Back on track

Another good couple of weeks in the bag and things are looking good for port mac 70.3 in 6 weeks.

I have been continuing on with my ultra mega bulk lotsies swim routine, and it finally seems to be paying off with a super fast and surprising 1k tt time in the pool last wednesday. Lets just say the coach and my self were pretty impressed. It's good to finally see some improvement on this front.

On the cycling front, last tuesday i committed to 20 minutes of pain with my main training man seano. We both committed to a ftp test on the bike. Lets just say the theme of the morning was pain sweat and tears, but damm it felt good :) we were both super psyched with our results and have already started to put in the information gained from the test with the information we gained from a chat with one of the head wais cycling coaches into our training. I think we are both really going to see some great improvements in our cycling. I can't thank sean enough for the use of his power meter lately, it has been a HUGE help



I'm also finally back doing some goodish running miles and just this morning clocked a 1.18 at freo half marathon (course was measured as 21.5k mind you). I felt super strong and finished the run with two 3.30 k's, it felt good....well not literally..





In other news I've been lucky enough to pick up some help from On shoes. http://www.on-running.com/ seriously check them out. They are a really revolutionary shoe and I am really enjoying running in them. Get on them if you are looking for something different in a shoe! Below is a quick snap in me in them after the freo half.



Apart from that it's business as usual, just training away and working hard. Exciting!! :D

Until next time ;)

Back blogging

Well after a bit of a break, thought I should post something new, why? I'm not to sure to be honest....anywhooo, enough of this awkwardness!!

So last time I posted I was injured and sick, well that lasted for about 3 weeks, not good, but that's life. I had a good rest I guess, and now I am back into it. I've had some good progress

Back in the pool swimming way too much and making some good, millisecond, gradual improvements (it always seems to be the way with swimming for me), but I'm feeling better and better and making gains where needed.

On the riding front, I am riding more than ever and feeling better and better every day. Riding old papas every Thursday morning is doing wonders (now I am no longer getting dropped) and coupling that with road racing on saturdays is doing wonders. I've had a couple of victories at road racing and come close in a few more instances. My view is I go there to work (and not sit in the pack) and it's really improving my abilities ten fold.

Finally the running is going surprisingly well. I've actually been doing a minimal amount of running but that didn't show at last weeks city to surf half marathon where I ran a 1.19. I was super pleasantly surprised with this and it gave me a heap of confidence.

I'm also smashing out some good gym and core workouts and I can honestly feel the difference in all of my disciplines.

As for what's up next, well I have the Fremantle half in a couple of weeks, continued road racing, and it's time to start the wetty swims. Port Mac is 8 weeks (and 1 week taper) away, so things are really getting serious. Love it.

I'm really running through the SiS stuff at the moment and loving it, so thanks again guys!

Hrm this seems to be a no picture blog, that is way to boring...I'll see what I can find...

Gah nothing! Welll 'till next time, which will hopefully be sooner..

Markus

pre-season update

Well...I had to say it didn't I..

A week after blogging about a great pre-season, I've struck a little sickness haven't I..

Not to worry though, happens to the best of us and truth be told it's probably given the body a little chance to recover from the gym work and different stuff I've been doing this pre season. Unfortunetly however, it means I had to DNS road racing and state 10k champs on the weekend, something I was really looking forward too..

However I am happy to say in the off season I've picked up some support from SIS Australia (through http://www.triathlontribe.com/), http://www.scienceinsport.com.au/ have a visit of their site! Great products which I've used before and look forward to using this season as well :) Trust me you'll love their stuff, if it's good enough for the Schlecks, Berkel etc then I think they are onto something good ;)

Apart from that I'm off for a one week holiday with the fam next week, I stressed a little until I found out the cruise ship we are boarding has a full on gym and an endless pool - WIN!

Keep training, keep warm, keep classy (see below) and keep cheering on Cadel!

Cheers

pre-season 2.0

Well finally having a good pre-season, what a nice change :) (touch wood!! touch wood!!!)

Im swimming a LOT, but funny thing is I'm starting to feel like a swimmer? Weird, but swimming is becoming more and more enjoyable, and a heated pool is helping a lot.

Gym, my god, this is embarrasing. It is seriously embarrasing going to the gym, but I have to swallow my pride haha. Although I must say I do enjoy going and watching the 'not-so-ultimate-fighters' do their work outs.. veryyyy entertaining. But I am seriously starting to feel some good strength come through, loving it, first time in my life!

Riding is getting there. Although these cold mornings are NOT helping. I am learning to love my wind trainer, over 2 hours the other day :/ almost a record for me, how do you people do it? Getting back into some good road racing as well (managed to grab a couple of wins through breaks) and hit up a 20k tt this morning at champion lakes, ouchies. Loving it though!



Running, well finally a pre-season with no injuries (touch wood again) I've done a few running racing and for a build phase I am actually pretty happy :D 10k tt in a couple of weeks and the 21k half to test the legs will be funsies. Loving the off road too.

Over all a really good few weeks getting back into it. New motivation and new goals, it's all really looking good. Now to try and post more. Stay warm, and try and get some sleep during the tour..

Cheers

a frank and 'better late than never' season review

well...better late than never i guess

It's been way to long and there is way to much to catch up on so it'll be pretty brief.

Busso was a disaster unfortunately. After an average (and i do mean that i should have been faster) swim, my day was over 45k into the bike. The most soul destroying part about this is i dont know why. Smart pacing, nutrition etc, but my body decided it wasnt to be. No power on the bike (i know, i was using a power meter) and i felt good on the run for about 4 of the long 21.1k - quite simply not to be.

Since then i have had a lot of time to soul search, and disect by below par performances for the season. In my eyes i performed well below what i was capable of this season, unfortunetly the most annoying part about that fact is that i think it can all be attributed to myself.

So i thought i'd write a blog about it, enjoy.

Gold Coast: Here i believe i was the fittest i have ever been, except for my swimming. Going into this race i had a SOLID pre season behind me of road racing (even having won a few) and some really strong running, having run a 1.18 at the city to surf half. I swam ok (just under 30 mins for the 1.9k) and got onto the bike feeling good, i was riding super strong for 70k and was well on track for a 2.20ish bike time, then boom flat tyre. I panicked and lost 15mins on the bike. I finally got off and ran a 1.20 of the bike, however the damage was done. (6th place)

This is where my season ended.

After putting in so much effort and having something like that stop me in my tracks and take away a solid result, i broke. I got depressed about training and racing and did sweet all untill January. what a loser!

New Zealand: I honestly felt a little foolish heading into this race, i really literally had bugger all prep under my belt. However it really took the pressure off and i was really enjoying my self. Race morning and i was actually looking forward to it. Another eh swim (sub 30) and i was onto the bike feeling really excellent :) for the whole 90k, it was great, and i rode about a 2.25. Onto the run and i was on track to run a sub 1.24 but fell apart in the last 5-6ish k. Seriously, you know how no matter how bad you feel in a race, the last k with the crowd there is always super fast? yea well i did mine in like 6 minutes haha! Completely expected, but this race really bought my confidence back, and i did a 4.25 :) (3rd)




After this race i went straight to the tour down under and got some solid training done in Adelaide :) it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life :)




I really found my motivation again but having so long off before NZ i was really struggling to find form again :/

Singapore: by the time Singapore came around i was starting to feel really good again, but this time i made some real shitty mistakes that made a potentially great performance just a good one. 1. i got really dehydrated the day before the race (by running from transition back to my hotel in the midday sun) and loosing the front two boys in the swim after a really really stupid error. Pretty good swim, but then i had instant and constant cramps for 90 whole k's on the bike. It was depressing and painful and f*ck it sucked. I got off that bike the angriest i have ever been and ran myself into the ground. I dont regret that decision for a second and i would do it again and again. It needed to be done, i wasnt going to catch the two infront pissing around. I ran 3.45's for 12k then found a dirty big scary dark deep hole. Seriously about 75 meters before the finish line i saw my mum on the side of the road, i ran up to her and said "i dont want to do this any more :(" she literally had to push me away haha. (3rd)



But my hunger was back, i made my self hurt and i loved it.

In between then and busso, i was really focused, i worked on my swim and let everything else take care of itself. I got a power meter and ran smarter.

Busso: Man i f*cked this one up for my self. 2 weeks before i did the relay for life, this let the fatigue really set in. 1 week out i ran for over 2 hours in one run. idiot. It actually wasnt intentional but when you get stuck out in the bush with a group of mtn bike riders and home is over half an hour away 1.30 hours in you have no choice. 1 day out from the race i rode, ran and swam and got a massage, inbetween that i was on my feet all day, idiot..again. Race day came around and all of this caught up to me, game over. (6th)




The most annoying part of this self assessment if you will is that almost all of this was preventable. The flat wasnt but the unecessary down afterwards was. As was everything else.

But ive had a couple of weeks to dwell on that and i am done :)

One things for sure, next year, next season rather, i need to lift, not give any excuses, get my sh*t together and perform.

Last weekend started a new pre season and i cant wait :) demons need to be settled and revenge served.

Also, massive props to a few friends through the season. Johan had some stunning preformances and is the real deal, good on you mate. Andy you had a great season mate and topped it off with a huge performance at busso. awesome. just remember i did beat you this season...once.. :/ haha. Seano had a killer at Busso and is a constant constant inspiration to me, thank you mate. And my GF paige ended with a 3rd in her age group for triathlete of the year and a killerrrr bike leg at busso, im so proud :)

A thanks to everyone that was there for me this season :) my parent and fam who cheered me on literally at every race including singas :) best family ever. My training buddies and others for their constant help and advice. Especially sean jermy. Finally Paige Bowman that has been there for me every second of this past season. You'll never know how much you mean to me :)

So bring on next season! Train hard and there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing :P