A Triathletes Journey to Ironman & Beyond

Let's talk the p's!

2012-02-05T15:45:00.002+11:00

No, not the toilet stop variety.

The 5 p's as Fos (aka Dad) would say.

Preparation

Prevents

Piss

Poor

Performance

The biggest factor in doing what we do (endurance sports) is preparation! With preparing properly for the race you are targeting, more often than not you will achieve the goal you set out to achieve.

Over the last few weeks, the talk of Ironman Melbourne has been massive around these parts, but also the excuses about not being able to train have followed.

It is too Hot.

It is too Windy.

I hope it is not this hot at Melbourne

etc

etc.

Now, I understand that Melbourne can get quiet hot & windy, but what I cannot understand is why people shy away from the fact that they have to train in it. To be successful at the race you are aiming for, you have to be prepared for the potential conditions it will throw at you.

Other Ironman & 70.3 races around the world are far harder than what Melbourne can provide and these races sell out just as fast.

In the preparation, with what I found out whilst being in Hawaii for 4 weeks prior to the race was you need to suffer, hurt then suffer and hurt some more to fully prepare for the worst conditions on race day. I remember riding along the Queen K in training, hating the world at 15-18kph wondering what the heck I was doing here. By doing this, it still gave me the confidence to have a crack on race day and no matter what I was going to be able to get through. The end result....4hr 43min + change ride.

With the run, exactly the same. Why constantly run in the early part of the day when the sun is not as it's hottest when most of us will be running in the race from 1pm onwards right through until midnight. Surely this is when you need to be training, when you are racing. It will eliminate the reason why you didn't have a good race as you will be ready to run during that time. I can assure you that the race won't be switched around so that you can ride & run in the morning out of the conditions.

I did sooo many runs in the heat of the afternoon in Hawaii and once again suffered on many many days (just read my blog from September last year), but once race day arrived, I once again was ready for this and when the temp hit 53 deg Celsius along Ali'i Drive, I was ready for it as I had experienced it before. The end result....3hr 15min A pb of 5 min over the Ironman Marathon distance.

I am not one to give many of my training hints or secrets away, but this one, I just think that it is that simple that it is not a secret. It still just astounds me how many people shy away from training in the potential conditions that you could be racing in.

Make sure you are properly hydrated and carry enough fluid to keep you that way. Even plan your run/ride so that there are adequate stops along the way! I also noticed that my nutrition intake was so much different by training in the times that I am expecting to race in. Food for thought?

Just next time you think about avoiding the heat or wind, just ask yourself... What are the potential conditions for my race?

It might just change the timing of your training for the better!

The other part of the preparation is knowing the course, doing a course recon is also advantageous as you get to understand a whole lot more about it than looking at a course profile. Knowing what gear ratio to use, both for climbing and descending is important along with knowing road surface for tyre choice. If it is flat, undulating or hilly, how long the hills climb for. There is a whole lot more to preparing than reading the athlete handbook. If you know other who have done the course previously, ask them. You can never ask too many questions to get the most information for yourself.

Don't forget, doing the right preparation will lead to the right result!!

This one is for you Mum (25/12/53 - 25/03/07)...

X-Man

The Coach..

2012-01-20T17:33:00.006+11:00

I know that I quite often talk about my program and my Coach Andrew Sinclair (Triathlon & Multisport coaching) so I thought that I would go into a bit more depth about this.

After my Ironman New Zealand 2010 not going according to what I was after (Kona slot) I researched no fewer that 10 coaches and contacting around 6 of them. Depending on the type of answer that I received I then followed up with a couple of them, Andrew included to decided which coach was going to help me reach my goal of getting to Hawaii.

After an hour or so phone call, Andrew was the guy for me. This was back in April 2010 and since then I haven't looked back. Andrew has got me to a 9hr 6min Ironman (WA 2010), 9hr 9min Hawaiian Ironman (2011), 4hr 11min 70.3 (Shep 2010), 4hr 8min 70.3 (Yeppoon 2011) & a 1hr 18min 1/2 Marathon (May 2011).

All of the above times with Andrew were an improvement of no less than 10min for each distance.

Where am I going with this?

Andrew is a very quiet guy who knows his stuff right down to the hour of training, takes every program seriously and ensures that he gets the program so customised for each individual that it would be almost impossible for that program to work for someone else. This has been the biggest thing that I learnt from Andrew as an athlete. I know that there has been no cut & paste, I don't have someone Else's build, just my own program that works for me.

So, back in May, I had a discussion with Andrew about going for my Level 1 Coaches accreditation and with the potential of working with him under the same principles to aid athletes that I could coach. A meeting was called and Mitch Pyers also joined the TMC coaching ranks and now there are 3 of us coaching many athletes from beginners to experiences athletes.

TMC has grown at a rapid rate from 15 odd athletes to well up near 40 in the last 12months. This is due to what TMC has been able to achieve.

Here are some examples:

2 x Hawaiian Ironman Qualifiers (2011, 2012)

1 x Hawaiian Ironman finisher (2011)

1 x 70.3 World Championship qualifier & finisher (2011)

6 + A/G winners over 70.3 distance

1 x Outright winner at Long course

Countless Pb's over all distances from top 10 age groupers to first timers.

2 x Top 50 overall at Ironman Distance

1 x Top 10 overall 70.3 distance

5 x sub 3hr Marathon Runners

Countless 1/2 & Marathon Finishers.

On top of these, multiple finishers across all distances ranging from sprint distance to Ironman distance racing.

2012 will be no different. Between the 3 coaches, we have no less the 10 1st time Ironman entrants along with a few trying their hand at Qualifying for Hawaii 2012 and I am 1 of them!

Triathlon & Multisport Coaching is growing fast and are gaining athletes on a consistent basis. If you are interested in contacting one of the 3 coaches feel free to contact here. One thing for sure, you won't be left disappointed regardless of your goal. I know I have been super impressed with TMC, hence why I was so keen to join the coaching and assist other athletes reach their goals.

Below is the "About Us" section from the TMC website:

WHO ARE TRIATHLON & MULTISPORT COACHING?

Established in 2008 and based in Melbourne, Triathlon and Multisport Coaching are a professional coaching group who aim to provide clients with the tools to achieve their athletic goals.

Triathlon and Multisport Coaching offer a variety of quality products and services to suit your individual circumstances, abilities and goals. We currently cater for beginner through to advanced athletes across all triathlon and multisport disciplines. Located in Melbourne's inner west, our coaches specialise in providing one-on-one style coaching sessions however with current athletes living as far away as Japan, coaching by correspondence is also an option.

Whether it is your very first fun run or your latest marathon, Triathlon and Multisport Coaching can tailor a program for you.

OUR COACHING TEAM

Over the past 20 years Triathlon and Multisport Coaching’s coaches have acquired a vast array of knowledge and personal experience as both athletes and coaches. Collectively the coaches at Triathlon and Multisport Coaching have completed multiple Ironman triathlons, including Hawaii and represented Australia at World Championship level. Coaches at TMC are still actively involed in triathlon & multisport events, this includes racing at all levels up to Ironman as well as event management. This ensures they are up to date with ever changing training requirements and techniques.

Click to view coach profiles:

Andrew Sinclair

Xavier Coppock

Mitchell Pyers

OUR ADMINISTRATION TEAM

Triathlon and Multisport Coaching are very lucky to have the support of a great network of administration staff who assist in everything from designing our clothing range to organising group training sessions. They are the behind the scenes people who often go unmentioned however at Triathlon and Multisport Coaching we are very proud to have Scott Harvey, Bill Sinclair & Megan Sinclairon the team, helping out when and where they can.

Feel free to have a good look around the site and contact TMC if you require any assitance.

This one is for you mum (25/12/53 - 25/3/07)...

X-Man

A little motivation...

2012-01-17T17:33:00.000+11:00

I have seen this before, however I thought that I would add them as a constant reminder for motivation.

The best line in these is:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

The guy who finished 2nd

The guy who finished 2nd who?

The moral is, no-one remembers 2nd place, give it your all and leave nothing behind.

Hope you got a few goosebumps from these, I know I did!

This one is for you mum (25/12/53 - 25/3/07)...

X-Man

Back on program!

2012-01-16T19:32:00.003+11:00

So, structure has returned. The Master Coach Andrew, (TMC) has been hard at it again with me. I say hard at it due to the fact that I am suffering a niggle that just won't go away. Through treatment almost daily and rest, I could not shake it. Next option??

Manage it the best I can and get on with it! Enter Andrew. He has the tough job of serving me up a program that will get me in the best shape to have a crack at Qualifying for Hawaii again at Ironman Melbourne. I have no doubt that this will be challenging for him, however I once again have no doubt that he will come through with the goods again.

So whilst this was happening, I set about ticking off my New Year's resolutions.

1. Join a swim squad.

2. Core work.

Well I have ticked off the first one, I have joined a swim squad and have committed to 2 sessions per week for now. Soon to be 3 once I am back going well.

The core work will kick in later this week, so hoping by the end of the week I have started the ball rolling to getting faster in the swim and stronger in the core.

Have you started yours?

I don't have much else to report at this stage, so won't bore you any more.

This one is for you mum (25/12/53 - 25/3/07)...

X-Man

2012 - Doing it for Mum!!

2012-01-02T11:42:00.004+11:00

Yep, that's my motivation for 2012!

Why this year and not any other? Because this year is special, really special to me. By the time Ironman Melbourne comes around, it will be 5 yrs to they day that she passed away.

25/3/2012 is the 5th year anniversary that I have been motherless! Not only me but my brother and sister also.

The same lady that was proud of me turning my life around from being a 125kg unfit fat ratbag into a dedicated athlete who is loving life!

With this added motivation and the lost mojo that I have recently found, there will be:

I have started the year well with a pain free run (35min) and a 100k ride to date and later in the week I will commence swimming (more on that later!).

I get back on a structured program soon, however I know that the time this comes around I will be fit and ready to go.

The training has been fantastic right now, getting no less then 6 others to train with and I can assure everyone that the spirit has been amazing and the banter just as fun. Having guys travel from 100k's away and leaving at 4.30am for a 6am start just shows the company that I am with. I am loving it. When a few others get back from holidays, into the swing of it I know that there will be 10 or more for most sessions.

What more could someone want? To train with like minded athletes who not only can assist with training but create a moral that other can only wish they were apart of!! If you want to be, you can be!!

Now being the start of the year, we all make New Year Resolutions, many are unrealistic and unattainable, however mine are the opposite. They are simple and only be described as affective (if i can complete them regularly!) They are:

1. Join a swim squad. Already onto this and can't wait to get going.

2. Start doing some core work.

After the training camp last year, it was evident that there are few people around who have a strong core. This will only aid in my improvements for the year.

That is all that I have decided to do and having the drive that I have for the year, I will be happy to tick them off.

What are yours? Are they achievable? Or are you setting goals that you will be unable to tick off? If so, it is not too late to change them to give you something within reach to achieve.

I find that when you set the bar too high (out of reach) you only set yourself up for failure, lower the bar (in the short term) achieve those goals and then go get the higher bar. At the end of the day if you don't reach your goals, you have to ask yourself...why?

Or on the other hand:

And just go do it!

I am also going to change my sign off for the year as I have had the same one since I started. 2012 is the year for my Family as many amongst us have Big plans. I will have 2 more nieces or nephews just for starters! My year is going to be special and I can't wait to get it going, really going.

This one is for you mum (25/12/53 - 25/3/07)...

X-Man

Goodbye 2011!!

2011-12-31T17:08:00.003+11:00

A brief Blog to fare well 2011.

I have 1 amazing year in every way, shape and form. I plan to not only replicate this in 2012, but to raise the bar to the next level.

I started back on the bike post Christmas and have ridden 80+ k's each day to get my legs back. Today hurt in the hills with Tom, Benny, Jas, Arch & Trav, however has let me know where they are at!

I have managed 1 run this week (Boxing day) and got through 45min without hassle. I decided to have the rest off the year off (oh, I love that saying!) and start afresh in 2012.

The Swimming starts Next Year and I am looking forward to getting back into the water.

2012 is going to be BIG for me and I will reveal more when the time comes...(hehehehe tomorrow!). I have set my N.Y resolutions (very achievable) and look forward to getting those processes in place.

Once again, thanks for following my journey, supporting me and cheering me on, especially when the going has been tough as times. I hope that I have given an inside to my training/racing world and look forward to sharing it all again in the New Year.

Last For Now (in 2011)...

X-Man

PS. I hope your 2011 has been wonderful, however your 2012 makes your 2011 small when you look back :)

Also, was just looking through my data for the year and is interesting to compare from the previous year.

Swim Bike Run

2010 316k's 10,296.44k's 2,227.71k's

2011 448.85k'a 9,920 k's 3,055k's

So I swam & Ran more and rode 300 odd k's less, interesting to see the gains in races due to the allocated training! I WILL keep running!

Look what I found...

2011-12-29T12:08:00.005+11:00

Yes, I have finally found it.

I have changed my mindset and have got back to basics and just purely enjoyed the training. I have only been riding to date as my feet are not quite 100% yet and swimming is for the new year.

Being on the bike 4 times within the last 5 days and averaging around 80k's per ride, I am feeling great about it. Being around my mates for every session and really laughing and having fun reminded me of why I started in triathlons.

Yesterday we had 8 of us out on the road, the conversation was high and the mood was great. I has been resigned to the fact that I have well and truly completed my last run in 2011, that was a few days back and will now introduce the swim & run back into the training in 2012.

The support that I received once again exceeds my expectations and one that I can only continue to thanks everyone for. The next few weeks, once I get fitter, I will be back out there supporting everyone else.

I have even committed to riding some hills on Saturday with a few lads and I know that session will really hurt!!

Anyway, everything is back where I wanted it to be and I am really happy for it.

For now...

X-Man

Looking for my Mojo.

2011-12-21T08:24:00.009+11:00

So after a massive year and rewarding all in itself, I sit here wondering how I am going to find it again. I have thought on many occasions that I could get going again, however there is just something missing.

Like previous years, I have had my traditional "let the hair down" nights on the town and unfortunately this year, that hasn't helped. It has been a mere 2 1/2 weeks since Phuket and I have only been able to achieve 1 small swim in the bay with a few lads.

It is not as if I don't have any goals for the future in the world of Triathlon, as Ironman Melbourne will have a greater personal relevance to me than any other race that I have done/will ever do. (More on that next year!)

Right now, it is bizarre, I am not eating the house down, I am conscious of maintaining my body weight so when (if) the time comes to get back into it, I will be able to without lugging around a few extra potato sacks. Last time I put on a total amount of 10kgs post Ironman, this time I have put on 5kgs. In fact I am back to my previous Ironman race weight pre-Kona.

When will the time come when I actually:

and get back to it??

Well one thing is for sure, I am not going to rush it, be forced into it or regret the time that I start. As with previous sports, once the enjoyment has gone I just simply walk away from it.

What is different about this sport compared to the basketball, football & tennis that I played to name a few, I do have a great passion for Triathlons whether it be in the form of competing or coaching.

I have been searching for "that 1 thing" that is going to get me going again. Maybe it is purely and simply a massive:

To get me back on track. Maybe I just need to go back and enjoy the company of my mates, forget about my goals and just enjoy the main reason to be in this sport.

I know one thing for sure, having a little niggle hasn't helped my cause. The little niggle called plantar fasciitis has been driving me crazy for just over 1 month now. That has definately aided is removing the drive. For those who are unaware what it is, check the following picture:

It is a pain that is constantly there as soon as you are on your feet (which makes day to day living uncomfortable). I am on the road to recovery and just can't quite shake the last part of it. Treatment twice a day is helping, however just not getting me over the line.

Anyway, enough of the negatives, I am going to find myself a positive and get back into. Let's start Saturday and then see what Santa brings me for Xmas....one of these would be nice.

For now...

X-Man

I know that below is so true.

Phuket 70.3 - not the way I was hoping to end 2011

2011-12-12T17:48:00.003+11:00

But that's life.

Everyone has a bad race and this was mine. 2011 has still been an amazing year for me.

My first Hawaiian Ironman, 9hrs 9min (67th overall, 12th in a/g (1st aussie in a/g))

My first Overall Race win - Murray Man (SA long course championships)

Another a/g race win at Yeppoon 70.3 (which also included my first Top 10 overall)

Becoming a coach and loving every minute of it.

These have clearly been the highlights for me along with many other smaller achievements along the way.

Am I disappointed about the way the year ended? Of course I am, I wouldn't be doing what I do if I wasn't looking to improve on my previous races every time. The time, money and lifestyle invested in the sport which I never regret, however to have a poor performance definately makes you sometimes re-evaluate why I do this.

Phuket 70.3 was one of the most enjoyable races for me (performance aside) and one that I will have on my race calendar again in the future.

The dual swim, the ride through small villages with children screaming with support, dismounting to cross the highway, the hills (yes I did walk up 2 of them!) and finally the run course. Nothing can be faulted with this race. Throw in Monsoonal rain and I am pretty sure that I experienced every possible thing in one race.

I was really happy with my swim, being a non-wetsuit swim, I was able to hang onto the lead a/g pack for most of the swim and when I exited the first part of the swim course I could see the leaders diving into the lagoon. I exited the water in 8th in my a/g and was very happy with this.

Going from the very salty ocean (saltier than Kona) into a fresh water lagoon was an experience. You have no floatation in the lagoon and the water was very warm. It was not the refreshing feeling that I was expecting at all.

Once I got into T1, I was really happy with the way I felt. Getting onto my trusty and fast stead, knowing that my SCHNELL CARBON WHEELS were going to help me achieve the ride I once again was searching for. Catching upto the lead a/g pack happened after 25-30k's I felt really happy with how every thing was going.

Climbing some hills I was still really happy with how I was going and the gears that I decided on. This changed once we climbed the 2nd and 3rd hills. Don't get me wrong, the hills are not long, however they are steep. Having to get off my bike and walk up part of the 2nd hill was never in my expectations of this course, however I probably didn't give it the respect that it deserved either. There was a fantastic positive that occurred from this though. I was fortunate enough to ride with 6 time Ironman World Champion - Natascha Badmann.

This is not an opportunity that you get every day, so I made the most of it having a chat to her at every opportunity.

Heading back into T2, I knew that I had made big inroads into the leaders of my a/g, I was unaware that I was first off the bike in my a/g though. My legs felt great and as I headed off onto the run, I was confident of still being able to have a good run and hopefully gain another spot for the Hawaiian Ironman. Getting through the first few k's on track, my body decided that I was not going to be able to hold this pace until the end.

I had to walk, in discomfort and as I saw my main rivals run past I knew that Phuket would not be my ticket back to the Big Island in October. I tried to run every so often, however the discomfort would not go away and was confined to walking and talking to most people that I saw.

Another highlight of my day was when Michael Raelert ran past on his way to victory, I was applauding him. He not only acknowledged the fact that I was cheering him on, he returned the favour and encouraged me to start running again. With this encouragement I really had no choice but to start my run again. I think this time I ran for 1k, however I could not shake my discomfort and settled back into a Sunday stroll.

I managed to get to the finish line, feeling very weird. Knowing that I was in physically good shape, however having a few issues in the weeks prior and race day left me feeling rather empty. The race and experience was amazing and 1 race that I will be enjoying again.

I have now shut up shop for a few weeks to reflect on the year that I have had and also to sort out a few minor issues that my body has struck lately. I really can't wait to get back training for 2012 and I will make it my goal to have 2012 a bigger and better year that 2011.

For now...

X-Man

The race report from the local Paper in SA!

2011-11-25T11:04:00.002+11:00

Just a brief little update...

You can view the race report here from the local paper over there!

Besides getting chronic heel pain over the last few weeks, things are slowly getting better. The race last weekend was a great hit out for the next couple.

The feet are on the improve, whilst the motivation is slowly starting to rise, hoping by next weekend things are back to 100%!!

Anyway, off to plan for the weekend.

For now...

X-Man

My First Race Win!!

2011-11-22T11:40:00.003+11:00

It seems like so long since my last blog entry. A lot of things have happened since then.

I had my first race back since Kona at Shepparton 70.3 in a Team with Fossil (aka Dad) and Justin. The swim was my duty for the day and without really having any swimming since Kona (3 times in the week leading in) it was going to hurt. I managed a 28min 33sec swim for the 1.9k which I was happy with although after running into Transition, I don't think Fos was happy with me vomiting on his feet before he headed out on the bike!!

Dad rode a very strong 2hr 24min which improved our position by 6-7 spots heading into the run.

Justin headed out onto the run after backing up from a fine 2hr 57min Melbourne Marathon a few weeks back and ran our team into 4th for the day. A great first race back for us!

So, after this race I headed across the South Australia to race the Murray Man race over a long course distance 2/80/20. Without and real expectations for this race I just wanted a solid race before my next hit out.

The swim was very similar to Shepparton as it was in a lake with minimal visibility. I got out of the water with the lead pack in around 30min 30sec (splits to be confirmed) and headed out onto the bike course. Little did I know that I had a good T1 and was 3rd onto the bike course. Following strict instructions from Andy (super coach), I rode within myself and after 50k's decided that I was not going to destroy myself in this race as I have bigger fish to fry soon.

Getting off the bike in around 2hrs 4min (tbc) I knew that I was about 4min down on the leader heading onto the run. My plan for the run was to go out hard for the first 5k's and then switch off and save the legs. If I could hang onto 2nd for the day I would be happy. After the first lap, I really settled back and started to plod along.

Getting time splits from my support crew, I was informed that I was only 2min down with 10k's to go. This really surprised me as I never thought that I could run time into him. So, I picked up the pace a little and thought that I might as well have a bit of a crack. With 5k to go, I was only 1min 15sec down as per the Commentator and with Paul & co giving me massive encouragement I thought that I might as well try to win this race.

I managed to hit the lead with 2k to go and then hit the wall. Had a little walk and got going again. With about 1k to go I knew that I was no longer the hunter and was getting hunted at a rapid rate. I kept turning around to see my gap and had to give it one last crack to stay in front.

I managed to hold on and take my first ever overall race win. I was so elated and over the moon considering that I was using this as a race to sharpen myself up for my next adventure.

It was a fantastic weekend and with Tom Rodgers taking out the 1/2 Murray Man, it was a great day all round.

Male - Murray Man - Berri- Barmera Council

Place Race No Name Division DivP Time

1 89 Xavier Coppock M30-34 1 4:08:20
2 3 Kevin Fergusson EliteMen 1 4:08:49
3 78 James Duffy M25-29 1 4:09:45
4 73 Toby Richardson M25-29 2 4:17:39
5 75 Adriano Pavia M25-29 3 4:19:41
6 4 Nick Muxlow EliteMen 2 4:21:11
7 113 Michael Hogben M45-49 1 4:23:24
8 108 Shaun Richards M40-44 1 4:24:21
9 138 Nathan Mercurio M25-29 4 4:27:36
10 76 Sean Kinchington M25-29 5 4:28:05
11 5 Philip Lean EliteMen 3 4:30:39
12 90 Rhys Davie M30-34 2 4:32:05

For now it is back to training and preparing myself to try and get back to the Big Island.

X-Man

PS... A HUGE congrates to fellow training partner Greg Farrell who tore apart IMAZ on the weekend in 9hr 12min to Qualify for his first Hawaiian Ironman. Fingers crossed I can join him agian!

It has been a relaxing few weeks!

2011-11-02T13:42:00.003+11:00

Well, 3 weeks after the big event, I am feeling refreshed and ready to go.

I conducted a training camp over the long weekend which saw the commencement of my training also. I am mentally raring to go, but the body is still just a little way off. I had to be careful about how much I did as it would have been easy to get carried away with the training. The 3 days was perfect for all involved also and the feedback was terrific. Just makes the next camp more exciting and with bigger plans, it will also be a success!!

It was really pleasing to see everyone have a massive crack at the training and it was really enjoyable. I am meeting with Andrew tonight to commence a structured program for my next crack at the racing. I have a few more races pencilled in for the remaining of the year and one that actually is one this weekend. A sprint race.... Not really looking forward to it due to the high end intensity, however being over in around the 1 hr mark makes it appealing.

I have enjoyed the "social" training that I have been doing of late and am well and truly ready to get going again. I have bigger plans for next year and can't wait to lock them in after tonight's meeting.

The blogging will also kick back into gear on a more regular basis again.

For now...

X-Man

Below are some more random pics from Hawaii...courtesy of little sis!!

Back to reality!

2011-10-19T14:26:00.002+11:00

And....not really liking it!

After a wonderful 5 weeks of my life capped off by a race that I will never forget, it was time to get my life back to normality. This included finding my work attire, heading into the office, having meetings and trying to catch up on 5 weeks of absence.

Catching up with mates has been great and also hearing about how they have done at various events over the last few weeks. To see a few break 3hrs in the Melbourne Marathon was great to hear and also to hear how the guys that I am coaching perform better than expected at the same race also put a smile on my face.

Like with anything, the more time you are away, the more you need to do to catch up. Organising work appointments, athlete appointments, social catch ups along with starting to ball rolling again with my training has to all fit in there somehow.

Throw in planning a training camp, my upcoming race schedule and a few other things, the remaining part of the year will be over before I know it.

One thing that I did learn after my previous Ironman is although it is great to socialize and be merry, however the weight you gain is very hard to lose. Last time I had 5 weeks of absolutely nothing apart from great food, beer & company. This time I am going to mix social training in amongst the other two and just have fun.

Catching up with the "usual suspects" over the next few days and hearing how they have been going will be my highlight and I am hoping to be able to see everyone very soon.

Once again I can only thank everyone for their support and I look forward to more to come in the future.

For now...

X-Man

Part 2: The Bike & Run

2011-10-13T04:25:00.011+11:00

The bike:

Getting onto my Stead out of transition and knowing that my swim wasn't the best meant that I was going to need a strong ride to have the race that I wanted. Leaving the transition I first heard the support crew and then saw them. I instantly smiled and the slowish swim was instantly forgotten! I was going to have a great fun day.

Up the first section of Palani, around the first little lap and I could see that there was sooooo many athletes in front of me. Seeing a "GO X-MAN" sign from Billy & Family instantly had the smile firmly planted on my face. After seeing all the support crew twice, I was out on the Queen K. What was this day going to hold for me?

The scenery up the road was just a long line of riders. I started to pass them one by one, group by group. Knowing that I had a few bad rides whilst I was in training meant that I just rode to my capabilities without over - riding. My heart rate was in check and I was feeling really good. I was just going to continue at this rate as I was confident that I could maintain this effort the entire ride.

Still passing cyclist at regular intervals, I started to look for athletes that I knew to try and gauge how far back that I was. Heading up to Hawi, I started to see the regular faces. I caught Hayden Armstrong and had a quick chat to him about the day and how the legs were going. Passing Leigh Chapman a bit further up the road meant that I was not far from the lead guys in my a/g. Into Hawi, I had a quick stop to zip up my suit before the descent down.

Getting my special needs bag, I loaded up my drink bottles, ate the banana and then started the ride back into town. Hitting 70kph on the way down and seeing the same guys I had passed meant that I was going over twice as far at the same time and if I could maintain this I was pretty confident that I was going to have a great ride!

Turning back onto the Queen K, I caught a few more Aussies that I know and was really happy with the position that I was in. 55k to go and time to get one back on the Queen from the roasting she gave me a few weeks earlier.

The oncourse nutrition wasn't doing me any favours throughout the day and if I had any more than a small mouthful, I was spewing this up on me. I started on Coke early and along with my own nutrition this was working really well. Grabbing water at every aid station worked well as I was able to keep myself cool.

Getting back into town, knowing that I had a solid ride (my 2nd fastest in the 5 Ironmans I have raced) I saw that support crew again and was grinning once again. The calculations actually started entering my head wondering if I could actually break 9hrs here on my first go. I knew that I would have to run a HUGE pb to achieve this, however was a low 3hr marathon possible. Probably not.

Dismounting my bike, giving it to the volunteers and the run into Transition, my legs felt really strange. Not sore, but strange. Nothing that they have ever felt like after a ride before. Sitting in the tent, getting my nutrition down and headed out onto the run. I gave a few high 5's on the way out and then thought, "let's see how my legs are going to go!"

The run up the first part of Palani was ok and then headed down towards Ali'i drive for the first time. Getting onto Ali'i drive I was already on top of my nutrition and hydration as I knew that I didn't want to be walking much later in the day. The day was a very hot one and this made me very conscience of keeping cool. The race suit was amazing and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to wear it.

Ticking along at a steady pace of 4min 30sec per k for the first half of the marathon I was feeling really good. The first sign of a slight chink in the armour was coming out of the energy lab. I had to walk the last 200m up onto the Queen K. This didn't faze me as I was still having a great day!!

On the way back along the Queen K I knew that is was going to be close whether or not I could go under my qualifying time of 9hr 6min. The legs then started to signs of a long day out in the lava fields as I started to walk every aid station, from there it became the occasional walk between.

Matty Burton caught up to me and we encouraged each other up the last hill before the turn onto Palani for the last mile. I had to walk for one last time (i think the total count was 3 other than aid stations) for about 50m and once I got to the summit, I knew that I was home! With the last mile in front of me, I just started to smile knowing that I had conquered the Hawaiian Ironman and with the added bonus of being in good time.

Turning off Palani, I saw Billy, Gail & co and gave Billy the biggest High 5 that I could! The smile on my face for the support that they gave me was evident. I thanked every other person that congratulated me for the last mile also.

From here I started to turn around as I really wanted the finish chute to myself. One guy was running close behind me so I waved him through. He understood as he gave me a massive high 5 on the way passed and congratulated me on my race in the little English he spoke. Running down Ali'i drive in to the finish chute was absolutely amazing and I really wanted to cherish that moment.

Matty stopped and waited and asked if we should finish together as we had trained with each other here and supported each other out on the battle fields. I said that it was a good idea, but not today. I told him to go forward and I would follow him in. Little did I know he won his a/g in the 20-24 age category.

Coming closer to the finish line I had one last look still to see no-one behind me. Crossing the line with my arms raised was a massive sense of accomplishment as I had fulfilled a dream from many years ago. Not only did I fulfill it by finishing the race, but by having a time that I never thought was possible in this race made the day even more special.

Once crossing the line and walking off the ramp, feeling surprisingly good, I just wanted to see my family and say thanks for all the support. Seeing them so over whelmed with happiness instantly brought tears into my eyes and I gave everyone of them a massive cuddle and thanks.

To see 9hrs and 9min on the clock was an astonishing feeling and knowing that I had run a pb in the Marathon in those conditions was also awesome (3hr 15min).

I have so many people to thank with regards to helping me have such an amazing day out there from the people who made the journey onto the big island to all the support back home from friends, family and training partners.

The person that really made this dream a reality is my coach Andrew Sinclair (TMC) for the carefully constructed training program to suit myself and lifestyle in the build up and then for the most beneficial training program whilst I spent 4 weeks here preparing. Without this expertise the last 18months in preparation for this race would not have had the outcome that we both achieved. I can't say thanks enough to him and the words "manlove" & "bromance" spring to mind.

The other parties that played a really significant role must be acknowledged also.

Scott from XOSize Active, for the support along the way with also providing the best and coolest custom suit that I have ever raced in. Not a single bit of chaffing from this and one that I will add that if you are serious about performing in these conditions, you are crazy if you don't use one!

Karl from Schnell Carbon Wheels, although it has been a very short time being a partnership, the way that the wheels were organised for me was outstanding and then being backed up with the outstanding quality exceeded all my expectations. I never thought that I would ever ride a 4hr 43min at Kona and I must add that these wheels played a massive part.

There have been other people who have contributed to these results and due to being so many of you, it is hard to list you all. I am looking forward to working not only with my existing partnerships, but also forming new ones along the way.

Now is time to enjoy the rest & recovery before I look to my schedule over the summer months and my assault on both IM Melbourne & IM Port Maquarie. Is sub 9 a dream or can I make it a reality?

For now...

X-Man

9hr 9min Kona Finisher!

1.04hr Swim

3min T1

4h 43min Ride

3min T2

3hr 15min Run

The Race Day Report... Part 1 Pre-Race & Swim

2011-10-13T03:39:00.008+11:00

Wow, wow, wow!!

To sit here and try and write my feelings about the race is going to be hard. There were so many emotions that I had throughout the day. ALL of them positive!

I will try and remember the days events as I have been jotting down notes over the last few days so that I try to include everything! There will be a whole lot more photos added when I get home as I know plenty of people who took photos through out the day and will obtain a copy.

Here goes:

Awaking at 3.58am race morning was gold as my alarm was set for 4am and I knew that I had a great night sleep although I did wake a few times to go to the toilet (Hydration was on song!).

Eating my usual Jam & banana sandwiches for breakfast, washed down with a few coffees things were looking sweet. The support crew arrived at 4.30am, which instantly made me nervous. Nothing that they did, but having them that early could only mean one thing. It was RACE DAY!

I had been really good in the lead up, a little snappy at times (as we all are in race week) but overall, I didn't really feel that I was like previous races. As someone did tell me over here, I have nothing to prove, nothing to Qualify for as I am here at the BIG DANCE! Go enjoy the race for what it was going to throw at me.

Talking to Andrew pre-race about tactics was a surprise as he said nothing different as far as the way he wanted me to race. "Just race like you have raced every other race, that seemed to work right?" I couldn't really argue with that now, could I? The only different thing that Andrew said to me was along the lines of, "Just make sure whatever you do, you smile, smile at everyone you know, everyone that supports you and just smile because you deserve to have a good race and you are racing the World Ironman Championships"

Done deal. That was going to be my motto for the day. Smile!

So with that in mind, I was going to make my day fun. This started in the morning when Paul decided that he was going to support me the best way he could.....Wear the same getup! Now I do have the same race suit and due to getting 2 race numbers in the race bag this was possible. I knew that if I saw him throughout the day, I would not only smile, but laugh.

Check the pic:

He was going to be hard to miss!! We knew that he would get some funny looks, however that's what mates do!! And I loved it!

After a few little antics, the nerves were building rapidly. I did warn the family about my pre-race nerve routine....A vomit here and there, I just didn't realise that it would happen so early this race. Off to the bathroom, 2 vomits and done, feeling better.

We then strolled down towards the race start and this was just an amazing feeling, an amazing place to go to knowing that I was going to race. Going through race numbering was amazing, getting those famous stamps on my arms made this race have just a little more than previous races. After all, this is where we all want to race.

Getting to my bike to inflate the tyres, something went wrong. My tyres wouldn't inflate. No air would go into my tyres....enter a fair bit of panic here.....I checked my watch, 5.30am, ok I still have time to get it fixed. Going to find the bike mechanic, he was unsure what the issue was, so he simply grabbed my wheel off my bike and ran off with it. GONE, there I was standing with my bike, with no front wheel. Unsure how long he was going to take, all I could do was wait, and that I did, wait.

15min gone, 20min gone and I was still waiting. The other mechanic told me that even if he was back by the time the swim started my bike would be in place by the time I got out of the water. Now that would have been a fun swim, wondering if my bike was going to be there with 1 or 2 wheels, am I going to be able to race etc. Um nope, I couldn't handle that. I tried to continue my pre-race routine, eating and drinking my nutrition.

25min gone and still not back. I was now asking about what time the transition closed. By now it was 6am and the pro's were starting at 6.30am. I still had 1 hour, but I like to really relax pre race. The mechanics came back, 30min had gone but he was back. He told me that he took the tyre off re-glued it and to be careful once I first get on the bike, especially around corners as it might roll off. That firmly in mind, I was just happy to see the bike fully assembled and with tyres fully inflated.

After getting the bike fully ready, I headed out to see the support crew for one last time before the race. Giving them all a hug, I started to tear up as I knew how proud they were of me getting here.

Time to get into the water...

Getting into the water, I headed left, away from the hustle and bustle. This was where I decided I wanted to swim. Heading over there warming my arms up, I was feeling really good. I allowed myself 15min in the water and with a mixture of sculling and freestyle, I was ready to go.

The cannon sounded and we were off. Off for the start of the Ironman World Championships, everything that I have trained for over the last few years was now a reality.

I had a great start, found some good feet and really worked my way into the swim. I started to swim passed a lot of people and then started wondering if I had started in the best place. The closest that I got to the buoys was 50m until the turn around point. I had a quick look at my watch as I was swimming around the boat, 31.14min, ok a fair bit slower then what I wanted but I was feeling good. I picked up the pace a little on the return and found myself picking off people left right and centre.

Heading back towards the pier I was feeling really good and was starting to think about the rest of the day. Getting out of the water in 1hr 4min was a little disappointing, however I was not going to let that destroy the fun I was going to have. I also knew that I had made an error in starting way too left, however, that was done and lets get ready to ride.

Into T1, was awesome, it was crowded and I loved it. A quick banana, sunscreen applied and off I went to find my bike. I was just hoping that the tyre were still inflated. A quick check and I was happy. Time to get this show on the road!!

Swim and T1 done.

For Now...

X-Man

Tomorrow is Game Day!!

2011-10-08T15:54:00.003+11:00

Wow!!

Time has gone so fast. Not long ago it felt like I was celebrating qualifying for this race.

Tomorrow is the day that I have been training for since. I am not going to blog long tonight.

A few interesting points about this race for me:

I am not as nervous as previous races, I have nothing to prove/gain or qualify for here. My goal is too have a solid race and enjoy the outcome whatever it may be. I want to go 9hrs ***mins and this will fulfill my goal. Obviously the lower the *** number the better, however a 9 as the hour is the plan.

I have been smashed on a few rides whilst I have been here and know that things can turn ugly at any stage, so I don't have any expectations what so ever.

I am really appreciating what I have achieved by getting here and am going to make sure that I enjoy the entire day from bike set up to race finish....and BEYOND ;-).

The way you are treated here leaves races at home for dead. No one judges you, it is all about respect as everyone with a competitors band on has earned the right to be here....All hand picked.

I cannot say enough that I have really enjoyed and appreciated the support that I have received form back home and also over here and will do my best to do you all proud!!

I am signing off now as full as a boot from carb loading (one thing that I dislike about racing IM) and next time you here from me I will have finished the HAWAIIAN IRONMAN. I have rehearsed my finish line celebration and my goal is to try and get on the finish video. (Some of you might have witnessed it at Busso 2010)

For now...

X-Man

Day 25: 2 sleeps to go

2011-10-08T03:30:00.004+11:00

So, with 2 sleeps to go, the welcome banquet is here. This signals the official opening of the Ironman.

Paul arrived today which was great to see him. The day consisted of nothing. The traditional rest day 2 days before the big event.

I had a few visitors throughout the day which was good and enjoyed the day of feet up.

We wondered down to the Bike expo on the way to the Welcome Dinner and there was some amazing bling there. I forgot to take my camera to take a pic of the new Shiv, but WOW. Internal drink bladder system amongst many other features!

The other amazing thing here is the bodies of both the guys & girls. The Europeans make us Aussies look very unfit and second rate. It is a real opener, especially seeing the girls....wow wee!

At the banquet dinner, Fos (aka Dad) told Paul that it doesn't rain here in Kona, with those words of wisdom, it caused the dinner to be washed out and the rain hasn't stopped since. It could make for an interesting day as with this rain, there is no wind and it is really cool outside. I wouldn't imagine that it will hang around for another night & day, but you never know. The only thing that I can tell that is when the sun comes out (if it does) it is going to be really really humid out there. Time will tell later.

I have a few small sessions this morning before I go and check my bike and gear in.

My Race Number is:

For now...

X-Man

Ps.....Paul decided to Model my race kit for me.....He almost looks like he could be an athlete!!

Day 23 & 24: Random Pics

2011-10-06T11:58:00.015+11:00

Just thought that I would post some pics as with taper, there really isn't much to report. The body is feeling well and everything is taking shape. I have been setting up my bike and adding the race numbers to relevant things. (Bike, race belt, helmet etc)

Below are pics in no particular order. They range from the pier being quiet to chockers, under water camera shots, the swim course, a really skinny fella, the parade of nations, advertisement for the undie run, the expo, the registration procedure and so much more!!

I will add some captions when I get a bit more time, probably tomorrow.

For now...

X-Man

Ps...Only 3 more sleeps until race day!!

Day 22: Fine tuning

2011-10-05T03:01:00.003+11:00

Have to love taper.

The feeling of regaining all that energy that I have put into my preparation. Knowing that there is only 1 more really long session to go, and that is the race.

Being able to just kick back throughout the day without the thoughts of more training in the afternoon.

It is a great feeling.

After the little mishap with my Rocket Swim Skin over the weekend and with a few modifications, I went down to test it out in the morning. Just a very short swim and I was very happy with the result and am SUPER confident that it will do the job for me.

A whole 20min in the water and my day was done with training.

We called in to see Billy & family on the way back, bumped in to Matty Lewis, Pete Coulson and a few others and it was feeling just like a race. Until you walk past a few more and there are different languages everywhere.

People are starting to look everyone up and down, which I find amusing as unless your are a professional, the chances that you know the person you are looking at are very slim. And for me having more salt than pepper in my hair, I could probably cover 3-4 age groups!

One thing about yesterday which I thought was awesome, was Rudy Project were doing a sponsorship for top athletes (that covers everyone here!) and if you were happy to wear their helmet in the race, you could keep it. Yes, easy as that, just sign a bit of paper with your race number saying that you would wear it and a brand new Rudy Helmet was yours.

Easier said than done! The helmets are "one size fits all", hmmmm, here is the issue: when you are a Coppock, that is not always the case. The "one size fits all" should have an exception clause something along the lines of: This helmet will fit anyone who tries it on, unless your surname is Coppock! Yep that's right, my head to big for it. I could get my head into it, but there was no way that I was going to sign my life away knowing that I would suffer even more than what I am going to by wearing a helmet that is too small!

With a bit of smooth talking, I managed to secure myself some Rudy Project sunnies and a heads up about sponsorship when I get home. Win Win!!

Some bike works was done throughout the day and a few new additions were added. A few more tweaks today and my stead will be chomping at the bit to get going Saturday.

A 90min massaged followed later in the afternoon, then dinner and the day was complete.

Today involves swimming the course again, followed by a small run. The training is so much easier when you are fresh!!

For now...

X-Man

Day 21: Time for feet up

2011-10-04T04:46:00.004+11:00

After finishing my last long session, a 3hr ride followed by a little run, everything is officially done.

Time to put the feet up and treat myself like a Stallion preparing for the Melbourne Cup.

Nothing but the best food, best treatment and best recovery this week. Not quite wrapping myself in cotton wool, however not far from it.

The ride yesterday was great, found my legs and was really happy out there. Seeing a few pro's motor pacing was a great sight as I saw no less then 5 of them doing this, including a few big Aussies. One ex-orbea rider now on the new Specialised Shiv!! That is a fair bit of talk about the town now. It is all over twitter also. BIG BIG news!

My run was a little sluggish for the first part, however a 30min run gave me nothing to worry about.

The town is fully abuzz right now and everyone has switched from tourist to game faced poker player. The "hello's" (in what ever lingo) have ceased and everyone is worried about there own little bubble. I find this very amusing as not only am I here to have a great race, but also to have a GREAT time pre-race, during the race and most importantly post race!!

The plan is too stay off my feet as much as possible and to also stay inside also. This will aid me race day as with 2 massages planned this week, my legs will be ready to go Race day.

A few final touches will be finished this week on my Rocket Swim Skin and my Stead. These are minor things that will aid my performance race day and are rather enjoyable to do (Especially with the Fos here now!!) I must add, that is great having great support come race day and I know that there will be many people out there yelling for me, along with many more back home yelling at a number on the computer screen.

My race number for the race is #1560 and the race can be followed on ironmanlive. I will put down some instructions on how to do this for those "newbies" that will be following. I really appreciate your interest and support, I really cannot say that enough.

Along with the body starting to rest and refresh, it is time for the mind to start asking those dreaded questions, the inevitable ones that you can't control. Ones that even the Worlds Best ask themselves. Having nerves is a good thing, however in my case, as a few mates have already reminded me, my nerves come race day get taken to a new level. For those that know and have experienced seeing me on race morning having my traditional vomit, I think this race might just be a little worse!! For those who haven't seen it yet, there are plenty of races coming up back home where you might get the privilege!! (If you are unlucky enough!!)

Anyway, it is time for me to "kit" up in my Rocket Gear and head down for a swim to give my final test of the swim skin.

Then a walk around the expo to see some really cool gear before I go into lock down.

For now...

X-Man

Day 20: The Family arrives!!

2011-10-03T03:46:00.002+11:00

There is only one more of my support crew to go, my bast mate Paul. The family arrived yesterday (Well part of) and I was rather relieved to see them here in one piece and looking rather fresh (at that time).

Dad, not being a seasoned traveller like myself tends to stress a little bit when things don't go exactly the way it is planned. So when I heard that there were flights delays from home, I was hoping that the salty coloured hair didn't start to disappear also. Was good to see them here and I am looking forward to hearing that customary "whistle" come race day!

Nath was sporting his Geelong "get up" in honour of the Cats winning the Grand Final and Eb was already fitting in, wearing beach attire. The most noticeable thing about the 3 were the tan that they had. Not your traditional tan, but the "Moon Tan". I had to wear my sunnies to talk to them as the glare from the skin was hurting my eyes!! :-)

Yesterday I got through my last long run, 1hr 45min including a 1hr effort. The morning was hot and I was really happy with how the body reacted to the nutrition and the heat along with the effort. Just another boxed ticked and a small boost in confidence also.

The town is so overly populated with athletes now and it is great to start seeing familiar faces from back home turn up in one piece looking really fit and rearing to go.

I opted out of my easy ride in the afternoon as the heavens opened up and the amount of traffic on the roads and the fact that a cyclist got collected by a car right out the front of where I am staying. I did my afternoon swim and no matter the weather, the swimming is so beautiful every time.

An early night followed soon after dinner and I had to send Fos (dad) on his way as he was about to punch out a few "pa's" (family term for the sound dad makes when he falls asleep in his chair most weekend afternoons!).

Today is the final longish ride before everything shuts down and taper really kicks in. The bike will get special attention after this ride with some new additions going to be added and with my bike mechanic (dad) now on board, I know that my stead will be shining and looking the part come race day.

On that note, the ride is not going to be done by me typing this blog.

For now...

X-Man

PS.. With the town starting to look like a massive expo, many more pictures will be added and especially with Eb & Nath already playing the tourist card. Some might not make any sense, however there will be many added!!

Day 19: Regular Update.......GO CATS!!

2011-10-02T05:03:00.003+11:00

Further to my previous post, here is an example of what has been erected over the last few days.

Signs like this start to give me the realization that I am "part of this". (No not the Billfish Tournament!!)

The rocket swim skin was very comfortable and I am really looking forward to wearing it come race day.

The rest of yesterday resulted in a very relaxing day and the massage felt like I was getting "man handled" by Sean from konasportstherapy.com. I am usually on the receiving end of a female massage, however to have a male massage was a total new experience. Throw in the fact that I have no pain tolerance whatsoever, it was exactly what I needed. He not only massaged, but also stretched my limbs.

I feel a million dollars from this and am looking forward to what is in store today. My last long run, followed by a swim then an easy spin later this afternoon.

The highlight of my day will be seeing my "support crew" arrive and am looking forward to catching up with them.

The highlight of yesterday was sitting was the AFL GF live with a group of Aussies and watching the Cats take home the chocolates. GO CATS!!! WE ARE GEELONG!!

The TT helmet will get a run in tomorrows ride to make sure that I will not overheat in these conditions. I have been in my road helmet of late and am interested to see how the TT feels.

Not much of a blog today, will have more to report later on today....hopefully.

For now...

X-Man

Day 18: Holiday Location closed, Race Village Open

2011-10-01T05:37:00.003+10:00

WOW, what a transformation.

Two days ago Kona was still a holiday location, not many athletes noticeable around the streets. You still saw a few out on the Queen K riding or near the Energy Lab running or at the pool swimming, but no where as much around the streets. With the majority of athletes and supporters arriving in the last few days the whole town is starting to transform.

Shops are being transformed from clothing shops to Ironman shops. Cafe's are now putting up signs welcoming Ironman Athletes. The town is really starting to get a real "buzz" about it. It will give me an opportunity to take some more photos and post them. I might even be able to do some before and after shots.

I am a little later with this blog than normal as I have already done my session for today, so I will recap on the previous day and a bit.

Yesterday started with an easy 60min ride, nothing to report, legs felt great after the previous day and especially after the treatment in the afternoon.

My normal breakfast of eggs on toast followed by a very relaxed day. The afternoon was a 60min run with a build at the end of it. It started off as a little bit of a struggle, however as the session got going, so did my legs. The last part of the run I was really happy with getting my pace well under the 4min k pace. (This is what the pro's will run for the entire marathon after the bike and I am happy doing this relatively fresh for 2-3k's!) It really gives you a great understanding of how fast the best of the best really are. (I would post the session, however my garmin is having a few issues transferring the data!)

A small swim once again followed and dinner watching the sunset was a perfect way to end the evening. I tried the Rocket Swim skin on and it fit like a glove, just with my "massive" guns it was a little tight around the shoulder/lat region. I am hoping to get this sorted before race day also.

Seeing Billy after the swim was a great relief as it meant that they had arrived safely, albeit him looking a little weary!

I have taken a few more photos and due to some technical issues, cannot post them. Once I sort this out I will add to the blog.

This morning was my first look at the entire course, it is amazing. The pier was full of people unlike previous days and there was even an "Ironman" Marquee handing out drinks for the athletes. Totally different to the quiet scenes of previous. Catching up with Brad Bullock and Matty Burton was great as it gave me people to swim with for the entire course. After starting the swim and having no wall after 25 or 50m metres sometimes you forget how far 2k is in one direction. Swimming on a pool doing 5+ km sets is so different to swimming 2k in the one direction. Took a while to get used to.

The fish were amazing to look at from start to finish and the amount of swimmers out there was also very cool. A little technical issue with my suit meant I had to remove it for the swim home. Stuffing it down my bathers definitely added some extra drag for the swim back to the pier, however with the scenery out there, staying out for a few extra minutes is sometimes more of a pleasure opposed to hindrance.

The rest of the day entails trying to sort out the technical issues followed by a massage later this afternoon. Following that will be shacking up at a local watching Geelong v Collingwood in the AFL grand final. Hoping that Geelong take the chocolates!! GO CATS!!

The weather is amazing again today. This is the best way to describe it:

When it is bad, it is still good.
When it is good, it is great.
When it is great, it is perfect.

I am loving this life!

For now...

X-Man

Day 17: Ride legs return

2011-09-30T02:08:00.004+10:00

Thankfully!!

The demons of Saturdays ride were still in my mind over the last few days and I was really looking forward to my ride to get some kind of confidence back in my cycling legs. My running and swimming have been fine the whole time, just that 1 pesky ride that had been playing on my mind.

A 3.5hr ride with 7 x 20min efforts was on order and out to the Queen K I headed. Fully loaded once again with my nutrition and hydration, I had my usual warm up and then started the efforts.

Making my way along the Queen K, ticking each effort as I went I was starting to gain confidence that I really did pack my cycling legs for this trip. Calculating how far out I would get and trying to work out if I had a head/tail or cross wind influences where you turn around. Being caught out previously on this trip I didn't want to got 1hr 45min out and over 2hrs back!!

Getting to Kawihae (the usual drink stop) I still had 5min to go in my last effort and 10min before I needed to turn back. I started the climb towards Hawi and felt really really great. Finishing this effort, I turned back to the drink stop filled up and headed off again. Unfortunately for me, the end of my last effort was going to be the same as the start of my next one..... UPHILL. You have to climb out of Kawaihae in either direction, so heading back to the Queen K, I started my effort a little conservative as I know now that if you go too hard early, you don't make the end!!

Back onto the Queen K, I was feeling great but knew that there were some sections of the return trip that really sort you out if you haven't had enough to eat or drink.

Just finishing my 5th effort these two guys rolled up to me and we started to chat. Discovering that they were from NZ the accent was not too strong we struck up a good conversation until I had to start my next effort. Once I began this, I noticed a little gap behind me (they said that they would just sit on my wheel) and then something that I never expected to happen, they just rode passed me and off into the distance. Confidence shattered just like that! I thought that I was going ok until this. Maybe not?!? What have I done wrong?? Why can't I sit with them?

Not trying to let it destroy my ride, I continued on my merry way thinking that I would catch them, nope, gonski! Ok, new thought process...This is the World Champs, I am only going to be a mid range here and who are these guys?? They could be UBER cyclists and can't swim or run. They were a bit older than me, so at least that they are not in my age group!

Ticking off my 6th and starting my final effort, my legs were still feeling ok, I had lost a little of my top end power, however the road back has more inclines than declines so that is expected. Getting towards the end of my ride and passing many a cyclist along the way, who did I see and was catching? The 2 NZ guys. Ok, my legs must be going well, maybe they were fresher and didn't go the whole way out as me.

Anyway as I caught them, the words, "Where the f*** did you come from?" were said. I had a little smile and said that I was just about to finish my effort. A coffee invite was also thrown my way and due to the fact that I was running off the bike, I declined and headed back to the apartment.

Getting back into Transitions (apartment) I had a reasonably slow change, made sure that I ate and had a drink before my 40min run. Legs feeling good, the entire was out and back.

I must say that it was one of the hottest days that I have trained in here to date and to get 119k's in on the bike and 9.6k's running gave me a big confidence booster.

The afternoon entailed a massage. I had organised a traditional Japanese massage to get the body going without too much trauma. Below are some of the photos and tools used.

Yes a mallet and block (apparently good for straightening out triathlete shoulders that are hunched over!)

Above: Pain in order!

Above: Pain being inflicted

The massage was amazing and I felt really great following. Booking another 3 massages before the race along with taper should see me in tip top condition.

A few more pics below!

Above left: Carla about to receive the mallet treatment
Above right: Impact into my lower back.

The pain was not intense, however you did know that you were getting some. Post massage I was once again reminded to do some core work... OK OK, maybe after this race I will look into getting a core program happening.

The next two days are lightish days and with a reasonable weekend, the time is drawing ever so close.

For Now...

X-Man

PS....can't wait to catch up with Billy & Gail, their flight was delayed due to the weather back home, but am hoping that they arrive today!

Day 16: A day of nothing!

2011-09-28T13:40:00.002+10:00

A day of nothing. Today being rest day number 2, I have done nothing and loved every minute of it!!

I have only left the apartment twice, once was to go organise a massage for tomorrow and the second time was to go to the farmer's market to grab some fresh produce for lunch and dinner.

Watching a fair bit of television with my feet up has been the general order for the day. Touching base when some friends, family & my coach back home has also occupied part of the day.

I have also been receiving some really awesome messages from people that I would never expect to receive them from and also people that I would expect to receive from, so I thank you for them. I will paste them below, without the names attached:

Hey Xavier,

I'm really enjoying your blog and hearing all about your journey in Kona. You say that people have inspired you, well I thought I'd let you know that you're also inspiring others :)

G'day Xavier,

Hope all is well over in Kona and your training is going to schedule. Keep your blog entries happening as it is great reading and is generating a fair amount of interest over here.

hey big fella,
wen you get a chance reply to this and let me know how things are going. i've been reading all your blogs and it sounds good. it's keeping me motivated mate so thanks.

Good to hear its going great guns over there.. Might have to make the trip next year to see all the action.

Best of luck buddy. Hope you execute your race the way you have planned. Must say, the training and planning have been epic and meticulous in equal measures. Looking forward to reading the race report.

Thanks if it wasn't for you i wouldn't have got that far. If only I could be there for your ultimate goal.

keep your chin up mate. its not a disgrace to be standing in your shoes. or peddling! Trust your training mate, once you are settled in you will be set.

I really enjoying receiving these, so thanks to all and for those that I have not posted (and there are plenty of them) thanks also.

I must be getting more and more acclimatised due to the fact that the a/c is on less and less and the temperature has been turned off at a higher temp now. I am also finding parts of the water cool when swimming now.

Seeing a fellow Australian guy who landed today who was sweating like I was 2 weeks ago was also pleasing due to the fact that I really did today was overly hot!

Tomorrow I resume my training with a lot less volume also, just to start fine tuning myself ready to be in A1 shape come race day. An afternoon massage is also in order.

Time to resume my R&R, followed by some dinner soon.

For now...

X-Man

Day 15: Rest Day 1

2011-09-28T02:17:00.002+10:00

Why is it that all you want to do is eat on a rest day?? The body is not training, you have your feet up and all you feel like is food. Not just any kind of food..The best kind - JUNK FOOD.

Resisting this is always hard, you try to be good and eat right, but that just never fills you up. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Maybe it was the body trying to tell me to put back in what I had been burning?!? Who knows, but for most part of the day it was a challenge to resist.

The day was perfect. Having the whole day off just to lounge around meant that a few movies were watched on the tv, a light swim was had late in the afternoon, some trigger point therapy on my legs and of course a little siesta.

I thought I did rather well not consuming a ridiculous amount of calories yesterday, although the odd 1 or 2 extra did sneak in there some how.

Today is going to be in exactly the same fashion as yesterday, plenty of nothing!

I also need to make a HUGE shout out to a few people as I had a little nutrition miscalculation for the following weeks. Bill & Gail Sinclair (Possibly the greatest people of all time), Scott Harvey, Tim T, Pete C & Justin S for trying to locate my nutrition back home and organising to get it over her for me in time for my next amount of training going into the race and also for the race.

I can say that without their help, plan B would have had to be derived very fast and tested to make sure that it would have worked. Only problem is, I never had a plan B. My nutrition has been perfect all this lead up, even in the heat here at Kona after 5hrs on the bike. So I didn't think a plan B was necessary. What I also didn't know before I got here was how much extra that I would be going through whilst I am here. The gatorade tub count is up over 5 empties in 2 weeks. Lucky it was $3.50 per tub (on sale) when I bought my tubs.

Other than that, the day was completed as required. Today will see a massage take place before my legs get put up and hopefully some more good movies to watch.

For now...

X-Man

Day 14: What time is it??

2011-09-27T03:33:00.002+10:00

Taper time!!

After completing my last big day of training, I now enter my taper. I still have a few medium sized sessions later this week, however my big stuff is well and truly behind me.

This of course brings me to the next situation: The race is Saturday week (Hawaii Time). Something that was so far away, it is so close now, so so close. The realisation that I am here training for such a significant event has now dawned on me.

My last big run was yesterday and I was a little concerned about getting through this after my ride the day before (it is funny how much of a mental game this sport is). So, with heavy legs and doubt in my mind I headed from my apartment up to the Queen K to run the energy lab. This would be my first time running the lab and something that I hoped that wasn't too intimidating.

Another thing with the training here, you really have to be mindful about how much nutrition/hydration you take with you and when you fill up as there are not many places that are available. So if you miscalculate, things can go horribly wrong! FAST! With that in mind, I was a little cautious about taking on too much nutrition early until I established where the "feed zones" would be for me.

Getting out to the energy lab, I only really noticed one potential place that I could stop, a petrol station, which could be a little too far for the return to get there without any other hydration. Heading down into the energy lab (which I didn't realise was 3k each way!) I was still on the look out for somewhere to fill up. By this stage I was 1hr 10min into my run and starting to get stuck into what I had in my fuel belt.

Going around the bottom corner, I noticed a public toilet. Beauty, that's where I can top up my bottles and keep going. By the time I would get to the turnaround point and back would be another 2-3 k's. Perfect. I made sure that I really got filled up my body with nutrition & hydration so that I would have a fresh full load on the return run. (I knew where my next stop would be!)

Topped up and off I went. The energy lab wasn't too intimidating this time (I didn't do a monster bike ride in the conditions prior either!) and I was back out on the Queen K heading back. A few calculations and I knew that I would have to run passed my apartment (which I hate doing) to make up the full time.

Re-fuelling at a local park was the next stop and as the run went on, my legs felt better and better. I managed to find my comfortable pace being around the 4min 30 k pace, something that I would definitely take race day! This session was a massive turnaround for my confidence as at least I know my run legs are still there.

My session is below:

The afternoon session was another 30min easy run. Easy was never going to be in the equation, running 35k in the morning was always going to make the 30min run in the afternoon tough. My legs felt heavy and ugly and I really struggled to run 5min k pace for the first few minutes, not long after that I was down to the 4min 30's again and feeling good.

I would like to thank my run legs for re-installing some confidence in the training I have put into them and just hope that they talk to my ride legs and give them the same strength come race day.

The agenda for the next 2 days is rest and just rest. I might have a few little ocean swims to keep my feel in the water and enjoy the weather.

Wednesday gives me the opportunity to test my ride legs out again and one that I am hoping for not just a good ride, but a GREAT ride.

For now...

X-Man

Day 13: One I want to sweep under the carpet.

2011-09-25T16:08:00.003+10:00

For ever!

Today was probably the worst training rides that I have ever had. Usually I know why things went pair shaped, however today, I have no answers.

My nutrition was spot on, consumed 12 bottles over the 180k journey with the usual mix of my nutrition/hydration. My heart rate was in the right zones, my legs never ever got sore at any stage of the ride.

I just couldn't get going.

This is so unusual for me. Yes I have sessions that I wish that I could repeat, but more often than not, I know why they occurred

It could be lack of sleep, a few too many beverages, wrong food the previous night or simply can't be bothered.

Not today..

No beverages :(, sleeping 10hours per night, eating better than I ever have (I mean ever!!) and I am so motivated right now and am loving everything about this preparation. My program has been tailored to give me BIG sessions, but also BIG recovery. It shouldn't be this way. I should be tired, granted, but I don't even feel tired.

As I sit writing this blog, I am not even that "wiped out" like I most likely should be. My body is feeling fine and even in my run post ride I was really happy with. My swim was great, why this with my ride today.

To add insult to my bad day, 2 of my tyres deflated during the ride and had to change them, but are fully inflated now, more than 6hours post ride. That also has questions that I have no answers for.

I am just dumbfounded why, I felt like I was towing a full peleton of riders all hanging off string behind me. Nope, not the case. I also felt like my tires were sticking to the road.

Why do I care so much? This was my last long ride pre-race. I can't get it back, I can't re-do the session, I just have to live with the fact that my last long ride was a disaster. No next week. My only hope is that I can really nail my rides later this week to redeem myself.

I have my last long run tomorrow, 2hrs 45min, and let's hope that I can hit that nail smack bang on the head and have a cracking run. Unsure how I will be if things go pair shaped in that one also. Could just head to the Bar and write the whole weekend off. (The last part is only going to happen post race regardless of my session tomorrow, have done FAR too much to throw it away now!!).

Taper starts Monday and I really want to go into that knowing that I have finished everything that I should have the way I should have.

Bed is calling my name now, hoping to wake up knowing my ride was just a bad dream?!?

For now...

X-Man

PS... Even the best pro's surely have bad days? Please the answer be yes!!

Day 12: Fatigue saying "hello"

2011-09-25T02:18:00.005+10:00

Today was a day that a few signs of fatigue were breaking through. This was the plan as taper is just around the corner.

A 4.8k swim this morning included 40 x 100 efforts which did destroy my arms towards the end. My arms were reasonably heavy at the beginning of the session and at the end, I was really happy to get out of the pool and go for breakfast. I met another Australian "kid" yesterday which was good as he was travelling totally solo and he joined us for breakfast. So between the 4 of us at breakfast we had swam a combined 20k for the morning.

This young fella does go ok also, his name Matt Burton, finished a lazy 4th outright at Yeppoon recently and we decided to hook up for our long ride together tomorrow. It will be good to have someone for company for the entire 6hrs or so.

A really easy ride followed which included a little bit of shopping for supplies for the race. A new pair of shoes were in order for me. Unsure if they will be my race day shoes, but were definitely comfortable in my afternoon run.

The run in the afternoon/evening was great, it took my legs a while to get going, but by the end of the run I was moving along quite comfortably. The heavens threatened to open whilst I was running, usually this would cool you down, but not here. It just adds to the humidity and I had sweat dripping from me like i was standing under a slow dripping shower.

The weather has been really weird so far. Nothing consistent, it has rain the last 3 nights and has been overcast for most part of the day. The humidity is crazy and when the sun does pop out the temperature rises drastically. I can't say this enough that I am so glad I got here this early as getting here just prior to the race will be a BIG shock to the system.

I have also been able to ride the course a few times (incl tomorrow), run the course in sections and become really familiar with the swimming conditions. Time will tell if it has really paid off, however for now, I really feel that it has.

For now...

X-Man

Day 11: A BIG thanks to those who support me!

2011-09-24T02:12:00.005+10:00

Things went really well today.

A 45min ocean swim in the morning and I am wrapped with how my arms are feeling. Getting slightly heavy from fatigue, however am moving through the water better than what I expected.
What was the most enjoyable & satisfying part of my day was my brick session starting at noon.

Ticking over the 90min ride was very enjoyable and I am definitely getting used to the conditions here. Another 90min run followed, where I was able to get through 21k. That was very satisfying as my legs still felt great post session. The run can be found here:

A Monster bowl of pasta was on order for dinner and that brought a wrap to a great day training.

I want to send a massive THANKS to following people who are continually supporting me during my Ironman racing and without the listed people things would not be able to go as smoothly as they currently do:

Scott from XOSIZE for continually supporting me with ALL my sporting apparel. A great product which has definitely aided with me getting to where I am now.

Marcin from Rocket Science Sports for producing the fastest race gear going around. If you haven't tried Rocket Gear, you don't know what you are missing!

Karl from Schnell Wheels for providing me with my wheels for this race. Schnell = FAST!

David from Hammer Nutrition for providing me with my fuel to be able to compete at the level I do.

Ofcourse Coach Andrew from Triathlon & Multisport Coaching for providing the most individualised and customised program any athlete can ask for!

One of my biggest motivators during the winter was my Sister, who after 2 kids, 3 knee reconstructions & carrying a little bit extra was able to pound away on the treadmill, the road, ride the mag trainer, tow her kids in a trailer whilst she rode everywhere. She gave me no excuses why I couldn't train not having to worry about anything that she had gone through.

It made me have a good look at myself if I wasn't motivated at any time. She made me lift my game when my attitude became complacent. You are an amazing person Naomi and once you pop out number 3, we will be able to reach your goal of not only doing a 1/2 Marathon, but also get you through an Ironman. You don't know how much you helped me through winter to also get me in the shape that I am!

By you getting up, fitting in your training around your family also made me realise that I just could never ever miss a session. So I thank you so much for this!! Love you Sis :-)

All my training partners not only current ones, but also training partners that I had when I was going through my first Ironman right through to the guys that I have been training with recently to get me through to my 5th and biggest to date.

To all those that have done an Ironman race, the below picture will be a familiar sight. My toe nail next to my big toe.... It is usually post race that you lose the nail, but mine is dead and I am trying to dispose of it currently. This will mean no post race sore toes...GREAT thing!!

Below are just another couple of pics from training during the day.

I am on the left running along the Queen K and by the looks of it I might have been upgraded to an athlete!! And on the right is Carla running a little bit later, moving along quiet nicely. (Both feet off the ground!!)

For now...

X-Man

PS...40x100m on the 1.30 cycle is on the cards first thing in the morning!! Ouch!

Day 10: Almost 2 weeks til race Day!

2011-09-23T02:45:00.009+10:00

Yep, that's about it. Just over 2 weeks until all my hard work, commitment and dedication gets put to the test to see where I pit myself against the top Age Groupers across the world.

Wow, hasn't time flown, well it has for me and I can't really believe that I am here doing this. The excitement is starting to build as I know that it is close before I see my family, friends and other athletes that I know who are also competing.

The town is starting to gather some buzz now as a few shops are setting up with their Ironman apparel and there are more and more Professional athletes about the place, from the swimming pool to out on the bike to even jogging about town (haha, these guys don't jog, EVER, they are moving quickly!!).

For me the realization of what is just around the corner is still just there, however I do know that very very soon it will be right in my face and I will be in that athlete filled start line which turns into a washing machine when the cannon fires.

The days training was nothing too big as we wanted the previous days training to be absorbed into the body. So a 4.5k swim was in order in the morning under the gorgeous Hawaiian Sun. I am still enjoying swimming everyday and the variation from pool to open water is keeping my mind fresh. I still feel like my swimming is making slight improvements by doing this and it was evident by me going under 30sec twice for the 50yards. I know it is not a 50metre pool, however previous days I was only hitting 31sec.

The pool is getting more and more packed with athletes so choosing your time to get there is just about as important as the session itself! The swimming etiquette is different to back home as the general rule is that there is 2 per lane and you swim on one side of the lane up and back. If you are feeling really generous, you can let others jump in with you and swim the traditional way. This sucks for me as I haven't quite got my head around swimming on the opposite side to what I am used to.

Followed by the swim, it was time to head out for a run along Ali'i Drive. The sun was out in full force and I actually felt pretty good running under the sun. (After 180k's getting smashed by the wind on the bike race day might change my opinion of that though!!) 40mins later the training day was complete. Still sweating after 20min of completing the session you really start to realise how much fluid you lose out there and the whole drink whenever you can mindset is really starting to sink in for me.

A little afternoon siesta was on the cards post run and 2 hrs later I was refreshed again. No more training for the day, so I spent the next hour or so using my Trigger Point Therapy gear to help ease the aches and pains of the muscles that have been getting put to good use recently.

Taco's was on the menu for dinner and I must admit I did go about making a pig of myself smashing down a good 6-7 before I tidied up the remaining ingredients in a roll!!

My dessert of choice has been a banana split with Jam and Herseys Chocolate. Unusual as I am not really a big dessert fan, but I am loving these most nights!

A new day of training begins soon which will entail a ocean swim, a bike and a run along the Queen k. This will be new run for me as all my runs have been along Ali'i drive currently.

The Rocket Science Sports Swim Skin should arrive today and if they are as good as the other Rocket Gear that I use, I cannot wait to get it on. Thanks to Scott (XOSize) & Marcin (RSS) for organising this for me. GREATLY appreciated.

For now...

X-Man

PS...I have a whole lot more photos to upload, however having a few technical issues, so as soon as I sort them out, I will post more photos.

Day 9: Massive Box ticked

2011-09-22T02:24:00.005+10:00

Day 9 saw me endeavor to complete a 200k ride covering all the bike course.....and some!!

The wind was blowing in town which meant I was in for a tough day out on the queen k. I just didn't know which way it was blowing out there.

So venturing out it didn't seem to be too bad, however once I got 1hr into the ride, it really picked up and I was battling along at 20kph. Now one would think that I'd you have a head wind out, you get a tail wind back....Not always the case!!

I saw Chris Leito stop with a puncture and once he got going, didn't take him long to catch me and ride straight past like I was standing still, even into the wind. The guy can ride!! I even had to keep my ego in check as the chick he was riding with rode past me... I resisted trying to sit on her wheel as my ride being easy and I knew that I still had at least 5hrs left to go.

I continued on my way and once I got to the end of the queen k, did the normal left turn and then down a monster hill. Things did get a little hairy here as sitting on 60+kph and having gusts of wind blow you about, I just made sure that I hung on!! Stopping to refill my bottles, having gone through almost 3 in the first 2hrs.

The 30k climb up to Hawi is not that daunting as it is a step climb. However when the wind gets you, you almost stop.

I continued all the way there and a little further, turned and head home, I was now 3hrs into my ride. Back to the fill up point and I noticed that my rear wheel was going flat. That might be the reason for my slow climbing!! Or not..

This was my first real chance to change a tubular and had no issues in doing so either, refuel and off I went.

Back out onto the queen k and with the tail wind I found myself cruising along at 55, I thought that I might have a little crack and got my ride up to 60kph and ran out of gears.. My cadence was up near 120, ( must ring dad and get him to bring over a 11-23). Then what do you know, the wind changed and I was back into the head wind. That's the last thing that I needed, another headwind back into town, but as the road twisted along the coast it turned more into a cross wind.
The actual ride is here:

I managed to roll home in good condition and head out for my run, only 15min, but sometimes these are the ones that are hard to do. (it's only 15, won't hurt to miss it) wrong, every run matters and every run off the bike matters more!

After going through 11 bottles in the 6.5hrs of riding, I have come up with a motto:

If you are thirsty, drink.
If you are not thirsty, drink.
If you are unsure, drink.

Another 40min afternoon swim and the day was done.

I pulled up very well considering the condition and look forward to my next big ride Saturday.

I can say that I am loving this life of eat, sleep, train, relax, recover, repeat!

For now..

X-Man

Day 8: The perfect recovery day

2011-09-20T16:40:00.006+10:00

So, with perfect weather greeting me this morning, I headed out snorkeling with a friend Carla. We caught the trolley bus to the Black sands to get some quality R&R, but also enjoy some of the local sites.

After swimming around for about 30min, Carla swam into the vicinity of a Trigger fish, which happened to be nesting in the area. Not happy, imagine magpies swooping, well this was the equivalent under water. Was one of the funniest thing that I have ever seen. Her crap herself and the fish stalk her until we left the area. Wanted nothing to do with me just her..

Now one would thing that these are big fish, no, not at all...see pic below:

Now they can't really do much damage:

But it was so funny that when we laughed we actually forgot we were under water and then swallowed some sea water and coughed even more both from laughter and from drinking the water. In the meantime we were still trying to keep our eye on the fish.

There were so many beautiful fish out there and at one point we even saw a sea snake. Was freaky but interesting all the same.

Once we got out of the water, I did notice this sign:

It actually reads: Trigger fish are nesting & may bite, please be careful!!

From there lunch was had and the view was shocking, see below:

Following this I met up with Brett to do an open water swim. By the end of the 40min session I had actually felt like I had completed a double swim, snorkeling without flippers felt like a technique session as plenty of sculling was had.

We swam once again down at the swim start, with going out further than before, this was quite daunting especially when Brett turned and dropped a friendly, "Watch out for the sharks further out" after I suggested that I might keep swimming a bit further. This idea was quickly squashed and I turned to swim the 15 odd minutes back to the pier. (Funny funny!)

One thing that I must say is that the Americans love doing things in LARGE quantities, check this gatorade out.

$2.99 for a 1 litre bottle....try and carry that bad boy around!!

One thing that I must say that I am looking forward to Post Race courtesy of Peter Coulson are the coronas. I will even supply the ice Pete ;-).

Now back to the serious stuff. Tomorrow is the beginning of the end. The start of my final 2 week MASSIVE training block. 200k's in the saddle tomorrow and then the week just continues in the same fashion. To do this in these conditions, below is the nutrition that I will start with:

This JUST might get me over half way where I will need to refuel (hence the Hammer powder in the bag) to get me home. It is brutal out there I am not willing to make the ride go for any longer or be any harder than what it is going to be. Along with this, I will be carrying a whole lot of sunscreen.

Tomorrow's blog might not be as cheery as this one.

For now...

X-Man

Day 7: Getting more comfortable

2011-09-20T02:47:00.004+10:00

So after being here for a full 7 days, I am definitely getting a lot more comfortable with the conditions. I don't feel like the heat/humidity is affecting me as much as the first few days and training is a little easier each day.

I headed out for a 2 hour easy run in the morning and that was rather enjoyable. Nothing really to report here, just took my time and ticked off another session. I ran along Ali'i Drive which has some beautiful beaches to look at. It is the total opposite to the Queen k where there is nothing to look at. (see pics on previous post)

Once again the day was filled with r&r, however I did wonder down to the local market and get some fresh fruit and veggies. Super cheap and super yummy!!

The arvo ride out on the Queen K ( starting to know every single bump, crest & crack) . Once again there is not much about this road that really gets you excited apart from finishing the session!!

There is one weird part about it all though....the only sign of wildlife that you see are wild goats! Yep, goats. No birds (no angry magpies!!), nothing except for a few random goats. They seem to be in 3's, mother, father and Billy. The first time I rode past I thought that I was a chance of being charged. They did look a little angry, with that scenery, i would be also!! Hehehe they are harmless and I think curious, but they do run when you get closer to them.

I will try to remember to take a photo of them tomorrow.

Another light ocean swim followed in the arvo ( oh I love swimming in the ocean here) although it did feel cooler than previous days. A pork roast followed...white meat is so much cheaper than red meat also...weird!! I am swimming every day right now, even if just turning the arms over, and it is helping me keep my feeling in the water.

The legs are feeling good and the mind is perfect right now. I will be thoroughly tested this week though and might become a little angry with the Queen if she tears me a new one and I have no lube on. Could be a nasty outcome!

On my rest day, am off snorkeling, officially not just with my goggles on! So am looking forward to that.

For now...

X-Man

Day 6: Listen to Advice, Experience is Invaluable!

2011-09-18T17:12:00.003+10:00

Today was the day where things could have turned nasty...FAST!!

Riding a longer part of the course including the length of the Queen K and also into Kawaihae and some of the way to Hawi. As per the sign below, this is the final part of the Queen K.

From getting the right advice from Andrew before I left (having a coach who has raced here is a HUGE benefit) and also from Brett & Carla (both their 3rd time here) I learned how fast things can turn pair shaped for me. Without the advice from the above 3, it would have today. Talking to experienced athletes on a course like this is just invaluable. I will be picking their brain more over the upcoming weeks.

So after 4hr in the saddle (and some sun burn in unusual places) I must say that I was happy to be home. A solid 30min run after this felt really good and once the session was over, I was very content.

The rest of the day involved plenty of R & R and having a channel dedicated to MMA has worked well for me. I am a big fan of it, although not a sport that would ever entice me to get involved in, I am happy to watch from behind the box!!

A nice relaxing swim was in order for the afternoon before more R&R this evening. I managed to take a few more shots today, one was of this MASSIVE cruise boat (might put that on my bucket list!)

The below photos are of the start, very weird as this does not resemble anything that the whole area will look like in the upcoming weeks. This place will be transformed soon then I think the entire experience will start sinking in.

The two below photos are of the swim start area....not the washing machine that it will be at race start.

Below is the pier where transition will be set up.

Tomorrow continues what has become my normal weekend training over the last 18months or so....a long run, but this time it will be in conditions that will be new to me. I can only imagine how much i will sweat. Will update on that tomorrow.

For now...

X-Man

Day 5: Starting to feel normal

2011-09-17T15:41:00.006+10:00

So, after being here a week and feeling some hot days, some humid days and some in between days, I feel like things are starting to feel normal for me.

The weather, the time difference, the water (first few days, let's say I was very regular!), the culture and of course training on the opposite side to what I am used to. Even in the pool you swim on the right side, is very interesting when you first get in. The other funny thing is that many people just swim side by side to prevent a third person entering the lane....Gives a new meaning for 3's a crowd!

5200yds (still getting my head around the whole 25yd pool) later and the session was done. I cannot repeat myself enough when I say how easy it is to swim in these conditions!!

The afternoon was spent either poolside (which I will post a photo tomorrow) or kicking back in the unit.

A 45min run followed with what felt like a cooling breeze (today would be perfect race conditions) then a great fish and vegies for dinner. This was finished off with:

If you can't work out what it is.....banana split with melted Chocolate and hot Jam.....Gold in a bowl!!

For someone who isn't a dessert fan, I must say that this was 'A1'.

The sunsets here in Kona are amazing, you have to be ready for them as they disappear as quickly as they appear. Here is a pic form my room:

Tomorrow is my first real test out there with a 4 hour ride including some long efforts and with the unpredictability of the weather so far (no 2 days being the same) who knows what is going to be thrown my way. Only time will tell.

For now...

X-Man

Day 4: Normality begins

2011-09-17T07:18:00.007+10:00

After a few easy days settling in the Kona, the training/normality finally kicked. I was really looking forward to this as mush as I could easily kick back and have a relaxing holiday, this is not the reason that I am here.

So Day 4 was the beginning that I had been waiting for, albeit a smaller session to start with, still something to get me going. A 2hr ride with some efforts along the Queen K, followed by a run was exactly what I had craving.

To head out onto the Queen K is a weird experience, as there is absolutely so scenery at all. On the right you have:

Absolutely nothing to look at, nothing to occupy your mind. When I mean nothing, there is nothing, no wild life, no birds, just exactly as the picture shows.

Then on the left you have:

Pretty much the same however you do get to look at picture perfect water. I got told that you can usually tell if the wind is going to pick up as you see "white caps" on the waves. this day, nothing....and there was still enough breeze to inform me that when the wind picks up, it is going to be nasty!!

The road in front looks as follows:

So after a few hours I returned via the energy lab to take a few happy snaps:

The following ones are the energy lab, entry, entry road, turnaround point, exit road!!

To be honest, once you leave town, the scenery really dies off, in town it is absolutely amazing!

Here are some more random shots from out on the bike:

The above is the airport, it is like they have just built it in the middle of nowhere!!

By the looks of the above sign, I might be getting a few fines!!

Just another few random pics along the way.

The afternoon entailed another ocean swim, which with the fish below is easy to be distracted.

Will do another update tonight about today's affairs.

For now...

X-Man

Day 3: welcome to Hawaii, the heat is on.

2011-09-15T16:07:00.002+10:00

To be honest the last couple of days have been very manageable, if not enjoyable with the heat, or lack of!!

Today I got my first dose of it. It was hot, not very humid, but HOT! Something that I realized that I need to get used to. Although today only entailed a swim, 5500 yards of it ( very weird doing 1k efforts in a 25yard pool, that's 4 more laps than normal, try getting your head around that!!) the weather knock me about. I was also required to stroll the streets for some of the day in the heat and I am glad I did. It has given me a new perspective and respect for the place. Back when I was here watching in 2009 it was hot, but. Only flew in watch the race, got badly burnt and flew home looking like a tomato.

This time I have to get used to it, used to sweating, drinking all the time and training in it. That's if I want to have the race that I want. The afternoon involved a little nanna nap (2 hours) one that my dad would be proud of as he does after a training session on the weekend.

Tomorrow training starts properly and to be honest, i can't wait. As much as I have enjoyed the last few days, that's not what I am here for. I am here to train, eat, rest & recover.

It will be time to get familiar with the roads, the conditions and the sweat that I am going to lose. Time to start trying my nutrition plan, getting the salt tabs in and making sure that I stay hydrated out there.

Not much else to report, just got in from dinner and the evening is absolutely amazing. Sitting here on my balcony listening to live music really reminds me of how lucky my life is and the opportunity I have, and one thing for sure, I am going to make the most of it and enjoy everything that comes my way. Traveling solo has been interesting and a great experience for me. One that only builds character and helps you appreciate everything that comes across your path.

For now...

X-Man

PS....photos will be uploaded as of tomorrow.

Day 2: time to get used to the weather..

2011-09-14T15:29:00.002+10:00

So after an easy day yesterday settling in, today resumed some of the normality that I know, 3 sessions of training. Albeit small sessions, but enough to know that this place will take hold of you if you are not ready.

The day started with an easy 1hr ride, which I decided to ride to the energy lab to suss it out before I actually run there. I can see why that place is so intimidating. When you enter, the temp rises by a few degrees. It is ok going in as it is downhill, however coming back out is the difference. A slight rise, enough to make you understand that this place can be unforgiving. Nothing else really to report, apart from riding on the opposite side of the road is taking me a little while to get my head around, even walking the streets!!

A small 25 min run followed, the sun was out and to be honest 25 min felt closer to 50 min...it is hard to explain. One this week is over and. Have some k's in the legs in these conditions it might be easier.

Adding sunscreen is a must also, I didn't worry about it this morning as it was only a small session, however the arms got a nice toasting today. Lunch was down the street, as the place is still quiet with not many athletes about, there really isn't any hype to talk of yet.

This afternoon was a small swim.... Instead of going to the pool (which is 25 yards) I decided to head out into the ocean with a few others. That place is amazing, reminds me a bit of the Great Barrier Reef with the fish, turtles and other sea life that you see. 30 mins of that was s easy to do (could have easily been out there for longer). The warmer weather makes things so easy t get motivated for and get done.

Kona in general is an amazing place and the locals are so nice and considerate to pedestrians and cyclists. Nothing like back home where you wouldn't dare to step out on the road without a little green man flashing at you. Here, even if you are not at lights, the carts wave you across the road.

I have been reading Mark Cavendish's book and one line caught my eye, and I believe it is so true, "passion is the difference between riding 100 percent and 110 percent. Passion allows you to suffer through pain."

This has been planted in my since I read that line and one that I will constantly remind me over the next 4 weeks when I am hurting. Remind myself why I am here and the journey and sacrifices that I have made. ( even if things don't go well race day, I would have done everything that I could) is that passion??

Tomorrow is another lighter day with just a swim in the morning and then r&r for the remainder of the day. To be honest, right now feels like a relaxing holiday with a little bit of training to do. I know as of the weekend things will be in reverse and I will be back doing 6-7 hr rides in these conditions along with 2-3 hour runs. So this week am going to do exactly what I am programmed to and nothing more, because next week the training will be brutal.

Another early night will be In store tonight to try and get used to the time difference.

For now...

X-Man

PS....is this living the dream or what??

Day 1....reality is here!

2011-09-13T16:39:00.005+10:00

As I sit in the hotel lobby typing this blog, the town is so calm and peaceful, there is not much activity at all. I went for a stroll earlier to find a light dinner only to find most places only having a handful of diners. Of course this will change over the upcoming weeks.

It feels like I have been away for ages already, having an overnight flight always makes the time drag a little. Hawaii is 20 hrs behind AEST and the best way to work it out is to add 4hours to the time and go back a day.

It was a relatively uneventful flight/s from melb to syd with a few rookie errors made by myself. Nothing major, just things I now know what to do, this comes from experience.

The flight from Sydney to Honolulu was intesresting as I was seated next a rather good sized man, who was very nice, but also said a rather ironic statement. He was hoping that he didn't have to sit next to a larger person who took up some of his seat along with their own. Welcome to my world Dave( that was his name). Dave snored like an old steam train and was well and truly planted in his seat. My only option to get out and about was to stand up when he did and go to the toilet, get a drink stretch my legs etc. So this made for very light sleeping as I didn't want to miss any opportunity to stretch.

Getting off the plane in Honolulu wasn't as bad as 2009, where the heat and humidity slapped me in the face. This time the weather was cooler 26-28 deg and humidity was lower than I expected, however probably still around the 75-80% mark. The weather has been weird for most part as when the sun appears, it is rather uncomfortable sit the heat/humidity. When the sun disappears, it is perfect. I had a bite to ea at Lava Java (apparently the place to be, but isn't really a must "hang out" spot for me). Then I went to find the local pool which was magic, doing 100yard swims definitely makes you feel like you are swimming fast!!

From there a few little nanna naps and then proceeded to set my bike up. Noticing that the bike box had been opened and inspected, the (insert expletive here) had broken the clips on the side and the handle to wheel it. Never mind I am in Hawaii!!

Tomorrow it all starts again with 3 small sessions just to get used to the conditions. The rest of week is in a similar vein with the weekend really kicking off proceedings again, which I am looking forward to.

Now it is time to try and get some shut eye.

For now...

X-Man

Within striking distance...

2011-09-10T21:05:00.002+10:00

Unfortunately nerves are somewhat setting upon me. I didn't think this would happen so early, however with not being much of a traveller myself this might be some of the reason. The last week has been tough with mixed emotions regarding a few facets of my life and with training still going along so well, my energy for a few things is waining. There is only so many times you can be a rock, listen to people's problems (question is...is it really a problem in the scheme of things?), trying to catch up with many friends, tidying up some work, maintain my training intensity and still have time to myself.

Leaving so soon give me mixed feelings as it means the race is within striking distance ( I know that I will be ready! ), and gives me the opportunity to just eat, sleep & train. I will miss my normal life for the 5 weeks that I am away, however I think that I will give myself the chance to just do what I need to do without the distractions that fall our way in day to day times.

I will be lonely over there, however having my support crew coming in race week will keep me excited as I count down to seeing them. Updating this blog will also keep me occupied as it will spell the final chapter in the reason why I started this blog. To blog my journey to Ironman and beyond (Hawaiian Ironman). After this race, there will be many more Ironmans for me, however like my first Ironman and the memory I have from that, nothing will be able to remove the memory of my first Hawaiian Ironman race.

My mental strength has been tested over the last few weeks with combining everything into my life and no doubt will be tested again over the upcoming weeks as I battle the Gods of the Big Island, not only in training but also race day. Andrew has not only tested me mentally, but also physically over the last 6-8 months and is continually pushing the boundaries for both aspects. Learning to ride a Wind Trainer building from 1hr to 5hrs certainly tests out what you have along with running on a treadmill for up to 90 mins in a room of 25+ deg and humidity around the 80% mark at times. Although this has been tough, I know that it will have nothing on what I am about to put myself through over the next 4 weeks.

I look forward to taper week, however for me, that is the toughest week of all the preparation leading into a race. The week where you no longer can get fitter, faster or stronger. The week where you start questioning yourself about what you have done, what you missed and what you could have done better. For me I know the answers to all those, but I will still ask myself. I liken taper week to going through a random breath test when you haven't been drinking. You the answer to the question, however you still get nervous when you get tested. I know that I have done it all, but still doubt will creep in.

Training for over 25hrs a week has been a great opportunity and one that I have enjoyed for most part, of course there are sessions that you dread, however with the training partners that I have, I consider myself a very lucky person. There are too many of you to thank personally, however you know who you are and take credit for assisting in getting me into the position & condition that I am. Of course there have been 'the main players' but without a large group, this would have been a lot harder than it has been. Tomorrow is no different, nor will the time in Kona be. I can only say a BIG BIG THANKS!

One day I hope that I can repay the favor and help all of you get into the shape you need to be.

Another big thanks goes to Karl from www.schnellwheels.com.au for supplying me some uber fast wheels to take to Kona with me. I will post some more pics once I have them available.

Right now it is time to keep preparing my last minute list of things that I need to do before I go.

For now...X-Man

Time is just ticking away!!

2011-09-05T15:36:00.002+10:00

Being under the 5 week mark, where has time gone? I have been so consumed by getting through all the training I didn't even realise that it was this close.

Many people have asked if I am getting excited yet....My common answer has been that I still have so much to do before I even head over there, let alone worry about what is going to unfold race day.

Training has been going along well, as we all do, I have had a few highs and lows. I am just so thankful of my support crew, from friends to family, training partners to my coach. I have received a few little reminders that things are going well even though some sessions feel like I am wasting my time being there. I am constantly reminding myself that my times are where I want them to be and my training is influencing how I am feeling. FATIGUED!!!

Swimming with Greg, although being very very beneficial has been tough as times as I feel as if I am forever chasing his tail (which I am!!), however after many sessions we have a mini debrief about how things are going and where we are both at. The only thing that won't lie are the times we are doing. He has helped me get my 1k PB down almost 1min 30sec this year and one that I am thankful for. Although a few hissy fits on my behalf and also one monster pasting he gave me (after 37 x 100m efforts, that we only had 3 to go!!) things have been a whole lot of fun.

Biking is biking for me, a few extra challenges this time round with double rides on a Saturday being introduced. This is weird as I have been struggling in the first ride, however coming good for the afternoon session. The previous 2 weekends has seen me cover 220 & 230k's respectively on the Saturday followed up by a long run Sunday giving me around 13hrs training for each of the weekends. I am happy where my bike legs are at and with some fine tuning along with some freshening up, I am confident that they will be cherry ripe come race day.

My running is also going well, although a minor error on Sunday saw me cover 42.5k's in one run (only 25min too long). This has given me some good confidence here also as my legs were very heavy from the previous day and also being a training run, I got plenty out of this run.

The next few weeks, training becomes more challenging, however not intimidating like the current has been. The training includes very long sessions, however long recovery between sessions, unlike now where I have many sessions weekly.

Only time will tell how the whole program has gone for me come race day and this time around I can say that I have done everything in my power to been in the best shape and have ultimately have my best race (as far as training and discipline goes). Hawaii is a different kettle of fish and who knows what the gods will throw up on race day. All I can do for now is keep ticking of boxes and keep my engine well tuned and well maintained.

For now...

X-Man

Weekend Accomplished!!

2011-08-30T06:18:00.001+10:00

So, what strength building last week was.

After feeling the ups & downs of the yo-yo affect I really bounced back well over the latter stages on the week and well into the weekend. And what a weekend it was.

Disturbingly enough, a weekend that I really enjoyed getting through (once I did!) and one that continually helped build my mental and physical toughness.

After getting through Saturday's AM ride feeling very ordinary, the short 30 min run seemed to wake the body up and once I was confident of ticking off the whole weekend. After consuming a bucket load of food to help recover from the morning's session and also prepare for the afternoon session (45min worth of eating) I then set upon kicking back on the coach to get some r&r.

My body was feeling a little sore due to the volume that I had undertaken during the week and wanted to have some shut eye to read the script for the afternoon session, however my mind was convinced that I should stay awake. I can wake up very ordinary after an afternoon nanna nap.

So, at 3pm I once again mounted my trusty stead and put in another 3 hr stint on her which was backing up from my 4 hr stint in the morning. For some strange reason my legs felt good and I just got into a groove and legs my legs dictate the intensity that I would ride at.

Knowing that my last session for the day was another run and the yo-yo week that I just had, I was aware of how I felt the whole ride and made sure that nothing was going to go wrong. The ride was going really well and with the mind wandering a bit I decided to take a few happy snaps from my phone along the way:

Once home, I convinced Nath (younger brother) to jump on the bike to ride with me whilst I got my final session in for the day. In the interim I had a pizza & garlic bread in the oven ready for as soon as I got home. Run done, pizza smashed and very happy that I got through the day feeling better at the end than what I did at the start.

Enter Sunday....Woke with legs feeling really good, however as we all know in the endurance game, this can change very quickly.

I had to decide on where to run so that I was close to a computer come 1 pm to enter IM Melb. 2hrs 50min of running could have easily been cut short, however I was determined to get the weekend completed 100% to set myself a new level of punishment. 36k's later, the run was done and now it was time to enter (or try to) IM Melb. Little did I know that the race was going to sell out in 5min and being a little drained I was close to missing out...Pushing refresh on the page a few times I didn't see the registration details come up until about the 3rd time.

"Thank you for registering. You are confirmed for 2012 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship Melbourne."

Was the email I received not long after entering and thus just confirmed a very busy 12months of racing in front of me.

So, after this I headed down to Beach Rd to do my afternoon ride....2 1/2 hours with Tom & Greg. A bit of banter has already started b/t Greg & Myself, all in good fun!! I really look forward to doing a full prep with Greg for the same race, as we are helping each other currently on different Race lead ups, so I can only imagine the assistance we will both gain in the lead up to the same event.

For the record, Greg is the favourite to win the Dual b/t us. (according to the people's say, and I am happy to go in as the underdog!!)

Getting this ride over and done with came with a massive sense of achievement, punching out just on 300k's riding for the weekend and 50k's running.

Yesterday was a day that forward to since Friday, just an easy day....Throw in a swim with no intensity and the day came and went without any hassles. Today sees the next chapter begin with my final program on Australian soil being delivered tonight.

Exciting, but challenging times ahead. I haven't even started to think about the race as I have so much to tick off before I even head across, let alone get to race day. For now it is about controlling what I am able to with nutrition, recovery, treatment and staying injury free.

For now...

X-Man

The week I needed....

2011-08-26T13:13:00.002+10:00

Let's call it my yo-yo week.

After a cracking weekend consisting of a great ride with Jas & Brad and then backing that up with another great Sunday running the Bellarine Trail run with Scott, Adrian and Peter Whyte. This all seemed fantastic, however with Monday's swim, things turned (or the yo-yo fell). I really struggled to get through 3k....managed just 3.3k!

Monday night massage seemed all good and then by the time Tuesday rolled around, I was done. Stuffed, exhausted even after a recovery day. My mind wanted to, my body told me that I was kidding myself for trying. 3 consecutive nights in bed before 8pm, sleeping right through until 7am is unlike me....Something was not right.

As much as I wanted to train Tuesday, I just couldn't. So I took the day off training, hoping to recover from feeling so tired. After consecutive weeks of 20+hrs training, this was bound to happen...or was it?

When I look back at my weekend, and review my sessions compared to my program, I know why this happened. My Saturday was perfect, however my Sunday wasn't. My session was supposed to be an easy run which I intended it to be. Running with a few lads at 5min per k was ideal, perfect for what I have planned. 22k into the 34k run, I was feeling good and decided to have a bit of a dip. Why? Because I had my athlete hat on and as as athletes we like to have a dip every so often. Putting my coach's hat on....Silly Silly move.

So back to the athlete version. Feeling good, let's see how I am feeling. So for the remaining 12k, I was running 4min k pace for the first 2 of that and then ran the final 10k in 38.50min. Legs felt great, thinking all was great.

Come Tuesday I knew this is where things went wrong.

Enter Wednesday and my body was heading the right direction adn was able to put in some good training. Even managed a pb over a 1k TT in the pool....13min 20sec. Things back on track. Throw in a ride and some good running and I was confident that the yo-yo was on the way back up.

Yesterday proved that correct with all sessions going according to plan and the body feeling close to where I expect it to be. Ticking off the sessions was satisfying to say the least. Today is another easy day before a MONSTER weekend in front of me. One that I am really looking forward to for probably all the wrong reasons!!

Heading out for a 4hr ride in the morning with a race effort for 2hrs of that, followed by a run, then backing up for another 3hr ride in the afternoon with another run will just be the start of it.

Once I get through that, I will be greeted with a 2hr 50min hill run Sunday, followed by a 2hr 30min ride than capped of nicely with a recovery swim. How else would I rather spend the weekend now the weather has turned for the better??

In amongst that I cannot forget to enter IM Melbourne. An Ironman in my backyard....GOLD!! It will make my busy race schedule even busier, but I am sure that with continuing with the great coaching from Andrew, I will be able to punch out a solid performance.

Anyway, the sun is shining and the pool is calling.

For now...

X-Man

PS. The lesson learnt from this week has made me a more complete athlete, as at times we as athletes think we know better, however keep your trust in the coach as they take the emotion out of writing the program and write it logically for each person.

And.....the easy week is done!!

2011-08-19T19:48:00.003+10:00

So, my recovery week has come and gone and what and interesting week it has been.

Coming back to Melbourne after being away in the sun for a good weekend has been hard as the weather has not really been good for solid training. So I am glad that I had an easy week. Just getting back into was the plan, nothing hard just consistency. Box checked.

Enter this weekend and the following 6 weeks.

Tomorrow morning sees myself, Brad, Jas and newcomer to the training group Tim V head out for a 6 hour journey around the state which should see us cover up around the 180+k for the session. This is closely followed by a short run.

Tomorrow afternoon (if I can still walk after the mornings session) sees me head to a porn show.... BIKE PORN that is...The annual bike expo in Melbourne with a few mates to salivate over the new bikes that we cannot afford, but wish we had.

I am really looking forward to Sundays run, a scenic 34km run down at Queenscliff, once again with some great mates and training partners. This run will be a first for me and I will be trialling my nutrition plan over a longer run and know that I will succeed at this also. Trial and error right now before the big dance.

Follow this up with an easy ride/swim and a 3y.o party in the afternoon and the routine just kicks back in. Training then really takes the next step, which I can't wait for. I have been pushing the body with success and without exhaustion or injury now and just love trying to push it that little bit further.

The program will really test my physical capabilities and push my mental ability to the limit as I learn more about where the line of no return really is.

After many conversations with Andrew, we both agree on the direction and commitment that I have and require for the result that I am seeking at Kona, and not just at Kona, at the following 3 Ironman races in 6 months!

The only downfall with this is that something has to give. For me it is my social life, something that I pride myself on.....The ability to train, work and party hard! I can promise that I will come back to that lifestyle soon people. And will be the pest that I am renowned for! Throw in a great race calendar for the next 12 months and I am like Big Kev "excited". A good mate of mine, Adrian Byrt from Sportsnet Holidays is going to assist me greatly in organising some of the races planned within the upcoming year. If you are after a bucket list fulfilled, contact AB, he will sure help out!

Anyway time for me to sign off, get me gear ready for the morning and prepare myself for another monster weekend of training.

For now...

X-Man

Ps..... The count is down to 7 weeks til race day....Where has time gone??

Content but not complacent!

2011-08-18T07:10:00.017+10:00

So with this year being my 4th trip to Yeppoon for the race, I have always been a little unsure about my form due to it being the first race of my season. This year was no different in that regard. The only difference with the race this year was not only was it my first race, but also it was my lead up race.

With this also in mind, Andrew didn't give me any taper whatsoever. I was feeling more nerves and some anxiousness on Saturday evening due to not having any taper. As soon as I landed in Yeppoon, I had a run to do which was 75min. Not really a lot, however running in the sun for the first time in a long time for me definitely made me sweat. This was followed by 5 hours of riding of the next 2 days leading into the race. The Saturdays ride saw me do 100k. The weather was absolutely magnificent over the weekend also.

The crew that we had stay with in the house also made the weekend fantastic with my sponsor Scott from XOSize, Ol' mate Benny, Killer, Joel, Tom (an athlete I coach), Monique & Brad (Prob my biggest rival over the last 12months). The house was always filled with laughter and fun, although when it came down to the serious business, things quickly became business.

On race morning, after a very lengthy chat about the best way to get to the transitions and the time between transition closing and race start and then even wave start. The pro's were off at 8am and my wave was off at 8.40am. This is sometimes difficult to get nutrition and hydration right for.

Once we saw the start, it was time to get ready for the race. The pre-race nerves had come and gone and it was game time. Due to quality of swimming with Greg that I had been doing I was confident of a front row start. I put on my Rocket Science Suit (which is the best wetty I have swum in) and I found my position next to Brad and just waited for the horn to sound. The conditions for this year were favourable, however the ocean was not calm and was very choppy.

Once the horn sounded, and with the beach start the frantic start was a mad rush to the first buoy. Joel went flying across in front of me (Bondi rescue eat your heart out!!) and I just tried to position myself to get around the buoy in one piece. With the waves slapping in your face this was not easy. Once around the buoy, I settled into a good rhythm. I could see Brad and another guy up in front of me and my goal was to try and stay reasonably close to them. I sucked along another guy who constantly reminded me he was there by tapping my toes. This works well for me as it helps maintain my concentration and prevents me from getting too comfortable and slowing down.

The only mishap for me was swimming into the rope on the last buoy which knocked off my goggles. A quick stop to fix and I was on the way into shore. Standing to look at my watch in under 25mutes was a great feeling and seeing Brad not too far in front of me, meant that I had a great swim. (Being only 2min behind the main pro's was also a tick to the swimming that I have been doing).

T1 was the same as always, in, wetsuit off, helmet & shoes on, bike un-racked....outta there!!

The bike being a 5 lap course always gives you a chance to see where you are at with a few people. I had a rabbit up the road (that person didn't know it) and just wanted to catch them by the race end. So trying to stay consistent with my lap times without blowing myself apart (knowing that I had no taper) I even had time for a smile this race on the bike (for those that know me, I never smile during my race until I finish). My nutrition plan was working well and my lap times were really close.

So after 2hrs 15min I was back into T2. I had made up significant time on my rabbit and was confident of running them down.

I went to rack my and for the first time ever, I couldn't find my position. Ross was watching trying to help locate it, however I must have wasted a good 30-40 sec in the process. I thought that at one stage I found it however when I bent down to put my shoes on......They were not mine!! So after finding my gear, I got out onto the run. The 20bpm race suit had been so comfortable up until this stage.

The run at Yeppoon is a different one to others as it is a loop course, so you never get to see your competitors at turn around points or get time checks. For me this is ok as it makes me run harder (running scared!). When I started out on the run, I saw Benny coming in off the bike and he yelled, "How about you start running!" Obviously I didn't look like I was running sub 4min k pace at the time, but my body knew it was!

Getting further into the run, I was holding a good pace....(4min per k) and was happy with this as it was my goal run pace. I knew at some stage my legs would get heavy due to the volume of training and lack of taper, however I had a goal time and was going to achieve this.

After passing people that I knew (including my rabbit on the last lap) I knew I could hold my pace up until the end. As my previous comment, you never really know exactly where you are on this course so I just had to keep going.

Getting across the line in 4hrs 8mins was a really pleasing feeling, my position was irrelevant at that stage as I knew after running a 1hr 25min for the half that I had created a PB across all 3 disciplines on the one day on a slower course then normal (apart from the swim this year). The 20bpm race suit kept me cool for the entire run and had no chaffing what so ever.

I waited for Brad to cross the line and congratulated him and we both then jumped into the icy cold pool.

Tom was next to cross, and seeing him spent and after giving his all was a pleasing sight as he also did a PB which was just as satisfying for me as my race was.

After the remaining boys crossed the line, we al had our post race de-brief and Scott then informed us of how we finished. I had won my a/g and 8th overall (1st time in top 10 for me), Brad had finished 3rd and 10th overall, Tom was 16th in a pb time.

Brad and I both agreed that the result was pleasing, however we both have bigger fish to fry. We agreed that we have to be content with the result but not get complacent as we still have another 8 weeks before Kona.

Below is the podium for the 30-34 mens a/g with Myself, Hayden Armstrong (who is also going to Kona) and Brad.

Overall the weekend was fantastic and I do want to thank the whole crew who stayed for the fun times. And thank Joel and Andrew for the surprises that they left me!! Good times boys.

With 8 weeks to go and only 4 until I leave, training is going to be great fun. I am enjoying an easier week before chaos breaks loose!

For now...

X-Man

The 20bpm Rocket suit is easily the best tri suit that I have worn, kept me cool and was very comfortable... I can't wait to get it on at Kona!

Full results can be found here.

Not my normal race week preparation!!!

2011-08-12T17:41:00.002+10:00

But, it is all good!

This week is different to normal, different because the training this week is so much more than any other race week lead in. No rest days, just training right up until race day Sunday.

It is great though as my mind is definitely on Kona. In saying that I do have goals that I am going to tick off this weekend even though they are tough. My body feels great, my mind is a little tired from the travel, the weather (although it is perfect).

The house is full of great people and I am loving the crew this year, getting the training done, relaxing and just general chit chat is the general theme. Nothing like last year where Ben & myself wrote ourselves off on this night last year. ThIs year it is different, the feel is awesome!

Brad and I had a good ride earlier and still both agree that the road surface being so course prob equates to an undulating course to some degree. We even ventured off to another road and found some nice little rollers. He is in great shape and will be the one to beat in my a/g again. If I can get within a similar time to him from last year I will be happy.

Sunday will roll around fast and a solid result will be what I am after!

For now, dinner time soon.

X-Man

Playing the mental game...

2011-08-09T20:11:00.003+10:00

And winning!!!

I write this one as I had a massive victory today with training. Today would have been such an easy day to pass on due to having to do my training this evening indoors. I decided to up the ante on myself and test my body in tougher conditions to what I am usually training in.

As the line goes in the Bon Jovi song It's my life, "It's now or never", I decided that it is now.

With the heater on and the room temp getting up to 25% and b/t 85-90% humidity, I had a 2 1/2 hr Mag Trainer session including 3 x 20min efforts. Following this a 1hr 15min jog on the treadmill.

Now for me, purely getting one of these sessions done on its own without the added heat conditions is a win, however punching out both with the added bonus of the heat/humidity gave me a massive boost. I am mentally stronger than ever before. This is carrying over into my fitness as my sessions are easier to get started and easier to complete.

My mental strength has really improved over the last 12 months or so, previously I did take short cuts in training to get it done or leave off just a little bit as I couldn't wrap my head around it. Not this time. On the weekend, I could have cut my ride as I rode past the starting point to do an extra hour. For me, passing the starting point is always hard, I find it easier to go a little bit further out and finish where I began.

As with my swim yesterday, Greg was running late and I was ready to get out after 2.2k's. He arrived then and we got through the remaining 2.8k in the session.

So, doing an indoor session for 4hours and ticking it off exactly as program raises that mental bar just a little bit higher for me, knowing that no matter how boring/tough the session is, I am mentally capable of getting through it.

One thing that I am sooooo happy about tonight Mag Trainer session is that the next time I ride my bike, it should be in perfect conditions in Yeppoon.

I have looked over the field and am looking forward to the battle that lies in front of me. Being the researcher of competitors that I am, I am well aware that it is going to be a cracking race on Sunday. I will do a brief report later on as I will have plenty of time up my sleave when I get there.

One thing that I know for sure about this year compared to last is that Benny and myself WILL NOT be going out 2 nights before the race for a monster session on the beers. It is the pointy end of my preparation and I am willing to sacrifice a few cold frothies in the perfect conditions at this time.

For now....it is dinner and relaxation time

X-Man

PS. I started my session at 88kgs and finished at 87.2kgs...Thinking that I might be getting my nutrition/hydration plan working well.

Some great sessions

2011-08-07T19:28:00.004+10:00

I thought that I would also include a few recent sessions. Great Times, Great Sessions!

Yesterdays Ride

This mornings run - controlled and picked it up late in the run.

Last weekends ride, Great Ocean Road is a magic place to ride

Keep dishing up the sessions!!

For Now...

X-Man

Just keep dishing it up like that!!

2011-08-07T18:55:00.002+10:00

Before I start this blog, I have no idea where I get some the headings from....Sometimes they surprise me with how bad they are...but you'll have to bear with me, that's the best I have!!

Another week done and dusted, another week closer and best of all, another really positive and successful week for me.

Another 23hours in the training bank, another great ride in the hills yesterday with ol' mate Jas, followed by a cracking run this morning with swims both days!

My riding legs are back, well and truly, I am climbing better than before (it is the new nutrition?) and the speed and strength is back where I like it.

The running is still going left leg, right leg and so on and the swimming is still making improvements. Although every time that I hit the pool, I feel like I have a new toy to try out. Today it was fins. After chatting to a great swim coach yesterday and explaining my training, he suggested doing some fin work to aid with my kicking and also to help with staying with the stronger swimmers that I am training with.

That was evident today with getting pounded from 50 to 50 by James Kuyper. I don't put much into the times that I swim with the fins on so that is irrelevant, however this kid can swim. It was not a long session but 15 x 100m later it was done. Quality and with a few great tips from James it was a really beneficial session.

With choosing to swim with Greg & James, I just know that my form and speed and on the improve and I look forward to the results next weekend.

Running is just going great. I am loving every kilometre of it and with the great company that I am enjoying, it is absolutely no hassle at all, as a matter of fact, it is the discipline that I am most enjoying right now. (Did I really just type that? Might be really tired from a monster weekend, surely that's not true) After all Kona is a runners course!!

The last 14months mainly focusing on my run is certainly working nicely and with the big weight loss (5kgs lighter than my last Ironman) it is so much easier. The body is recovering really well from it also.

Next weekend will be a great race for me (in seeing how I am going) and with the field in my a/g having no less than 5 Hawaii Qualifiers along with a few 1/2 Ironman specialist it is going to be a awesome trip. I will post more on that over the next few days.

For now, it is feet up and rest!

X-Man

PS..My weight is down to a skinny 87kgs!!

If I am not deep in it now, I never will be.

2011-08-01T20:45:00.003+10:00

After a monster weekend of training, I know now that i am well and truly deep in my ironman preparation. I have never been this structured previously nor this disciplined. Some would say that i have officially "changed". After only consuming a total of 4 beers for the entire month of July, I have really noticed the difference with my training and recovery. My socializing have been restricted to spending time with my training partners whilst training and not much more. Previously, I would not restrict myself to this strict lifestyle as I love life and spending time with people close to me.

The weekend entailed a 5 hour ride, which we headed down the Great Ocean Rd to Lorne and return, followed by 2 runs for the day. The ride was fantastic spent in great company. The weather wasn't ideal riding weather, however was great my what I wanted, a bit of wind. The 2 runs for the day served a purpose which I go through completing task at hand.

Sunday started with a solid 2 1/2 hour hill run, which by the end of it, my legs knew that the had been in the hills for over 7 hours for the weekend. An easy hour ride on the mountain bike spinning the legs also reminded me that I had worked hard, and achieved big gains by doing this.

An easy recovery swim in the afternoon completed the weeks training at a total of 23hrs in the bank.

Today was a leg rest day, don't be mistaken, leg rest means that the arms work. After organizing a swim with Greg, he then sent through the swim set for the day. 5k in total, giddy up, count me in on that baby. What followed didn't quite excite me that much, a long set of pain.

The session went like this:

1.7k warm up (1.32min per 100)

4 x 800 m at threshold (11.20 min for the first three leaving on 13min)

The last 800m started the same as the first 3, uncomfortably comfortable, then bang, 600m in, my arms decided that they were done. I still managed to come in on an even 12min which I was happy with.

100m c/d.

For me, getting through a very solid 4.7k before I was done pleased me no end. The good news is the direction my swimming is going, the bad news is Greg telling me we are going to do 2 of these per week.....Ouch, the really bad news is that James is going to join me on 1 swim per week. Now James is to Greg what Greg is to me, a distance shadow in the water. Interesting times ahead. The only benefit of swimming with far superior swimmers is that at most you can only ever be 50m away from them, unlike riding or running!

For me, I have one more monster week before a slightly easier one (still around 20hrs) leading into Yeppoon, then 3more weeks before I jet set across to the big island for my final 3 weeks.

Am I ready now? Not quite.

Will I be ready in 10 weeks? You had better believe it!

For now...

X-Man

Ps, I have also been working on a new nutrition plan which is working wonders, a few tweaks and it should be gold!!

The small ones are always the hardest!!

2011-07-29T20:04:00.005+10:00

As I get ready for a 5 hour journey along the Great Ocean Road with Fossil and a few others, and mind you am excited about it, I sit and ponder why the small sessions are always the hardest to get motivated for.

The small 30min run tonight took me forever to drag myself out the door as once I found all my running gear, it took me just about as long to get ready as what it did to get the run done. Once I finally got out the door and got running, it was fine, however just trying to mentally get excited about the small sessions feels tougher than the actual session itself. I find getting ready for a long session, whether be the swim, bike or run very easy and can really get excited about getting the session done, feeling the sense of accomplishment, ticking a big box on the checklist and knowing that I am making progress with my training/Kona preparation.

Getting through a 6 hr ride with efforts or running for 3 hrs in the hills or getting a 5k swimming lesson just gets me more motivation for the following session regardless of how I feel post session. I can get myself mentally prepared for these and get up and get going without much effort.

With the small sessions, I don't get that feeling. I understand the benefits of these sessions however a few years back I thought that they were a total waste of time and never gave them the due respect they deserved. Knocking over these little sessions just add value to the larger sessions and can be of great benefit to the overall training. This I the only thing that makes me drag myself out to complete them, whether on the treadmill or the mag trainer, I just make sure I tick that box.

I would be curious to hear the thoughts of others regarding this and if there are any little tips on how to make the short sessions easier.

For now...

X-Man

The numbers keep growing, the weeks keep shrinking...

2011-07-25T17:34:00.003+10:00

That's right, the weeks are shrinking....fast, however my numbers in training are growing....fast. So I would say that things are heading the right way for both stats.

I am still a long way off peaking at my training numbers, however the body and mind are feeling as good as ever and the increases are more enjoyable rather than intimidating. I had a chat with Coach Andrew last week about where the numbers might get to if my body holds up....That is bloody scary. I am hoping that I can get to those numbers (will state them down the track) to see how mentally strong I am and how much improvements I still have left in me.

How motivating was it to see Cadel Evans win the Tour De France. I must admit, the late nights got to me and was unable to sustain the night in night out ritual like many of my friends did but the motivation that I have gained from it has been fantastic. Could not have come at a better time for me. Not that the motivation was dwindling, but to get a massive boost is always a help. I was going to blog mid week about motivation and what gets me going, however seeing Cadel take the Tour Victory is enough for now..(Maybe another topic for down the track)

Everything has been going according to plan, however I did learn one thing yesterday afternoon....I cannot eat a whole box of favourite chocolates and not be violently ill that night. Rookie mistake one would say.....I would say, I was just being a pig!! Lesson learnt, no harm done to training, this time!!

The swimming has been showing improvements and today I got the understanding of how Ben felt when he swam with me regulary. When you consistently swim with someone faster, you never actually feel like you are improving and it is not until you reflect on the times you are producing that you realize that you are making improvements. For me, swimming with Greg has been a great thing, someone who is just out of reach when the going gets tough. This has helped me greatly, however never making inroads into the distance between us started eating me up today.

The agreed set was 500m w/up, then 38 x 100m on a 1.30 cycle. This might mean a lot to many, however in triathlete terms, this is a big set for the average swimmer (that's me!!). The first 15 were "easy" (unsure how doing a 1.30m cycle can ever be "easy"), then following that the next 15 were "solid" (that's more like my intensity for these) and the final 8 at "tempo" (hmmm, this was always going to be a battle.

We agreed that we would come in on around the 1.25min for the first 15 then decrease the time after this. First 15 come and go.....average 1.22min, feeling ok, however knowing that when the set changes to "solid" (must be his solid not mine!!) I was going to hurt. I managed to knock off 25 x 100m on the 1.30min cycle before my arms said that was enough. Now I am no quitter, so I rested for 1 set, added some paddles and buoy and continued on my way. I got through another 8 on the 1.25 cycle before I rested again and then finished off the last 4 trying to hang onto Greg.

For me, this was a pass!! I was hoping to get to 20, 25 was more than acceptable first up. Next time around no less than 38 will be acceptable.

The riding is also improving and I am feeling my riding legs returning, finally. A few hills on the weekend was enough to return some waining confidence about my cycle legs. And the running is the running. It comes around 8-10 times a week and then it returns the next week. My legs are getting stronger with both the riding and running, however it is always hard to gauge these without racing. One would say that I am really looking forward to Yeppoon in 3 1/2 weeks!!

For Now...

X-Man

PS. On a different note, I would like to send my condolences out to all that knew the late John Cornish who was unfortunately hit by a vehicle on Friday evening whilst out training and passed away due to the injuries suffered. I didn't know John that well myself, however I certainly know many people who were close to John and my heart felt wishes go out to all of you. John was a Pro-triathlete in his day and then switched across to Pro-cycling and was well respected by his peers. John also was a Triathlon coach at Tri-Alliance.

This gives a reminder that whilst we are training, we have to keep alert at all times, some things cannot be avoided, this for example, however please take care out there and stay safe. This is news that as a fellow triathlete and cyclist I wish I didn't have to hear/read about especially when it touches people around you.

The countdown is on...

2011-07-16T09:16:00.007+10:00

Yes, I am counting down. Counting down to the biggest race of my life. Counting down until I jump on the plane to head across to Kona and even counting down until I get on the plane to head to Yeppoon 1/2 in 4 weeks.

I am also counting down to get out of the weather here, yes the sun has been shining, however it has been freezing. Hence I write this blog at 9am instead of being out on the bike. That's what my afternoon plan is.....riding in the sun. With the weather getting below 0 deg, I decided that I am no super hero, nor am I trying to get used to the cold conditions, so waiting until the afternoon is my decision!

Now, as far as training is going, it is going well. After suffering the potentially disease "man flu" I had to have an easy week, which coincided with my recovery week and managed 12 hrs of training, I am now back into the full swing of things getting back up to my comfort zone around the 20hrs per week. I know that I will be going up a level soon and hitting 25+hrs per week, but let's wait until that comes around. I learnt my lesson about wanting more, refer to this blog. So patience is my motto and getting every session ticked off along the way is my goal.

Training is still fun (apart from trying to get out is 0 degrees), swimming is going well and it was good to see Matty Lewis at the pool yesterday. We had a bit of fun trying to tame the swimming beast Greg Farrell which also coincided with Matty and I both swimming pb's for the distance we relayed in!!

Greg had been a great help to me in the pool, getting my to well and truly step out of my comfort zone and I am learning my boundaries and limits for respective distances. Pushing me until I can't be pushed any more.

Sometimes I get out of the pool feeling and looking like this. (notice how red this swimmers back is = fatigued)

Often the comment, "Is your back sun burnt?" gets asked, my usual response is, "No, just been swimming with Greg!"

I have enjoyed the sessions, and am seeing improvements week after week. We both have set a plan in place and are working towards it and I am very sure that it will be anther box that I will tick off.

It has been great getting back on the bike also. I am currently mixing up the riding between my trusty TT bike and my roadie. Breaking up the rides by doing this is making it so much easier to get out and enjoy the sessions. But soon the roadie will be having a spell and the TT bike will be out in force.

Getting back out on the bike for 10+ hours per week makes me comfortable, however I know that I am a fair way off from having my riding legs.

At Mag trainer Thursday night my legs exploded a few times. My mind still thinks that I have cycling legs, however the body does no better....for now!! My legs will be "all rounders" with both cycling and running heavily implanted in them.

The running is still going well, putting the recovery week behind me where I felt like my legs gained 10kg's each as I could not reach the speed/efforts that I could previously. My running legs are coming back and my intensities are back to where I like.

Overall everything is on track and I am really looking forward to the increased volume, I am just hoping for some moreand less.

For now...

X-Man

Here we go...

2011-07-05T14:29:00.008+10:00

Tonight is the official start of my Ironman Hawaii preparation. So far I have been running like no tomorrow, following the black line over and over again in the pool and with the occasional pedal around the streets to prepare myself for a massive 12 weeks.

With the actual race 94 days and with me leaving 3 odd weeks prior, no stone will be left unturned from now until then.

I actually looked over my training for June and worked out that I ran over 450k's for the month and swam just under 70k's also. This puts me in a good position as these were the 2 disciplines that needed attention and with having focused on those I know that with the introduction of riding back into the program consistently, I will still be heading in the direction that I want to get to.

When I look back at my running, to get the volume completed and the consistency in the legs really compliments the program that I have undertaken. This I can only thank Andrew for in preparing me for the 12 weeks of torture that will I face.

Greg has been a massive help in the pool, smashing me to pieces more often than not, however his help has been invaluable and made the progress easier and faster.

Tonight will not only be exciting, however a little scary all the same as I have been averaging around 20hrs per week at the moment without any big riding. What will the hours get to?? I have no idea, however will find out this evening.

The count down is definitely on and the phone calls will start happening sourcing training partners from around the place, not only to train with, but to feed me also :-).....I have to thank a few people for have dinner ready for me after training, it is muchly appreciated!!

After my discussion tonight, will have a whole lot more knowledge, excitement and nerves about what is forthcoming.

For Now...

X-Man

Ps. A big well done to those who toughed it out at IM Korea over the weekend and a HUGE congrates to Dane for finishing 4th and booking his ticket to Kona.

Everthing is weird right now!!

2011-06-28T05:48:00.000+10:00

But, all in a good way :-)

Training is going well, the k's are increasing, the legs are getting more and more fatigued, however one thing is weird. My times are improving.

I know this is probably the that is should go, however, I would have thought it would be once the k's decrease, not increase. Backing up my 120km run week the week previous with a 125k run week last week, the legs, mind and body are going strong.

My swimming is still going well, and swimming a 57.30min 3.8k in a 50m pool solo gives me good confidence that my swimming is progressing to where I want it to be. The main thing that I have noticed about my swimming is the lack of cramps that I am currently getting. I put this down to using Hammer Endurolyte tablets, since I have been taking the Endurolytes, I just simply don't cramp anymore. Knowing this gives me confidence during a long endurance swim set knowing that I will complete the set without the dreaded cramps.

During the recent 3.8k swim, I even managed to negative split all 3 k's, going from 15.36, to 15.20 then down to a 14.50min effort and then finishing off the 800m well under the 12min mark. I am still a little bit off my goal time for Kona, but the main thing is that I am heading towards it, even deep in training. The biking is slowly coming, albeit ugly at the moment due to lack of bike k's in the legs, but I still have over 3 months to get them back to where I want.

I do have interesting times ahead, with training now being at a consistent 20 hours per week with not much biking, so no doubt once the next program gets finalised, these hours will increase once again. Something that is intimidating and exciting at the same time.

My race plan did recently change, with me not competing in an of the running races that I intended to. This was a decision by Andrew and myself, as we both agreed that I would get more benefit out of consistent training week in week out. I was content with this as my legs have been tired and heavy and the thought of a 15k smash fest did not really excite me (but a 2hr 20min run in the hills did!!).

I don't have much else to report about my prep, just one week is rolling into the next at the moment. I am looking forward to the upcoming weekend's Ironman in Korea to follow some mates compete there and hopefully book their ticket to Kona.

For now...

X-Man

And so it finally begins!!

2011-06-10T21:17:00.003+10:00

I write this blog with some excitement, although I know it is going to be a whole lot of hard work combining it all.

I am finally getting back on the bike to re-introduce it into my training. It is a strange feeling when you look back at your training and see that you have consistently been running more than biking. What does this mean?? One of three things:

1) I have been running a lot,
2) I haven't been biking, or
3) A combination of both.

Option 3 is where it is at and with this week going to be another around the 110k's running, I can finally say that my biking will top this for the first time is many a week. What else does this mean?? That tomorrow's 3hr ride in the hills is going to be very ugly and painful.

I am excited all the same though, as I love biking and enjoy getting out chewing the fat with my mates. Tomorrow we welcome a couple of fresh faces that are on the Ironman wagon and I look forward to many an hour in the saddle along side both Laz & Tim. This adds to the "usual suspects" that I train with and once everyone gets back into full training for their relative Ironman races, it will be an exciting group to train with.

The winter weather has been interesting, however my new found love for treadmill running and my mag trainer again has overcome the conditions that have been facing all who train at this time of year, unless ofcourse you live in far north Qld. (oh, if only!!)

The Kona count is still in triple digits, so it is still a long way from being here, however I know that once it lowers into double digits, it is just around the corner. I am really looking forward to Yeppoon 70.3 this year as I will be in the best shape of my life at that time of year and am hanging to see the result that I can produce.

As stated previously I have changed my whole swimming program and to my surprise, I am still lowering my pb. Today with Greg Johnny Memphis Jnr, we did 2 x 1k TT with my times coming in on the 13.27 for the first one and 13.55 for the second, a little bit slower however the 13.27 was a pb by 18secs, which I cannot complain about. My goal coming closer to the race is to get a pb of lower than 13min and also punch out 4 x 1k TT efforts coming in on 13.45 leaving on the min cycle. Tough ask, but so is Kona and I am going to complete Kona, so no reason that I can't complete this task!

So, at the moment all is going well (might be a different statement after the mornings ride) and no complaints at the moment. I also have been accredited with my level 1 coaches certificate and I look forward to learning from the athletes that I will be coaching along with passing on the experience and knowledge that I ahve gained over my journey.

For now...

X-Man

Time to find ALL my winter cycling gear.

Knee deep in it!!

2011-06-02T08:45:00.005+10:00

Where to start??

Just coming off my first 100k+ run week, I never thought that I would be looking forward to seeing how much my body can handle. Of course the body was sore, however the mind is strong and the motivation is unquestionable.

When I look at my blog and see the count down timer gradually decrease, the excitement grows and so do the nerves. It must be getting closer as even my boss asked me to fill in holiday forms for the time that I will be away.

I was chatting to a few at run squad last night and we were talking about upcoming races etc and for a few of us, our main race is not far away, albeit later in the year. When you look at your race schedule, you certainly do realise that the days, weeks & months certainly count down faster than you somewhat want at times.

Throw in relocating, doing my level 1 accreditation and work, the days are disappearing faster than I think. I am certainly making the most of every minute throughout the day and utilizing what I can where I can to ensure that everything is accounted for and am justifying my existence.

So back onto the training, the running is going well, the swimming is holding its own and the riding will slowly start to increase to match the other two moving forward.

My weight is down to 88kgs, never thought I would be this light so early in a preparation, however does give me confidence that I will be able to drop it lower as it gets closer. A few dodgy sushi rolls over the last weekend did help me drop it, however was not in the plan and I ensured that the weight was put back on so that I could maintain my training.

I have a few running races upcoming including a 10k road race this weekend, a 15k road race two weeks later, then the Gold Coast Half Marathon at the beginning of July. Then before I know it Yeppoon 1/2 Ironman will have come and gone and I will be sweating it out on the roads of Kona. I just have to keep crossing the t's and dotting the i's and I am confident that the rest will take care of itself!!

For now...

X-Man

Another 1 down, many more to follow!!

2011-05-23T06:34:00.002+10:00

So, after my last blog about the volume of running that is going to commence, I have just finished another 90+ km week. The week finished with a reasonable hilly run at Brimbank park with a good sized group (although we all had our own program to do). I did find myself running mainly solo due to this reason and just found as many hills that I could. See below garmin file:

So with a run like that finishing off my week, I am also happy to have a leg rest day on the Monday. This never means an easy day though....Just off to the pool to get 4.5-5k done focusing on upper body, plenty of pull buoy, paddles, and band (oh I hate the band work).

Late last week I also went into XOsize to look at my race suit for Kona, and I was very impressed by the way the suit has been made and cannot wait to get into it to see how good it actually is!! The only little flaw in the suit is one star missing from the flag on the front of it. This will be rectified by the time Kona is upon me.

Check pics below:

So, thanks Scott for organising this for me, and I am looking forward to wearing it!!

For now...

X-Man

Be careful of what you wish for!!

2011-05-20T06:55:00.000+10:00

It just might come true. It might sound good at the start, but once you are knee deep in it, it won't be easy.

I was running with a friend during the week and mentioned how I had many weeks running in the 90-95k mark but had never reached 100k's. The response was that it was early in the Kona build and that I shouldn't look for more than what is on my program. Hey, I understood that, but doesn't everyone want to be able to say that they have had a 100k run week?? For me, it has nothing to do with training or talking myself up, just a barrier that I would like to tick off along the way.

Enter meeting with coach here.......

So, last night I had my monthly meeting with Andy and mentioned the same thing to him. So politely and genuinely he said, "Your wish is granted!!"

Planning out the next block of running, not only will I get to 100k's for 1 week, it will most likely be for the whole block and up to 115k's for a couple of weeks. WOW!! He then ask me my thoughts about it, slightly excited but also knowing how fatigued I will be I responded, "Yeah, I am looking forward to that." Looking forward to it, am I crazy?? Looking forward to having my feet and legs pounding the pavement for over 100 k's per week, why would I look forward to that??

There is one simple answer: Kona

Kona is the goal and has been the goal since day 1 in this sport and to achieve my goal at Kona, this is what is required. Going through the long hours of training with my best mates chewing the fat over some of the most ridiculous conversations about nothing. Going through the highs and lows of how the body is feeling and getting that self belief that anything is possible.

Just getting the hardest session in for the week completed, and no it isn't a 2-3hr run, nor a 5-6hr ride.....It is the recovery swim Sunday afternoon, the little simple 2-3k splash in the pool. It is hard mentally as you know it is the last session of the week, and that you might not get any improvements from this session, but it sure as hell helps you the following week.

The bike is still on the back burner with the outlook being less than 100 k's a week on her. The thought of running more than riding is very daunting to say the least, but this whole Ironman caper is all about the run. You can't run, you can't achieve your goals. I am still a fair way off being a runner, however all arrows are pointing in that direction.

The program has effectively providing me with 10 runs per week, splitting up the sessions to enable me to complete the sessions without the fear of injury. This is a mental hurdle for me and once I tick off the first week of this, I know the rest will come and go before I know it.

Anyway, I might as well go and enjoy the first of many many runs this program, albeit an easy 30min this morning.

For now...

X-Man

Am glad that week is over!!

2011-05-11T06:21:00.005+10:00

Last week was a tough one for me. I had a few firsts in training and am glad that I was able to tick them off by the weeks end.

After running the 1/2 Marathon, I then was programmed to run every day after for the next week. Now this must be what they call a "running" block. I was able to get through the early week sessions ok, however as the week got deeper, the session got harder. The weird thing was that it wasn't necessary harder on the body, just mentally. The sessions were not long or didn't have any quality, was just hard to get my mind going to get the job done. Finishing the week with a 2hr run in the hills was just what I needed to win the mind over body debate that was going on.

I got a further 70k's in the running legs last week and totalled just under 100k's in the 9 days straight of running. With a weekly total of 16 1/2 hours.

What gets me more is that I have more running in this week than last, however it is not daunting to say the least.

This week started well with a swim session Monday. My original plan was to get 4k of long easy k's in the arms until a mate of mine Gregory rang and we decided to do the session together. His call of 20 x 200's on a 3.20 cycle seemed reasonable enough, (I was thinking 10-15sec rest between). But no, we mixed up the sets in 4 lots of 5, some with paddles, some pull buoy, some band & some normal freestyle (That was Greg's anyway). Mine was 5 with paddles, 5 normal, 5 paddles, 5 normal. After touching the wall on an average of 2.52 per 200m, I was quite satisfied with the session, especially after how I felt during the latter stages of last week.

Another thing that has sprung to mind is starting to decide my race schedule for 2012. With most Ironmans selling out within 12 hours, and still not have even raced Kona yet (149 days away) I have to look at which races to do before I miss the boat and have a year out of Ironman. My original plan is to look at attempting 4 Ironman races next year, just finding the right races is the difficult part. I am going to head back to WA 2012 as a definite, however I would like to choose an early season race also.

With the talk of a few races being added to the calendar this part of the world, it might be a good opportunity to achieve the 4 without blowing multiple holes in the finance department!

I also must make a special mention here to a guy that I know who achieved a massive achievements. The first is Matty Lewis who after you read his blog, you will realise that not only is the guy lucky to be alive (after crashing his bike a few years back) the fact that he made the extraordinary effort to complete an Ironman is one thing, but to win his age group (i must admit I never thought he was 40!!) and qualify for Kona is one achievement that makes you realise that if you really want to achieve the dream, you can!! He made no excuses about training, he just got the job done!

A massive thumbs up Matty!! (nice race suit also!)

For me, this is another bit of inspiration to keep moving forward and ticking off those boxes. On that note, the running shoes are calling my name.

For now...

X-Man

Having the trust makes it happen!!

2011-05-02T08:38:00.008+10:00

It is funny when you sit down with someone that knows that you are honest with them and how things are progressing. To have an opinion about which direction you want to go, and what is the best way to get there.

It is also funny that when that person listens to your opinion on your thoughts and direction and takes it on board when planning your program and the direction that the partnership is going to travel.

The reason why I say this, every time I meet with Andrew (TMC) to construct a program I can tell him what I would like to do, how I am feeling and a report on the previous program/discussion. Andrew then comes up with a well thought answer which satisfies my question/curiosity/or what ever the situation.

For the previous times we have sat down pre-race (whatever that race might be) he has blown me away with some of his predictions about my capabilities. Example : Yeppoon 1/2 Ironman, Andrew predicted my ride & run time within the minute of both. For him, knowing the truth about my training & lifestyle can give him the confidence of writing a program for me and also learn my boundaries.

So after our meeting most recently, we discussed my race plan for the Geelong 1/2 Marathon on the weekend. My ultimate goal was to break 80mins (see last post), when I told Andrew this, he plainly so "no". This could have shattered my confidence, however when he explained his reasoning to me and then told me that I could run under 79mins, I thought he was dreaming as breaking 80min for me was always a mental thing.

The plan was to run 3min 45sec for the first 15k then try to pick it up for the last 6k....hmmm...always going to be a tough ask in my eyes. We did discuss this in depth and my doubts vs his trust and confidence. In the end he won and I posted about breaking 80mins. I don't often post about a certain time that I want to do, but in this case Andrew gave me the confidence of breaking 79mins, I played it safe and said 80mins.

So going into the race, I organised Adrian ( a good mate of mine) to help pace me where possible as there was 800+ Runners entered. This was very beneficial towards the last 4-5k where the legs just started to hurt and he gave me the encouragement that I needed.

I must admit that I was extremly nervous (prob excitment about trying to hit the time also) pre-race and following a bit of Ironman Australia online might have contributed to this!! So with a bit of a warmup and finding a good position on the start line I was ready to go.

The horn sounded and although I had a race plan in mind I was conscious of getting a good start and out of trouble early. I found a comfortable pace for the 1st k and then settled back into a rhythm that I would be able to hold according to the plan.

You can see the data here:

Geelong 1/2 Marathon

With the above data, you will see my HR very high, as much as I wish that I could run at those levels, I think that my HR strap is on the blink!! I also failed to stop my watch as I crossed the line, however the actual race results are here:

Geelong Cross Country Club (Inc.)
Race No : 3
Athlete's Foot - Saucony
Geelong Half Marathon 2011
1-May-11
Venue: Barwon River

Pos Reg Runner Clock Rate Category Gender Category Place

1 1777 Jason Woolhouse 1:07:53 3:13 Open Male 1
2 1567 Stephen Smith 1:13:42 3:29 Open Male 2
3 1429 Grant Morgan 1:13:55 3:30 Open Male 3
4 1486 Adrian Phelan 1:16:26 3:37 Open Male 4
5 1631 David Venour 1:16:32 3:37 Veteran Male 1
6 1951 Watto's Warriors 1:17:15 3:39 Relay 1
7 1562 Grant Simpson 1:17:28 3:40 Veteran Male 2
8 1050 Michael Bialczak 1:17:53 3:41 Masters Male 1
9 1150 Peter Cutler 1:18:00 3:41 Open Male 5
10 1847 Xavier Coppock 1:18:17 3:42 Open Male 6
11 1521 Darren Riviere 1:18:31 3:43 Veteran Male 3
12 1199 Andrew Ferguson 1:18:54 3:44 Open Male 7
13 1606 Hugh Thyer 1:19:13 3:45 Open Male 8
14 1719 Jack Verstraten 1:19:23 3:45 Veteran Male 4
15 1068 Ray Bradbury 1:20:13 3:48 Veteran Male 5
16 1565 George Skoufis 1:20:30 3:48 Open Male 9
17 1854 Scott Nicholas 1:21:25 3:51 Open Male 10
18 1123 Brooke Condon 1:21:56 3:52 Open Female 1
19 1437 Geoff Moulday 1:22:17 3:53 Veteran Male 6
20 1737 Craig Keenan 1:22:33 3:54 Open Male 11

This is the top 20 out of the 800 finishers.

So, after the start, I managed to settle into a good tempo and hold 3.42 mpk pretty consistently until the 10k mark (36min 40sec). My legs felt good and I was leading a rather large pack, so I decided to increase the speed just slightly to see how everyone else was feeling. I lowered the pace to 3.36 - 3.37 and held onto that for a few k's and still was feeling really good. Once we got to the 12k mark I had a quick glimpse to find that I only had 1 other guy with me, so I then settled back into a 3.40 pace with some slightly faster k's in there.

The hour went by and I had just over 16.6k on the clock and was still feeling good. By the time 17.5k had passed and with some slightly undulations/little rollers, my legs were starting to feel the pinch. Adrian then kicked in and gave me some encouragement, humour & distance updates on the guy behind me. I knew that I was sitting 10th on the road (9th individual) and I was determined not to drop out of the top 10. I had worked to well to let it go!!

My pace dropped to 3.50 until the 20k mark where the course flattened right out (don't get me wrong, it is a flat track, but some little rises do take the pinch out of the legs). Once the last 1.5k were upon me I increased the pace again to finish the race off strong.

My final time was 1hr 18min 17sec which placed me 9th individual and 10th overall. A pb by a BIG number and one that I will break again at my next race.

Knowing that Andrew can pick my times, it does give me confidence and trust that if I do stick to his (to the best of my ability) I will continue to punch out good numbers.

The next 7 days all involve running and I am looking forward to everyone of them.

For now...

X-Man

And so the running begins!!

2011-04-26T08:18:00.007+10:00

After sitting down with Andrew (Triathlon & Multisport Coaching) last Thursday and getting my new program, the running has just began.

Yes, sure I have had reasonably sized run weeks before, however this is a continual block of running which really started 2 weeks ago. This means that the riding really backs off, which is no concern to me as I have not done any significant k's on the bike all year. The most that I have done since resuming training is just under 300k's with the average being under 200k's currently. The swimming is still there, and they will stay a constant for now as we have discussed a new training schedule for the swimming which already seems to be paying off at this early stage with distance being consistent and times reducing.

Back to the running, by the end of this program, I would have pounded the pavement for approx 500k (predicting future distance is hard) in the 6 weeks at an average of 80+k's per week. This I know is not a lot for some people, however for a 90kgs guy who weighed 125+kgs couldn't run around a football oval 4 years ago, this is big. Throw in a few days of double runs and a 1/2 marathon or 2 and I will be really happy to see the back of this program. The only thing once this program is done, the new one begins and the k's rise again!! But I am really enjoying it, from the easy sessions to the more challenging ones.

This Sunday I am running in the Geelong 1/2 Marathon, a race that I did in 2008 and ran a 1.29.50 which at the time I was really happy with. Looking back at the race and the condition that I was in, I probably ran outside my ability at that time. This Sunday will be a different story, my running started 12 months ago when I joined TMC and have not looked back. I would still be happy to run outside my ability and produce a time which will surprise me. We have discussed a race plan, one which raised my eyes, however with the trust that I have in Andrew I am sure that if I run the race correctly I will achieve the goal.

The goal of running 10min faster than previously. Yes, this means breaking 80mins for the 1/2. A time that if someone would have asked me 6months ago, or even 3 months ago, I would have told them that they were dreaming. At this stage, I still have to do run that time, however with times that I am doing in training and sticking to the plan, it is well and truly within my grasp. This means running at an average of 3min 47sec per k. WOW, when you put it like that, going to be a tough ask. But I love the challenges in this sport and am always out to get over the bar, no matter how high it is raised. Who would have thought that I would have gone 9hr 6min at Ironman? The answer: Not many.

It is the same with this situation.

At the end of the day, the result is only a guide as my main goal is Kona in October. In saying that, every race that I do, no matter the discipline or distance, I am there to compete at my best and go as fast as I can at the time.

So with that I will finish with a quote that continually runs through my head when the training becomes more challenging:

"To get where you have never been, you have to do what you never have"

For now...

X-Man

* A side note to congratulate a friend of mine who got a Kona Lottery spot, Pete Coulson, well done and I look forward to the next few months with you!!

Right things going up, right things coming down!!

2011-04-20T06:52:00.005+10:00

It feels like an eternity since my last post, but I must say that I have to be in a certain mood to want to sit down and blog.

A quick round up of the last race that I did: Triman Triathlon (Teams), we finished 2nd in the teams section and a very creditable 6th Overall.

James (3rd Fastest Overall) was out of the water, not far behind John Van Wisse which enabled me to ride with Tristan Parker, although I knew that for us to win I had to put some time into him, I did try this around the 40k mark and at the 1/2 way mark did have 100m on him, but giving credit where credit is due, Tristan reeled me back in and we exited the bike together. ( I was 4th Fastest Overall, 1st in Teams category, Ave 40.1kph).

Poor Cam had to contend with Magnus Michelson (Marathon/Ultra Marathon runner with several wins under his belt). We decided that we were only competing for 2nd and had over a 15min lead on third off the bike.

Cam ran a very creditable 89mins for the 22.5k course (1km long) and held his own for our team to take 2nd in the teams. Magnus went on to run a smoking 75min for the 22.5k and had the fastest run split by 4mins on the day. Their team was first overall by 7mins and deserved the accolades by putting together a great team. A job well done to our guys (being the underdogs, we did push them a long way).

Since then the training has been going along quite well with the quality & quantity increasing and the times decreasing. I am due to meet up with Andrew this week to start planning my Kona specific training which is going to be exciting and scary all at once.

I have managed my weight and am currently 2-2.5kgs lighter than my last Ironman race and have tried a few days of being 4-5kgs lighter with some good success. The below pictures show the gradual decrease over the last few months.

This picture was taken mid feb, giving me 1 kg lighter than Ironman weight.

This picture was taken Mid March, showing 1.7kgs lighter.

This picture was taken 17th April, albeit post run, however did start the session at 89kgs. I am currently hovering around the 90kgs mark, some days just over some days just under. I am also coping with the weight reduction very well as my body is not under as much stress especially running or climbing those hills, hey Jas?? I also don't have a goal weight in mind, just a matter of seeing where the weight goes and playing by feel.

For Now...

X-Man

Let the fun begin!

2011-03-31T18:35:00.005+11:00

Fun?

Who calls training 20+ hours a week fun??

Honestly I do!!

Currently I am doing 15-18hrs and am loving all of it....Yes some is still hurting, sometimes others more than me ;-) but I am really enjoying it.

The last few weeks have been all about preparing my body for the long winter ahead by getting some quality k's in without the risk of injury or boredom. Andrew has been the architect behind this and he is still getting results from me that I have thought were not maybe possible at this time of year.

My most recent race was a sprint distance last weekend where I was able to turn around a deficit of 1.10min in the swim from the previous race to the most recent. For the first time in my fleeting triathlon career, I exited the water in front of my age group. WAS IT THE ROCKET SUIT??? ;-)

Below is the swim data including some bike data - had a bad day negotiating the garmin.

Swim & some bike data

From there my long course transition speed cost me the lead going into the bike and forced me to work hard on the bike to catch the leader again, which I was able to do 10k into the 20k bike ride. My legs were feeling good and I managed one of the fastest times of the day, by averaging a tad over 42kph.

Bike data

I was first in and out of T2 and ran with Stephane for the first 2k's on the run before his leg speed became more superior than mine and he ran away with the win, defeating me by approx 1 min, (My 3.42 average on the run just didn't cut it!!) The time is not accurate as my timing chip did not register for the race and have no record of my splits.

The following Garmin files shows the race, although it even had a hissy fit and dropped out at some stage. But you'll get the drift of the race speeds.

Run data

So based on these figures and not having trained for any speed I was very happy with the result.

This upcoming weekend is my final triathlon (if you call a teams race a triathlon??) before the real fun begins....

The build up to Kona.

James "superfish" Kuyper should put us in a great position leading into T1 and if I can hold my form, we should still be in a good position coming into T2 and then it is up to Cam Ward to bring us home for a great result.

After this weekend of fun, everything becomes solely focused on Kona and everything to do with Kona.

I am looking forward to pestering all my regular training partners along with finding some new ones during the cold wet winter months to enjoy the fun with.

For Now....

X-Man

Am finally finding some....

2011-03-16T20:12:00.007+11:00

Some what??

Some of these:

No, they are not mine, and mine probably are never going to go as fast, but they have changed from these:

No, they are not mine either, but they are some serious cycling legs!!! I am just finding some decent run legs, especially at this early stage of my preparation for Kona!! My legs do not look like anything of the top pictures, however I am glad to say that they don't look like the following either!!

So back to the reason for my post, i did a 7.3k fun run a few weeks ago and punched out a 26min 14sec race placing 2nd overall averaging (3.35min k pace). This is something that I used to be able to do for a 1k max effort but to be able to maintain that pace over 7+k I was stoked. Yes, yes I know, it is not 42.2k or even 42.2k after a 180k ride, but hey we are in March and Kona is just over 200days away (at time of writing!)

After that, back at run squad on the Wednesday, we did a 5k set with 1k max, 1k solid, 1k tempo, 1k solid, 1 k max. My time for the 5k was 18min on the nose, so even with a few solid efforts I still maintained the 3.35min k pace. Following on from this I still managed to turn over 70k of running for the week. Something unheard of for me, but must say that I am loving it!!

First time ever that I would take a run over a ride. I have changed, for the better.

The other fact the I contribute to my running speed so far is my on-running shoes as they are transforming my running style from heal strike to mid foot running. Which I must say that I am loving, it has taken me a while to convert and still haven't completely, however the results are definitely showing for me.

I am looking forward to getting my new pair next week which are a more durable trainer which for a bigger guy like myself will give the shoes more longevity for training and then I can once again have a training on and a racing on, and as the motto goes, it is like running on clouds. They are definitely a shoe to try if you want to learn to run fast!!

I do thank Luke & Florian for their support and look forward to building the relationship further into the future!!

For now...

X-Man

You can keep your Sprint Distance, I am sticking with Ironman!!

2011-03-02T13:20:00.003+11:00

So, last weekend I ventured into unknown territory, sprint distance triathlon. I can't actually remember the last time I did one of these races, prob some 10 years ago in Port Douglas....argh the memories of the nice weather, something non existent this summer here in Melbourne.

The 750m Swim, 20k Ride and 5k Run was always going to be tough for me, not as in fitness, but for speed. This rig is not built for speed!!

The new wetsuit was gold and was very happy with the swim, felt really good and was happy where I exited the water.

The ride was the ride, felt like I had nothing in the legs, however still managed an ave of 40kph, something that I do in 1/2 Ironman races anyway.

The run was about the same, broke the 20min for the 5k, but had no speed at all. At GC 1/2 last year I went 1hr 26min for the run including T2 and broke 1hr for the 15k, so it was nothing to be excited about.

I must say that I did enjoy the race for what it was, however would prefer to stick to 1/2 & Ironman distance races. I have another couple of smaller distance races before the season is out, which I will enjoy.

A massive positive that I found from the race, was that after 5min of finishing, I could have easily raced again over the same distance being confident of recording a similar time.

I ended up 6th in my a/g, a couple of minutes from 1st, so probably not a bad result on reflection.

Everything else has been travelling smoothly with nothing to report, just doing what I need when I need to right now. The program is starting to fill up which I am enjoying, getting that fatigued feeling back....

Yes I would rather 9hrs 30mins of racing compared to 1hr 5mins of racing!! I feel like I get more satisfaction from it!!

For Now...

X-Man

New Sponsor on Board!!

2011-02-21T19:39:00.003+11:00

I am pleased to announced that Rocket Science Sports is now my official Wetsuit sponsor and also my tri suit sponsor. RSS are making a custom suit up for me for Yeppoon in August and also for the Hawaiian Ironman. Once I receive the 20bpm suit, I will post a pic.

There are many features of the 20bpm suit that will be advantageous for me at Hawaii compared to regular tri suits!

The RSS wetsuit exceeded all expectations when I tried it on and swam in it and am looking at doing some more swimming in it whilst I can still do some open water swimming. The suit is made not only to make you more buoyant in the water but also has the flexibility in the right areas and more buoyancy in the right areas!!

Compared to other wetsuits, that I have liked, the RSS suit is definitely up there with comfort. I will be racing in the wetsuit on Sunday and am looking forward to chalking up a solid swim time. My training has not got me in top shape at the moment, so I don't expect to swim a pb over the 750m, however I will have a good idea of how good the wetty is.

For now training is going really well, getting good k's done in all 3 disciplines along with trialling many new products/nutrition to understand what is going to be the best for me moving forward.

My weight has stabilised and am happy with where it is at..

For now...

X-Man

A great kickstart to the swimming!!

2011-02-07T19:52:00.002+11:00

Just a quick as not much has changed recently, weight is still dropping a little by little and am confident of getting under my last race weight by the months end and then to see what effect that has on my body and training!

On the weekend, I participated in a teams 24hour mega swim. This involved teams of 15 constantly swimming for the entire 24hours....Yep, maybe stupid, maybe ridiculous, but all for a good cause and also a good way to give my swimming a great kick start.

Being a part of Team Xosize, a few of us decided that we would do the graveyard shift. So I got there at 9 pm and was there with Leigh Ryan and Greg Farrell, Greg was at the end of the shift and Leigh was doing a 12 hour shift.....WTF!!! Yep craziness!! So with just Leigh and I there from 10pm til 2.30 am we decided that we would do 2km stints and the other had to recover on whilst counting laps!! Not much fun, I must say that it was definitely better in the water passing the time, although the cramps did get me early!!

With me being anal about counting laps in the pool I decided that I would also time myself to see how much I would drop off over the night. My goal for the night was anywhere between 10-12kms.

So my first 2km stint was over in 30min 10sec, which I was happy about...My only problem was that I was swimming with a sub 26min swimmer for the same distance. So my recovery was not as much as Leigh's!! My second stint was done and dusted in 40 mins, but this time it included 400m backstroke to mix it up a little....a 2.4km stint....as if I needed to any more and then get less rest!!! What was I really thinking, apart from swimming at midnight, why would I do more than what was agreed?!?!

The third stint was around the 35min for the 2km and I was just finding a comfy rhythm knowing that I still had another 5-6kms to swim before I had reached my goal. So after 8.4km, Cam arrived and we then decided to swim 500m each and rotate this until more reinforcements arrived at about 4.30am. I was doing the 500m stints in 7min 30 sec whilst Leigh was carving out low 6's....Surely the guy realised that we needed more rest than him.....Might have to speak to him about this!!

So after getting a total of 11km done for the evening, I was done. Leigh had completed a lazy 20km, a crazy effort and just to prove that he wasn't done he punched out a 2.15min last 200m at 6am....12hours after he got there.....Dude, get a life!!!

Anyway, was a great night and one that I know has got me motivated to swim more, once I recover from this one!! If you get a chance to participate, I would recommend it and get some good mates to make the time enjoyable.

For now...

X-Man

Who ate the pies??

2011-01-28T13:11:00.004+11:00

The pizzas, the sausage rolls, the donuts, the kfc, the maccas, the whole chicken, the fried food, the desserts, the m&m's, the mars bars, the snickers, the hamburgers, the hot chips, the potato cakes, the pasta and whatever

else I could get my hands on?

This fat .............. (insert own word here!!)

The reason for this post is due to the fact that I was scrolling through some older photos (within the last 4-5 years) and realised that I was 1 BIG UNIT. Some say now that at 93odd kgs I am still a big guy, but at 125kgs, 93 is nothing. The above footy shot was 2006 when I came out of retirement and gave footy one last shot. For someone of my size and fitness, I actually had a good year.

From there my goal was to lose some weight to aid & extend my football career, so I started to run, which my legs could not handle, so I then decided that swimming would help. Bought myself a bike and 4 years on, I am off to Kona.

My first race I was somewhere in the realm of the below 2 photos (say 105kgs) but still carrying a lot of weight!

When I look back at these pics, I realise that losing 30odd kgs has not only made my triathlon career more successful than I ever imagined, but also made my life enjoyable. The weight that I was carrying is mind blowing when I look back on it, especially compared to now, but also when I remember the type and quantity of food that I was smashing at the time, I am really lucky not to have had a heart attack or two in those times.

My standard day was consist of a somewhat reasonably healthy breakfast: Maccas, then mid morning snacks would involve fried dim sims or sausage rolls (yes many of) or something of the like in a good quantity. For lunch, there was a convenient chicken shop across the road and whilst I would wait for my whole chicken and chips, I would snack on a few more dim sims (4 or 5). The only real saving grace for me was the fact that the shop closed at 2pm ish so there was no afternoon snack.

Dinner would either be a $20 odd dollar feed from KFC or a lazy 2 large pizzas. This may sound ridiculous, but by my photos, I was just that!! Throw in drinking a large quantity of alcohol on a regular basis (still haven't changed that part!!) it was a recipe for disaster! I always remember the 2 pizzas that I would eat regularly on a Saturday or Sunday at work after a big night the night previously. My mates would laugh in astonishment/embarrassment in my eating/drinking ability and wondered how/why I could keep doing it.

The biggest turning point for me was being with a mate one day (Watto) and saw myself side on in the mirror. I actually did not believe that the person looking back at me was in fact, me!! I am really glad that I made that observation as I can say that I am achieving something with my life. By being the way I was, I now know how to live a balanced life, perhaps extreme at times, but as the saying goes.....sleep all day, play all night.....No no not that one (that was my previous life) Now it goes like, train hard, play hard.

Keeping this balance keeps my mind in check and also my perspective on life realistic. There are of course times where you put your head down and get stuck into the job at hand and put aside distractions and other negative influences. But for most part, this sport keeps me fit, healthy and happy, why would I want to change anything??

Long long way from 4 years ago!!

For now...

X-Man

PS. I can also say that it is so much easy putting it on, than taking it off....Photos are motivating!!

For the record, my dad and I had a pizza eating competition, I managed 24 slices of a large and Dad devoured 27 slices of a large (crusts had to be eaten) before he went to have some dessert!!

Slowly slowly

2011-01-25T07:43:00.002+11:00

As the old saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. For me this has been my approach to training, slow and steady. (Throw in ugly and you get the picture) I am not saying that by me taking this approach I will win my next two races, however I know that I will be in great shape when it comes time to pick up training.

My training is slowly increasing week by week and my body is taking the extra load on board without any discomfort or displeasure. All three aspects are building a little base ready for my next phase of training commencing in the next few weeks or so. I know that I am going to have to prepare my body for a increased load and have already sought treatment to keep the body as fresh as possible.

I have not taken training seriously at this stage and have sought training with anyone that I can find. The last thing I need right now is to wear out training partners, so I have been conscious by spreading the love.....so to speak....The conversations have been fresh and full of entertainment and training has been really enjoyable with the variety of training partners making it this way. I know that once the work load increases, the training partner numbers will decrease due to different race plans and timing of races by us all.

In saying this though, I have enough in the network not to struggle finding someone. As we all know when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. So come those cold winter mornings that we are going to encounter come mid year, all those fair weather trainers that you see on the road at the moment will be non existent and only the tough will stay strong. With this in mind I refuse to put myself through any "tough" sessions at the moment, it is all about getting out there to enjoy the sun, the company and the laughs.

I am still riding the high of my time with Craig Alexander last week and some regular words still go through my mind during training sessions and general approach to life. Talking to fellow Ironman and training partner, Greg Farrell, who was lucky enough to attend 3Fest over the weekend with Craig Alexander amongst other World Class Ironmen, I know that he got the same motivation and enthusiasm from the event. Due to prior commitments I could not attend, however next year I will be there with bells on.

My weight is still headed in the right direction and I am confident that I will be establishing a new race weight in the coming months. If I continue to do everything right, without taking shortcuts or undertaking radical diets, I that my weight will take care of itself.

For now...

X-Man

You can't pay for knowledge or advice like that!!

2011-01-21T07:38:00.003+11:00

Craig Alexander is an amazing human being!

Myself and a few others from the tri group last night were fortunate enough to spend some time with the 2 time Ironman World Champion (It rolled off his tongue so fluently last night!). Through a lucky set of circumstances and a few phone calls I spent 1 hour running with Craig asking him questions and advice about the Hawaiian Ironman. Now this guy has some credentials.

When we first arrived to run with him, I made it sure that I had many a question to ask regarding training advice, race day advice and a few other things. Firstly, this guy is one of the most down to earth people that I have ever come across, not only on a sporting sense, but also in every day life. Throw in the fact that he has won the toughest race of all, not once, but twice would give this guy some reason to think that his shit doesn't stink.

He has a balance in his life, but he sure knows when to flick the switch. NO weighing food, no crazy diets, nothing bizarre or unusual about what he does, he just gets the job done. He was so accommodating with the questions that I had for him relating to training, race day and even Hawaii. I thought that he would get sick of the questioning, however he not only answered the direct question that I asked him, but then went on to give advice and unbeknown to him, answer the follow 5 questions that I had in my arsenal.

Just to listen to him speak was something that I really enjoyed, some of the inner sanctum stuff that he told us about different races. He even asked a few specific things about what I did and gave me advice relating to this. Now I am pretty happy with my setup and race day plan, but after talking to him last night, I am happier that he has contributed to make things a little easier (if that could be possible at Hawaii) and less stressful come race day. The only regret that I had from last night was that I could not record everything that he said, so once I got home, I madly wrote down as much of the advice as possible to remember for future. I thought that I was struggling to remember, but after 2 full pages of notes I think that I have it covered.

Some of the things that were said, you cant read in books, you cannot pay for, this stuff was straight from the horse's mouth and things that I can use to my advantage to give me a more accomplished race/training regime.

After spending the hour with him, I had one final question.....A bit of a funny one, but one that I am glad that I asked!! "Can I please have your visor?" I think this startled him for a second because his response was more shock, "This one??" "Yes please." "No problem" So just like that I have added a souvenir to my collection and the reminder that I had quality time with an All time champion!!

A few photos below show how accommodating Craig is as he was happy to get some photos done before we ran.

I have to put this one first as Billy was the instigator of getting me down there last night. An absolute champion of a guy.

I think that I was still in shock standing next to the 2 time World Champion!

Benny was smiling from ear to ear (as was I) from this moment until we got home.

I thought that I would include this one, as Mark Renshaw is the best lead out man in the world and one of the fastest. His calf muscles would make any triathletes quads look small.

For now...

X-Man

ps. I am going to jot down the advice and use it as a motivation tool/training reference that I received last night so that I can test it out come Kona time.

All going in the right direction!!

2011-01-19T10:36:00.002+11:00

So, my weight has started to get back to a level in which my body can get the most out of training. 95kgs, that's a drop of 5kgs in two weeks, am really happy with that. My goal at this early stage is to lower it to 92.5kgs (old race weight) whilst still functioning well.

Along with the weight lose, my swimming has showed little signs of improvement, I haven't really lost any speed, just lots of endurance. I am really noticing that after 1-2 efforts in the pool regardless of length, I am starting to battle. Talking to Paul (swim coach) last night we are just going to get some long slow technique sessions under the belt and worry about speed once May/June comes around. This will still allow me 4 months of solid swimming once I am up to speed. I am in no real hurry to peak at the moment, as I have nothing to peak for. We have discussed some alternate options to improve my swimming once I am back up to a good level.

My riding has not really lost anything at this stage (or I don't feel that is has) and am happy with the addition of the fixed wheel to my stable as I have noticed that it has already made my pedal stroke smoother and more efficient. Along with these benefits, riding the fixie is enjoyable and to date have not had any mishaps!!

Running is running and at a few kgs overweight, it of course is taking a little bit of time to find my feet again (pardon the pun!!). However I have been enjoying getting out in my on-running shoes and getting some quality k's back in the legs.

Although that I feel like my training is coming along slowly, I have still managed to clock up 11hours in my first week back and 13hours in the second week back. I suppose compared to doing 20+ hour weeks in my Ironman lead up it does feel small, however I am still happy that I am getting these numbers up early in the piece.

Everything is still a long way off, but for now I am happy to be back into the swing of things and am loving training right now. Just hoping to get some really consistent nice days and will be as happy as pig in you know what.

For now...

X-Man

1st week of training back completed!!

2011-01-09T15:13:00.002+11:00

I survived!!

After 4 weeks of drinking and eating whatever and how much that I felt like and seeing the scales hit 100kgs (7.5kgs in 4 weeks!!, if only it was easy to lose it that quick!) I have completed my first week back of training.

Nothing was fast, nothing was pretty, however it was all done. My body feels really good for getting it done and my mind is ready to get into next week. The big test will be getting back into swim squad. This will be the point to see if I am really ready to go. I have decided to ease back into the swimming as it is the first discipline to always gets to me. So, just ticking the arms over, getting the technique fine tuned will be the goal before I really up the ante and get into a "Swim Squad" as opposed to the triathlon swim squad that I am in.

This will be a few weeks away as like the other two disciplines, I am going to gradually increase my efforts as my body will allow, for now it is easy training on the body and mind.

After looking back at my Garmin file for 1/1/2010 to 31/12/2010, my data is as follows:

Swim time/distance: 112hrs 51mins for 316.53kms

Ride time/distance: 364hrs 50mins for 10,296.44kms & 205,007cals

Run time/distance: 181hrs 01mins for 2,227.71km & 165,821cals

This gives me an average of 12.67 per week for the entire year. This figure is no indication of my actual Ironman training as my average training for those weeks would be around the 20hours per week.

My weight peaked at 100kgs at the start of the new year and is now down to 97kgs. Still heavy, but at least heading in the right direction.

Tomorrow is a new week and n ext Sunday will be my first race for the season, a small sprint distance one. That could actually destroy me as I am a self proclaimed diesel train and the small stuff really hurts!! Anyway, another easy week in front of me might at least help drop a few more kgs and make the week as enjoyable as the one I have just completed.

For now...

X-Man

Lose weight, go faster..But how much is too much??

2011-01-05T07:53:00.002+11:00

So, after having time off between IMWA & the New Year and enjoying a copious amount of beer and good food, the scales did not do me any favours (just nudging 100kgs), just told me it was time. Time to get myself into gear and get back into the training side of things.

With this, myself and a few others it was also time to look at our eating patterns and lose those unwanted kgs, and maybe a few more. This year going to Kona, I cannot afford to have any extra kgs whilst racing. Upon asking many a weight question about where people from the outside could see me getting down to without losing power or getting sick, the main consensus was to drop below 90kgs. My favourite response was along the lines of this: Grab onto your private bits, jump up and down and if it wobbles it can go......hmmmm interesting suggestion, but makes sense.

Another one of my mates, who I used to cycle with as a junior is still a measly 83kgs (and yes we are the same height), so it that a possibility?? For me, prob not as I have a bigger frame than him, but in saying that it still gives me confidence to find a new race weight in Kona. And if I want to do the "undie run" I cannot afford the wobbly bits!!

With reference to racing, more so running, I found the below table which shows some interesting numbers in relation to weight vs speed. I look at it as "free speed" like transition, everyone has to do it and it doesn't take much to get these benefits!

This table, based on changes in maximal aerobic capacity, provides a rough estimate of how much your race times will improve if you lose weight, as long as you have it to lose. If your BMI drops below 18.5, you're at risk of becoming weaker and slower.

WEIGHT LOST---- 5K---- 10K---- HALF-MARATHON---- MARATHON

1 kg-------------13.2 secs-- 26.4 secs----- 53.8 secs------------- 1:48

2.5 kgs----------- 33 secs---- 1:06--------2:20------------------ 4:40

5 kgs------------- 1:06----- 2:12--------- 4:40-------------------9:20

10 kgs------------ 2:12----- 4:24--------- 9:20----------------- 18:40

With me looking for easy time gains, like most of us do, I can relate this table back to my most recent race, IMWA. Racing at 92.5kgs gave me my best result yet, but with taking on board suggestions from others getting below 90kgs, this would have potentially saved me 4.40min in the run and gave me a 3hr 15min run.

Yep, I like the sound of that. However as we know, triathlon is a three disciplined sport. By starting the race at 90kgs, would I have lost too much weight by the time the run had come around and not been able to run a 3hr 20min anyway? We will never know, but one thing for sure, I am keen to gain as much "free speed" as possible and I will be exploring this option in 2011.

At 92.5kgs, my BMI is 24.83....some say way too high, I don't think that I am far off. Getting down to 90kgs would reduce it to 24.16. This keeps me in the normal weight range(20.7 - 26.4), but I would rather be down at the lower end of this. 88kgs get me to 23.6bmi....might be the goal!!

Cycling is the same when climbing, and as Kona has some climbs, not mountains, but as I start to train in the hills the "free speed" calculator will be in reference often.

I refuse to do any crazy diets or anything, just be conscience of what I eat and how much I eat.

For now...

X-Man

Part 2

2011-01-04T08:26:00.007+11:00

So, after sitting with Andrew and discussing my goals for 2010, which were:

1. Qualify for Kona Achieved

2. Break 9hrs 10min at WA Achieved 9hr 6min

3. Win A/G at WA 4th

4. Run sub 85min @ 1/2 Ironman 86min @ G.C 1/2 including T1 & T2

5. Run low 80min 1/2 Maration N/A Did not run one

6. Break 4hrs 15min Shep 2010....Top 3 in A/G Achieved 4hr 11min......7th

7. Swim sub 27min @ 1/2 Ironman 27min 48sec

8. Swim sub 55min @ Ironman 56min 31min

9. Continue to Race "A" Grade @ FCC N/A no racing this season

10. Sub 9hrs 25min @ NZ 2011 N/A decided not to race this

We decided which ones were achievable and which ones might not be. My program was then designed around the main goals.... Goal 1 & 2!!

The general talk about no.3 was that you just never know who might turn up and let's not worry about that one, just focus on no.1!

So, with that in mind, I set off in a new direction and started the new program. The entire program was new to me at it entailed a different approach, which I was a little hesitant to begin with, however once it got going I became more and more confident that I made the correct choice in http://www.triathlonandmultisportcoaching.com.au/ & Andrew.

My first real gauge of how I was travelling with the new program was at Yeppoon 1/2 Ironman in August, some 3 months after starting the program.

My race report can be found here:

www.xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/2010/08/great-start-to-my-season.html

in which I did an 8min pb, with a 2nd in my age group and was hardly disgraced being beaten by Bradley Bullock (who won 2010 WA 30-34 in 8hrs 55mins) by 3min. Charles Rodgers finished 3rd in his lead up to Kona (9hrs 14min Kona 2010). A great start to my year.

After this race, and being very happy with how everything was going I was really looking forward to my next race at Gold Coast in October. In the mean time, training had started to pick up and my volume for the running was heading towards 70k per week. (Not a great amount for a smaller runner, but took its toll on this 92k+ frame) I knew that I was training, unlike previous years.

Heading up to Gold Coast in October got me excited, not only for another good performance but to get away from the Melbourne Winter also. Little did I know that the weather was terrible there also!! The race was held in torrential downpour and safety was the order of the day.

My race report:

www.xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/2010/10/season-going-well-but-along-way-from.html

This race produced my first Win in my age group and a massive run pb being 86min for the run. Once again I was very happy with how things were going and the direction we were headed to achieve my goals. In saying this the big thing that I had noticed was that I had only been doing 1/2 the amount of cycling to previous years, but still riding the same!!

From here, I had only one more test before IMWA. Shepparton 1/2 Ironman. I had always used this as a gauge of how I am tracking leading into Ironman. And this year was no different, I wanted to have a good ol' fashioned crack at Shep to see if I could break 4hrs 15min. With the conditions being perfect for race day, I produced a 4hr 11min although not my most comfortable race.

See here:

www.xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/2010/11/final-lead-up-race-completed.html

My confidence was sky high after this race and with only a few weeks to go, I was looking forward to this Ironman like none before!!

My only hiccup was my back, hurting it only 2 weeks out. Getting expert advice and treatment as soon as I could enabled me to race IMWA with full confidence of achieving my goal.

We all know my busso result and reaching my goals.....but just in case you missed it ;-), here is is again:

www.xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-to-say-where-to-start.html

To top off my most successful season to date, I came out on top of the Australian 1/2 Ironman series in my age group.

This is going to be 1 year that I will remember for some time to come, however, I am very determined to make 2011 a more successful year than 2010.

Stay tuned.

For now...

X-Man

PS. The http://www.on-running.com shoes are going great guns and am really happy that I have been given the opportunity to race in these. If you are looking for a great shoe, feel free to contact me for advice.

2010 - The Year in review......Part 1

2010-12-31T12:45:00.004+11:00

I say part 1 as this was how my year really was....In 2 parts and it would be unfair to really include both in the same review.

I started 2010 with grand dreams after a near perfect 2009, after just missing my Kona spot at WA, I really thought that getting that spot at New Zealand Ironman would be a walk in the park. I started the year thinking that it would just happen, little did I know in this sport.....nothing just happens. I was very complacent with my training and only swam three times for the year leading in. I did a lot of cycling (as I always did) and was very inconsistent with my running. I would run 20+k on consecutive days but then would be forced to have days off due to being exhausted. This was my pattern for most part of the months leading into IMNZ. My weight was also up on previous years, started the race at 96.5kgs. 4kgs more than the first 2 Ironmans that I had done.

Hence you could say that I was always going to struggle to have a good race let alone get my kona spot. Below is the race report of the race :

http://xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/2010/03/2-perfect1-not-so-perfect.html

So after that disappointing race and not reaching my goal, I did some soul searching and decided it was time to find a coach who could take me to Kona.

The search begun, contacting no less than 6 coaches and seeking advice from many an athlete about various coaches, I was determined to find the coach who not only could take me to Kona, but who was also one that I was more than comfortable working with.

This process took a few weeks, which didn't bother me as I had no idea what was next in store for me. A lot of research went into my search for the "right" coach and I was determined to find him/her. I had my criteria, whether necessary or not, but I was adamant to make sure this coach was going to suit me, not just sell me a program and only want something to do with me once I started showing some potential.

After going through my process, I decided to take the next step and meet with Andrew Sinclair, from Triathlon & Multisport coaching, to see if we suited each other. After meeting up with him and talking about goals etc, he was my man. We then sat down and worked out goals for 2010 together in what we both thought was achievable and set about designing a program to suit this.

It would be easy to say the rest is history, but the year was way to successful to leave it at that.

For now...

X-Man

Part 2 to follow in a few days.

Have a happy new years and a better 2011!!!

The Good....The Bad....The Ugly....

2010-12-21T17:05:00.005+11:00

So, after sitting down with Andrew last Monday night and deciding that I would start training again last week, it has not gone according to plan. But.....I DON'T CARE!!

I have had 1 session of each since WA and have hated every minute of it so far. What does this mean?? I am done for this year. I originally had plans to race next week up at Benalla but have also decided to scrap that idea. I know that I am done for the year due to the fact that training seems like a chore. Nothing seems enjoyable about it...even though I haven't been, just the thought is tiring at the moment.

Plans will be re-adjusted to start again next year, so for now I am just all about enjoying the festive season. Anyway....what do I care?? I am off to KONA 2011!!

THE GOOD:

Qualifying for KONA 2011 - can't say that enough!! Sorry if it bothers you, because it is not bothering me.

Not having to stress about a race early in the new year as I reached my goal.

Enjoying the festive season and I have been on the Corona wagon, drinking beers that rhyme with that Kona you can never complain about that!!! And plenty of them.

Being on the receiving end of a fixed wheel bike....this completes my set now. And to get out on it when the weather improves will be some fun.

Having an appearance in a local paper:

And an article about the race:

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/star/werribee-hoppers-crossing/276/story/126301.html

And finally, being notified that I have won the Australian Half Ironman series in the 30-34 a/g.

THE BAD:

The weather....giving me no incentive to train!!

The amount of Coronas that I have consumed since WA!! (well maybe not bad)

THE UGLY:

The 5kgs that I have added since WA!! All well paid for mind you!!

For now...

X-Man

PS. I would like to add that I have received well over 4,200 page hits spanning across 20+ countries. So, feel free to through a comment in good, bad or indifferent!!

The year is still going strong!!

2010-12-16T08:04:00.005+11:00

So, after finally qualifying for Kona, my goal since I started this caper. I am still enjoying the conversations about it with every friend I see. It is amazing the support you have even when you don't realise that it is there.

I do want to thank every for their well wishes and congratulations since I returned from Busso. With Kona not being until October 2011, I extend an invite to ANYONE who wants an excuse for a holiday to come support.

I met with Andrew Monday night to go over the race and have a de brief along with planning for the next few months (what I thought was the next few months!!) We have basically planned right up until October, without the finer details put in place yet. WTF?!?!? I cannot plan next week let alone 10 months in advance. I suppose that is why I have him as my coach!

After the 2 1/2 hour meeting a rough guide was penned and it was decided that I needed to get back into training not only for my sanity (is a shock going from 18+hrs per week to nothing!!) but also for my liver & kidneys after many a celebratory ale.

So, to date a ride, run and swim has been what I have encounted. Not to much joy, but with the summer about to hit (I hope), I know that it will be more enjoyable having coffee/catchup rides with mates. Having a chin wag and a laugh will be the order of the rides.

Flowing on from my successful year to date, I have also been asked to test out some new running shoes. It is a relatively new shoe, with having some success overseas, it has been introduced to Australia. You can check it out here: www.on-running.com. Below are some photos of the shoe. I am curious and excited to give them a go and am confident of a good report from them.

I have one more race left for this year and will be back into some reasonably consistent training again.

For now...

X-Man

What to say?!? Where to start?!?

2010-12-10T08:18:00.010+11:00

I have been thinking of where to start my race report. Realistically it should start back in March when I spoke to Andrew Sinclair (http://www.triathlonandmultisportcoaching.com.au/) about the prospect of coaching me. I can honestly say without him, I would have had to wait another year as the field for this Ironman was a lot hotter than my first two attempts and without the trust and respect I had for Andrew and his coaching, I know that my race report would be a lot different to the one that I am about to write.

So, firstly, a MASSIVE thanks to Andrew for instilling a program for me and my ways to get me where I wanted to get to.....KONA 2011!!

Coach Andrew Sinclair & his coaching.

Onto race day:

Pre race went according to plan....Ate some "real food" this year as previous years I had only ever had a liquid breakfast. I did have my usual race morning vomit, which I was happy with as there is nothing better than sticking to routine!!

Once we arrived down at transition, got numbered and prepared I was quite relaxed about the day ahead. I knew that I had done everything possible to be in the shape I was....FYI I raced at 92.5kgs.

The Swim:

I positioned myself at the front on the right hand side of the pack, thinking that I would have a direct line to the turn around. After conversations with others after the race, the general consensus was the pier side was the fastest. I had a really good start and got settled early, after about 15min or so, it got a little choppy and I drifted on top of another swimmer who gave me a nice elbow in the eye. Without panicking, I quickly stopped fixed my goggles as got going, cost me not time at all. After that I copped one on my funny bone, great tingle up & down my right arm. Didn't need to stop, but made me wonder if I was swimming straight to was it me going all over the shop?!?

Up to the turn around, where the chop was very apparent, I was still comfortable how I was going, hanging onto a group....No idea which one it was at the time!! With about 1.5k or so to go, I once again drifted on top of another swimmer, this time a lovely kick to the face.....Startled, but determined not to panic, I had to stop again to fix my goggles, but unfortunately I lost the group once done. I really didn't want to bust a boiler this early trying to get back to them. So I found my rhythm again and just plodded along until swallowed by 2 guys. I had a quick look to see if there was a pack coming, which there wasn't, so sitting with 2 was always going to be better than swimming solo.

I held these guys until the end of the swim and exited in 56min 31sec.....A pb by 30secs and was feeling really good.

In and out of T1 without hassles, I was pretty keen to get onto the bike.

The Bike:

I settled quite early and got into a good tempo. Once everything got going, I found myself riding with Luke Goard (Hawaii 2010 finisher in 9hr 14) and I knew that he would be a really good guy to stay with on the bike.

With Luke and another guy from an older age group we decided to each do 5min intervals on the front to make inroads to the respective leaders in our age group. With a few time checks, after giving 5min start, we quickly got that down to 2 mins after approx 60k. Things were going well and I felt really good. I got in plenty of nutrition and the three of us were going along very smooth until the "older" guy decided that Luke & I were going to hard for him. So, now it was2 chasing 2, as Brad Bullock and Tim Kitching were both in the same group up the road.

We eventually caught these two on the last lap with around 50k to go. I was still feeling good and happy where things were headed. We hit the turn around with 40k to go and once this happened, something happened to my back which forced my lower back and legs to go numb. I lost power and speed and could no longer work with Luke. He rode off and I decided to try and find a rhythm again, to no avail. I could not get going. My speed dropped from 39kph to 33kph and had no luck going any faster. Brad and Tim then rode passed me and my mindset was not to panic, but to try and limit my losses from there. I held Tim within sight all the way into T2. I had never been more happy to get off the bike and start running.

Ride time: 4hr 46min 13sec

Once again in and out of T2 without any issues.

The Run:

So, out of T2 and onto the run. I left with Tim Kitching, only to see him leave me for dead instantly. My mind set was, there is still 3+ hrs to go, no need to panic. Apart from the first couple of k's which were all around the 4.10k pace, I settled into a comfortable tempo, with a time looking to be around the 3hr 15min mark.

After around 5k, I caught Tim and knew that I was into 3rd. Still a long way to go was in my head. I was confident of running the whole distance as the training that I had been doing prepared me for this. Nothing else major happened for the next 10k, then Nathan Ashton caught and passed me. With seeing Carla in the opposite direction, see gave me a good old fashioned "rev up" and I told her that she was in 1st for her age. Nath stayed out in front of me for around 3-4k but never seemed to put much gap into me. Staying calm I caught him around the 22k mark and found myself in 3rd again.

I knew that I had to maintain my form as I still had the other half to go. I went through the first half in 1hr 37min, very happy. I was confident that if I did everything right, I would be able to hold Nathan at bay. At the end of the third lap the support crew got cheering (see pics) and I was still going well. The little whippet Nicolas Hemat flew by, causing my to drop a few OMG's!! He ended up running a 3hr 4min marathon and broke the 9hr mark.

Still refusing to panic and getting updates from the crew, I was still in 4th, holding 5th at bay. From here I decided that unless one if the guys in front pop, I am going to finish 4th. At the time I thought that there was only 3 slots in my a/g and 4th was more chance of getting a spot than 5th!! I made sure that I kept eating and drinking without jeopardising my position. The aid stations were easier to jog through than walk as my quads were well entrenched in the hurt locker. So the plan for the final 6-8k were a slow jog through the aid stations getting plenty on board.

Entering the final finishing chute I did something that I thought I would regret.....I kissed the M dot on the ramp...What was I thinking. I got announced as Zaviere Kopek, you are an Ironman, which is still bringing reminders from the lads!!

My run time was 3hr 20min 16sec.....A pb by almost 20min and a finishing time of

9hr 6min 52sec....4th in age group....24th overall and a pb of 17min.

After seeing everyone else finish, and watching Carla take her Age group and get an automatic spot for Kona, I was unsure where I was. Previous years only 3 in my age got spots. Did I have to rely on a roll down?? I had no idea. Tammy spoke to Luke's wife who said that he wasn't taking his spot, but you never know until acceptances are taken or refused.

Many a beer was had that night to celebrate not only my race, but Travs (9hr 38min) and Archs(11hr 47min) first Ironman along with ol' mate Benny's 3rd Ironman Finish.

The next morning, breakfast was on order before the 9am acceptance notification. We strolled down to this, trying to be calm but hoping for the best. Into the tent we went just hoping to see my name above the line. An instant smile and cuddle for/from Carla after seeing 4 spots in my age group. WE ARE GOING TO KONA!!

After going to roll down to see and pay for it, I realised that I had achieved my goal from 4 Ironmans ago....A Kona slot. After missing by 1 minute last year, I finally made it.

The awards night was fantastic and the smile on my face was always there.

I do have many people to thank to helping me get there and I do hope that these people will be there to see me finish KONA 2011!!

Benny, My training partner and 3 time Ironman finisher with me!
Stormy, just for keeping me honest about reminding me my goals!!
Jas, see above with Stormy.

The above 3 guys have been there for the 3 years and without them the training would have been very lonely.

Travis Atkins & Archie Ball for joining the journey this year and completing their first Ironman, rumour is Challenge Cairns for them....hooked!!

Coach Andrew, see first paragraph.

Scott from Xosize, David from Hammer, Florian from Erox amongst many others for looking after me with product.

There are many others who have assisted along the way and I thank ALL of you for this.

For now...

X-Man

WE ARE GOING TO KONA 2011!!

It's going to take a while for this to sink in!!

2010-12-08T08:19:00.003+11:00

Just a quick one before I do my main race report. I am going to have a few days to really reflect on the significance of the weekend. Not only for myself, but for Carla, who won her age group and is going to Kona for the 3rd consecutive year.

Both very happy after accepting our Kona Slots!! (No roll down for us either, just automatic qualifying!!)

Now for me, everything was amazing....I will wait until I get some photos from the whole day to post and it will probably indicate more of the happiness and excitement of what I have achieved. I do have many people who did play a BIG BIG part in me qualifying for Hawaii and will ensure that they are acknowledged.

Me after my name was to accept my spot.....VERY VERY happy!!!

The calm before the storm..

For those who have never experience the site of an Ironman swim start, it is one amazing feeling.....Check out this pic below, this would be 30 sec after the gun went.....

For now I will just leave it at that until it actually sinks in and then post a race report.

My times were: Swim - 56.31

Ride - 4:46.13

Run - 3:20.16

Overall - 9:06.52

Age - 4th

Overall - 24th

For now

X-Man

We're going to KONA baby!!

T's crossed and I's dotted

2010-12-04T08:20:00.003+11:00

As I sit here the day before the race at 5.20am local time, I have been trying to keep my sleeping patterns the same. Perth is 3 hours behind Melbourne and since we arrived I have been making sure that try to I maintain the same patterns. With the early start tomorrow 5.45am local time and the transition opening at 3.30am, this does not seem like a big deal due to the fact that it would be race start at 8.45am and Transition open at 6.30am.

So, in saying that I missed the pre-race briefing at it started at 8.30pm last night. This morning includes a few small final sessions then carb loading continues, which has not seemed as bad this trip as we have added a lot of sweet things in....mmmmmm

The weather for tomorrow has continually changed and I am hoping for a little wind not long after race start, as along with this and the new 12 metre drafting rule, I think that it will be a little more advantageous to the cyclists. But really at the end of the day, if you don't nail the marathon, who gives a 5h1t what you did on the bike.

It is a good field across most age groups and also in the pro's, with reigning champ, Patrick Vernay back again, Pete Jacobs racing after another fine Kona effort including a 2.41hr marathon off the bike. Luke Bell is trying to regain some IM form also. This is just a few top quality pros going around tomorrow.

For me, my age group has some real quality age groupers. All the 1/2 IM winners so far racing, Luke Goard, who recently did Hawaii in 9.15hr or so along with other familiar names to me. But really at the end of the day, I can only control what I do on race day and am confident that if I only worry about what I do, my result should be what I want it to be.

I did get some advice from Kristian Manietta yesterday about a few little things as he went 8.57hr here in 2008 and only got a roll down slot...WTF?!?! But anyway, he is a well respected coach and had 6 athletes recently compete at Kona with 4 podiums.....A guy worth listening to!! So I did take those little things on board and along with his Trigger Point therapy which he showed me, Kristian was more than happy to lend a hand.

Good Mates Trav & Arch are venturing into unknown territory tomorrow for there first IM and I am very excited to see them cross the line. I have been assisting them all year and have seen them improve rapidly over this time. Trav clocked a 4hr 15min at Shep recently (30-34) and Arch broke 5 hours for the first time 4hr 53min (50-54). I can see the nerves building with these two guys and have been trying to give as much advice as possible, like Ronny did for Ben & I in our first.

Ol' mate, and great mate Ben, although after this race we did decide to have a break from each other :-) is going well and is as calm as I have ever seen him pre-race. We both know that he has been more consistent than the previous 2 IM's we have done together. The nerves might kick in later once we check all our gear in, but for now things are calmer in the hotel. There has been no items in fans, no mystery drawings about the place. Things are looking really good for him also.

For me I am excited, relaxed, but edgy all the same, wanting more to start the race than to wait much longer. All that I know that all the t's have been crossed and the i's dotted.

For Now...

X-Man

Woof Woof

Peter Reid - 3 Time Ironman World Champion - Inspiration

2010-11-28T20:04:00.000+11:00

"Painful, but not serious"

2010-11-26T07:53:00.003+11:00

This was the quote from my chiro, Dr Peter McGlynn on Monday when I 1/2 walked, 1/2 staggered into his clinic on Monday.

I write this, as I am never one to make excuses...either I was good enough or I was not!!

Last weekend after punching out a solid 36k run on Saturday with Trav, Arch & Benny followed by an open water swim and an easy hour on the bike in the afternoon I was all pumped looking towards Busso in two weeks (at that time). Headed off to the movies in the afternoon and conceded to bed early with the plan of a 6 hour ride on the Sunday with the boys. (Last one in training for the year).

Feeling like I needed a sleep in, and having nothing planned for the day, I decided that I would get my ride done during the late morning/mid afternoon. This is where things went wrong....I did a quick sweep of the lounge floor and moved a few chairs. On returning the chairs, which I did incorrectly, I slumped to the floor in extreme agony after hurting my lower back.

Lucky I had great support there to help me get over to the couch to try and lay down. Thanks Carla :-). Our conversation soon turned to the Ironman with both having experienced a few ironman's between us (10) our focus was not about the training that I have done (every boxed ticked until that point) it was more about getting treatment to get me there in the best shape.

My first phone call was to Andrew (Coach) who reassured me that the training had been done. From there he rang his good mate/chiro Dr Peter McGlynn to org to get me there first thing Monday. Pain killers were my food of choice Sunday to try and get the body to relax and the pain to settle.

That night I headed to bed and looked in the mirror only to realise that my head was directly over my right side of the body as my back had spasmed to that point. I headed in to see Dr Peter who diagnosed me with a L5 Vertebrae injury which resulted in reaction to my S1 nerve system, which decides if you have power in your legs or not.....something that you need in a Triathlon. His quote (which did ease my mind) was "It is painful, but not serious." Dr Peter has been fantastic in explaining how it happened and what I need to do to recover from it and has given me full confidence that with the right treatment, both by him and myself it will stay in place moving forward.

After 2 Chiro treatments and 2 massages this week, my back is close to 100%. I have been well looked after and know that I am going to hit Busso as originally planned. I have a couple of small testers over the weekend and have already completed a couple.

My week has been an easy one and this has forced an early taper, albeit by a few days. But with plenty of swimming, a small ride and run to date, things are back on plan.

For once I have been smart about recovery and listening to what I should be doing to aid this....maybe I am getting wiser!?!?!

The weekend involves a med-long ride with a small run, followed by a sprint distance race on Sunday. After lengthy discussions with Dr Peter and Coach Andrew, I know that this is the best thing for me, both for confidence and for race strategy.

For Now...

X-Man

PS.....The definition of stupidity??

Doing the same thing over and expecting different results.

I can relate this to triathletes who stick to the same coach and the same program and expect a different result.

Woof Woof