What a month! I am a newbie in following the tour on a regular basis. I used to read about it in the Indurain era, but I was brought to it thanks to the big tall Texan guy about 7 or 8 years ago. Anyway, being the most important race in the cycling calendar, there is always the expectation of a great show. And what a great show it was. After a week of withdrawal, I realize that there are many things that kept bouncing in my head. I call them lessons in absence of a better way to describe them.


#1 Patience
There was a certain desperation in the peloton in the two big escapes of the last week (Andy Schleck and Contador) only one man did not panic, and he won the race. It takes a lot of guts to sit on your bike and keep rolling, knowing that the race will be yours in the end. Chapeau to Evans for the patience he showed in those two occasions. When translated into the more mundane world of an amateur triathlete and wannabe ironman, patience is a good thing to have. Specially when the miles start stacking up and there is no race in the calendar for over 20 weeks. One has to have patience that the time will come to use all that fitness in a race. And that all the hard work will eventuate in a great result.

#2 Pride

The way an outside rider from an outsider team drove the peloton while in yellow was a proud display. Voekler rode beyond his ability to keep up with these superstars, and one always like an underdog punching above its weight. It comes to show how sometimes these superstars are not that far away and anyone can achieve extraordinary results with a bit of self confidence.

# Take it on the chin
Literaly, like poor Ten Dam or Johnny Hoogerland. Races can be a real she-dog, but there’s nothing better than going through the finish line. I may not be a pro guy that does this for a living, but I will be betraying those long hours on the saddle or out running if I don’t get to finish just because I’m in pain. I mean….pain is when you get barbed wire in your balls after coming off your bike at 50km plus. A sore knee can’t be that bad.

After reading the above I realize that I am becoming another tri preacher, so I better stop it there.

Anyway, it was just to show that I am alive, although quite quiet due to lack of time.

Keep training, and racing hard.

Updates, TdF and the Ironbunch

The two weeks of stress are finished. I was getting ready for my final exams and I had a “moderate” week in the middle. And plenty at work. The results? I think I ticked all the boxes in rather good shape. The exams will be on an 80 to 90 % (I think); the work stuff is back to semi-normality and training I missed only one session.

The ironbunch is the group of my training buddies who are doing IM next march, they run a group ride at the civilized hour of 8am on the Sundays. And I join them every now and then. The last time was Sunday a week ago, in a horribly wet Auckland winter day. I started my thing after 6am and was at their meeting place by 8.15. It followed with a flat 15km into their ride (by now I was over 3 hours). I decided to peel off at one intersection, and head back to the city. The rest of their circuit was great training, but I had no more spare tubes and no much food.

10 minutes before the city I got another flat. Although I didn’t panic, I was quite unhappy about the prospect of calling Nat to pick me up. I decided to inflate and ride, and then inflate and ride and then inflate and ride until I got to a bike shop 5km up the road. The strategy worked quite well, the only problem was that the shop was closed. Lucky for me, another training mate was just stopped at the lights, and I got a free tube to keep going. When I finished it was 6.15 hours and 5.40 of riding.

I’ve also finished the first block of base prep. for IM, a total of 36 hours of cycling (‘bout 900km) 13 hours of running (close to 150km) and 11 hours (28km) of swimming spread in 3 weeks. The body is OK but I am in serious need of stretching and core stuff… next big thing is to get a membership for a gym running back.

And the TdF is finally here!, only a week to go and a month of joy… pity I don’t have satellite TV to see the full stages.

Ciao!

How to find the time

I never planned this when I started blogging over a year ago. I am not able to find the time to keep this thing going continuously.
However, though, there has been a lot of development over the last two weeks and a bit since my last update.
The first one is that I am back into good training mode. I've also had THE meeting with coach about the future of my training, racing and the big IM experience in 2012. What is to come? A good 10 weeks of nice'n easy, long rides on Saturdays, Sundays, and some serious riding during the week as well... to amount up to 500km later in the season. Am I ready for that? I guess, so... we'll how to see how it is to survive it.

The second one is that a good mate of mine, GEOFF CARTER, made his bigg attempt to cross the cook straight. I talked about Geoff a few posts back. He's been an inspiration and an example for many, although his attempt was not successfull I deeply admire him for his discipline put into the quest.

The guy not only had to wait almost 4 months since his original swimming window, he had to keep swimming in excess of 40km a week for that period.

That kept me thinking on the reasons that we have to do what we do. Not only good mate trying to swim between the two island, anyone waking up at 6 for a jog, or at 5.30 to fit a 2hr ride before work and all other examples of extraordinary moves just to have the joy of finding ourselves doing something we really love. And there are many reasons, but one could say that beside these reasons, there is an element of absurd in repeating the routines again and again to say we "did" it. I argue that we don't "do" it, it "does" us. I am not only fairly spent, but changed as a guy and an athlete after many of the daily sessions, and that is what keeps me coming back!,

Anyway, enough rant for today, hope to post tomorrow!

Two good news: a comeback and a victory

The comeback

Ian Thorpe announced he is back. The photo on the Australian papers is not very encouraging (apparently he’s been eating some pies lately). He’s one of those guys I admire and I hope he makes it to the 2012 games, it will make good TV watching. Speaking of.. here’s a great 400m race against another great long distance swimmer.



The Victory – PURE BLONDE Aquathlon series – Race 1 Report

The Pure Blonde series is divided into 4 swim-run events and 4 Aquathlon events, with the Aquathlon national champs in the end. This was the first of them and it was the first ever for many of us. We’ve never had done one before, not even for training.

The conditions at Point Chev. Beach were outstanding, great golden sun drenched beach, light sea breeze and a lot of people at the beach. Can’t ask for more for a race. The field was not big, but I think it did set a precedent and next time we’ll be busier.

The race was laps of 1.5km, a 1km swim and another 2 1.5km run laps on the same circuit. Elevation was a bit of an issue because we went from the beach up 10 metres in a 40m hill, two times each run lap. The swim was against the current on the way in and with the current on the way back. 2 500m laps. We started a bit conservative, the front group was 4 or 5 of us, and I know for sure that three of us were new to the combined run-swim of the first half. I made sure to stick behind my mate Reado, who knocked a sub 17min 5km last week. He was on tired legs, so the pace was punishing, but not that bad. After drafting for the first lap I moved to the front and did a cheeky escape going on the second lap. The idea was to get into the water by myself and swim on my own. In the works case scenario a group would catch me and I’ll draft of them for the remainder of the swim. In a perfect world, I would extend my lead. I got 10 seconds into the swim and none of the scenarios panned out. I did maintain a lead, and it was the same that I had going into the water.

The final run was hard, I went full throttle for the first 1500m and by the start of the second lap I knew I had a healthy 20 seconds to spare. The rest was a matter of keeping a steady pace and looking back every now and then to avoid surprises.

I ended up wining the first aquathlon I entered and although I didn’t get the prize money (yet), I’ll have to celebrate taking my wife for fish and chips.

What’s next?

Kinloch triathlon – National Champs for sprint distance. Sunday 6 feb.
Pre race thoughts soon, watch this space

My Favourite metrics

My favourite quote is from Galileo Galiei "measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so", the hard headed determination of a man of science contained in those 10 words (funny, the spanish translation is also 10words long) stuck to me since the first time I found it while doin an essay at uni. In a way, that motto underpins the history science and technology over the last centuries. It has been great way to bring the illusion of order into situations that sometimes are beyond comprehension.
Brought into the sporty world, there was a whole new world of metrics that I discovered as I got more into triathlons and cycling; from the basics like speed, perceived effort and cadence to more specific like heart rate, stride cadence, power, altitude, pace, and all the combinations that come to play like power to weight ratio,  drag coeficient and blah blah blah. I've learned that there is a huge basket of metrics that one can produce, monitor and record. Coache's job would be to make smart use of those metrics in planning the best possible programme to get us in A shape for our A race.
A self coached athlete will find a way to organize a training schedule makin use of a series of metrics and in most cases it will be a great way to get from day 1 to race day in a better, fitter state.
In my case I work mostly on HR and perceived effort. Cadence and pace come to play a secondary role in the more specific workouts and the rest has been trial and error. I'm a good boy and I do as I'm told. So far the system has worked and I trust it will keep going the same way.


Panmure pool, a great discovery



But when I look back into my diary and check the best days out I've had in the year, most of the sessions have been run paying attention to one specific metric, it is that one that won't allow my mates to get too far away (on the swim, or the bike or the run) and vice versa. the work for it is HONEST, whenever I wrote down in my diary that it was an HONEST session it means that we went in a solid pace, and making sure everybody stays in that zone where you can go hard OK for a good period of time. It's a pity I don't have a honestymetre to use in every workout. I'll have to ensure I do find a way to make it measurable, and pass that information to the boss, It may be the breakthrough metric of 2011 and it may even get me a placing.

On the training front I had to think on my feet to make sure the weekend was put to good use. The brick session of Saturday got cancelled due to rough weather but I didn't get the message. As I was already on the venue with the customary champion's brekkie inside my guts I decided to do a solo brick. I went to a nearby pool, set my bike on the trainer and got to work, picking the session from the pre-Budapest days. It turned out to be a great day, the swim ticked along nicely, the legs felt great on the bike (I made sure I gave them a contained hammering) and the running was just neat, in a stunning volcanick lagoon track. I guess coach did it on purpose (to forget me on the cancellation text) to get me angry and make me use all that anger and aggression in my training day and it worked, thanks G!  (ha ha ... I don't think my theory is true, tho.

champion's brekkie: muesli and beer

Sunday ride was an HONEST ride with my mate Jeremy, I just love doing this. You all keep smiling, and be safe out there.

Pure Blonde Series, Race 4 Report

Tropical storm Zelia is forecast to strike New Zealand as a tropical cyclone at about 09:00 GMT on 18 January.


Tropical storm Zelia is forecast to strike New Zealand as a tropical cyclone at about 09:00 GMT on 18 January.
Data supplied by theUS Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Centersuggest that the point of landfallwill benear34.6 S,172.0 E.Zelia is expected to bring 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around138 km/h (86 mph).Wind gusts in the area maybeconsiderably higher

Despite forecast like the one above, the PURE BLONDE series went ahead yesterday evening at Point Chevalier beach. There wasn’t many of us, but the spirit of adventure and good vibes by everyone in there were enough to get things going.

Organizers had to change the registration, transition and finishing area, moving them to a more covered space. The change was minor but meant a steeper last 10m of the run to transition. The water was warm and one could have swam without a wetsuit. There was a little chop coming from the north east, but nothing too bad that a stronger kick would not offset.



The swim was the usual two lapper, the buoy appeared to be no as far as previously, but it drifted for some time to accommodate itself in the right spot. We started the swim ready for a fight with the current, and I got first to the first buoy 30m off the start. Then it was just a matter of swimming strong and making sure there was no one passing me. My mate Nick was out there, stuck to my feet, that kept me honest for the first lap. The second lap was a more relaxed business, as I knew I had a few seconds to spare and we would all be more tired. I made sure the gap didn’t shrink and got out of the water with a half a minute advantage.

contrary to some rumours, I didn't run on the beach and turned around at the right points. LOL

Such a lead should be more than enough to win the race, but you never know until you know. So, for good measure I put the hammer down on the first km of the run (silly mistake, the first 1km is a slight uphill) and then settled into a pace. At the turnaround I could see that Martin was coming second and looking pretty good. Again, I ensured I kept running tall and fast over the next lap. On the last 500m I knew I had it so I relaxed a bit.



 I crossed the line almost together with Ro, who was using the race as a practice for his stroke and stride race this evening. I was the first one of the people racing long course. The whole race was a bit harder than I originally thought due to the wind, but it was good fun.

The only bummer is that I may have a little strain in my shoulder or neck muscles and I had to pass on this morning’s swim because I was sore.

First placing of 2011, if it all goes to plan there should be a few more in the bag before the season ends.

Tauranga Half - race photos by Nat

Nick - looking strong out of the water

no pressure

tough bike

someone is quite happy!

I can believe he ate 4 cookies!

Megan suffering

Sue going slow as per the coaches' orders











Megan looking like a pro

smile!

the tatoo warrior

Kylie on her firs half just over 5hr

Coming soon to a pool near you

NZ is still on holiday mode; even though there's a lot of major roadworks on bridges, downtown avenues and accessways traffic is great; the radio deejays are only doing half of their shows and everything is still on sale. Many of us are coming back to work, and a more serious version of training. The exception to this mood is the selected few who compete in this weekend's Tauranga Half, New Zealand biggest race on that distance and home of the Long Distance national champs.

The race is held in the beach town of Mt Maunganui, next door to Tauranga, a beautiful surf beach that starts in the mount and goes on an on for a couple of hundred km's to form the Bay of Plenty. 2km swim in a harbour, 90km flat as a pancake ride and a hot 21km with some undulation. I've done parts of the race, but never the whole thing by myself. This year is no exception, I'm just going to do the bike for a team and then cheer a bunch of my mates, but I'll talk about that in the next post.

It's a fast and hard fought race, many times the difference between the top 5 is nothing. This year sees the retur of Cam Brown, NZ's biggest long distance athlete together with the local top guys who include the defending champion of only 19 years old. In the womans field there will be another interesting race with Rebeccah Keat, Caroline Steffen and Jo Lawn among the top contenders. Joanna Lawn has won IMNZ 7 times... and has been a consistent top 10 performer at Kona.

But, as I was saying... we are on holiday mood and I felt like going for a swim this morning. I couldn't wake up on time to go before work, o I went for a midday-ish session and as I jump into the pool I saw Jo and her husband Armando (another top athlete) doing laps. I can't say they were easy laps... if they are gonna bike and run like they were swimming today I know where I'm putting my money. We chatted for a bit and I wished them well before starting my own secret swim set.

incidents like this are not uncommon, many times in the swim, bike or run training sessions we come around our top athletes going about their job before they move to more gentle weathers after Easter. Most of the time they're nice and even ask us about our races and so on. I love that low key attitude. I don't know if this is particular of NZ, or Auckland or you people on the other side have it as well.

bushbound

We're goin' oop norf,
They even call it the far noth, but I'd argue that travelling 400km to get to the northernmost point in the island is not at all far. Anyway, only 2 more hours to go and we'll be on holiday till the 5th of Jan. Depending on internet coverage there may be updates or there may be nothing.

It's been quite an experience and hopefully 2011 will bring more fun and some good results. You all be safe out there, and don't train hard, enjoy the family and friends.

 a quick balance on the sports front

Positives: I still love the sport, I got my first ever victory, I made to the worlds in one piece (unlike the cervelo).
Negatives: found the worst ever airline (you're welcome, Bruneii air), and the dodgie's ever insurer (you suck Travelsure).

Rotorua Half Ironman race report - money in the bank

The start

we stayed 2min down from transition and could afford a long sleep till 5am. The race start was 6.25, Nat got dragged into swimming for a team, so it was three of us (Nat and I plus our mate Jeremy who was staying with us having breakfast and leaving just in time to get there, park, and set transition. Gordon, Carl, Paula, Megan and Kylie, Cyril, Oli and Sue, Brownie, Ingram, everybody was there and ready. I must say we were a bit later than planned and had to set up in a rush. The day was not great, we had drizzle and showers for the past two days. The race was going to be wet, not very hot and not very windy. 

The swim - 

I warmed up for about 30 seconds before we were ushered out of the water. The swim was a beach start and two laps in an anticlockwise triangle. The field was of about 200 guys. The lake temperature was about 18 degrees, with no current or chop of any kind, the water was clear and you could see like 10m under with no trouble. The gun went off and I was sharp to start with, got clear water in the first 50m and went about my business, without lifting my head to look until half way through the 450m we had to the first buoy. I then settled into a rhythm and kept going, I was towing 4 or 5 guys behind me and I kept towing them through the first and second buoy. After the second buoy we had another 450m of swimming to do, and I got someone else to take the leading duties. I lifted my head to check who it was and it turned out it was my mate Jeremy!, I decided to swim alongside him to the turnaround buoy. We did 13.48 for the first lap. I lost Jeremy on the first turn of the second lap and just kept going, as it was only a few more minutes to be over it. In the end he nick me by about 10/15 seconds. We both were in the top 15 out of the water. T1 was a shocker… i was rainy, and grey and I didn't have the time to set up and practice my moves, I had to grab the pump and it wouldn't stay in my racesuit back pocket, I took it in my hands and out to the bike course. 

The bike

out of transition there's a little hill, then 4 or 5km downhill and then onto the main road which is flat for about 30min. I quite didn't get into a rhythm and got passed by more people than I thought…. it is a constant in my races, that people seems to fly by me on the bike. The plan was to do my race and don't get psyched out about stuff, same as it happened in Karapiro, a few would be too aggressive to start with and then fade on the last 20km. The first 30km where a bit disappointing, but I got into the turnaround only 2min off my desired time of 1.20. The weather was drizzly, showery at times, but luckily not cold, it was a bit scary coming down the hills trying to see where I was going with no eye protection After that I got my act together and started rolling a bit more aggressively. A shot of red bull and a gel helped with the legs and the sharp mind. At 60km I started to feel even better, so I put my head down and made sure I catch a few guys that were up the road. I was in the middle of that when the saddle bag came off, I heard the noise and made the decision not to go back for it. I has lucky I didn't have a flat on the last hour. 3km later I heard another noise, it was another red bull shot gone. To top it up, I lost an arm pad from my aerobars further down the road. The last 15km of the bike are hilly and many times windy. I passed two more guys up the hill. and got into T2 just about on the time I wanted. I must say, though, that there's room to improve in at least 5 minutes on the same conditions. I lacked that "racy" mindset at times, and I paid for that. It looks like I enjoy the race soooo much that I forget that it is a race, he he.

On a separate topic, the course is an out and back, which allows to do a headcount and see where one is at. I saw the first guy and he was 5min ahead of the chasing bunch. But the good news was that my mate Jeremy was in the chase bunch, in fourth position when he got past me, and finally in 2nd at the end of the bike leg. He was flying on that bike… and would not let go of his place easily. He ended up 5th overall male, with a great swim and bike and a solid run. 

The run

I had left my stuff in a bag for T2, so it would not get too wet. It took me a bit to get everything out and I forgot to put my race number, but I am still OK with how it went. The legs were feeling OK, yet a bit stiff on the quads, but I thought I'll have a good run. And what a run it was!, I said in the previous post that it is a brutal off road run, I realize now, that I was looking through the eyes of my defeat 2 years ago. Yes, it is a hard run, but it is not as brutal as I remembered it. I got off T2 together with the first girl, that was good motivation, as I said to myself "you are not getting chicked, valen" we run the first two km together at a punishing 3.30 pace. That part of the trail has a lot of switchbacks, turns and not a lot of hills. As soon as we started to hit the more undulating bits my quads, hammy, calf, glutes all started conspiring against me and menacing with popping out of my body. It was a big bother, and a painful patch. I said I would not walk or stop unless the muscles stopped working, and I endured a fair amount of pain. It eventually got better on the flatter parts. To my bad luck, there is only about 6km of flat in the whole of the course. I was feeling well in my mind, and there wasn't any stitches or tummy cramps. it was just the legs aching, but they were able to run, so I made them go as good as the could. I passed quite a few and for the first time in some time I got passed by two guys. One training buddy, Brownie, was ahead of me like 3minutes and I each time I saw him on a turnaround I would said to him to take care that I was coming strong. there are 3 of those turnarounds and on the last one, at about half way, I realized it was doable. I kept a good pace, run past the first girl and did the last lap as fast as I was able, the HR was up there as it was my mate, I cough him with 500m to go and we had a laugh. I crossed the line in about 4.47, 2min off what I calculated, but I was extremely happy with my performance. according to my polar, the run was a 1.27, but I'll wait for the official results to get the proper time. 

The balance

this year for me is about racing and learning, and the last couple of races have been great learning experiences. They were both outside of my comfort zone, and both were strength events. There is a lot of room for improvement, but each race has given me a wealth of experience and it is all money in the bank. In this particular one I learned a lot about pain, and how to deal with it compromising as little as possible in the performance department. 

I just love this photo

After the race

it kept raining and drizzling, but each of us stayed after the race to see our mates finish. Jeremy was the first one, I followed together with Brownie, Carl did a superb race for his team and they won the mixed teams division going under 4.30. Then it was Ingram's turn, and Oli, Cyril came after that and not far behind was Julia and Gordon (Julia took the vet womans), finally Kylie crossed the line for Nat's team. While waiting we had a couple of heinekens, and a lot of chat and banter. A great weekend to finish off the year and go in holiday mode for ten days. 

Race Report - The Great NZ Santa run

Being Santa in the Southern hemisphere is a hard job. Not only you have to endure the summer heat and heat waves in the core of the solstice, but you have also a hard time trying to find raindeer.
Some colleagues and I decided to enter this charity event that supports the KidsCan foundation. KidsCan does a great job in helping children achieve big things, or small ones, but making sure they do what children must do and have all they need in terms of food, education, and support networks.

The race is only an excuse to get people together and raise some much needed funds. The circuit was a 3km that was later changed to a 2.5km for safety reasons, and there was about 300 santas on the start line.

My warm-up was very poor but I avoided the cravings for a beer and a pie at O'Hagans. We did a few stretches (see photo attached) and then the race was on. I swear I saw people with the Nike Lunar races and other racing flats gear. I said to my mates that we only needed to stay in the front group.

We run in a bunch of 20 for the first 500m and then the pace picked up a bit, the bunch went down to 7 or 8 th. By the halfway point my heart rate started to pick up and I was breathing my own facial hair (see photo), so I decided to go for bigger strides. It turned out the first three guys upped the tempo a bit more. All the field was coming the other way and we had to negotiate our way through a lot of santas, my side jumping skills came handy at this point and I had a clean ride. Some other weren't that lucky and I heard a few bumped into each other in the heat of the race.

The last km was less chaotic and I was able to stick to the front guys, there was a final turnaround and 400m to go, someone launched a sprint and I tried to follow but had no legs, then the old diesel engine picked up and I managed to finish 2nd in a time of 7.20.  I rolled through the line in joy.

All in all a good fun race, I'll make sure next year I get a proper running programme and a tapper week for the event.

Ho Ho Ho!

ambitious

As the saying goes, it's not good to confuse ambition with ability. We went out for an in course training for the half ironman that a couple of us are doing in two week's time in Karapiro. I remember from last year that the course is hard-ish with a long succession of small hills that play with your head if you're not in top game. When I did it last year I had a few longer rides under the belt and I prepared for the race quite seriously. I was also getting married six days later, so the mind was in top game.

By the way, if you are a rowing fan, the world championships are being held there over the next week. It's a nice location for a multisport race, but somehow the HIM is a low key race. Anyway, back to my business. We went there with Nick and Jeremy who are both handy riders and have done the miles. I know I haven't and I know it's OK because my program is going at a different pace and maybe in a different direction altogether. However it was a good training opportunity and I was not going not to take it. We were greeted by clear blue skies on a side and gray clouds on the other side, we were heading towards the clear blue skies. I kind of knew the road but vaguely, but none of the other two seem to know it so we came to an arrangement that if I was not on the lead I's shout at the turns.

It was a harder ride than I thought, the main reason is that we had 80% of the ride with head or cross winds. I hate them both in equal terms because I suck at riding into the wind. I never got the hang of it and get frustrated quite easily. I held my form and told the guys that I would have nothing for the second part of the ride where the ondulations are. I was not that far behind, but I was pushing harder than the other bastards. In the process I took the wrong turn at one point and we rode 6km into two big hills to a dead end street. LOL.

The last 20km were annoying enough but it all went OK once we got to a ridge that overlooks the lake. The place was busy as in pre-race mode, the world champs start time was for later in the day and there was plenty of crews coming and going and the midday sun gave it all a beautiful glare. I had my camera but was too concentrated in getting back to the truck and hanging the bike for good.

We did the last 10km into the wind with no troubles, and ran for 35minutes after. The legs were OK and the crowd in the streets were all nice to us thinking we were rowers in training, it was a fun run. So, not to confuse ambition with ability. I know I can ride 90km, but I knew in advanced I was going to push harder than the other two. What I didn't calculate was the wind factor and how much it would f---k me up, he he he.

Sunday was a lazier day and I got up at 7, went for a solo brick session. On the bike part I was happy to feel the legs were there. I saw another training buddy, Kev, doing his Sunday long ride so I modified my course and rode with him for a good quarter of an hour. Kev is a veteran IM but has a dodgy knee so now he just does Oly distance. He managed to kick my ass in a TT three months ago, not sure what drugs he take.

rest of the weekend is sofa time, reading and getting ready for November.

8 days to go - last night in my bed

I am so excited right now. It's eleven o'clock at night and I am not even tired. It's all the adrenaline of the packing and all the good things to come.

Today was a strange day. There was an earthquake on the South Island of NZ in the biggest city. Amazingly there weren't lives lost and most of the damage is to buildings. Christchurch is home to many of NZ toughest triathletes, many of the guys and girls in the team come from there and I hope they can all make it to Europe with no troubles.

Back to training news, we had our last brick session @ the pool and it was not that bad.

Until coach told us to get our bikes out and ride to a park nearby to do bike-run repeats. The park is a dead volcano that rises to about 90m above ground in the summit. Running there is a beauty, there's a farm being run from the park, and spring is lambing season, so it feels like trail running in the backcountry.

We were to do 2km bike lap, quick transition and run to the summit 3 times (about 1.5km). The bike was OK but a bit cold, I lost some time in transition and started my run trailing 10 seconds to my training buddies Carl and Martin. I never cought up. On the last 300m I heard a clapping noise and cheers with my name coming from a teahouse that sits in the sidewalk and there they were all the wives (including coachs') giving us the support we needed to finish the session.

It was all a setup by coach. There weren't bike run repeats after the first one and we all proceeded to have a winter-training farewell breakfast. I went for the muesli, but it proved to be the bad choice because Coach decided it was a good time to shout us a beer and we couldn't refuse.
Muesli and beer is champion's breakfast!

The rest of the day was packing, printing, ticking, talking and it just flew by. I wish I had time for a quick run, but it just didn't happen. Better luck next time.

We're up at half five tomorrow, so I better go and have some rest. It will be the last sleep in my own bed and I'm not gonna miss it. The bedroom has been so cold lately that even taking a 2pm siesta is a nightmare.
We're flying 10 hours to Brunei, then another 16 to London where we stop for a day. I shall be able to update our trips' progress.

Spesh for a day

According to the cheap HR Max calculator, today my HR Max has gone one beat slower. It's a real shame that by being one year older I probably jeopardized my goals in the world champs race. LOL


Same as last year, I kind of celebrated and kind of not. Last night was not a really late one. We had to finish our essays for uni, update blogs and diaries and then get ready for today. We skipped the swim in the morning (birthday treat= lay in) and off to work a couple of hours later. To be fair, I'd like to have a big feed, a decent couple of glasses of red and go to bed late. But I can't afford any of the above at this time of training so it will all wait for a month. And comes Sept 23rd we'll all pretend it is still August.

Work has been indredibly busy, so I've been sitting my arse in front of the computer for most of the day. I managed to do a make up swim at midday and that's pretty much it.

we've got just over two weeks of training left. The next 5 days are an "easy week" today's swim was cruizy and I treated myself with 3 tries to get a 50m PB on the pool. Back in the day in the pre triathlon era I did a 29secs. That's over 3 years ago and it still persists as my 50m pb. Even though I was "spesh for a day" I failed in my endeavours. the first try was a decent 33, the second was a 35 and the last one a 31. No doubut I'm older and slower.

I redeemed myself in tonight's coopers' test. Cooper's tests are good on an easy week because it's a lot of hard work, but it's done and dusted in 12 minutes. Today I tried the red bull shots again and I'm not 100% sure to give the energy drink a credit. But I got a big time PB. My advances in Cooper's tests are usually in the 10 to 20 metres field. Today I got 50m over my best ever PB. I'm over the moon!. Unfortunately I didn't have my good mate Reado to push each other, otherwise I'm sure we'd broken the 3700m mark.

Over and out, it's time for cake and three wishes

Date: 23 Aug
Sport: Swimming/Running
Time: 45min/55min (12min)
Dist: 2km/8.5km (3685m)
Comment: for the 12 min: HR Av. 89% HR Max 95%. There's still room for improvement!

DNF the amateurs' big No-No

Sunday was a day off before a hard week. I made the most of my day off by catching up with some uni reading (more sleep time for the week), tidying up the house (we’re both studying, so housekeeping has lost priority) and getting myself a rain jacket for the first time in 3 years as a triathlete. (Gear review tomorrow)I also went to the see the Time Trial of the tour de Fance with many other athletes from the tri club. It was a pretty cool day.

I also tried to follow some of the many races in the northern hemisphere, I followed IM Lake Placid, The ITU world championship series and I’m still looking forward to catch up with some of other bloggers’ race reports. (IMLP1, IMLP2)

The men’s race in London was pretty interesting, there were a few Kiwis I was expecting to see go hard, but certainly not Clark Ellice. He had a solid race and finished top new Zealander. Olympic medallist Bevan Docherty had another DNF following last week’s. Gemmel looked strong and on the way up. I think he is on track for a good finish at the Budapest race. Many other guys appear to be in top racing form, wich is a bit of a worry as they may not be able to carry that top form for five weeks till the grand final.

I was once at a talk that Docherty was giving on an Adidas store and asked him if he ever regrets DNF’ing. He said he never does, because many times the decision prove to be the correct ones for his training and overall goals for the year. I guess that if you race as often as this guys do DNF’ing is less of an issue as it is for many of us weekend warriors. By not doing a 30min 10km he may have saved fitness to invest in more training and be able to race 29.30km later on (but there is a twist to it, because when you DNF you don’t get points for your National Team, so you cut your Olympic and World Cup spots… interesting, hum?)

I only did one DNF, and it still hurts, for many reasons.

The first one is that because it was the first race of the season I missed the chance to have a benchmark for later in year. The second one is that I could have continued as I was physically OK. And finally, it was a waste, as I could have learned a hell of a lot, should I continued racing. But one thing I learned for sure. Unless I’m seriously ill or injured, I will never ever quit a race again. I s’posse you have to go through one at some time in racing. A second thought on this one also said that it's good also not to DNF on training workouts, something I am occasionally guilty of.

Today was a hard swim and it is all uphill for the rest of the week. I couldn’t be more pleased,

Date: 26 July

Sport: Swimming/Running

Time: 60min/60min
Dist: 3.2km / 8km
Comment: we changed the 4x2200m run in 7.5min to an easier workout thanks to a freak weather bomb that dropped 7 degrees of air temperature in 20min just before we started running