Respect the distance

"Congratulations, you're going to Kona"

That was the email I received from the CEO of Ironman Asia Pacific about a month ago. I read and reread that email several times and each time I noted it was addressed to me and included a badge reinforcing the claim of the message's opening line.
It was a shock as I hadn't recorded a finishing time to qualify for the World Championships and, though I had entered the lottery for a spot, that raffle wasn't due to be announced for another four or five days. I still have that email in my Inbox and despite its lofty claims, it's a fallacy. A glitch somewhere in the system meant that the congratulatory emails were sent to the wrong distribution list, the apparent awarding of my Kona slot was a clerical error. From visiting The Wife's desk and excitedly sharing my news and trying to work out where the how to manage the airfares and accommodation expenses in the morning to realising it was likely not to be as more and more people I know reported getting the same email in the afternoon.

On Saturday night just gone, Tri Alliance held the End Of Season Party and Awards night and I had been looking forward to it a little while. My race season had included two half Ironman races, a Challenge 70.3, the Sufferfest and Ironman Melbourne and was awarded a Silver All World Athlete status by WTC so I thought I was half a chance a scoring a nomination for the Male Long Course athlete award. (I say nomination because I knew, after the amazing season he'd had, Jodi had this one wrapped up).
Happy to report I got that nomination and cheered Jodi's victory, the second nomination for Team Spirit award was a complete shock (but I correctly called Suzie for the win of that category as well) so I was happy to call it a pretty successful night.
For the big award of the evening, the John Cornish Memorial Scholarship, head coach Ollie had us all upstanding, glasses charged. As he described the attributes of this year's recipient and then announced their name I had a flash of deja vu, surely someone had made a mistake. The previous three recipients of this scholarship have represented Australia and I count at least five times qualifying for the Ironman World Championship, so why was I moving through this crowd to accept it this year!?

Whilst winning the Kona slot was false, the fact of the second, more stunning win is proven by the JC Scholarship trophy currently sitting in prominently in the centre of my display cabinet. (I know it's there as I just rechecked and it still has my name etched there)

People who know me will attest that this was the first of two amazing things that happened that night, the second feat was, I actually made a fairly ok speech. I have always found public speaking difficult and I can struggle to communicate what I am trying to say. So, now with the filter of time and the power of review and rewrite, I want to take another stab at it.

I have tended to be a bit overconfident in my abilities to dig in and push through to the finish line, I was never fast but I knew I would get the job done. I completed my first half marathon without taking a drink because using the supplied cups always caused my to choke and splutter so I just did without. My first first marathon was done without nutrition, water and Gatorade got me to that finish chute (and walking the last couple of aid stations). I was the veteran of four triathlon seasons, twice enticer and twice sprint distance. Regardless of what endurance challenge I had embarked on, I had completed it. To say I was confident I could step up to the half Ironman distance would have been an understatement, so I signed up for the Shepparton 70.3 race for the first time.
In the lead up to that season was also the first time I heard the phrase "you have to respect the distance".  These words of wisdom were spoken by Coach JC and taken from his personal experience of racing long course triathlon. I doesn't matter what level you are racing at, the leap to long course triathlon is large and the race demands that respect.
Shortly after that meeting I found myself completing the bike leg of the Shepparton race and feeling great, I'd had a decent swim and smashed the bike leg and just had a run to go - and that was where the problem lay. Leaving transition two I noticed me knees didn't want to bend properly, then my quads began to seize. Less than a kilometer in and I was walking and just worried about meeting the final cut-off time. Hindsight shows clearly I had failed to meet my nutrition needs in the early stages of the race and I had paid the price, I hadn't respected the distance. I was a tough lesson but one I think I had to experience to really learn.

Since my first long course race I have been ever mindful of the message Coach JC spoke that day and have respoken to others on several occasions. Not always a direct quote but the intent remained true ("dose your effort" anyone?). John Cornish was a young, bright light who lived to the fullest and he was taken from us too soon. In the time he had he achieved so much; he raced as a professional cyclist, was a successful long course triathlete. In his newer role as a Coach at Tri Alliance, he was a friend to all he met and mentor to many of them. Not content to simply chase his own goals, JC shared his experience and passion and was keen to give others the tools and support to required go the next step. I still can't believe the program he launched will be backing me and I can't wait to begin this journey.

Thank you to Ollie, Sarah, and the rest of the Tri Alliance leadership group for this unbelievable opportunity, to my wife and family for allowing me the freedom to chase my goals and the support to achieve them.

Finally, thank you John Cornish. It was a privilege to have known you and I feel proud and humbled to have been given the honour of carrying on your legacy this year.

Sign here

Can you believe it's already Easter!?

I guess this entry is long overdue as Ironman Melbourne was several weeks ago and we are now half way through the end of race season "fun month". It's also true I've put this off for a while as well but I wanted to take some time to collect my thoughts.
So, here goes.

2014 was my second trip around the Melbourne Ironman course and due to poor conditions and circumstances beyond our control in '13, my first attempt at the full distance. Throughout the course of the year I had recruited a sports nutritionist (dropping 5kg and close to 10% body fat), had a professional bike fit for my race bike and dropped some dollars on a new training bike in order to nail some quality hill rides. By all indications my investments were paying dividends; ok, my swim times in the pool went backward (I'm blaming a loss of buoyancy) but I still swam my fastest first legs at the long course races in Shepparton, Canberra and Warrnambool. (Wetsuit correcting buoyancy issue). My annual circuit around Kinglake was probably half an hour faster than any other time and I was annoying close to breaking the 4 hour barrier for the marathon (officially out by 56 seconds). It's safe to say, I was feeling pretty confidant that my this year I was looking to do big things on the big race day.

March 23rd arrived and, unlike a year ago, the weather was perfect, light winds and the water was flat and I started wide and slightly back from the front runners so I could find some unoccupied space to swim in, as did everyone else, apparently. The first 3 turns of the course and most of the "open water" between them were a mess of limbs and torsos, all anonymously clad in black neoprene. Turn 4, I swam straight past before cornering and finally I had room to swim. An hour and a quarter after air horn launched me into that washing machine with close to 3000 others I stood up in the shallows and found that, among the handful of other competitors close by were two friends. That was a cool stroke of luck as we were able to share the moment and gee each other up.

On the bike the plan is to keep a medium high cadence with a perceived effort too match, drink steadily and constantly and eat every time the Garmin tells me it's time. From experience, the big risks here is overdoing your effort, becoming dehydrated and losing too much sodium and cramping up later in the race. On the first length of the out and back course I found a new great risk. In order to decrease my bike's wind resistance I have an "Aero Jacket" cover on the back wheel, basically a pair of plastic shield that fully conceal the spokes and simulate a more expensive full disk wheel. The thing is held on via a series of interlocking press-studs. As I raced into the tunnel that precedes the turn-around and the gradient becomes steeply negative I tucked in and pedaled furiously when suddenly there was a loud sharp report, then shortly followed by a second one. Startled by this I sat up a bit and tried to work out what the hell had just happened.
It took a little while but I believe it must have been rushing wind getting into the wheel covers and distorting them, then snapping back. In hindsight I was lucky there weren't any Technical Officers in the vicinity when this occurred as I think I was close to being pinged for "public toilet". Needless to say I was less furious on the remaining descents for the race.
On the final return to Frankston a head wind picked up and those of us who were more reserved early got caught fighting it.

Time to run and thankfully my short trip from the bike dismount to the transition change tent was ever so slightly less ridiculously rigid and stilted, so there's that I guess.
With just a marathon to go and the leg where I'd seen the most improvements during training I was kind of looking forward to this. Here's how it played out. Two "Ks" in and I was running comfortably and waaay too fast (5:15/km) and consciously backed off to holding 6min kilometres.
An hour later I was still holding this pace but did notice a few occasions were there were a handful of seconds displayed on the wrong side of my target pace and I had to pick it up to keep on track.
Just over half way, where the hills kick I began to have to fight to hold pace, then fight to keep it under 6:30/km.
30km in and nearing the last of the hills and my focus has shifted a bit and now I just racing the sun. I had initially had a vague hope that today might have been the day to go under 4 hours for this run - that idea is gone and I'm trying to calculate what the time must be (I have actually forgotten this information is accurately available at the press of a button on my wrist) as I sort of committed to a friend to reach her aid station before 7pm. Why did she have to be at the very last one!?
40km, the pace is back on and I do grab my drink from Stella (though I later discover she doesn't remember the event) and the sun is still above the horizon.

Eleven hours and forty-three minutes after starting it's over and I have my second Ironman Finisher's medal and towel around my neck.

It was a good race and I'm happy I completed it in under 12 hours as this had been my original stretch target a year ago. That day a reduced distance swim meant that I can only guess what time I would have recorded and whether that change had a large contribution to the awesome time I recorded. Having said that, I didn't really have the race I wanted. The goal I had put forward was to go faster this year whilst still completing the full distance, a goal I missed by close to an hour. Looking at my times, I rode and ran slower this year instead of improving. I stated in my last entry, when you get to the end of that final training build you begin to count the number of times you didn't get to a scheduled training session, did you really need rest or did you find an handy excuse. After the race I am still doing the tally and have pretty much concluded I became too comfortable that I had it covered and didn't get all the work done. The plan had always been to sign up for the race again because I enjoyed the challenge. The day after the race was done and before I had retrieved my bike from the compound in St Kilda I had done just that, but with new purpose. This year and the build towards 2015 will be dedicated to speed. I've always had the "diesel engine", it's time to shift gears.

So, here's the deal. I am committing to a renewed dedication to following the training regime that I have subscribed to with Tri Alliance. My program includes a number of sessions I have struggled to get to because the Snooze button has been more attractive. Each week there are strength and flexibility sessions prescribed (to do at home) but I have rarely attended to them. In fact, though the information for the weekly sessions has always been available, I have rarely checked it, preferring instead to just arrive and follow instruction. I had planned on breaking 10:48 for Ironman Melbourne this year but I never really vocalised it, it was always an internal and largely private marker.

With this in mind, I present the following contract:
I will complete Ironman Melbourne, 2015 within 10 hours and 30 minutes
I will achieve this by taking greater responsibility and accountability for my training, knowing the content and purpose of the scheduled sessions, attending each session I am able to, completing them singularly when not. I will focus on building strength and following the prescribed home sets where in the past I have not bothered, and I will also work in consultation with the coaches to ensure I remain on track.
When I achieve this goal I will celebrate by purchasing a new race bike
This the goal I am committing to

      Signed:
          Andy Wood-Rich     

Feel free to "witness" this agreement within the comments


There, that's the serious part done, it's late and I still have 1200 more "mountain climbers" to complete before the end of the weekend
(yup, that's fun" month)

Question Time

There is a new calendar on my fridge door and this past weekend I finally got around to putting away all of the Christmas decorations so I guess it's time to concede, a new year has arrived.

Welcome all to 2014.

A triathlon season here in the land Down Under follows our summer months and therefore spans the date line from one year to the next. This current season, though I have already raced a pair of marathons and an equal number of half Ironman events it is now approaching the pointy end. Like I said last year (about this time) - It's beginning to get serious - again.

Every couple of days a new email will land in my inbox, giving me the latest updates and a "days remaining" indication for the events I have scheduled over the next couple of months.  Again, like last year, the familiar questions arise.

• Am I ready for this?
• Have I done enough?
• Did I learn my lessons from past errors? (Like arriving at a destination race minus an important piece of kit - twice)

Let's break it down whilst I attempt to answer them for myself. You can play along too if you like!

On point one, readiness, how does anyone prepare for an endurance event?

When do you know it's time to pull the trigger and step up that line?

I think the only way to approach this is with slow - or rather, steady progression. The old adage, you've got to walk before you run holds true here. There are a few who will burst out of the gun and go straight for the big show and fewer still who will do so successfully. Building a base and then advancing in stages yields a far more reliable road to the goal and inherently reduces the risk of injury along the way.

In my case, I have several seasons of racing under the belt as well as a decent bank of successful long 70.3 races and though I entered half the number of races this time, they are all long course. (Ok, so there is one sprint race but when  the opportunity was presented I had to jump on it!) When I mapped out the events I also decided upon which to target as training/experience opportunities and which to have a bit of a crack at. So far, I think I've stuck to that plan pretty well so on that front, I think we are good.

Closely related to preparedness is that second question, and further, the worry, have I done too much. There are also plenty of triggers for these queries - post a training session you'll hear other athletes talking about the work they've done, the kms logged or supplemental training. Perhaps it'll be whilst reading one of those final lead up emails and you realise there are only a couple of months to go, then you note, one of those months is really short. It is these times that you start to take stock of where you are at, what training you have done and more likely, start counting the sessions you've skipped. Argh! Did I really need that sleep-in!? Here's the deal, it's too late to worry about how much you haven't done. You can't simply add training intensity to cover it, the bigger risk is in doing too much to try and compensate. From here on, it's all about continuing the steady build, being consistent and listening to the body. Any niggles, get them looked at and sorted as early as possible. From my perspective, I approached last years' Ironman with a goal of leaving the Clydesdale category and, after a year of improved diet and also six months of training build, I officially weighed in the day prior at 98kg (a Clydesdale still by a fairly safe margin). This year, in the interest of ensuring I'd done enough I enlisted the help of a friend and fellow triathlete who also happens to be a qualified sports nutritionist. From my first assessment session with Margs (http://www.fuelrightnutrition.com.au/) 8 months ago I have managed to drop almost 10kg, my skinfold tests have reduced by over 9mm and my percentage body fat (as measured by my bathroom scales at home) has come down by 5%. Even over the Christmas feasting period where I didn't see Margs for 2 months the numbers still came down (although I'll admit that first assessment back was nervous!)

I'm going to tick box number 2 as well

Have I learnt my lessons? This is kind of hard to answer as, I thought I had after arriving in Shepparton and discovering I hadn't packed my bike helmet. That was until I arrived in Canberra only to find I had my new helmet - but no tri shorts...

When I last wrote about the final lead up for my big race I told of my fear of becoming too complacent in the approach. This season the fact has been proven twice (well, three times if you consider I left my carefully prepared hydration bottles in the hotel room on race day in Canberra...), asking the question again today has reiterated the point. No matter how long I've been doing this, I still need to bring it back to the basics. Make a list and then double check it and not just leave it to experience. 

Though I am aware of this, I am yet to actually write the list so I will leave this point as an urgent To Do 

(crap, now I have to write a To Do list as well)

My next race is actually at the end of this week: Challenge Melbourne is a half iron distance race and after checking the weather forecast, it'll be a hot one! The bureau of meteorology is happily predicting we will be racing in 39 degree (Celsius) heat. In fact, a heat wave is expected for this whole week so the hydration plan will kick in today. I have this one pegged as a training race and an opportunity to trial some new nutrition products under race conditions. Since Ironman recently announced their on course supplements will be Endura Gels and Bonk Breaker bars, (neither of which I have used)  I want to race solidly and test myself on these new products. I wont be smashing myself out there and it will give my a good indication if I can race the big one and eat off the course (rather than having to carry my own nutrition plan the whole way around)

The rest of the season looks like this:

• Challenge Melbourne (2-Feb)
• Amy Gillet Ride - Arthurs Seat (9-Feb)
• Gatorade Race 3 (16-Feb)
• Neon Run (22-Feb) - Ok, so this will be a family event, not a race
• Sufferfest (2-Mar)
• Ironman Melbourne (23-Mar)
• Gatorade Race 5 (30-Mar) - maybe??