back on the wagon

Last week was a little attempt to get back into a training and work routine. The last few weeks leading into ironman was quite busy, and after ironman was worse! Thing are usually a little quiet after Ironman, but there was a lot of school stuff on this year (races and organising the year ahead)- and a little more post race reviewing than usual (not a bad thing - in fact good!). So from a training perspective, it had gone out the door, in fact so far out the door and down the road, that little signs were left of a regular routine. I was pretty much just doing coaching sessions that involved exercise. 

Anyway, as I have been slack on the blog - here are a few events, points of possible interest, and landmarks over the last 6 weeks:
The review of the season been for a number of athletes, and from my own perspective as a coach, did pop up a few things that required a re-think coaching wise for myself. I have a number of athletes that have reached a level where a little different approach and different training sessions are required. They have just advanced to a stage that they need something different to continue to progress. As a general "need", I felt anyway, that another run session was required. Just to narrow in on a specific steady state session and on shorter efforts also. The other biggie was to get better organised and use video feedback far more. For so many athletes (myself included), what they perceive they are doing and what they are actually doing is far different. Simply looking at a video of what you are doing is far more effective than telling them what to do repeatedly. 

We had the school cycling camp a week ago. Last year it was pretty hard work - with a lot of pushing girls along and there was a fair amount of "do we have to do that", and resistance to getting A into G in general. This year had far more new athletes, and more younger riders too. The training program this year was much tougher and more challenging, and rather than one big group, we had smaller groups of similar ability. So in the end everyone got challenged, most to their current limits. The amazing thing was that the attitude was more along the lines of "I really want to try to achieve this challenge", as opposed to "I don't really want to be here". It was just fantastic to see the vast majority take the challenge of a hard week of training on! For me - it was a lot of time in the saddle, but I am not sure on the training value. Some was good for sure, but as an example, I averages 89 HR for one ride (32km), with 23 minutes of no pedaling! There was a couple of TT's, same as last year. For the 8km TT, last year I averaged 380w, this year it was 340w. Most of that is a difference in fitness, but I was a little more motivated last year - trying darn hard to catch Scott! 

The body has been sort of holding together. I have been getting a massage pretty much each week, and I think that has helped settle down the calf issue significantly. It is just plain torture for an hour, but appears to be getting results. I have let myself get a little anemic. It is just something I am prone to - and it can sneak up on you. For me iron supplementation is the only thing that I have found to work. The tricky thing is getting the supplements in without turning you insides out (they are a bit rough on the guts!), and I tend to get sick if I go too hard on the supplements too. I just pick up any bug that is even slightly close. Last week I hit the supplements quite hard, and I think they had an effect after only 5-6 days, which is pretty quick! I did get the sniffles after 5 days, so stopped for a few days. I will just cycle a few days on and a few days off for another 10-14 days I think. The other usual things - need to stretch more and do more core...

Had an end of season hit-out at the weekend, with the last of the peoples triathlons. Sprint distance of course. I was pretty sure I was going to get my ass kicked, but I just enjoy getting out and racing. As it turned out, I had a good day out - good result and good fun. Got a bit hammered on the first leg of the swim, to the first turn, then clawed my way back through the chaos. I think I exited the swim just off the first main group. had a pretty good transition, and came out with a solid ox who took off like he was doing a 4km TT. I did all that was required to hang on, and ended up riding to almost the first turn around (~2-3km) with my feet still on top of my shoes. By the turn I had my feet in (just) and we were now a leading group with a few standard course guys too. It was a very solid group, and the pace was pretty solid too. Solid enough that a few of the quite good juniors got dropped. I pretty much sat at the back and made sure any weaker riders were dropped and stayed dropped. When asked to come through for a lap, I showed the old man card, which was readily accepted for some reason. I did managed to dismount first, and then managed to lose that advantage by not finding my spot in transition! That did make me a little angry with myself! First became fourth by a good margin. For the first time in quite a while I actually felt OK on the run. And I even passed a couple on the run as well! I will take a second!   
Next on the list, is to sort out actually where I am at fitness wise - which means a few time trials....


From the Tauranga half IM - giddy up old boy!!

Tauranga half report (very late edition!)

Right - it is time to get this Blog back in action!!! I wrote the vast majority of this a while ago (obviously - the race was in the beginning of January!). But I am turning a new blogging leaf over - and getting back into action!

Well - Tauranga has rolled around again!! My my how time as REALLY flown! I have just rolled through some semi-consistent training. nothing spectacular, but also no major hiccups - which I think has actually made more difference than spectacular training alternated with breaking down injured on a semi-regular cycle.

The race report!

When I entered, I had slightly grander plans - figuring on training quite well for world champs in Perth, and then kicking on to the Tauranga half. The build-up to Perth was quite injury interrupted, and then I decided to leave the running for a month after Perth, to let the legs settle down a bit. So I did end up going in a fair amount under-down than anticipated, but the aim was to just go out and enjoy the day and enjoy racing! Hopefully not too much groveling.

I was pretty relaxed getting into the water, and headed out for a good warm-up and to check to see what the tide was doing. after a couple of minutes of swimming out to the first buoy, I had covered 3-400m. Hmmm - might be a bit of an out-going current running. I decided to head back to the swim start - still 15 minutes or so to go, but it was not quite so simple. I was not making much headway! Might have to put a bit more steady effort in - or swim to shore, walk along and swim out to the start! After around 10 minutes of swimming, I am back at the start line. Definitely the left side is good to start out with that current running!

Lined up on the start line, and only Walter (thorburn) and myself were out to the left, and everyone else was lined up on the right. The usual Pro start line drift started, with the usual - "get back behind the start line". Then to add a bit more spice to my race, what sounded like 200 of the age group men (lined up behind for their start 2minutes later), a chant of "OHagan get back behind the line - you cheat"... Which was followed by the race starter searching for "OHagan in the green cap". Thanks guys! The gun goes off and everyone takes off fast! I got a bit dropped, but I also headed well to the left, for the current, while everyone else was going right. By the time I hooked back in to the first turn buoy, I was in the middle of the main group - great! swimming across was a bit of a chore, as you were at right angles to the current, but OK, and then for the leg back (first lap of 2) I basically swan as shallow as I could (less current to swim against) - and managed to swim past a few that were swimming a straighter line out in the deeper water. Coming out of the water to start the second lap James Bowstead absolutely sprinted through the water on the run out and back in. There was a small group just ahead (10-20m), but again taking a right line. Rather than follow and go with the group, I decided to follow my own line and went more to the left. As it turned out I swam quite straight, perhaps not quite enough to the left for the "good" current, and ended up at the turn buoy a little further back. Next up was the first excitement of the day. About the second sighting stroke around the turn buoy I found myself pinned against a boat! A combo of the strong current and a couple of waves swept myself and the swimmer next to me onto the boat and the waves really did pin us there. We looked at each other with a "WTF - and what do you do now??". The water pressure relented and we were off again. I ended up swimming close to shore back, pretty much alone, and not sure why others were swimming deep, as I did make up a bit more ground. Out of the water and Walter was just in front - good news! A couple of the leading women contenders were also around (Sam Warriner and Jo Lawn), so that is pretty good news on the swim front too.

Walter had 3-400m on me after the transition, so I stomped on the pedals pretty hard after I was sorted, and caught up to him after 3-4km and sat in behind and had a drink. there was a small group another 2-300m up the road, so I jumped away from Walter and rode up to the next group of 3 riders hoping is was a couple of strong riding pro's. Unfortunately when I arrived, there was a pro male, and an age group guy tucked in behind a female Pro - that was probably not the combo I was hoping for, so I sailed on passed and kept going. I was sort of hoping not to have to do 90km on my own, but at the first turn-around the next proper groups of riders were a bit too far to catch-up, when I saw who was leading the groups. Too hard without absolutely killing myself getting there anyway! Killing myself on the bike was not in the plan today! A little further down the road I did get some company - Michael Kelly and a friend - I rode most of the Ironman bike leg with Michael last year. So I sat back around 10m behind, and got a little assistance with some legal draft, but also some good pacing motivation. The wind was a little fluky which made getting a good legal draft not so effective. It was still good riding with someone else. I stuck with these guys until the start of the second lap, and felt fine. We were making good progress on those in front as well - which I considered a bonus. Early in the second lap there were a few surges, which I am usually fine with, and while I could go with them, I did feel the efforts were a bit above what I wanted to do. I think it was a little bit of me going through a flat patch and the pace going up. It would have been good to have the power meter on at this point - so I could know if it was one of the other - that would make the decision to "let them go" or "harden up and get on with it" a bit easier. I decided to go conservative on the bike, so I did not really suck on the run! I was riding alone again! Around halfway though the second lap another group caught me - being dragged through by Robin Reid - a pretty handy cyclist! He was obviously the only one doing any work, and the others (a few names that should not have been behind me!) were really hanging on for dear life. I sat in behind, and shortly after Robin put in a solid little attack, and normally I would have jumped up and on to him, but everyone just decided to sit in behind the next sap (me!). To be honest - he was a bit like drafting behind Ant Gardiner - pretty much no draft at all! So I literally sat up and forced the next riders through - I really was not in the mood to drag a few other elites through to burn me off in the run. Toward the end I did jump away a bit, as they were going pretty pathetically slow.

The run - I had not do a heap of run training - about 5 weeks worth. It had gone quite well, and the calf had settled down quite well too. I decided to wear the garmin, to get a reasonably accurate indication of pace. I did feel pretty good on the flat, and was cruising at around 4:15 pace mostly. I did have to calm myself down a few times - and I think that paid big dividends in the end. the first time around the base track the legs felt a bit average, and the pace did drop off a fair amount on the up-hills. But I continued to look after myself and try to get along as quick as I thought I could. The only person I was keen to beat really was Walter, and the first time we crossed over (after I had turned at half way), he yelled out "how is the calf holding up", I smiled and replied that I was "nursing it home". He looked quite motivated to catch me! I still had a good advantage over him at this point, and felt that if I kept a solid pace going - I would be fine. I did manage to keep going well to the far turn around (~6km to go), and headed for home. I was getting pretty tired, and was having to do a fair amount of teeth gritting to keep the pace solid. I tried to relax a little and took a few deep breaths. When I spotted Walter approaching I picked the pace up to around 3:45/km and tried to put on the "I am just cruising now" face. I worked, and Walter snapped! His shoulders dropped and he began to drag his butt on the pavement! I loved it! The next goal was to try and beat the leading woman home. Unfortunately they looked far better than Walter did, and I had my work cut out holding them off. Starting around the Mount base track and the upward slope really hit me and I started to creep. Then the leading woman mtb went past. Damn it! Sam Warriner then flew past, and I made a comment along the lines of not being that happy about being "chicked" - but good on you. I got no reply. Then the next female went past about 5m behind - so that explained the silence. I would have liked to been able to go with them, but I had no chance - the legs were pretty shot on the ups and downs. I was still running OK on the downs - but it did hurt. I was happy to be on the flat heading to the finish.

I managed to finish in 4:18, with a 29:52 swim, 2:17 bike, and 1:29 run. It felt way faster than last year at 4:19 - but this years swim and bike were a lot harder/slower. I would be one of the slowest bike times I have ever done on the course I would think. Might need a slightly different plan for next year!