Another 1 down, many more to follow!!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!

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....

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!!

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!!

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