Lake swim race results

Saturday was a very windy day. When I was out and about, as I drove past the lake venue, I noticed that it was very choppy. Indeed as expected, the wind did not subside and it made the water extremely choppy. To put in simple terms - it was more like a surf swim.

Anyways I felt good before the 2.5km race. The field wasn't huge and with last year's winning time being 38mins (in a big field), I thought my goal time of around 40mins (goal time before wind. After wind - 45mins) might place me in the top finishers. Plan was to ease into it, perhaps take a trail and if I can turn the last buoy with fuel left in the tank, bring it home and see what happens. In the end, my plan had to be drastically changed.

I did ease into it but landed in the lead right from the start. I thought OK, if this is how it is going to be, then I shall try to lead from go to woe. Rounded the first buoy (approx. 300metres) just in front and from there it was a long stretch of water, all up current and extremely choppy. I kept looking around to keep my chasers in view, before deciding the time to click it up was now. I thought yes I am doing it tough into the chop but so is everyone so best to try and break them now. And so I did. I ended up rounding the last buoy with approx. 1km to go minutes in front. Basically, I gapped the field in the space of a 1km stretch of water you expect to encounter in the ocean!

End result - 5mins clear of the next two finishers (both girls) and 8mins clear to the second place male. My time of 36.23 left me pretty pleased, and spent, but very pleased. I realised once I headed for home I was racing the clock then, as I was well in front and I do remember that I was viewing this more as a training session.

So training session for Sunday done. I was pleased it was over as it took it sure took it out of me. I saw it was choppy from land but you don't realise how choppy it is until the water is smacking you in the face every time you look up to line up the buoys. Stoked with the time to be honest as well. Would have won it easily last year as well so cannot complain. Onto this weekend's triathlon in decent form if the waters are safe at race venue.

Race day Sunday - still on

The lake swim proposed for this Sunday has been eventful for the organisers, that's for sure. The waters here have been undergoing rigorous testing to work out if the waters are safe for swimming. The week went something like this:
Monday - still on but more than likely at a different location.
Tuesday - probably not on due to water testing.
Wednesday - same as Tuesday with organisers to let everyone know by Friday.
Thursday - race back on with a change of location. (11:00am). Later that day, the venue location was changed again. But race still on.
Today - apparently the new venue is a definite so race on.

So that is that. Race still on, but just at a different location. Fine with me. The new location is the closest destination to where I live so all cool with me. My swimming fitness could be higher but no big deal. I just got to be confident come start time!

Training for race week

Just a quick one. Training has been coming along OK in preparation for the 2.5km lake swim this Sunday, followed by my next triathlon the following Sunday. The lake swim might just be a vigorous swim session as part of my training for the triathlon. Either way, I'll give it a crack!

Yesterday was a hard gym session. Row, bike, sprints and with core in between it all. I felt like throwing up afterwards. I rarely feel sick but in 45 minutes I burned a lot of calories and kept my heart rate up. It hurt.

This morning I rode to gym, swam a couple km and then continued my ride to work. There is something liberating about swimming in between a ride like that. Muscles were all warm so it felt good.

This arvo I am about to ride home. Almost a 20km cruise (sarcastically as normally strong headwind into a very uphill ride home) except today, it looks like a tailwind. Miracles...I am now a believer...

Rest? Please define...

An off-season is generally where one rests a little and decreases the number of training sessions due to no racing. But this is no off-season and my training regime does not understand what the term "rest" means exactly.

To use an example - my last triathlon was Sunday. I went hard. Possibly the hardest to date. I was hurting for the hours after. Monday morning however I got up early and did a swim session. Why? Because like I said before - I think I have forgotten the meaning of rest and besides, there is no space in my regime for rest, if I ever learn to understand the meaning of it again.

You see to some, rest is just so easy. Too easy actually. It is like quitting. It is far easier to quit than it is to keep going. That is common knowledge. So rest is the same. It is far easier not to train, than it is to pick your sorry arse up and get to that training session! And the bottom line is we only have ourselves to blame. This was something I needed to erase from my mind. The mindset that had me on my way home from work, thinking about going for a ride or the gym, except to arrive home and find the television and takeaway were a far easier option. I never quitted anything back in those days as I never began anything to quit from. Back in those days, I knew the term rest and its meaning, as well as rest's parents, siblings and even rest's tenth cousin's best friend's cousin. I knew rest like the back of my hand, or more so, like the cushion on the lounge.

These days I ask - what is rest?

Race summary

To sum the race up could be said in one word - interesting. Yep, I'll explain why.

Swim leg 750m - I was feeling fit going into the race so I decided why not give it a crack? I was confident I had done enough in the pool to give it a crack from the gun. So I did. I looked around after 100m and I was a nigel. I was even a bigger nigel at the first buoy and the second buoy. I was literally a mile in front. I dropped anchor a little coming home but still led out of the water by a comfortable minute.

Transition swim to bike - OK with the shoes. I ain't a pro so I am one of those guys who puts their bike shoes on before heading out. A couple go past me who have their shoes clipped in to bike already. I head out to the course. Down the gutter and bang - there goes my gear chain! Lost about 10 places easily and about 3mins getting the chain back on. Yes, this should be quicker but was still getting my breath back and all the other beautiful reactions one has from a hard swim. In reality, this probably cost me around 5mins to my overall time.

Bike 20km - never felt comfortable. Speed was OK but yeah, was never 100%. I think once you start something like I did, it is always hard to recover thinking you had a good leg. To me, that leg was terrible. Worked hard on the bike leg, but it should have been much easier and quicker.

Bike to run transition - was slow. That's all I got. Mind lost a bit of control about the same time the chain popped out. Body and mind just weren't friends.

Run 5km - was a good run. Despite the bike mishaps, I felt really solid on the run and the time reflects that. Made up around 8 places and gave up none. Good split. Wish it was longer actually.

Overall:

3rd in age group (first triathlon medal) - funny how this happens after the mishaps but I'll take it

13th overall - will take that and run

Time 1:11:07 - was aiming for 1:10 so one can argue this should have been achieved easily

All in all, I can't complain. Mishaps are inevitable in racing and it could have been worse...way worse.

Eating during race week - how important?

A question that I often ponder from time to time is - what should be my eating plan exactly for race week? It is a question that I have never and may never have the right answer for. My gut feeling is (no pun intended) that one should eat whatever they are comfortable eating. Of course exceptions should include high-fat foods, but then if you compete really well off those foods then why not continue? Assuming obviously that these foods don't play havoc with your weight, but they surely would on some internal systems. You just never know with some people!

My eating during race week is usually OK. This week has been good but plenty of room for better. I'm comfortable with the confident feeling I have in that come race day, I will feel fit and ready. That does not mean until then I shall eat as much junk as possible and drink loads of alcohol. I just find myself eating large quantities of good food. I think this is mainly because my training regime demands that I eat a bit more. I sometimes worry that I am not putting enough fuel in my body to compensate for the training. I normally don't ease off too much for race week as I believe this throws me a little out for sorts. If I was doing an ironman event, then I would taper a little for sure.

So what I am getting at? I am certainly not the type to rattle off how many grams of carbohydrates I eat p/week or grams of protein or anything like that. I am definitely not and never will be that extreme with my eating. I believe very much in food being a source of petrol, critical for that thinking for a training regime for triathlons. But I believe in eating as you like, eating to be happy, with the knowledge of understanding your body in terms of eating/training/racing.

Race week!

This weekend will be my 3rd ever race. I shall be competing in the Canberra Capital Sprint Triathlon. It should be fast and I expect myself to really have a crack at it. I am feeling fit and therefore ready to give this my all!

It has been a solid preparation. The main aim is a race in just under a month's time where the distance is almost that of an Olympic distance triathlon. That race is expected to test my physical abilities as it will be the first time (obviously as only my 4th race) I am racing at that sort of distance.

The plan at this stage is simple. This weekend I will endeavour to sprint throughout the race and pull up gasping for breath. Then in 2 weeks I plan on participating in a lake swim of 2.5km essentially top my swimming fitness off. Justification - if I can complete the swim leg of my 4th race (1km) feeling as though I haven't just completed the swim leg, then it shall make the bike and run legs much less painful (I could be dreaming but that is OK isn't it?).

My racing weight will be the lightest it has been come this weekend. Then it probably will be a further 1-2kg lighter in a few weeks time. This is a result of hard training and eating mostly right. You just gotta eat badly every now and then! (except race week!)

Have you ever? Or perhaps - just how often???

A title that can include so much content. But mine is fairly general - sleeping in. How often do you sleep in? Why does it happen? How can you prevent it? All these things could add to the problem of sleeping in. Now before I go on, I rarely sleep in. It just so happened I did this morning for a completely unknown reason.

I had the alarm set for 6:00am with the intentions of a morning swim/run before work. My girlfriend started work at 6:00 so she was off at 5:00 for the daily joy of work. I normally wake up OK to say bye to her but this morning I struggled big time. Next think I know, it is 7:10am and I don't even remember the alarm going off. Whenever I sleep in, my first thought is always - "thank god that clock doesn't say 10am".

So what are the effects of sleeping in? I will not even attempt to go on about this as I am aware of the fragile subject that is sleeping. I tend to try and go to bed and get up on the same times. Or at least the same amount of sleep. On weekends I do the same. I set my alarm on both weekend days to ensure I don't miss out on the day. I found this little article that I consider to be pretty spot-on. The important point to remember is that you cannot catch up on sleep missed. While the body will try its best, it just doesn't happen. It's like the myth of burning off alcohol after a hard drinking session. Alcohol is stored in the liver so it cannot be burned off with any form of exercise. A myth like catching up with sleep. Zzzzzz...

2010 is here...and I am a little slow to begin Blog '10 I know

Well hello to everyone for the new decade of this century!!! My bringing in of the New Year was nothing to rave about. But I did quite enjoy just bringing it in relaxing with my gorgeous girl. I did a lot of kilometres on the road in my car, travelling to see family for Christmas and brother's 21st. It was great as always to catch up with friends and family making the travels more than worth it.

So what is happening in the world of sport? I had last week to really knuckle down and train hard due to still being on holidays. I managed to get in 2-3 sessions per day and really turned up the effort meter on all the sessions. I then drank some beer and went out for dinner for my little brother's 21st on the weekend which undone a little of the hard work but certainly no major effect was incurred.

I did a few sessions on the bike, mainly hitting the hills to get my heart pumping. I should add at this time that I received a heart rate monitor from Santa and to say it is awesome and I have been using it a little is a massive understatement! I love keeping track of my heart rate and logging my sessions. Hopefully this is something I can continue to do throughout 2010. After a few sessions on the bike, I managed to get it in for a well-earned and overdue service. It got the all clear from the bike doctors which was a little unexpected but fantastic.

Next race is Sunday week. A sprint triathlon during the Canberra Capital event which is meant to be very popular and a lot of fun. I think mainly because it is held all around parliament house and the lake, making for nice scenery and all the legs. I am probably fit enough to really go nuts from start to finish. We'll see on race day though.

After this race is the last race of the series here. It is considered a sprint triathlon but it is extremely close to Olympic distance so I know it is going to test every part of me to the maximum. I thrive on a challenge though and this one certainly will be. Will be good to see how I go in terms of my plans to race the Olympic distances in my second season of racing.

I think at this stage I might race a lake swim the week prior to the last race of series, just to top me off but also because I think if swim fit enough, I have a chance of taking the 2.5km swim out. I checked the results of last year for the 2.5km race and back in my open water days, my 3.8km best time was only 7mins slower than the 2.5km winner last year. But when I say back in my open water days, that is when I was a competitive swimmer. Optimistic I am though so I know I would have a serious chance if enough swim fit.

Plenty more training to be done between now and I would say end of April. Then as the cold starts to kick in, I start to wonder about what I could/should do in the winter to keep my fitness up as much as possible. Whilst enjoying the off-season of course!

Race 2 results

A quick one on race 2 results this season. They came in yesterday.

Time - 1:10
Position - 40th overall and 7th in age category
Splits - 34mins/36mins

I thought I went close to negative splitting the race and I wasn't far off. I know exactly the reasoning for not negative splitting it and that was the second leg transitions. Especially the swim to bike second leg transition as that was terribly slow.

On the plus side, I am very happy with my time and my position. It is considerably higher than my first race and still well and truly in the top quarter of the field. Further on the plus side, I know there is a vast amount of improving to do. I could rattle of a hundred things that I can improve on which keeps me highly motivated.

Next race will be mid-January. Then onto the longest one of the season in February which is really going to test me out. Fourth race into my triathlon career and it is almost at Olympic distance. Very keen for it but I know it is going to hurt like a needle to the eye! As per usual though - bring it on!