Tri-Alliance Preseason Camp 2014 – Lorne Victoria.

LORNE CAMP 2014.

Well this was my third visit to Lorne for the Tri-Alliance preseason training camp.
I warn you this is a long post. But I felt the best way to share what it is like to live like a professional athlete for 4 days was to diarise the weekend for you.

As always we arrive Friday, if you arrive on time, the first ride is a nice cruisey ride along the Great Ocean road. Unfortunately this year I was a little late and missed the roll out.
So for me it was time to check into the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club, get a good bunk and get myself ready for the first run of the weekend. I love this fist run (mostly because it is easier as the legs are fresh). A nice trail run through the forrest and along the river. The first half of the run is undulating and very scenic. It truely is one of the best places to run. As the trail ends and we find a main road we regroup and head up. And when I say we head up, I mean UP!!!! This is where technique comes in handy. Slow and steady concentrating on good technique and making sure you reach the top. And what goes up must come down. The run down from the top of the hill past the houses is a challenge. Ensuring you don’t build up too much speed and not allow your legs to absorb all the impact. As this is only day one. The night ends with dinner at the Lorne Hotel and then a team meeting, so the coaches can put each athlete into one of four groups, before an early night.

Saturday morning starts with a great breakfast to ensure our bodies are well fueled and then on the bike by 7am heading towards Apollo Bay. The weather was perfect and 20 minutes into the ride we can see the sunrise over the ocean. It is absolutely amazing. Then we hit the first of a few tough, grinding climbs. Our group split into a few smaller groups as we work our way into Apollo bay for a quick stretch and refuel break. We work together well on our return to Lorne where we enjoyed the compulsory 15 minute leg soak in the ocean. Throughout the day we have the opportunity to listen to experts on nutrition, running technique and the importance of having good core stability. The super healthy lunch is always a winner. You just can’t eat enough while on this camp,
Then it was time again for another run. This time out along the waterfront and up the very steep residential climb. Slow going but again I rely on technique to chip away at the incline.
You guessed it. Another leg soak and then the fantastic warm shower and dinner at the Lorne Hotel. Don’t forgot your 20 cent pieces to run the showers.

Sunday morning. All 5 alarms set in our dorm room go off at once. A little more sleepy then Saturday, but we all rise and get ready for the longer ride. An hour and half out towards Appolo bay and then the return to Lorne. This time we don’t stop at the surf club but continue up Deans Marsh road to Benwerrin. Now considering our legs already have 6 and a half hours in them, within 24 hours, this climb is a tough one. A slow grind ensuring you keep the legs rolling over. This is a good time to say that every peddle stroke is done in the large chain ring on the bike with the purpose to build strength in the legs and set up our base before the season commences in November. Benwerrin is 427m above sea level. Without doubt the best bit of this ride is the decent. Fast…….. Today’s ride was 4.5 hours and you guessed it, we arrive back at camp and soak the legs in the ocean again, prepare ourselves for lunch and another great nutrition session with our resident nutritionist Margs. Half the squad head for a swim following the peir to pub course and the others do some technique work in front of the surf club. Due to being unwell earlier in the week, I avoided the swimming and opted for a snooze. And I am glad I did. After everyone completed their swim and had a little downtime it was time again for our group runs. By this time I was feeling fairly tired and my back was seizing up from the hours in the saddle. So my run was very slow and a bit shorter then I had planned.

Monday morning…… Seriously…. Who set their alarm for 5:30? I still don’t know but they were not popular in our room. Dozing again and then it’s 6am and we are getting up. A bit slower than the last 2 days but none the less we get up. Breakfast to fuel our bodies and the trash talking begins. Our last ride for the weekend is a recovey group ride. An hour out towards Appolo Bay. Then the fun beggins. We are set off in groups of 2 or 3 on a Time trial back to base. With those behind us chasing and hoping to claim the winning prize, Bragging rights for another year. Well there was only about 30 seconds between the groups and everyone wanted to get back fast so the pain would be over. Within 4 minutes we are in a peloton and flying down the first hill. However the next hill pulled most of us up short and we watched the lead 4 take off, which was fair as they were sitting behind coach Sarah who was in her element of racing. It can be a lonely ride back to Lorne on your own with nothing but your legs screaming at you to stop as they have had enough and your mind wanting to shut off and sleep. But you start to hear riders behind you and start to see one or two in front. So you speed up and try to push through the pain. I started working with Dinaksha over the last 10kms and this seemed to work well for both of us. Taking it in turns to drag the other up the climbs and race each other down. And right on the last small climb to the finish we finally caught the 2 in front of us. What a rush. Now that it’s over we feel great and everyone is smiling. Except our legs of course.

The last thing for us to do is an aquathon, clean the surf club and enjoy the last big feed. Time to travel home and enjoy a good night sleep in our own bed. This weekend is certainly a challenge and not easy. But trust me when I say it is well worth attending. The training spike we have all received from this hard work will reap many rewards when the season beggins.

I am looking forward to the next camp and getting more of the winter base training under my belt.

2014 Gatorade race 3 Elwood – Australian Sprint Championships

What an exciting race this was. Not just for the results, but for the fact that the best of Australia’s Triathletes were on the same course as humble age group athletes like myself. An additional bonus on the day was that we shared the course with some truly inspirational athletes racing the 2014 World ITU Para Triathlon event.

My day commenced super early, although my race wasn’t until after 9am due to a late wave start, Xander’s Jelly Belly race was to commence at 6:50. When we arrived at Elwood and saw the rough conditions I instantly remembered how terrible race 1 was for me. Feeling unwell for most of that first race I was dreading that feeling returning today. I found myself calming immediately as I had to prove to Xander that he would be fine and to enjoy the swim in his race. I mean I couldn’t be telling him it isn’t bad and then not believing it myself now could I?

Xander hit his wave start with the lead group and that was pretty much where he stayed for his race. Over the last few weeks I have seem him push himself harder and harder at each session and his run is by far his strength. To run his 500 meter run leg hard and then hit the finish line at full sprint is such an inspiration. (I wish I had his ability to run that hard over my 5k and still sprint to the line).

After a little confusion on wave start times, and thankfully confirming this with the coaches, I made it to the swim start feeling ready to fight the waves. Today I felt a lot more comfortable than that terrible experience in race one and had a good swim. Although it was a little tough to remain on course I managed well.

My transitions went well and T2 was a fast dismount and fly through to the run. Transition is one of my favorite parts of racing and one thing a lot of athletes over look in training.

Onto the bike. Lately I have noticed that it takes me a while to warm up and get to a comfortable cadence and good speed. So the first lap felt sluggish and the tail wind heading out just didn’t feel like it was assisting. After hitting a few pot holes, I noticed a sound as though something was loose. I stopped to make sure my wheels were tight and wiggle any other parts to see what was causing the sound. Everything seemed fine so I took off back into the race. What I learnt from this was to make sure everything is tight and in tune before a race and to trust my pre race routine. As this cost me valuable time.

The second lap was a lot faster and more consistent than my first and I started to feel great on the bike. The more races I do the more I learn and realize it isn’t as much about strength, fitness and sheer ability as it is about mental toughness. You need to be switched on from the beginning and hold that concentration throughout the race.

My run has started to show signs of the past. I am not yet back to my best race pace, but I was very happy with my pace on the day. Having a head wind for the second half of the run made it a little more difficult, but interestingly I had a negative split bringing the run home to the finish line.

All in all I had a good day. Every race I learn something new and am continually inspired by those new to the sport taking on the challenging rough swims and daunting distances. It takes any excuse we seasoned athletes may have and makes them look ridiculous.

I am looking forward to Race 4 – Portarlington. My favorite race of the Gatorade series. Great scenery and, what I think, is a great distance

2014 Gatorade race 2 – Olympic Distance

Race 2 of the Victorian Gatorade series was showcased at Catani Gardens in st Kilda. A great location for a triathlon.

My preparation for this race wasn’t perfect. But then again none of the 3 races I have had this season have been well prepared. My return to running, or I should say consistent running, had only began in the previous 2 weeks before this race. My speed hasn’t returned but I have been getting through the distance without the foot problems that plagued me throughout the last 9 months.

And then there was the bike accident during our famous Hell week. The result of this accident was an inflamed right shoulder. Which apart from physio treatment, all I could do was rest and stay out of the pool.

Leading into this race, my A race for the season, I was concerned with both my ability to get through 1500 meters of swimming without my shoulder falling off, or the 10k run within an acceptable time.

The St Kilda pier surrounds the swim course which provides great shelter and a relatively flat swim. This was fantastic to allow me to get myself into a comfortable rhythm and concentrate on my technique through the swim leg. My shoulder was a little sore but soon warmed up and the pain disappeared. Half way through the swim leg I started to pass swimmers from earlier wave starts, which is always a confidence booster. Not long after this I then noticed the faster swimmers from later waves passing me. There goes that feeling of achievement and back to thinking about my technique. With 500 meters to go the swim hits a sandbar and we find ourselves running through the shallow water. This raises my heart rate and makes plunging back into the deeper water difficult. With my raised heart rate I try to swim harder and hold the rate high until the swim exit.

Transition 1 for me was good. Everything worked to plan and before I knew it I was at speed on my bike and getting into the groove.

This race had 3 laps of the bike course. Each lap I found myself getting faster than the previous one. I held an average 33k and was one of the first OD race’s I didn’t allow myself to drift off in a day dream and loose power. I was very happy with my consistency all day and held my concentration on each peddle stroke. Since this was a 3 lap circuit the fantastic support by those Tri-Alliance athletes not racing was noticed and always gave me a boost when needed. I will also note that seeing my family on the side lines also helped me keep my focus to do them proud.

My T2 for the Olympic distance is always a little slow as I get blisters from my orthotics, so I take a little extra time to put socks on. I’m sure divulging this here in my report will leave me open to no end of ribbing from my fellow TA athletes, but I am honest.

The run. Part of my race I seem to dread these days. I left Transition feeling tired and heavy after a solid bike leg. But it didn’t take long to find my rhythm and get moving. All of my Olympic distance races to date have been a one lap course but St Kilda was 2 x 5k laps, something I hadn’t done before. I thought this might make things difficult, running towards the finish line, only to have to turn back and do it again. The second lap however was just as consistent as the first and I felt like everything was coming together perfectly. As I passed the 9km marker I felt my pace quicken and realized I was on track for a small PB. Within the last 400m I then had a pleasant surprise and saw my Son Xander 150m in front of me finishing off his Jelly Belly race. With the thought of sharing this special moment of crossing the line together I gave it everything to catch him. Even though I pushed a 4:30 pace (quick for me) I couldn’t real him in, the kid is too fast for his old man.

We didn’t cross the line together but I was pleased to share the course with him. That is something I will remember for a very long time. Until he is old enough to beat me around the sprint course in a few years.

So my day went well and I took a minute off both my overall OD time and my run time in an OD. With the poor preseason I have had, this made my day/ season. This boost of confidence is exactly what I needed to get me through this season feeling motivated again.

Now back to consistent training and keeping my body healthy.