Friday, April 27, 2012

First season down, my plan for the next one

So my plan for 2011/12 didn't quite come off. I had planned to do a short course club event with Tomaree (check), a long course with Tomaree (check), a sprint distance in a "big" tri like the Gatorade series( check) and Olympic distance tri - the Sparke Helmore specifically (check) and a half ironman in cairns (fail).

Looking back this wasn't really a bad run for my first year in the sport.   Now, what next? Well I'm thinking this broad plan.

1. Port Macquarrie 70.3 in Oct 12.

2. Gatorade Series (sprint) in Melbourne for the 12/13 season.

3. Cairns 70.3 in June 13.

4. Busselton IM Dec 13.

The thinking behind this plan is pretty simple.

A. Build more endurance til October with 20 something clear weeks to prep for my first really long event.

B. Work on speed for few months (and really enjoy some - comparatively - hell for leather racing)

C. Get back into serious endurance lead-in to my second the half ironman.

D. After my second half, take a week or so off and then launch into another 20 week program for my first full ironman until I hear those words:

YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

That plan means two and a half years from lazy fat arse to ironman. I think that's a nice, realistic plan. Yeah I could do it faster and the magazines are full of stories of people going from zero to hero in less than a year but really, why risk it.  I'm 45 years old, my knees, ankles, shoulders arent what they once were.  I plan to do these triathlons "well", pressing to meet a meaningless schedule in a race against - well - no one - is a recipe for breaking down and achieving nothing.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Training tonite

I hate the wind trainer but sometimes it's the only option.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 9

The Socrates rule.  Be an elitist, not a democrat, when it comes to opinions.

Lots of people (including me) will offer you opinions, rules, ideas, philosophies etc to navigate your way through life.  DO NOT LISTEN TO ALL OF THEM! There is a saying "everyone is entitled to their opinion", that is true.  But it is not true that everyone opinion is worth of being heeded.  Carefully weigh the opinions, and the people giving them, before taking what people say to you to heart.


Monday, April 23, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 8

The Godfather rule. Its not personal, its strictly business.

Michael Corleone. The Godfather.

Very closely related to rule 7, however, subtly related.  Just as the universe will occasionally, or even often, be indifferent to our ideas of justice or fairness so too we and others might appear to be.  I say 'appear' because sometimes we confuse the context in which we and others make their decisions.  If someone doesnt like our paper, our opinion, our ideas, our products its rarely personal.  Its not us, its just something we thought, wrote, did.  I find remembering that and embracing that very liberating.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 7

The Will Munny rule. Deserves got nothin to do with it.

Will Munny. Unforgiven.

Basically, the rule here is to realise the world isnt fair, you have to deal with it as it is and not as you wish it was.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 6

The Omar  rule. A man's got to have a code.

Omar Little

Superficially this is a nice and simple rule but on the other hand, trying to develop, and then live by, a code is no easy task.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 5

5. The Bourne rule. To change you have to really change your identity otherwise you are still just a fat/unfit/unhappy/unsuccessful person on a diet,exercise program/happiness program/trying harder.

(this is one of my more complex rules and one of my most poorly phrased - more work to go)

Monday, April 9, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 4

The Gorilla rule. Dont give up. “Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.”
Robert Strauss

Sunday, April 8, 2012

A painful day. My first withdrawal.

Today I will be withdrawing from my 2.80.20 Cairns. I'm not injured, I'm probably fit enough, I've got the essential gear and I could get the time off so what gives? Basically, while I could just about squeeze everything in that's exactly what it would be, a squeeze. My gravel was reduced go getting there as late as possible, leaving virtually as soon as the race finished, going alone with the family staying behind and with none of the little upgrades( some Aero wheels, bar end Shifters etc) I'd promised myself.

So I could do it I just don't want to start my ironmonger experience that way. So rather than half search it I have withdrawn.

But this is a tactical redeployment, not a retreat from ironman distances. Stay tuned for news on my replacement event.

My ten rules for success, happiness or whatever. Rule 3

The Iron Mike rule. Flexibility. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Mike Tyson

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Sparke Helmore triathlon review

OK, putting aside my performance what did I think of the sparke helmore triathlon overall. Well here goes:

Course. Swim. Brilliant. A little bit of a pain having a start a k and a bit from the transition and bag areas but the benefit of the straight 1.5k swim along the shore to the beach makes that minor inconvenience fade to nothing. Nice cool, but not cold, water. Clear and fresh. Well timed so we were just on the outgoing tide so there was a touch of a tailing current but that was all. Loved it.

Ride. Unique amongst every mainstream tri I've heard of. A really short course, only about 6.6 k per lap and 6 laps. So keeping count was really important. Also the course is super hilly. I reakon I spent about 25% of each lap standing, climbing. I'm not going to say a hilly course is good or bad. Personally I hated it but that probably says more about my climbing ability, or lack of, than the merits of the course. That said, I was disappointed that there was virtually no opportunity to employ 'normal tri techniques of getting down on the bars, getting up to speed and holding it. Instead, with the tight little course, lots of tight corners which often had cyclists three abreast going through them it didn't really feel like a triathlon, it felt like a bike race with a run and swim tacked on.

Run. Like the ride course, the run felt cramped, axis if the organizers simply didn't have enough room to squeeze everything in and so created quite a tight little course that coiled in on itself, wound in and around transition areas, crisscrossed other paths.

Personally I found it difficult to establish a rthymn on this course and never really settled in. On the other hand, this might also have been a reflection of my almost total collapse after the ride. But I think there was more to it that my personal issues. Some quick research I've found it difficult to find too many other 'big' events that require 4,5,6 laps of ride or run courses and I suspect I'm not alone in feeling these tight little courses a bit of a pain.

Overall course design. I've pretty much said it all. The swim course was brilliant mainly for being utterly different to the ride and run. A lovely, open and straight 1500m, a real delight. The ride and run suffered precisely the same problems. The courses were to small, too stop/start, and didn't allow the rider or runner any chance to settle into the event. The amount of energy I had to put into simple tasks like checking my lap count was a distraction I could have done without.

Organisation. Entry was dead easy, registration well organised and the transition areas well set up. The materials describing the event were OK but not great. I assumed there would be a bag check area, and guessed right, but the website and other materials didn't state there would be one or (obviously) where it would be, when it would open, close etc. Also, the course maps were just OK, but didn't really make clear precisely how some of the courses and transition areas would mix and mingle, making the first lap of the run in particular a bit of a voyage of discovery.

Finally, the portaloos ran out of paper, again. (Yes I had spare).

Conditions. I've tacked this bit on the end because it's not really fair to be critical, or positive, of events outside the organizer's control. Basically conditions on the day were mixed. The swim association brilliant. The water was cool, not cold, could have been clearer but it certainly wasn't soupy, and there was an ever so slight tailing tide. The ride was truly awful. The roads were wet and the wind was both strong and unpredictability gusty. Combine this with the very technical course and tight lap and there were lots of slow descents, crowded corners, spills and thrills. Hardcore cyclists might have loved it, I hated it. By the time of the run it had all settled down to be very nice. Some good sun but a gentle cool breeze, the rain was gone, the roads pretty dry and all in all not a bad time at all.


So score? Trying to put aside my personal bias I'd give Sparke Helmore 2012 three stars. I might do this event again next year but it will never be an 'A' race for me again.

Friday, April 6, 2012

My ten rules for success, happiness whatever. Rule 1

Ok, I've been spending a little more time thinking as I ride and run recently but not putting much of anything down. One of the things I've been (mentally) getting back into is how to live my life and I've been wondering if my thoughts would have any value for others. Well the egoism at the centre of all blogging assumes my thoughts are worthy of being distributed so I may as well throw my rules out there.


Note, these ideas are fully formed yet, nor will I promise not to change my mind moving forward (see rule three). But here goes.


1. The Oxygen Mask rule. You have to take responsibility for yourself first before you can really help others.


2. The Budda rule. Our lives cant be accidents - be mindful of what do want, eat, do etc


3. The Iron Mike rule. Flexibility. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
― Mike Tyson


4. The Gorilla rule. Dont give up. “Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.”
Robert Strauss


5. The Bourne rule. To change you have to really change your identity otherwise you are stil just a fat/unhappy/unsuccessful etc person trying something new.


6. The Omar rule. A man's got to have a code.


7. The Will Munny rule. Deserves got nothin to do with it.


8. The Godfather rule. Its not personal, its only business.


9. The Socrates rule. Be an elitist when it comes to opinions.


10. The John Kennedy emergency rule. Ok, all the above rules are based having time to contemplate your navel, carefully consider your options, choose the best and press on in accordance with the plan and following the process. But sometimes life just doesn't give you that time. When its all gone to shit an you feel paralyzed then follow the John Kennedy emergency rule. No, not John Kennedy the US president, yeah he said a few memorable things but he pales against the other great John Kennedy, Australian Football coach during the 60's and 70's. Once when his team was getting belted and the plan was shot to pieces he exhorted his players with this simple dictum:


"At least DO SOMETHING! DO! Don't think, don't hope, do! At least you can come off and say 'I did this, I shepherded, I played on. At least I did something.'"


A man could do worse.