The key

"The key to long course triathlon is consistency"


If you've been in this game for any time, this is a concept that is not going to be news to you.
Sometimes, however, you are consistently prevented for being as consistent as you are trying to be.
External factors can be insistent, regardless of your intent and your training time misspent on content not relevant to your goal event leaving you some what petulant and reticent...
...sorry, I think I just had to vent

This week gone by I've missed several of my targeted training sessions, for a couple of different reasons. It kind of snuck up on me as well, I had been training pretty solidly throughout the preceding weeks and was getting into the groove, but when I look back at this week, I see the gaps. Let's take a journey down memory lane into the week that was.

Monday night is swimming night. Monday morning and The Boy is sick and the wife had to work her shift at DFO so it was decided that I should work from home. It was cool though because she would be home in time to allow me to get to the pool. We had a plan!
Swim session start time minus 2 hours: The Girl's homework assignment became known as being larger than previously expected. The short film she was to edit together for the following morning had been shot entirely on her iPhone. Cool.
All of the footage had been transferred to the computer previously; again, Cool.
Earlier in the day, I had tried to import the footage into Microsoft Movie Maker, only to discover Microsoft does not play nice with Apple files...so I converted them to a compatible format and started the import; phew!
When my work day was done, I prepared to hand over the keyboard to The Girl to finish the film, only to discover that the nicely converted files had never actually been accepted by Movie Maker. The program had just frozen and sat dormant for the past 4 hours.
It's OK, I still have time to fix this and get to the pool, I work in IT after all!
This is no problem, we'll just restart the program and import the files again. - cool
Good plan, but the reported "corrupted file types" warning Movie Maker displayed seemed to be rathor contradictory...
OK, I can work this out, almost ten years experience in IT testing, I just need to update Movie Maker, then import the files, then get to swimming, no problem. There still plenty of time!
New program version downloaded, computer restarted and the files are importing! Still an hour to go before I need to leave to get to swimming, plenty of time to give The Girl a crash course on movie making.
She's a quick study and picks it up fairly fast, fast enough to notice that some of the files she needs are missing...
It's cool, I still have some time, we just need to plug the iPhone back in, find the clips and move them across, it wasn't that difficult the first time. Umm - why is the iPhone not displaying as a hard drive on My Computer now?
I can sort this out, I do work in IT, although, I never had any formal training...no problem?
Ah HA, the phone needs to do a sync to iTunes first!
Seriously, how many apps can a teenage girl need!? Why is this taking so long!!?
Success! Missing files secured, converted and imported into the new version of Movie Maker, we are ready to do this and, if I leave right now, I can still get to swimming!
Honey, have you seen my swimmers...?
So, at around 11:30 Monday night I was putting the final credits and music to The Girl's homework and thinking, oh well, it's only one missed session this week

Tuesday - Open Night at The Boy's school, can't miss that, and you know, it's a wind trainer session that I'll be missing. I ride plenty and I can always do a solo session on the training later in the garage.

It's Wednesday and it's the second swim session of the week. I missed Monday's one so I'll make sure there are no obstacles tonight. There is no way I am not getting there tonight!
In fact, I got to the pool about 20 minutes early, it was a good ride from the city, I've got all my swimming gear and I'm ready to go. Just got to lock up my bike here and...CRAP!
So, as I begin my ride home to where I assume I've left a bike lock I think to myself, at least my swim gear will be clean an ready for Friday morning session...

Thursday nights are a run session at the Tan. Today, I have double checked, I know I have all of my training gear, I have a bike lock should I decide to ride there and I'm determined that I WILL train with the group tonight! Work's a little hectic today and we are under a bit of pressure to get some points on the board but I'm watching the clock, I know what time it'll take to get to the meeting point and I have a few options on how to get there.
Changed and ready to go (again, early today) I am just waiting for my Garmin to pick up a GPS fix so I can track all of the running I'll be doing. Not wanting to do any running without due GPS validation I start walking towards the Botanical Gardens and the week's first group training session.
Jeez, it is taking quite a while to get a solid GPS connection tonight...been walking for a while...I'll just give it a little longer.
C'mon, this is ridiculous, I'm at Federation Square now and still nothing!
Just as the green man lights to let us cross Flinders Street the connection is locked on and I'm cleared to begin running. I arrived at the night's start line with a couple minutes to spare. It was on baby.
Turned in a solid run with the Long Course group, putting into practice my run technique training and was able to hold a good pace throughout. (Yay me) Cool down run back to the office and a slow ride home as I fought off the cramping in my calves - note to self, drink more fluids during the day. However, in my defence, and based upon the week to date, who would have guessed I'd actually have trained that day?

Friday is an early morning swim session, the alarm went of at 4am - I turned it off and snuggled back in the covers, I'm not proud.

Saturday was another work day for the wife so no morning ride but I did get myself to my Tony Benson run technique session.On the cards for today were more running drills followed by a 4x500m set.
Running has never my strong point but it seems to be clicking better(?) now. Again, I was able to do a solid run block and maintain a strong pace. On the second 500 I passed Tony and he gave the following critique on my form;
"It's all looking good, just got to watch your hands".
This is in relation to my habit of relaxing my wrists too much. They should be cocked so the hands can move freely in the same direction as the swing of the arms (think of the snapping action of a drummer), mine were twisting as well.

Sunday I plan to get another run session in to finish off a week that was meant to be so much more and perhaps even stop in at the Bike Lab for coffee - I think I've earned it...

Oh, and in case you're wondering about that solo windtrainer session I mentioned earlier, I did work it in on that Tuesday night. I didn't have the night's scheduled program so I just threw together a warm up, 20km time trial and a cool down, whilst watching "Ocean's Twelve" on DVD.
After finishing my set I discovered that an inattentive but security minded relative had locked me out of the house, with no key or mobile phone. It was as I was trying to stealthily clamber through a window I'd been able to prise open and remove the fly screen  from that I thought to myself, I hope this isn't going to be consistent...

To whom it may concern

To whom it may concern:
I'm not weird or anything, honestly.

I know we've never met and I am aware we are likely not to become fast friends or even see each other again. It may be an odd setting, however, we caught eyes - so I smiled at you.

OK, so maybe I'm a little too friendly, and maybe just a bit too quick to offer help, but, if I make eye contact with you I will generally throw you a smile. I'm well aware that wasn't some grandiose moment we just shared but, really, it took no effort and so I decided to share the good mood I was in.


It's funny the response I can get from smiling at strangers...

It's early morning, I'm catching the train to work to give my bike a rest (...)
It had been a long night and I had struggled to nod off. All too soon the alarm sounded and I woke to discover my lower back has decided to seize up and spasm. "No rest for the wicked" they say, so I work through the morning routine. Wake two children, prepare 3 breakfasts and 2 lunches, then remember that I needed one of each as well. Jobs done, sprouts and spouse out the door and I race off to the station. I've caught my train, well at least, caught sight of my train as it departs without me.
On a later train than I'd intended, trying to fend off sleep and read my magazine I look up. Inadvertently I catch the eye of a fellow passenger - I flash her a smile.
She continues to stare straight through me, no change of expression, no acknowledgement.
Suddenly I'm feeling very self conscious so I return my gaze to my magazine. I can't help wonder what meaning she must have taken from my smile.
Kind of bummed out now...

It's getting to late evening, it has been a long day at the office and here I am, out on the running track around Albert Park. Tonight I have already completed a fairly intensive run technique session where we had to push hard whilst holding good posture and correct foot fall. The set was ten 200 metre sprints with a 100 metre recovery jog between each. I am now well into the second lap of the lake trying to push through and finish my 10km time trial on tired and sore legs. The rest of the club have packed up and gone home, their times already recorded whilst I'm having to track my own time, my would be volunteer timekeeper has left as well.
They're all probably showered and warm at home by now, there aren't many people out here to witness my breath beginning to rasp as night chill begins to bite.
I recite the mantra: "Head up, run tall, hands cocked and loose"
In this state, I notice another runner out on the track, doing the reverse loop to me. As we approach, I'm tired and I'm hurting - I flash him a smile.
He continues his run and and as we pass, gives me a nod.
I'm not sure if either of us got an extra spring in our step after that simple exchange, but I know I felt pretty good.

I've now done three whole run technique sessions and the main feedback I am getting from the coach is in the form of a single word; as I run past I hear him say "Good".
I'm not sure that means I'm a an expert now but I do find myself critiquing others' running styles. I also find I am seeing many more people running recently. I'll notice that their hands are too low, arms too stiff, leaning too far forward, leaning too far back, slouching their shoulders or just landing too heavily. I note all these things and recall the lessons that Tony is drumming into us.  I want to share these lessons. I know I have he solution to the stride errors these people don't even know they are carrying. With a few simple words, I have the power to FIX THEM!!
But, then I realise I am not the authority and it's rude to force advice that wasn't requested.
Instead, I flash them a smile.
Though they may be tired and sore, and perhaps at the end of a long day, I generally get a smile in return and hopefully, we both stand a little taller.

Times can get tough, there is a lot of negativity around if you care to look, but the simple pleasure that can be taken from the ability to remain active and healthy is something I can always turn to. It is also the positivity that I can try to share.

So, to whom it may concern; whoever you are, if we make eye contact, I will smile at you, I will do so without hesitation and with no further meaning or intent, it's a simply gesture of good will.
So, there is no need for concern.

Outrun the reaper

Remember - Keep the hands loose, wrists cocked and pull down and back.
Swing the arms straight now, don't cross the mid line or you'll start to rotate the shoulders and lose forward momentum.
OK, now, run tall, upright posture, core switched on - good, now engage the glutes and rotate pelvis underneath.
Nice, now, easy strides landing midfoot and -

Dammit!

I had forgotten to keep swinging the arms properly.

Ok, remember, lose hands, cock the wrists...


Jeez, there is a lot to this running gig!
Last Saturday a small group and I had a run technique session with Tony Benson and Thursday night was my first real chance to put some of the lessons into practice. Needless to say, there was a lot to try to remember and, as I got one component of my run dialled in I would notice that another one was slipping.

When I was younger, I seem to recall, we used to just get outdoors and run. When did it get this technical?
Our shoes were canvas high tops and they had a zero heel to toe drop (I guess we were ahead of the game on that one at least) and running was just something you just did; on the playground to avoid getting "it", to tag someone so you were no longer "it", or to distance yourself when "it" hit the fan.
Fast forward 20 or so years and her I am, slapping the L-Plates on and trying to unlearn something I thought I was just starting to get good at. (well, let's say better at...)

The main reason I signed up for the run technique course (1 session a week for 6 weeks) is that, on race day, I can hold my own in the swim leg, on the bike I can make my way up toward the lead and pass most of those who got away early, and then watch them all tear away when we switch the cleats for running shoes. I find I spend a good proportion of the final leg of a triathlon trying to limit my losses and read the category numbers on  the calves of passing runners.
There are then the constant questions: "How many other guys are still up the road"; "Did that guy just push me off the podium?"; and "Why did I have to introduce him to this sport?"
It get's kind of annoying, so, I figured this is where I'm likely to get the greatest gain. Well, that and losing a few kilos of course!

This morning, I found a new reason to fix my wayward running style, seems that it might also help me outrun the reaper.

Reading my copy of Triathlon and Multisport Magazine on the train to work I came upon an article "Getting Old Staying Fast". This coming season I'll be moving to a new age category, so part one of that title is being fulfilled. If I were to boil the article down to the takeaways I got I would have the following points

• Performance declines as you get older - but continuing to run slows the decline "drastically"
• Your physiology deteriorates over time - but running and training reduce the impacts
• As you age, you may need to reduce your volume of running - but you can maintain some intensity
• People who continue to run in later years tend to extend their lives - but...no wait, that was a good thing!

So, it's Saturday again, session 2 of my run technique program. I'll be out there again, learning to swing my arms the right way, learning how to run tall, how to incorporate my core and force my feet to land the right way without actually forcing them (it apparently just happens when you do everything else right!)

I will be learning how to run stronger, faster and more efficiently and incidentally, longer and with less bio-mechanical stress.

Perhaps with some practice a good measure of effort and a healthy dose of consistency, not only will I begin to outrun my competition on race day, but there is also a chance to put some distance into old Grim as well.

Journeys

It's kind of funny.
Today is Saturday, it is almost the end of my first week on this journey to my first Ironman. My count-down shows there just are over 320 days remaining on this journey so I guess you could say I'm still just taking my first steps down that road.
It seems a long road and as such, it can be very difficult to see the end of it. And, that's the funny bit, if I shift my focus a little, I have can get a sense of that end of the path. As I write this, a friend of mine has arrived at the end of his journey to his own Ironman challenge as he toes the start line in Port Macquarie tomorrow morning. (well, I did say it was only "kind of" funny...)

This week I have logged around 100km on the bike, and by tomorrow, 10km running; from his recent posts, that is an easy training day at the other end of this deal. I have seen some of the hard work he has had to put in to achieve his goal, I have read about the long sessions he has completed and I know he's had some set backs but none have deterred him and he will be reaping the rewards soon enough.

Someone once said - "I stand on the shoulders of giants"* - tomorrow, as I follow my friends on the Ironman tracker I will be wishing them all well, but also thanking them for showing me that, though this road may be long and at times difficult, that the journey will be worth it.

Go get 'em guys, race strong, and above all, smile for your photo!

(update: He crossed the line and stopped the clock @ 13:00:52. Mate, you are an Ironman!)



*what!? you want a kick-ass quote and a citation? Look it up yourself, that's what Google is for right?