Race report - National standard distance champs, Wellington, 12 March 2011

I had originally wanted to go well in this race, and, hopefully, head to Worlds. However, Worlds is in Beijing, on the Olympic course, and I can't imagine China will have shut down factories for a couple of months to clear the air. So, come race day, I didn't particular care about the end result (but obviously wanted to do well).

We drove down on Thursday night, stayed in Palmy, then had a leisurely drive down to Wellington on Friday. There was some concern the Japanese Earthquake might cause the race to be cancelled, but when we got down there at 5:45, it appeared to be all on.

The swim

The swim course was a rectangle in Chaffers Marina, which is a part of the Harbour you don't normally get to swim in. It was a deep water start. I ran into a mate from Wellington, who usually swims a bit faster than me, and I decided to hang with him and try to get a draft.

The first leg I went well, found some good feet, and got a draft. However, I wasn't working all that hard, and should have worked harder to find faster feet. Unfortunately, from there on, the people I'd been drafting got increasingly slower. I chose to draft off them, rather than pass an go a little faster, to save energy, but again, if I'd found better feet in the first instance, I think I could have gone a couple of minutes faster.

The run to transition was quite long, but I was reasonably quick. Swim plus T1 was 28:16 - not too bad, given what I previously would have done, but I do need to get faster.

The bike

I was looking forward to this (if only because I got to bust out my recently purchased Zipp 404, which I got stupidly cheap on Trademe). It's an almost entirely flat out and back. I turned out we had a southerly, which was great - no massive tailwinds, but no stupid headwinds either.

I worked hard to pass people on the way out, and hold a good power. At around 15km I found a friend, and I paced off him (legally) until about half way, when another dude passed us (and my friend fell over - yes, fell over - at the turnaround.

I paced off my new friend for almost the rest of the bike. This did save me about 10 to 15 watts, so was worth it. At times I felt like I should have worked harder, but my aim for the race was to have a good run, so I held back a bit.

The run into T2 was quite long, but I had a quick change over, and headed off. Bike plus T2 was 1:09:46 - not too bad, could have gone a bit faster, but certainly didn't smash myself. Average watts 204, norm power 210 - again, should really be higher, but oh well.

The run

My main aim for the race was to run sub-40. I've been running well recently. I did 18:04 in my most recent 5k, on a difficult course, and my hard bricks have been going well. I've been doing some hill repeats, and I tend to respond well to interval training.

The run is two dead flat out and back loops. I took off very quickly (too quickly- about 3:35 mins/km), so slowed down a bit, and tried to keep my average pace a bit below 4:00 mins/km. About 1.5 k in, I got a nasty stitch in my upper right chest. This decided to come and go mostly come) for the rest of the race.

I got to the turnaround, and about a k back, had to stop, and dry retch for about a minute (probably a bit under). I felt a bit better, and pressed on, noticing I was still on track for sub-40 (despite feeling like arse).

I got to the turnaround, and tried to keep pushing. I had a couple of people to catch, and I caught one just after the final turn before home. I pushed hard for the last 2.5 k's to make sure I had a good time.

The run to the finishing chute was long, but I was going to be comfortably sub-40, so strolled the last 50 or so metres.

Final time was 39:13. I was stoked to go sub-40 (I haven't done that ever, because I haven't run a stand alone 10k for quite some time), particularly given I felt terrible, and stopped for about a minute. Equally, I was a bit annoyed I didn't have the chance to go as fast as I could have - but I can't really complain.

Overall

Total time 2:17:15.

I finished 70th overall, out of about 172 who finished (plenty didn't), and 18th in my age group (I would have been top 10 in almost every other age group, just not mine...).

Swim was 125th fastest, bike 72nd and run 49th =. So a pretty good reflection of my strengths.

I have the club organised sprint race in Huntly next weekend, then Xterra, which I'm really looking forward to.

Virtual fundraising run for Christchurch

A few of us have set up a virtual fundraising run for Christchurch.

The website is here: http://run4chch.wordpress.com/
Fundraise Online page herehttp://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/run4chch/

New Plymouth Half Ironman 2011 - race report

What a fantastic race. This was the inaugural event, and it was fantastic. The course is great, and it's really well located.

I've been training fairly well, but the volume has been down a little but since Tauranga, but the swimming's been improving, as has my running, and I was feeling fit.

I really wasn't in the mood for a Half Ironman on race morning, but I got everything ready (after leaving the drink bottles at my bro and sis-in-laws' place), got wetsuited up, and had a bit of a warm-up swim.

The swim

The swim was two (apparently) 950 metre, triangular, laps. It's in a harbour without any funky tides, but there was a little bit of chop, and not a massive field.

I tried to find feet early, but perhaps got a little bit wide (given the size of the field), so pushed a bit to find someone to hang onto. About 250 or so metres in (the first buoy) I found some feet, and comfortably hung on for the rest of the lap (I was not having to work all that hard - I'd lost the chance of getting onto fastish feet, so the aim became energy preservation, rather than a massively quick time).

At the end of the first lap we had a quick beach run. It turns out I'm a lot quicker than anyone else who swims at my speed, and I gained about 20 metres on the five or so people who'd been around me. This actually wasn't great, because I didn't want to swim on my own. So I swam for a bit, eventually someone caught me, and I hung on for another 300 metres or so. After the final turn, the guy I was following started going a slightly funny way, and I eventually lost him, and the last stretch was a mixture of on my own/finding feet.

I was more than comfortable throughoutt the swim, and came out in a very pleasing 35 or so (35.49 to the timing mat), which is pretty good, and even if it's 11 metres shorter than Tauranga (which it may have been), it's about the same time but with amuchh smaller field to draft off.

The bike

There was a long run to T1, where we were given a bag with my helmet, etc. I got some help taking my wetsuit off, put it in the bag, and I quickly got my bike and headed off.

The bike is a fairly hilly to rolling course. No big climbs, but very little flat, so it's hard to get into a rhythm. There was a fair bit of climbing to start with, but I made sure I contained myself, and didn't push too hard (oddly, big guys were smashing themselves to pass me on hills, but I was going quicker on the downhills...)

I was feeling pretty good on the way out, and drinking a lot more than usual (the sea in NP seems quite salty, and I think I swallowed a bit during the swim), and held a fairly comfortable pace. I knew we were supposed to have a tail wind out, but I swore we had a very sight headwind - boy was I in for a shock. Peter Hughes was a a technical official, so it was nice to see a familiar (from the blog world at least), and get a bit of on course support.

I got to the turnaround in 1:20, then realised how wrong I'd be - there was a nasty, constant, headwind. Not only did I have a lot of false flats (the climbing version) on the way back, but I had to do it into a headwind. My average watts on the way out were 185, norm watts of 201 (so about right), AHR 166. I was passed by quite a few people on the way out. With one exception (a former elite cyclist who can't swim to save himself), who blitzed the bike course, I would see them again later.

The way back was hard, really hard. I caught a few people, and tried to keep a consistent effort, but it was tough, and I was struggling to hold a good wattage. But I kept slogging along, not doing anything too silly. There were people around me, but not really anyone to pace off, so this was a long, slow, effort home. It took me 1:40 on the way home (I was just under 3 hours, which was nice!). Average watts home (when it should have been easier to hold a higher wattage, because of the wind) were 180, norm power of 191 - so really not good enough - AHR 162.

Overall time was 2:59:49, average watts 182, norm 196 (lower than Karapiro or Rotorua 2009), AHR 164. Almost exactly 30 mins slower than Tauranga. But given the fastest time (Mark Bowstead) was 2:25, it was clearly not a fast course.

The run

So he bike wasn't quite as quick as I'd have liked, and I was feeling a bit zonked after the ride home. But I'd saved a bit off energy, and the legs felt good as soon as I hit the run. There's a bit of a climb, then it's fairly rolling after that (never too hard, but there's a couple of nasty little climbs). The race started at 7:30, so it was already really hot, and there wasn't an aid station until about 3.5 km (half way into the first of three laps). There were two on course (so six all up), it's just that you couldn't get to the first one early to start with.

The run was really hot, and I was holding a comfortable, if not super quick, pace. I was caught a couple of k's in by friend number one, and we ran toghether for about a lap and a half. I held his pace comfortably, but my stomach was feeling a bit gross (and I threw up in my mouth a few times). I'd already passed a few of the people who raced past me on the bike.

About a lap and a half in, a dude from Germany caught us. He was here to to Challenge Wanaka, but got ill, so had to pull out, so came and did NP instead. He was holding a faster pace, and I quite comfortably kept up (while friend number one dropped off). He didn't look super old, but after the race I discovered he was about 45, and some post race stalking led me to discover than he's done a 9:30ish Ironman, and been to Kona. I kept up with him for the rest of the race (and we continued to pass people) - we both took time at aid stations to throw as much water as we could over ourselves (and took time as the local kids with the hose/bucket/water pistols), enjoyed the chat, and we finished at the same time.

Run time was 1:38:31, actual pace 4:47 mins/km, norm 4:44, AHR 168, max 179.

Overall

Final time 5:17, 19th male, 21st overall (out of about 100). 5th in my age group, and the 13th fastest run overall (men and women) - which showed the value of not smashing myself on the bike.

I loved this race. It's a great, scenic, course, well organised, and had a great vibe. It;s really what Karapiro should be like, except it's far from it. I'd definitely be keen to come back next year.

I'm happy with the race. Faster swim than Tauranga (should have gone faster even), albeit on a possibly shorter curse, slower bike in tough conditions (should have been a bit quicker) and the same run on a rolling course after a much harder bike.

Next I have nationals in Wellington on 12 March, then Xterra on 9 April - I'm looking forward to both, particularly Xterra (given I don't want to go to Beijing, nats is less important, apart from pride – because I know a lot of people racing, and will have a lot of friends there to support me).

Sweet competition

I'm positing this, because it increases my chances to win. And also because it's a rad blog (about things I'm partial to).

Mike - if you enter and win, I get the watch. Agreed?

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveawayjanuary.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DcRainmaker+(DC+Rainmaker)

Tauranga Half Ironman 2011 – mission accomplished

Yep, I did it. I went sub-5 hours. 4:47:33, in fact, so fairly comfortably under. I'm really happy with the result, but have already started working out where I could (or should) have gained a bit more time...

I won't go into the pre-race at all – Kate has summed it up very well here.

Race morning

I woke up just prior to the alarm, at 3:30 am, and notwithstanding the sweaty night's sleep (thanks to a very hot cabin), I felt pretty good. I had oats, blueberries and yoghurt for breakfast (which is, give or take, what I have almost every day), and I think that worked better for me than porridge. I had pretty much packed the car the night before, and we headed off just after 4:30.

We arrived at transition just on five (when it opened), and it was nice to have a bit of time up my sleeves. I had an issue pumping my rear tyre – my new floor pump head doesn't fit in the gap in the disc covers, so I had to borrow someone else's pump.

Unlike Kate, I wasn't stressed at all. In fact, I was perhaps a little too relaxed. I think that was partly because I had time up my sleeve, and I knew I'd worked hard over the last few months.

I did muck around a bit, and had to wait in line for a while at the bathroom, but eventually got wetsuited up, and headed to the water. There were people everywhere, but I managed to get a bit of warmup, somehow managed to find Kate for a pre-race kiss, then I found my position, just to the left of the wide buoy.

The swim

I have been happy with my swim recently. I had a couple of lessons with Jeremy Cronin at the endless pool at the Waikato Uni rec centre in December, and they've made a massive difference. I had always thought I swam well, that I had good body position, a good stroke, etc, and couldn't understand why people with much worse looking strokes swam much faster than me. Turns out I wasn't wrong – just that my swim timing was terrible – I was swimming catch up, and has massive dead spots in my stroke. So the last few weeks have been dedicated to stopping that, and making sure I'm always propelling myself forward. It was tiring – because I wasn't having rests – but it made an immediate impact on my swim speed. So I was interested to know how that would translate into the race.

I went hard to the first buoy, and basically got sucked along. I couldn't actually go around the buoy, because there were too many people cutting across in front of me, and I wasn't going to wait for them to go around properly. I kept working hard, and finished the first (700m) lap in what seemed like no time at all. At that stage, there were masses of people up and walking, all the way to the shore. I tried to swim, but there were too many people in my way, and, frankly, walking was quicker. Once around the buoy, I was able to swim clearly back to shore, then start the second lap.

That was when it started unraveling, somewhat. I was feeling comfortable, but I kept on losing people. When I swam next to people, I was keeping up with them or even going faster. When I decided to try and draft, I all of a sudden lost them, and couldn't keep up. I often found myself with clear water in front, and no feet to get onto. Also, I nearly had my timing chip pulled off, so had to stop and adjust that, and twice had my goggles punched (not hit, but punched; seriously, who even swims like that??) off my face – so had to stop and fix that – again slowing me down. But I kept working, and once at the final buoy (and the walkers) I dolphin dived my way back to shore (quicker than either swimming or walking), and came out in 37:00 exactly. A swim PB, so something to be happy about, but I actually think I should have gone faster, and I will keep chipping away at it.

The bike

I had a reasonably quick T1, and I was off. I hadn't practiced getting onto the bike with the shoes already attached, which was silly, as I had a couple of problems, but once on, I was away. Except I wasn't. I had (for the umpteenth time, I might add) forgotten to zero the torque on my Powertap, which is important, because otherwise the power data (which I use to pace myself in races) is meaningless. So I stopped pedaling, took all my weight off the pedals, zeroed the torque (which didn't need it) and then I was off.

The plan was to ride at between 200 and 210 watts. This is a flat course, and my normalized power for last year's Rotorua and this year's Karapiro Half's was about that, so it seemed about right. I was holding that, feeling comfortable, and passing a lot of people. Then a few people passed me, and I noticed that I could (legally) follow them, and it saved me about 15 watts. And that is how I rode for the rest of the ride. If I felt someone (or a pace line) was going too slow, I went to pass, holding about 210 watts. If that meant I passed them, I did. If I couldn't, then there was no point, and might as well save my legs for the run. It worked well, I had some regular company (off and on – most people really can't hold a consistent output, and were usually going faster or slower than me). There was one guy who was going well, and I tried to keep up with him, but when we got onto Parton Road, he ended up between two cars, and I lost him, which is unfortunate, because when pacing off him I was holding about 200, which meant I was going fairly quickly.

A bit before half way, I was passed by a fellow called Chad, who (for the most part) seemed to be going well, and I managed to pace off him for almost the rest of the ride. I had some regular off and on company, but eventually lost all those people.

We had a tailwind heading out, a headwind coming back, then, oddly, a headwind heading out, and a tailwind back – almost perfect really. It was never that strong – I held about 33-34km/hr into a headwind, and 39/40km/hr with a tailwind. Also, I was using Vittoria Open Evo Corsa CX's and latex tubes for the first time in a race – and they were noticeably faster and smoother.

I knew I was on target for sub-2:30, so pushed towards the end to make sure that happened – which it did, 2:29:23. I was happy, and knew that I was going to have to run pretty poorly to take longer than 5hrs.

My average watts were 178, normalized power of 184, which is much lower than any other race – but that was mostly due to legal pacing (I wasn't drafting), which, frankly, is just smart racing (and shows what a useful tool a power meter can be for racing). It's this that makes me keen to get out of the water faster. I could have gone harder without hurting myself too much. In the circumstances, it wouldn't have led to a faster race, but if I were out of the water quicker, and riding with faster people, then pacing off them, and holding a higher power, would have resulted in a faster time. Something to work on.

AHR was 161, with a max of 179, so I certainly held something back for the run.

The Run:

I had a quick T2 (which wasn't aided by my neighbour deciding to place his bike in my spot, not his), and I was off. I was keeping a high turnover, and had to slow myself down (I was going at 4:05 mins/km, give or take, and the plan was to head out at 4:15 mins/km).

There were people everywhere, and plenty of people cheering for me(some who knew me, some who simply read my name on the race number, and plenty who just liked my orange shoes), which was pretty rad (and quite different from either Rotorua or Karapiro. I was going well, but Marine Parade was already very, very hot, and I knew I had to take in a lot of fluids/keep myself cool. I was averaging about 4:15 mins/km at the turnaround at Tay Street, and tried to hold that until the mount, but my legs were getting quite sore, and I slowed down to about 4:22 mins/km at the base track. I didn't kill myself on the base track, and once off, was averaging about 4:30 mins/km, which is slower than I'd have liked, but not too bad.

After the track, I tried to pick up the pace, and I just couldn't go as quickly as I wanted. I had to focus on keeping my cadence up, as this is how I run best, and it naturally keeps my pace high, but I was getting very hot (even though I was tipping water on myself all race), and while still running sub 5 mins/km, just couldn't get it closer to 4 mins/km. I was still passing a lot of people (in fact, only one non-team runner passed me all race), and near the Tay Street turnaround, I saw Gene, my old coach (who not so long ago would have handed my ass to me on a plate, but isn't quite in top shape), and tried to catch him. I was nearly at him at the base track, but he pulled away, and I just pushed myself to get around in a good time.

Once off the track, I tried to push to the finish, which was only moderately successful. When I saw the race clock, it was at 4:48 something, so I kicked on to try and get under 4:50, which I did, getting home with the clock at 4:49:33 (it turns out I was a couple of mins quicker, because that was the pro time), a pretty good effort.

I finished the run in 1:38:09, AHR 166, max 173. Average pace was 4:43, norm pace 4:41 (so a pretty even effort). Again, not as quick as I would have liked, particularly given I was able to save some energy on the bike. My hip is still not 100%, but it never really hurt too badly.

Overall:

I finished 18th out of 52 people in my age group. Interestingly, none of the 17 people ahead of me swam slower than 32 minutes, and you have to go to 40th to find anyone who swam slower than me. I had the 313th fastest swim time, 110th equal T1, 177th fastest bike, 62nd equal T2 (actually annoying, as I would have been a lot quicker but for my friend and his bike getting in my way) and the 107th fastest run.

I enjoyed the race, and I'm really happy with the time, and my approach to the race. I enjoyed the on course support, and it was choice to see my sister and brother-in-law out there, and Mike, who took a lot of rad photos (which are here).

Things to work on:

As usual, the swim – here it made the most noticeable difference, because being with stronger cyclists would, almost certainly, have resulted in a faster time;
I think I had my nutrition dialed in pretty well on the bike, but again probably didn't drink quite enough; and
Just need to keep running. It should be my strongest leg, so I just need to keep working on it, and getting back in the groove.

Next up in the New Plymouth Half Ironman. The course looks great – tougher than Tauranga, but not as hard as either Rotorua or Karapiro. I have an easy week this week, then a month until NP. It's not an A-race – my major races are Nationals, a month after that, and Xterra, a month after that. Hopefully I'll go well at NP, then be flying come Nats and Xterra.

Tinman 2010

Last year, after a disappointing race at the Contact event in Rotorua, Tinman gave me a lot of confidence.

This year I've been training hard, had a couple of hard races, and have been a bit tired recently. So we had a relatively easy week, and I was keen to see how I'd go this year.

We decided to stay the night at the Mount (having gone to some afternoon drinks at a mate's in Rotorua). We found the best Mexican ever for dinner. Food = awesome. Chillies = not a great feeling tummy the next day. Lesson learnt (if it wasn't already obvious)

The swim

Last year at contact, I took 31 minutes, which was very, very poor. At Tinman, two weeks later, I somehow did 26:30 including T1, which was just a bit silly.

This year, I did 29:16 for the swim, and 1:56 for T1 (which is slow, but oh well). The swim was definitely slower all round. Last year Kieran Doe did 16:12 including T1. This year he took 18:22, plus 55 seconds for T1 (he was the fastest both years). So clearly it took longer.

I also didn't do swim as tactically well as I should have. I did try to draft, and I was feeling much better than at Contact (and my arms never got sore), but I could have gone faster, and should have pushed harder at the start, and held on for the rest. Lesson learnt.

The bike

Last year I took 1:10:50, averaged 196 watts (normalized power of 202), average HR 171. This year, I knew I could hold a slighter higher output, and was feeling pretty good. I took 1:07:40, averaged 202 watts (normalized power 209 watts), average HR 171 (so higher power for same HR).

This year I discovered the pain in the a** that is the bunches (didn't really have a problem with it last year). I was riding a fairly consistent output (thank you, power meter). People around me were not. They seemed intent on chasing me, passing me, then slowing down (to a speed slower than I was going). I was particularly pleased when a bunch passed me, two people tucked right in in front of me, two behind me, and a couple to the side, boxing me in (which resulted in a drafting warning). This also made my average watts lower, because I ended up drafting (unintentionally) intermittently .What was interesting was the different legal drafting made - up to 20 watts some times - so good to remember.

Then again, I know the Half will be like this, so lesson learnt.

Addendum - just checked, and despite having some dude get in my way, and not being able to get one of my shoes on properly, I had the 16th = fastest T2 (out of the dudes - 4 women were faster), which is choice.

The run

Last year I took 43:54 (for the 10.5 or so k run). That included the run out of transition. This year I took 44:19 (plus some additional time for the run out of transition - maybe 40 - 50 seconds). So slower, but I was not feeling quite as good, and my hip was hurting a bit.

This year I took just over 20 minutes for the first 5k (norm pace of 4:01 mins/k - compared to last year's 4:02). I kept trying to push, but was slowing a bit, and then got to the mount track. Once again, it was hard, but I held an okish pace all the way around (but didn't push on the down quite enough). I didn't have quite the same kick at the end as last year, so was about a minute slower all up (second 5k+ [it's a bit long] took 24 or so minutes (4:24 mins/k), with a norm pace of 4:20 mins/k - compared to an actual 4:18 mins/k and norm pace of 4:03 for the rest of the run). I had an average HR of 176.

So not as good as last year, but my hip wasn't feeling awesome, and I haven't been able to run anywhere near as much as I had at this point last year.

Overall

So, I was about 2:30 slower this year than last. But that's almost totally because of the swim. I rode better, and didn't run too badly.

I was a bit disappointed after the race, because I hadn't felt like I could push as hard as I wanted. But on reflection, I didn't do too badly.

What's pleasing is that I felt pretty good afterwards, and I feel really good now. I'm not sore (well yet, anyway), and keen to crack back into it.

Blue Lake (Contact Tri-Series) Race Report

Last year I went into this race having been ill a couple of weeks prior (which stopped me from doing the bike in the Karapiro Half). I hadn't really recovered from that, and I had a disappointing race.

This year I had done the Half, and had been training quite consistently, so I hoped I'll do alright. But my hip injury started flaring up again (mildly) again, and for the preceding week, Id been feeling really tired. On Friday I had a scheduled day off, and I was not feeling great, and felt like I was coming down with something. So I started pumping myself with vitamins, etc, and took Saturday off too. Come Sunday, I was feeling ok - not 100%, and still a bit tired, but not so bad that racing was a bad idea.

The weather this year was amazing. The water warm, little wind, and barely a cloud in the sky. So whatever happened, it was a great day for it.

The swim

I struggled at Karapiro. A lot. But I have seen improvements in the last couple of weeks, and had a couple of hard sessions at squad (I may have overdone it slightly). Last year I was abysmal, and took 34 minutes (including T1), so it could only get better.

I started off wide, and had a good, hard, first 200m. I lost the feet in front of me, then unfortunately had clear water, so swam to the first buoy by myself. I started feeling decidedly average, and worried about whether I was over the lurgy. I saw a slow fat dude to my left, so decided to follow him. And follow him I did. I was right on his feet for over 1km, and apart from about 2 - 3 minutes when I lost him, and worked hard to get back, I got sucked along. He wasn't fast, and it was criminally easy, but I figured that if I wasn't going to be fast anyway, I might as well put no effort in.

Having got out of the water, and run up to transition, I checked the Garmin, and it said I'd been 30 (including the run). I had a very slow T1 (just not feeling like hurrying), but I officially took 31:47 including the run up to T1, until the point I excited transition on the bike - so I would have been sub-30, which ain't flash, but not too bad either, in the circumstances.

I'm also a bit surprised, because my Blue Seventy is being repaired (one of the seems came undone), so I had to swim in the Xterra. I didn't realise before now, but it take in a lot more water than the Blue Seventy - which certainly feels like it slows me down!

The bike

The course this year had changed. It has two instead of five laps, and heads out towards Lake Tarawera. It's not all that much easier than last year, so was still tough work!

By dint of my slow swim, I had no friends on the bike (no change there). I felt pretty good, and was able to hold a good average pace for the bike. Before the 1/3ish way through turn-around I saw a guy from Wellington we know (and, swimming aside, I should be faster than), so I kept pushing hard to try and catch him. I continued passing people, never got passed, and although I didn't catch my targets, I wasn't far off.

I averaged 201 watts, with a normalized power of 224 watts - not too bad for 1:24:46 of riding (I have cut pushing the bike, etc from that time). AHR 170, max HR 187.

I was strong on the hills, but couldn't push as hard as I would have liked on the downhills/false flats - something to work on I suspect!

The run

Felt really average to start he run, and was worried about whether I had the energy. I started off at an ok pace, but it quickly slowed from there, and I was running pretty pathetically.

I got passed by a couple of guys starting their second laps, but when I got passed by a chick on her first, I decided to buck up, and started following her. After a few uphills, I got my groove back, realised she was slowing me down, and I pulled away. I caught quite a few people from then on, and was not passed again. I didn't push the second lap hard, just tried to keep an ok pace. I knew I was down on energy, so didn't want to do anything silly.

I took 54:12 - about the same as last year, when I wasn't very pleased. This year I was happy to be able to pick up the pace when needed, but otherwise just didn't have the energy.

Overall pace was 4:51 mins/km, normalized pace of 4:34. AHR 169, max HR 175 - so certainly not as high as I should be able to hold for the run, and indicative, I think, of general fatigue.

Overall

Not too bad. A tactically (if not technically) good swim, an ok bike, and a slow, but strangely satisfying run.

I was clearly lacking energy, and unlike last year, have a whole heap more training/fatigue in my legs. I was really tired after the race, and today decided to take swimming off, to get over whatever I'm suffering from, and generally freshen up a bit.

Until next week, when I see if I can do better than last year at Tinman =)

My new shoes

Saucony ProGrid Kinvara. Awesome.

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Here is a selection of our reader comments:

They never obey the rules

Drivers on New Zealand roads are just arrogant. They drive around wearing jeans and boat shoes, and they don't seem to think that the road rules apply to them.

The other day, I was waiting at a round-about for someone, who turned left without indicating. Today I was driving past a school bus at 20km/hr, and was passed by another car. I regularly see drivers exceeding 50km/hr/100km/hr respectively, and sometimes see people running red lights.

Unless and until drivers are prepared to obey the road rules, they should just not be on the roads, and anyone who is killed while driving brings it on themselves.

In fact, if anyone dies on our roads, it's a direct consequence of the person in Hamilton who failed to indicate at a round-about.

Juan, Whitby

The roads are just too dangerous

Seriously, our roads are just too dangerous for cars to be on them. They are narrow, poorly built, and simply not safe for cars to drive on.

Cars should be prohibited from driving on anything other than highways/motorways.

If people want to get on our roads and drive, knowing what the risks are, then they simply bring accidents on themselves.

Jimmy, Ashburton

Poser recreational drivers

Every weekend I see recreational drivers heading around Tamaki Drive to stand outside Movenpick for 30 minutes to get an ice cream. These people aren't heading to or from work, they are just driving for fun, in their recreational vehicles. They sometimes drive at 30km/hr, while enjoying the scenery, and they won't pull over, and let me pass them. Disgusting, arrogant, people.

They should be banned from the roads, so honest, hard working people like me can get into work on the weekends without any impediments.

John (partner, Bell Gully), Mission Bay

They are just too damn inconsiderate

The the other day I was driving to the coast and got stuck behind a 4WD towing a trailer, which was heading up the hill at 50km/hr in a 100km/hr zone. It took up the whole road, and the driver wouldn't pull over to the left, nor would he/she indicate to tell me when to pass.

I felt like driving up beside him/her, and forcing them over to the left. Just so arrogant.

Frankly, drivers bring it on themselves, and until they start driving more considerately, they don't deserve our sympathy if they get hurt.

Bruce, Hamilton

That was really f*cking hard (Karapiro Half report)

I apologise in advance, but this will be an expletive laden post (having now written it, there is only one expletive. I can add more if you are disappointed by this).

That was the toughest race I have done. I finished in about 5:35, and apart from the first 100m on the swim, I never once felt good.

Was a bit strange spending the night in my own bed, and eating breakfast at home. We got up in good time, but I was feeling a bit tired. Had breakfast, and headed down.

Swim

About 41 minutes (about 43:30 if you include run up to T1 and T1).

The water was lovely - calm, not too cold. The course was, after a buoy 100m out, in theory dead straight. That actually made it hard to navigate (or hard for others to navigate...).

Kate followed me until just after the buoy, then I did my best to draft off her, until she got a bit of a gap at about 1km, and I never caught up. I ended up doing about the second half on my own, and while my time wasn't stupidly embarrassing, I had to work really hard, which I think I paid the price for later...

One of my problems (fitness aside), was that I tend to navigate quite well - and struggle to follow people when they aren't... Something to work on.

Bike

About 3:07:11 (plus a bit more for T2). That is a really tough course. Really, f*cking, tough.

I tried to get into a rhythm early, but I just never felt good. I was aiming to hold 200 watts on the flat, and managed that (without seeming like I was working too hard) for the first half (apart from the hills). But I never felt great, and certainly wasn't flying.

At about 55km, I started feeling horrible. I had no power, couldn't get anywhere near 200 watts on the flat, and barely got above 200 on the hills. I did push for the last, flat, 10km (and was averaging a bit over 200), but I knew I was shot.

I averaged 189 watts, with a normalised power of 205. Last year, at Rotorua, I averaged 193 watts, with a normalised power of 207 (and was about 15 or so minutes faster - so there is scientific proof that Karapiro is harder!). My average HR was 163. This was disappointing, as on a training ride the preceding Saturday, I did the course (minus 10, flat, km), and I averaged 175watts, with a normalised power of 197 watts, and an average HR of 153. So my race performance was well below what I should have been capable of.

I think the bike difficulties were due to a few things:

• Generally not feeling awesome, which will obviously happen some times;
• How hard I had to work in the swim; and
• Nutrition - I had two bottles of drink, and two packs of Power Bar Energy Blasts. Plenty of calories, but I did get thirsty (so needed a third bottle of drink), and, even though I like the Power Bar things, I was so sugared out, I couldn't face any more. So next long race, I need some real food on the bike.
  

Run

About 1:45. The first 500m were in about 4:18 mins/km, but it went downhill from there. I was feeling just awful for the first 5km, and wondered whether I'd have to walk/actually finish. But I persevered, and settled into an ok (albeit that at the time it seemed like a terribly slow) pace.

The run was quite hard. In total, four steep climbs, and I was getting really hot (and having to tip a lot of water over me). I think I was probably a bit dehydrated/simply fried from the bike.

I tried to pick up the pace for the last 5km, but wasn't feeling it, and figured that I might as well just finish, which I did.

The time isn't actually that bad, and it's what I ran at my first Rotorua, but still.

Overall

Just not a good day at the office. Not a fitness thing (apart from the swimming), because I know full well I can ride that course faster than I did. It just wasn't my day.

But the race served its purpose. This was only ever a training race, a good way to kick off the season, and a good chance to race locally.

I will have received a good fitness boost, and nothing I do for the rest of the season will be that tough. I've also been really happy with how quickly I seem to have recovered (touch wood). Two days of compression tights, and my legs have never been particularly sore (I suspect because I couldn't push as hard as I normally can). I'm motivated to get back into it, and was looking forward to swimming last night (which makes a change).

I need to work harder on my swim (I was actually feeling pretty good on Monday) - not only so I'm faster, but, I think, more importantly, so I'm fresher. That probably involves more swimming, and less mucking around when I am. I took that long at Rotorua last year, but was not where near as tired. I also need to tweak my nutrition.

Otherwise, I can't really complain, and I know that in a couple of months (on a mostly flat course), I will be absolutely flying.

So, it's been a little while...

I know, I know. It's been some time. I'll be surprised if anyone even reads this. But I thought, with the Karapiro Half Ironman this weekend, it was a good time to update it the blog.

After getting back from Europe, and then getting my ankle sorted, my training was actually pretty good. In fact, come early June, I was really fit. Then, the World Cup hit.

Having to watch both the All Whites and The Netherlands play meant many, many late nights/early rises, and the interrupted sleep patterns meant that training very much took a back seat.

When I tried to get back into training properly, winter had come, and I really struggled with the weather. It constantly rained, all the way until mid-September, and it got me down. For the first time, I was really struggling for any motivation to train. I did one off-road duathlon in Rotorua, and a mountain bike race, but I just couldn't keep it up.

I had the Taupo Half Marathon on 1 August, and despite my training having been patchy, I pulled out (in really tough conditions) a 1:29:04. My average heart rate was 187, with a max of 198 - basically, even though I wasn't super fit, I was able to push myself as hard as I could, which I was happy with (and what Paul had been training us to do up until that point).

After Taupo, I had a problem with my hip, which made running difficult - so, again, training wasn't great.

Then, mid-September, the weather got better, and I realised it was 9 weeks until the Karapiro Half. So I started training properly. And I was able to run.

The graph above is from WKO+, and shows my combined running and cycling training load since 11 October last year (the point at which I had enough data to make comparisons worthwhile). This doesn't include swimming (no fancy toys for that, unfortunately), but that's been going ok, and is at least as good, and probably better, than this time last year. The important line is the blue one, which tracks the average daily load over a six week period (essentially fitness). The pink line shows the weekly load (fatigue) and the yellow line is the balance between the two (form).

This shows the drop off from Rotorua while I was in Europe, a few spikes, the build to mid-June, then the big drop off again. It also shows that, since mid-September, I have been training really well, and my combined cycling and running fitness is as high as just before Rotorua last year - so at its peak. I know my running fitness is a lot lower (even than the middle of this year), but my bike fitness is a lot higher, and I'm still getting good running results.

A few highlights:

• I have been doing the Eastside 5k races, which are run by the Hawks. It's along the river path, and it's a hard course for a 5k (because of the number of climbs). I have gone from 19:40, to 19:10, to 19:05 to, last week (after a week off), 18:38; and
• At last night's Mafia mini tri, I did the bike with an average watts of 231 (normalised power of 247), and ran 4:02 mins/km off the bike - two weeks ago, I rode at an average power of 213 watts (norm power of 231), and ran 4:14 mins/km.

So, the aim for this weekend is survive the swim, go hard on the bike, and hold on for the run. It's a tough course, early in the season and a training race - so I'm not overly worried about the result. But I'm happy with where I'm at, feeling good, and looking forward to rocking Tauranga in a few months time.

Rotorua Half 2009 – The Report (a very long, probably boring, one at that...)

That was tough. Last year was tough because I'd never done a half before; I was super sore for days afterward. This year was tough because of the conditions, which were a lot harder than last year, and because I really pushed myself. I wasn't all that sore after the race (in the overall scheme of things) but I was exhausted.

The morning of the race was cold. Really cold. When we got down to the Blue Lake, there was a noticeable (and cold) wind. Everyone was walking around wrapped up, or getting into their wetsuits early, to keep warm. When Hooksie gave the race briefing, he said this was isolated, and there would be a tailwind home; I wasn't sure how that could be the case, but I hoped he was telling the truth...

After fixing Kate's back wheel, I got wetsuited up, only managed a short warm-up I'm never that well organised at Rotorua), said goodbye to my honey, swam as far forward as a could (but not with the stupid fast people), and then there was a (not that noticeable) whistle, and we were off.

The swim

My swimming has not been great this year; various shoulder injuries, and no squad, have limited my swimming time. But I tend to race better than I swim, and I did surprisingly well at last year's race, so thought I might be ok. The wind had made the lake really choppy; it certainly wasn't glass like, as I'd come to expect. The buoys were a lot smaller this year too; combined with the chop, it was very hard to navigate. I headed out hardish, and then tried to draft where I could. There was one guy who I couldn't quite get ahead of, so I decided to draft off him. He was kicking like a mad person, so was easy to follow, so I stuck with him for about 2/3 of the swim. On the way back, it was nigh on impossible to work out where to go (in fact, the second and third fastest swimmers completely missed a buoy), so I kept with my friend until I was sure he was going a bit off track. I couldn't really find people to draft off, so I swam the last third on my own. I got to the end and felt quite good (I had saved a lot of energy by drafting the dude), and then ran to transition, where Paul said I was about 39. Actually, I was 40:40 – about 4 minutes slower than last year (I was 39, but that included T1). So not great. However, I saved a lot of energy, the conditions were a heck of a lot tougher, there were far fewer people racing this year (so fewer people to draft off/get sucked along by), and the swim times in general were up a lot – only two individuals, men and women, were sub 30 – which is pretty damn slow for a Half swim.

The bike

I had a quickish T1 (only slowed by needing to put the Garmin on), and headed off. I have been practicing getting on my bike in one go, but one rubber band moved, and I nearly fell over when I got on (which would have been embarrassing) – but I sorted myself out, and I was off. I used the Powertap to pace myself – the aim, apart from hills, which to stay between about 200 and 220 watts, which I mostly managed. I didn't go crazy on the first half like last year, and while I was consistently passing people, I did not play silly games. I was feeling good, and feeling comfortable (a few months in the aero position made a difference). I felt like I had a bit of a tailwind on occasion, but swore there were also headwinds, and I wondered if I might get a tailwind home. I did the first 45k in 1:15 – I was surprised at how well I'd gone, and thought I might go sub 2:40 on the bike; boy was I wrong.

As soon as I turned around, it became apparent why the first half was so quick – I had the headwind from 'Nam on the way home, and it was going to be there pretty much the whole way. It was hard, way harder than last year. Where I had been going over 40 on the way out, I was now going 23. But I kept on pacing myself (perhaps allowing myself to work a little harder). There were a lot of annoying people on the way back – I'd go at a relatively consistent pace; they'd smash themselves down or up hill, just pass me, then sit up on the flat, and force me to pass them again. I didn't get any drafting penalties, but if I had, it would not have been my fault. Hell's gate was a b*itch on the way back – it's not only steep, but the wind was so strong I had a headwind climbing. But at the top of the hill I caught the woman who was coming second, and I pushed away from most of the annoying people. I got to the turn back to Rotorua, had a slight respite from the wind, and just pushed home. Tarawera seemed to come quicker than last year (I died along the airport straight last year, this time I was still feeling strong, albeit that the wind was making it hard). At the start of Tarawera I thought there might still be a chance of 2:45, but I forgot how long it takes to get back to transition after you get to the top. I paced up Tarawera, passed a number of people, and headed home. Finished with about 2:48 (2:52 official – but that includes T1 and T2 – compared to 2:54 last year, which only included T2) in much tougher conditions than last year is not too bad at all. If I'd properly appreciated the conditions, I would have gone harder on the way out, but I may have blown up, so you never know. Again, the bike times were down from last year. I averaged 193 watts, normalized power of 207, so I kept my watts about where they needed to be, which is good. Also, there weren't a whole heap of power surges, which meant I was able to conserve energy.

The run

A quick T2, and I was off and running, and feeling pretty good. Until about 10 minutes in, and my ankle started hurting. I occasionally get this strange twinge in my ankle – it seems to come and go; but today it decided to come, and it was making things quite uncomfortable. I even wondered if I might have to walk or stop altogether. And then my tummy started feeling a bit gross (not bad, but just a bit gross), so there was a lot to be negative about. There were also way fewer people about to pass, which is normally what I do to keep myself focused. I had a friend for a short while (we'd ridden 'together' for a bit, and had a moan about a dude who'd been drafting), and he started pulling away, so I decided to keep him in my sights. Out of the forest, and man it was hot. I remember last year being hotter, but this year I was desperate to drink at every drink station, and pour a cup of water over my head just to keep cool.

The gun club was stonking as usual, and on the way back, I got passed by the woman in second. So I decided to just follow her, which I did for over 10k. When she picked up the pace, so did I. I started feeling a bit better, and my ankle stopped being stupidly painful. We kept on passing people, and I kept on running a consistent pace. Not as fast as I'd hoped, but the bike (and the heat) were obviously taking it out of me. At the top of the lake track )after struggling up the hill – my hammies and butt were shot) we passed a guy who beat me last year, made the 24 – 29 Age Group National team last year, and who had beaten me at both Contact and Tinman (for former by about 10 minutes, the latter by 5). The we passed my friend, who had slowed a lot. The woman started pushing towards the finish, and I did too. Until my right hammie started cramping – not badly, but cramping nonetheless. So I slowed a little bit, to make sure I could finish well. I still passed a few people n the way to the finish, and I ended up with a 1:40 (faster than last year, but not much, but I think the heat really took it out of me). Out of interest, my normalized pace was 4:36 mins/km (my heart rate strap doesn't play nice with the tri top, so I decided not to wear it).

The result

Total time 5:13. 5 minutes faster than last year, in much tougher conditions. So not the sub 5 I was hoping for, but hand on heart, if the conditions were like last year, I am certain I'd have been somewhere between about 5:00 and 5:05, maybe a bit faster, which in Rotorua is a pretty damn respectable time. I was nowhere near as sore after, but totally exhausted – I had no sprint at the finish, and I just wanted to lay down. I even had to have a nap later.

All in all, I'm pretty happy. I didn't die on the bike like last year, and was faster in tougher conditions. I didn't feel great on the run, and had some issues, but I pushed through them. I also completely spent myself.

The thanks

Thanks heaps to Jenn and Damian (sister-in-law and her fiance); having gophers for the day (as well as supporters) made things go a lot smoother. Thanks also to Mike and Paul for their on course/of course support, respectively.

Big thanks to Paul W – I was a lot stronger this year, and I feel like I have a much 'deeper' fitness than last year. You have been a massive help, and I'm looking forward to getting back into it when we return.

To Kate - because she is wonderful =)

The reflection

Things to work on:

• Swimming! Kate and I are going to visit Ally Boggs to get our techniques critiqued. I also just need to swim more. Having Kate around will also help push me harder (which I need for swimming).
• Cycling – I'm getting better, but I need to get stronger. I think a good year of consistent riding (with a big focus, I've decided, on Mountain Biking, which I enjoy more than the on-road stuff) will help.
• Running – just keep doing what I've been doing. It's what I'm best at, and I'm getting faster. I think any issues are more bike related – basically, I need to get stronger on the bike so I run better off it, if that makes sense.
• Nutrition – pretty good. I probably needed more electrolytes on the run, so should have had more heed (rather than Coke at every aid station), but it was a lot hotter than I'm used to, so it's no biggie.

The rest of the season

European holiday aside, I'll be able to keep training consistently. I have another goal race to focus on this season (Xterra – heck yeah, I'm really looking forward to this, and not just because the swim is only 1k...), and I will not have 6 months off again, so I have a good base to work from.

June to the Half Ironman, a comparison

All my workouts are logged in Buckeye Outdoors, and I can do nifty things like total up my workouts.

I know it's not entirely accurate, because I'm a week out, but between 1 June and the Half last year I did the following:

• 43 runs, total time 29:42:13, total distance 205.2 km;
• 68 bikes, total time 88:28:21, total distance 1519.9 km; and
• 87 swims, total time 69:55:27; total distance 98.7 km.

This year, I have done the following:

• 70 runs, total time 51:23:05, total distance 547.2 km;
• 78 bikes, total time 111:40:03, total distance 2284.9; and
• 39 swims, total time 31:05:35, total distance 53.6 km.

So, compared to last year, I have:

• Run 73% more time, and 167% more distance;
• Biked 26% more time, and 50% more distance; and
• Swum 55% less time, and 46% less distance.

Overall, I'm really happy with this. I've seen solid improvements in my cycling, and bigger ones on the run (not surprising, given I've managed to run a whole heap more). My average heart rates for both have been dropping consistently, and my power on the bike seems to have been increasing of late.

The swimming is a disappointment, and the shoulder obviously didn't help. I've been feeling a lot better lately, so hopefully I'm not embarrassingly slow at Rotorua. I should note, that last year I swam up to five times a week, because I often couldn't run, and in the overall scheme of things, I'd much rather be running.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I know I can do the race, and in a reasonably respectable time. I'm confident I'll do better than last year, and I'm feeling fitter.

Last year was 5:18, with a 39 (incl transition) swim, 2:54 (incl transition bike) and 1:43 run. The aim this year is sub 40 swim, 2:45 bike and 1:35 run, for a sub 5 hour finish time. Doable? Maybe; it's hard to tell, really. I never know what the conditions will be like, how I'll feel on the day, etc. Will I be crushed if I don't do that? Not really, as long as I go as hard as I can. Will I be thrashing myself to get there? Damn straight.

Wish me luck!

A really enjoyable race (report)

Tinman a pretty damn rad race. It was choice to do a 'big' race, where I actually had people to race with (well, sort of, I still spend the whole race time trialing...). Feeling happy with the result too.

Swim

The water was a lot warmer than the preceding evening, and there were a lot of people around! The tide was quite strong too, and was pushing us out to sea. We took off, and for the first couple of buoys, I was barely swimming, I was basically sucked along with a mass of people (actually, I did swim, and swam reasonably hard, to try and get in a pack of reasonable swimmers). I was constantly trying to draft, and did an OK job, but I kept on losing people, and having to find new ones (easy enough with the number of people). So the lesson is to work harder at staying with the people you are with after the first couple of hundred metres. I missed the timing board, but when I got to my bike (almost as far as you can get in transition - being as I was number 33) I saw it was 8:25, so knew I must have done OK. I had a reasonably quick transition - given I have to put the Garmin on, the aero helmet is harder to get on, and I had to pack the back pocket - and I was out of T1 in 26:30, which I'm pretty happy with, given the swim at Rotorua a couple of weeks ago (it must have been a lot shorter mind!). Maybe it's the new wetsuit... (swam in it for the first time the day before the race - I'd started getting some nicks in my old one, which was annoying).

Bike

On the bike I settled into a good rhythm, and tried to hold a constant power output. I was passed by a few people, mostly team and a couple of sprint cyclists, but other than one guy, I had no one to pace (not draft) off for the bike. I stayed with him for about a third of the race, but lost contact, and finished on my own. I should perhaps have pushed harder, but I wanted to have something in reserve for the run. Averaged 199 watts (normalized 203) - should really be higher than that. AHR 171, max 183. 1:10:50, which is a little annoying, because I wanted sub 1:10, but then the course was 42km, not 40, so I'll live. The aero helmet and disc cover were both good (and the disc looks hot, albeit that the covers don't make the same sound as a proper disc wheel), as was the newly build up rear wheel (I got Tristan, from Wheelworks, to re-build my Powertap into a light, stiff, semi-aero wheelset, with bladed spokes, which is an improvement on wheel the hub came built up in).

Run

I had a fairly quick transition, and I was off. I was feeling pretty good off the bike, and quickly got into a decent rhythm (and very quickly passed my friend from the bike). I was passing people left, right and centre, and holding sub 4:00 minute k's, although the average pace was slowly dropping. I did the first 5 km in 20:20 (normalized pace of 4:02), and was feeling good. After the turnaround, I got a slight stitch, and my left ankle was feeling odd, but I was still going well, but a tiny bit slower. Then I got to the base track. Which was hard. And slowed me a lot. I still kept passing people, but it was not a comfortable run. I had one guy in my sights, and I kept pushing, and pushed the last straight really hard (I did the last 600 metres in 3:40 k's), and was spent at the end. Oddly enough, my normalized pace for the last 5.568 km (the run was long) was 4:03 km, so I did pace myself fairly evenly effort wise. AHR first 5K 174, max 177; rest of run AHR 175, max 188.

Overall

All in all, pretty happy. I was able to actually run well(ish). I was only a couple of minutes down on two guys who were in the NZ Age Group team for the standard distance champs (and one also in the long distance team), the main difference being the swim, when I was more than 10 down on them at Contact. In fact, if I could get a bit faster on the swim and bike (and hold or get better or the run), I would have been competitive (in a slightly upper level, non elite, age grouper sort of way...). That's not to say I'm completely satisfied; I want to get better, and I know I can. Just that I'm happy with my effort yesterday.

So, with the combination of the Contact race and Tinman, I've had pretty damn good prep for the Rotorua Half. I'm feeling good, and think I'll do better than last year. I dunno whether I can go sub 5, but I'll be going out to try =)

A fairly disappointing race - but I've had time to reflect

Yesterday I had the first round of the Contact Trophy at the Blue Lake, in Rotorua. I did this race last year prior to the Half, so it should be a good measure of my progress.

It's fair to say that I'm not particularly happy with how I went. Having said that, there are some positives, and on reflection, some good reasons why things didn't go as well as I might have wished.

There were fewer people than last year, and not many people of my ability, so I pretty much did the whole race on my own. The conditions were worse than last year, with the wind in particularly a lot stronger.

The swim

Last year I took 27 minutes including transition. This year, 34. Transition was quite a bit longer, but still.

I did swim appallingly slow, and try as I might, couldn't get on anyone's feet. Not entirely surprising, given how little I've been able to swim. Then again, the race was clearly longer than last year, and the swim times are slower across the board. I didn't feel too bad, apart from being conscious that I was slow, so that's a positive.

The bike

I hoped to have some really good power data - but somehow the data hot wiped before I could download it, which is very annoying!

I know that I averaged more than 200 watts, and given the hills, the normalized power would have been a lot higher than that, but unfortunately, I don't have the data! Feck it!!! Very, very annoying! (Then again, apart from the interest value, the race is such that the data would not necessarily be that helpful in working out pacing for Rotorua).

I felt pretty good on the bike this year. I was a few minutes quicker than last year (1:29 vs 1:31, but again with a longer transition), but I felt a lot stronger throughout. Last year, in about the 4th lap, I died. I couldn't get my HR up and push any harder. This year I could have, had I wanted. So I was quicker, felt stronger, even though the wind was up, and I was able to push consistently hard on the flats.

So, all in all, fairly happy with the bike.

The run

Where it all started going wrong. Last year I was absolutely dead at the end of the bike, but once I go onto the run, I was able to push. I was under instruction to take the first lap easy last year, then push hard. I took 52 minutes last year.

This year, I got off the bike feeling a lot stronger than last year. And I know I am running better than last year. I had a good result in the Auckland Half Marathon recently, and I've been running quicker for the same HR than last year.

So I headed off from transition, and the legs felt good, I got into a decent rhythm. I felt a bit blah along the beach, but then the sand is very hard to run on. Then I got to the first hill, saw a dude ahead of me, and I went to start pushing up the hill, which I normally can. But I couldn't. In fact, I could barely keep up with him. I really had to push myself hard to stay in touch, and while I passed him on the downhill on the other side of the lake, I couldn't get that far ahead of him.

I started felling a bit better after 5k, but was not actually able to run any faster (in fact, my average pace went down). I passed a few more people, but just didn't feel right.

54 minutes. 2 minutes slower than last year, and I was not happy.

I couldn't understand it. But then I started thinking (and Kate made me start thinking). A week ago I took the week off training because I was sick. The week before the race I got back into it, and while I was feeling ok, I was still not 100% (some times I found it hard to breathe while swimming, and I was coughing up some gunk - albeit clear gunk - every now and then).

So, I think (and hope) that I just hadn't fully recovered, and despite riding better, and feeling better off the bike, I just didn't have the energy to do the run I know I'm capable of. And hopefully I'll be 100% soon.

Some positives

• I rode better than last year, and at no stage felt like I was about to die.
• I seem to have recovered quite well. Last year I was super sore after the race, and took a few days to recover. This year I'm not that sore at all, and am hardly feeling it today (I suspect that's partly because I was not able to run anywhere near as fast as I can).
• My knee did not get too sore at all.
• My shoulders didn't hurt at all during the swim.

So while I was not a happy camper afterwards, I've had some time to reflect, and there are definite positives. There are also good reasons for the negatives - I'm not making excuses, I think they genuinely explain what went wrong.

Sick. Again. Damn it.

While we were down in Wellington a couple of weekends ago, I picked up a nasty cold. Over the course of last week, my lungs have filled up with gunk and for a couple of days I had almost no energy.

So, no training for me at all last week, which sucks. Particularly because I've been feeling (swimming aside) increasingly fit.

What doubly sucks is that I was going to be doing the bike as part of a team (with Mike and my lovely wife) at the Karapiro Half. I was really looking forward to a good, long, TT; not only for the training, but also to get some really good power data. Fortunately, Paul was able to step into the breach, which was really appreciated!

I'm feeling a heap better, apart from my lungs, which still have a wee bit of gunk in them. I'm going for an easy run tonight, and I'll be in Auckland tomorrow, so will ride in the morning with Kate.

Hopefully I'm right in time foe the Contact race in Rotorua this weekend!

Wish me luck!

1:26:31 (sorry, it's been a while)

Yep, that was my time for the Auckland Half, and I'm stoked. It's a fantastic race, and I'm really pleased with the time. It was cool to compete in such a big race, with supporters everywhere.

It was an early start (4:00), so we had enough time to wake up, eat breakfast, and wander down to the ferry terminal. We'd mucked around a bit at Devonport (read - I waited forever to go to the toilet - and luckily there was one roll of paper left), so the start line was rather full. But I found a small gap near the front, and jumped the fence, which was good, because my gun time was only 10 seconds more than my clock time.

The race starts off with a few short but steep hills, and is pretty rolling (with a few larger hills) until you get to the Harbour bridge. My plan was to go out at 1:30 pace (so 4:15 mins a km), but I was going a bit quicker than that (not because I was getting caught up in the race start), and was feeling good, so just kept going. At five k I started picking it up a bit more, and then again at 10k.

The bridge was hard - it's steep from the North Shore side, and has a really steep camber for the first 300m or so. But I set my sights on a guy ahead of me (by that stage I was passing slow marathoners) who was clearly doing the half, and pushed to catch him. I got quite close, but he got a bit further ahead on the way down. I had averaged 4:06 mins/k until the bridge, it got up to 4:10 at one stage, and it took me the rest of the race to get it back down again.

After that, I thought it would be mostly flat - but I was wrong. You don't just run around Westhaven, there is an out and back up a steepish hill, which was a little dispiriting. But I pushed hard, then started pushing harder on the way down. I then found a friend, who was pushing pretty hard, and I ran with him for the last 4k. He was going just that little bit faster than I may have been, which was good, because I was able to hold the pace. I then pushed ahead of him in the last 2 k, and thought I'd gotten away, be he held on.

The final stretch is pretty cool, with people lining both sides for the final 300 - 400 m. I thought my friend was done, but then I heard him coming, and I heard the crowd getting excited, so I started sprinting, as did he, with me pipping him at the line. The last 300m I averaged 2:51 min/k, with a fastest of 1:54 mins/k.

So:

Final time - 1:26:31;
Pace - 4:06 mins/k;
Normalized pace - 4:03 mins/k (while not a flat race, you finish only 3 m higher than you start, and I obviously kept a fairly even pace throughout);
Average HR - 182, max 205 (I'm not sure the max is right - that came when I running downhill early in the race, so I suspect it isn't).

Similar lesson to the Legend - while I paced myself well, I perhaps needed to push a little harder a little earlier. I'll just have to let Kate predict my time again (she said she thought I'd do 1:26:?? to 1:27:?? (perhaps the upper end, but still), and pace myself based on that =)

Here are some fun graphs:

Heart rate (apart from the silly stuff early on, nice even effort, increased steadily at the end):


And pace (across my splits - of which there were 19 - I missed a couple of k's):

Twilight tri/du series, race 2 (first for me though)

Tonight I did my first twilight series race (I did a du - some made people did tris!). Pretty miserable conditions, which made the biking somewhat treacherous (one right turn, 3 left turns and a particularly wet roundabout certainly slowed me down). Quite a few people racing various lengths, despite the conditions. Will obviously have more closer to tri season and when the weather is nicer! I joined the tri club (it's $50, I get trinz membership, and the races are free - as opposed to $7).

Finished 2nd in the du, and 3rd out of people doing the long event (there were a handful of people swimming, which is frankly mad!) Got beaten by a super fit multisporter in the du, and some awesome young dude who did the tri.

Happy with the first run, not particularly happy with the bike (did have a slow down a lot at the various intersections, because of the water), last run ok - got into a decent rhythm reasonably quickly, but didn't push quite enough. That said, quite an undulating run course, so not too bad.

First time I've run/ridden fast for quite a while.
First run: 2.33 km; 8:40; normalized graded pace - 3:44. As I said, happy enough with this, given I haven't run this fast for about 10 months!

T1: 36 seconds.

Bike: 15.967 km; 29.48; AV watts - 223, normalized power 235. Should be able to hold a higher power output on the bike. Disconcertingly, I was matched by a guy on a mountain bike (that is one damn quick effort on a mountain bike!). The conditions did not help, and it was a surprisingly rolling bike course, but still. Then again, I've been injured, and I was watching my VMO/knee, so not silly to have taken it a little easy.

T2: 32 seconds.
Second run: 4.13km; 17.25; normalized graded pace – 4:08. Not too bad, given the course is undulating and I was running off the bike, but didn't push it anywhere near as hard as I should have (well, it is a training race, so perhaps not stupid).

Total time, 56:55.

Reasonably happy. It's hardly a competitive field, but I did have one guy to push me. Should have been faster, but then again, it's a training race, and I've been injured, so not too silly to have left a little in the tank.

And my FTP is...

(Functional Threshold Power, that is).

About 245. That puts me at the lower end of "Good" or "Cat 3" cyclists. Not too bad given I'm a triathlete, not a cyclist, and I haven't been at this sport for super long. Obviously much bigger people will have a higher absolute FTP, but then I'll probably beat them up a hill =)

I didn't do the test quite right (after the initial 20 minute warm up, you're meant to do 3 x 1 minute efforts at 100 rpm, whereas I did them as 3 x 1 min all out), but I'm not sure that would have made a discernible difference.

Now I have that sorted, I can use it to calculate training zones, and then use WKO+ to analyse my workouts.

One of the neat features of the software is that it calculates what it calls normalized power. Normalized power recognises that when you ride with an inconsistent power output (for example, when riding lots of hills), that your average power will likely be a lot lower than the true physiological cost. It therefore "is an estimate of the power that you could have maintained for the same physiological "cost" if your power output had been perfectly constant". This is helpful on a lot of the long rides I've done with Kate, where the average power has been in the 120 watt range (active recovery), but the normalized power has been in the 170s (endurance zone).

I'll have to test again in about 6 weeks, to check whether I've improved - so it's both a good fitness test and a good way of dialling in training.

Felling pretty good (and some new toys)

I had a pretty good week's training last week. I was still feeling a blah at the start of the week, which was a hangover from the previous week and the half marathon. I missed a couple of bikes - partly because of feeling blah, and partly because I picked up a trial at the last minute (8:30 the night before), and that necessitated last minute prep, which was quite tiring.

But, I finished the week strongly, and felt really good on the weekend, particularly after a big day's training on Sunday.

Kate and I also have new toys - some Newton running shoes. The place that distributes them in NZ was selling last season's demo pairs cheap, so we both got some (although only the racing versions were available in our sizes). Thy definitely feel a bit different, although I haven't run in them yet. They recommend taking a few weeks to adjust before running in them properly - look here if you are interested in learning more about them. Best of all, they look hot (in an awesome, retro, sort of way...). They are designed to encourage mid foot/forefoot landing, which I have been working on anyway.



Now for the summary:

T - 2k swim, 55 minutes, did 10 x 100m, all in 1:55 - 2:00, which is better than the 2:00 - 2:05 the previous week.

W - 55 minute trainer ride - "aerobic intervals", which I cut short, because I got the call about the trial. AHR 151, Av Watts 170.

T - 1:05 swim lesson - worked a lot on balance. Pretty good, actually had the drills explained in the context of my stroke, which is a nice change.

F - 30 min run, 5:02 mins/km, 160 AHR. Was quite warm/humid, which I felt. Calf a bit sore.

S - 1:24:09 run - okish long run with Kate. Calf feeling a bit tight, but otherwise felt ok. 15.16 km, AHR 143. Did a 20 minute End2 effort - 4.18 mins/km, 173 AHR, which I'm happy with, because a couple of weeks ago, I ran 4:24 mins/km for the same AHR, and it's not as if I was feeling great today.

S - 4:08 ride, 93.63 km, AHR 134, Av Watts 125. Felt really good. Rode most of the hills (apart from Waitaks) in my big chain ring too. I'm definitely getting stronger.

We later on did a 30 min run, 5.10 km, 135 AHR. Felt great, and calf not at all tight. When compared to the last time we did an evening run after a long ride, felt heaps better.