A pictured, painted by numbers.

Numbers;

Here are a few to start with.

• 40 - The age I was when I first attempted the Ironman distance
• 121 - My division rank from my latest Ironman
• 90 - The number of minutes between my finish time and that of the slowest World Qualifier

Recently I stopped in and had a meeting with Ollie, Head Coach of Tri Alliance, the topic of discussion was numbers and how we are going to reduce some of them.
My goals in triathlon are now high but before this meeting I had no measure to apply to them. I knew what I needed to achieve but not what I could change to actually achieve it. During our meeting we looked at the numbers above and the numbers from my most recent Ironman finish and from that came up with some new figures.

• 14 - Minutes to improve in the swim
• 35 - The km/h I'll need to average during the bike leg
• 3:45 - The fastest marathon I've ever done, I'll need to go at least this fast again, but at the end of my race

This constitutes some fairly big improvements so the next point was to work out how the achieve these targets. It's one thing to identify the potential areas for gain and an entirely different proposition to actually realising them. Here's another factor to consider, the further away from a big goal you are the easier it is to take large steps towards that goal. If you think of a pyramid, the of which represents where you want to be. You start at the base of this pyramid and begin working your way up the middle. At any point on the journey, the width of the diagram equates to the number of options you have to take the next step. The width can also indicate the potential gain these options could deliver when applied. For example, when I started my journey I was completing mini and fun distance triathlons in swimming shorts and a rash-vest, I was riding a mountain bike with slick tyres and weighed over 110kg. At that time, a simple change to some more specific race gear, a lighter bike or a better diet would have made a huge difference in my finish times. Heck, a pair of elastic laces in my shoes would have meant a couple of minutes!
Now that I am closer to the capstone of my goal's pyramid (and yet so much further to go) the gains become more difficult to capture.

• 3:30 - Goal time for the Melbourne marathon later this year
• 80 - Maximum race weight when I hit the start line
• 3 - The count Ironman finished I have to my name to date

This year we are really targeting the marathon.
The reason for this decision are twofold; firstly, there is a large margin for improvement in my run time (possible up to half the time I need could be stripped from my finish time here) and secondly, run strength translates across to cycling therefore dropping time in the run should also bring an improvement in the bike leg.
In the past I have been accused of racing every race on the calendar. It's true, I do love racing and there are a number of events that I can claim to have never missed, moving forward I need to ensure I am focussing on hitting training milestones instead of just racing volume. I think I'll continue to enter a number of events but will go into them with a view of what phase of training I'm in and really focus on what I need to get out of it instead of just looking at the finish times. This could mean I really focus one leg or skill of an event, or simply cruise through an event if during a recovery period. (I  don't think there's every a period in my training build where I'll be idle)
Training peaks, Strava, Stages - Two of these I already have, the third I am looking into. I've had a Strava account for a while now and upgraded it to the premium option to gain access to the "Suffer Fest" cycling videos. Training Peaks is new for me but I gather my account there can link with Coach Ollie in order to monitor and retarget my training plan. Heart rate is a cheap measure to train to but is readily effected by outside influences and therefore not a reliable gauge of effort, the new king here is a power meter. Stages power meters look to be a good, cost effective option here and there are a couple new players entering the market at a similar price point. I'm currently weighing up the options and balancing the pros versus the investment required as, though power meters are considerably cheaper these days I'd still need to fork over at least $500 so this remains an area of discussion.

• 93.9 - Sum of 8 skin folds measured in millimetres
• 89.7 - Weight in kilograms
• 10.1 - Reduction of skin fold tests in 5 months

These are the measurements taken at my most recent check-in with Margs (my sports nutritionist) When I weighed in at Ironman Melbourne in March I tipped the scales at 94kg, having put on roughly 4kg in the fortnight leading into the event. When I started my fitness kick probably 10 years ago, this I would have been very close to 130kg and and had my waist circumference recorded at an equal number in cm. At the time I was signing up for personal training through a work challenge. During my interview with the trainer I remember him making the comment he was concerned I wasn't going to take the exercise program seriously and just not follow through with it. (Note: I stuck out the 10 week challenge and actually retained a membership with Anthony for a couple of years after it finished)
Body composition management will play a large part of achieving my goal and I'll be bringing my training program to my nutritionist so we can create a complimentary fuelling program.

• 140.6 - Miles in an Ironman race
• 5512 - Miles between Melbourne and Kona (as the crow flies)
• 3 - The number of years Ollie reckons I need to get there

Dream big. Work hard. Crush boundaries.

Most importantly, do what you love, share it with the people you love.
That is number one.