Well it's been way to long since my last blog, so i think it's best to start with my Singapore 70.3 race report.
I arrived in Singapore wayyyy to early Wednesday morning and caught a couple of hours sleep, before meeting up with other friends racing there, namely, the clarkys (pete and caroline) and lauren and her husband mick! These guys were the best crew to hang with taking care of me until my dad arrived on Friday. We spent the few days having a look around Singapore, resting and eating well! I also put my bike together and went for a quick spin, almost dying in the process, those Singaporeans do NOT know how to ride! (No offence).
Before i knew it Friday was upon us and it was up early for a quick swim over the course and then registration! With that done i bummed around for the rest of the day before hitting up the Carbo dinner and making mate with Bryan Rhodes (a top bloke). After a good sleep it was time to get up set up the bike properly and take it down to check in. Another uneventful day and it was off to bed early again.
A 4.30am wake up and it was race day! I grab my stuff in the designated "yellow bag" and headed off for the short walk to transition (about the only good thing about the hotel we stayed in....location). I got there at 5.01am on the dot (i am one of those MUST BE THERE ON TIME kinda people) and with no problems i was set up and out of transition with plenty on time. I had my usual powerbar and banana brekky, with a nice balance of water and powerade. I went for a quick warm up swim in the warrrmmmm ocean then it was down with a powerbar shot, and watch the pro's start!
SIXTY SECONDS! It was game time and i was ready, happy and confident in my prep i knew i was ready for this race and whatever it was going to choose to throw at me. The horn went and it was a mad run to the water. I had a great run down and was the first one in the water and to the first can! Just around the first can, someone flew past me, rather than try and jump on his hip and draft (the most effective place to draft) i decided to let him go, thinking he was probably just an uber swimmer. I settled into a good rhythm with some really realllyyyy annoying person tapping my feet every 2 seconds. I'm all for drafting but a little consideration when drafting off someone i think is called for. It was a two lap course and i came out comfortable after the first lap. I ran around the turn around and was back into the water. Unfortunately starting the second lap i faced a large amount of traffic which made my it a little slower. I decided to swim around most of the traffic rather than straight through and risk coping a stray breaststroke kick. I was the second male out of the water and had a longggg run into transition.
I ran into and found my bike easily, with my swim skin off easily and helmet on straight away. I grabbed my bike and had a good run out of transition, a quick jump and i was onto the bike and by the end of the short road my feet were in my shoes and i was ready to ride the 90k. Within 2k i caught the "uber swimmer" and i was out front with only the rest of the women to catch. I quickly discovered that who ever told me it was a flat and fast course was wrong. It was fast, but NOT flat. Up down flat and repeat 3 times before the turn around and repeat. I rode a good first 30k, and by the end of the first lap i was the first amateur on the course, behind the flying pros.
I started my second lap with confidence, sticking to my nutrition plan. As soon as i started my second lap i heard a motorbike come up behind me, i assumed it was a t/a but as it rode next to me i quickly realised it was a media bike with a camera man! So for the entire second lap, i had a camera man sitting next to or in front of me! This was a really cool experience for me and one i won't forget quickly. The second lap went past quickly and before i knew it i was heading out on my third, with some great support every time i came in from my dad (with splits and words of encouragement), the boys from racers toolbox and other "aussies" watching. Unfortunately my third lap was the worst. I really hit a wall and in other words, bonked. I'm still not 100% sure why but i think it was the combination of the heat and humidity and possibly not quite enough carbs...Anyway i was passed by one age grouper (in my age group) and came into transition with another hot on my heels.
I had another excellent transition, but was quite worried about how i was feeling coming of the last lap of the bike, in the back of my mind i was thinking, "oh crap, am i in for a 2.5 hour half marathon here??" But i didn't have time to think about that for too long, because i was running out of transition in pursuit. I was immediately surprised and really happy to feel the way i felt....excellent!! I was running well instantly and the worries of a 2.5 hour marathon had gone out the window. Because i was at the head of the field the first aid station hadn't been set up which was a bit annoying, but i certainly got a shock when i arrived at the second and put the ICE COLD sponges down my tri-suit, I'm pretty sure i ran the next k as a woman. This was fine by me as it was really starting to heat up. I caught the age grouper in front of me for 1st position in our age group un be known to me (i thought i was still in second) about 5k in and was feeling good.
Dad informed me at the start of the second lap that i was doing well and had a good gap, i was feeling good! I had a pretty uneventful second lap. I just stuck to my plan of running smart and taking something at every aid station. By the time i had finished my second lap however the guy i had passed for second had put some time back into me and was catching up! This is where i decided to really pick my pace up and run the last 7k hard. Unfortunately with about 5k to go, i was caught by a different age grouper in the 20 - 24. (I later found out that this guy was a 2.45 marathon runner so that made it a bit easier to swallow). I ran hard the last few k, constantly checking behind me with no one in sight. I turned the last turn around and with about 300m to go started to really enjoy the moment and got ready for the finish chute.
THEN out of NO WHERE the 3rd placed 20 - 24 age grouper ran up along side me with 70m to go and went for it!! HELL NO was the first thing that went through my mind as he ran past so i quickly jumped behind him, "you are NOT taking this from me" and i went for it. I pumped my legs as hard as they could go and pumped my arms harder...i pulled up next to him and i could feel my legs starting to cramp "not yet, not yet" i was screaming to my legs. Then i realised i was along side him, he was breathing heavy, he was done! I started to pull in front of him, but i didn't let up, i pushed my body harder and harder, the deepest i have ever gone....
COME ONNN!!!!! i yelled as i ran across the finish line and ran through the tape, i had beaten him by a mere 2 seconds. I collapsed and when i woke my eyes there were about 10 photographers standing above me taking pictures. But the greatest thing about that moment was through all those photographers a saw a hand reach through, i grabbed it and it lifted me up. It was the man i had beaten for 2nd, he could not speak a word of English but we both had a huge amount of respect and praise for each other, without having to say a word.
After a short dazed walk i found my dad who, unfortunately hadn't made the finish line in time. I gave a quick call to my family and then went back to see Caroline finish and give her a MASSIVE hug. We then waited for the others and all shared our was stories.
After attending presso's and a quick dinner, everyone was buggered and went off to bed. I was a bit disappointed as i was ready to PART-AY! But it wasn't to be....
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
It's been a while..
Well it has been a while to all my many hundred readers out there (hint: i think there may only be two) i apologise. A busy festive/race season coupled with work has certainly left this blog very much unmaintained. I apologise.
Rightio back into it. The last race i reported from was the Left Bank Triathlon, I've had a couple since then. First back was the State Aquathon champs. I wont bore you with the details, so quite simply, roughest swim i have ever had, coupled with two good runs, result 3rd place. Next up was the City of Rockingham Triathlon. A stella field was around for this one and i knew it was going to be a good race. Unfortunately i just missed the front couple of swimmers in our wave start, but had a generally good swim regardless. A nice quick transition and the bike was over before i knew it. Previously i have come to expect after getting out of the water a flurry of riders to some past, but i have been working on my bike lately so it was nice to see it pay off, with myself actually maintaining my third position through out the whole ride. Onto the run to hold of a challenge from some fast runners and i crossed the line for third in the TWA 20 - 24 category.
Unfortunetly my season took a bit of a bad turn after this and i had a spectacular bike crash one week out from City of Perth Olympic Distance. This led me to have a week with no training (and to miss the Australia Day Triathlon). Sure enough COP came in a flash. I was feeling around 80% fitness, with my shoulder still sore but most of my wounds ok. COP turned out to be a no-wetty swim (i LOVE no wetsuit swims) which i was pretty happy with. Into the water for a quick warm up and before we knew it we were away. I was swimming pretty well considering, but lost a front pack of around 5, which was a little disappointing (i put it down to no swimming for a week and a half). I excited the water 6th, feeling good however. After a silky smooth transition i was onto the bike and getting smashed around by the wind.
The tail wind there was fantastic, but you could tell everyone was suffering in the headwind back. I have taken the approach lately with my riding of purposefully riding into headwinds to build my strength and get a better mental approach to them. Like them or not you are going to HAVE to ride into a headwind some day in a race, so my personal approach is to make them 'your friend' when training.
Unfortunately i had too big a front wheel on my bike, and i lost a couple of minutes overall i believe not being able to control my bike properly, ahh well live and learn. After a reasonable ride it was onto the run, and i was feeling good. I ended up running 39mins and change, and to be honest with a lot left in the tank. So i came out of the race with a few positives and feeling good about my training and where it is heading. (Oh and 6th place).
The last weekend just gone, i decided to hit up the Karri Valley Tri. It has to be one of my favourite races now. Spectacular scenery, awesome race. I had a good swim (with all males starting together) and just missed the male pro's swim pack, this meant i was leading the entire second pack for the rest of the race. After a quick run to transition it was onto the bike and onto the hardest bike course i have ever ridden. My quads were screaming the whole way around but i still managed to put in a pretty good time. Onto the run and i held my own on the slippery hard trail run. Race over 1st in my age group and pretty high up overall (overall results not published yet).
Well now its back to training. With the ultimate goal still being 1st 20-24 age grouper over the line in Singapore 70.3 (half-ironman). My training is really progressing at the moment and i'm really happy with my direction. See you out on the track! Where ever that may be.
Markus
Rightio back into it. The last race i reported from was the Left Bank Triathlon, I've had a couple since then. First back was the State Aquathon champs. I wont bore you with the details, so quite simply, roughest swim i have ever had, coupled with two good runs, result 3rd place. Next up was the City of Rockingham Triathlon. A stella field was around for this one and i knew it was going to be a good race. Unfortunately i just missed the front couple of swimmers in our wave start, but had a generally good swim regardless. A nice quick transition and the bike was over before i knew it. Previously i have come to expect after getting out of the water a flurry of riders to some past, but i have been working on my bike lately so it was nice to see it pay off, with myself actually maintaining my third position through out the whole ride. Onto the run to hold of a challenge from some fast runners and i crossed the line for third in the TWA 20 - 24 category.
Unfortunetly my season took a bit of a bad turn after this and i had a spectacular bike crash one week out from City of Perth Olympic Distance. This led me to have a week with no training (and to miss the Australia Day Triathlon). Sure enough COP came in a flash. I was feeling around 80% fitness, with my shoulder still sore but most of my wounds ok. COP turned out to be a no-wetty swim (i LOVE no wetsuit swims) which i was pretty happy with. Into the water for a quick warm up and before we knew it we were away. I was swimming pretty well considering, but lost a front pack of around 5, which was a little disappointing (i put it down to no swimming for a week and a half). I excited the water 6th, feeling good however. After a silky smooth transition i was onto the bike and getting smashed around by the wind.
The tail wind there was fantastic, but you could tell everyone was suffering in the headwind back. I have taken the approach lately with my riding of purposefully riding into headwinds to build my strength and get a better mental approach to them. Like them or not you are going to HAVE to ride into a headwind some day in a race, so my personal approach is to make them 'your friend' when training.
Unfortunately i had too big a front wheel on my bike, and i lost a couple of minutes overall i believe not being able to control my bike properly, ahh well live and learn. After a reasonable ride it was onto the run, and i was feeling good. I ended up running 39mins and change, and to be honest with a lot left in the tank. So i came out of the race with a few positives and feeling good about my training and where it is heading. (Oh and 6th place).
The last weekend just gone, i decided to hit up the Karri Valley Tri. It has to be one of my favourite races now. Spectacular scenery, awesome race. I had a good swim (with all males starting together) and just missed the male pro's swim pack, this meant i was leading the entire second pack for the rest of the race. After a quick run to transition it was onto the bike and onto the hardest bike course i have ever ridden. My quads were screaming the whole way around but i still managed to put in a pretty good time. Onto the run and i held my own on the slippery hard trail run. Race over 1st in my age group and pretty high up overall (overall results not published yet).
Well now its back to training. With the ultimate goal still being 1st 20-24 age grouper over the line in Singapore 70.3 (half-ironman). My training is really progressing at the moment and i'm really happy with my direction. See you out on the track! Where ever that may be.
Markus
Monday, November 30, 2009
Race Report - Leftbank Triathlon
Well after a few good weeks of training under my belt i decided to give the Leftbank Triathlon a crack.
I'd had a pretty easy week, so i knew i was going to be fresh but hopefully not to fresh - zing. Woke up nice and early, but my usual pre-race brekky of a banana or two and a Powerbar went out the window as i took a bite into my first banana and realised it had been horribly horribly beaten and therefore bruised. Not to worry. Got to the race with plenty of time and got a very good spot on the racks (not numbered). Before i knew it race start had come around and i was floating in the freezing river without a wetty. It was only a 400m swim, so i figured i would loose more time than gain ripping a wetty off after such a short swim.
After a bit over 6 minutes swimming i was out of the water 3rd behind Karl Reindler and some other person, a fast sprint (long run rather) into transition, it was on with my race belt...on with my race belt, i said ON with my race belt! The damm belt buckle had snapped, i lost about a minute trying to tie the damm thing on but eventually got it on. After being passed by a few people without faulty race belts it was back into it, onto the bike. Swim split: 7.21 (including transition).
The bike was a 4 lap 19k ride. What was taxing about this ride was the short and sharp hill at the start of every lap, followed by a deceivingly difficult positive gradient climb to the turn around. This was taxing, but what i found more taxing was the extremely large amount of competitors on course not staying left!! arrghhh!! Remember folks, when not passing please please stay left, no matter how wide the road is. Anywho, i put the foot down and had what i though was a reasonably good ride. kept a pretty reasonable pace through out and was pretty happy. Bike split: 33.31 mins
From here it was off the bike and onto the run. The run was also surprisingly difficult, with it starting flat then turning into a nasty uphill, a turn into further uphill, then a run all the way down, back to the flat and repeat. 4k. I had a reasonably good run and felt good through out, i smashed the last lap and worked my way into 2nd, but wasn't quite running as fast as i want. But hey that's something to work on over the next few weeks. However turns out i had the 5th fastest run split overall, so some good signs there! Run split: 17.55 mins
Final result: 2nd in 20 - 24 age group and 9th overall, with a time of 58.47, so reasonably happy with that :)
Well its back into serious training now, ultimately for Singapore 70.3 in March, but State Sprint Champs is in 3 weeks so looking forward to a good hit out for that!!
Cheers, markus
I'd had a pretty easy week, so i knew i was going to be fresh but hopefully not to fresh - zing. Woke up nice and early, but my usual pre-race brekky of a banana or two and a Powerbar went out the window as i took a bite into my first banana and realised it had been horribly horribly beaten and therefore bruised. Not to worry. Got to the race with plenty of time and got a very good spot on the racks (not numbered). Before i knew it race start had come around and i was floating in the freezing river without a wetty. It was only a 400m swim, so i figured i would loose more time than gain ripping a wetty off after such a short swim.
After a bit over 6 minutes swimming i was out of the water 3rd behind Karl Reindler and some other person, a fast sprint (long run rather) into transition, it was on with my race belt...on with my race belt, i said ON with my race belt! The damm belt buckle had snapped, i lost about a minute trying to tie the damm thing on but eventually got it on. After being passed by a few people without faulty race belts it was back into it, onto the bike. Swim split: 7.21 (including transition).
The bike was a 4 lap 19k ride. What was taxing about this ride was the short and sharp hill at the start of every lap, followed by a deceivingly difficult positive gradient climb to the turn around. This was taxing, but what i found more taxing was the extremely large amount of competitors on course not staying left!! arrghhh!! Remember folks, when not passing please please stay left, no matter how wide the road is. Anywho, i put the foot down and had what i though was a reasonably good ride. kept a pretty reasonable pace through out and was pretty happy. Bike split: 33.31 mins
From here it was off the bike and onto the run. The run was also surprisingly difficult, with it starting flat then turning into a nasty uphill, a turn into further uphill, then a run all the way down, back to the flat and repeat. 4k. I had a reasonably good run and felt good through out, i smashed the last lap and worked my way into 2nd, but wasn't quite running as fast as i want. But hey that's something to work on over the next few weeks. However turns out i had the 5th fastest run split overall, so some good signs there! Run split: 17.55 mins
Final result: 2nd in 20 - 24 age group and 9th overall, with a time of 58.47, so reasonably happy with that :)
Well its back into serious training now, ultimately for Singapore 70.3 in March, but State Sprint Champs is in 3 weeks so looking forward to a good hit out for that!!
Cheers, markus
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
woooottt
If anyone wants to see a great picture of me have a look in the top left hand corner of the cyclebuzz.com.au website (you might have to wait a few seconds for the picture to come up)
haha its fantastic
training going super well, 100k ride sun with 5k run off the bike (ouch), 3.2k swim mon morning, 12k run arvo, 2.3k swim tues, and 10k track work (running) in the arvo, that was toughhhh. off for a swim this arvo as i missed it this morningggg. and then looking forward to getting smashed by sean tomoro morning for our weekly time trial (please sean no more 20k blocks at 330 watts!)
cheers peeps
markus
haha its fantastic
training going super well, 100k ride sun with 5k run off the bike (ouch), 3.2k swim mon morning, 12k run arvo, 2.3k swim tues, and 10k track work (running) in the arvo, that was toughhhh. off for a swim this arvo as i missed it this morningggg. and then looking forward to getting smashed by sean tomoro morning for our weekly time trial (please sean no more 20k blocks at 330 watts!)
cheers peeps
markus
Friday, November 13, 2009
Easy week back into training
Well, its good to finally be at full health again (touch wood) and be able to train properly again. Ive got a couple of pretty easyish weeks before my proper block of training on prep for Singapore 70.3.
I'm really really glad because I've been really enjoying my training lately. All aspects my swimming, riding and running. I've also started attending a 'body balance' class once a week which is a mix of tai chi, yoga, pilaties and stretching which i think will be a good thing for just general flexibility and muscle work.
This week i managed 10k of swimming (with missing the mon swim) i did a double swim on fri which was tough but really good. 250k of riding including 3 x 20k tt on thurs in which we pushed (myself and sean) 320 watts for the last 20k farrrkkkk that was tough. Only 25k of running this week, but got some good speed work done.
I'm happy where I'm going at the moment and look forward to the next few weeks and definitely the start of December where i can really let loose. Will keep you updated
Cheers
markus
I'm really really glad because I've been really enjoying my training lately. All aspects my swimming, riding and running. I've also started attending a 'body balance' class once a week which is a mix of tai chi, yoga, pilaties and stretching which i think will be a good thing for just general flexibility and muscle work.
This week i managed 10k of swimming (with missing the mon swim) i did a double swim on fri which was tough but really good. 250k of riding including 3 x 20k tt on thurs in which we pushed (myself and sean) 320 watts for the last 20k farrrkkkk that was tough. Only 25k of running this week, but got some good speed work done.
I'm happy where I'm going at the moment and look forward to the next few weeks and definitely the start of December where i can really let loose. Will keep you updated
Cheers
markus
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