Welcome aboard

This is a quick update to touch base and to bring you all into the circle of influence.
I discussed my recent hit out at Ironman Melbourne, how I wasn't entirely happy with the outcome and hinted that I am chasing something bigger.
Last night I attended the Tri Alliance Advanced Goal setting session, below is what I penned during the evening.

In other news, today I received my updated nutrition plan from Margret at Fuel Right Nutrition (specifically tailored to my current training load) with the view to:

• Improve Metabolic Efficiency
• Adopt a daily nutrition plan with a focus on balancing your blood glucose (sugar) levels
• Periodise your nutrition so that it supports your physical training cycle
• Decrease body fat, increase lean body mass
• Ensure adequate macro and micro nutrient intake to fuel training, maintain health and well-being and support body composition goals

As read down the page, these refer to: Full Ironman, half Ironman, and a stand-alone marathon.

At the moment, the targets I have set are not S.M.A.R.T. as described by that goal setting methodology. They are Specific, Measurable but the Achievable and Realistic questions need to be weighted against the final letter of the acronym as I'm not sure of the Time frame I need to allow.

For this I will need to speak to my coach and together we'll work out where my gains will come from, what to focus my effort on to make them and from this, what progression rate is possible. Once the trajectory is defined and applied to these goals I will create the road map of steps, tools and skills I need to acquire to achieve them.

Now that you're up to speed, and I plan to keep you all updated with regular posts of my body composition measurements (and photos? Is that something people want??) along with my training/racing results as we continue on this journey.

Welcome aboard.

Big weekend - Season closed - Time for sleep

With my "A race" in the rear view and the 2014/15 season coming to a close there was time left for one final race, the Olympic distance race being held just down the road in Mordialloc. The venue for this race could hardly be closer to home, the run course is actually my usual weekend long run, and yet it's the first time I've raced there. It's kind of weird to compete at a new race but know it so well!
Anyway, since Ironman and then the final race of the Gatorade series, I'm supposed to be in the middle of my recovery month (colloquially known as "Fat April") so for the past two weeks I have done very little training. I guess the most I've done has been carry my swimming gear to the office and home again (unused), threaten to set up the windtrainer in the lounge room for a spin set (then not) and then one evening strength and technique run session (on the coldest, windiest night we've had for a long time). That single session was last Tuesday so today and add to that the big Saturday schedule* I had, hitting out today for an Oly was never going to pretty, but the season is over for so long so any opportunity to get after it is worth it.


Normally for a race I like to make sure I've got everything set aside and packed at least a day prior, but we were going to be out all day Saturday so it was Friday evening after work the I began the process. Tri-shorts, bumblebee top and race shoes - check. Bike shoes (still attached to pedals actually) and helmet - check, check. In passing, test tyres on the race bike. It's just been sitting in the spare room for a fortnight so this is just a formality - except that the rear is now dead flat! How the hell did that happen? Testing it with a track pump quickly shows that it's a serious leak and not just me letting the air out at some point. I have several spare tubes so it's just a quick change - except that this is my disk wheel and the fancy, long stem tubes I bought for my standard race wheels don't allow space in the cut-out to pump them up. I need to find a regular tube instead, something I used to own in bulk but, now that I need it can't possible locate. An hour passes and later in the evening than I want to be up I find what I need and quickly fix the fault (from the placement of the puncture my guess is the problem came from where the rim liner completes it's loop, there might be a bit of an edge there) Now that the microwave clock tells me Friday is over I figure the same is due for my waking hours - except that a moment after I climb into bed I realise I need to shave. This may seem a strange epiphany but it's related to the next item on my weekend's full schedule. In a few short hours I am booked to take The Kids to the Supanova comic convention and it was pointed out to me, the character I was "Cosplaying" didn't have a beard. I'd spent a bunch of time adding wire to a tie to allow me to shape it and finding an appropriate hat to hide the mohawk I'm still sporting that I'd totally forgotten the facial hair. There was so much else to do I figure I should at least get this one thing seen to now rather than add it to the list for later. I own a new set of electric clippers with a shaving attachment so I figure this shouldn't take too long anyway - except, I hadn't realised that once finished I would then also have to unblock the bathroom sink. I have no idea how, when, or why the drain was so congested that the water refused to drain when I pulled the plug, all I know is that my day just got longer. Clearing the obvious junk from the top of the system doesn't fix this either, neither does plunging it so I have to step up my game. Clear the shelves under the sink, remove the shelf and place bucket. Remove the trap plumbing and clean out these pipes as well. Put the unit back together and also mop up all the water that missed the bucket, replace everything onto the shelves and run the water again to admire my awesome handiwork - except, the water is still not draining. Time for some chemical intervention, but first, need to clear the standing water so, clear the shelves, place bucket, remove trap plumbing, replace trap plumbing, shelves and content, towel up all the water and then, follow instructions on the Draino tub. Looks like I have to wait for this to work so, instead of just watching my bathroom sink efferves I figure I may as well pack the rest of my race gear. Towel, talc and creams, wetsuit and (a late inclusion because I totally forgot I needed them) my goggles all go into the bag. Time to check the sink and, whilst I'm passing, yup, the rear tyre is still solid. Crisis averted, the chemical has worked where manual labour had failed, time to get some sleep.
It is now 2am

Hanging out with my nephew, Matty, at Supanova.
My kids took off as soon as we arrived...

Saturday begins for the family, and recommences after a short intermission for me, with an early wake up call. I'm taking The Kids to the Supanova comic convention at the Royal Showgrounds and you can't do this without disguising yourself as some fictional character. This also takes time, so I reluctantly roll out of my cosy bed top wake the youngsters. From much experience I know this can be a difficult prospect and includes much discussion and coaxing - except, excitement to dress-up seems to be have greater appeal than a day at school and I discover both kids are already up and well under way with their morning rituals. The Girl is attending as "Lady Loki" and The Boy as some guy from the game he is currently playing on his laptop. Secretly, I think he has picked his character as a means to wear a collared shirt and to commandeer my new leather jacket (an article of clothing that had found a home in his room for the past week and been warn twice - even though the weather hadn't warranted a jacket)

The Girl was in her element

Out of the house on time with a target to get there before the doors open, because I have discovered the tickets I purchased on-line to save time are for the wrong day of the convention and therefore I have another issue to fix. We arrive as planned and have met up with the rest of the family that we are attending with and get through the gates after spending a little quality time in discussions with the ticket booth staff.
"Here you go Kids, here is some money" it turns out is a magic phrase that causes teenagers to vanish, they both took off to do their own thing leaving me to escort my nephew Matty though the crowds of fictional characters and stage makeup (he was a zombie)
After 4 hours of wandering around I put the call out, it's time to leave, we need to get home or we'll be late for the next event of the weekend an open air screening of Top Gun (first time The Kids have seen it so, the late night was justified)





Turns out we arrived at the venue early and the host of the evening was running late. He's a mate of mine so I jumped in to help out. The cinema was a portable set-up with a large inflatable frame to hold a big projector screen. We laid the the thing out and turned on the pumps only to discover we'd gotten it backwards. Shut it down and the drag the thing around and over itself. Fire up the pumps and soon discover that it's all twisted and, with the pressure if the tubes, I can't fix it. so we shut it down again. Much trial and error followed, as did several failed attempts to re-inflate the thing. Finally Scot pointed out we had the screen upside down. Armed with this knowledge it was a quick fix and I'll have you know, we had it setup and ready to roll with only seven more deflate/re-inflate episodes. The sun went down and Maverick and Goose took to the skies - except when Goose didn't - and the kids really enjoyed it. The Girl cried, The Boy got teary eyed and then it was time to go home. It was a double billed screening but, the kids and I were just done and I still had a race to run in the morning.

The race - the Team Up Triathlon at Mordi put on a great day with no wind to speak (happy with that as I really could not be bothered switching out my disk wheel) and the temperature was not too low either. After the big day we'd had, The Wife was not sticking around to watch today, it was a drop and run back to the warmth of bed for her.
The water was flat and a bit fresh bit that was to be expected, it was also really clear so the L shape swim went by pretty comfortable with what might be a personal best time for me. That is despite nearly losing my goggles right off the gun as I dived into some dude's armpit as he porpoised diagonally across me. just over. I got into transition to discover there weren't too many bikes around - not great...
28 minutes for the 1.5km

Out onto the bike and I decided to press a bit, again, this was the last race for a while so, If I blew up due to the effort there was heaps of time to rest before next time. Averaging 36km/h over the 40km distance was OK, the final return to transition actually saw a headwind kick up so it got a bit difficult. .I must say, I was feeling the effort in my glutes and I'm taking this as positive as we're instructed to use these muscles to drive through  the crank so, I guess that training is starting to pay dividends. (alternatively, could just be residual pain from Coach Greg's run strength session...) Rolled into transition and racked to discover there weren't many bikes around - better!
1 hour, 10 minutes for the ride

To this point the race was going well and i started out on that familiar run holding a 4:40m/km which is not bad for me. It wasn't long until the effort of the day and the lack of training began to hurt and then, a kilometer from the turn, we had to tackle The Hill. Rising from the beach trail to the road above through three switchbacks and finishing off with set of stairs meant that kilometer ate up a full 5:20. Recovering over the next K was a further 5 minutes before I refound my feet and I got back on track
Finished the run with a average pace of 5:41 per k and a time of 48 minutes
Total race time: 2 hours, 28 minutes, only 3 minute slower than the last one 2 weeks earlier

Trying to remember and implement the tips from Greg's technique session
High heel lift - better; arm swing - not so much

Where to from here?

This is long overdue but it's again time to dust of this blog and start writing again.
Also past due is my race report so I guess I'll start there.

Recently I completed my third full Ironman race at the Asia Pacific Championship race in Melbourne and, by all accounts I had a successful outing with a personal best in the each leg, crossing the finish line 30 minutes earlier than last year. About this time last year I sat in a goal setting session with the club and penned a target for this race and signed my name to it. The magic number was ten hours, thirty minutes, more than an hour faster. Part of the exercise was to ensure the goal was actually attainable and should be interrogated occasionally to validate this. Late in the year I realised that, though I was making steady progress, when I broke down the race into the legs and assigned expected times to them the math never equated to the target I had set, therefore the goal was changed accordingly to anything under the 11 hour mark. This was based upon a swim between seventy and seventy-five minutes, a bike leg of about five and a half hours then a sub four hour marathon. When I crossed the finish line in St Kilda I had stopped the clock 14 minutes over my reset target. My swim and ride had been very close to expectation but the heat and high UV seem to have equated to a slower run (a result seen by most of the field). 1:14/5:38/4:14 plus transition times.

In my racing "career" spanning the past seven years I have progressed from the short, fun races (sometimes referred to as "enticer" races), through the challenge of the Olympic distance race and have found my niche in the long course world of half and full Iron distance triathlon. Along the way I have also dropped out of the Clydesdales ranks, shifting from a racing weight in triple digits to mid to high 80's. Over the course of these years I have inadvertently collected a number of tools and steadily built a band of collaborators to advance my efforts and hone my race day outings. Each link in this chain has brought me closer to the pointy end of the field. Five years ago, when I stepped up to Sprint distance races I joined the team at Tri Alliance and soon learned the benefits of a structured training plan. I was enrolled as a social member which allowed for 3 sessions a week, I used this to focus on getting to a more efficient swimming stroke, and a combo session to mix things up. It wasn't long before I turned my attention to longer races and decided to upgrade my membership accordingly. A daily targeted program had me completing Olympic and half Iron distance races. Another season saw me competing at this distance as well, now firmly in the middle of the pack. Setting my sights higher meant I needed to begin limiting my losses on the run course, an OK swimmer, decent cyclist meant that I spent the final third of my races watching guys branded with my category letter blowing past as I'd tumble down the standings. A six week running technique course with Tony Benson gave me a few tools to work on and had almost immediate impact as I finally broke the two hour barrier for a half marathon and then subsequently repeated this feat and the conclusion of the Shepparton 70.3.
The next item I added to my training arsenal was the strength program that had always been a link in my Tri Alliance calendar but I had never fully utilised and again I saw improvements in my results.

Each addition to my toolbox and supporter I add to my crew has brought me to this point some of the greatest changes have come courtesy of my most recent acquisition, my sports nutritionist. As the kilometers are added to the course map and race day becomes longer fueling becomes a super important fourth discipline that cannot be ignored. Everybody is different and therefore there is no one generic fueling plan that works for everyone. Sweat loss rate, gut function, metabolic rates and the volume and types of foods/fluids that can be effectively process are all different from athlete to athlete. When you consider the fact that, during the course of an endurance event there is no way to fully replace the fuel you are burning, the most effective method of limiting those losses becomes so important. Longer training sessions, higher intensities and the need to remain consistent for extended build periods all lead to the requirement to be adequately fuelled before and during the sessions and then to recover for the next one.

Over the past 8 months or so we've modified my diet and have had regular body composition measurements to track the progress, we've completed a sweat test to quantify my electrolyte requirements create an effective hydration plan tailored specifically for me (inadequate hydration actually derailed my initial foray into long course racing where my legs cramped upon exiting T2 after a pretty good time on the swim and ride) and have also set up a race day nutrition plan. Over the course of this time the testing has shown that my body fat percentage has decreased steadily and my weight has also decreased yet when I weighed in at registration a few weeks ago the scales read a flat 95kg.

It has been a few weeks since I clocked my thirty minute personal best and have also added a second record at the Olympic distance (18 minutes) and have had time to reflect on what went well and where I could have improved further. I know I did well but I also know I could have done better and it was with this in mind that I contacted Margaret at Fuel Right Nutrition and head coach Ollie from Tri Alliance to find the next steps to launch to the next level. Together, with my ever supportive family and my directeur sportif (sometimes known as The Wife) we are already working on the plan of attack for the 2015/16 season.

The band is together, the goals are being set aggressively, all that's left is to follow the advice and execute. It's time to get fast.