bike) session.

It was really good to feel back to normal again. It’s taken roughly 3 weeks to get to this place though, but with 3 weeks remaining here, I’m hopeful that there’s plenty of time to increase the impact of training at this level. 3 weeks seams like nothing as I sit here now feeling better, but it was sometimes hard to be patient in this relatively short period. I’m glad I was though as hopefully now the foundations are there, I can build upon it over the next 21 days.

On top of this I went to a long to a new church on Sunday called Vine Life (www.vinelife.com) it was GREAT to find somewhere to go that felt instantly comfortable. But more importantly for me, just good to be back in church and with God.

To the bad then…

Swimming has LONG been something of a nemesis for me in triathlon. But recently in the past few months I’ve at long last made some serious progress with it. This is largely thanks to some slightly un-orthodox technical and training help late last year. However, for various reasons, in the last few days, this seams to have evaporated and I feel like I’m back to square one again. And so right now I have to be patient, and keep telling myself not to doubt too much. “It” is there somewhere… and “it” will come back if I just keep doing the same/right things, consistently. This is the time where patience is hard to have… tomorrow has 3 swims on the plan for me. When things are going well in the water, this kind of day is almost enjoyable, but I know that tomorrow it will be mentally quite hard to make myself do it. But in order for the patience that I need to show, to not be in vain, I MUST do it. Hopefully by my next post I’ll have some good news on the fruits of this round of growth in patience. It’s a journey after all so I’ve got to keep pressing on ‘down the road’.

But to finish on a good note…. I was introduced to “Whole Foods”. A store here in Boulder packed full or organic, healthy foods. It’s got an amazing area where they make things like sushi, sandwiches, burrito’s etc… everything you can think of to eat. And it’s ALL organic and pretty much healthy AND they do things gluten free too!!! So my new favourite sandwich is the ‘Boulderite’ on gluten free bread – basically a REALLY good BLT with added avocado, turkey and cheese!!! Hits the spot PERFECTLY.

Humility

2009-04-21T21:30:00.003+01:00

First a couple of photo’s.

This is the pool at FlatIron where I’m training. 2 days earlier I’d been out in mid 70’s loving the sun. On this day we had about 12-15inc of snow and the air temp was about zero. I had to laugh as we swam and the coach stood on the pool deck dressed like an Eskimo.

The first two don’t do justice to the views I see each day as I train, but hopefully give you a little taste. The mountains are pretty imposing and loom on the horizon all the time… I cant wait to get up there once the snow melts!

SO to main theme of this post…..

Being here in Boulder is a lesson a day in so many ways. But in the last couple of days I’ve been made really aware of one particular lesson I can try to learn…..

As a Christian, one of the things I really try to focus on, pray about (and for) daily, and know is a real key to growing as a Christian, is Humility. In the bible God says that without it, you miss out on wisdom and can’t grow closer to God – so it’s clearly something that’s important to me. But when the opportunity comes… it actually takes it, to receive it…. If you know what I mean.

So how does this all relate to my first week here in Boulder? Well in 2 major ways:

1. The altitude here in Boulder is nearly 6000ft (2000m) which means the air is pretty thin. This has a HUGE effect on you in a number of ways. When training you just can’t go as fast, as hard or as long as normal. The reduced O2 means your body can’t produce as much energy in your body and your muscles therefore can’t work as hard. So when out training and riding with people, I’ve been forced to accept that I just cant climb a mountain as quick as I could… or more importantly as the other people on the ride. Granted, I’m riding with some of the best athletes in the world (current and former world champs, Olympians etc), but it’s still tough to ask your body to do something you expect it to…. And have it reply with a firm NO WAY!!! I’ve had to accept that I can’t go as fast as I expect to just yet and that others will be dropping me pretty easily. The altitude also means that I can’t DO as much as I’d normally do and recovery is WAY more important too. Sleeping, eating and hydrating become a real focus. But also realising that until I adapt to the altitude, I need to NOT push as hard or as much as I normally would. I might want to do the extra session, or even feel like I could, but deep down I know that I cant beat the altitude… or should that be “cheat” the altitude. I have to accept that it’s bigger and more powerful than me and I’ve just got to go with it for the ride as I adjust to the lack of O2.

2. The second way I’ve been “humbled” this week, is by people. Boulder is a “hub” of world class athletes and this is one of the reasons I’ve come here. It struck me this morning in the pool as I was hanging on for dear life to the times for our main set. I was swimming in a lane with a world champ and 2 time Olympian, in the lane next to me was one current and 3 time world champ, and one 4 time world champ and Olympian… and there’s me…. VERY cool I’m thinking…. In between desperate gasps for breath as I take all of 2 seconds rest at the end of the current 100yrd interval. I can’t help but be humbled that I even get to train with these people, of just how good they are, and that they let me train with them.

But as I said at the start, humility something that’s pretty key to my faith. The opportunity to hopefully grow in it is a good one. I have to accept that right now, confronted by my current surroundings, I don’t have much choice. Altitude doesn’t care for pride and world champions certainly don’t either. I only hope I can use the opportunity to its fullest.

Focus

2009-04-15T17:25:00.000+01:00

As I write this next Blog, I’m sat in a Julie and Mike Dibens house… in Boulder Colorado USE. I’ve just finished a nice 3 and a half hour ride with Chrissie, her coach and all-time-great triathlete Simon Lessing and numerous other top class athletes. We road on perfect roads, through what looks like “Little House On the Prairie” scenery and it was 70+ degrees… yes, it was a VERY enjoyable ride.

And it’s exactly this kind of thing that is why I’ve decided to head over here for 6 and a half weeks. The location at 2,500m above sea level, is tough at first, with breathing and pushing anything harder than steady not possible just yet; but I know that over the next few weeks I’ll adapt and come back stronger when I “come Down” to sea level to race. Boulder is FULL of other triathletes, swimmers, cyclist and runners of world class pedigree so there’s never a shortage of great training partners. And the location is amazing with great roads, flat, rolling or mountains (should you wish to go up any further and deprive your body of even MORE O2!) I’m really excited about what the next few weeks will bring in terms of training and improvements in me as an athlete.

It also allows me to continue what I mentioned in my last blog about being successful in what’s necessary. Being away from home isn’t great that’s for sure – I miss my girlfriend, family and friends; but being able to solely focus on the work at hand (and not find excuses or get caught up in “other stuff” that means I don’t end up doing a “full days work”) is really important for me. This focus comes more easily to some than others. For me, I find that, just like chocolate, I need to remove the temptation or not put myself in a position where I can be tempted – either to eat the chocolate… or miss that nasty session that needs to be done, but is easily skipped in favour of “other stuff”. So whilst to many, it might sound cool and exciting to travel to Colorado, the reality of it can be far from ‘cool’. The next 6.5 weeks are purely and simply about getting down to the business of training, eating and sleeping… and not a lot else really.

It’s also much easier to train and train HARD around other people who are in the same position as you. And especially understand what you mean when you say that you’re “smoked”. Being able to simply go home and sleep when this is the case, and not have other “stuff” pulling you away from the importance of recovery and rest is a vital part of it all. I read a quote recently from Mark Cavendish (the best road cyclist sprinter in the world right now) that I think really sums it up well (to para-phrase it and remove some of the colourful language)

“'People ask you to come here and there and I say, "I can't." And they say, "Yeah, I realise you're tired, I realise you just want a bit of peace and quiet." And it's like, no… I… Am… smoked!!!. I'm totally, utterly exhausted. My body is eating itself because I'm so tired.”

When you look at the best there is out there, in both sport, business, life generally… they all have a real focus on doing what is required to succeed. I’m looking forward to exercising this focus over the next few weeks and just glad that people here don’t mind when I can barely say more that ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked an open question and know that you just cant do normal stuff a lot of the time.

Back in the swing of things

2009-03-15T10:08:00.000Z

Since my last post at the end of my season last year (September) I’ve been a pretty busy chappy – hence the lack of anything resembling an update to my website or blog. I went back to work for a few months in order to work on the finances a bit having earned very little money from the season and survived on some generous help and support of friends and family. But its important that if I’m going to do this (call myself a Profession triathlete) then I must in fact be successful enough to justify that title and so earn a living from the sport. I hope that with all of last years problems behind me and resolved, I can do just this.

My time back at work was an interesting one and for the later part, pretty brutal on me. The global downturn in pretty much anything, meant that working at the London Stock Exchange was at times, a pretty heavy place to be. I was blessed to have got the contract to work back there again and so I worked my butt off to make sure I kept my job and the additional pressures of the project meant that at times I was back to where I was 2 years ago when 30 hours in a day wouldn’t have been enough to get everything done. My focus was to get to the end of the project successfully and with something resembling a base fitness level. From this I hoped I could return to full time training and spring forward, rather than hit the end of February (when I left the contract) and pretty much have to start my training from scratch. This would have meant my season was about 2-3 months behind schedule and been hugely frustrating. Thankfully I just about managed it and by ensuring that what training I DID do, was maximum “bang for the buck” I found myself in far better shape than I’d hoped.

Introducing some of the key sessions from Brett Sutton last year, meant that my cycling was entirely done on the turbo with a lot of strength work (big gear) and never anything more than 2 hours at one time. A few 2 x 2 hours ride days meant that I was still actually getting some good volume in (especially if you agree with me that riding for 60 minutes on a stationary trainer is about as good as 90 minutes on the road).

So when the start of March rolled around and I left “work” in the city for “work” in lycra, I was able to begin with a real optimism about the season. I’ve begun to settle into my new schedule nicely and am really enjoying the sessions as they tick by. Its interesting for me though as I think back to this time last year when I was (un-be-known to me then) struggling with food allergies and couldn’t even manage 2 hours training a day without needing to sleep for the next 15 hours. Part of me still expects the fatigue to kick in 20minutes into a ride with me struggling to last much longer. I’m delighted to report though that it’s not that way at all now and I’m quite happily ticking off the sessions at the moment and this is the key I think. Being able to consistently complete the training day after day is really showing and I can see and feel the strength and fitness improving over time. I recently heard a great Winston Churchill quote that said “It’s not simply good enough to do ones best, we much succeed in doing what is required”. This is the target for me, to know what is required and to succeed, day after day, at doing it. With nearly 3 months to go before my A race of Iron Man Japan (June 20th) I’m really excited about where I’ll be come the start line of my first Iron Man.

Finding my "mojo" / Small changes.

2008-09-08T14:01:00.003+01:00

If you've read my last blog then you know all about the year I've had so far. You'll then understand why on Saturday, as I stood on the edge of Rutland Water in Leicestershire waiting to start the British Middle Distance Champs at "The Vitruvian" - and defend my national title - I was so uncertain about what the next 4 hours held in store. I'd long ago lost the confidence I used to have going into a Half Ironman distance race, of going as hard and as fast as possible and being a contender at the front. There was now far more nervousness surrounding things for me. Would things within my body work properly today....would I finish.... Was I as good as my inner belief kept telling me I was or had I lost my "mojo" for ever?

You can read the race report here, so I won't go into the ins and outs of the race, but surface to say it went well, pretty much according to plan and most importantly reassured me that the failings of 2008 WERE anomalies caused by external factors and that I'm right to keep pressing on with my goals.

Its hard to explain but I'm sure most people out there can relate to feeling like they've lost their zip, confidence, flow...whatever you want to call it. And even for the most confident of people, it can be very hard to handle and stick it out and get through it. You only have to listen...and I mean REALLY LISTEN, to many of the things that our incredible Olympic champions said this summer Thankfully Saturday and the way the race went has not only reassured me that things are back and I'm about 85% back on form, but its also helped me see what could come next year if I get things right.

After my time away last week and the numerous little nuggets of advice and help I received I was able to try and implement some of them leading up to and during the race. To my delight and impacts were not merely indicators of what could be, but actual tangible differences to how things went right now. Changes in training leading into the race meant I was SO fresh come Saturday morning. Then come the start a different approach and tech to my swim... Normally something that would take months to feel like it was making a difference...left me coming out the water not only still in touch with the leaders, but also feeling like I'd barely got out of breath. Such a difference after so short a time blows me away, but has also fuelled the fire inside for next year and the possibilities. I remember the first time I managed to swim 20.16 for 1500m open water and the boost I got from it. Suddenly I truly believed that I could actually swim "OK" and that my goals and ambitions weren't as far away as they'd seamed for so long; and the path to them wasn't so cluttered with barriers any more either. The same thing is true on Saturdays swim. OK the time wasn't stunning and on a World class level, would still have left me off the pace, but it was over 90seconds faster than my time her last year or at Timberman 70.3 only 3 weeks ago. That’s HUGE in comparison to how long I've struggled till now to knock off a few seconds here and there, over the last 3-4 years. And to enhance to confidence boost, it just felt SO easy that I'm excited to see how much there is to come.

The same can be said of my run on Saturday. 3 weeks ago I struggled with cramp and have always found it tough to keep my "technique" for the whole 21km leading to most recently, well below (in my opinion) potential, run performances. One simple change to my run leg (not literally my running legs though of course...changing those for say...Halle Gabri Sellasies would be nice) approach and the first 10.5km flew by with my legs feeling fresh, fast and the clock showing me back on track to the levels I've seen fleetingly in the past but most recently struggled to realize or even believe were possible again for me.

What's different, what's the magic formula I'm now using...? Well its not EPO in case you're wondering ha ha! In a nutshell though, its purely simplification. As a great coach once said, moving away from "paralysis through analysis". Sometimes we (I) can get so caught up, over-complicating things, that we end up restricting things. Freeing myself of multiple technique focal points also frees me from any subconscious pressure I create to perform each one of those "points". This also reduces needless energy expenditure and waste that actually, we all too often don't even realize we doing.

In short though, I'm really excited about the ride I can once again see ahead of me next year. The next 6 months will be a journey in itself, but where I get to at the end, I once again believe will allow me to start on the next journey to even more exciting places.

For now though, I've got to settle in for a few months. Training yes... That journey must begin NOW, but also returning to work and rebalance the finances to allow for the journey to be possible come 2009. The life of a fulltime athlete is far from exotic... And we all have to live within the realities of this world...but using it to fuel the dreams in our heads.

Whats been, what is and what's to come.....

2008-08-31T14:01:00.003+01:00

For so many reasons its been a long time since I've updated my blog... Or website for that matter. Many of them are technical (IT related) ones, but having spoken to various people recently, it seams that people DO actually read this so firstly "Hi" (Cathy, Dan & Cathy, Eddie, Ben) and secondly thanks... I'll try to be better with this in the next few months.

Well 2008 has been a pretty rough year all said. My first year full time has coincided with my first ever real injury and some pretty drastic health problems. I'll try to cover most of it in this post so it might be a long one - serves you all right for telling me you read this ha ha. I'll split it up into what's been, what is and what's to come....

What's Been...
Thus far my first year full time has been anything other than "Professional" - certainly in terms of finances & winnings. Starting the year with tendonitis in the hip meant that bike and run wise I was off to a bad start. Happily however Lanson Running (www.lansonrunning.co.uk) have come onboard to support me alongside Saucony Shoes and these problems are now in the past. My swimming was on the up though, but when I came to racing I was struggling...at the time I thought I was just missed fitness from the injury. In hindsight though, the deep exhaustion I was feeling everyday wasn't a result simply of the training. I was finding myself struggling to manage 17 hours of training a week. I simply put it down to the "reality of life as an athlete" and set about training MORE.

Come mid June and my two main focuses of the early season Austria 70.3 and Switzerland 70.3 came and...well went...BADLY. For some reason I was barely able to even FINISH one of these races now, let alone think about doing well or winning them (despite winning numerous shorter races). Training was getting harder too and general energy was on a downward trend. It took me 6 months of the year to see it and look for it, but something was clearly wrong.

I won't go into it here...as I've board most of you with it all in person anyway ha ha. Some blood tests, doctors appointments, injections and other advice all ended up with various changes to my lifestyle and nutrition. Within a few days I could feel the difference and by the end of July I was once again feeling back to normal. Though it can take time (months or even years in some cases) to get over stuff like Gluten intolerances, the general trend was an upward one. I no longer felt shattered all the time, training more than an hour at a time wasn't an uphill battle and more than 20 hours in a week didn't leave me bed ridden for a day! The goal for the year had always been the World Champs in November again and hopefully a top 10. By now all I wanted to do was qualify after the first 7 months so my coach and I picked a race in August and set about trying to get that slot....

What is....
I headed over to New Hampshire USA once more after my last, successful trip there in 2006. Timberman 70.3 is a great race and offered the chance to see some good friends again too. The race itself might have well have been a world champs with the amount of top class Pro's there but I was excited about racing and actually feeling remotely strong again. My good friend Chrissie Wellington (www.chrissiewellington.org) was also going to be there so it would be great to spend some time with her in a year where she is CRUSHING everyone in her wake! (including the men in most races.... More to come on this...)

I had a great few days in the Greystone Inn, Gilford. Seeing Dan and Cathy again was fantastic and bumping into other familiar faces made it a really nice few days. I felt pretty good leading into race day and had managed to avoid any gluten so I was optimistic about the race itself.

Race day dawned hot and sunny. Another disappointing swim (my pool times are still hit and miss as far as "showing up" in a race!) was followed by a solid bike as I anxiously waited to see how I felt coming off the bike...I came into transition less than 5mins off the leader and in 6th...this was more like it, but would my energy problems be there again. Thankfully I knew within about 3k they weren't and I held a nice steady pace over as I moved into 5th during the first hilly 5k, aiming to slowly build it up over the last 10k. Then.... BANG! On the way back at about 9k both my hamstrings went into rigid cramp! :-O I couldn't believe it. I had to stop and stretch. I had enough energy, but couldn't push the legs too hard or it came roaring back. Nursing the cramp for the remaining 12k of the run I came home in 8th. Pleasing in many ways as it was so much better than everything else so far this year, but disappointed as it wouldn't be enough to get the Worlds slot; and humbled as during the cramp attack Chrissie had pounded past me and I'd not been able to catch her back up... For the first time ever I'd been beaten by a girl (OK, so she's World Champ, a generational "freaky" talent and I'm not the first man to be beaten by her this year).

It was both satisfying and disappointing. The Worlds would have to be missed for a year as the remaining races to qualify at are all too far away (for my bank balance anyway ha ha!).

I'd have to console myself with trying to defend my National Title in September and re-focusing on next year being PERFECT - no injury, no sickness and achieving what I believe I'm capable of!

What's to come...
Fueled by the deep disappointment of the year I've looked to see what I can do to ensure next year and the years thereafter are all they can be. The offer to spend some time with Chrissie, her world leading (often wrongly maligned and criticized) coach and some of the members of their "team" TBB, was just what I was after. Some time in the peaceful, idyllic Swiss alps would offer me some space to think things through too. The year so far has left a lot of ...."clutter" in the gray matter that needed sorting.

Brett Sutton has an undisputable track record of training champions. Over the last 30 years he's done so on the track, in the pool, in the ring, on the race course and now in triathlon. Right now there is no one better in my opinion than him to seek for advice. Coupled with the "space" I wanted I was optimistic that my time there would have a HUGE impact on me for next year on onwards. I wasn't disappointed....

Without going into too much detail (maybe another day), I've got a new perspective on me as an athlete, training generally, life in "this sport" and my future in this sport. My self belief is still strong, though he makes no time for "blowing up your backside" for the sake of it i.e. He won't tell you you're great to make you feel good... And he didn't with me either. He simply told me what I'd need to do, that it would be INCREDIBLY hard, require a HUGE amount of work and that really I was starting 5 years too late.... Nothing new there then ;-) oh and one other thing.... That I need to start doing Ironmans....:-O :-D

Aside from Bretts insight, thoughts and advice that I've been fortunate to have and will I believe, go towards making next year an exciting one, I also got some really good time to think about things and coupled with fresh words from the "Doc" (Brett) I've got a really good desire for everything again. My belief had never really gone, but I think I'd lost sight of how to make it a reality. I'm chomping at the bit to get started on building towards next year now... I almost just want to get the Nationals out the way so I can get cracking :-) exciting times....

So there it is. I do want to add a HUGE HUGE thank you to those of you who have help me, especially recently in some generous ways that serve to keep me humble and grateful to you all! I hope to be able to "repay" all the support and help in the near future in more ways than one.

So it’s back to reality now. I'm going to look to do some work again to get the financial side of things ticking over. If possible get something going that will help maintain me next year too. God continues to bless my church (www.eternitychurch.co.uk) too and we're moving to a new BIGGER venue so there’s work to be done there. God willing, everything will fall into place in the right way to allow forward movement in all aspects of life. With my girlfriend moving down to Surbiton, at least I won't spend half my life on the M4 now too! Ha ha

Spring 2008 Update / Making Changes

2008-04-18T16:28:00.005+01:00

Well, after a very disappointing race over in California compounded by getting food poisoning the next day just before flying home, I’m back into the swing of things again; And at last this year I feel like I'm properly training. The hip flexor injury I suffered from December last year to mid march has completely gone now; largely due to changing my trainers. Having bought another "make" which should have been very similar to my Asics, but £20 cheaper, it took me till the end of February to realise they were the culprits and had created the problem. My frustration at this is obvious, but putting a positive spin on it all, without the injury I would never have realised the difference in my swimming brought about by the enforced increase in pool time due to the injury.

Having reflected on a lot of things after California I’ve made a few changes to my training plan. You can see exactly what my typical 14 day training cycle looks like in the training section of my website. In short though, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what hasn’t been working recently, and what has. Or rather, I’ve looked back at when things HAVE been working and tried to re-order things to re-introduce that “stuff” that “worked”. Its funny, but over time you slowly begin to drift away from thought processes and sessions or structures that had been getting results. Trying a new thing, tweaking here and there and before you know it, 6 months have passed and suddenly things aren’t what they once were and you’re not where you thought you’d be.

For example, my running has always been my strongest discipline of the 3, but over the last 12months this has dropped off somewhat. There are a number of factors to this such as my old job, letting other commitments get in the way of training sometimes. But I’ve realized that actually my training structure had changed from when things were going well and I was very much improving on my two feet. This is where the beauty of logging things over time comes into play. Being able to go back and look at what I was doing then, the things me and my coach were working on is truly invaluable and has served to jog my memory and redirect me hopefully back on track.

I’ve used the time off (due to the food poisoning) to do this for every part of my training. Asking myself, what’s worked, when, why and what’s changed? When was I at my best in each discipline? Out of this and working through it all with my coach we’ve hopefully hit on a few real nuggets that will see tangible improvements across the board in terms of performance and results.

I’m now really excited about the next 6 weeks leading up to Austria 70.3 and Switzerland 70.3. if I can get my previous PB levels of performance in each discipline, to all come together at the same time I KNOW I can see a breakthrough performance and this excites me!!! Already after only 2 weeks of returning to “the things that worked” I’m feeling stronger, faster and generally fitter.

This is after all my first true year as a “Pro” and so I need to very much think, live and train like one. Hopefully these tweaks will bring me back in line with how this should be for me in order to get the results I believe are possible.

Stepping Out

2007-09-23T18:00:00.000+01:00

Well its now only 4 days until I officially start what I plan to be the next step up the ladder in triathlon and leave full time employment. I've been very blessed with the job I've had for the last few years, having generally flexible hours and days and a boss who's understood it if I’ve come in 15 minutes late because I'd been training before work. But in order to make the progress that I want to and believe is within my grasp, I need to make this move and start training full time.

I've reached the point where I just won't be able to challenge right at the very top unless I'm doing what they (the top athletes) are, so this triathlon malarkey has to become my full time job! I'm definitely NOT doing it for the money... I'd stay in IT for that... Or the fame... Lets face it awesome athlete that he is Tim Don doesn’t have the recognition that Lampard, Wilkinson or Hamilton can claim. The very fact that I only need use either their first or last name and most people would know who I'm talking about is indication enough of this. No, I'm doing this because it’s been my dream for A LONG TIME, it’s something I truly believe I can do and I guess most importantly it’s something I feel I SHOULD do.

Whilst it might sound likes it’s going to be a nice life and easy going I can assure it will anything but. Yes being my own "boss" will mean I run to my own schedule, but ask anyone who's set up the own successful business and they'll testify to the hard, HARD graft that they've put in to make it happen. And that's what I’ll need to do too. There will be little if any room for ill-discipline from now on. Missing sessions won't just mean not doing so well at my next race, it will mean not getting PAID at my next race! There will be no room for looking out the window on a cold, wet windy day and deciding not to do my 100 mile ride....because I just don't feel like it.

So how will I be filling all this time then? Well my training plane will be expanding a little resulting in my training up to 33 hours a week. Yes I KNOW it’s not a 42hr week most people work, but trust me, that will be more than enough. Look at it another way, that's nearly 5 hours of train a day, every day, day after day. On top of that training will come probably the most important use of this extra time....recovery i.e. sleep! This might sound like laziness, but it’s vital if I'm to be able to ask my body to do this amount work. Getting off my bike after 85 miles and needing to do a 15mile run just won't be possible day after day (my training won't be this repetitive) without making sure I'm sleeping a total of about 12 hours a day.

So with all this in mind the first goal is Clearwater, Florida and the World Half-Ironman (70.3) Championships. This is in mid November. Hopefully some of the benefits of full time training will have taken effect by then. If I can perform well there, then not only prize money, but extra sponsorship and race funding support will all make my life as a professional much easier (in other words I’ll be able to feed myself ha ha)

My next blog will be as a full time athlete :-) no doubt I’ll be moaning about the rubbish British weather, but deep down I’ll be loving it!

Perseverance and faith DOES pay off......

2007-07-30T18:00:00.001+01:00

Anyone who knows me (and/or reads this blog at all) will know that my Achilles heel in racing has long been my swimming. Ever since I started in this sport, I've lagged behind most people in the first part of any race. The higher the level I've competed at, the more this has impacted my races and results. It doesn't matter how well u ride and run at elite level, if your swim isn’t any good u don't stand a chance. It’s even more important in the shorter Olympic distance races where drafting is allowed.

I have many targets for my training and race performance; some short, some medium and some long term goals. One of the big ones that I've put down at the start of each year since 2004 has been "swim an open water sub 20 min 1500m". In elite races the best in the world do it in about 18 ish mins... I've been used to coming out in about 22-23mins, effectively making my race over before it’s begun. So my short to medium term, realistic (I felt) goal was to get this down to 20 mins. Many people felt it was a waste of time and that quite frankly, with swimming being such a "feel" and "skill" based sport, out of my "late starting" reach. I however have always believed that I could. If I'm ever going to be truly competitive with the best in the world, it HAD to happen simple as that.

Now I've been working very hard to achieve this over the last 3 years. I've seen some improvement for sure, with my time dropping to the high 21min region but it’s been slow progress. Its taken days and days, hours and hours of work....10's of THOUSANDS of lengths in pools. Still though it wasn't happening as quickly as I wanted or needed if I was going to get to the level I believed was possible, any time soon. However despite all the evidence suggesting it really wasn't possible and that I should settle for mediocrity I've persisted and truly believed that I COULD do it and more importantly WOULD do it. Most importantly, I've spent hours praying about. I know that god hears these prayers and I believe that he answers ALL our prayers though maybe not in quite the way we expect, or quite when we'd like it either. But I trust that he knows only the best and isn’t limited by my small thinking. If I'd not done the training then I don't for one second believe it would have "magically" happened, but God doesn't always work like that. Often the answers to prayer come slowly and require us to do stuff (which undoubtedly God helps us to do as well).

In this case I've been hugely blessed in the last 3 months to hook up with Alex, my new swim coach. He is doing a masters under my coach (Bridgette Swales) at Roehampton Uni. and it turns out that Alex is a Greek Olympic swim coach :-)) Completely for free he's worked with me on my swimming every week for this time. Despite the mountain he no doubt felt we had to climb when we first started working together he's helped me move from "drowning rat" impersonator to "looking like a proper swimmer" and actually feeling like I was too. However u choose to look at it, he's had to help me and I've had to do the hard graft to make the improvements but I truly believe that this has been an answer to prayer.... Heck how many people have you heard of who just happened to get an Olympic level coach devote their time and energy to them, for free! If I was a rower, it would be like getting Sir Stephen Redgrave’s coach to help me out!

Last Sunday I did a 1500m (just under a mile, or 60 lengths in your local pool) open water swim race. For those who don't know, open water means outside but not in a pool. In this case it was Eaton colleges rowing lake. There are no lines at the bottom of the lake to follow (like in a pool). The water isn’t crystal clear, yes there are fish and probably duck pooh in there somewhere but what you gona do ;-) I've got a big race coming up this weekend where many of the best guys in the world will be racing and it’s been pointless for me to do it for the last 2 years simply because my swim was too bad to make it worth my while. Last Sunday I swam a time of 20.15 mins! Not only was this a HUGE new PB for me, it was also well within my limits (i.e. I feel I could have definitely gone faster). I can't begin to tell you how satisfying this is and also what I means potentially. For the first time I can look at the best in the world and believe that one day soon I’ll be able to compete properly with them. It also gives me great encouragement that all this time working towards the goals I have hasn't been wasted and delusional dream chasing.... I can now see, not just believe, the reality of my goals.

Whilst I'm not some religious nut who wants to bash a bible round people’s head (I’ll leave that to those dodgy satellite channels ha) I know that none of this has happened or will continue to happen without my faith, dependence and trust in God. It will continue to take more work, more time, more focus to reach my next target (19 mins) but I know that through God all things are possible and that someday soon I’ll be writing another entry into this blog describing achieving that goals too. When this happens, the Olympic dreams suddenly start to become VERY VERY realistic!

Balance

2007-07-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Training stuff first.... Woke up this morning and my pulse was down under 30 beats a minute.... That's VERY LOW and a good indication that I'm pretty tired (from training) right now. This is a good thing though and it feels good to be back in this place again. It’s very satisfying to know that you’re doing the training, your bodies working hard but you can keep going. I knew this would happen about now as I’m on week 5 of a 6 week training block. This would normally be the easy week in my 5 week cycle, but with London Tri just over a week away, not being a massive priority I decided to stretch myself a bit. Partly to see how I race carrying fatigue and partly because I'm targeting the national champs in September as my next goal, so London is more about testing stuff out.

Not least of which will my swimming. It continues to feel better and better by the week. The work I’m doing with Alex is really helping & for the first time ever I’m optimistic about my performance in an Elite race swim. There will be some of the fastest swimmers in the world at this race for sure, but if I can see the magic 20.xx on the clock when I come out the water I’ll be overjoyed. That's been a massive target of mine for a long time.

Apart from that, training continues to go well. My nasty run session with my coach on Tuesday had to be altered slightly in order to finish it and keep the quality. with the tiredness in my body, it was no real surprise, but I backed it up with my favourite long hilly ride of about 90 miles in a time I was pleased with. This is the kind of stuff that tells me the "zip" I said was missing, is now coming back. I actually feel strong again. With 7 weeks until the nationals, this fills me with great excitement.

So to the main subject....

The other day I wrote (but didn't post) a blog about balance. Not physical, but life(style) and the choices we make that effect it. On the way to work this morning I read something that reminded me of so many things, its impossible to put them down in one post... Probably in less than 10 ;-) I’ve been mulling over the ins and outs of my training and racing, recent failures and general unbalance that I’d allowed in my life & its impacts. But the letter in a Tri magazine I read this morning brought home to me what is ACTUALLY important....

"I have lost so much in the last year. However within our memories are also all the reasons we have for not doing things: I am too old, too fat, too out of shape. I don't have the time. What if I suck? What if I'm too slow?

One thing I do know is I have the time I have today. It is all I will remember and I'm going to remember it by doing something I cannot ever forget, whether it is getting married, running a marathon, doing my first triathlon or going to school. I have forgotten all the reasons not to do it"

Made me realise what balance truly is. It’s not making sure you plan everything better, accommodate everyone & their needs more, or satisfy you own needs more. Though undeniably those things can help make up "balance".... But I think true balance comes from knowing down inside that what you are doing, today, right now matters.... It counts; it will make a positive difference to you, your world or someone else in it.

Carl Lewis (great American sprinter) once said that "it’s not quite true to say 'you CAN be anything you want to be' but rather 'you WILL be what you want to be." By this he meant that the decisions we make reflect what it is that we truly want and therefore define if we are balanced or not. We might say we want to do something, but if we don't make the choices to move us towards that then actually, deep down its not what we REALLY want.

This simple concept has really challenged me in the last week or so. What do I want and do my choices result in actions that move me towards that. There have been some pretty tough questions to answer and maybe some answers I didn't like..... But then I have the power... To make new choices that can change this.... It’s ALWAYS my choice!

Some of these choices might not make sense to others right now, or even for years or more but if they move me toward the goals that I believe are important then they have to be made. I'm pretty sure that the more I try to ensure that my choices fall in line with this, the more balance will come back into the equation.

My final thought on it all and my new tag line when making choices "it’s not about being efficient, it’s about being effective"

2007-07-02T18:01:00.000+01:00

Finding the Silver lining

As you’ll probably have read my last two races haven't gone according to plan. It was interesting re-reading my pre-race blogs before both. My comments about lacking "zip" make a lot more sense now than they did then. I've spent a long time thinking it all through (that can also be read as sulking ha ha) and trying to work out why my performances in both were SO FAR OFF what I expect and wanted.

I got over the "doubts" very quickly. Looking back at race performances from last year helped with that, though it did take a little while to convince myself I'll admit. So having restored my belief that it wasn't that I simply couldn't do any better, it was then a case of what had gone so wrong. I analyzed the way my races had both panned out.... Swim OK/good (better than before in the UK races case); bike in both was average and below what I'd expect and the run in both had started well but fallen apart after about 30 minutes.... But why? The reason I decided, was that I just wasn't STRONG when I stood on the start line. That was why I felt no "zip", that was why my normally strongest discipline - the run, had let me down so badly and that was why I'd fallen so far short of my (I thought) reasonable expectations for both races.

As soon as I said it to myself I knew I was right, but why in the middle of my season when I should be in peak STRONG condition....wasn't I?

I went back over the past few months training and realized one glaringly obvious fact... I'd got complacent. I'd taken the easy option too often, I'd cut training sessions short too many times or even skipped them....too tired, too many things to do...."oh it won't matter all that much"....but clearly it had! I wasn't feeling strong and zippy because I hadn't done what was needed to actually make me strong and fast. I'd made the plans to, don't get me wrong. But when it came down to it too often I hadn't made the choices that backed up these plans. On paper it should have been fine, but my execution wasn't. To be honest the fact that I'd managed to finish 14th and 12th in those 2 races surprises me when I realise now just how unfit I've let myself get. And this is the first bit of silver lining to the cloud. Since getting back into training and trying to address the things I feel I've done wrong in the past few months it’s only confirmed my suspicion.... This is a good thing. I'm quite excited to have 5 months until my goal for the year comes (Florida World Champs in November) and having this kick up the backside will hopefully be a positive thing and serve to give me the motivation I need to keep going all the way until then. I know what happens now if I slack off.... If I toe the line in Florida in anything other than top shape, then this WHOLE YEAR will have been a waste of time triathlon wise.... I'm not about to let that happen.

The other bit of silver lining to the recent "cloud" is the fact that (as I just mentioned) I've still managed to qualify for the worlds. I did in the race in California, but sadly couldn't stay to pick up my slot at the awards ceremony. Whilst I didn't get the slot automatically in the recent UK race, it wasn't taken by any of the other 11 pro's who finished ahead of me, so I gratefully took it! :-)

So whilst the manner in which I got it isn’t how I'd like, I've still got it and this was the main target for this point in the season.

Now it’s down to the next 5 months. No slacking off, taking the easy route and getting complacent! I want to get fast again and I can't wait for it :-))

Gearing up for UK 70.3

2007-06-14T14:19:00.000+01:00

It’s Thursday evening and I’m the train on the way home from a pretty full day at work. It’s often hard from me to remind myself that I’ve got a hugely important race coming up in 2 days.... I always feel a bit annoyed really as I know I should really be at home resting and getting everything sorted for it; as it stands I’ve not been able to anything done yet.

The good news is that Sigma (my main equipment sponsor) has agreed to replace the bike I had broken last year until mine can hopefully be fixed. This is great news as the course on Sunday REALLY doesn't suit my aluminum TT bike. The super lightweight carbon "Nemesis" will be perfect for those nasty hills!

Training has....well just be moving along I guess. I just don't seam to be able to hit a peak though. I feel solid and fairly fit but I just feel like I’ve not got any zip... I'm having to trust that this will come on Sunday morning and that it’s just a case of the taper leaving me a little sluggish. I'm looking forward to the race though as I’m anticipating feeling this zip and being able to REALLY race, and execute the race properly this time too.

I'm still working on my swimming with Alex and there are definitely improvements. I have a length or 2 that feel great. The first few on Tuesday felt really good, but thereafter my lack of real swim strength with proper technique takes over and my stroke gets sloppy. I can feel it physically and also in the speed and efficiency that I swim but it just becomes so hard to keep it. However, it’s encouraging to know that it IS there. I just need to keep working at it. I've not been consistently swimming longer harder sessions more recently and I’m confident that when I do my technique and strength will improve in line with the work I’ve been doing. 6 weeks is the next target. I've entered London Triathlon Elite. It’s likely to have a lot of the top guys from around the world there due to the prize money and I’m desperate to be able to swim well enough to feel its worth racing too. 20mins is the goal. Right now I recon I’m at about 21.... It might not sound like much but trust me that minute is HUGE! In both effort to improve enough to go that fast and also the difference it makes to my race.

I've decided that whilst I’ll have an easy week next week after this weekends' race, the swimming HAS to be maintained.... If not upped! I heard one former world champion the other day say that he was swimming up to 30 miles a week when he won his title..... That's probably about 6miles a day (whilst biking and running too) if u allow for a rest day.... To help you grasp that, it’s nearly 10,000m a day or 400lengths of your local pool!....each day....consistently day after day week after week.... Looks like I’m going to REALLY start smelling of chlorine :-))

That's all for now...trying to keep this one more about training that anything going on in my head... I'm sure my last little rant was enough of that!

2007-05-30T17:04:00.000+01:00

Choices

Well things have been ticking along nicely since California. I was pleased with the result there although I’d always want to come higher (than 9th). For a race SO early in the year and genuinely felt it was a platform from which we could build a really solid and hopefully break-through year of results.

Switzerland 70.3 is looming on the horizon now and for once it’s my bike that feels a little out of sorts. I raced Eaton last Saturday and managed a nice solid win, but the most encouraging thing was my swim. For once I came out the water "in touch" with the fish (well only 30s down instead of the previous 60-90s). At last I genuinely feel like my years (that’s no exaggeration) of hard work in the pool are starting to get me somewhere.

I'll be the first to admit that not all this time and effort has been used to maximum effect, buts its all part of a journey that's getting me to where I want to be. Never during this time have I doubted myself or the possibility that my dreams couldn't one day become real. Though there have been a few (that I’ve known about) people who have thought me naive and arrogant its simply been miss-interpreted self belief. I genuinely feel that if you truly believe and more importantly COMMIT to that belief and what it’s going to take to get you there, then anything is possible. Don't get me wrong, I’m still a long way off, but the journey hasn't stalled and I can firmly see the destination.

A large part of this confidence comes from my faith as a Christian, faith in God for whom nothing is impossible; faith in the plan he has for me and the person he wants and can make me. I recently preached on the choice that we have to accept the reality that God wants to give us and how important and POWERFUL this choice is. Take a listen to here more on it; one of my catch-phrases is "you always have a choice even if u don't have control". When people realize and live this out it can be a very powerful thing. When its done with God in a persons heart it can be world changing.

OK so I delved into the self-opinionated philosophical stuff I said I’d try to avoid in my blog, but for once I think it’s worth it.

Back to triathlon then.....

Well as I was saying, I feel in the best swim form ever (so far) and my running is at its normal pre-race level. Looking at the course in Switzerland I honestly think I can run a 1h15 (despite going up those horrible stairs 3 times). If I can execute a swim that I feel capable of right now, this should leave me well in the mix come the end of the race!

With all the hard work that me and bridge have put in for the past 3 years it’s nice to at last see that it was worth while. This will by no means be my fastest ever race, but I’m confident it will be the fastest I’ve ever raced before.

If you’re reading this from my facebook page, check out my website as well... Especially my main sponsors Sigma and Orca!

More to come soon.

The unknown

2007-05-30T14:18:00.000+01:00

Well switzerland is now only a matter of days away and its about this time before a big race that the mental side has to take over. I've never been one for a big taper (easing back on training to rest & prepare for a race) but i'm still learning all the time and i'm trying back off way more than i've done before races last year. This leaves u feeling odd in all sorts of ways......

You get used to the regular feedback from each session. How fast you were, how far you went etc. Without realising it you easily get attached and possibly reliant on these things...sometimes just to fill your life with 'something' sometimes to feed your confience and value. Neither is a good thing in my opinion and i'm working at seperation from attachemnt to these things.

All that aside the "hole" that appears during a taper week does inevatively lead to self questioning. I'm trying to remind myself that the training has been going well and that the plan me and Bridgitte have is a solid one. It can be hard though to put your trust in something that's not there until u really have to test it. I'm feeling really quite tired mentally as well which i'm sure isn't helping either so I really need to try and resolve this, this week. Its going to be a fairly intense couple of weeks as far as focusing on races goes so we'll see how everything is come June 18th.

Progress / The talent out there

2007-03-14T15:59:00.000Z

Before I get started, thought I’d mention my first cover-shoot of a Sports Magazine… sounds better than it actually is (you’d only know it was me if you were told… which is what I’m doing now of course) but its still a big first for me. Check out 220Triathlon this month and if you can see past the bubbles... you'll see my ugly mug on the cover ;-) I'm also in one of the swim articles inside... with a nice pasty white November tan (the picures were taken last year)!

Progress…………..
Last week saw me repeat my regular (every 5 weeks) testing on the bike and run – swimming to be added next time I think. And it was a good week for me and bridge to analyse what we’ve been doing since Christmas and where it leaves me heading into California. I’m very pleased to say that it looks like all the work we’ve been doing has had the desired effect……

My 3k run time improved again, though only by a tiny amount. However, I feel stronger running at pace now and genuinely feel like I’m capable of running the kind of times I want to over my various race distances… in particular California on March 31st.

On the bike, things took a bigger up-swing with my VO2 max wattage and CP20 & CP60 (threshold or MLSS for those of you that use these terms) both going up after last months plateau. In both modes of transport, I’m back to my peak of last year and its really encouraging to be here so soon in the season and gives us a great deal of confidence that come Florida in November I can be exactly where we want to be in order to get that top 10 finish. For me, it makes all those HORRIBLE sessions where I’m running myself to the edge of my limits, seam worth while at last. I’d be gutted if all of that PAIN had ended up counting for nothing ha ha!

I’m not 100% sure what the course at California is like, but I know from the numbers we’re seeing right now that I’ve got a sub 2:10 bike time in my legs at a level that will allow me to then run possibly under 1:14 off of this (if the run is flat…?) If I can execute this properly on the day of the race, then I can’t wait to see what happens!!!
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The talent out there…………….
I went to a gig in London last night with some friends from church. We saw a couple of people play in a band, who one of my friends knew from her school days. It’s a while since I’ve seen live music and especially in such a small venue, but it struck home to me a few things beyond simply the good music.

It can be very easy in the life I lead to think that the world revolves around triathlon, sport etc. The focus and single mindedness that I try to maintain is not a bad thing, but it can lead to me forgetting that for other people, there is far more going on…. And as I remembered last night, there are A LOT of people out there who have phenomenal talents in a variety of different things. Two of the bands playing last night were fantastic… I mean, REALLY GOOD… to the point where I’m sitting there wondering how they’re not on a label and selling singles by the 1000’s….. to see people so dedicated to something that they clearly love so much and have been blessed with talents that allow them to do what they do… in something COMPLETELY different to the world I live in was so refreshing.

I think it’s important that I try to keep this outlook on things. It can be all too easy for me to fall into my little world and forget that there’s a whole big world out there full of people with passion and gifts for all kinds of things, that to them, are just as important as my triathlon is to me. It puts it all into perspective, whilst at the same time reminding me that my journey in pursuit of achievement in sport and I guess life in general, isn’t the isolated little struggle it can often feel like.

Doing what I do, as many other people who do triathlons would no doubt testify to, can very often result in peoples easily offered admiration. For some reason, most people seam to think that all of this is beyond them (in reality, I firmly subscribe to the “you can do ANYTIHNG” school of thought). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, we all like to hear these kind of things said to or about us at the end of the day; but its easy to let this suck us into thinking that our dedication, focus and often sacrifice, is something that only we actually know and appreciate and live out. In actual fact there are people everywhere applying often the same principles, focus and sacrifice to their own lives in pursuit of other dreams that in their eyes are bigger than anyone else true knows or appreciates.

Early season form

2007-03-01T12:05:00.000Z

Since my last post, there’s been more of the same going on in my life really… with maybe a couple of new things….. but we’ll save that for now ;-)

I’ve been as A LOT recently how my training has been going and its been difficult to say really. To my delight, my running continues in an upward trend. For the first time ever, I genuinely feel that a 15:xx 5k time is possible at my test race…. The Bushy Park 5k (www.bptt.net). This would mark a MASSIVE milestone for me and my running and to be hitting this so early this year as well, I hope, bodes well for my running throughout 2007. My target of a sub 1:15 half marathon on a 70.3 race would be far more realistic if this kind of pace were possible. We’ll know come this weekend as I plan to run it again. My last result of 16:19 was a PB, but I KNOW (my training data shows it) I’m running faster now, than I was back then. 19seconds is a big jump to make, but going on last weekends race (Milton Keynes Winter Duathlon) my ability to run this fast is definitely there….. I’ll let you know how I get one.

On the subject of the MK Duathlon, it was GREAT to get out and race again. There were some really good other chaps there racing (some Olympic hopeful Loughborough Performance Plan lads) who I’ve raced a little before. It was a great opportunity to gauge myself against them again and also compare my fitness and speed to this time last year. Being able to track improvements (or not if that’s the case) and make changes is imperative to me achieving my goals, so races like this act as great “yard sticks” for this. In a nutshell (well I’ll try to anyway Lol) I felt great on the first run, and was much faster than last year, hanging onto the Loughborough lads too. I rode hard, which was the plan as I’ve not been getting enough of this recently (and now is the time to be ramping it up for California) and came off the bike in FIRST, however the worlds most AMATURE transition then ensued… let me explain…. The bike was 12 laps and whilst Big-Cow (the race organisers) do everything they can to make sure people get this right, in the heat of “battle” the brain often ceases to function properly. I found myself passing the end of each lap, clicking my counter and within about 15 seconds asking myself “….did I click that lap?.....” this resulted in me starting what I thought was my last lap only to look behind me and see Dan and Mark heading into transition to start the run!!! Without thinking I jumped off my bike (still wearing my pyro-platforms) leaped through the cones into transition through my bike wherever I could and tried to pull off the pyro’s… completely missing out on the whole advantage of wearing them in the first place (i.e. FASTER transitions off the bike!). I set off on the run now only a couple of meters in front of 2nd & 3rd instead of 10-20 seconds… but something STILL wasn’t quite right…. I soon realised I forgotten one other thing in my comedy transition… my HELMET…. I was about 30m into the run and STILL WEARING IT!!! What a CLOWN ha ha! I threw it down to one side and carried on, but Dan was now breathing down my neck and my legs were still not enjoying the change back to running (a good sign that I need to start my Brick sessions ASAP). H passed my and my legs didn’t want to respond. The remainder of the final 4k run saw me gradually feel better as I went , but the early damage had been done and I came home, feeling strong, but down in 3rd.

All in all it was a really good session and very encouraging for me. To feel this good (personally) this early in the year bodes well and if I can really nail the next 4 weeks leading up to California, I genuinely feel like my targets for this race are possible.

I’ve had to re-asses my priorities again and keep things in check recently. When targets seam far away, it can be easy to let things in the present slip just a little. Over time this “just a little” soon adds up to A LOT and particularly with regards to my swimming, I’ve not been focussed enough recently. As this is my biggest weakness, this is not good and so new weekly targets and focus are being brought back into my training to ensure I get back to where I need to be. 5-6 LONG swims a week are going to be a MINIMUM for the next 4 weeks leading to California. Doing this, I know a decent (for me) swim is possible and with my bike and run targets now feeling realistic this will put exactly where I want to be when I cross the line.

That’s all for now. Hope you’re enjoying doing whatever it is you do.
God bless

Early 2007

2007-02-03T17:33:00.000Z

So its well into 2007 and things move on so quickly. After some quality time off back in November / December I started to easy back into things over Christmas and am now well and truly in the full swing of things. This is kind of unusual for me at this time of year, but with my first important race – California 70.3 coming at the end of March, I’m looking to be peaking earlier than ever this year.

The 70.3 world series of races is really gaining momentum now and fields are stacking up with top athletes. Right now at California the likes of Chris McCormack (ITU World Champ and 2nd @ Hawaii last year), Luc Van Leard, Richie Cunningham, Clas Bjornson…. Are all down to race…. Personally I CANT WAIT to put myself up against these guys…. There’s no point in setting targets and goals to just hide away when the really BIG boys come to the party. Its now just a case of buckling down and making sure I’m in the best shape possible come the 31st March.
Elsewhere, things are generally going well too. I’ve thought for a long time that I’d love to head to warmer climes for an extended winter training camp (as so many athletes do) but my life back home just doesn’t lend itself to this anymore. The church I’m heavily involved with (http://www.eternitychurch.co.uk/) is a commitment I neither can or WANT to back away from. Gods doing some pretty awesome stuff there right now and I know I want to be right in the middle of it all. Whilst it does sometimes makes for longer days (less sleep) than is contusive to proper recovery and training, God’s getting me through amazingly… some nights of 4 hours sleep on the back of 5-6 hours training don’t seam to do the damage they should….. its REALLY COOL! So even if I were to be able to “go pro” and not work anymore (hint hint to any sponsors out there) I know I wouldn’t be heading off anywhere other than Guildford now!

What this has meant though is that most of my training has been done indoors. But you know I’m convinced that this is actually making me stronger. Mentally it requires a lot of will power to keep going when the kitchen stocked with food is right next door and you’ve still got 90mins left to go on your turbo ride. But physically too, I feel that its leading to greater improvements. My running is heading to new levels with the work I’m doing with Bridge (I’ll write more on this soon) and my target of running a sub 1:14 21k in a 70.3 race this year is looking like a distinct possibility… we’ll just have to see how things progress.

So all in all, the start of the year has been a good one. I’m keen to try and get my blogging up to scratch and post regular updates, so pop back soon and catch up with more of where I’m at.

The healing continues

2006-06-29T20:48:00.000+01:00

Well the healing process has continued to be a rapid one. Last Friday I went to the pool for the first time in over 3 weeks and to my surprise, I was able to swim full stroke freestyle and breast stroke. I’m still aware that I can’t go all out and really fling the arm about too much, but to be able to swim and put pressure through my left arm is fantastic. As with all my other training since the accident, I’m not going to rush it here though. A couple more very easy 30 mins swims to ease back into it, followed by plenty of Glens drill sessions next week and then the job of regaining my fitness and speed in the water can begin.

My running and especially my cycling is on its way back to its best. The beauty of the SRM's is that I can literally see if watts were I’m at. This morning I did a nasty VO2 max session.... the numbers were better than I was getting before the accident!!! It’s all very encouraging for me and gives me confidence that I might be back to full fitness and competition level sooner than I had hoped..... I’m even thinking that the national Middle Distance champs in a week’s time could be a possibility. I don’t want to do them if I’m not in a position to challenge for the title, but I’m feeling strong on the bike and my run strength seams to be coming back quickly too.... we'll see.....

I’ve entered a 70.3 race in Michigan at the start of August to try and get a World Champs slot. There’s another 70.3 race 2 weeks later (also in Michigan) which is very unusual, especially so close location wise. It’s full but I’m going to try and get a spot (if the pro field is still open).... 2 races in 3 weeks..... Well why not ha ha!

One thing that this mini break will have ensured is that I don’t burn out in what could be a VERY LONG season if I qualify for Florida. I have to say though that looking at the 70.3 UK results; I’m disappointed I couldn’t race it. Sounds like a tough course, but it would have been great to see how I measured up to the other guys racing. There’s plenty of time for that though.

All my mates head off on holiday this week. Its one of the things that I find hard to handle with the goals I’ve set myself in life. Things have to be sacrificed and this kind of thing is one of them. Matthew Pincents autobiography was very inspiring on this subject though. He frequently mentioned the weddings he had to miss, the sacrifices he HAD to make in order to pursue his dreams of Olympic greatness. Not that I’m comparing myself to him of course but it’s important I remember what it takes to achieve success in sport. Gordo made a great statement once "it only takes one totally obsessed guy and you'll finish second EVERY TIME" I'm not happy with second! Guess I’d better start obsessing......

......BREAK!

2006-06-18T00:00:00.000+01:00

Well it’s been A LONG TIME since my last post.... and well sadly not much has happened although my plans 4 the last 2-3 weeks were for quite the opposite. Unfortunately a rather large lorry decided to stick its nose, or should I say 'reverse itself' over me and left me with a fractured elbow! Racing and training has been thrown up in the air completely and as I sit here writing this I should actually have been recovering from what I was expecting to be a break through race at half ironman UK.

The doctor said I’d be unable 2 do anything for about 6 weeks... I had other ideas however. I gave it 7 days of COMPLETE REST... no work, training, unnecessary moving etc..... all very hard for me to handle though I did managed to get through series 4 of 24 (where would we be without Jack).... Every cloud ha ha! I have spent the last 14 days there after slowly easing back into things on my turbo at home and I’m now in a place where I can ride on this almost completely pain free. I even managed a 30min jog on Friday.... swimming is still out of the question as I still cant straighten my arm, but its definitely a HUGE blessing to see how quickly I’ve healed.... many people from church have been praying for me and & I know this is the reason for it only taking 2.5 weeks not the 6 the doctor predicted.

I’ve actually seen it as a positive thing too. Talking with my coach, there’s a good opportunity to do some super quality training on the bike and get this up to new levels hopefully. The turbo might be boring after a couple of hours but it could have been so much worse.... the fact that I’m still alive, let alone even able to do this is very fortunate.

I’m starting to look at how I can keep things on track race wise 2. I was really looking to progress with the swimming through this summer and keep jumping in at the ITU deep end. Glen seamed sure that a 20min swim was there already and I was hoping to do a 27 at worst if I’d raced this weekend at UK 70.3. so looking at the race's available at HIM distance it looks like I’ll be heading over to the US in august.... silver lining to the cloud again ha ha!

it has given a good reason to spend more time with my mates though and l've had a few great nights round a BBQ with them that I know I wouldn’t have, if I’d not been out of action. It’s been nice to remember what its like to be completely free of commitment to training, racing etc. not that I want this to be the case more often, but that it’s aloud me to see other things in a clearer perspective.

whilst the frustration of not training properly, missing some key races and not swimming for SO LONG is still there its been eased, probably over-come by a number of other positives that actually mean this little break will have been a good thing once its over.

After the storm....

2006-05-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

Well here I am sitting waiting in Ljubljana airport for my flight home. I’ve just (well yesterday) done my first ITU triathlon and I’ve got plenty to reflect on.....

Firstly as an experience, coming away meeting other athletes from other countries, staying in new locations, its something I really enjoy. You get to see racing outside of our little UK bubble and also race against people outside of the normal names in the UK. it keeps u in check that’s for sure. You’re suddenly reminded that all over the world there's REALLY REALLY strong athletes and LOTS of them! this is good though and for me serves as a good reminder that I cant afford to do anything but keep going 100% if I’m going to get competitive in this kind of field... which I’m still not..... Yet!

The swimming's been going great recently and I genuinely felt that I’d have a chance to get 2nd or 3rd pack and work from there. As it turns out, the feet I was on after 200m cut the corner and before I knew what had happened, I was 10m back and NO CHANCE of getting back on them. I spent the next 1200m on my own. All it served to show me was though that there's still a LONG WAY to go in my swimming. but I’m still confident that it will come... I’ve just got to stick with it and keep focused on the big, long term picture... not this week or even month in the pool. Oh and non-wet suit swims definitely aren’t my thing either..... Yet ha ha!

There’s a full race report in the reports section on my website so I'll save all the details for there. But looking back I’m fairly pleased with the race and how I did. My cycling was much better and once again racing with power was a massive help to my pacing and my running off a bike split that I know was about perfect as far as normalized power for the bike leg. A top 50 finish and well within 110% of the winner is a decent start at this level. Sure it could have been better, but it will be, bit by bit and I’m pleased with this as a starting foundation. It certainly doesn’t leave me thinking I’ll never get near these guys. Again, its all about patience, focus and consistent execution of everything over the months and years to come. I try to keep things in perspective; this is after all the start of my 4th year in triathlon. My first ever Windsor I came about 70th or so I think, a year later I was 15mins faster and 4th. I’m not expecting to knock off 15mins in the next year of course but its important I remember that it takes time, BUT time gives back what you give it. I’m going to keep giving it as much as I can that’s for sure.

One thing that I’m pretty sure of is that I’m not going to race Windsor in 2 weeks time. The swim still isn’t quite there and I’ve no plans on flogging myself again for a poor position.... I’d rather re-focus my efforts solely on HIMUK... maybe heading down there that weekend to recee the course.....???

Its funny, a few days ago I was concerned with how a result like this would sound to other people..... People who don’t know much about the sport, or more importantly competing in anything at an elite level.... (Not a criticism of them, just a reality of what they're interested or experienced in) or just simply "what it takes to TRUELY succeed in anything"...... but I’m no longer concerned with this. No doubt there will be those who think quietly... "Not even top 10, that’s rubbish". That’s fine, I’m not bothered. At the end of the day I’m not reliant on their beliefs for me to keep going and succeed..... Time will tell and that’s all that matters. I’m not going to try and talk it or myself up..... Time will tell.

It’s a steep learning curve, one I have chosen to keep climbing no matter how steep it gets. That’s all part of the fun anyhow, jump in at the deep end and see if I can swim..... Hopefully without a wet suite too ha ha!

only joking / the fine art

2006-05-08T20:17:00.000+01:00

Only Joking

back during my mini epic camp i joked with my training buddy , Wayne, that he had a worm in his gut (which was why he was feeling so weak despite eating loads).... well a visit t the doctors last week proved my joke to be true and Wayne’s got parasite in his colon!!! not a nice thought at all, but at least he knows its that and not some mystery illness or worse still, chronic fatigue again! despite this he still managed to do the London marathon in 3h15... an amazing feet if you ask me considering he was probably running on about 30% of normal energy. He’s gona kill an event one day when it all falls into place!!! i joked (once again) that before taking the medication to kill the thing, he should make a quick trip to Mc D's and the Cadburys factory.... but really its not that funny. he's got to pull out of IM Lanzorotie and might miss his A race of IM Germany. he deserves a better break, but like i say, when it comes he's gona be SO strong (both mentally & physically) that the result will be worth the wait!

The fine art.....
so this week sees my first important target race of the year, the national Duathlon champs in Edinburgh. I’m still finding that the whole taper/ peak thing is a bit of an "unknown". chatting to bridge last week, we decided that i don’t handle long tapers well. i also find a big reduction in training leaves me very flat physically and actually tired mentally. she had just come back from hearing some of the worlds leading cycling coaches talk about the latest in their world and one of the things discussed was the "Taper". for those that don’t know what this is, its basically a period of time where you try and reduce your training to let your body "bounce back" and hopefully reach new heights of performance (usually for a race).
as I’ve found out over my short career in multi-sport, getting this right is a fine art I’ve yet to get close to mastering. looking back on my training plans for weeks preceding previous races I’ve felt good in and thinking through all bridge had to say i came up with a plan that has roughly half my normal weekly volume, but tries to keep the same number of sessions as well as the intensity in them. hard as it might be, I’m really starting to think that i perform and feel at my strongest, when I’m doing the hard sessions HARD and often, even when the volume is still high. Saturday will tell i guess. It’s all still so much of a learning curve!
one final note.... my swimming is probably stronger now than it ever has been. i did a great session with glen from slippery fish ( see the side bar to the right) on Saturday in a 50m pool. drafting off of him at 20min 1500 pace felt really, REALLY comfortable. I’m interested to see how I’d do trying to hold onto this for a full 1500, swim. Sunday was another good day in the pool... a kind of "no chain day"... well for me anyway ha ha. its good to see that there are some results coming from the hours i seam to be spending in the water. its no way near the level I’m ultimately looking for, but it fuels my belief that my goals are possible and speaks volumes of how much Glen's helped improve my swimming. I’ll write something for my "special training area" soon on what a difference Glens made. the lake beckons on Wednesday possibly..... another good marker for where I’m really at.

comfirmation....

2006-04-26T18:08:00.000+01:00

well, i headed off to hillingdon last night and as i mentioned i was looking to see how much of the rejuvinated strength i've felt on the bike recently was still there. having done a nasty 5k inerval running session earlier in the morning and still struggled with this chest infection for much of it, i was inerested to see what the race would reveal. the ride over is well.... congested. its rush hour, majour roads around heathrow and not many kodak moments for the scenery photographers out there. i got there nice and early though and the legs had been pretty good power wise and the RPE had been about right too. it was looking ok.

toeing the start line i always look at the E/1/2/3 race and tell myself that i've got to get in that group one day. the only problem is that a. i CANT sprint and b. close race finishes are far too hazzardous for my liking. this is training after all and a crash here will keep me out of run or decent swim training for at least 4-5 days.... not the aim of the exercise. i'm happy to hammer as much as i can and just let the rest have their fun in the last 100m.

the course at hillingdon is a closed 1 mile circuit. there's a nice long incline to the finish line and 3 nice sharp corners that go down then up then down again, just after. it makes for some great training and when the wind blows it does a lot of damage. depending on time and light restrictions, we normally ride 30-40k.

after the first couple of laps not much seamed to be going on so i thought i'd see how good the legs really were feeling and hit the front and see what happened. 2mins at near VO2 Max watts later and i turned to see no one had bothered to go with me and the bunch didnt seam to be doing much either. so i made a choice......head down and bury myself for as long as i could!!!.... 20 minutes later and i was enjoying it. there's a real pleasure in this kind of pain, PROVIDED you feel like its worthwhile and you're in front.... if i was dropped and burying myself to get back on a bunch then i've not doubt the pleasure would be far removed ha ha.

having the watts to watch makes this kind of exercise fascinating. on such a repetative circuit u quickly get to see what u can and should be putting out at different places. and you can also see when you can no longer keep it up. i'd got about a 150m gap on the group.... looks a long way on a small circuit..... but at 20mins of 120% threshold watts, i could see i was starting to tail off. i sat up and waited for them to catch up, happy with how it had felt and more importantly happy knowing that i'd normally look to hold 20% less watts in a race.... this kind of workout makes that feel A LOT EASIER!

to my surprise, once caught, nobody seamed particulally kean to do any work at the front. a breather of 90 seconds can do wonders to energy levels i find and i was more than happy to take it up agan. jumping once more, once again i found myself thoroughly enjoying being on the bike and pushing my self..... saturday hadnt been a one off..... thank goodness. i wasnt too fussed about the rest of the race and just spent it pushing hard then dropping back and repeating the exercise. (i'll try to attach the power data to this if i can.) come the final lap and i happily dropped off the back of the front runners who powered away up the hill. i had "my win" and there was NO WAY i could have got close to winning a sprint finish.

a nice ride home at aerobic watts or just above and a perfect 3 hour ride with some nice high end intensity work thrown in the middle and just in time to see arsenal qualify for the final of the champions league.... nice!

looking back at my long and later, little, breaks during the race it shows you just how phenominally strong Pro cyclist are. they sometimes break for up to 100k or more and hold speeds over 50kph for this time..... quite incredible what their bodies can do and their minds are prepared to suffer.

i'll be back in a couple of weeks and maybe try to stay out for 25 minutes instead... we'll see.

......man, i dont do short blogs do i! think i need to get myself a shorter journey to work.... or maybe no journey at all???

did u run yesterday?.......

2006-04-24T21:34:00.000+01:00

had to laugh a few (err... about 20 actually) times today, each time i was asked if i ran in the London marathon yesterday.... which of course i didn’t. think i knew 10 good friends who did though and I’m pleased to say that all of them did really well and some great times were achieved by them all at their own personal levels. full credit to them for doing what it takes. the marathon is a fantastic event and you can really see what it means to people to be able to complete something like that...... still, just gives me even more admiration 4 all the Ironman (& of course Iron Women too) out there.

quick note on a reality check though. caught the highlights of the mens race.... they went through 20k in 59 minutes!!!...... enough said i think you'll agree.

i kind of wish i had raced... just to see how I’d do, but i know it would ruin my training for the rest of the week and serves no purpose for my goals right now.

Saturday was a good day. managed a decent enough swim in the morning then proceeded to miss a local 5k race I’d planned to do because i didn’t get out the pool early enough. the afternoon however was GREAT! Firstly because it was the first time this year I’ve been able to ride in shorts, sleeveless top and fingerless gloves. fabulous day and it was a joy just to be able to do what I do. It’s easy to take for granted being able to train, ride a bike or even do it in some of the places i do. surrey has got a little boring for me recently but its good to remember just how blessed i am to be here and have surrey, Sussex, berks etc to train in. I’m sure there are plenty of people around the world who'd treasure riding through a royal park and past Windsor castle on a sunny day........ hmmm getting off point a little.....but hey.

the second great thing about the ride, was the ride itself. it was easily the best I’ve felt on the bike for A LONG TIME and the numbers backed it up to. having power as a tool means that analysis can be so much more valuable and well... powerful in what i can learn about a session. the numbers from Saturday were good to see and hopefully an indicator that the start of the quality (or in other words plain ugly hard) interval sessions on the bike is bringing me into the bike form i want and need for racing. Tuesday will show more when i race again at Hillingdon, but its good to know that its still in there..... somewhere. i just need to make sure the training keeps bringing it back and in larger quantities too.

its funny and something I’m striving to change , but sometimes too much of my confidence and even current state of mind is effected by 'a recent result' or the last hard training session I’ve done..... and basically how well or not they might have gone. my numbers on the bike recently haven’t been good, up to 3kph off what I’d like or expect. whilst its not been a HUGE issue, its still played in the back of my mind more than it should. since doing the last 2 weeks solid training I’ve felt stronger and Saturday was a culmination of this i guess. whilst there is a lot to be said for the endorphins released by training and enjoying feeling good and training reflecting this, its definitely something i want to change till I’m at a point where little or large blips genuinely don’t influence my confidence. if its (performance level) been there before, then its still there now..... and then some!

at the end of the day, the biggest part of who i am is my faith as a Christian and my relationship with god. all else falls behind this and therefore slowly but surely is being given less weight.

oops.... fallen into 'blogging personal philosophical' rant there. sorry. not a bad thing i guess, just hope u managed to hang in there ha ha!!!

one final thing to mention was Fridays swim test. I’ve tried to do a 1500m TT each month since October with Bridgitte my coach; though i missed last months. i was slightly disappointed to miss out on seeing a 21min time on the watch by a couple of seconds, but was still delighted with the time. it under paced it and miss counting the lengths didn’t push enough for the last 200m or so. plus i was swimming up against the wall which i know in that pool makes you slower. all in all, i recon there was at least 30-45 seconds more i could have taken off this time. whilst not fish like I’ll be the first to admit, its a vast improvement on previous times. baring in mind that i turn like the QE2 and i swim faster in a wetsuit, my target of a low 20 minute swim time by June is looking possible. glens expert advice and coaching is really paying off. i honestly believe i can swim well under 20 sometime in the future.... I’ll keep plugging away until i do...... I’ll still get my backside whooped by a bunch of 13 year olds at masters though ha ha. i genuinely hope that when i do, this will give some others out there the belief that going from a 28min swimming to a sub 20 man is possible for anyone.

right that’s all for now. I’ll hopefully post more tomorrow after the Hillingdon crit.

getting "out there"

2006-04-19T21:29:00.000+01:00

so I’m through most of the training for this mini EPIC camp I’ve been doing. sadly today sees me back at work. I’ve managed to do the swim this morning, should get a run in at lunch and then another 3k swim this evening, to at least keep things ticking over until the weekend. would love to be able carry on all this week, definitely something to plan for later this year i think.... maybe if i qualify for Florida.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with my body. It’s taken the training fairly well....a lot better than my head which has been the hardest part to keep going. It’s funny how it reacts, justifying excuses that would normally not get a seconds consideration. i always feel better once I’m "out there".... its the battle to get "out there" that's often the hardest part. I’m sure almost everyone can sympathize in some way, whether it be starting that report for work or tidying up the house... its always harder to start than to keep going once you HAVE started. keep having to tell myself this.

oddly enough i don’t seam to be falling into my little fatigue hole i thought I’d be in by now.... i actually feel quite energized by the last few days.... a good thing too as i was 77kg's this morning!!!.... I’m told it’s to be expected due to water retention, but still came largely as a shock ha ha. I’ve had plenty of time to think about lots of stuff over the last few days and yet much of it has been almost sub-conscious as I’ve just been "out there" turning the pedals or putting one foot in front of the other. one thing that has become clear though is that I’ve been a bit too lazy over recent months and too easily accepted less than the best from myself. only this week have i got back the feeling of strength and pleasure from body that i felt back in 2004 when i was training full time. less time now, is NO EXCUSE for me to drop away from this though and some serious re-prioritization is needed. how i go about this or maybe more importantly, making sure i don’t drop back into old sub standard habits isn’t quite clear, but i know that in order to really progress, to put myself where i want to be and believe i can be, nothing less than what I’ve been doing these last few days will do.

funny how sometimes we can get moments of clarity and things just...... well, seam simple. I’ve seen this again with my training this and last week. I’ve been a bit too anxiously over thinking... maybe seeking complex (apparently better) options (or should that read shortcuts/excuses) in recent months i can now see. all the while the basic training philosophies I’ve really needed have been there, things i know but have just forgotten in the mess of strategies, protocols etc..... 1. NO EASY WAY and 2. JFT (stands for Just Flipppin Train - well my version anyway ha ha). I’m looking forward to getting back into these mentalities again and most importantly I’m excited again about what i can achieve with this season.

N.B. added at the end of the day.... well back 2 work what a long day it’s been. cramming as much info as possible and spending too long staring at the screen has left me feeling worse than all the training over the last few days. not to mention having t miss my run.... i really don’t like these days when things seam to take over my priorities..... and end up causing problems. i might try to run when i get home, but i suspect an early night might be a better option with the early training I’ve got planned 4 tomorrow..... (hmmmm....... another excuse or a genuine good decision.... where lies the balance i wonder???)

2 days in....

2006-04-16T20:37:00.000+01:00

well its 2 days in and I’m loving it. starting to remember how i felt back in 2004 when i was training full time. there's an enormous sense of satisfaction that comes (for me at least) from setting these kind of goals and following through. i feel a real personal empowerment from doing this kind of thing. it seams that the more i do it, the stronger i feel and the more i think i can do. i wonder how far this can go.......? I’d love to do a full 10 days of this to see what kind of empowering fatigue hole I’d get into then..... maybe one to find out later this year???

Wayne REALLY impressed me these last couple of days. the ride 2 Cheltenham is a VERY TOUGH ONE (180k with about 2000m ascent and we averaged 30kph in rubbish weather & into a head wind all the way). more so when u don’t know what’s coming up next or how far you've got left. whilst he'll be the first 2 admit he didn’t help matters with his fluid and nutrition, the darkness he experienced as a consequence will make him stronger mentally and the training itself with certainly be beneficial. all this not to mention a dodgy stomach bug that seamed to be draining him too.... i recon he's got a worm or something inside ha ha. i kept telling him that somewhere REALLY DEEP DOWN he was actually enjoying the suffering.... at the time he just swore at me, but i recon by Monday he was agreeing. Still, 2 keep rolling on both days when his body wasn’t working as it normally does took a lot heart and strength. I’m chuffed he won his battle and didn’t quit! 16 hours of training with a dodgy belly is no easy ride.

tomorrow is Easter Sunday and starts with a long swim and hopefully includes a long run but that will depend on church and time.....

The day before....

2006-04-13T08:34:00.000+01:00

the day before

well tomorrow sees the start of a nice long Easter weekend and for me the chance to get really stuck into some good training. I’ve been looking forward to these few days for a while. it will be back to how it used to be when i wasn’t working.

the plan....

as a long time reader of Gordo’ web site (www.grodoworld.com), I’ve spent many a moment reading peoples reports of EPIC training! since I’ve been back at work its been hard 4 me to get the chance to put enough consecutive days together 2 really ramp up the volume, but this and next week will be an opportunity to do just that. Along with my good friend Wayne Keat (multi-sport nut and 'if its there I’ll race it' athlete) I’m planning on spending the next 5-6 days training, eating and sleeping. we've set minimums of 3k swim, 120k bike & 10-15k or 60 mins run each day. Wayne’s with me Friday to Monday, I’ve already done a decent 5 hours on Tuesday and will be going through to next Tuesday, before heading back into work (no doubt to endless "are you OK?" comments from colleagues :-))

tomorrow sees us start with a swim in the morning, riding 180+k to my uncle & aunties house in Cheltenham, then doing a run straight off the bike when we get there. I’ve done the ride in just over 5 hours before, so we should hit about 8 hours total tomorrow.... cant wait! Saturday will see us reversing that order to get home. I’ll save the rest for a full report to go up afterwards, some time next week on my web site.

needless to say I’m REALLY looking forward to it all. I’ve not been on top form on my bike recently, so some good solid miles in the legs will make me feel a whole lot better and having the data from the SRM's to go through afterwards will be really cool too. its all about 5 weeks out from my first goal race of the season so I’m hoping it kicks in perfectly for this.

the only thing bothering me really is this chesty cough and runny nose i just don’t seam to be able to shake. i honestly can’t remember the last time i had something (even this small) in my system for this long. very frustrating as anything above 90-95% effort is almost impossible to sustain for very long without the cough causing problems! i guess i shouldn’t be anywhere near this intensity level in the next couple of days so shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

well I’m nearly at my stop on the train, so I’ll be off for now. come back soon for more on my mini EPIC Easter camp.

So here it is then.....

2006-04-11T08:22:00.000+01:00

so here it is then, my first blog and my new web site. i hope you’ve had a look round the site and found it interesting enough to come back again :-) . blogs are funny things, from what I’ve read of them anyhow. people would have gone mad in times gone by if you'd pried into their diary or journal and yet here we are with half the internet world sticking (often, but not always i guess) their personal thoughts 'out there' for THE WHOLE WORLD to read.... the apparent anonymity of the internet seams to make it all ok. not a criticism of course, just an observation. at the end of the day there can be great clarity brought about by writing things down, letting others into this 'clarity' is just a new option.

well, looks like I’ve settled into BLOG waffle land well enough ha ha.

to be honest, I’m expecting this blog to be more of training, racing diary than a place for my personal philosophical opinions.... though no doubt there'll be some of that too! hopefully it will give an incite into what its like for me to try and train enough to reach the levels i want to and believe I’m capable of, at the same time as working and trying to keep or at times save some semblance of balance to it all. if nothing else, it should make for some interesting reading for me in years to come :-) . I’m going to do my best to just write and not try too hard to compose some great article or thought proving concept... if any of those happen.... it will be someone else hijacking my blog ha ha!

that’s all for now, its nearly my stop on the underground so I’ll be off. I’ve already got a few ideas for the next few entries so come back soon for some more serious blogging........