Pre world long course champs

Bit of a computer hiccup prevented this post going up prior to worlds - but here you go!

My vain attempt to keep the body together has failed! A couple of weeks of physio to try to cut off the impending doom was just too little too late. A few issues stabilized and a few improved, but the main root issue - tight nerve through the left butt, has been very up and down. It has seen some improvement , the regresses back to previous state. Then on a longer run, it finally manifest itself as an injury - calf popped again. Came on with little warning when running pretty slowly. A walk home in the rain as it was getting dark did not help the mood either. So going into worlds injured is not ideal, but I just have to make the most of the situation. Physio plays around with the butt a couple of times a week, and it will be going into Worlds with a couple of 15min runs under the belt in the last 2 weeks.

What am I going to do at worlds? I have just found out that my wave will be the last to start. That does alter tactics a little, as our wave will have to contend with passing slower athletes from the waves ahead, and as we start around 45min behind the elites, we may become entangled in other waves as they come through for their second and third laps when we are on our first/second laps. There is a 12m drafting zone, and with a 4 lap bike course, there will be a certain amount of chaos, on the bike in particular. With only 40-44 year males in our wave, there will probably be a small group of fast swimmers, then a reasonable group of solid swimmers - of which hopefully I am one of. Second main pace would be good, perhaps 2-3 minutes down on any very faster swimmers. The wave in front starts 10 minutes before us, so hopefully clear water for the first half of the swim, and then just passing a few stragglers on the return. If I come out on my own or in a very small group I will do the first lap of the bike at a steady pace, and then into the chaos as we mingle with the other waves. If I come out of the swim with a reasonable group, then it will be a solid effort at the start of the bike and try to clear out a little in the first 5km. I am sure that on the second lap onward, there will be a lot more traffic issues, perhaps even on the first lap. Once there are more people around, from different waves, and going at different speeds, I will need to be quite focused on riding tactically as well as metering out the correct effort. There will be the issues of not getting caught up in a big group and being busted for drafting, safety of riders of very different abilities on the course at the same time - so you could be passing a slower rider while being passed by a faster rider at the same time. Some riders will not be able to hold a straight line very well, and will be use to riding on the other side of the road. Then there will be negotiating the aid stations - which you have no idea how busy or well organised they will be. Hopefully I will be able to ride a solid first 40-50km, but at some stage I am expecting my butt to tighten up a little and lose a bit of power out of the left leg, and might have to have a few breaks from the aero bars. Hopefully this does not time in with a tactical need for a good solid effort. I am planning on getting in a good amount of fluid and gels on the bike, to make sure I am in pretty good shape for the run. I am planning on starting the run quite easy and building into it, trying to really focus on faster leg turn-over and really looking after the calf. Hopefully I can run when I want to. I am prepared to do a few shorter walks in the run, even if it is 4-5min run with a 30second to 1 minute walk between run efforts. I am planning to walk most of the aid stations - more to give the calf a rest, but making sure I get fluids in is a bonus. The short walks will probably allow me to run better when I do run, and allow me to run for more of the run overall. I am hoping I don't pull up lame on the run, but there is probably a reasonable chance I will (40-50%), and then it will be more walk and less run.

I think my performance will be significantly determined by the fragile-ness of the butt and calf. But if all goes reasonably well I figure I can go similar time wise to a half ironman. The swim is a bit longer (3km instead of 2) and the bike is a bit shorter (80 instead of 90km) and the run similar (20 rather than 21). So around 4 hours 10minutes on a good day (maybe just under if the leg actually behaves) and around 4hr20min if it is a bit of an average day. I would think that under 4hr10min will give a top 5 and under 4hr25min will be around top 10 in my age category. There will be some very fast old buggers no doubt!

School cycling Nationals.

Overall a very successful weekend. It was quite exhausting to be fair. I was planning on sneaking in some training - but we arrived in Palmerston North to blizzard conditions!! My plan to sneak out for a cheeky 4hr and a bit hour trash around my old stomping grounds went out the window with snow to low levels, and a howling wind that just cut you to the bone! So for the 5 days away it ended up being, get out of bed and go for an run before breakfast each morning, and one team ride with the girls.

Friday was team training day, over the time trial course. The weather had improved a little from Thursday - it was only a strong wind and quite cold - no sleet and you had some visibility. The coaches drew straws on who was taking which teams (3 coaches and 4 teams) - although being the only male I was assured of the short straw! Somehow Scott managed to get out of riding as he was officially with Westlake boys. The girls were a bit more "fluffy" than normal, and there was a bit more dithering on top of that. It seamed to take twice as long to do half as much. But that was OK - we had all day!! Sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut and go with the flow! The atmosphere was very positive, just that there was probably a little more nerves than usual.

Saturday was the main day as far as the team goes - with the team time trials! When we arrived, I was immediately dragged off to the team tent and threatened with face paint - "Tony we can do one side red and the other side blue!!". Oh dear... I managed to negotiate back to war strips and a bit of writing on the hands. A few of the girls were very nervous today - far more than usual, and a fair amount more than I expected. A few words to focus minds on things they could control, rather than things they could not, which appeared to help, then it was say less rather than spew out nonsense!

The results were very good - the Junior A were second, very good as they lost their 4th rider very early on -so did that on 3 riders only. The Senior B team were a very creditable 4th, a great team result, and the Senior A won the Team time trial Title in a very dominant performance. Great stuff! The senior boys team time trial was a fantastic race, with the top 4 teams effectively on exactly the same time with 2km to go, with that last 2 km resulting in an 18 second spread by the finish (4 seconds covered the first 3).

The next day was the road race, a 16 km circuit with a longer gradual climb early on and a then a gradual descent, with the finish on the start of the gradual up, and into the wind. My advice for most was, if it comes to a sprint, leave it as late as possible (last 50-100m, even if you cant sprint!), the uphill is solid whether you can climb or not, and don't be afraid to attack on the down hill (it was not technical), as others may not expect that. In the earlier races, no break-aways really worked, but we managed to change that. Bex broke away with Maddy Dillon, and the 2 rode away from a chasing bunch of 5, that included 3 from the same school (which should be able to work will together well), with Maddy winning the 2-up sprint. Sammy Morreau also managed to maintain a 2-up break away, and rolled through for 2nd. Amelia could not maintain her early break and had to do the sprint finish thing in the senior girls race - obviously listened intently to my advise and started the sprint about 400m out. There is no way she should have held the sprint all the way to the line, but some very determined grit managed to get her another cycling title - not bad for a triathlete. The 3rd day of racing was a criterium around manfield motor racing track, with the winner coming from sprint points through the race. The weather packed a bit of a sad, and the later races were in rain (yuck). The high lights were young Jonty Morreau showing some form to win the under 14 boys race, Bex Burridge picking up a sprint in a break to get a 3rd (so managed a 1st in the TTT, 2nd in the road race, and a 3rd in the crit).

a little late...

This is a bit old - I wrote it all up and then didn't post it, so here we go from a few weeks ago...

This weekend I am away with the school cycling champs - which marks the end of the school cycling. We had the last of the waterfront team time trials at the weekend. I have to say I was mightily impressed at how the girls stepped up in the last 2 weeks. They had gone through a "I can't really be bothered anymore" stage - and it was getting hard to get them to do more than roll along at a social speed. A couple of weeks ago, they got all motivated, trained really well, and really got their heads around doing a great last TTT - with a shot at setting the record (they were 1 second off at the first TTT). The junior A team was also fired up, even though one of the star riders has been out for the last few races.

One of the things that I think have really made the team I mainly work with (senior A) go really well, has been the fact that they really work well as a team. There are no rock stars, no crazy training demons, and everyone in the team just works together in a positive manor. There is a diverse range of individual skills and personalities, which can be very entertaining on the early morning rides. But I don't think I have ever heard blame for things going wrong, only discussion on solutions and how to make things go better. This maybe luck, or that is the environment that has been fostered. What ever the reason - it is just great to see! I think they have developed great skills here (whether they know it or not) that will set them all up for great success in many future endeavours.
Hopefully we come home with some more silver for the cabinet after this weekend!
A conversation with one of the parents from one of the other teams summed up quite well why some of the other teams don't go as well. It was something like: "the whole is less than the sum of the parts - why is the team less than any of the individuals?". This particular team has major political issues within the team environment, and most of the team members could probably ride faster on their own, than they do as a team. That is a real shame - although good for the other teams! It certainly shows, as with any team sport, that you can have great athletes, great coaching and support, and the team is still a flop from what they could potentially be.
Right - well back to me! I thought a bit of a summary of where I am at, as I have just relented and gone to the physio with a list! Nothing that has stopped me in my tracks, but a few niggles that have made training less than what would be possible without the niggles.
Here is a bit of a list of the current good, the bad and the ugly.

The good:

swimming - I have really only been doing 2 swims per week, and have only managed to slip in a 3rd swim 3 or 4 times in the last 2-3 months. The good is that I have maintained my swim fitness over the last 6-8 weeks on this, rather than slide backwards. Normally I need 3 swims to maintain fitness. I guess the other good is that I am around 10sec faster per 100m than when I started training for IM '09 a little over a year ago.
Cycling - I think my mid-range power output has improved a fair amount - and certainly the HR at the mid-range powers has improved (ie is lower), and I feel much more comfortable at mid-200 watts than previously. The top end has not really changed much - I only have one record power output from this year (10min). But I also have not done many races where high power outputs would be expected either (eg bike races).
Running - has being quite consistent, and reasonably injury free. Plenty of niggles but have managed 3 or 4 runs per week most weeks. Just ticking along quite nicely. Nothing super special - but the most consistent than it has been for many years. The waitak's runs have been very good. They have hurt a fair amount, and probably did the first one on a little too little running, and the last on a little too old shoes. But the endurance is certainly better, and as with the bike, top end is not any better, perhaps slightly off what it was at the start of the year.
overall - I think I am in OK shape - in fact probably in good shape to kick into a solid 12 week block of training that would get me in really shape! Pity worlds is in a month...

The bad and the ugly.

While it is probably easier to focus on the negative, there are a few "annoyances". Every morning I wake up I wish I could have a sleep in - there have not been many sleep-ins in the last 2-3 months. Then I wonder what is going to hurt the most when I put my feet on the floor. It is usually a competition between ITB, quads, lower abs, and glutes. Sometimes the shoulder is quite sore, but that is before I get out of bed! The lower abdominals have been a bit of an on-off issue since the first hit out in the Waitak's - and while it is OK, I finally went and saw Deno to make sure it was not a major, and what to do. Surprise, surprise, I have to do as I say - more core and a bit more stretching. My left leg (from hip to foot!) has been giving issues for a while too. I can't sustain high power for a prolonged period without my butt beginning to scream - nothing to do with fitness or strength - more of a tight/pinched nerve. My left leg (lower I think) has also had a bit of a habit of failing on me - both bike and run. This has meant that I cant really do any longer time trials at the moment (slight issue with a 80km one coming up), and I occasionally buckle on the left side - which might not be obvious, but has sort of affected the run intervals a bit. I was sure it was glutes and a nerve issue (previous problem), and Deno pretty much confirmed that. So Deno has Wednesday and Friday visits from me for a while...
Swimming - the ugly here is really not getting to the pool enough! My swimming is quite a bit slower than when I put the paddles on. While not a biggie, I would like the difference to be less. Must get to the pool more...

Cycling - the glute issue has been quite a hamper on the top end efforts. The other major is long rides. The week just been is the second long ride in 8 weeks. While they have gone well, it is a bit of a case of lost opportunity I think. I haven't really been able to test where I am at with a time trial, so we will have to wait and see!

Running - no great improvements, and I feel I am really teetering on the injury front - which is a bit frustrating. I would like to step the training up just a little, as I feel it would bring on a new level of performance. I if I do, I will probably crack, and then not be able to run at all.
I do get the occasional grumpy attack, although Liz tells me it is more than occasional. To be fair, the dog next door is the cause of most of my grump's - it has decided it needs to bark most of the time, or all the time I am outside - at me. I am almost ready to get it assassinated....

A picture tells a thousand words - so here are a few more thousand words!




This is from Bex at World triathlon champs - she had a great race!













This is from my trip to Germany - post ride Pretzel - should really be standard food!!! It does not get much better than this...














More from the same trip -post ride dinner - and it really does not get any better!! Thanks Pete!!!