Hawaiian Ironman: The Journey

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

2010 Endeavour Challenge 110km Charity Ride

Its a little hard to find bike races around the place so when this opportunity came up I jumped at the chance! Now I know its a charity ride, and they say its not a race, but I planned on racing and I was sure that others would too!

The morning of the event myself and dean set out very early to make it there on time. It was overcast and raining a little by the time we arrived. What an awesome start to the day

When we arrived we found an open subway so I could fuel up and then I got into my gear ready for the start of the ride. Unfortunately I discovered I left my arm warmers at home, so it could be interesting as no other rider did not have arm warmers on.

The rain for the moment had subsided and I position myself in the front of the pack for the slow start as we departed Toowoomba. It was pretty clear from the start there were going to be a few to race as we quickly lost the majority of the riders forming a pack of around 20 riders.

The pace was hot from the start and before I knew it we had gone through the 45km mark in around 37km an hour. I was sitting at the back of the pack conserving myself not really sure of what the ride would be like.

It was spitting gently as we ride through rolling hills that would continue for the entire 110kms. It was a great experience to ride with a pack and race like cyclists would and it was interesting to note the pack mentality and trying to resist the temptation to attack. We slowly dropped riders until only 8 of us remained. At around 60kms a rider made a break away and I decided to chase it down.

Another rider took off before me and cleared out away from the pack. Coming from the back I built my speed up quickly and shot around the peloton. Unfortunately I did this with quite a lot of pace and before I knew it was I was shooting past the breakaway riders and forming my own.

I decided I was committed so continued the pace for around a Km before hitting a long hill where the pack quickly caught me. And this was the end of my excitement for the day.

By around the 75km mark I was dropped, the rolling hills finally took their toll and I just couldn't maintain the pace of the pack. We were still sitting on around 35kph for the 75km but I was slowing rapidly.

Dean pulled up along side of me in the car for the remainder of the ride, and it really was a struggle. Along the flats I was fine and managed to hit around 36kph but the hills were killing me and dropping my speed significantly.

The pack had stretch to single riders apart from three lead riders. I caught one and another was in my sights over the last 10km but I couldn't catch them.

In the end I was the 5th rider across the line in a time of 3:27:10 a great time and a very fast average speed for me to hold through rolling hills. All in all it was a great training rider and a massive learning curve for me!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Caloundra 3.8km Kings Of the Coast Ocean Swim

May 30th saw me attack my first paced swim for the Ironman Busselton in December. Perfect conditions for it and open water swim through the surf.

It was fairly flat with a bit of assistance from a sweep however it wasn't anything majorly noticeable. Dean and I had discussed at length before the race what I was going to do. I was to swim it like the 3.8km swim of the Ironman so I would be able to get out of the water and ride a 180 - so this swim had to be comfortable and in no way taxing to my muscles.

We both knew I ran the risk of getting excited and trying to go for the win if possible, but I had to think about the bigger picture.

The start was fairly standard of an event such as this, run down the beach into the waves and quickly out past the breakers. I positioned myself near the far flag to give myself the straightest run. I was also surrounded by national & International level swimmers so knew I would be at home and not get stuck behind slower swimmers.

Before long I found my rhythm, something comfortable around 12 or so in the pack. It was fairly choppy on the way out to the first boy so we kept colliding with each other. Around what I can think would have been 1km into the race I started to move through the pack, feeling comfortable and in no way stressed. I could see a group of swimmers starting to move away and wanted to be with that break away.

Around 2.5km I started to feel sick from the waves and vomited 3 times or so, which didn't make things very enjoyable but it was something I had experienced before and knew it would pass.

I was very surprised at the pace and started to make another move, it was slower than I would have expected from this caliber of field, or maybe I was just in good form. Moving into 3rd position with about 1km to go I could see the leaders and really wanted to push it out to catch them, crossing the line first would be a dream.

However I knew I had a game plan to stick to and within another 100m I was caught by the remainder of the group behind me and was relegated to 6th. Crossing the line I felt comfortable and was elated to discover I had swum 41:37 just over 1:05 pace and was confident I could go on to ride a good 180 after this.

All in all it was a very good hit out and I was very surprised to be able to keep up with these guys and still be a contender for the win. In the end 2 swimmers pulled away quite convincingly and won over me by around 2mins but then there was a very close bunch from 3rd to 7th or so. I guess the 16years of swimming endurance work I have done has built a strong enough base for me to still be a good swimmer off only 2 sessions a week - all the bike and run work keeps me fit.

After this swim I am very confident in the 3.8km for Busselton and would be interested to know what the swim course record is, maybe I will have a shot!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Caboolture 120km Ride

This morning I tried out a new route. I went for a ride with my mate Richard Thompson, 2008 18-24 Hawaiian Ironman World Champion (you can check him out here). Recently moving back from Geelong to the sunshine coast he was riding down to Brisbane so I arranged to ride out halfway to meet him.

The first 60km was great. I rode out following Rich's instructions, not so well however, making around 10 round turns and having to come back - luckily my android HTC Magic showed me the right way on google maps!

We had arranged to meet a South Caboolture at around 9am, however he was running a bit late so I winged it hoping to catch up with him. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn onto a freshly torn up rode which was now, due to the rain a mud pit. However I was convinced I would run into him shortly, it wasn’t until I hit a hill where my wheels just spun with no traction that I decided I should turn back.

Finally Rich messaged me and I waited for him around 60km from Brisbane. The ride was a great learning experience. Rich is obviously a fantastic rider and it was great to see what level I need to take it to, to make it to Hawaii.

We discussed many things, but one thing I took away from the ride was using Watts as a training method. It had never occurred to me, I had always used kph as a means of measuring my effort levels. He explained it in very simple terms, and honestly I felt a little foolish for not thinking of it. Basically too riders do a 60km ride. Rider one holds 200 Watts for the entire ride. The other rider fluctuates from 100Watts to 300Watts. They both finish at the same time, however because rider 1 was consistent he is fresher than rider 2 who exerted a lot more energy moving between the power zones.

I would love to be able to do this, however presently don’t have a powertap or SRM, they range from like $1500 - $5000 in price range from what I'm heard. Unfortunately I don’t have that kinda cash, but it has made me more aware of the power I am pushing with my legs and trying to hold it consistent.

By the end of the ride I was destroyed. Every hill Rich got a lead and I had to push to get back to his wheel. It was a great learning experience and it was awesome to have someone to ride with, let alone a Hawaiian Ironman Champion! Can’t wait to do it again!!