Saturday afternoon was the usual unorganised, skatty brain,
is this your first triathlon, panic tyre change race prep. Then it was birthday
dinner with the family and a few glasses of champagne (it’s what super models
drink). My first birthday as a father of three was a little crazy to get
organised. It necessitated Super-Nat driving from Sydney with a car full of
girls and baby Scarlett requesting a feed the way all three months olds do
…screaming for the last 30 minutes. Big thank you to Nat and my mum for making
my 47th happy and memorable
Race morning was near perfect. As I walked to transition the
morning felt gorgeous, temperature perfect and not a rain cloud in sight. Actually
not much was in sight. Why is everything a little blurry? Ooops, no contacts.
Super-Nat brought them down to the start but we didn’t quite manage to find
each other on the beach. Never mind …just find feet and stick to them – looking
out into Jervis Bay blurry or not, is always magnificent.
After a third and first at Forster and Callala Long Courses
in much smaller fields I was expecting the field size and quality to lift for
Husky. A top 5 AG was a reasonable goal for where I am at the moment. Placing
in or around the top 5 would give me enough points to be well clear in the
Elite Energy Long Course Championship. Which was my goal at the start of the
season.
I pushed off hard for race start and after 200m there was
only three of us side-by-side behind the paddle board. The three of us slid
into line and enjoyed the rest of the swim. I was keen to take it easy in the
swim and keep the heart rate nice and steady. I resisted my usual urge to push
the last 500m or so and stayed in line. I was second onto the beach, third
across the mat. I then put on my usual beached whale wetsuit removal show for
the fans.
Swimming in the top three was a bit of a pleasant surprise.
In the twelve weeks since baby Scarlett arrived I have swum an average of
4.02km per week. However I maintained frequency meaning there a quite a few
500m surf swims in 9min. My favourite is to walk with Nat and Scarlett to
Bronte and swim to meet them at McKenzies and walk home. It all counts.
Onto the bike and I was consciously saying “take it easy on
the first lap Jason – Woolamia Road will hurt on the last lap”. I also had Evil
Tri Racer in my ear saying “Jason – you were the last wave, the bike course
will be empty on the next two laps, so make the most of the crowded course on
the first lap!!” Yes, my first lap was my fastest, but all three laps were
within 50 seconds of each other so no major blow out and given the wind came up
for the last few laps I reckon I done good.
For the summer I have kept the cycle training to a consistent
two x 1 hour indoor Esma Studio sessions and Saturday Brat ride. Anyone saying
they are time poor and then do a Lapa/coffee ride you are kidding yourself. For
a dad with a newborn my cycling is pretty luxurious and I am very grateful.
However, it’s not enough to be competitive with the top guys on the bike. Even
knowing this in advance I was amazed by how fast the top guys flew past me.
Aahhh… to be ironman-fit again…
I was happy with my bike. My main goal was to stay aero the
whole ride and keep my heart rate top of zone 3 lower zone 4 and I did both. I
hit a few potholes hard because I didn’t see them coming but the bike and tyres
held up well. Back into T2 and there weren’t too many bikes around my age
group. The results say there were eight bikes already racked.
Run goal one: hold good posture to the finish line
(shoulders back, lean from the ankles). Run goal two: pull heals up with
hamstrings. Run goal three: don’t slow down.
Big tick on all three goals. My first k was 4:35 and with
the exception of the two (slight) hill k’s each lap thereafter I ran
consistently 4.20-4.25min/k pace. Each of the four x 5k splits were 22:46,
22:07, 22:27, and 22:06, giving me a nice negative split. I may sound like a
broken record but my run speed comes from doing the vast majority of my running
at true zone 2 or over 6min/k pace. Once a week I do the Brat Track session and
focus on the drills and plyometrics – simple stuff – but it works.
I get that everyone buys programs online or coaching these
days and then confuse themselves with all the crap. I have never been overly
athletic and I have always carried a beer gut, but the training methods we all
used in the 90’s are still the only rock solid proven methods today. Many
coaching techniques are now trying to rename the old Arthur Lydiard principles
established in the 70’s, which would be funny to watch if it wasn’t for all the
injuries.
Anyway blah, blah, blah I ran from 8th off the
bike into a very respectable 4th AG. The top 6 guys all biked over 5-8
minutes quicker. I was able to run a few of them down, but the top 3 ran either
the same or faster (first place ran the 4th fastest run of the day
in 77mins!).
My apologies to all the Brats on the course for missing your
high-5’s. You now know I couldn’t see you until the last second as we ran by
each other. Great seeing the Brats out in force over the weekend, even if we
were a little unorganised and didn’t quite get the tent set up …or get the tent
to Husky …next time.
There may be a couple of holiday-style races left for this
season but the main focus is now a solid base for IM Busso in December. Busso
in December??? That’s nine months away? Laying down a nice steady base is the
only way to nail an Ironman. 12, 16 or 20 week programs will be limited by
where the athlete is at the start. Hence laying down a massive base is so
important. My goal is to run my fastest IM marathon at 47y.o. will be a decent
challenge. If anyone is thinking of doing IM Busso ’17 and wants to train slow
and steady with a focus on strength, technique and aerobic capacity please get
in touch.
Cheers,
Jason.