Well sportsfans, the curtain has been drawn on another triathlon season, with the running of the Byron Bay Triathlon.
Absolutely picture postcard perfect conditions greeted competitors and spectators alike, with a calm and crystal clear sea, blue skies and gentle breezes.
This is such a cool race, it's almost like the Wildflower of Australian triathlon. The last time I did it was as a green-horn rookie triathlete back in 2002, where rough seas and weather saw me get absolutely belted in all three disciplines !
After this year however, I wish I'd managed to fit this race into my schedule a bit more often.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was carrying a few niggles down the M1 to Byron Bay, and was pretty much resigned to just getting out there and seeing what it felt like, just going through the motions if necessary.
I've never enjoyed swimming in races much but i really enjoyed this one. The water was calm and clear, plenty of fish around and not too many ankle grabbers !
There was a bit of a headwind heading out on the one lap bike, nothing too bad though. The bike course was mostly flat, with a few undulations and probably the trickiest thing was the road surface in some places - shocking!
A nice tailwind heading back into town saw the average speed climb up from around 34km/h to about 41km/h...
The run was 4 laps of a 2.25km circuit along the beachfront, with a small hill at one end. Got a bit cramped on the run path in sections, which made for some near-miss headon collisions, but managed to avoid taking anyone out and hold my shit together to post a 7 minute PB over the Olympic distance....gotta be happy with that!
Swim 0:20:47.0
Bike 1:04:26.1
Run 0:39:57.6
Total 2:05:10.7
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Back in town - Race Eve
Back in Brisbane now after a work trip up to sunny Cairns.
Byron Bay OD race is tomorrow at 1pm, to be honest I'm feeling less than inspired about it at the moment. I don't know why, but whenever I'm in Cairns and trying to train I always seem to feel a bit "dull", quite tired and lethargic. It's not even very humid up there this time of year.
To top that I was doing some running drills on grass yesterday morning and rolled my left ankle. It's pretty stiff at the moment.... AND my right hamstring is persisting with grief-giving, ever since the Ironman. A littany of excuses ! ;-P
Driving around all week and the only CD's a had with me was a 3 Disc set "Hip Hop Classics", so I'm feeling very black at the moment, very in touch with my inner brutha...I'm 'bout ready to bust a cap in someone's asssss...
So I guess I'll head down to Byron and just enjoy the race, I don't think i'm going to be setting the world on fire down there that's for sure.
Will be good to catch up with one of my sponsors though, James from Eladon - makers and distributors of 'Elagen Sport' - check it out at www.elagen.com/sport/index.htm
will post back with an update after the race...
Peace out bruthas
YoYo
Byron Bay OD race is tomorrow at 1pm, to be honest I'm feeling less than inspired about it at the moment. I don't know why, but whenever I'm in Cairns and trying to train I always seem to feel a bit "dull", quite tired and lethargic. It's not even very humid up there this time of year.
To top that I was doing some running drills on grass yesterday morning and rolled my left ankle. It's pretty stiff at the moment.... AND my right hamstring is persisting with grief-giving, ever since the Ironman. A littany of excuses ! ;-P
Driving around all week and the only CD's a had with me was a 3 Disc set "Hip Hop Classics", so I'm feeling very black at the moment, very in touch with my inner brutha...I'm 'bout ready to bust a cap in someone's asssss...
So I guess I'll head down to Byron and just enjoy the race, I don't think i'm going to be setting the world on fire down there that's for sure.
Will be good to catch up with one of my sponsors though, James from Eladon - makers and distributors of 'Elagen Sport' - check it out at www.elagen.com/sport/index.htm
will post back with an update after the race...
Peace out bruthas
YoYo
Sunday, May 4, 2008
The Long and the Short of it...
With the Ironman done and dusted for another season, I was feeling relatively good and (for a nice change!) uninjured. I decided to take the opportunity to do a few short course races and get a bit more work in on my swim starts and transitions.
I figured it would be interesting to see how much speed I had in me after a long summer of Ironman training.
I entered Race 6 of the Gatorade Series, taking place at Raby Bay.
This was a 400/15/4 sprint distance tri. The weather on the day was a bit dodgy, with rain clouds hanging around and occasionally unloading onto the course, making the many corners on the technical bike course nothing short of diabolical.
I managed to nab 5th in my age Group with 5:13/28:17/14:19 - 47:51
Then a mate of mine asked me to fill in on corporate team with him for the BRW Corporate Triathlon, which is a 400/10/4 event held down at The Spit on the Gold Coast.
The AMP Corp team of myself, Izzy and Ash ended up having a great day (morning?), actually crossing the line first, and coming out in the mix with 2nd in Mens Overall, 1st in Corporate Banking & Finance category, as well as 4th overall outright!
I managed the following splits - 5:11/19:52/16:10
Everyone seems to be in agreeance that the run course was about 5oom long. Emma Snowsill, Craig Walton and Fliss Abram raced on the day as well, and their run times were definitely slower than what you'd expect over 4k's as well.
I haven't done this kind of racing in quite a while, i forgot how much it hurts !!
It really reminded me how much the 'shortcourse guys' deserve the respect of long course triathletes, there's often a perception out there that it's "just a short triathlon", but in reality it's an absolute balls-to-the-wall sufferfest !
SO....just one more race left in the season - Byron Bay Oly Distance !!
This was one of the first triathlons I ever did, way back in 2002. I havent done it since then, the course looks to have changed a little bit, but it's always a great race and a 1pm race start !!
After Byron it's time for a little bit of a rest and then ramping up the running a bit for the Gold Coast Marathon....
See you there !
Yox2
I figured it would be interesting to see how much speed I had in me after a long summer of Ironman training.
I entered Race 6 of the Gatorade Series, taking place at Raby Bay.
This was a 400/15/4 sprint distance tri. The weather on the day was a bit dodgy, with rain clouds hanging around and occasionally unloading onto the course, making the many corners on the technical bike course nothing short of diabolical.
I managed to nab 5th in my age Group with 5:13/28:17/14:19 - 47:51
Then a mate of mine asked me to fill in on corporate team with him for the BRW Corporate Triathlon, which is a 400/10/4 event held down at The Spit on the Gold Coast.
The AMP Corp team of myself, Izzy and Ash ended up having a great day (morning?), actually crossing the line first, and coming out in the mix with 2nd in Mens Overall, 1st in Corporate Banking & Finance category, as well as 4th overall outright!
I managed the following splits - 5:11/19:52/16:10
Everyone seems to be in agreeance that the run course was about 5oom long. Emma Snowsill, Craig Walton and Fliss Abram raced on the day as well, and their run times were definitely slower than what you'd expect over 4k's as well.
I haven't done this kind of racing in quite a while, i forgot how much it hurts !!
It really reminded me how much the 'shortcourse guys' deserve the respect of long course triathletes, there's often a perception out there that it's "just a short triathlon", but in reality it's an absolute balls-to-the-wall sufferfest !
SO....just one more race left in the season - Byron Bay Oly Distance !!
This was one of the first triathlons I ever did, way back in 2002. I havent done it since then, the course looks to have changed a little bit, but it's always a great race and a 1pm race start !!
After Byron it's time for a little bit of a rest and then ramping up the running a bit for the Gold Coast Marathon....
See you there !
Yox2
Friday, May 2, 2008
Compression Socks, what's the go ? Part 1
Everyone's talking about them - compression socks.
Making an appearance for probably the first time in triathlon during the 2007 season, their use has become increasingly more common during races and training around the country.
So what's it all about? Well go grab a cuppa and get comfortable, YoYo's not afraid to try out the latest things, so naturally he has already 'done' compression socks (training AND racing).... so here's the low-down...
Let's take a step back for a minute and look at the evolution of equipment in this sport of ours.
Twenty years ago there were guys doing Kona on standard road bikes, 7 speed and no aerobars. Then the Scott Aerobar came along and revolutionised the sport of triathlon. Indeed it was triathlon that fed this technology to it's bigger brother in cycling/time trialling, not the other way.
I don't recall exactly who it was but it was either Lemond or Indurain who first utilised a set of aerobars in an ITT at the Tour d'France - yes, previously they would just ride their day to day road bikes ! Crazy, huh ?!?
When I first started doing triathlon in late 2001, the idea of riding steep was just filtering down into age group triathlon, and the concept of having a dedicated Time Trial/Triathlon bike in your quiver was the ultimate luxury and considered quite an excess.
These days, you're the odd one out if you DON'T have a TT bike to roll around on every once in a while, in addition to your normal training bike.
And as for aerobars, well, back in 2001 a bullhorn with barend lever setup was considered to be quite 'trick', whereas these days such a setup wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in fact, it would more likely be seen on a 'lower spec' bike.
It took a few years for the whole TT specific bike thing to catch on, just like it's taken a few years for the whole one-piece integrated TT bar setup to catch on and become the accepted 'norm'.
In 2005 I raced IM Western Australia. On the bike I wore an LAS Aero TT helmet, and subsequently copped a fair amount of grief from my coach and training partners for wearing such a weird looking "sperm hat".
Even as recent as then, not many age groupers were wearing TT helmets, maybe because they had not reached true mass production by the main manufacturers at that point, but it seemed alot of competitiors just couldn't get past the 'look' of a TT helmet, 'it makes you look like a tool' they'd say.
Then all of a sudden the majority of pro's at the majority of IM and HIM races around the world started rolling out of T1 with TT helmets on. Limar were the first to cotton on mass-production wise (at an affordable price), with Bell and Giro following suit.
Nowadays at any given IM race in the world, I'd estimate at least 60% of the field would have to be wearing TT helmets.
They have pretty much become course de'riguer.
In 2007 Australian Pro triathlete Pete Jacobs set tongues wagging at the Quelle Challenge Roth, when he placed 3rd and set the fastest run of the day (2:44), wearing knee-high compression running socks.
Now, these socks are nothing new, but rather just new to the masses, particularly the australian masses. Such socks have been used by American football, baseball and ice hockey players for some years, which is where I was originally exposed to them.
The use of similar types of socks has also been common in the elderley for some time, as well as frequent longhaul travellers, as an aid
to circulation in the lower legs.
Pete wore a pair of 'CEP' brand socks, however 'Skins' also make a compression sock, as do sportswear apparel giant 'Nike'.
Stay tuned for Part 2 - Anything could happen - The Results !!
Making an appearance for probably the first time in triathlon during the 2007 season, their use has become increasingly more common during races and training around the country.
So what's it all about? Well go grab a cuppa and get comfortable, YoYo's not afraid to try out the latest things, so naturally he has already 'done' compression socks (training AND racing).... so here's the low-down...
Let's take a step back for a minute and look at the evolution of equipment in this sport of ours.
Twenty years ago there were guys doing Kona on standard road bikes, 7 speed and no aerobars. Then the Scott Aerobar came along and revolutionised the sport of triathlon. Indeed it was triathlon that fed this technology to it's bigger brother in cycling/time trialling, not the other way.
I don't recall exactly who it was but it was either Lemond or Indurain who first utilised a set of aerobars in an ITT at the Tour d'France - yes, previously they would just ride their day to day road bikes ! Crazy, huh ?!?
When I first started doing triathlon in late 2001, the idea of riding steep was just filtering down into age group triathlon, and the concept of having a dedicated Time Trial/Triathlon bike in your quiver was the ultimate luxury and considered quite an excess.
These days, you're the odd one out if you DON'T have a TT bike to roll around on every once in a while, in addition to your normal training bike.
And as for aerobars, well, back in 2001 a bullhorn with barend lever setup was considered to be quite 'trick', whereas these days such a setup wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in fact, it would more likely be seen on a 'lower spec' bike.
It took a few years for the whole TT specific bike thing to catch on, just like it's taken a few years for the whole one-piece integrated TT bar setup to catch on and become the accepted 'norm'.
In 2005 I raced IM Western Australia. On the bike I wore an LAS Aero TT helmet, and subsequently copped a fair amount of grief from my coach and training partners for wearing such a weird looking "sperm hat".
Even as recent as then, not many age groupers were wearing TT helmets, maybe because they had not reached true mass production by the main manufacturers at that point, but it seemed alot of competitiors just couldn't get past the 'look' of a TT helmet, 'it makes you look like a tool' they'd say.
Then all of a sudden the majority of pro's at the majority of IM and HIM races around the world started rolling out of T1 with TT helmets on. Limar were the first to cotton on mass-production wise (at an affordable price), with Bell and Giro following suit.
Nowadays at any given IM race in the world, I'd estimate at least 60% of the field would have to be wearing TT helmets.
They have pretty much become course de'riguer.
In 2007 Australian Pro triathlete Pete Jacobs set tongues wagging at the Quelle Challenge Roth, when he placed 3rd and set the fastest run of the day (2:44), wearing knee-high compression running socks.
Now, these socks are nothing new, but rather just new to the masses, particularly the australian masses. Such socks have been used by American football, baseball and ice hockey players for some years, which is where I was originally exposed to them.
The use of similar types of socks has also been common in the elderley for some time, as well as frequent longhaul travellers, as an aid
to circulation in the lower legs.
Pete wore a pair of 'CEP' brand socks, however 'Skins' also make a compression sock, as do sportswear apparel giant 'Nike'.
Stay tuned for Part 2 - Anything could happen - The Results !!
Race Report - Port Macquarie Ironman 2008
I thought I might post up my race report from the Port Macquarie IM 2008.
For things I talk about and refer to in the future, it may help serve as a bit of background knowledge....
This race report is brought to you by the colour white.
When I was young I played a lot of sports, and probably the most overriding thing I remember of those time is how nervous I used to get before a match or game.
I’ve found triathlon different in that regard, in that it seems I hardly ever get nervous, although I must admit that prior to the 2008 Australian Ironman I definitely was feeling slightly anxious about what was about to unfold.
This would be my fourth Ironman, although the last one I competed in was back in 2005, in Busselton WA. Since that time I have struggled with chronic injury and illness, it’s been a long two and a half years ‘back’.
My lead-up to the race had been almost flawless, save for a bout of Gastro that struck me across the New Year period which resulted in missing out on a good size block of cycling in Northern NSW, but I wasn’t too worried about it.
Almost flawless, that is, until a chest infection struck me on the weekend before the race. A quick trip to the Doctor and a heavy course of Antibiotics later, I felt like I managed to get myself back to around 85-90% by race day, but there were some very anxious and stress filled days there!
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my best mate, who fell sick two days before the race and did not start on the day. Something that was crushing for him and almost equally so for me.
The Swim 3.8km
Swimming has always been my weakest leg, but I had been working on it very hard and was swimming really well in the pool and in the days prior to the race. I had a target time of around 55 minutes.
I have to say, this was THE roughest swim I have ever been involved in. The number of competitors, coupled with the swim course narrowing in some places, along with everyone fighting for a good line resulted in what was pretty much a street brawl. I was feeling reasonably good in the water, although I did get dropped by a small group at about the 2k mark which I really would have liked to have stayed with.
With about 600m to go I got absolutely nailed by someone to my right. Their elbow copped me flush on the bottom lip and also a decent smack on the nose. It hurt a fair bit and, as I breathed to the right, I could see blood coming out in my bubbles.
As I surfaced at the end of the swim I wiped my hand across my mouth and nose and it was full of blood. Refocused on the race clock and sprinted to make the timing mat for a sub-60 minute swim.
The Bike 180.1km
I acquired a new bike prior to this race and it is an absolute dream to ride. It’s a 2009 Specialized S-Works Transition and, well…I think the bike is most likely faster than the rider in this particular instance!
Got going out of town, up Windmill Hill which had been taken over for the day by my squad – the East Coast Cycos, so had been renamed ‘Cycos Hill’ for the day.
There was a massive group of people there, screaming, shouting, ringing cowbells..it was awesome to have them there for the day as this hill would also come into play on the run later on.
I shouted out to my coach that I had gone under 60 minutes in the swim, a bit of a running joke between me and….well the whole squad really……
In the initial stages of the bike I was trying to get an idea of exactly how much I was bleeding, as my mouth seemed to fill up pretty rapidly with blood. Figured out there was no broken or blood nose, it all seemed to be coming from the inside of my bottom lip where my bottom teeth had made a pretty decent hole on the inside there.
Through the hills out of town and onto the flat stretch out to Lake Cathie, I settled into a decent rhythm and the pace was up around 41km/h.
After 40 minutes one of the guys from the squad came past me and I figured he must have come from 3-4 minutes down in the swim at the very least. Hoped for his sake right there he wasn’t going to overcook his noodles.
The bidons I was using invariably became a little bit bloody on the top from when I drank from them and knowing that they would be recycling some bidons at aid stations I made sure to toss mine earlier than normal (at the stations) and near someone there, shouting out to them not to recycle it as it had blood on it.
Went through the first lap (60km) of the bike in around 1:44, the bleeding had stopped and I was feeling pretty good.
Out of town on the second lap and mother nature decided to make a play for things with torrential rain and a pretty decent headwind. At times I could barely see 50m in front of me through the rain and of course it started to get a little bit cold.
Heading back into town I was around a small group of about 6 riders, until we came up to the special needs station at around the 100km mark. None of the others collected anything there, so as I gathered my nutrition they rode off.
There was a bit of an experiment in the this bag of tricks, I had a bottle of Endura and also a bottle of Opti, but in the bottle of Opti I had emptied four capsules of a product called ‘Elagen Sport’. Elagen is basically a supplement that consists of Eleutherococcus Senticosus extract and CoQ10, which together help your body adapt to stress and strain, as well as assisting immune function, concentration and your energy conversion at a cellular level.
Lap two of the bike went by in about 1:45 and I was nicely on track to my target ride of 5:15 and feeling pretty good. I knew the third lap of the bike, particularly on this hilly and challenging course was going to be crucial, and was setting myself up to ride this last 60k as strong as I possibly could, knowing that others up ahead may very well be faultering.
The pinchy hills were starting to sting my quads a bit now, causing a bit of a healthy burn in the muscles. I had originally planned to ride a disc wheel in this race, but the day before the race opted to ride my 50mm carbon Shimano Dura-Ace wheels front & back instead. This rear wheel had another slightly odd thing about it, a SRAM cassette with a 12-26 stack (running 12-23 and then a jump up to a 26t cog). I would rarely use this 26t, but on the occasions I did I found it to be extremely useful, both in the big and small chainring.
At the last turnaround I could see I had already gained on some guys in front of me, I was feeling great and staying focussed easily. On the flats I was using a plan of constantly shifting gears, never riding more than 5 minutes in the same gear to avoid getting lazy. Everytime I went past someone I went past hard and gapped them as quickly as possible.
A large group was a couple of k’s up the road from me and these rabbits helped keep me focussed by concentrating on chasing them down. As I eventually caught them just before the golf course, they all started to blow up, one by one…! They were flying off the back of their own group like someone had just sprayed Mortein on them.
So as it turned out, I came past them all and lead the group up through the suburbs, up Mathew Flinders Drive and back into town to start the run.
At the last bike aid station I picked up a bidon of coke and one of water, getting as much of each into as I could prior to coming into T2.
The Run 42.2km
I knew I had ridden the 3rd lap well and figured I had to be close to some of the guys in my squad that were in a group up the road from me. Exactly how well my race and nutrition plan had worked so far was evident as I passed two of the guys within a couple of hundred metres of leaving T2. seeing that I figured the other weren’t too far, so decided to hit the first couple of k’s hard to catch them quickly. I caught another a few k’s later, but the others were well up the road and would be hard work to draw back in.
Went through the 2km marker in 7:55. Okay maybe that was a little bit too quick…
Backed off a bit and went through the next 2km in 8:24, then 8:46 and then held around 9min/2k for a while. I was looking to run about a 3:15-3:20 on this course, so was on track so far. I was using Accel Gels on the day and they were going down nicely and making me feel great.
There was awesome support out there on the course for the man in white, people were popping up everywhere giving me a shout. Least of all were the guys and girls up on Cyco’s Hill, they were ridiculously loud, cheering on everyone, not just Cycos.
Went through 21km in about 1:33. When I saw that split I was feeling okay, but knew that it was a bit too quick and it might come back to bite me.
And bite it did….. each run lap was 14km and on the 2nd lap I suffered more than I have in any previous Ironman. I was bordering on a total crack there for a short while and only just managed to hold it together and get going again. Right there I knew that the hills had taken a bit more out of me than I realised and this was going to be a tough last 18k.
Again, the crowd and fellow spectators were awesome. There was so much support out there, from friends, family, fellow Cycos and even people I didn’t even know. The support really kept me firing and once I got that 2nd scrunchie at 14k to go my legs got a little bit of life back into them. The pace started to pick up a bit but the damage had already been done on lap 2, with way too much time lost.
From an original target time of about 9:40, I was now racing the clock to break 10 hours. There were still two guys up the road I was trying to run down in particular and, with about 9k to go I got one of them. I have a lot of respect for this mate of mine so gave him a pinch on the bum and a “you’ll be ok mate…” as I went past…
I don’t think he was too impressed at the time, but knowing how tough a competitor he is and now having him behind me for the first time ever in a race, I knew I couldn’t slip up now. Running up Cycos Hill for the last time was deafening, the guys were absolutely going OFF and people left, right and centre were giving me more splits than a gymnastics class.
As I rounded the last turn/aid station, I took one last swig of coke and water and steeled myself to give it absolutely everything left in the tank for the last 4k to the finish.
The hundreds of people lining town green and then entering the finish chute was incredible, ALMOST as good as it was back at Forster. As I hit the carpet in the finish chute I was so pumped to be coming in under 10 hours on what had turned out to be such a tough day, so much harder than I originally thought it would be.
Craig Alexander was there just after I crossed the line and I thought, how good is this sport? This guy’s a legend and came 2nd in Kona last year and here he is just hanging out at the finish line giving his congrats to people. Great stuff.
[u][size=1]Courtesy Andrew Sawatske Hi-Tide Photography[/size][/u]
The Wrap-Up
Final Time – 9:56
Overall Position – 92nd
Category Position – 24th
Swim – 0:59
Bike – 5:19
Run – 3:33
Not the overall time I had targeted, but that is one tough course and my first outing on it, so next year I will be better prepared for it.
Still, a PB swim and bike and a Top 100 finish so pretty happy with that.
The run blew out a bit, but it was ‘one of those days’ for most out there it seemed, but I toughed it out to still post a respectable time so I’m pleased with that much.
Some other great positives to take from the day were nutrition experiments that worked very well. I was only fortunate enough to be using the range of Elagen products for about 4-5 weeks prior to the race and felt great even in that short timeframe, so I’m really looking forward to a full season of using their products and reaping the rewards next season. The use of Elagen Sport in my special needs bottle was definitely one of the key things that assisted me to stay so focussed on the last lap of the bike and onto the run.
Accel Gels – what can I say? I didn’t use these at all in training leading upto the event, but used them with ‘hi-octane’ effect on race day. They are far and away the best energy gel I have ever used.
Special thanks goes to my Family, Renee, Friends, Coach AP, fellow Cyco’s and Transitions members for their support and encouragement both prior to and on raceday.
Also thanks goes out to Andrew at Cyclespeed, Andy at Hi-Tide Photography for his superb photos, Dr Speed at MB Cycles, Macca and his crew at Cynergy Cycles, James at Eladon, Mitch for taking the time to sledge me on-course on his way to 2nd, most of the pro women for putting up with people cheering me and not them.…. and everyone out there who thought in the back of their mind “I hope that idiot goes okay…”
For things I talk about and refer to in the future, it may help serve as a bit of background knowledge....
This race report is brought to you by the colour white.
When I was young I played a lot of sports, and probably the most overriding thing I remember of those time is how nervous I used to get before a match or game.
I’ve found triathlon different in that regard, in that it seems I hardly ever get nervous, although I must admit that prior to the 2008 Australian Ironman I definitely was feeling slightly anxious about what was about to unfold.
This would be my fourth Ironman, although the last one I competed in was back in 2005, in Busselton WA. Since that time I have struggled with chronic injury and illness, it’s been a long two and a half years ‘back’.
My lead-up to the race had been almost flawless, save for a bout of Gastro that struck me across the New Year period which resulted in missing out on a good size block of cycling in Northern NSW, but I wasn’t too worried about it.
Almost flawless, that is, until a chest infection struck me on the weekend before the race. A quick trip to the Doctor and a heavy course of Antibiotics later, I felt like I managed to get myself back to around 85-90% by race day, but there were some very anxious and stress filled days there!
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my best mate, who fell sick two days before the race and did not start on the day. Something that was crushing for him and almost equally so for me.
The Swim 3.8km
Swimming has always been my weakest leg, but I had been working on it very hard and was swimming really well in the pool and in the days prior to the race. I had a target time of around 55 minutes.
I have to say, this was THE roughest swim I have ever been involved in. The number of competitors, coupled with the swim course narrowing in some places, along with everyone fighting for a good line resulted in what was pretty much a street brawl. I was feeling reasonably good in the water, although I did get dropped by a small group at about the 2k mark which I really would have liked to have stayed with.
With about 600m to go I got absolutely nailed by someone to my right. Their elbow copped me flush on the bottom lip and also a decent smack on the nose. It hurt a fair bit and, as I breathed to the right, I could see blood coming out in my bubbles.
As I surfaced at the end of the swim I wiped my hand across my mouth and nose and it was full of blood. Refocused on the race clock and sprinted to make the timing mat for a sub-60 minute swim.
The Bike 180.1km
I acquired a new bike prior to this race and it is an absolute dream to ride. It’s a 2009 Specialized S-Works Transition and, well…I think the bike is most likely faster than the rider in this particular instance!
Got going out of town, up Windmill Hill which had been taken over for the day by my squad – the East Coast Cycos, so had been renamed ‘Cycos Hill’ for the day.
There was a massive group of people there, screaming, shouting, ringing cowbells..it was awesome to have them there for the day as this hill would also come into play on the run later on.
I shouted out to my coach that I had gone under 60 minutes in the swim, a bit of a running joke between me and….well the whole squad really……
In the initial stages of the bike I was trying to get an idea of exactly how much I was bleeding, as my mouth seemed to fill up pretty rapidly with blood. Figured out there was no broken or blood nose, it all seemed to be coming from the inside of my bottom lip where my bottom teeth had made a pretty decent hole on the inside there.
Through the hills out of town and onto the flat stretch out to Lake Cathie, I settled into a decent rhythm and the pace was up around 41km/h.
After 40 minutes one of the guys from the squad came past me and I figured he must have come from 3-4 minutes down in the swim at the very least. Hoped for his sake right there he wasn’t going to overcook his noodles.
The bidons I was using invariably became a little bit bloody on the top from when I drank from them and knowing that they would be recycling some bidons at aid stations I made sure to toss mine earlier than normal (at the stations) and near someone there, shouting out to them not to recycle it as it had blood on it.
Went through the first lap (60km) of the bike in around 1:44, the bleeding had stopped and I was feeling pretty good.
Out of town on the second lap and mother nature decided to make a play for things with torrential rain and a pretty decent headwind. At times I could barely see 50m in front of me through the rain and of course it started to get a little bit cold.
Heading back into town I was around a small group of about 6 riders, until we came up to the special needs station at around the 100km mark. None of the others collected anything there, so as I gathered my nutrition they rode off.
There was a bit of an experiment in the this bag of tricks, I had a bottle of Endura and also a bottle of Opti, but in the bottle of Opti I had emptied four capsules of a product called ‘Elagen Sport’. Elagen is basically a supplement that consists of Eleutherococcus Senticosus extract and CoQ10, which together help your body adapt to stress and strain, as well as assisting immune function, concentration and your energy conversion at a cellular level.
Lap two of the bike went by in about 1:45 and I was nicely on track to my target ride of 5:15 and feeling pretty good. I knew the third lap of the bike, particularly on this hilly and challenging course was going to be crucial, and was setting myself up to ride this last 60k as strong as I possibly could, knowing that others up ahead may very well be faultering.
The pinchy hills were starting to sting my quads a bit now, causing a bit of a healthy burn in the muscles. I had originally planned to ride a disc wheel in this race, but the day before the race opted to ride my 50mm carbon Shimano Dura-Ace wheels front & back instead. This rear wheel had another slightly odd thing about it, a SRAM cassette with a 12-26 stack (running 12-23 and then a jump up to a 26t cog). I would rarely use this 26t, but on the occasions I did I found it to be extremely useful, both in the big and small chainring.
At the last turnaround I could see I had already gained on some guys in front of me, I was feeling great and staying focussed easily. On the flats I was using a plan of constantly shifting gears, never riding more than 5 minutes in the same gear to avoid getting lazy. Everytime I went past someone I went past hard and gapped them as quickly as possible.
A large group was a couple of k’s up the road from me and these rabbits helped keep me focussed by concentrating on chasing them down. As I eventually caught them just before the golf course, they all started to blow up, one by one…! They were flying off the back of their own group like someone had just sprayed Mortein on them.
So as it turned out, I came past them all and lead the group up through the suburbs, up Mathew Flinders Drive and back into town to start the run.
At the last bike aid station I picked up a bidon of coke and one of water, getting as much of each into as I could prior to coming into T2.
The Run 42.2km
I knew I had ridden the 3rd lap well and figured I had to be close to some of the guys in my squad that were in a group up the road from me. Exactly how well my race and nutrition plan had worked so far was evident as I passed two of the guys within a couple of hundred metres of leaving T2. seeing that I figured the other weren’t too far, so decided to hit the first couple of k’s hard to catch them quickly. I caught another a few k’s later, but the others were well up the road and would be hard work to draw back in.
Went through the 2km marker in 7:55. Okay maybe that was a little bit too quick…
Backed off a bit and went through the next 2km in 8:24, then 8:46 and then held around 9min/2k for a while. I was looking to run about a 3:15-3:20 on this course, so was on track so far. I was using Accel Gels on the day and they were going down nicely and making me feel great.
There was awesome support out there on the course for the man in white, people were popping up everywhere giving me a shout. Least of all were the guys and girls up on Cyco’s Hill, they were ridiculously loud, cheering on everyone, not just Cycos.
Went through 21km in about 1:33. When I saw that split I was feeling okay, but knew that it was a bit too quick and it might come back to bite me.
And bite it did….. each run lap was 14km and on the 2nd lap I suffered more than I have in any previous Ironman. I was bordering on a total crack there for a short while and only just managed to hold it together and get going again. Right there I knew that the hills had taken a bit more out of me than I realised and this was going to be a tough last 18k.
Again, the crowd and fellow spectators were awesome. There was so much support out there, from friends, family, fellow Cycos and even people I didn’t even know. The support really kept me firing and once I got that 2nd scrunchie at 14k to go my legs got a little bit of life back into them. The pace started to pick up a bit but the damage had already been done on lap 2, with way too much time lost.
From an original target time of about 9:40, I was now racing the clock to break 10 hours. There were still two guys up the road I was trying to run down in particular and, with about 9k to go I got one of them. I have a lot of respect for this mate of mine so gave him a pinch on the bum and a “you’ll be ok mate…” as I went past…
I don’t think he was too impressed at the time, but knowing how tough a competitor he is and now having him behind me for the first time ever in a race, I knew I couldn’t slip up now. Running up Cycos Hill for the last time was deafening, the guys were absolutely going OFF and people left, right and centre were giving me more splits than a gymnastics class.
As I rounded the last turn/aid station, I took one last swig of coke and water and steeled myself to give it absolutely everything left in the tank for the last 4k to the finish.
The hundreds of people lining town green and then entering the finish chute was incredible, ALMOST as good as it was back at Forster. As I hit the carpet in the finish chute I was so pumped to be coming in under 10 hours on what had turned out to be such a tough day, so much harder than I originally thought it would be.
Craig Alexander was there just after I crossed the line and I thought, how good is this sport? This guy’s a legend and came 2nd in Kona last year and here he is just hanging out at the finish line giving his congrats to people. Great stuff.
[u][size=1]Courtesy Andrew Sawatske Hi-Tide Photography[/size][/u]
The Wrap-Up
Final Time – 9:56
Overall Position – 92nd
Category Position – 24th
Swim – 0:59
Bike – 5:19
Run – 3:33
Not the overall time I had targeted, but that is one tough course and my first outing on it, so next year I will be better prepared for it.
Still, a PB swim and bike and a Top 100 finish so pretty happy with that.
The run blew out a bit, but it was ‘one of those days’ for most out there it seemed, but I toughed it out to still post a respectable time so I’m pleased with that much.
Some other great positives to take from the day were nutrition experiments that worked very well. I was only fortunate enough to be using the range of Elagen products for about 4-5 weeks prior to the race and felt great even in that short timeframe, so I’m really looking forward to a full season of using their products and reaping the rewards next season. The use of Elagen Sport in my special needs bottle was definitely one of the key things that assisted me to stay so focussed on the last lap of the bike and onto the run.
Accel Gels – what can I say? I didn’t use these at all in training leading upto the event, but used them with ‘hi-octane’ effect on race day. They are far and away the best energy gel I have ever used.
Special thanks goes to my Family, Renee, Friends, Coach AP, fellow Cyco’s and Transitions members for their support and encouragement both prior to and on raceday.
Also thanks goes out to Andrew at Cyclespeed, Andy at Hi-Tide Photography for his superb photos, Dr Speed at MB Cycles, Macca and his crew at Cynergy Cycles, James at Eladon, Mitch for taking the time to sledge me on-course on his way to 2nd, most of the pro women for putting up with people cheering me and not them.…. and everyone out there who thought in the back of their mind “I hope that idiot goes okay…”
Thursday, May 1, 2008
YoYo makes an appearance in Tri & Multisport Magazine
Through the great photography of my mate Andy at Hi-Tide Photography,
I've managed to snare a guernsey in the Port Macq Ironman photo montage
in the latest issue of Triathlon and Multisport Magazine.
On the left, #734.
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