My Very First Half Ironman!

Time: 5 hours 29 mins

I’ve been pretty slack over the past 5 weeks. At first it was because Scott was in a taper week for Kona, then he was in Hawaii for 2 weeks. I can’t get up early to train if there isn’t anyone else getting up. Scott came back and it was 2 weeks of no training for him. So not much training for me

All this time off training, started with me not doing well at the Duathlon champs in Taupo back in August and just continued. Time wasn’t stopping though and up came the South Island Half Ironman I had been planning to do for the past year. My coach suggested I change my plan – do the half ironman as a team and not to do the run. This is because I hadn’t been training much and wouldn’t have enough time to recover for the big race in Auckland on Nov 20^th.

I couldn’t find a team member, not that I looked hard. I put a message up on Facebook. I decided to do the run and not push it.

I was about to do my first half Ironman and quietly very excited!

The main difference with setting up for a Half Ironman then the shorter races I usually do is the importance of nutrition and wearing socks on the run since it’s a longer run. I set up my transition, realised I forgot my running socks. Good one. I had worn long thick socks to the race so they were going to have to do. I set them up next to my running shoes, gel and visor in transition on my bright yellow towel. (I brought the yellow one as I often can’t find my bike in transition).

I taped my gels on my bike. I haven’t practiced with any gels so quietly pray that I don’t get an upset stomach and Scott will say “I told you so”.

I got in the water for a quick warm up. Glad I did as the water was ice cold on my face and warmed up after a few minutes in there. I got back out for the race briefing. When we were all set to get back in the water a girl next to me mentioned that I looked really nervous. Made me realise that I was, and I really didn’t need to be so I tried to relax a bit and swam around getting to the start line. No-one knew where it was so there was a lot of chatter and everyone spread out.

Swim 33:50 / 1.9km

Swim went in no time. I caught onto someone’s feet and stayed there for half the distance. Longest I’ve ever been on a persons feet.

Bike 2 hours 44mins / 90km

Onto the bike, it was a 3 lap course of 30km each. I took it easy for the first lap and a half as I wasn’t sure how I would handle the longer distance. There was a group of 3 guys and I that were riding together (legal distance). When a girl zipped past me I took off after her. She was going pretty fast but I didn’t want to let her go. There was about 7km to the turn around for the last lap so I tried to hang on. When I got to the turn around she had lost me. Little did I know she was part of a team and I would see her cheering me on in the run later. One more out and back and I got the tired feeling at the 75km mark. I still wasn’t too sure how hard to push since I still had a 21km run to go. Looking back I should have pushed harder than I did. On the bike I had 4 gels and 3.5 bottles of electrolyte drink. The gels I had were yum, GU raspberry and the purple ones.

Run 2:08 21km

Onto the run and I decided I was going to do it, just not got hard. One lap of 6km around Lake Hood was nice. Then it was a 15km out and back in the bush. A false flat on gravel, not the best for an easy run. I took it slow. There were no markers on the way out so it felt like forever. By the time the turnaround came I was wanting to finish. People were passing me going in the other direction to the turnaround asking how far to go. I was thinking “bloody ages” but I just smiled and said “not too far”. I hadn’t been doing many runs longer than 15km lately and it showed. I ran pretty damn slow on the way home, with the plan not to stop running. I walked every aid station drinking coke and water and stopped to go toilet down a side track since I’d drunk so much.

I finished the race in 5 hours 29mins. 2nd in age group and 7th female. Pretty stoked to have finished. Really happy with my swim and bike time, I got my goal times. My run was super slow but I will aim to push that next time with a goal of 1hour 45mins. Bring on Tauranga in January!

Now it’s one week of training then taper week for the Auckland qualification race.

If you want to enter for next year you can check out the race info here: www.cisport.co.nz

Many NZ triathletes have been training all winter for the ITU World Champs Beijing in September. Here is a pre-race checklist that covers just about everything that you will need for transitions, in addition to some tricks of the trade.It also is handy to use for any races you plan on doing from Sprint to Ironman – some rules may mean that bikes will be racked the night before race day and not allowed to do a warm up on them.Some will be on the morning / afternoon of race day.

Pre-Race

Pre-race preparation should start the day before your race. Using the checklist below, it is highly recommended that you layout all of the equipment, clothing, nutrition and anything else that you will need for the day. Once it’s all laid out, then you can check it off your list and start packing it up for the next morning. Ideally, you will have all of your bags packed and ready to go by the middle of the day so all you have to do is relax and eat dinner before going to sleep.

• Track Pants or Team shorts
• Warm up Top
• Beanie, but not likely in Beijing
• iPod – Im not too sure if its a good idea to have as you need to listen to the Race Information so don’t have it on full blast, loud enough to tune into Springsteen ” Born To Run ” Greatest Hits – but able to hear what is going down too
• Water Bottle (sports drink)
• Snack (granola bar, Powerbar, Cliff Bar etc…)
• Comfortable shoes/sandals
• Socks (throw away)
• Heart Rate monitor wrist watch – if using one
• Heart Rate Monitor Chest Strap – if using one
• Transition bag
• Dry Clothing bag
• Time Chip with ankle strap

The key with the pre-race clothing is to be as comfortable and warm as possible. Track pants and a warm up top should be comfortable and will keep you warm. Some people prefer the beanie to keep their heads warm and the iPod should be loaded up with a mixture of calming musing and then a playlist with some motivational music for the last 10-15 minute before you start. You should have a water bottle that is filled with either a sports drink or water. Make sure you bring a snack, there is usually a lot of hurry up and wait in the morning. The dry clothing bag is something like a trash bag- you will put your pre-race sweats, iPod and all that other stuff in there before you race. When you get dressed in the morning, don’t forget to put your HR chest strap on, you can swim with it on. Last, but not least, put your timing chip and ankle strap on before you leave your hotel room or house- that way, it’s there and done.Note also some races have race briefing the day or evening prior or just hour or so before race start. Know the course and rules !!

Swim

For the swim, make sure you know where you are going to (start line) and what time you are supposed to be there. Make sure you are lubed up with either Body Glide and/or Suit Juice. Don’t forget to apply sunscreen – water based , not oil based as holds heat in !! Other good one to add is Insect Repellent

• Swim suit/ race suit
• Wet suit/ swim skin
• Towel(s) – not one from Hotel !!
• 2 goggles (1 clear/ 1 tinted)
• Goggle defogger
• Sunscreen
• Body Glide/Suit Juice
• Race Swim Cap

Bike

When you get to the transition area, make sure you setup your area immediately. Once that’s done, you will have plenty of time to relax and listen to the iPod. Make sure you lay out your area in an organized and systematic way so everything is where you need it. A good piece of advice is, put your helmet, upside down, on your aerobars or next to your bike if you don’t have aerobars. Then, put your sunglasses inside your helmet and then your race belt on top of that. If you are going to carry the spare tire kit(s) in the back pocket of your jersey, put that in the helmet too, along with whatever gels or bars you are going to carry. For Worlds best to tape food to top tube as will be a lot on the course so need to keep eyes focused on road ahead and not trying to open packets.

When you exit swim and head to the transition area from the swim,  start taking off your wetsuit , undo zip , roll down over hip bones,( I don’t think it will be a wetsuit swim as Beijing temps are in 30′s about this time)  all the time running to your BIKE. put your cycling shoes on and then stand up, BUT if you have practiced mounting your bike with shoes attached to bike peddles then.

From that point, you taking stuff out of your helmet and putting it where it needs to go. The gels, bars and spare tire kit goes into your back pocket. Best to tape spare to seat post or in a special type bag that bike shops sell that go on top tube. The race belt around our mid drift with the number on your back side, sun glasses on your head.

The last thing to grab is the helmet, which you NEED TO BUCKLE immediately. From there, grab your bike and head out of transition.If you have done transition training you will have it in a numbered order , 1 wetsuit off – 2 helmet on – 3 glasses on – 4 pick up bike – 5 run with bike to mounting zone – 6 mount bike – feet on top of bike shoes , ride clear of transition some 100 plus metres then one foot in shoe , then few more turns of peddles then keep motion going forward and then other foot in..then its “hammer time “.

• Bike
• Bike Shoes
• Sunglasses (clear or tinted)
• Helmet
• Race Belt
• Race Number
• Spare Tubes
• CO2 cartridge(s) w/ adapter
• Tire Lever(s)
• Bike Pump
• Water Bottles (filled)
• Nutrition (Gels, bars, etc…)
• Socks – if racing in them
• Baby Powder
• Sunscreen

Run

Once you get back into transition, rack your bike  Take off your helmet ONLY when bike is on rack ,then immediately replace it with your hat or visor. Then take off your cycling shoes if you have it down to a fine art shoes would have been still on bike and you have slipped your feet out while biking back to bike dismount some 300 plus metres prior to hitting the “dismount line “, put your socks on if racing in them ( probaly not for a short race ) then your running shoes. Remove and/or add what you need from your back pocket. From there, stand up, turn your race belt so the number is in the front and off you go.

• Running Shoes
• Socks
• Hat or Visor
• Run Nutrition (Fuel Belt, gels, water bottle, etc…)

Post race

When you’re done, it’s time to get comfortable and relax! Make sure you change back into your comfortable sandals and put on a dry top (if possible) and whatever else you find comfortable. Pack up your gear, support your NZ Team mates.

• T-shirt or NZ uniform top
• Shorts
• Money
• Recovery Drink
• Pre-Race sweat pants, warm up top and sandals

MOST important – when you have a chance, especially after finishing ,txt or  phone home as family and friends who arent at Worlds, they will be waiting to hear how you got on. Then you can hang out with other team mates..and start getting ready for the Race Party !!

There are lots of other sites that allow you to make up your own lists too:

• http://triathlon.racechecklist.com/
• http://sprint-triathlon.racechecklist.com/
• http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Downloads/Race%20day%20checklist.pdf
• http://www.onetri.com/newsdesk_info.php?newsdeskPath=0&newsdesk_id=1

Kia Kaha

Be Strong

Coach G Force

Check out Graham’s triathlon coaching website TriCoachNZ for more advice or if you’re after a coach to help you go that extra mile

2k swim, 90k bike, 21k run

Well the basics are like what Arthur Lydiard devised in the 50s and 60s to produce multiple gold medalists and world record holders in the form of Snell, Halberg, Magee and Baillie etc etc….

What you need to do is to build up the stamina and strength to complete the distances. And remember it is a triathlon, not a swim race, bike race or run race. If you have not trained enough on the bike it does not matter how good a runner you are, you will not be able to run to your potential if you are not fit on the bike.

The swim is made up of approximately 1 stroke every meter of swimming so approximately 2000 strokes. In order to be able to do this on race day you need to show your body what it is like to swim 2000 strokes, so at least once per week you should build up to swimming a main set of 2000 strokes. One of my favorites for developing athletes is 10x200m on 20sec rest done all as Pull (pull = paddles + pull buoy)

Keegan in the New Plymouth Half Ironman which he won

The cycle consists of 90 kilometers. Again you need to build the strength and endurance to be able to complete the ride so you can get off and run. This involves a longer ride each week, and then several shorter rides focusing on building strength. For example another favorite of mine for developing athletes is simply to jump on the Turbo or indoor trainer, and do a 10min wup/dwn and 15x1min in a big gear at a very strong intensity. So you get nearly an hour worth of aerobic work and build strength at the same time.

The run comes at the time when you are already fatigued, and it quickly shows up who is prepared and who has paced the race correctly. The beginner is best to focus on getting one long run in a week, the longer the better. Peter Snell, our kiwi triple Olympic gold medalist in the 800m and 1500m events which lasted only 1min45sec – 3min35sec used to run up to 50 kilometers in training. So if you build up to one long run every 10days, off 2hrs plus duration you are on the way to a successful half marathon. Several other runs should be completed during the week and could involve some more steady state running or simple volume depending on your level.

Adding all the pieces of the puzzle together is where a experienced coach can help enormously and save you many minutes in your race. A lot more than a new bike.

Just remember it is swim-bike-run.

Check out Keegan’s triathlon coaching website V02Coach for more advice or if you’re after a coach to help you go that extra mile

Beginner triathletes and often more experienced age groupers and even the pros often ask this question and get it wrong. What most people forget is a swim-bike-run and your overall time is more important than individual split times. For the beginner triathlete it is more than likely that you are going to be on the race course for anywhere from 4.5hrs to 7hrs, so it’s definitely not a high intensity effort.

The Swim

So you have a 2 kilometre swim to start the day, with all the hype, adrenalin and nervous energy flowing you don’t have to worry about going out hard. Just take your time, get into a good rhythm and focus on drafting off the other swimmers. The swim should feel comfortable as remember you have 90 kilometers to cycle and 21kilometers to run still. If you red line it and come out of the swim exhausted it will be a very long day.

Keegan at Ironman Brazil

The Bike

Onto the bike, and its 90ks, its best to split the ride into 15km pieces or even smaller and work away at them. The first 15km should be spent getting relaxed, finding your legs and again getting into a comfortable intensity which you can hold for the next couple of hours. Remember to start on your nutrition and hydration strategies once you are settled. You should aim to ride the course at a constant intensity that will leave you left with a good amount of energy to complete the run. There will be many people who blast past at the start of the ride, but be assured that by the end of the cycle or race, many of them you will pass again as they run out of energy. My first Ironman at IMNZ I came out of the water and was passed by approximately 50 cyclists in the first 15kilometers, at the end of the ride I was back into the top 10, just by getting the effort levels right.

Keegan racing in Challenge Roth with amazing crowds

The Run

On to the show, the 21k run. Once you get off the bike, make sure you take the first couple of kilometres at a easy-moderate pace, and once you are at the 3-4k mark you should be into a intensity/pace which you can hold for the rest of the run. If you are using a run walk strategy, make sure you are keeping to your schedule as it will pay off later. Once you get to the 18k mark you can really start upping the intensity if you are feeling good, and once at the 20k mark you can let everything out.

Before you know it you will be at the finish line, so the key to pacing your first half ironman is keeping the intensity down at the start of all disciplines and working into a good rhythm. With the correct training you will learn to know what kind of intensities you can hold on race day and it will make the experience that more enjoyable.

Keegan winning the New Plymouth Half Ironman!

Check out Keegan’s triathlon coaching website V02Coach for more advice or if you’re after a coach to help you go that extra mile

The Contact Tri Women Series are on the look out for 10 women all across New Zealand to become the Tri It Girls for the 2012 season. The 10 ladies will be taking us all along on their journey by posting on the Tri Women Facebook page and also on their website.

Who are the lovely ladies they are looking for?

Women that are:

• Trying out a new triathlon training plan
• Getting back into exercise after a break
• Always wanted to do a triathlon but never got round to it
• Or wanting your mum or friend to compete in a TriWoman event?

What you get:

 

Who says training over winter has to suck?! Yes, it’s cold, dark and sometimes wet here in Christchurch. But it also means it’s time for the indoor wind-trainer sessions at John Bull Cycles.

Last winter I struggled with getting motivated to do my bike sessions. I had my windtrainer set up in the garage with the ipod plugged into Scott’s flash stereo system. I’d listen to the IM Talk podcast or some other music nice and loud. I was getting a good workout. But not as good as I do when I have someone to push me.

This winter I’ve started going to the spin sessions on Monday and Thursday at John Bull Cycles and they are awesome!

• I have to get there on time so there is no procrastinating, sessions start at 6pm so I’m usually finished training earlier than I would if I was training at home
• I work harder than I would by myself in the garage – with Tony taking the class he keeps an eye out for people not working hard enough

Here’s a piccy of us relaxing getting ready to smash ourselves The people there are great. It’s a good laugh and a great workout.

Come along!

If you are keen to come along and keep some of your cycling fitness over winter ring up John Bull Cycles and book a spot. 03 377 2058. The classes are usually full but last week 2 people have moved away from chch to there should be a couple of spots open.

Tony Morgan takes both Monday and Thursday classes. Monday ones are an hour and Thursday ones tend to be longer. I usually go for a wee run after the class depending on what my coach has set me.

Check out John Bull Cycles on Facebook, they need some more friends so like them

My new Icebreaker arm warmers!

Yeah! I got some cool new Icebreaker arm warmers and I love them. Mine have “icebreaker.com” written on them because I am lucky and got sample ones to try, but if you buy them they won’t have that on them – just the logo.

I used them on my ride today. They made a big difference compared to the Exaustar and Cima ones I have, the Icebreaker ones keep the heat in a lot more when it’s cold. And it was cold this morning! I reckon if I had Icebreaker arm warmers,  leg warmers and cycle top on I wouldn’t need the thermal jacket that I always wear. I’ll test it out – next order will be some leg warmers. I’m addicted (Turns out Icebreaker don’t make leg warmers – come on Icebreaker they would be awesome!!)

I just love it that I can bike to work in the Icebreaker clothes, get all sweaty in them. At work I hang them over my bike and they are perfect for my ride home – dry and not smelly!

I couldn't resist putting this one in. This is what Scott does when he's not training for Ironman. Plays iphone games all the time!

I had the opportunity to try out custom fitted orthotics, so I thought I would. I’ve been a bit iffy about trying them as I’ve never been injured (touch wood) so I wasn’t sure if I should change if I’m not broke.

But with the opportunity to try them for free I thought – why not! I know there are things about my running style and biking style that I can change.

Whitney, a friend I work with, and I went to Formthotics to get fitted. We sat down with podiatrist Rebecca Gilford and pulled out our shoes. My cycling shoes are very old – a bit embarrasing.

Whitney and Rebecca

The Heat Moulding Process

The moulding process was pretty easy. Rebecca slipped the orthotics into the shoes and put them upside down on a heater for a minute. I then put them on and stood with my knees pointing slightly outwards and knees bent for 1 minute. That was it!

My running shoes on the heater - heating up the orthotics

My cycling and running shoes with the new orthotic insoles

Cycling Orthotics

Rebecca said my cycling shoes were not right for me as they pushed my foot to roll the wrong way – which would mean my orthotics would push it one way and the shoes the other. This would be because I bought my cycling shoes off Trademe second hand and they had already been heat moulded to another person’s foot aha. Ok.  I need some new ones. I do love the ones I have though. They are the Shimano ladies tri shoe. The new version is the WT52 tri shoe so I will look at purchasing that one. I’ve seen it pretty cheap on Wiggle.co.uk.

WhenI had my bike setup with John Bull Cycles last year John said my right knee rolls inwards slightly. He said to get more power I should have some insoles to correct this. Now I have them I’ll go back and see John with my new orthotics and see if it has corrected the alignment.

These are the new cycling orthotics I have.

Running Orthotics

My KSwiss K-Ona shoes are a very neutral flexible shoe with not much support built in. Once we had moulded the orthotics to my running shoes Rebecca took me outside to look at me run in them. She was worried it might be too rigid after having such flexible shoes.

These are the running orthotics I have.

The Trial…

I had orders to only use the orthotics a little at first, rather than using them for a full session. So use them for 20mins to get used to them.

So what do  I do? Use them for a whole session. Yip I’m  bit dumb like that.

I couldn’t wait to use them, so I did in my spin class on Thurs night which was about 1.5 hours. Maybe I used them too long straight away? I got a slight sore foot – underneath close to the toe.

Then I used the running ones on Sat for a 1:45min run and I had no trouble. I was planning on just doing a bit of the run in them and swapping  to my other inner soles – but I used formthotics for the entire run.

Then on Sunday I did 70min bike and 10km run in them. Again I had that slight sore under the same foot, I don’t have it now though. I think it’s possibly just a matter of wearing them in.

I told Rebecca this and she said yes I used them too much too soon. Saying if it persists with the new shoes she’ll arrange for me to bring in my wind trainer and she’ll have a more thorough look at my feet and me on the bike and make some adjustments.

My feet feel fine today so I think it’s just getting use to them. I’ll be using them again at spin class tonight. I’ll keep you all posted with the progress!

If anyone else is looking at using orthotics for sport you can check out their orthotics products online.

I’ve been trying to pick which half ironman (70.3) races I’d like to do. I found it annoying that there isn’t really one list of all the races, so I’ve decided to collate one in-case anyone else would find it handy. And also for my use in the future. If anyone has any others, put them in the comments or flick them through to me and I’ll add them in

New Zealand Half Ironman Events

Karapiro Half Ironman – 12 November 2011

http://www.karapirohalfironman.co.nz/

Ashburton Half Ironman – (This is changing to the 5th or 6th of Nov just for 2011)

http://www.cisport.co.nz/

Napier IronMaori  - 3rd December 2011

http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ClubSite.asp?SiteID=10827&NoCache=100913193147GHGCOJGV

Kellogg’s Taupo Half Ironman – 10th December 2011

http://www.halfironmantaupo.co.nz/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taupo-Half-Ironman/112434545449076

http://www.twitter.com/taupohalf

Gore 1/3 Ironman – 10th December 2011

http://www.sportsouthland.co.nz

Rotorua Half Ironman – 17th December 2011

www.half.co.nz

Port of Tauranga Half Ironman – 7th January 2012 (NZ Nationals)

http://www.thehalf.co.nz

Lake Wanaka Half – 21 January 2012

http://www.challenge-wanaka.com/lake-wanaka-half.html

Wells New Plymouth Half Ironman – 12th February 2012

http://www.nphalfironman.co.nz

Orbea Auckland Half Ironman – 24th March 2012

http://www.aucklandhalf.co.nz

Half Ironman Events in Australia

Husky Long Course Triathlon – 19th February 2012

http://www.eliteenergy.com.au/husky_tf/lc.html 2km swim / 83km bike / 30km run

Ironman 70.3 Busselton – 5th May 2012

http://www.busseltonhalf.com

Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie – 6th May 2012 (Date to be confirmed)

http://ironmanaustralia.com

http://www.facebook.com/ironmanaustralia2011

http://twitter.com/#!/mdotaust

Cairns Half Ironman – 3rd June 2012

http://www.usmevents.com.au/Triathlon___Multi_Sport/Challenge_Cairns.htm

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Challenge-Cairns/166583406730364

http://twitter.com/#!/ChallengeCairns

Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon  - 14th August 2011

http://www.capricornhalf.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ironman-703-Yeppoon/175767852446491?sk=wall

http://twitter.com/CapricornHalf

Ironman 70.3 Shepparton – 13th November 2011

http://www.sheppartonhalfironman.com

Ironman 70.3 Canberra – 11th December 2011

http://ironmancanberra.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ironman-703-Canberra/179550298729834

https://twitter.com/XtriAustralia

The first part of the week has been a bit of a loss for swim training, because of the big earthquakes this week Jellie Park pool has been shut for a few days. This is where I swim most mornings. They’ve left the outdoor pool open because QE11 is shut from earthquake damage. Usually the outdoor pool shuts in March. At the moment it’s open until July 15th, but hopefully longer.

It’s definitely hard getting the courage to get in there on a dark morning where the temperature is close to zero or below. There is usually mist over the pool, the pool has been at 21 degrees so it’s fine once you’ve done 5 or 10 mins of swimming. Although you don’t want to have long rests during your session as the air temperature is pretty cold!

One awesome thing is that you get in when it’s completely dark and as you swim it slowly gets lighter and lighter. When I get out it’s completely light. I love that. It’s like a competition for me. I try to finish my workout before it gets light.

It opened again this morning and I got to do my time trials I was supposed to do on Monday.

This was my workout:

Warmup

400m drills

Main Set x 2

800m 100% timed

200m easy

200m 100% timed

200m easy

100m 100% timed

Warmdown

Didn’t have time for this as had to get to work

These were my times this week Mid June 2011:

1st set

800m: 14:15

200m: 3:24

100m: 1:38

2nd set

800m: 14:03

200m: 3:19

100m: 1:39

Comments from coach: he hasn’t seen these ones yet He might see them on here. ha

Comments from me: Usually in a sprint race of 750m I’d do 12:55, so these seemed a little slow. A little slower than I’d like but with such a long session of time trials I think that’s expected. I picked up my speed in the second set which means I wasn’t swimming hard enough in the first set. The times are pretty close though.

30th May 2011

800m: 14:05 (I was disappointed with this time since in Sydney I swam 25:45 for 1500 which is faster than this, but his comments below made me happy)

200m: 3:26

300m: 5:08

200m: 3:27

Comments from coach: On my calculation your current 1500 mts swim time in a wet suit race allowing for, currents , buoy turns , getting a draft or not, swim course can be either short / long or spot on 1500 mts I would be predicting a time of 25 minutes 30 secs.

For a 2 km Half Ironman sea swim in a wet suit my predicted time 33 mins  45 secs.

You aren’t far off race times and with many months ahead you still carve some time off BUT the time you can keep making far better strides is on bike and run where we are taking minutes not seconds so enjoy the hill runs !!

Comments from me: My 800m time is a lot slower than Feb. I think this is because in Feb I was getting close to my A race of the year. The only other thing I can think of that i changed is I started doing tumble turns this time. I wonder if I’m slow at these which ads on time…?

14th February 2011 – Just before nationals, peaking and happy with these times

800m: 12:55
HR (28×6) = 168

200m: 3:06
HR (26×6) = 156

100m: 1:30
HR (27×6) = 162

Comments from coach: Times all looking good , equates to a 24 min 30 sec swim at Wellington compared with 27 ; 08 last year – if can pull back 2-3 minutes on bike and similar on run and a finish time around 2 hours 20 mnutes youll be on the podium – overall if can be 5-6 minutes faster thats very possible so sweat the hard stuff !!

My comments: In March nationals in Wellington I swam 26:05, not as fast as G predicted but still faster than last year.

21 December 2009 – Just starting with my coach

800m : 16:30sec

200m : 4:00sec

100 : 1:50sec

I had just started with Graham as a coach. Before that I was swimming about 1 hour a week. ha. Now it’s at least an hour, 4 times a week. I remember dying on these time trials, thinking 800m was so far! Now 800m is a walk in the park compared to that day.

When I used to do lots of weight training a few years ago my personal trainer suggested I have a protein shake after every workout to help rebuild my muscles. The trainers aim to get you putting on kg’s of muscle and losing bodyfat %. This is a great thing if you are just wanting to be healthy and look good.

Slim down rather than bulk up

Now that I’m training for triathlon this changes. The change between weight training and triathlon training is bigger for guys than girls.  The difference between bulking up and slimming down.

Apart from the fact that I don’t manage to fit in weight training anymore, the big point is that I’m not trying to put on muscle. This should be mainly for guys training for triathlon. It’s a big difference to what they are used to – which is becoming big and muscular! In triathlon, if anything you should try to lose weight and possibly lose some muscle mass. You’ll notice all of the elite triathletes are tiny and Ironman athletes are still quite small.

So change your train of thought and stop bulking up guys. It’s time to slim down. Don’t worry, you’ll still look hot. Check out Scotty McNab or Torenzo for a bit of eye candy

Macca and Torenzo

I wouldn’t try put on muscle anymore. If you are planning on doing triathlon you’d mainly be trying to slim down no matter if it’s fat or muscle. The lighter the better – to a certain point. You’ll run faster and climb hills faster. The balancing act is the power output of big muscles in cycling on the flat. You’ll notice all the triathletes are tiny.

My partner used to bulk up at the gym, he was 97kg when we were in Hamilton – big and muscular, but now has been trying to lose weight since getting into triathlon. He got down to 82kg before Ironman but is about 86kg now. He’s 6”2 I think. That’s very tall for an ironman athlete. Usually the good ones are about 70kg and shorter than him.

Can we do weights when training for triathlon?

Have you started triathlon training and still doing weights? Weights aren’t a bad thing, but I’d say soon you will realise you don’t have much spare time to fit them in, and any time you do have will be running, cycling or swimming. If you have a guy at the gym doing you a program ask him to give you a core/balance/flexibilty program that you can do around your swimming/running/cycling.

Core strength and flexibility is great to work on and really beneficial. I wouldn’t worry about your body fat %, it should just come down with the cardio training that is triathlon training. I say how beneficial core workouts are but I know I don’t do them enough!

Should we use protein shakes?

Berry smoothie instead of protein shake

We used to have protein shakes when we were weight training a few years ago. But now we don’t. I try have a healthy fat and a protein at every meal and snack.

Protein i.e. yoghurt, cheese, hummus, nuts
Healthy fat i.e. flax seed oil, nuts, olive oil, avocado, full fat yoghurt

After a workout you need to replenish your carbs and protein. I think you are better to do this with real food as it’s more nutrient dense than a protein shake. You could have a protein shake though – but food is the better option. You could have a smoothie with berries, milk or coconut milk, 1 Tsp flax seed oil, vanilla essence (and almonds if you like).

If you haven’t had too hard a workout – i.e. a 2 hour steady cycle I might not have anything during the ride and have a snack after. Whereas Scott might work at a harder intensity and would want electrolyte drink on his ride and maybe a gel and a snack after.

Lots of athletes think they need to eat more carbs than they should. Especially in their off season when you are doing lower intensity workouts.

Definitely cut out the white rice, pasta and sugar.

Photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elly/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/