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

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

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

Running to catch up again

If anyone can pick what song that lyric is from well, you will win a prize...

Really enjoying getting back into my training now, actually loving it which is a good sign. Had a nice easy 10k run today around the suburbs, no ipod or music or any of that crap (i am a firm believer of running with no music) just me, the sound of my breathing, my feet hitting the ground in succession and my heart rate, nothing else...absolutely love it

markus

It's been a while..

Well it's been a while since my last post..heres the goss

After a pretty dissapointing GC, i decided to hit up a 2 day adventure race the Great Southern Adventure Race. Was a pretty interesting race held in Denmark over Saturday and Sunday. Basically cold, wet, extremely windy (30+ knot winds) and sooo swelly (3+ swell). We were sitting 3rd overall after the first day even after a couple of small errors. Which we all felt really happy about.

We started really well on the second day but unfortunetly we had a pretty bad navigational error on the second ride, which put us back down to tenth overall. 200k over 2 days, a really good race with a really good team of people. We will be back next year :) Was a good party that nigh aswell!

See Rapid Ascent.com.au for results and some great photos :)

Anaconda Gold Coast Race Report

Well there are good races and bad races....unfortunetly for the first time in a while i had a bad one..



I rocked into Gold Coast at about 10am Wednesday morning (after a 2 hour delay) and what a shock to the system that was. Having been training in a crappy cold Perth winter, the warm 27 degree weather of the east coast was a pleasant surprise! Nothing but relaxing, a quick visit to Movie World and putting my bike together, then off to bed!



Thursday morning up nice and early for a nice ocean swim, then back to the airport to pick up Rosie yaaay! We then met up with Chad and Sky for an easy run over the run course. This is where problem number 1 presented itself. Just before reaching the summit of the main climb in the run the itb in my left knee decided to go. It was instant pain and i don't know how it happened, but it did :( we were bloody lucky though that a runner that we'd picked up along the way, her husband was waiting for us, so a lift back down was greatly appreciated.



Friday, was time for a ride over the course with Chad, Sky and hot favourite Sean O'neill. T'was all going well until about 10k's in, right in front of me, Andy came off on one of the big down hills. Originally i thought he was knocked out and had a broken arm, but my suspicions were fortunetly wrong and apart from a horribly buckled front wheel he was ok.



Before we knew it Saturday was here and it was time to register, and get my ski dropped off. Problem number 2, wrong ski. However it was a Saturday and there was nothing i could do about it..So we registered went to race briefing, and put are bikes into transition, then straight into bed for an early night.



Race day: Up at 5:30, for a good brekky of Powerbars and bananas, YUM! Then down to the race start, litteraly a 200m from the front door of where we were staying. Was actually a bit rushed to get the wetty on and didnt quite get the warm up i wanted, but not to worry, before i knew it bang the gun went and i was off onto the 1.9k swim! I took a bit of a widder line around the first bouy but still ended up getting pretty knocked around and by the time i got to the "run around the can part" in the first part of the swim, the stronger team swimmers were making their moves. I finished of the swim reasonably strongly, but for some reason my arms just wouldn't fire, so i ended up with a pretty crap swim time.



It was then a short run up the beach back to the lake for the paddle let. F@#k did i struggle to get my gloves and vest on though! After a few harsh words...to my gloves...i was off onto the ski and although it is my weakest leg, was actually feeling pretty good. I'd paddled through the first 3 or 4k of ocean pretty well and then crossed through the surf into the river. Problem 3: long story short, alot, alot of weeds and sticks caught (unknown to me) caught in my rudder for the whole paddle.

From here i put down one of the worst paddles of the day and didnt realise my problem untill lifting my ski out of the water. Unfortunetly i lost alot of energy from here and didnt get to put down a really good run and a solid ride :(

I crossed the line spent and pretty annoyed, but hey you can't win them all...

Untill next time..
Cheers

This week gone (13/09/09)

Well not much to write about this week, so i'll keep it short.
This week has been prettyyyy easy, as i've been working like a dog in both uni and work. Tuesday a nice ride to work with some extra added hills, 30k and an easy (headwind! waahhh) 20k on the way home followed by a small 5k run off the bike!
Wednesday was ment for a swim but long story short wasn't. Thursday, another small run, but i was so fatigued this weeek and couldn't push out anything. Friday was nothing as i had the sorrento challenge on sat.
Saturday came around and we were up into Sorrento with the everlasting support of my amazing girlfriend Rosie, and the amazinggg support of matt and jenn!! And of course can never forget mum and dad.
Well the weather was absolutelyyy shocking, seriously. Massive massive massive swell, and horrible huge wind and rain. I was surpised the race was allowed to go on but it was. First up was the 1.2k 2 lap ocean swim.
I had a shocker, the arms wouldn't fire and i must of swallowed about 3 liters of water. Ahhh well before i knew it i was onto the 7.5k surf ski and into real struggle town. Worst paddle ever, basically.
Massive massive shocking huge swell that was just plain scary to paddle in, shitty shit shit paddle, no need to talk about it haha.
From here i knew the day was just a training run so just cruised through a veryyy easy 35 minute 8k. No point destroying my self for next weekend.
Sunday i was pretty sore so i quick wetsuit swim at Coogee beach and a play on a mates ski. My arms seem to be struggling with the wetty swims atm, but the last two swims have been hugely swelly and rough so not tooo worried.
Well im sitting here watch the taped itu GC race and i don't know who has won yet so exciting!!
Then off to pack, will post again soon friends!
Cheers, Markus

This week gone (05/09/09)

Hmmm well interesting week this week, to allll of my readers haha.
Monday was a rest day YAY, brian decided there was no need for swimming as i'd had a pretty good crack at the half marathon, the afternoon o got of as well. I had the full intention of training on Tues as well but i was still pretty sore with some tight calfs so let that one slip to.
Wednesday was back into it with a good 3.5k set in the pools and a good massage in the arvo.
Thurs was a good day, with a 6k paddle followed by a small run from the ski. Arvo had a nice 20k smash on the bike, not to hard.
Friday was an easy 2.5k swim to head into the weekend
Saturday, up earlt and into the hills with the boys, a massive 8k hill set then straight onto the mountain bike, for a good 14k speed set. Then off to the radio station for a quick interview with the boys (Spriggy and Bartnick) on 91.3 Sport Fm. Good Fun!
Pretty lame week training wise but i've been hitting it pretty hard lately so was good to have an easy one. Pretty hard one planned next week then an easy taper to the Gold Coast, stay tuned

Markus

City to Surf Half Marathon

Well, City to Surf Half-Marathon today, overall....good race.
Up at 4am, getting some good carbs in (my fav of powerbar, banana and a V) then got into the city at about 5 - 5:15 and got a parking spot thank god. After a small debacle with the bag transportation i got to the start line on the front row which i was happy about.
5:59...6:00am....awayyy we gooo! I decided to be a little silly and run with the elite guys (ie o'niell etc) for the first bit over a k, but then shortly realised that this would be silly and i'd blow in another 2 k. So i settled into a good 4 min per k pace. Smashed the first "big hill" and set a really good pace through kings park.
From here i really set my race up. I'd started maybe slightly hard but i knew i wasn't going to run an incredible time with no taper and a tough session yesterday. I'd successfully got through kings park (about 10k) maintaining my 4 min per k pace and i knew i could hold this for the rest of the race, which is exactly what i did. I felt the training i've been doing up in Kalamunda hills alot and i can really notice the difference in my hill pace which i'm really happy about.
Ended up crossing the line in a 1.26, which i was stoked about, but wish i knew a little more about the course as i could of put in a little more in the last 2 k. Not to worry! Was a good training run and am feeling reallyyy good for GC anaconda in a couple of weeks!
Bring it on!

Cheers, Markus