Never a backward step

Season to date
Sandypoint half marathon - broke the 100 minute mark
Melbourne Marathon - 17 minute personal best time
Shepparton Challenge - 8th fastest bike time in my age group, broke the 5 hour mark
Morningtom Long course - solid ride and then ran out the final leg (last year I had to walk the hills)
Everything was going to plan.

This week I had my next catch up with my dietician. I see Margaret about once a month to touch base and ensure my body composition changes are on track with my race results and goals. It had been a couple of weeks since my last event so recovery had been the order of the day, and it showed on the sscles! A gain of 3kg and the subsequent skinfolds tests proved the increase was not due to muscle mass. Seems I had spent a little too much effort taking it easy whilst continuing to consume my normal peak training nutrition intake (and probably more if I'm honest)

Whoops

With that wakeup call and a revised eating plan (some of the sessions catered for were actually not in my training program) I am refocused and ready to roll!
Besides, in the morning, "Hell Week" begins

I guess I'll call my backward step a lead in to a running start

Back to the hills

The past four years, the end of March has meant Melbourne Ironman. In its inaugural year I worked the aide station at the 28km mark of the marathon for 13 hours, the following three years I competed in the race (never once spending more time on course than that first year) and had entered the race again for 2016 less than 24 hours after crossing the finish line.

Now that the race has been canned the plans have changed, my season is still building to a full Ironman race but we're travelling interstate for it this time, heading over the border to Port Macquarie. The change of venue also means my training peak will be shifted back six weeks, March 20 is now the date for the Warrnambool Sufferfest (where I'll compete for the fourth time and chase an outside chance of the Triple Crown!) and Ironman Australia will be held on the 3rd of May.

Our training programs are always mapped out with the target races in mind and periodised with strength work being the early foundation. Now that we are effectively a month and a half earlier in the season's build we are also taking this opportunity to move back into the hills to add more to that foundation. 

After a month or so on the fast and flat Beach road, I was keen for the hitout to see if the legs still had it. The ride on my program was scheduled as 100km with a 6/7km climb and I was meeting the crew for a 6am rollout so I retired early and set the alarm in preparation.

At least, that's what I thought I had done.

Waking at 5:38am on the couch beside my silent phone suggested otherwise. Seems that, whilst I meant to set the alarm on my phone (and was pretty sure it had already been done because it's one of my usual early starts) I had instead just crashed on the couch.

New plan,

There was no time to get the meeting point by 6am but, I could get close and and then catch up.

Out of "bed", dressed and ready to roll in record time I headed out and hit the point where my commute intersected with the ride route a few minutes after the time I estimated the group was due to pass through. There was no one in sight but I figured they must be close so I turned toward the Dandenongs and searched the road ahead for bike taillights and behind for blinking headlights trying to work out if I was chasing the group or if they'd been delayed.

Two hours into the ride I still hadn't seen another cyclist on my heading so I figured I must have been later than I'd thought so just settled into a solo raid into the "Nongs"

Up the Devil's Elbows tapping out a tempo of 55rpm with the power meter hovering in the low to mid 300s I was doing OK. Looking at my heart rate though, I was getting close to my limit as II quickly reached, then passed through 160bpm.

Devil's is probably half the distance I was scheduled to climb and, at the top there is a decision point, continue straight for some rolling hills on the way to the top of the "1 in 20" climb or, turn left to prolong the effort on the "One tree hill" ascent. As I approached it I made the call to go straight, this was my return to the hills and I was coming off the back of a pretty hefty race program. Best policy was obviously to ease back in afterall. Crossing the intersection I ran back through the plan for the day in my head, 100km with a 6 to 7km climb. Looking down at my wrist I spied my Ironman Melbourne race number band (yes, I'm still wearing it) and I thought to myself, "this is the road to Kona"

I signalled and quickly turned left.

Over One tree I looped back to descend the Elbows and head for home with the job done, and that's when I found them. The group that I had been chasing all morning. Stopped at the same intersection but heading in opposing directions. I guess they left later than I had thought...

Flat number 2

I declined to offer to join them, instead sticking to the program and continued home... for a few hundred meters. My first flat tire for ages! 

Located the puncture and patched it with one of my special repair stickers and was on the road again just grateful I hadn't punctured coming down that mountain road 5 minutes earlier.

There were 30 km left to ride to fulfil my training goal for the day, I managed a further two and a half before I was again sidelined with a rear tire flat.

The sticker was still holding firm and the source of this new leak was more elusive so I resorted to replacing it instead and crossed my fingers that, whatever had been causing the problems was thwarted by new rubber (I had checked the inside of the tire and rim and couldn't find any sign of the culprit)

Fortunately, I bucked the trend of things coming in threes and arrived home without further incident.

Tomorrow there is a long run scheduled but we are hitting the road early to support some team mates racing in the Ballarat 70.3 event then returning in time for the team's Christmas do. Guess I'll be completing an evening run, it is another step on the road to Kona

Time for a change

When I started this blog a few years ago I was trying to document my journey to my first Ironman finish, an achievement that hadn't even been on my radar when I initially dipped my toe into the sport of triathlon. After the first one I rolled the die and signed up again with the goal to go faster. It was a good plan but it was a bit same same leaving me little to add to the ongoing blog and therefore the entries have became fewer and farther between. It became a bit reminiscent of Dale Kerrigan. Hey everyone, I did another long run in place of; "Dad, I dug another hole"

A bit has changed since those early days and so I'm now dusting off the old blog and bringing up to date with my new focus and have changed the name of the blog's address.

Welcome to the first post in "Clydesdale2Kona"

In my last post I talked about looking towards earning an Ironman World Championship slot and long time readers will know that I once received an email from WTC congratulating me on qualifying (I was not the only one to get that message in error) This is still the target and in the past 6 months there have been a couple of milestone achievements along that road.

My goals following season 2014/15

This is an image of the goals I laid out after the last season of racing. I had just completed my third Ironman race and clocked time relatively close to the slowest Kona qualifier in my age category (90 minutes ahead of me) I'd then backed up this race and closed out the season with two Olympic distance triathlons with finish times some 20 minutes better than any previous season. Clearly I had raced a little conservatively at IM Melbourne if able to bounce back straight away, though, on the day the heat and dryness had made it feel like I was on the limit.

After consultations with Coach Ollie we had decided the mini-goal would be to really take on the marathon so my first A race would be the Melbourne marathon. Last year I had finally better the the four hour mark and dropped my personal best by 15 minutes to clock a 3:45 marathon. Ollie set the new bar by that margin again, giving me the task of chasing a 3:30 race. Excellent conditions and a little V.I.P . treatment on the day made for a near perfect race. Going back over my official 5km splits shows almost clinical precision with each marker being within roughly within a minute of each other and a finish time of 3:24 (+ change).

Milestone 1 checked off!

Message from The Wife

The first triathlon season 20215/16 had the family returning to Shepparton and Ollie resetting the days focus. "I don't care about the run, I don't care about the swim, nail the bike" and he gave me the task of covering the 90km bike course in a time of 2:15 (equivalent of holding a constant pace of 40km/h!) Another great day with some wind on course but, with Ollie's assurance I was capable and some inspiration words from The Wife I went out hard and tried to stick it there. The first lap was definitely faster than the second and, though I put it all in I ended up short of the target by 10 minutes. Looking back at the results however paints a better picture. Exiting the water I was in 50th in my category, by the end of the ride I was 6th. Between T2 and T2 I had chased down and passed 44 fellow competitors. Further, there were only three guys that actually rode a 2:15 or better and they were in the Elite category so I am well pleased with my 2:25 (Incidentally, this also translates to a 20 min cycle PB as well)

Knowing I had clocked a good time I fought through leg cramps on the run and in doing was able to tick off a second item from my post season goals list. It had taken several attempts over the past 3 seasons but finally I had broken the 5 hour barrier for a 703 race and set a 15 minute PB for the distance

Tomorrow is another race day, this time just down the road for the Mornington Long Course triathlon and here the goal is simple, hold it to 75% on the bike then run it out. Last year this course dealt my ego a blow when I was unable to run the hills. having to walk the for three of the four laps. (Quietly, The Wife just wants me to focus on getting hole without vomiting all over the car like last year)

We'll see who gets their wish soon enough!!

So, that's my update, mini goals ticking along in pursuit of a larger, much grander one. 

With luck and the determination to stick with it, something that had always seemed impossible may not be too far into the future. 

Clydesdale to Kona.