Half-fast

The countdown begins… now.

Mon, 28 May 2012 08:54:49 +1000

The countdown begins… now.

Via firstoffthebike: THE Ironwar.

Sun, 27 May 2012 20:44:00 +1000

Via firstoffthebike: THE Ironwar.

Not an ideal situation 5-and-a-bit weeks out from a marathon.

Thu, 24 May 2012 20:49:58 +1000

Not an ideal situation 5-and-a-bit weeks out from a marathon.

At 17-odd minutes, it’s long, but definitely worth a...

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:15:00 +1000

At 17-odd minutes, it’s long, but definitely worth a watch: An Inside Look at Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas 2012. And I’ve just added IM Texas to the bucket list of races I want to do… that course looks pretty awesome.

"If it wasn’t fun I wouldn’t be here. I don’t need a job, so I need a challenge in my life. I need..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:56:00 +1000

“If it wasn’t fun I wouldn’t be here. I don’t need a job, so I need a challenge in my life. I need some stuff to do. I like to train, I like to suffer a bit.”

- Lance Armstrong

Don’t you just love the smell of new running shoes?

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:53:29 +1000

Don’t you just love the smell of new running shoes?

One Hundred

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:05:42 +1000

I don’t usually log my training miles (although it’s a habit I should probably get into), but thought I would this time because it’s the first time I’ve cracked 100 run kilometres in a week.

Monday: Port Melb-St Kilda Return - 8.1km
Tuesday: Port Melb-Elwood LSC Return - 15.1km
Wednesday: Port Melb-St Kilda Marina Return - 10.1km
Thursday: Port Melb-Anderson St (x3) Return - 12.6km
Friday: Rest day!
Saturday (AM): Tan (x2) + Two Bridges - 10.3km
Saturday (PM): Port Melb-St Kilda Marina Return - 10.1km
Sunday (AM): Long Run, Part 1 - 25.1km
Sunday (PM): Long Run, Part 2 - 10.1km
Weekly Total: 101.5km

After having a couple of slack(ish) weeks (weddings, man!), and with eight weeks to go before Gold Coast, putting a few miles in the bank was probably a good thing, but I’m going to have to start working some time in the pool and on the bike back into the mix, so I don’t know how many more 100km weeks there are going to be.

I'm a Rocket Scientist! (Well, kind of, anyway...)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:46:00 +1000

I’ve been lucky enough to be selected to be a part of the Team Rocket-XOSIZE Ambassador Program for the 2012/2013 season. If you haven’t heard about it yet, the program is an initiative by Scott from XOSIZE to extend some of the benefits of sponsorship to everyday athletes. Like any sponsored athlete, the ambassadors will be expected to help spread the word about Rocket Science Sports and XOSIZE. In return, we get a whole heap of really good stuff, really cheap. I’ve had an XOSIZE running shirt since back in December of 2010 (which Scott gave me at IMWA) and it’s been one of my favourites, so I’m really looking forward to trying out some more gear.

(If you’re a trithlete and you haven’t submitted an application yet, you need to lift your game and get one in ASAP!)

Last year’s Ironman World Championships was probably one...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:15:25 +1000

Last year’s Ironman World Championships was probably one of the best of all time; Crowie setting a new course record and Chrissie coming back from a pretty nasty spill off the bike a couple of weeks before the race to win her fourth consecutive title (and seriously, watching her go up the road on the bike is insane… she blows past the other pro women like they’re standing still).

My shoe and my heel: a cautionary tale for those considering...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:49:00 +1000

My shoe and my heel: a cautionary tale for those considering running in not-quite-broken-in running shoes. Ouch.

Race Results: Run for the Kids

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:12:00 +1000

I haven’t done a flat run for a while, so was quite looking forward to this one. The Run for the Kids course is one of the best too, going through the Domain Tunnel and over the Bolte Bridge (although the tunnel did mess with my Garmin a bit). All up, I’m not entirely happy with the run; I was hoping to average a bit faster than 4:26/km and I got a bit of a stitch around the 12km mark (this has been happening a bit recently and I’m not sure why, but is starting to piss me off).

Overall time (14.3km): 01:03:55 (Official Results)

I guess I’ve got a bit of work to do before the marathon, huh?

I’m in, baby!

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:06:00 +1100

I’m in, baby!

Race Results: Gatorade Race 6 - Portarlington

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:59:00 +1100

My last race for the 2011-2012 season and one of my favourite courses. Despite not having had the season that I wanted, I was feeling pretty good leading into this race; I’d managed to get a pretty solid block of training in and wasn’t carrying any injuries or niggles.

Despite all that, I came out of the water a bit slower than last time I raced here (back in 2010, the last time there was a swim, anyway… although I think the course might have been a bit longer than the stated 800m). Other than that, I clocked up pretty much the same times for the bike and run, so finished a little slower than last time. Still, it was a fun day out and Portarlington is still one of my favourite races.

Swim (800m): 00:15:43
T1: 00:02:19
Bike (26km): 00:47:33
T2: 00:00:56
Run (8km): 00:36:18
Overall time: 01:42:49

Now that I’m done for the season, triathlon-wise, I’ll be starting to build up the run kilometres and looking towards my next “A race”, the Gold Coast Marathon… starting with the Run for the Kids in a couple of weeks.

Race Results: Gatorade Race 5 - Elwood

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:21:00 +1100

For the first time in a while I went into a race with a decent training block under my belt, and was feeling ready for a decent race. Mother Nature seemed to be in a good mood as well, with near-perfect conditions for a triathlon.

Swim (500m): 00:10:32
T1: 00:01:18
Bike (20km): 00:32:48
T2: 00:01:10
Run (5km): 00:22:41
Overall time: 01:08:32

After a couple of disappointing rides recently, I tried to push a bit harder on the bike today, which came off pretty well… I did pay for it a bit on the run, but still ended up with a PB for the distance (only by 20-odd seconds - hey, I’ll take it where I can get it).

And I still managed to look cool at the finish line.

If you’re a triathlete and haven’t seen this, you...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:59:02 +1100

If you’re a triathlete and haven’t seen this, you need to lift your game. Funny as hell.

Race Results: Gatorade Race 4 - Sandringham

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:56:00 +1100

This was a bit of a last minute decision: I hadn’t really thought of racing an OD race until Victor Harbor in March, but after some peer pressure was applied at training, I folded and entered Sandringham.

Swim (1,500m): 00:34:55
T1: 00:02:28
Bike (40km): 01:11:45
T2: 00:01:36
Run (10km): 00:48:09
Overall time: 02:38:53

Apart from the crazy wind on the bike, I kind of enjoyed the race, and while it wasn’t a PB, it was still quite a lot of fun… and that’s why I do it.

Race Results: Great Australia Day Swim

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:34:00 +1100

My third time competing in this swim, and my second attempt at it on very limited training. Still, I went around faster than I had in my previous two goes, so can’t be too unhappy about that.

Overall time: 00:25:49

Race Results: Xosize Race 3 - Elwood

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:12:00 +1100

This was the second race in as many weekends, but one that I was quite looking forward to since it was also my first enduro format tri — it’s basically the same distance as a normal sprint race, but done in halves, so you do two swims, two bikes, two runs… and five transitions. Pretty good fun.

Swim 1 (250m): 00:05:25
T1: 00:01:04
Bike 1 (10km): 00:17:18
T2: 00:01:29
Run 1 (2.5km): 00:10:48
T3: 00:00:52
Swim 2 (250m): 00:06:57
T4: 00:00:51
Bike 2 (10km): 00:17:56
T5: 00:01:35
Run 2 (2.5km): 00:10:49
Overall time: 01:15:03

All up, I was pretty happy with the way things turned out (and I’m pretty sure that my 19th place in my age group today is my first ever top-20 finish). While not my fastest race ever, I really enjoyed the change from a straight-up, regular triathlon. The big thing that sticks out from this race (similarly to my last couple of races, to be honest) is that I really need to do some more work on the bike.

Race Results: Gatorade Race 3 - Brighton

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:08:00 +1100

My second race for the season, and first triathlon in quite a while. I’ve actually been training pretty consistently for the last couple of months, so wasn’t too worried about my fitness level going into this event, but still wasn’t really expecting too much.

You can imagine my surprise when I checked my times this morning and found that I’d done a four-and-a-bit minute PB. I found this a bit weird because while I felt OK in the swim, I felt really heavy on the bike… I just wasn’t firing (but it turns out to be not such a bad ride when compared to previous races anyway). And despite feeling a bit sluggish off the bike, the run came together pretty nicely.

Swim (500m): 00:10:00
T1: 00:01:42
Bike (20km): 00:34:19
T2: 00:00:46
Run (5km): 00:22:05
Overall time: 01:08:54

I still need to do a bit more work on the swim (nothing new there!) and try to figure out what went on with the ride, but it was good to get back into race mode again, and I’ve now got a bit more of a baseline to work from with the build to Victor Harbor in a couple of month’s time.

Race Results: Gatorade Race 2 - Elwood

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:52:00 +1100

My first race for the season and first in quite a while. Due to the bad weather we’ve been having lately, the swim leg was cancelled and replaced by a 1.4km run, turning the event into a duathlon. I’ve only really been building into a proper training load for a few weeks prior to this race, so was a bit unsure I’d be race-ready.

Run (1.4km): 00:05:24
T1: 00:01:06
Bike (20km): 00:39:15
T2: 00:01:14
Run (5km): 00:22:57
Overall time: 01:09:57

All up, I wouldn’t say I was pleased with the race (especially that bike time) and can see that there’s a lot of room to improve, but the signs are good that I’m starting to get back to acceptable level of fitness. My next race isn’t until mid-January, so as long as I keep the training going (and don’t eat too much over Christmas!), I think things will be looking OK in the new year.