Australian Triathlete Magazine - 2015 Kona Souvenir Edition

K o n a sou v e n i r e d itio n Nov/DEC 2015 ISSUE 23.1

JFrAodNeno of The greatest all time!

CONTENTS

12

FEATURES

REGULARS

12 ironman world championships kona

44 tech talk

We bring you all the action and highlights from the biggest race of the year, on the Big Island.

This month’s installment uncovers the story behind the brand, roadtests key products and shines the spotlight on all things tech.

26 kona age group stories

52 save, spend, splurge

This year’s age groupers share the ups and downs of being a part of the big race.

Whether you’re on a budget, or have cash to burn, choose the right set of wheels for you.

32 instapics

54 follow the swallow

Spot yourself (or a friend) in our Kona edition of Instapics!

40 thorsten radde We shine the spotlight on the German stats man behind famed athlete ranking website, TriRating.

Jodie Swallow talks about performance evaluation after a big race

57 sexton’s scribble Brendan Sexton tracks a triathlete’s journey to their own Holy Grail.

74 nutrition

Cover story

Who knew food had such an effect on your mood? We look at what to consume to beat the post-Ironman blues.

58 sirius musings

80 holistic endurance

78 from the kitchen

Siri Lindley dives into the psychology of an injured athlete and how to deal with it.

JAn Frodeno – Kona’s newest King relishes his role as champion.

Sarah Grove gives us tips on how to deal with race day disappointment.

Triathlon’s fave nutritionist, Margaret Mielczarek, is bringing spinach back.

96 words with willy 87 14-week training program (70.3)

40

44

Dan Wilson recounts tales of being lost in a foreign land.

Xavier Coppock of Tri TEAM Coaching sets out a 14-week training program to get you ready for a Half Iron Distance race.

KO n A S O U v E n I r E d I T I O n Australian Triathlete

Nov/DEC 2015 ISSUE 23.1

Issue 23.1 NOV/DEC 2015 Jan Frodeno - The Greatest Of All Time

50

64 PP341999/00020

Issue 23.1 2015 AUS $8.95 inc GST

www.oztri.com.au

www.oztri.com.au

JAN

Frodeno The greatest all time!

of

Cover: Jan Frodeno Photography: Korupt Vision

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| Australian Triathlete

FINISH WITH FLYING COLOURS

IN THE GEL-NOOSA TRI 11

The latest GEL-Noosa Tri features an upper with minimal stitching, delivering improved fit and comfort. This model is built for triathletes going for a fast bike/run transition followed by a blistering run to the finish line. Also available in men’s colours.

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ASICS is a proud sponsor of the Noosa Triathlon Multisport Festival

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IT’S A BIG WORLD. GO RUN IT

Editor’s Note

WeLcome I have just landed back in Australia from the Big Island after a massive couple of weeks watching the best Ironman athletes in the world prepare and race the holy grail of our sport - the Ironman World Championships. Not for one moment do I take for granted the unbelievable opportunity I have been given to be able to witness first hand some of the extraordinary performances that occur on this oh-so-special island.

Jan Frodeno became arguably the most successful all-round triathlete we have ever seen in our sport. One particular highlight was watching Frodo or Frodissimo or FrodoXpress (as I nicknamed him) announced he will soon become a dad, along with wife and Aussie legend Emma ‘Snowy’ Snowsill at the finish line. It was clear life simply does not get much better for our coverman!

Daniela Ryf has gone from a relative unknown just two years ago to earning herself two word titles this year alone – an outstanding achievement. Then you have our two very special age group world champs, Levi Maxwell and Ben Bell who represented our country at the highest level. And speaking of Aussie pride, Liz Blatchford earned herself another Kona podium and it was a joy to watch her cross the finish line with a smile from ear to ear.

Not to mention the fact she let AT ‘borrow’ her hubby aka Korupt Vision for most of her prep time - allowing us to do the most comprehensive pre-race coverage ever.

Check out the beautiful spread on pages 12 - 26. If you missed our pre-race videos, head to our social media pages (Facebook: Australian Triathlete Magazine, Twitter: @OzTri & Instagram: @AusTriMag still worth a viewing.)

And a special mention to Australia’s first ever military representatives – I had

the pleasure of meeting Colin, Megan, Holly and Josh in person and to Megan for getting herself a famous salad bowl for being the first female military athlete – massive congrats!

Kona is for most not about numbers, it’s not about PBs and finish times; it’s so much more pure than that. It is one of the most challenging race courses on the planet, being raced in seriously brutal conditions and the experience of getting to that finish line is something to treasure for a lifetime. We are so proud to feature nearly half of our amazing age group races on pages 28 – 36, but I’d like to say, you’re are all superstars in my eyes.

There are so many exciting things happening at AT right now so if you’re a first time reader – welcome! If you’re a loyal follower, thanks for the continued support.

One of the most exciting things to happen is this edition itself – our team has worked tirelessly at home and away to get this magazine to print just five days post-race. This was a challenge I set my team months ago and I’m extremely proud to say we did it! For the first time ever, we have produced a live digital version within days of the race and are the first to hit cyber newsstands.

We hope you enjoy this edition as much as we do!

WIN

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| Australian Triathlete

PUBLISHER Ross Copeland EDITOR Aimee Johnsen deputy EDITOR Manveen Maan ART DIRECTOR Andy Cumming Photo EDITOR Korupt Vision Advertising manager Scott Llewelyn Production, Administration & subscriptions Gina Copeland

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AUSTRALIAN TRIATHLETE Australian Triathlete is published 11 times per season. All material in this issue is copyright © 2015 Publicity Press Pty Ltd. All rights are reserved. No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the Publisher or Editor. Articles represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the Publisher or Editor.

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SIMPLY FASTER P-SERIES Cervélo Triathlon/Time trial bicycles have won more pro races than any other, and they are by far the most popular bicycles at Ironman and time trial events for athletes of all levels. In fact Cervélo has won the Hawaii Ironman bike count for the last 10 years running.

Cervélo Athlete: Caroline Steffen

Photo: Korupt Vision

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Rotor 3D30 BBright crankset. 3T Aura Bars. $6200 rrp.

Specifications subject to change without notice. Cervelo and Vroomen-White Design are trademarks owned by Cervelo Cycles Inc. or used under license Australian Triathlete | 5 For more information: cervelo.com

Undercover News and launches © Delly Carr/ITU Media

Brought to you by

© Janos Schmidt/ITU Media

© Delly Carr/ITU Media

Gwen Jorgesen and Javier Gomez joined the history books

J

avier Gomez of Spain became the most successful man in ITU World Championship history. While he had to settle for second place at the race in Chicago to countryman Mario Mola, his second place was enough to secure his fifth world championship crown “I think it is great. I can’t understand it yet, I sometimes can’t comprehend doing something like that in the last few years.

It is just amazing,” Gomez said on collecting his fifth title. “Today I felt good, I had a great race. I felt really good on the race, I just couldn’t beat Mario—he was just too strong. But I am really pleased on getting the title and on the podium.”

For Jorgensen, she was able to continue for amazing winning streak of 12

on the trot, a feat never achieved in the history of the ITU WTS. This race saw Jorgensen be pushed harder than any other race and she was only able to break away in the final 2.5km. The perfect, undefeated season, also earned her a perfect score in terms of rankings and she was crowned the ITU World Champion for the second year in a row.

“This is just crazy, I never thought I would be unbeaten this season, to be able to perform on so many different days when I am not feeling, hilly courses, it just doesn’t seem real, ” said Jorgensen.

Brits Non Stanford and Vicky Holland both performed well earning themselves podium finishes, which secure their slots to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

How the Aussies fared in Chicago

How the Aussies fared in Columbia Threadneedle Top 50 Rankings

Men

Men n

Ryan Bailie

7th

Ryan Bailie

6th

Aaron Royle

10th

Aaron Royle

9th

Courtney Atkinson

24th

Jake Birtwhistle

37th

Dan Wilson

38th

woMen Emma Moffat

12th

woMen

Charlotte McShane

13th

Emma Moffatt

10th

Ashleigh Gentle

14th

Charlotte McShane

15th

Gillian Backhouse

27th

Gillian Backhouse

25th

Erin Densham

50th

Erin Densham

31th

Emma Jackson

60th

Emma Jackson

32th

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Jake Birtwhistle U/23 World Champion Overcoming a grade one tear in his hamstring, Jake Birtwhistle was crowned the ITU U/23 World Champion. Birtwhistle joins an impressive line up of previous champions to take this title for Australia including Brad Kahlefeldt, Annabel Luxford, Emma Jackson and training partners, fellow Gong Wizards Aaron Royle and Charlotte McShane.

Birtwhistle was quick to praise the efforts of team physio Sullivan, who put a detailed daily plan together for the young star.

“Dean said at the time I would be right to race but I think he was a bit optimistic,” said Birtwhistle. “I did everything I could and with the help of Triathlon Australia and the team we were able to get on top of it and manage it and I’m glad I was able to come out here and get a good result and I have to thank them as well.

Sullivan managed the plan, which Birtwhistle stuck to religiously, right down to the final sprint. “He ran at 90 per cent yesterday and we were waiting to go 100 per cent over the final 200 metres – it is so pleasing when a plan works and so happy for Jake – if anyone deserves this win he does,” said Sullivan.

Young guns Declan Wilson (22nd) and Matthew Baker (25th) finished in the top 25 showing a great future.

On the women’s side Another Gong Wizard, Natalie Van Coevorden had a great race finishing seventh.

© Delly Carr/ITU Media

© AT

Aussie Age Groupers get amongst the medals in Sprint Championships: 3 Gold, 4 Silver 1 bronze Australia’s Age Groupers collected a total of eight medals in the ITU Age Group World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Chicago – winning three gold, four silver and one bronze.

Geelong training partners Kate Bramley and Shari-Ann Livingston led the way in the morning, taking the gold and silver quinella in the 25-29 age group.

They had a noisy and colourful contingent of Australian family and friends cheering them on as a constant flow of green and gold crossed the line.

Chiming in with gold for the men were former Freshwater surf lifesaving champion, Robbie Pickard, who has made just as big a name for himself in triathlon over the past 40 years, and Stephen Purnell from Victoria in the 70-74 years age group.

The three other silvers went to Sally Musgrove (50-54 years), Jane Mountford (NSW) 65-69 years and Craig Davies (WA) 25-29 years with bronze to Jo Ryn Tan (VIC) in the 20-24 years.

woMen 16-19 YRS:

Grace Hoitink

ACT

8th

20-24 YRS:

Jo Ryn Tan

VIC

3rd

25-29 YRS:

Kate Bramley

VIC

1st

Steph Livingston

VIC

2nd 9th

Alexandra Brown

VIC

35-39 YRS:

Claire Hawkins

WA

6th

50-54 YRS:

Sally Musgrove

NSW

2nd

Ana Oertel

QLD

8th

65-69 YRS:

Jane Mountford

NSW

2nd

70-74 YRS:

Janice Iredale

NSW

6th

20-24 YRS:

Christian Huang

NSW

5th

25-29 YRS:

Craig Davis

WA

2nd

woMen

Ryan Constance

VIC

7th

30-34 YRS:

Ben Wright

VIC

6th

35-39 YRS:

Luke Tuddenham

40-44 YRS:

Hugh Bonney

50-54 YRS:

VIC

7th

NSW

10th 5th

Barry Bodsworth

(VIC)

David Kelly

(QLD)

7th

Michael Pratt

(VIC)

8th

(VIC)

10th

55-59 YRS:

Clint Bain Mark Windsor

(NSW)

4th

65-69 YRS:

Robert Pickard

(NSW)

1st

70-74 YRS:

Stephen Parnell

(QLD)

1st

75-79 YRS:

Peter Bennett

(QLD)

5th

Aussie Para team’s Chicago gold rush

T

here was an Australian gold rush at the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Chicago with our paratriathletes winning three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The Australians, under head coach Corey Bacon, showed why they are quickly becoming a major international force with the team making its presence felt just 12 months out from the sport’s debut at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Bill Chaffey, Sally Pilbeam and Katie Kelly all won gold in a 30 minute gold medal spree and Australia managed to challenge the USA for overall supremacy tying with the host country for most gold (three) and most medals (seven).

But it was the 13-strong Australian Para team that was once again led by outstanding Gold Coast wheelchair athlete, Chaffey, with a record fifth world title, who were the stars of the day.

“It’s an unbelievable and an overwhelming feeling. I’m now a five-time world champion. It does feel funny to say but it’s something no one can take from me,” said Chaffey.

The strong presence of green and gold also saw defending champion Sally Pilbeam from WA win back-to-back crowns and the ACT’s vision impaired athlete Katie Kelly win her first world title.

Chaffey (PT1) and Kelly (PT5) also qualified Australia two all-important quota places in their classifications for Rio– major steps forward in the sport’s pathway to the Paralympic Games.

Pilbeam, the Perth schoolteacher and mother of two, who lost her right arm to cancer, successfully defended the title she won in Edmonton last year in the PT3 category and she had company on the podium. It was a 1-2 quinella for Australia with Melbourne’s Kerryn Harvey, who lost her right arm after an accident, taking the silver in her world championship debut.

There was silver to another debutant, Queensland’s wheelchair athlete Emily Tapp in the PT1 class.

While Kate Doughty, the former international Para-equestrian star and right arm amputee showed that her decision to swap her horse for a bike was a good one.

She won bronze in the PT4 Class at her first world titles.

Justin Godfrey also won bronze in the PT3 Class after crashing from his bike.

Kelly, who suffers from Ushers Syndrome, was pronounced legally blind six months ago and is also profoundly deaf.

“What a feeling, I can’t believe it, my first world champs, to finish is a great achievement but to come over the line first whoo whoo,” Kelly said.

“Every time I race with her she gives that little bit extra and that’s exactly what she did today. You couldn’t ask for a better athlete… she’s the one that put the most effort into today,” said Jones.

Australian Triathlete |

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Undercover Tri products

GIANT UNVEILS ALL-NEW TRINITY TRIATHLON BIKE AT KONA

G

iant has officially launched its all-new Trinity triathlon bikes.

The new range of composite triathlon bikes includes two series: Trinity Advanced Pro and T rinity Advanced.

The flagship Trinity Advanced Pro model, which is being raced at Kona by Ironman pro Tim Van Berkel, features Giant’s AeroSystem Shaping Technology and a number of innovative triathlon-specific features including the AeroVault integrated hydration and storage system to give triathletes a built-in advantage on race day.

The final version of the Trinity Advanced Pro was tested alongside four key competitors at the wind-tunnel, going against the Cervélo P5, Scott Plasma 5, Trek Speed Concept and Specialized Shiv.

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“We tested each of these bikes with and without their hydration and storage units with the goal of understanding which would be the most aerodynamic in a race-ready configuration,” said Giant On-Road Category Manager Nixon Huang. “The Trinity was competitive with the others when tested bare. And with the add-ons necessary for real-world triathlon racing, it was not only the fastest, but it was also the only bike that proved to be more aerodynamic with its hydration and storage components than without.”

One of the most distinctive elements of the Trinity Advanced Pro design is its integrated AeroVault System, which gives triathletes easy access to hydration, nutrition and race essentials such as tools and spare tubes. The AeroVault’s front hydration unit provides up to 700

milliliters of volume and additional hydration comes with the AeroVault downtube bottle, a 440-milliliter unit that’s optimised and hidden from the wind by the frame’s specially designed downtube.

The AeroVault storage box is integrated into the top tube behind the stem. It provides 290 milliliters of storage for on-bike nutrition or spare items. It can also house the junction box for Shimano Di2 models, allowing easy adjustments and battery charging.

The frameset is now offered in four frame sizes instead of three.

The range of new Giant Trinity triathlon and TT bikes will be available from November – for more information head to www.giant-bicycles.com/Trinity

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Undercover Tri products

Zipp Firecreast Reborn The wheel that changed everything now improved with 77/177 hubset

Zipp Launch 808 NSW

T

he Zipp NSW Series is a science, a philosophy and a mission to engineer the fastest, most stable and highest performance cycling components ever realized.

Within the NSW Series, Zipp will develop and refine halo-level products with our most advanced technologies on an ongoing basis. The focus is on transforming innovative ideas into tangible gains in speed. NSW – for Nest Speed Weaponry – comes from the nickname “The Nest” Zipp engineers gave to the windowless, high-security advanceddevelopment lab in the corner of the Zipp factory. It’s where only the best fledgling ideas fly.

“Zipp NSW is basically the most advanced development technology that

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| Australian Triathlete

Zipp has at that time,” said Michael Hall, Zipp Director of Advanced Development As the inaugural wheelset in the NSW Series, the Zipp 808 NSW Carbon Clincher offers a new rim shape with greater aerodynamic efficiency and reduced side force as well as a new hubset for increased durability and less drag. The 808 NSW, with a rim depth of 82mm, is designed for triathletes, time trialists or any cyclist looking for increased speed and stability.

Zipp 808 NSW technology already has been ridden to two world championship titles with Jan Frodeno of Germany winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Austria and the Ironman World Championships in Kona.

Zipp’s Firecrest® wheel lineup and its specialty 202 Tubular climbing wheelset revolutionised what’s possible with high-performance carbon wheels.

Purpose built for every cycling situation, these wheels have been ridden to victory in the world’s greatest races. They’ve also helped cyclists across the globe break barriers and discover the joy (and science) of speed.

Think high speed, low maintenance.

The same great Firecrest rim, with its unmatched aerodynamic efficiency and crosswind stability, is now laced to the new maintenance-free 77/177 hubset.

This improvement is being made to the entire rim-brake Firecrest lineup – from 202, 303, 404 and 808 Firecrest models – as well as the 202 Tubular.

The addition of the 77/177 hubset raises Firecrest to a whole new level: Best-inclass durability and improved bearing protection with no pre-load adjustment needed. Zipp’s exclusive resin for Firecrest is based on materials used in motorsports breaking system to effectively tolerate incredible spikes in heat caused by braking. The result: No heat related failures for Firecrest Carbon Clinchers.

404 FIRECREST CARBON CLINCHER

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404

Zipp’s Firecrest lineup is reborn. Think high speed, low maintenance. The

Kailua-Kona, 2015 On a drama filled day that saw early bike spills, mechanicals and one big withdrawal, it was Jan Frodeno and Daniela Ryf who reigned supreme.

Photography by Korupt Vision & Australian Triathlete Magazine

Australian Triathlete |

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2015 Ironman World Championships

Top: The mass swim start is an impressive sight from above (©Ironman) BELOW: Rachel Joyce, Brent McMahon (©DellyCarr/BahrainEnduranceMedia) LEFT: Caroline Steffen

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| Australian Triathlete

Above: Andreas Raelert TOP RIGHT: Heather Jackson MIDDLE (L-R): Tim Van Berkel, Annabel Luxford, Jodie Swallow.

BOTTOM: Mary Beth Ellis

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Features

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Australian Triathlete |

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2015 Ironman World Championships

TOP: Rachel Joyce BOTTOM (L-R): Andreas Raelert, Jan Frodeno, Liz Blatchford.

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| Australian Triathlete

Features

BE ONE WITH YOUR BIKE During a Body Geometry Fit session, a trained specialist will assess your individual needs and systematically tailor your bike position and equipment to your body - for both your TT or road bike. Body Geometry is the only complete system of products and bike fit that's ergonomically designed and scientifically tested to improve power, endurance, and comfort. To find your local Body Geometry Fit specialist, visit Specialized.com Australian Triathlete |

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2015 Ironman World Championships

Above (L-r): Daniela Ryf, Michelle Vesterby CENTRE (L-R): Tim O’Donnell, Luke Bell BELOW: Camilla Pedersen

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| Australian Triathlete

Features

YES, YES, I’M I’M ALWAYS ALWAYS CHANGING CHANGING TODAY TODAY II WANT WANT TO TO WIN WIN AND AND TO TO LOSE. LOSE.

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21

2015 Ironman World Championships

Angry Bird gets her catch Daniela Ryf was focussed on one thing and one thing alone, winning the Kona crown. Ryf was strong all day using her impressive bike prowess to get a race winning lead. With Mirinda Carfrae withdrawing from the race early, we knew a new champion would be crowned, and Ryf made sure it was her.

BELOW RIGHT: Mirinda ‘Rinny’ Carfrae withdrew with back issues after being hit by a car during training on Wednesday of race week.

It wasn’t all bad news, Rinny watched husband Tim O’Donnell take third in the mens race.

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| Australian Triathlete

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www.ironmannewzealand.com www.ironmantaupo.com Race Dates: IRONMAN 5 Mar 2016/IRONMAN 70.3 TAUPO 12 Dec 2015

2015 Ironman World Championships

king frodo Jan Frodeno was flawless all day taking out his second world title of the year and becoming the most successful all round triathlete ever seen - winning Olympic gold, a 70.3 and Ironman world titles.

Frodeno (below) announced to the world wife Emma Snowsill is pregant with their first child - a truly special moment for all that witnessed.

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| Australian Triathlete

Jan Frodeno

TAKE YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY Congratulations on winning the 2015 Ironman World Championships.

2008 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL 2015 IRONMAN EUROPEAN CHAMPION 2015 IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPION 2015 IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION

TRIATHLON COMPRESSION

Age Group Heroes The World Championships in Kona attracts the brightest talents from around the world, and this year was no exception.

The Aussie flag was proudly represented by a determined contingent of age group athletes, who took national pride to new heights.

26

Name: Levi Maxwell Bib#: 2218 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 08:53:40

Name: Ben Bell Bib#: 1171 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 09:03:53

Name: Nathan Shearer Bib#: 2241 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:18:02

Name: Allister Caird Bib#: 2162 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:28:53

Name: Scott Zanevra Bib#: 2255 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:38:31

Name: Tyler Phillips Bib#: 2228 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:38:58

Name: Nick Bensley Bib#: 1890 Age group: M30-34 Finish time: 09:41:31

Name: Clint Kimmins Bib#: 1959 Age group: M30-34 Finish time: 09:41:31

Name: Oskar Booth Bib#: 1892 Age group: M30-34 Finish time: 09:43:37

| Australian Triathlete

2015 Ironman World Championships / Age group heroes

Name: Rhys Clarke Bib#: 2169 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:48:44

Name: Dave Kennett Bib#: 2205 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:50:52

Name: Craig McGuigan Bib#: 966 Age group: M45-49 Finish time: 09:57:02

Name: Michael Wilson Bib#: 1777 Age group: M35-39 Finish time: 09:57:16

Name: Damien Collins Bib#: 2172 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:57:46

Name:Adrian Little Bib#: 1305 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 09:58:10

Name: Benjamin King Bib#: 2206 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 09:58:47

Name: Michael Sullivan Bib#: 2036 Age group: M30-34 Finish time: 09:58:53

Name: Benjamin Larsson Bib#: 1295 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 10:00:26

Name: Lauren Parker Bib#: 2305 Age group: F25-29 Finish time: 10:07:43

Name: Andrew Lovett Bib#: 1666 Age group: M35-39 Finish time: 10:11:52

Name: Alan Bone Bib#: 2326 Age group: M18-24 Finish time: 10:12:39

Australian Triathlete |

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Name: Nathan Sandford Bib#: 1715 Age group: M35-39 Finish time: 10:17:41

Name: Phoebe Fear Bib#: 1806 Age group: F35-39 Finish time: 10:25:55

Name: Wayne Cooley Bib#: 854 Age group: M45-49 Finish time: 10:26:15

Name: Scott Ashcroft Bib#: 1549 Age group: M35-39 Finish time: 10:29:38

Name: Katie Kyme Bib#: 1462 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 12:12:58

Name: John Hill Bib#: 405 Age group: M55-59 Finish time: 10:39:10

Name: Meredith Hill Bib#: 2081 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 10:39:32

Name: Amanda Wilson Bib#: 2139 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 10:39:45

Name: Lindsay Bennett Bib#: 2154 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 10:40:19

Name: Sean Brunt Bib#: 1187 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 10:43:19

Name: Nathan Fitzakerley Bib#: 1231 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 10:43:28

Name: Adam Becker Bib#: 2323 Age group: M18-24 Finish time: 10:51:46

| Australian Triathlete

2015 Ironman World Championships / Age group heroes

Name: Elizabeth Dornom Bib#: 1801 Age group: F35-39 Finish time: 10:56:46

Name: Geoff Hawke Bib#: 403 Age group: M55-59 Finish time: 10:57:58

Name: Jo Coombe Bib#: 1280 Age group: F40-44 Finish time: 11:44:09

Name: Karlie Jennings Bib#: 2383 Age group: F18-24 Finish time: 11:02:23

Name: Zoe Clark Bib#: 2068 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 11:06:41

Name: Jamie Williams Bib#: 1070 Age group: M45-49 Finish time: 11:09:15

Name: Michael Harvey Bib#: 2188 Age group: M25-29 Finish time: 11:10:00

Name: John Gestakovski Bib#: 597 Age group: M50-54 Finish time: 11:11:44

Name: Mark Northcote Bib#: 1349 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 11:17:52

Name: Warren Forbes Bib#: 588 Age group: M50-54 Finish time: 11:22:43

Name: Trevor Buchanan Bib#: 557 Age group: M50-54 Finish time: 11:24:12

Name: Megan Webber Bib#: 1872 Age group: F35-39 Finish time: 11:30:12

Australian Triathlete |

29

2015 Ironman World Championships / Age group heroes

Name: Carmen Atkinson Bib#: 1781 Age group: F35-39 Finish time: 11:30:21

Name: Rikki Lee Anderson Bib#: 2259 Age group: F25-29 Finish time: 11:39:14

Name: Renee Kiley Bib#: 2087 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 11:51:12

Name: Allan Moustoukas Bib#: 434 Age group: M55-59 Finish time: 12:03:43

Name: Jody Gilchrist Bib#: 763 Age group: F50-54 Finish time: 11:23:37

Name: Ben McDermid Bib#: 1325 Age group: M40-44 Finish time: 13:26:37

Name: Natalie Davies Bib#: 2274 Age group: F25-29 Finish time: 13:54:07

Name: Ashley Payne Bib#: 2306 Age group: F25-29 Finish time: 14:13:36

Name: Rob Hill Bib#: 620 Age group: M50-54 Finish time: 14:14:14

Name: Colin Smith Bib#: 1031 Age group: M45-49 Finish time: 12:08:15

30

Name: Megan Webber Bib#: 1872 Age group: F35-39 Finish time: 11:30:12

| Australian Triathlete

Name: Holly Orchard Bib#: 2112 Age group: F30-34 Finish time: 13:47:22

Name: Josh Horsager Bib#: 1639 Age group: M35-39 Finish time: 10:08:04

Name: Nathan Johnston Bib#: 156 Age group: PC Finish time: 15:06:47

le showed cg Madame Pe rently it @l aurenn_m the Queen K today. Appa d a few hairy on ss t I still ha bu , me who’s bo en be s ha my bike! y as it wasn’t as wind I was just happy to stay on just a en in parts, ing nn moments wh stu absolutely I was hanging This course is em to be the parts where se down shame these 5 #konacount a1 on #k e! lif e on for dear na #scodyselfi #momentsofko

@L auren Pa rk @enduranutri er Really grateful to repres tio ent #fuelledbyend n here at #kona All set an d ready to go ura #winningfor mula

@kappler84 Stoked with my Shits getting real. @wattiei race day polo. nk can be...fun@chrislieto @su alcairdBike building nnygarcia @32gi @brooksrunningau @mo rethansport #IMkona #bikes #mates #fashion fun@chrislieto @alcaird: Bike building can be... nningau @morethansport @sunnygarcia @32gi @brooksru ion #IMkona #bikes #mates #fash

sIntermission at my @clintkimmins: clintkimmin akoacafe Sorry favorite little coffee shop #holu ethgerdes @cournee @lukemckenzie@imb

@Cl are webber: Racked and ready for a huge day tomorrow.

32

| Australian Triathlete

@jim_k o

ok: Th

is could

get ug

ly

y of @Exceed Triathlon Club: Plent Rod Marton, Joe eld, representation - with Katy Duffi Gibbat Alii drive Cleasby, Barry Oelofsen and Katey kailua-kona, HI.

2015 Ironman World Championships

We scoured Instagram and social media to see how the Kona experience played out in your eyes!

legend in @mega.hawk Hanging out with this n#starstruck Kona... Oh, and Crowie! @kateysutto #kona2015 #teamoz#ironmantri

@ob1_oz : ...and finally I’m off. Hawaii bound!

Seeya later Perth, aloha Haw #roadtokona #ironman #tril aii. Bring on the heat! ife#32gi #kona2015 and more reasons to be happ y @katyduffstar - stoked with your podium in Kore a. See you in Kona.

@pb_bro #pbdoes wn: The Queen K ko #pleasant na #12daystillk ona lyexhaus ted

@zaclark82 This morn ing famous Queen K bike cour I had my first ride on the se. I’ve seen so many pics of this sign over the past few years and couldn’t resist my own Kodak mom ent. The enormity of this race and the challenge it’s going to present definitely started to sink in.

@thetribum #momentsofkona erwater #kona15 #imkona #turtles #und ming thetribumAwesome morning swim with dolphins. Love this place!

@rhyscl arke05 All chec ked in race number 2169 ...

Got my acai bowl for the walk home #imkona #imwc2015 #mo mentsofKona

Champs in Kona @trialliance: The Ironman World ce family is right Allian are not far away. The whole Tri the right to d behind Nathan Sims who has earne the second time. for compete against the world’s best

@tylerpro4 ma with aneasy pa nce: Started the day ddle out to the famous Kona Coffee Boat.

@winnerstakechances:

Thanks for the cap and viso

r

Australian Triathlete |

33

@clintkimmins Absolutely cooked !!

What a brutal day . seeing my mum @Buttons Looking forward to the meantime she Liz Blatchford next week but in mum so I can fast Go .

Kona in it is going to smash see you soon.

bber @Megan We

@Holly Gemma Loved my number!!

@keir aali Dad, YO on finishing the Iron U ARE AN IRONMAN! Congratulation s I know it was an ext man World Championships tonight. remely tough race, any prouder even if you did push you but I couldn’t be rself to the limit. #momentsofkona #gogazgo#teamo z

experience. at an amazing @corky93 Wh t absolutely incredible jus s wa y azing people Yesterda e with some am to be able to rac cheer everyone on was the re to and to be able day. It wasn’t my day out the highlight of my e, but I’m so happy to walk urs experiences on the race co nty of learning away with ple tick a box off to le ab be to and @lukemckenzie Best thing about having a shitty race is she doe for ward to Kona 201 sn’t care. Already looking 6!#momentsofkona

34

| Australian Triathlete

@inst with K a ambergr o a from th na updates m As your n , 0miles e big island really happ ews feeds fi y to co , ll w ri ith th d in g the Th m ank Go 0miles and is medal fo e away ru rs d I’m N ot Rac nning 0 mile wimming ing Pa s from rty

2015 Ironman World Championships

Johnston iapac Nathan @ironmanas #TeamOz IRONMAN ispossible you are an rstar #anything #IMKona#supe

#raceeve @sewellyg #momentsofkona siepride #representthegreensndgold #aus #TEAMSEWELLY

#momemtsofkona #gettingmygoodl uckkiss #goodluckcharms arecompletelynec rssary #TEAMSEWELL Y

@onetriman Can ’t simple note this mo sleep...I wrote myself a rning (& secured my ring) right before the start of the Iron wedding Champs in Kona. Nev ma er Give Up. To com n World has been a 21 yea pete here r dream in the ma king And it didn’t let me dow n. That was by far the I’ve ever put mysel f through. I needed most pain Each time I looked that note. at it the words kep & I was reminded t me going how much love & sup family has given me por on this crazy journe t my y.

from perience. Far Well what an ex s didn’t go to plan. @kappler84 ng thi of lot e. A no the perfect rac t I can’t fix. No excuses and after But nothing tha completed the most sought w no e I’v s regret on the planet. triathlon race

@tylerpro since I real 4mance It’s been tw ize Ironman W d a dream and com o days now pl or been the m ld Championships. Th eted the os experience t challenging and re is journey has of my life to warding whole lead up and the date, throughout th e day itself.

@pb_brown

Kona DONE

@ZoeClark Wow!! certainly was an am The Hawaiian Ironman azing experience!

Despite spending And HARD!! race eve in a world of ner ves, I woke up race mo rning as excited as a 6yo on Xmas day.

Australian Triathlete |

35

Australian AGe Group

RESULTS AG PLACE 1 1 2 5 5 13 10 15 14 20 5 21 18 20 37 37 34 40 21 27 47 29 51 30 39 43 44 15 62 37 51 40 66 66 57 72 21 20 64 80 75 83 2 75 88 49 79 95 89 51 14 105 41 115 95 100 45 101 50 106 5 59 111 137 118 24 72 145 27 76 137 79 6 8 8 9 75 83 3 36 87 143 40 150 153 102 128 105 81 29 131 117 119 17 135 17 17 12 18 130 175 183 3 186 179 21 25 22 142 85 28 73

36

AG CLASS M25-29 M40-44 M40-44 M25-29 M40-44 M30-34 M35-39 M35-39 M25-29 M35-39 M45-49 M35-39 M25-29 M25-29 M30-34 M30-34 M35-39 M30-34 M40-44 M25-29 M35-39 M25-29 M30-34 M25-29 M40-44 M40-44 M40-44 M45-49 M35-39 M25-29 M40-44 M25-29 M35-39 M30-34 M40-44 M35-39 M45-49 WPRO M40-44 M35-39 M30-34 M35-39 F25-29 M40-44 M30-34 M25-29 M40-44 M35-39 M30-34 M25-29 M18-24 M35-39 M45-49 M35-39 M40-44 M40-44 M45-49 M40-44 M45-49 M30-34 F35-39 M45-49 M30-34 M35-39 M40-44 M50-54 M45-49 M35-39 M18-24 M45-49 M40-44 M45-49 F40-44 M55-59 F30-34 F30-34 M25-29 M45-49 F45-49 M50-54 M45-49 M40-44 M50-54 M40-44 M40-44 M45-49 M30-34 M45-49 M25-29 M18-24 M30-34 M45-49 M45-49 F25-29 M30-34 F35-39 F30-34 M55-59 F30-34 M45-49 M35-39 M40-44 F18-24 M40-44 M35-39 F30-34 F35-39 F30-34 M45-49 M25-29 F35-39 M50-54

OVERALL 25 32 39 56 65 80 83 97 101 127 128 129 147 154 172 172 174 186 188 213 228 229 236 248 249 267 268 287 289 295 301 311 312 314 331 332 335 348 361 366 369 374 398 428 436 436 438 439 441 449 451 470 484 502 528 535 538 555 563 569 596 598 606 633 640 648 660 684 710 721 725 733 738 741 743 745 749 753 755 756 762 766 782 788 791 809 818 824 838 873 879 887 891 909 912 918 925 928 931 942 951 955 963 982 997 1003 1006 1006 1026 1031 1046 1048

BIB 2218 1171 1165 2241 1160 1981 1602 1630 2162 1673 901 1706 2255 2228 1890 1959 1682 1892 1329 2169 1563 2205 2035 2170 1444 1269 1448 966 1777 2172 1305 2206 1550 2036 1295 1601 909 134 1202 1584 1944 1680 2305 1391 1910 2224 1397 1666 2006 2204 2326 1654 852 1715 1413 1341 889 1405 902 1886 1806 854 2040 1549 1406 607 955 1730 2332 1025 1222 958 1474 405 2081 2139 2154 962 1084 553 816 1173 714 1187 1231 947 2058 978 2167 2323 1931 874 890 2268 1954 1801 2120 403 2085 829 1742 1272 2383 1233 1779 2068 1780 2107 1070 2188 1800 597

NAME

SWIM

BIKE

RUN

FINISH

Levi Maxwell Ben Bell Assad Attamimi Nathan Shearer Damien Angus Owain Matthews Steve Eccleston Steve Guy Allister Caird Ryan Miller Matty Harris Ben Richardson Scott Zanevra Tyler Phillips Nick Bensley Clint Kimmins Paul O'Brien Oskar Booth Nathan McKelligott Rhys Clarke Jamie Black Dave Kennett Cameron Storm Joseph Cleasby Lachie Wilson Stuart Hill Peter Yapp Craig McGuigan Michael Wilson Damien Collins Adrian Little Benjamin King Travis Atkins Michael Sullivan Benjamin Larsson Samuel Dowthwaite Aaron Hill Dimity-Lee Duke Damien Coad Liam Cohen-Ruhle Nat Heath Stephen Natoli Lauren Parker Greg Sewell Hamish Cropper Tom Norrris Marcus Smith Andrew Lovett Michael Perry Jared Kahlefeldt Alan Bone Andrew Killer David Chick Nathan Sandford Michael Timbs Saxon Moseley Michael Glazbrook Scott Stevenson Roger Hastie Damien Barbour Phoebe Fear Wayne Cooley Alexander Thorpe Scott Ashcroft Rod Tanner Rodney Hall Jason Lord Nathan Sims Ben Coventry Richard Sewell Anthony Downey Sean Lynch Dayna Davidson John Hill Meredith Hill Amanda Wilson Lindsay Bennett Rod Marton Michelle Boyes David Boyes Matt Arms Craig Benson Geoff Todd Sean Brunt Nathan Fitzakerley Michael Lennon Cameron Wurf Charles Nicoll Ryan Christian Adam Becker Timothy French John Flood Mark Gleeson Penny Brown Blake Kappler Elizabeth Dornom Jessica Richards Geoff Hawke Hannah Johnston Paul Bland Angas Swann Jarrod Hudson Karlie Jennings Brendan Flanagan Brad Wright Zoe Clark Caroline Ashby Tracy Morrison Jamie Williams Michael Harvey Bernadette Dornom John Gestakovski

00:59:26 00:59:01 01:00:46 01:04:21 01:02:43 01:03:46 01:02:35 01:06:54 00:59:28 01:07:30 00:58:50 01:06:08 01:01:17 00:56:17 01:01:55 00:56:58 00:55:06 01:06:15 01:09:07 01:01:01 01:01:04 01:03:38 01:05:04 01:03:45 01:01:11 01:12:42 01:01:10 00:57:40 01:05:50 01:01:44 01:07:24 00:57:48 01:09:07 00:58:55 01:09:01 01:07:15 00:59:22 01:05:22 01:12:08 01:09:12 01:05:45 01:08:14 00:57:25 01:15:43 00:56:00 00:58:53 01:12:05 01:00:09 01:08:01 01:00:37 00:59:04 01:13:13 01:07:09 01:11:13 01:06:20 01:06:22 01:03:05 01:00:59 01:03:17 01:15:32 01:05:23 01:13:10 01:02:03 00:58:56 01:13:02 01:15:35 01:06:25 01:20:20 01:01:15 01:06:52 01:04:38 01:02:04 01:06:37 01:16:10 01:07:40 01:09:30 01:05:11 01:02:45 01:11:14 01:13:04 01:12:39 01:18:32 01:05:27 01:01:11 00:59:08 01:04:58 00:59:04 01:07:03 00:59:06 01:01:03 01:16:53 01:10:18 01:10:30 01:11:30 01:03:58 01:07:03 01:13:37 01:19:42 01:14:09 01:14:48 01:08:02 01:11:42 01:02:38 01:08:27 01:05:06 01:22:12 01:07:07 01:06:12 01:06:59 00:57:39 01:08:38 01:13:35

04:50:56 04:58:36 04:59:23 04:50:25 04:50:32 05:05:46 05:01:15 05:06:20 04:46:13 05:00:32 05:08:52 04:56:45 05:01:27 05:07:15 04:39:46 04:52:43 05:04:12 04:53:50 04:55:42 05:03:34 05:12:59 05:11:36 05:16:55 05:05:54 05:01:43 04:58:04 05:11:28 05:08:12 05:02:47 05:21:24 04:56:57 05:00:30 05:13:32 05:20:17 05:00:53 05:00:57 05:02:01 05:24:04 05:16:45 05:20:05 05:09:40 05:01:47 05:27:39 05:19:40 05:14:14 05:06:42 04:55:14 05:21:32 05:04:53 05:07:06 05:16:54 05:10:18 05:11:49 05:12:16 05:26:25 05:48:20 05:16:14 05:04:26 05:17:47 05:23:46 05:31:18 05:19:42 05:19:39 04:57:15 05:10:32 05:28:57 05:11:33 05:27:01 05:31:32 05:23:22 05:20:05 05:49:03 05:42:06 05:27:40 05:42:19 05:53:30 05:35:45 04:59:20 05:40:17 05:24:05 05:24:42 05:54:45 05:21:59 05:04:19 05:08:12 05:46:32 04:30:04 05:11:06 05:15:11 05:03:47 05:27:12 05:11:21 05:32:56 05:46:31 05:50:11 05:59:08 05:19:03 05:30:39 05:49:07 05:29:56 05:06:42 05:47:18 05:50:07 05:35:45 05:37:12 05:43:54 05:48:34 05:57:59 05:40:22 05:13:30 06:06:24 05:21:11

02:58:58 03:00:52 03:02:38 03:16:29 03:22:04 03:10:07 03:16:08 03:06:11 03:37:44 03:18:45 03:20:57 03:26:04 03:29:25 03:26:55 03:52:34 03:46:20 03:33:45 03:35:19 03:32:49 03:35:56 03:28:43 03:27:33 03:21:47 03:36:41 03:42:23 03:36:27 03:34:08 03:43:57 03:42:24 03:27:50 03:45:15 03:50:03 03:29:19 03:32:38 03:43:13 03:45:39 03:51:29 03:27:44 03:27:33 03:27:01 03:40:28 03:48:02 03:36:02 03:27:17 03:54:58 03:58:48 03:56:10 03:40:51 03:52:01 03:55:29 03:49:56 03:38:28 03:47:32 03:43:59 03:39:26 03:18:01 03:52:07 04:08:19 03:51:24 03:36:02 03:42:13 03:46:03 03:53:01 04:26:40 03:58:14 03:38:01 04:05:26 03:35:57 03:52:38 03:57:01 04:04:26 03:35:40 03:42:12 03:46:07 03:40:29 03:30:23 03:51:56 04:31:26 03:44:06 03:57:34 03:55:29 03:20:46 04:06:03 04:24:03 04:25:19 03:43:45 05:10:16 04:13:05 04:24:33 04:38:56 03:59:23 04:23:10 03:59:42 03:50:31 03:55:35 03:43:34 04:18:13 03:56:13 03:43:43 04:00:35 04:37:05 03:55:08 04:01:26 04:11:46 04:16:46 03:51:47 04:03:30 03:56:22 04:12:01 04:50:22 03:49:33 04:24:17

08:53:40 09:03:53 09:07:37 09:18:02 09:21:17 09:25:57 09:26:33 09:28:20 09:28:53 09:34:25 09:34:35 09:34:41 09:38:31 09:38:58 09:41:31 09:41:31 09:41:38 09:43:37 09:44:11 09:48:44 09:50:49 09:50:52 09:51:32 09:52:37 09:52:44 09:55:01 09:55:15 09:57:02 09:57:16 09:57:46 09:58:10 09:58:47 09:58:49 09:58:53 10:00:26 10:00:32 10:00:57 10:02:57 10:03:37 10:04:08 10:04:21 10:05:18 10:07:43 10:10:53 10:11:46 10:11:46 10:11:49 10:11:52 10:12:02 10:12:23 10:12:39 10:13:38 10:15:34 10:17:41 10:20:11 10:21:01 10:21:03 10:22:09 10:23:13 10:23:24 10:25:55 10:26:15 10:26:47 10:29:38 10:30:30 10:31:21 10:32:04 10:34:01 10:36:31 10:37:26 10:37:38 10:38:29 10:38:47 10:39:10 10:39:32 10:39:45 10:40:19 10:40:52 10:40:58 10:40:59 10:41:31 10:41:45 10:42:57 10:43:19 10:43:28 10:45:33 10:46:32 10:47:18 10:49:01 10:51:46 10:52:34 10:53:12 10:53:29 10:56:06 10:56:14 10:56:46 10:57:14 10:57:58 10:58:10 10:59:19 11:00:52 11:01:19 11:02:23 11:05:11 11:06:05 11:06:41 11:06:56 11:06:56 11:09:15 11:10:00 11:11:18 11:11:44

| Australian Triathlete

AG PLACE 18 21 194 199 5 80 36 82 4 86 87 28 29 42 43 27 44 46 18 206 47 208 103 34 37 106 39 40 34 42 13 14 46 60 48 118 219 52 47 180 54 123 181 37 199 10 69 54 53 41 72 7 12 42 159 204 9 26 187 60 134 61 62 69 53 230 76 235 236 33 242 21 37 1 144 13 42 253 209 40 70 257 213 30 52 74 44 21 165 54 166 36 264 226 48 177 56 91 218 5 234 96 11 5 2 47 276 246 280 8 58 24

AG CLASS M55-59 F40-44 M40-44 M40-44 M60-64 M50-54 M35-39 M50-54 F50-54 M50-54 M50-54 F40-44 F40-44 F35-39 F35-39 M55-59 F35-39 F35-39 F45-49 M40-44 F35-39 M40-44 M50-54 F25-29 F40-44 M50-54 F40-44 M18-24 M55-59 F40-44 M60-64 M60-64 F30-34 F35-39 F40-44 M50-54 M40-44 F40-44 M55-59 M45-49 F40-44 M50-54 M45-49 F45-49 M35-39 F18-24 F35-39 F30-34 M55-59 F45-49 F35-39 F55-59 F18-24 F25-29 M30-34 M35-39 F55-59 M60-64 M45-49 F30-34 M50-54 M55-59 M55-59 F40-44 F45-49 M40-44 F35-39 M40-44 M40-44 F50-54 M40-44 F18-24 F50-54 M70-74 M50-54 M65-69 F50-54 M40-44 M45-49 M60-64 F30-34 M40-44 M35-39 F55-59 F25-29 F45-49 M60-64 M65-69 M50-54 F25-29 M50-54 F55-59 M40-44 M45-49 M60-64 M50-54 F50-54 M55-59 M35-39 PC M45-49 M55-59 M70-74 F65-69 M75-79 F55-59 M40-44 M45-49 M40-44 F65-69 M60-64 F60-64

OVERALL 1051 1059 1065 1104 1112 1121 1124 1140 1147 1150 1154 1158 1177 1188 1190 1191 1196 1209 1213 1227 1234 1238 1245 1252 1254 1275 1280 1284 1296 1299 1305 1314 1320 1360 1370 1381 1394 1400 1411 1414 1415 1419 1432 1445 1446 1455 1460 1462 1464 1474 1493 1494 1496 1516 1518 1522 1540 1542 1544 1554 1568 1571 1575 1582 1583 1592 1597 1629 1630 1672 1675 1687 1701 1703 1726 1745 1757 1758 1779 1796 1817 1821 1825 1835 1838 1852 1861 1864 1871 1873 1874 1893 1916 1931 1935 1947 1968 1986 1988 1997 2017 2023 2047 2057 2075 2083 2085 2107 2118 2127 2132 2136

BIB 394 1483 1185 1349 328 595 1792 588 763 557 600 1469 1494 1872 1781 392 1823 1845 1119 1196 1871 1206 628 2259 1511 624 1470 2347 469 1467 333 331 2087 1840 1473 634 1331 1490 434 1066 1488 568 1031 1130 1575 2388 1837 2091 383 1147 1812 518 2377 2277 1932 1624 496 283 1041 2088 565 448 451 1457 1102 1306 1847 1430 1402 785 1439 2381 782 202 556 228 805 1325 1030 293 2112 1393 1743 499 2274 1090 290 243 596 2306 620 528 1277 905 297 690 775 427 1561 156 1023 370 199 267 165 497 1390 864 1323 270 279 360

NAME

SWIM

BIKE

RUN

FINISH

`brian Elvery Monique Flore Peter Breadsell Mark Northcote Brett Stewart Stan Garland Jackie Crofton Warren Forbes Jody Gilchrist Trevor Buchanan Richard Goodger Melinda Cockshutt Penelope Holland Megan Webber Carmen Atkinson Rusty Cook Emma Just Edita Neubauerova Joanne McLaughlan Dave Catt Clare Webber Bevan Colless Stephan Jack Rikki Lee Anderson Anne Musk Brad Hough Jo Coombe Aaron Leiminger Greg Vitnell Georgie Camakaris Tomas Valena William Thornbury Renee Kiley Amie Munson Kim Dale Stephen Jones Jason McKinnon Katie Greenfield Allan Moustoukas Phillip Weightman Ntasha Gerebtzoff David Cunningham Colin Smith Katherine Ryan Andrew Carracher Kate Luckin Lilian Molesworth Katie Kyme Neville Bradshaw Belinda Ward Kate Gazzard Mary Mitchell Megan Hawkins Ash Dragon Aaron Gallagher Stephen Glowrey Kim Elvery Greg Broadley Sam Stewart Jo Kocik Michael Cocks Andrew Short Bernard Smith Jodie Barker Allison Hass David Lock Pene Newitt Stuart Wagner Chris Stallard Sharyn Nichols Darrin White Courtney Home Jodie Morris Griffiths Weste Graham Bruce Rob Howitt Chris Thompson Ben McDermid Gavin Slavin Damian Fitzpatrick Holly Orchard Yook Pei Shee Duncan Tebb Kim Fraser Natalie Davies Alison Coote Kevin Duffy Allan Pitman Keith Gatehouse Ashley Payne Rob Hill Gloria Stewart Cameron James Jason Hayden Geoffrey Graham Malcolm Pitt Claire Lynch Jeff McNaughton David Biondo Nathan Johnston Williams Seay Gary Aitkenhead Geoff Thorsen Karla McKinlay Bruce Higginbotham Corinne Fabian Peter Seldon Gavin Duffy Craig McCombe Pam Stegeman Steven Bertling Sharman Parr

01:10:05 01:20:34 01:17:02 01:03:28 01:17:48 01:13:57 01:27:28 01:10:03 01:22:03 01:23:30 01:35:00 01:03:21 01:07:00 01:10:34 01:22:17 01:16:56 01:11:59 01:21:43 01:14:17 01:06:25 01:04:58 01:08:31 01:08:14 01:11:24 01:16:09 01:16:58 01:07:23 01:16:41 01:24:06 01:11:13 01:35:17 01:15:09 01:10:37 01:17:31 01:13:01 01:09:29 01:12:33 01:10:01 01:10:36 01:12:11 01:11:29 01:17:39 01:18:52 01:19:14 01:13:51 01:09:58 01:27:43 01:08:43 01:28:04 01:26:48 01:13:27 01:18:31 01:14:22 01:13:11 01:15:26 01:20:58 01:21:52 01:14:21 01:35:29 01:11:30 01:32:44 01:15:51 01:31:55 01:22:41 00:57:22 01:24:02 01:07:21 01:22:31 01:17:35 01:11:16 01:17:05 01:11:37 01:25:32 01:48:23 00:56:10 01:17:34 01:31:36 01:14:34 01:16:46 01:35:08 01:24:13 01:28:40 01:24:01 01:50:14 01:03:56 01:17:52 01:24:44 01:17:04 01:25:24 01:05:40 01:15:59 01:17:01 01:18:17 01:04:45 01:44:02 01:13:42 01:28:55 01:14:04 01:30:20 01:52:59 01:20:56 01:31:08 01:38:23 01:40:26 01:59:58 01:22:10 01:29:17 01:39:02 01:17:32 01:38:06 01:24:31 01:59:49

05:41:54 05:45:33 05:06:25 05:32:54 05:17:44 05:49:06 06:09:58 05:47:28 06:01:48 05:38:24 05:31:15 05:41:59 06:04:33 06:16:14 06:02:42 05:32:38 06:09:54 06:03:41 05:53:15 05:41:50 05:51:00 05:04:38 05:43:24 05:53:41 06:08:39 06:03:05 06:33:32 05:46:44 06:14:55 05:53:00 06:18:53 06:16:08 05:55:42 06:17:36 05:44:09 05:59:20 06:10:23 06:22:52 05:58:57 06:00:58 06:03:47 06:06:25 05:57:31 06:26:18 05:16:28 06:07:02 06:24:47 06:09:29 05:46:04 06:03:38 06:28:13 06:39:57 06:14:31 06:54:18 06:14:58 06:05:32 06:26:38 06:05:10 06:23:29 05:48:23 06:17:37 06:13:57 06:35:47 06:33:19 06:05:17 05:59:56 06:09:38 06:23:39 06:17:29 06:25:43 05:35:28 06:26:15 06:44:37 06:26:40 05:47:44 06:43:13 06:47:43 06:32:28 06:34:04 06:48:32 07:27:35 06:55:34 06:55:31 06:51:02 07:00:02 06:11:40 06:45:17 06:56:53 06:26:03 06:53:43 05:18:28 06:43:05 06:25:58 05:34:01 07:06:57 06:07:02 07:13:59 07:06:14 07:17:13 07:02:58 06:31:40 07:27:50 07:00:03 07:15:59 07:11:15 08:49:34 07:54:10 07:50:52 07:53:16 07:39:28 07:19:31 07:44:27

04:07:36 03:57:23 04:39:57 04:32:08 04:32:48 04:07:21 03:31:36 04:13:48 03:47:26 04:10:34 04:06:18 04:29:36 04:08:51 03:55:44 03:56:52 04:32:15 03:59:25 03:56:52 04:19:01 04:36:11 04:31:33 05:12:42 04:33:24 04:23:29 04:03:03 04:08:37 03:56:06 04:23:43 03:58:14 04:33:02 03:46:25 03:51:05 04:34:38 04:09:21 04:48:35 04:37:55 04:26:44 04:20:35 04:42:54 04:34:19 04:39:37 04:25:08 04:35:59 04:05:01 05:32:06 04:44:57 04:11:02 04:46:21 04:40:37 04:33:24 04:25:29 04:10:47 04:39:37 04:02:10 04:36:59 04:45:56 04:30:57 04:57:52 04:07:01 05:23:46 04:30:14 04:56:22 04:14:34 04:26:18 05:22:53 05:05:06 05:10:13 04:46:24 04:57:15 05:08:44 05:52:06 05:15:44 04:45:22 04:40:26 06:19:53 05:10:08 04:55:17 05:19:58 05:28:44 04:58:24 04:41:48 05:12:35 05:05:13 04:55:41 05:37:53 06:19:19 05:41:57 05:42:13 06:03:57 05:57:18 07:27:26 06:10:26 06:34:07 07:53:20 05:31:52 07:11:27 05:48:25 06:29:29 06:00:20 05:44:11 07:07:04 06:18:39 06:42:45 06:33:23 06:30:40 05:34:43 06:13:08 06:32:02 06:55:24 06:59:36 07:34:36 00:00:00

11:11:59 11:12:43 11:13:19 11:17:52 11:18:52 11:20:15 11:20:34 11:22:43 11:23:37 11:24:12 11:24:34 11:25:13 11:28:30 11:30:12 11:30:21 11:30:24 11:31:26 11:33:08 11:33:46 11:35:39 11:36:24 11:36:49 11:37:59 11:39:14 11:39:43 11:42:55 11:44:09 11:44:52 11:47:56 11:48:21 11:49:14 11:50:10 11:51:12 11:55:18 11:56:37 11:58:30 12:00:56 12:02:05 12:03:43 12:04:34 12:05:14 12:05:36 12:08:15 12:09:54 12:10:04 12:11:56 12:12:26 12:12:58 12:13:06 12:14:24 12:19:08 12:19:22 12:19:41 12:23:25 12:23:32 12:24:16 12:27:43 12:28:29 12:28:48 12:31:35 12:33:45 12:34:23 12:35:13 12:36:36 12:36:38 12:39:55 12:41:24 12:47:01 12:47:10 12:58:25 12:58:49 13:03:10 13:06:06 13:06:17 13:15:34 13:21:10 13:26:36 13:26:37 13:34:48 13:40:56 13:47:22 13:47:55 13:49:35 13:53:00 13:54:07 14:02:00 14:06:21 14:08:06 14:12:43 14:13:36 14:14:14 14:22:29 14:32:45 14:39:36 14:41:57 14:47:37 14:53:55 15:02:40 15:02:48 15:06:47 15:24:07 15:26:56 15:39:25 15:46:20 15:55:17 16:02:18 16:03:24 16:16:33 16:28:34 16:34:59 16:38:10 16:49:24

IMAGE OF THE

MONTH photo: Korupt Vision Swiss sensation Daniela Ryf or Angry Bird as she is nicknamed had plenty of people stalking her on the run, including the race helicoper as she led the marathon.

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Australian Triathlete |

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© Shutterstock.com

9:03:14 www.trirating.com

The

8:08:

NUMBErs 9:07:58

Game

TriRating founder Thorsten Radde has built up a following in the tri world, for his ratings and rankings system. Manveen Maan catches up with the German wunderkid to find out what makes him tick.

text by Manveen Maan photography by P a u l P h i l l ip s bahrain Endurance

© Thorsten Radde

Always online: Thorsten the ‘Stat Man’.

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T

horsten Radde could be classified as an international man of mystery. A lot is known about the numbers he comes up with, but the man behind the digits has successfully flown under the radar – until now that is. The German math whiz has featured prominently in the lead up to many races, mainly because of the buzz around his website TriRating, but how exactly did his interest in triathlon pique?

“I’ve always been active as a kid, trying out all kinds different sports. When I met my wife in the last years of school, she was a swimmer and a few people in her team were also doing triathlons. I had heard of Ironman Hawaii before and was very interested. They helped me to get somewhat prepared for my first triathlon in 1988,” he explains.

Once he had a taste of the sport, there was no denying the developing passion he

:18

9:07

had for it. “The concept of working hard towards a goal was always very appealing to me. A lot of the fascination of what I’m doing now also comes from seeing the hard work pro-athletes are putting in to become their absolute best and what the challenges they face on their way,” he says.

That fascination led to playing with data for his much talked about website, TriRating, a project that started with a simple question. “Initially my idea was to compare the fast German courses in Frankfurt and Roth to Kona and try to come up with the answer for how much slower it is Kona,” he explains. “I thought I’d download some data and analyse it. To my surprise I found that there is no unified data to download, so most of the work went into building a decent database of race results to use as a basis for the analysis. I quickly found that the database was a useful thing to have and that others appreciate the data I

could make available - plus I was able to do all the analysing I wanted.”

From this analysis, Radde came up with a system of determining where the athletes stand. “I compare the athlete’s rating before the race to the time it took them to finish. I figure out what impact the course had and the cause behind the performance,” he says. “For example, if everyone is racing five minutes faster, then it was probably the course and everyone had a normal day. If everyone is racing five minutes faster and one athlete was ten minutes faster, then the course is five minutes fast and the one fast athlete had a day where he was five minutes quicker than normal. Obviously, this works better when there are more athletes in a race, but I can use that to adjust the times and come up with a ‘normalised’, course-neutral time. An athlete’s rating is then an average of all

his previous results, weighing newer results higher than older results.”

Surely this process is a timeconsuming one? “Most of the time is spent finding the results and adding them to my database,” he states. “I can’t fully automate that as formats differ from race to race, and an athlete’s name is sometimes slightly different - Tim or Timothy, Spanish names, changes after getting married etc.

The analysis process is completely automated now, and runs just a few seconds. I usually get my analysis posts out the day after the race, depending on what else is going on in my life.”

Australian Triathlete |

41

Supplied by Thorsten Radde

Thorsten Radde www.trirating.com

the traithlete: Thorsten racing Frankfurt 2010 and inset Quelle Roth 2007.

As a full-time IT consultant juggling work and family life, the 30-minute commute to his main customer is when most of the processing takes place: “But a lot of the writing and extended analysis requires some longer evenings, and some questions are in the back of my mind before I figure out an analytical way of attack.”

Radde’s predictions however, are purely stats-based and may not always include weather conditions, course difficulties or just plain luck. But how big a part do these external factors play? “My predictions are based on an athlete’s previous results and how fast or slow a course has been in the past. There are a lot of factors that are not part of the predictions, like if the athlete

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had a good training period or recently had an injury, how rested or tired an athlete is, or conditions different from what is normal for that race,” he says. “Of course, these factors play a role, and the data doesn’t tell the full story but I think it is an important part of the story. However, data only allows you to make statistical predictions that are right on average, but can’t predict how each race unfolds.”

With all the work that goes into these numbers, Radde reveals that there have been moments where his game has been on point. “I think my Frankfurt predictions this year were pretty close. Jan, Sebi and Andi were my #3, #1 and #7 picks, and I correctly predicted the female podium

(but in a different order). There are also finishing times that I had predicted almost to the second. For example I had Sebi predicted at 8:01:45, and he finished in 8:01:39,” he recalls. “But a lot of that is just luck. Athletes have to have a ‘normal’ day and the conditions on race day also have to pretty ‘normal’ or the effects have to cancel each other out.”

On the flip side, Radde confirms that there are days when his predictions haven’t gone to plan. “Of course there are also results where I’m completely off,” he admits. “Maybe the athlete has a bad day and walks it in, and often it’s just a great race day. For example, I didn’t see Jeff Symonds winning IM Melbourne (more than 20 minutes better than expected) or Matt Hanson winning IM Texas (he was about 25 minutes quicker than I predicted).”

In his years of statistical experience though, Radde has picked up on certain factors that transcend all numbers.

“For the races with the big, deep fields (such as the Regional Champs or Kona), you can’t have a bad day if you want to place well,” he explains. “That’s why most of the Top 10 in Kona are usually “green” in my results (i.e. they were faster than I expected them) and even those that are somewhat disappointed (like Caroline

Thorsten Radde

My predictions are based on an athlete’s previous results and how fast or slow a course has been in the past.

Steffen last year) are pretty close to their expected time.”

Ultimately, winning Kona always takes a special day. “Even with their great pre-Kona results, Sebi and Rinny were eight and six minutes faster than predicted to win in 2014,” he muses.

With all the time it takes to get the numbers down on paper, one might wonder who exactly uses Radde’s stats. “A lot of people interested in the pro races appreciate the information. Athletes and coaches use it to have a look at the competition and try to figure out how they might place,” he reveals. “I’ve had athletes get in touch to decide between different races based on preliminary start lists, especially those that are looking for a good result to get Kona points for qualifying. Once they have committed to a

race, they often ask for detailed information (such as previous results) for the athletes they’ll be facing - probably to figure out how the race may play out and maybe even base their race tactics on how the others might be doing.”

His work doesn’t stop there – Radde is more than happy to provide his data and analysis to advocacy groups to help them form positions based on actual facts rather than personal opinions. “I was asked by TriEqual to help counter some of the statements that Andrew Messick has made, such as ‘Pro women make more money’,” he recalls. “I’ve also looked at the implications of the unequal number of Kona slots (50 male, 35 women) and discovered that women need more points to qualify which also means that they have to race more often.

This completely contradicts Andrew’s statement that it’s easier for women to qualify for Kona. I can’t understand at all why Ironman and the WTC continue to fight equal slots.”

Strong words from the man himself, but surely he’s had some intense feedback about his work as well? “I think most appreciate the predictions as it gives them a good, objective (so to speak) indication of what’s likely to happen on race day.

Even if I’m friends with some of the athletes, that doesn’t impact the ratings or predictions,” he confirms. “Some athletes say that their goal going into a race is to beat my predicted time as that’ll mean that they had a good day. Some are fired up that I have predicted them as slow. As I’ve said, there are factors that I can’t include in my predictions, so an athlete coming off a good training camp is convinced that he can go much faster than what he did in the past. Overall, I’m always happy when athletes beat my predictions and when their preparation is paying off.”

Looking back on his journey, Radde realizes he has come a long way since the website’s inception, which has in turn, impacted how he wants to progress with his work. “I’m thinking about extending my analysis for 70.3 races for this year. I have also collected the results from the middle distance races,” he says. “I now have results from 140 different courses, 450 races and more than 3000 athletes. Some of it will be a direct application of the rating system to shorter races, but I’d also love to look into questions such as the correlation of 70.3 results and Ironman results.”

And where does he see his famed website in the years to come? “That’s hard to say. I never thought I’d be doing this four years after I started!” he exclaims. “I’ve managed to get in contact with a lot of pro athletes, coaches, and writers and if possible, I’d like to meet as many of them as possible. My wife and I hope to be able to travel to Kona for the 2017 race - that would be cool. Overall, I hope to be able to use the data, analysis and contacts for some cool things in the future.”

Australian Triathlete |

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tech talk Road Test

Product Tested: Knight Wheels

240’s Hub: Knight 35 DT rear

W

ho and what are Knight Wheels? It’s a good question that is somewhat deeper than you might think. If you haven’t heard of them yet, and chances are you probably haven’t, they are a relatively new carbon wheel manufacturer with a lot to offer us as triathletes.

Knight Composites is the brainchild start up of three friends. Like a lot of stories you hear out there it was literally thought up over coffee in a little café in Bend, Oregon. We have all heard it before, a couple of mates start up a wheel business, buy a bunch of open mold wheels, call them something cool and try to sell them as the latest go fast wheel for $1000 US a pair. These businesses come and go almost as quickly as an ITU transition. Now, this is where the story differs a little from the standard formula.

You see Knight Composites is the collaboration of three very well respected and well connected people in the bike industry. They are Beverly Lucas (an Englishwoman living in Melbourne), Jim Pfeil (an American from Bend, Oregon USA) and Kevin Quan (a Canadian).

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Individually these names probably mean nothing to you but the projects they have been involved with and headed up over the last 15 years or so are pretty much a triathlete’s wet dream. Beverly had a major hand in developing and reinvigorating the Felt brand before moving to Enve where she had a leading roll in bringing to life their famed ‘smart’ system. Jim Pfeil founded Reynolds Composites where he created some of the most sought after carbon forks of all time, the Ouzo Pro and Ouzo Comp.

Rounding out the trio is Kevin Quan, a mechanical engineer who worked for Cervelo and designed possibly the most famous bike in triathlon history, the P3C. Through his design studio he has since worked with companies such as BH, Neil Pryde and Parlee amongst others. So I guess you can see why, when these guys decided to start up a wheel business it was worth taking notice.

Ok so we now know who Knight is. So what are they? We first heard about them about a year ago when, former VIS head triathlon coach, Jono Hall mentioned this new up and coming wheel company with some outstanding wheels that were about

to hit the market. Our interest was piqued but it wasn’t until Ironman Melbourne in early 2015 that we got to see them in action, under Josh Rix’s Swift TT rig. Still the closest we had come to them was as they whizzed past at the 90km turn around and on the way into transition. So we could say that they looked deep, but that was about all. Until, that is, about three weeks ago when we received a call from the Australian Triathlete office to say “Can you come and pick up a set of wheels we want you to ride and test”. No problem, we love carbon bling! That afternoon we were in possession of a wheel bag with a set of pretty much the deepest race wheels we have ever seen.

These were a 95mm deep clincher wheel

precision engineering: Knight 65R spoke

Reviewed by: The Test Lab Craig McKenzie and Patrick Legge are The Test Lab. Two guys with an obsession for trialling all things related to swimming, riding and running and telling anyone who will listen what they think. Having 20 years each in the sport, they’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, but always loved the innovation triathlon brings to the world stage. Craig raced as a professional triathlete, winning 4 National Duathlon titles, and has worked as an exercise physiologist, osteopath and coach, while Pat has built a career running a personal training, massage and coaching business, working with State, Australian and World Champions, including Australian Olympic and Commonwealth squads whilst competing himself.

Knight 35F

Knight 65F

Knight 95F

Knight 35R

Knight 65R

Knight 95R

set. They looked deep even without tires on them. Being triathletes we love deep wheels. In fact if we were allowed to we would probably get around on double disks, even if it meant being blown out into the bay. Anyway, Knight also make a 65mm and a 35mm deep wheel set, to pretty much tackle any conditions and suit any style of rider.

Once we stopped talking about how deep these wheels were we checked over the rest of the details. Our test set came with DT Swiss 240 hubs, pretty much your industry gold standard. Many professional athletes use and swear by these hubs. You can however choose to upgrade to a number of different hubs including the lighter DT Swiss 180s, Chris King or Aivee hubs, all at varying prices (Starting at AUD$2,999 all the way up to AUD$4,299).

Connecting the hoops to the hubs are Sapim CX- Ray spokes, which again are a

tried and true industry standard, and Pillar nipples. The 95’s come with 16 spokes on the front and 20 on the rear.

Like most new wheels on the market these are very wide, 28.25mm in this case.

Unlike a lot of their competitors however, the trailing edge doesn’t remain the same width as the leading, finishing in a blunt edge, but instead tapers off a little finishing in more of a point. The finish on these wheels is also pretty eye catching.

It’s like a satin finish, neither gloss nor matt, which gives the wheel quite a high quality look. The actual clincher claws around the rim look strong and well finished without any sharp edges to rub on the tires. Our test wheels came with ‘stealth’ black decals, which we like best anyway and we would say this is the only option to go for. This is because the one thing we weren’t overjoyed about the look of the wheels were the decals, more

specifically, the font Knight have used. I know we are being picky but we do value looks as well as function. Other high end wheels such as Enve, Zipp and Hed are easily recognized for their distinct logo and the decals look modern, sleek and fast, where these just look a bit… dated. Still it’s a very small gripe and if they are fast who cares. It’s not like you see the decals when the wheel is moving anyway, it’s really only for the #baaw (Bikes Against A Wall) photos on Instagram that you would care.

The next stage was to fit some tires, tubes and a cassette and get them onto a bike. Tires can sometimes be a real pain to fit on the current wide style of wheel but we were able to fit the Knight’s without needing to use tire levers. You will need to use a valve extender on your tubes as the deepest valve we could get our hands on was 80mm. Once pumped up the tires bed in easily and never look like coming off. On Australian Triathlete |

45

tech talk Road Test

Decals: Some what dated?

Product Tested: Knight Wheels

Close up: Knight 95 Brake Track

with a cassette and we were ready to roll.

So the all-important question, how do they ride?

Well we like to ride the wheels we test before reading about them. So we can try not to be too influenced by the marketing jingo. Luckily for us, Melbourne has also thrown up some great weather conditions to test these babies out, sometimes multiple conditions in a few short hours. We have had winds up to 75km/hr, scorching heat and side ways rain and we have taken the Knights out in all of those conditions. To add to that we put them on both our TT bikes, our road bikes and the Ventum One triathlon bike we have been testing. This has given us a huge amount of variables in which to comment on the Knight 95’s.

I will say straight up our opinion is purely that. We can’t get in a wind tunnel and test out the claims of a wheel manufacturer. But through years of riding

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and racing we can put forward an opinion on the comfort, acceleration and handling of a set of wheels. The first and probably best thing we can say is these wheels feel fast. They just get up to speed quickly and feel very stiff which gives you the impression the power you are putting through the pedals is going directly into moving these wheels forward. Next up was the handling, and this is where we expected the Knights to suffer a little. Just look at them, they are 95mm deep for goodness sake, that’s a lot of surface for the wind to hit. As we said before, we took these wheels out in all conditions and on multiple bikes, and we can honestly say they handle as well as if not better than most wheels half their depth. It seems crazy but not once did either of us feel on edge riding these wheels in cross, head or tail winds.

Through corners or in and out of protected areas the wheels just tracked beautifully. This was a real surprise. Having ridden many other brands, most wheels over 80mm deep get pushed around a bit to some extent, but these held true. We would be happy to use these wheels in pretty much any conditions and on any course in the world. Our only conclusion is that the unique tapered shape has something to do with this and we wouldn’t

be surprised to see more companies come out with this in mind. After all, it doesn’t matter how aero a wheel is if you are fighting to hold it. Having said that being 80 odd kgs does mean we have a bit more weight to help hold these wheels in place. With a lot of female athletes weighing around the 50-55kg mark (soaking wet), the 65/95mm combo might be a better option.

The last thing to consider is the braking and again we were lucky enough to test these in both dry and wet conditions.

Overall, the brake pads that came with the wheels were adequate and seemed to do a fine job. However when we changed to our regular Swiss Stop pads the breaking was significantly better. Not such a big deal but we would recommend if you are looking at the Knight wheels to also grab a pair of Swiss Stop pads, at least as the first replacement set.

All in all the first generation of Knight wheels are an absolute stand out. They are targeted at the high end of the market with their price range, but it is obvious that a lot of research and development has gone into these wheels. If you wish to you can read all about that on their website.

So if you are in the market for a versatile, high end, Carbon Clincher wheel set look no further than the Knight 95’s.

113 IRONMAN FINISHES...

All your triathlon questions answered: Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Exercise Science, Massage, Rehabilitation, Coaching & Nutrition.

Image: Delly Carr www.sportshoot.com.au

www.shinbonemedical.com 2/96 Macaulay Rd North Melbourne Vic 3051 Appointments: Julie 9-5 Tues-Fri: 0393295454

Dr Mitchell Anderson M.B.B.S., B.Physio. (hons), B.Sci. (hons), Dip. Surg. Anat.

Jason Shortis B. Ex. Sci., Grad. Dip. Ex. Phys., Level 2 Tri coach, Level 2 Strength & Conditioning Charlie Bottero (Masseur)

tech talk Behind the brand

Brand: PROJECT

© Korupt Vision

PROJECT Mode on PROJECT clothing may be just two years into their journey but they are certainly making their mark in the triathlon market, with some of the biggest names in the sport backing the Melbourne based brand. With a big focus on research and development and working with likeminded athlete ambassadors, PROJECT has thrived. Founder Graeme Clarke, tells us how the brand has risen to the forefront of the tri clothing realm.

Who is PROJECT?

the way to achieve the result. I have applied

the most comfortable performance clothing

PROJECT is still relatively new, having been established in 2013. When did the idea first come about to create PROJECT?

there is.

How did the brand come together and why

and communicate with our customer through

triathlon? We were driven to produce better

the journey. I understand how important a

this goal I needed to listen to those who are.

clothing both on field and off across a

uniform can be to an athlete at any level and

This means we have a greater level of

multitude of sports. I took up triathlon as an

so we ensure this is seamless so they can

communication with our ambassadors and

age grouper in 2000 and have enjoyed it ever

focus on their performance. So, in short, we

relationships such as Triathlon Canada as I

since. It made sense when we launched the

treat each customer as a PROJECT to ensure

don’t tell them what they should have based

brand to have triathlon, cycling, running and

we deliver the best outcome for him or her.

on my experience – I listen to what they

volleyball as our foundation sports categories.

want, workshop the parameters and go

We have now expanded to include AFL, rugby

about producing products that perform

and compression and will be launching into

beyond their expectations.

three new sports before Christmas.

PROJECT is a company who want to make

As I was never an elite athlete – to reach

this principal to PROJECT to ensure we plan correctly, monitor the manufacturing process

What makes PROJECT stand out from the rest of its competitors? What goes into the making of a PROJECT garment?

Yes – it’s a simple answer but it’s one we

This allows us to be at the front of a

wanted to always keep in our vocabulary. A

us adapt to the conditions as the athlete has

Tell me the story behind coming up with the brand’s name and definition.

to. But the key to our company is making this

The PROJECT definition is “a collaborative

because it seems too hard or costs too much.

technology available to everyone of our

enterprise, frequently involving research or

But we wanted to open the door to any sport

customers. I love the idea of a young

design that is carefully planned to achieve a

or athlete to come to us and make requests

triathlete racing in the junior series wanting to

particular aim”. Prior to PROJECT, I was a

for what they wanted, and we would often

wear what she saw her hero Emma Jackson

project manager in the building industry for

say yes! So to make a PROJECT garment we

wearing in a race. This is what our brand is

many years. Once you learn the skill to focus

need a customer who is as passionate as us

built on – and we make this happen on a

on the outcome of the job at hand it becomes

about clothing – and then we make it happen

daily basis.

easier to deal with the speed humps along

for them.

constantly changing environment and makes

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lot of brands say no to new products or ideas

Some of the sports biggest stars have chosen to align themselves with PROJECT including Gwen Jorgensen, Emma Jackson, Ryan Bailie, Luke Bell and Gina Crawford. What qualities do you look for in PROJECT ambassadors?

compression, swimming, athletics and

Our ambassador program was the pinnacle

so we wanted them to be able to come to us

to what we are, in that I didn’t just want to

and be able to get every item they needed –

sponsor athletes - I wanted to have athletes

all in the one place, all matching and by

as passionate about our product as we are.

dealing with one person.

netball. But the strength in our brand comes from the training and casual gear we produce to compliment the on field clothing – we understand the challenges clubs and associations have when fitting out their team

We ask a lot of them – constant feedback,

Research and development is a key priority for PROJECT and making technically advanced products is something you value heavily, but that (R&D and innovation) comes with a price tag. Why was it so important to you as a company to invest in that?

being honest in their opinions and requests.

Do you think the huge sporting culture in Australia has played a part in your development?

Our first athlete we signed was Ryan Bailie.

Absolutely. I grew up like most Australians

Ryan was starting out with Jamie Turner and

playing sport all year round – so once that’s

the Wizards and I had a coffee with him in

embedded in your psyche, then you really

Falls Creek a few years back at the

never stop. Having played many sports in my

suggestion of JT. It would have been easy to

life made it easy to transition into a business

pass him up and go for someone with a

that is sport based and also gave me the

I think that if we started PROJECT as just

proven track record and results – but I liked

passion to make clothing better than what is

another sports clothing company then we

the way he told me about what he wanted to

available on the market currently.

would just be sitting out the back. It’s true it’s

do and his passion to get there. His

the harder road to walk – as with R&D does

performances over the last two years speak

come a huge investment and at times

for themselves and don’t surprise me. The

If you could describe PROJECT in three words, what would they be?

disappointments – but we see us like an

same goes for Gwen, Emma and Luke – they

Comfort, technical, performance. Or comfort,

athlete in that if we don’t train hard then we

all had a common interest in wanting to work

comfort, comfort.

can’t expect to perform well! Our customers

closer with a brand who was committed to

see that in us.

improving their performance and where they

testing of products, trying our new ideas – and it was important they felt comfortable in

could contribute to the outcome – in many

Where do you see PROJECT in ten years’ time?

What has been a milestone/highlights of PROJECT thus far?

ways we provide the platform for them to say

We like the idea that we will expand our

what others don’t want to hear! Our

brand across as many sports and countries

There have been many highlights in such a

relationship with Gina is brand new – but one

as the demand requires. There are no real

short time! It’s hard to go past the amazing

of our most challenging to date! Gina wanted

limitations or concrete plans in place, but

performance of Gwen Jorgensen having just

a brand new Kona kit as she wasn’t happy

because we are passionate, hungry and

completed her second undefeated season

with what she was currently wearing and we

nimble, we know we need to plan for strong

and second world title. We were also very

had eight weeks to produce it! I guess that is

growth. It is our customers who drive this

privileged to be chosen to work with Triathlon

what makes our brand what it is – in that not

growth, and as long as we maintain our high

Canada in their Rio campaign – which has

only have we delivered a new long distance

level of service and product then I expect we

got us busily testing new fabrics to combat

Kona inspired range to Gina in a new striking

will continue to grow quite rapidly.

the heat, humidity and tough course. We are

design, but we are pretty confident it might

also very excited to have both Luke Bell and

get Gina a few more places up the leader

Gina Crawford on the start line at Kona this

board this year!

year – having one of our ambassadors win Hawaii could be hard to top!

What has been the biggest challenge(s) thus far?

How many products are there today? In how many sub-categories (eg. Swim, Bike, Run, etc.)

We took on a big commitment when we

Our biggest challenge to date has been

started PROJECT in wanting to develop our

managing the new relationships that come

brand across all sports not just a few. This

with a new business. From customers to staff

made the first 12 months a challenge as we

to suppliers – they all need a great deal of

basically built every item from scratch!

time initially and it has been certainly a

Currently we produce items for triathlon,

challenge managing my time effectively to

running, cycle, indoor and beach volleyball,

ensure we get the result we require.

basketball, soccer, AFL, rugby, wetsuits,

Check out all the awesome gear coming out of PROJECT HQ

Web: projectclothing.com.au Facebook: projectclothingcompany Twitter: ProejectTeamwear Instagram: projectclothingcompany

Australian Triathlete |

49

tech talk

Product: Ventum One

Product spotlight

Ventum Racing The Future Of Speed

A

t the beginning of this year there was a lot of hype building around this new bike brand soon to be joining the triathlon market that would change the way we look at triathlon bike engineering.

As sneak peak photos began circulating on the various social media platforms, it wasn’t long until we were treated to the debut of the Ventum One. Business owners Australian triathlete Jimmy Seear, with his father Peter and close friend Diaa Nour, established Ventum One with one goa - to develop the ultimate triathlon bike. Using a combination of superior aerodynamics, as well as athlete feedback, Ventum has a sole purpose of making the fastest triathlon bike ever seen.

The Ventum One is being put through its paces at the time of print, so make sure you grab next month’s edition to see what The Test Lab thinks of the speed machine bringing old school Lotus Engineering concepts into the modern era. For those

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who love their stats, you can even read the results from their wind tunnel testing at ventumracing.com.

Some of the stars who are already on team Ventum include Leanda Cave and Kyle Buckingham who gave the Ventum One its maiden Queen K voyage at the Ironman World Championships, which definitely won’t be the last. And American Alicia Kaye earned a fifth place at the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Austria riding the bike she cannot speak more highly of.

Available in December in the US and in Australia early next year, the Ventum brand and potential evolution of this bike are exciting spaces to keep an eye on.

“It climbs like a dream.”

I can climb for longer in my aero position or climb seated rather than getting out of the saddle.” Alicia Kaye (above)

the frame. The integrated water bottle holds up to 1.4 litres of water (about two standard bike bottles worth) and comes with a flexible drinking straw plus a bite valve, so you can re-hydrate without ever leaving your aero tuck. You can even customise the colour, available in eight different colours.

Integrated Water Bottles Athletes need water, but adding traditional water bottles to a bicycle frame increases drag and reduces performance.

The Ventum One was designed to be one of the fastest triathlon bicycles, so they built a water bottle into the top tube of

Speed machine: Leanda Cave was one of the first to ride the Ventum

“Yes, it’s stiff.”

The frame is strong and very stiff. The very first feeling I had on it, was that every piece of my effort to move the bike forward was going directly into the bike.” Alicia Kaye

Dreamers: Jimmy Seear has worked tirelessly to create this machine with Father Peter and Diaa Nour. father

One Geometry Frame size

51

54

56

Wheel size Seat tube angle Head tube angle Bottom bracket drop Effective top tube 75° seat tube Head tube length Front center Rear center Stack Reach Stem length

700c

700c

700c

58 700c

1

75-79°

75-79°

75-79°

75-79°

2

72°

72°

72°

72°

3

75

75

75

75

4

530

550

568

588

5

95

114

132

152

6

582

603

623

642

7

395

395

395

395

8

510

528

544

560

9

394

409

423

438

75

75

75

75

Sizes 51 cm, 54 cm, 56 cm, and 58 cm one Dura-Ace di2

one ultegra di2

Price

USD$11,500

USD$8,500

one frameset USD$6,250

Fork

Ventum All-Carbon Aerofoil Fork

Ventum All-Carbon Aerofoil Fork

Ventum All-Carbon Aerofoil Fork

Headset

Integrated Sealed Bearings 1-1/8” x 1-1/8”

Integrated Sealed Bearings 1-1/8” x 1-1/8”

Integrated Sealed Bearings 1-1/8” x 1-1/8”

Seatpost

Carbon Aero Seatpost

Carbon Aero Seatpost

Carbon Aero Seatpost

Rear Derailleur

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 11 spd

Shimano Ultegra Di2 6870 11 spd

-

Front Derailleur

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 11 spd

Shimano Ultegra Di2 6870 11 spd

-

Shifters

Shimano Ultegra Di2 R671

Shimano Ultegra Di2 R671

-

Brake Caliper Front

TRP TTV

TRP TTV

TRP TTV

Brake Caliper Rear

Shimano Direct Mount Dura-Ace 9000

Shimano Direct Mount Ultegra 6800

-

Brake Levers

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 11 spd

Shimano Ultegra Di2 6870 11 spd

-

Bottom Bracket

Ceramic Speed BB30 Shimano

Wheels Manufacturing BB30 Shimano

-

Crankset

Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 11spd 53/39

Shimano Ultegra 6800 11spd 53/39

-

Aero Bar

Carbon Integrated Aero Bars

Carbon Integrated Aero Bars

Carbon Integrated Aero Bars

Saddle

ISM Prologue

ISM Prologue

-

Cassette

Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 11spd 11-25

Shimano Ultegra 6800 11spd 11-25

-

Chain

Shimano HG 11 spd

Shimano HG 11 spd

-

Wheels

Zipp Firecrest 808 Clincher

Zipp 60 Clincher

-

Tires

Vittoria Evo CX

Vittoria Rubino Slick

-

Ventum 1.4-liter Conformal Bottle

Ventum 1.4-liter Conformal Bottle

Ventum 1.4-liter Conformal Bottle

(Multiple Colors Available)

(Multiple Colors Available)

(Multiple Colors Available)

Hydration

Australian Triathlete |

51

tech talk save/spend/splurge Save

$600

$294

Mavic Aksium Aksium stays true to this Mavic DNA with features usually reserved for top performance road wheels. These features include straight pull spokes that bring strength and stiffness, while the versatile and lightweight rims keep inertia low and reactivity high. New for 2016, the lightweight rims are now wider to increase air volume and for a better fit with tyres up to 32mm. This all adds up to a Mavic wheelset with a world-class ride quality that will last longer than any other. www.mavic.com.au

Spend

$1580

Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon Cosmic Pro Carbon features time-proven Mavic carbon capabilities, blending aerodynamics and high stiffness, with one of the lightest aero clincher rims. Feather light Yksion Pro tyres and hubs reinforce its responsiveness. Now available in 2 color versions: white or mat black stickers. www.mavic.com.au

Splurge $3299 Knight Composite 35’s ( DT240 ) The Knight 35 is a do-it-all wheel that offers outstanding versatility and stability, making it a go-to for pros and enthusiasts alike.

The Knight 35 – engineered to, cushion the impact of the roughest roads. Be extremely light weight and nimble and provide a strong aero advantage over a standard box rim www.knightcomposites.com.au

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Product: WHEELS

DT SWISS R 23 Spline Comfort joins speed. The new R 23 SPLINE® wheels work perfectly with the new breed of wider road tires. The combination of wide rims and wide tires results in more comfort in the saddle and more grip on the road. The rider ends up with faster and more enjoyable rides. Together with the laterally stiff build which uses high end bladed spokes, the R 23 SPLINE® lets you tackle the last climb of the day with enough energy to enjoy the looks of the hubs and to plan your next big ride.

Website: www.dtswiss.com

Zipp’s 30 Course Disc-brake Clincher aluminium This wheelset is as packed full of innovations as your best day on a bike was packed with euphoria. The 30 Course Disc-brake Clincher’s durable wide rim profile offers enhanced aerodynamic efficiency as well as better comfort and cornering grip. This is a high-performance aluminum wheelset engineered to provide versatility for the new era of road cycling that includes disc-brake road applications but also cyclocross and gravel adventures, riding or racing. www.echelonsports.com.au

$3499

ZIPP Firecrest 404 With the depth and shape proven in all conditions, its 58mm rim depth is a classic all-around performer that has carried athletes to victory in every kind of event and situation – every triathlon distance, breakaways, field sprints and hilly finishes.

The 404 Firecrest Carbon Clincher is where the Firecrest® Revolution began. At the centre of the 404 Firecrest is Zipp’s 77/177 hubset with best-in-class durability and improved bearing protection with no pre-load adjustment needed. The result is improved stiffness, durability, simplicity and versatility. www.echelonsports.com.au

$1599

MAXIMUM

AERO

CHRONO MAX ULTEGRA Di2 Designed for one thing - speed. With minimal weight, fully integrated systems, quick handling and slippery aerodynamics, the Izalco Chrono Max represents the pinnacle of German Engineering by FOCUS. Windtunnel proven, the aerodynamics of the Izalco Chrono Max are matched by the ride quality required for professional and age groupers alike.

www.focus-bikes.com // facebook/focus.bikes

Consolidation

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for more and as such should be allocated much energy and thought.

You only have to watch ‘Game of Thrones’ - it is the brains, not the bodies, that lead battles. Victories are only captured with experience, cunning and meticulous scrutiny of method. Unless you of course you have a dragon. If you have a dragon they are screwed.

Evaluation Try and do this a week after the race, when the barrage of thoughts, worry and analysis has passed a crescendo and sleep patterns have normalised. A week allows for both disappointment and

Consolidation The week after a major year, emphasis is a week for consolidation. Make no decisions, make no progress. Just be. Be content with success, or with failure and allow neither full penetration.

This is sport and sometimes its relevance to life, war and to need is misleading. It is a façade, it is not life, and it is not indeed death. It is a game, an adventure, with undulations and twists of fate that make it all the more exciting.

The excitement and adrenalin of a championship dehabilitates an athlete physically but also leeches the mind consuming huge amounts of concentration, emotion and focus. It can take weeks to regain the psychological perception and emotional stability needed to evaluate race day factually and accurately. It is the detail of a race assessment, a season assessment that can truly move an athlete forward for future performance.

Do not analyse the race, the preparation or the performance, in the four days after race day. It is self-sabotage.

© Shutterstock.com

I

t’s official the Ironman World Championships 2015 is done. 2015 is dead. Long live 2016.

Woah, woah woah, slow down there soldier! You know that gap between Christmas and New Years? That week where life seems to stagnate and nothing gets done? It turns out there may actually be a reason it is there and not one just to close all the pools, gyms, make people fat and generally frustrate the triathlete population of the world.

That week is about consolidation. It’s not just the comedown from Christmas and the build up to Hogmanay but the amalgamation of the whole year. It is about resetting, exhaling and unwinding.

A gap to evaluate, plan and strategise the new year (whilst eating sumptuous amounts of mince pies).

It turns out it’s exactly what us triathletes need after Kona. Too many of us ignore the winter break and even more of us miss the post-season reflection.

Without it, our relentless pursuit of excellence may eventually prove to be directed in a few of the wrong areas.

On Saturday the 11th of October two World Champions were crowned. At the time of writing it is unknown if they be new winners or repeating legends. What is certain is that on Sunday the 12th of October the sun rose, the waves rolled and life continued on. In time, new opportunities will emerge and new applicants for such opportunities will begin their assault to usurp the King and Queen of Kona 2016. Whilst physicality counts for much on ‘them here lava fields’, strategy, mindset and preparation count

As a coach, I appreciate the amazing power that time and recovery can have on an athlete’s perception. As an athlete, I am completely aware of the hypocrisy of which I write. I will remember my lectures of consolidation, evaluation, construction and progression with mixed discipline this October.

Jodie Swallow Jodie Swallow is a world champion, Ironman champion and Olympian.

Not one to shy away from an uncomfortable but necessary conversation, Jodie Swallow is guaranteed to keep you thinking. Follow her at www.ifollowtheswallow.co.uk

Jodie Swallow excitement to have climaxed and hopefully to have been replaced by a little more reason and logic.

Each point can concentrate on feeling, time or perception depending on your individual focus.

It is time to document your race story: 1.

Write four points about the swim - each from a 1000m sector

2. Write four about the ride - each 40 km apart 3. Write four about the run - each 10 km apart 4. Write four points about your race strategy and pacing 5. Write four points about you hydration and nutrition on race day 6. Write four points about your feelings about the whole experience

• If a point is negative add an additional positive point in response to the negative e.g ‘I began to fade as the heat built in my muscles’ is counterbalanced by ‘But I thought of my goals and kept pushing hard’.

It is remarkable how specific negative instances can overrule a predominantly positive reaction to adversity.

Counterbalancing negative perceptions with positive rhetoric demonstrates the power that perception has in learning from races. A confident, positive and proud athlete is in a far better position to tackle their perceived ‘weaknesses’ than a negative, disappointed one.

Investigation The next step of calculation is the understanding of the evaluation. Working out the ‘whys and what for’, the reasons for the pointers sited in the evaluation, is very personal. The answers are matters of perception and although emotion should never displace fact, I allow my instinct to guide me through this process.

Often what appears to have gone wrong (or right) is for deeper reasons than first sight would suggest. It is a skill to recognise when simple answers suffice and also when complex factors have combined to make the perfect storm.

• Look firstly at preparation and separate its components from that of execution.

• Dissect the physical and the psychological happenings until a solution becomes obvious. It will. We all have an instinct to know ourselves and know our tendencies, under pressure, better than anyone. It is the confusion of expectation, maybe of pride, maybe of responsibility that can manipulate our reactions to achievement or indeed to failure.

Australian Triathlete |

55

Jodie Swallow correct plan of action but also communicate your priorities to your coach and training friends around you.

The classic principles of goal setting; Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time bound (SMART) will help to turn aims into written choices of intent. I also think it is important to create a scene for those goals to flourish - an overall ‘mission statement’ that encapsulates your dreams in triathlon alongside life. This will help in choosing the right type of challenge for the year and will not see an athlete who seeks ‘epic adventures’ coveting a world championship-qualifying slot when they could be climbing Alpe D’Huez or straddling rocks in the Otillo.

Progression

Plan Of Action Your investigation following evaluation should now allow some issues to emerge.

Once issues are ascertained, it becomes far easier for solutions of those issues to be constructed. A solid answer in this last stage of race analysis is possibly the most exciting stage of race comedown as it finalises the progression achieved from the experience.

Nobody has all the answers and it is important to seek advice and knowledge from the right people to avoid the recurrence of mistakes in the future.

Formulating a ‘Plan Of Action’ will lead to further development and progression towards your goals.

Spend time to sit and formulate your goals for next season. It is of paramount importance when formulating goals to ascertain the space, the priorities and the mind space you are in. Age group sport has to be about self-achievement, passion and happiness. Do not waiver on any element of that package and risk your longevity of participation in sport (or in life outside of sport).

Assess your desires and your aims within the sport. This will differ in the various stages of your career and your life.

Is world domination your aim, or next year would you like some time to renew your passion in the sport? Clear motives and goals not only allow you to ascertain a

Jodie Swallow @jodieswallow 56

| Australian Triathlete

With a list of goals, a strategic plan of reaction to the year and renewed zeal and enthusiasm for challenge, ‘Project 2016’ should be the most exciting yet. If not, then revisit the investigation and POA stages of the year and take time to follow both your heart and your brain into assuming the right direction. If it is too early, give yourself more time. If it is all too serious, relax about it. Like each race, each season and each sporting career this is your journey and your thoughts -perceptions and development should hinge on your decisions and nothing and no one else.

Achieving goals in sport takes graft, dedication and resolve, but postponing goals or changing targets is just as credible, rewarding and challenging.

I hope your 2015 in triathlon enhanced your life and that every race (good or bad), taught you something about yourself, about humanity or about life. This year, take the time to recognise that achievement and savour your triumph.

After all, life is a game and games are all about the playing.

SEXTON’S Scribble...

The steps

to your Holy Grail

T

he triathlon season is upon us once more! Frosty mornings are a mere memory, Ugg boots have been thrown to the back of the wardrobe (and if they haven’t we need to have a little talk) and wetsuits are being replaced by budgie smugglers and two piece bathers. Of course the big giveaway that the racing season has arrived is the talk of events. This is my favorite part of speaking with a triathlete because a triathlete doesn’t just go to a race, do their best and then go home.

A triathlete takes a journey and at the beginning of that journey there is so much to talk about. The where, the when, the who with and the…why? Why “why’?

Because just doing a race is not enough.

Triathletes could swim, ride and run any-old-where but it’d just be exercising.

We might as well take up Crossfit. So to make things interesting we create our own Holy Grails. We cast aloft our own shiny golden cup off into the distance over a vast metaphorical ocean to a point that should well seem impossible to reach, but we know isn’t. That cup is our “why.”

Our Holy Grails will take many different forms. For many it will be to beat a certain time, others to win their age group and for a lot of us it will simply be to finish “that race,” the act of holding our hands high across the finish line an internal raising of the challis. Whatever the final target, whatever glistening mug it is always (and most importantly) our own, distant glimmer on the horizon that only we can

see. We understand what it will take to reach – or at least understand that it will be a challenge and that it will be our hard work and sacrifice that fills the cup upon its acquisition.

So it is around this time of the year that I speak to many fellow athletes who have set their Holy Grails far abroad and have embarked upon their journeys to recover and drink the spoils, so to speak. Many have sent their goals high and long – grand ambitions is what we’re all about, after all. Goals sent so far afield can often end up over the horizon and out of sight, but that’s not to say they are out of reach.

This is where planning and direction become important, for if aiming for an unseeable destination, interim check points must be marked out. Stepping stones, if you will, set out in the direction of our grail and just far enough apart we can move without getting our feet wet (obviously not a great path for the perpetual Ugg wearer). These stepping stones (progress goals in reality) allow an athlete to constantly build towards their

Brendan Sexton

target step-by-step, always growing confidence and gaining a better view of the final destination. Coaches and training buddies are a major asset when planning and following a stepping stone journey, assisting with direction and keeping the journey man or woman upright and with momentum.

There will be times when it feels as if the shore upon which our grail lies is out of reach or for reasons beyond our control we are knocked and we stumble. Having the benchmarks behind can remind us of the journey already taken thus far and help reignite the zeal and energy of the first step taken. Injury, illness and countless other obstacles can set us back on our paths or completely divert us. The beauty of these hearty progress checkpoints is they come completely tailored to and individual and their ever-changing situation.

Say someone gets knocked off course by a rogue wave of “overtime at work” they can simply realign themselves with their grails compass direction, reset their stepping stones and recommence the quest.

The journeys we take as triathletes can be intimidating in the knowledge of the sacrifice they will require and daunting in the physical and psychological toll they will extract. But with a clear plan, complete with micro goals and frequent performance checking, we can break down a vast ocean crossing into simple steps. Day by day, session by session, step by step.

Brendan Sexton As a youngster, Brendan’s life ambition was to be the fifth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. That didn’t quite pan out. But triathlon did. A decade on, he’s still at it. www.brendansexton.com.au @kung_fu_sexton

Australian Triathlete |

57

Sirius

M US I N GS

The psychology of an injured athlete, and how to manage it

P

icture this: You are a dedicated triathlete who has been doing the sport for a couple years, maybe many years. You have worked so hard to learn all three disciplines and improve in all three, to now find yourself at the top of your game, and starting to get the results that you have worked so hard to achieve. Through this process, your family, and friends, are inspired by your dedication, your work ethic, your consistency and your ability to balance life with this sport that is your passion.

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You love this sport, and it is what you do!

Because of this, you have almost defined yourself through this sport. An athlete. A hard worker. Determined. Never giving up.

Always ready for the next challenge ahead.

Working hard to reach that next level.

Then one day, out training, you feel something not right. It hurts, it’s tight, and it is causing you to run funny. This is where you will either make, or break the next few weeks, or months of your training. Do you decide to finish the session, or do you say to yourself, “something’s up, this isn’t

normal, I am going to give myself a couple days of rest, get some massage, see a physiotherapist and hopefully be back in three days running again”?

The correct choice was the latter. I have sadly watched many athletes make the wrong decision. They are out training, they feel something wrong, but they keep going.

“I will tell coach if it gets any worse, but for now, I need to finish my last 8 x 800s on the track”. They finish those 800s after making the niggle far worse, and are subsequently out for weeks, or even months trying to heal

Siri Lindley A world champion athlete herself and now one of the most revered triathlon coaches in the world, Siri enables athletes to become the champions and the people they were born to be. With an ability to see things in people they cannot see in themselves, Siri is driven by a unrivalled passion for triathlon and the people within. http://siri-lindley.com

Siri Lindley an injury that could have been avoided, if the session was aborted in those first five minutes of warm up.

The right choice, is deciding that having a couple days off running to fix this slight niggle is definitely way better than running through the niggle, turning it into an injury and dealing with it for the coming weeks, months or even years.

Be present in your training. Know how to listen to your body. You must know the difference between good pain and bad pain. Be smart. Be proactive. If something feels “off”, get off it, have it looked at, and do what it takes to get it feeling 100% again. Most likely just a couple days off from training.

If you run through that niggle, that then turns into an injury, you will be dealing with something far more difficult to endure.

Dealing with an injury is so very difficult.

I have been there, and I have had athletes who have been there. Although by now, they know my stand on niggles. Because of this, injuries happen less and less. They subscribe to the belief of taking three days off now, instead of three months later, and end up back in action a lot quicker.

Being a psychology major, it always fascinates me that the stages of dealing with injury are basically the same as those dealing with death and dying – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

I do not underestimate the strength of all these feelings and absolutely understand why you are feeling them all. It is human, and normal to be so angry after working so hard to get to the level you are at, before an injury strikes.

In my experience, first the athlete refuses to believe that this is an injury, that will keep them from training and racing.

They don’t want to believe it, so they assume each day when they try again to run on it, it will have magically disappeared. Most times it has not, and in

that run searching for the magic fix, the athlete instead causes more damage.

My athletes in the past, have tried using their bargaining skills - ”Just five minutes coach, and if it hurts, I will stop. I promise.”

Five minutes pass, and they are still running, five minutes more, and they are still running.

“How is it?” I yell out. They respond with “Oh not good.” I then yell out, “Why in the world are you still running on it?”

So as coaches, we have to not allow the bargaining. When your gut so strongly tells you that the athlete is injured and must stop the madness. Get off of it, diagnose the problem, and go about fixing

much harder to achieve now, due to lost time, and lost confidence.

At this point in time whether you are a coach to this athlete, or you are the athlete and want to make the right decisions for yourself, you have to surrender to the fact that this injury is real and needs to be fixed. The goal now, focus all your energy on getting healthy. Your normal training goals each day will now be replaced with rehab goals. Goals that can include doing whatever else you can do, to the best of your ability, while the injured part is being healed.

Coaches, you will find that the athlete will get angry and often take on an attitude

Do you decide to finish the session, or do you say to yourself, “something’s up, this isn’t normal, it! Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. Trust your intelligence and be strong and do not allow them to make the same mistakes over and over again. They need you at this time, to be strong in your stance, and to demand they take time to heal. Going slowly now, will get them back to health quicker. Whereas trying to rush the recovery will only lead to constant setbacks and then ultimately a much later return to action.

Once the athlete understands that they are indeed injured, they become angry, and upset, and a lot of times, inconsolable. I feel for them at this point, because I understand how hard it is to basically have to stop what you are doing, when things were going so well. The athletes, always overly pessimistic in this situation, will feel as though all their dreams are slipping away. That everything they wanted to achieve is going to be so

of “why me, why now”? They often get resentful towards all those around them as it gets seemingly harder everyday to see your training partners still able to work hard towards achieve the goals they have, those same goals the athlete shared. The injured athlete often then gets depressed, especially if this is an injury that looks to have a very long recovery time. They realize the nature and seriousness their injury, and the loss now associated with not being able to train or race.

The depression can then lead to sleep and eating disturbances, low energy and, just a general loss of well-being. For some it makes them feel like they want to just quit. For others, it’s more difficult than that.

Triathlon defines them, and is their identity and they would feel lost without it. This is where it is important to put them back in touch with the other things in their life that are important to them. Encourage them to Australian Triathlete |

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Sirius spend time getting involved in the other interests in their lives, whether it is learning, or reading, or music or coaching young kids in the sport that they love so much.

Knowing the deep effect a bad injury can have on the athlete, it is so important to come up with a game plan. The athlete is used to having a plan to follow each and every day – one for swimming, cycling and running that will see them continually progressing and getting closer and closer to being able to achieve their dreams.

Even though they may not be able to swim, bike and run, perhaps they can still swim. GREAT! Let’s focus on the swim right now. Let’s get you so fit in the water, as that fitness will carry over on to the bike and run when you are back doing those things again. Your swim will be better than ever, which will only help you in your races.

Use this to keep them motivated and active, while rehabbing the real problem.

Remind the athlete of all that they are, as a human being. They are not just triathletes. They may be an awesome son, or a great husband, or someone’s best friend. Try to remind them that they are not defined by this sport, it is just something that they love to identify with.

The athlete may be thinking, “What am I without my sport?” These individuals have much more in their lives than just the sport. So, loved ones or coaches need to remind the athlete about all the other great interests, hobbies, or talents and abilities that they have. It is important at this time to come up with new goals, that can harness that dedicated work ethic and put it to use doing something else that interests them. Giving them something to occupy their time while rehabbing the injury.

I know one thing is for sure, as a coach I have a policy that I will never change - I will not stand by and watch an athlete trying to rush getting back from an injury. I will only send my athletes off to race if they are 100% healthy and injury free. To watch an athlete either choosing to race, or being made to race, at 50% strength or health, is just devastating to me.

They end up being half healthy, still overwhelmed by worry from the injury, and are thus unable to perform anywhere near their potential. They finish the race embarrassed by their performance, and ashamed that they are not the athletes

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M USINGS they were before. This now, leads to another shot of depression, anger and a deflated ego, and even worse, sending them back weeks in the recovery of the injury.

An athlete in this position needs to understand that just like racing, the perfect race, or the perfect recovery from an injury, will come only from a laser focus on the process necessary to get your best results. No straying away from the plan.

Being meticulous about executing that plan, and having faith that this will lead you to the best result.

Being calm, and having faith that in managing this injury properly, you will be back and you will then have a chance to come back better than ever. Step back, take time, be patient and build your fitness and strength back up again, properly.

So what is the best way to handle an injury and how do you maintain your sanity in the process?

2) Deal with what it is Stop focusing on what could have been, or should have been, and if only this didn’t happen. Spending too much time and energy on this will take away from you successfully moving through the recovery and healing process.

Yes, an injury will throw a spanner in the works. It will mess with your best-laid plans and dreams. Unfortunately, this is your reality right now and you have to allow yourself to deal with what is! Find the right doctor, come up with a rehab plan, and stick to that plan through thick and thin.

Take the time off, to let everything heal, and build you back up slowly, methodically and with great purpose.

3) Set new, more realistic goals for yourself The ultimate goal is fix what is wrong, and then build back up. No rushing, but being patient. Being smart. You will have to measure your successes very differently, focusing on your body getting healthy and building up strength again. In a sense yes, you will have to start all over again.

Once healed, you will be back at square one to building up strength and building up endurance.

Hopefully, you now have an understanding of what caused the injury.

At this point you want to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes again.

Ideally, through your rehab and recovery, you have located and removed the source of the problem, and can now build up safely and effectively.

You will have to keep focused on your new goals and leave the old ones in the past for now, where they belong. Once you’ve come all the way back from your injury you can start entertaining your old goals, and now, they will be more achievable than ever.

These are my ideas:

1) Allow yourself to be sad

4) You must maintain a positive attitude, no matter what

Allow yourself to mourn and feel whatever loss you are experiencing. Your emotions are an important part of the healing process. Feeling is part of healing!

You don’t have to be Little Miss Sunshine. Be real, authentic and let the people around you, help you through this process.

As difficult as this will be, try to stay as positive as possible. Understand that “If it is to be, it is up to me”. In other words, your attitude and outlook is absolutely everything! When positive, your attitude can speed up the healing process and lessen the emotional pain that you have to go through.

6) Put all the amazing skills you have acquired through sport, to use, by taking on some other interests while you are taking this time to heal.

Give yourself something interesting to do that gives you a sense of purpose beyond getting healthy.

7) Most importantly, be patient

Siri Lindley However, when you’re negative you’ll slow the rehab process down to a screeching halt and make yourself miserable in the process. It’s all up to you.

Avoid being negative because nothing good ever comes from negativity.

5) Healing needs to be your #1 priority Be conscientious about your physical therapy. Follow the doctor’s advice closely.

Don’t cut corners. Work as hard with your rehab as you did in your training.

There is never a good time to get an injury.

But, you will get through this.

You will be just fine, as long as you allow yourself enough time to heal properly.

If you’re over anxious to get back and rush the healing process, then you may set yourself up for another, more serious injury which may cost you even more time.

Rushing the healing process so that you can get back a week or two earlier is “penny wise, pound foolish.”

In rushing the healing process, you might get back a few days earlier, but then put yourself at risk of developing a chronic injury somewhere else in your body, that will keep you out even longer. Remember, sometimes the fastest way of coming back is the slowest. Go slower, arrive sooner!

Value yourself as a person, not just as an athlete. In doing this, you will be more likely to make the very best decisions

possible for your well being. Once you get healthy, you will be happy, and when you have both these things, everything else becomes possible!

Injuries are always so painfully disruptive. When you are healthy and get back to training and racing, it is normal to be preoccupied with worries about hurting yourself again. Fear of re-injury is absolutely normal. This tendency to focus on your fears of injury striking again, will distract you from the task at hand and actually leave you performing physically tight. This, in turn, can lead to injury.

So when you get back to training hard, make sure you address these fears. This fear actually makes you far more vulnerable to injuring yourself again. So, to counteract this natural tendency, you will need to discipline yourself to concentrate on what you want to have happen, not what you’re afraid will. Focus on what you need to do in order to execute perfectly. I know this is far easier said than done, but just try to discipline yourself to maintain a positive focus on your performance, rather than a fearful approach to it.

You got this! Be patient. Be diligent in your recovery. Be mindful in your return to training and racing. Once healthy, go after it with passion, and belief and a positively focused mind.

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QANDrA.

Episode five The Kona Edition

t e x t b y D r . M it c h A n d e r s o n | I l l us t r a t i o n b y s h u tt e r s t o c k . c o m / Ni k o l a K n e z e v i c

There are always a lot of questions on the island of Hawaii during and after race week and 2015 was no exception…and having just returned to the Honolulu International Airport, it’s time to get the tricky ones answered.

1.

Q: Was the water hotter in Kona this year?

Yes, without question. The water temperature was three degrees Fahrenheit (whatever that means) or around 1.5C higher than normal (28C). This has been high enough to cause bleaching of local coral- which is a result of the death of the colourful algae inhabiting the structure.

The coral blanches white and can die if

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the temperature stays high for a number of months. This may seem inconsequential to the Ironman race day, but small perturbations in temperature matter in the human body. Especially in Hawaii, where the average race day temperature can average mid-thirties.

Temperature homeostasis is ferociously guarded. Maintaining a range between 36.5 and 37.5 C preserves cellular processes and allows them to optimise

function. Of course we can operate at higher temperatures, but this pushes performance to the limits. You have to pump more blood to the skin, more to the gut for fluid absorption as well as to the muscles for exercise. It’s a contest of blood flow. Then dehydration adds to the contest, and muscle and guts nearly always lose out. Cooling wins the day and you have to slow down.

Almost everybody fatigues (stops exercising) when their core temperature hits forty degrees Celsius. A long way from the range I mentioned earlier. Some special athletes are able to exceed normal limits- see exhibits Chris Legh and Sian Welch. Luckily heat acclimatisation reduces the core temperature by about 1C, so it takes longer to get to forty degrees Celsius and you can spend more time exercising safely. If the water is warmer, then athletes get hotter earlier…bringing them closer to fatigue point earlier. Not helpful when it’s hitting high thirties in the Energy Lab. Wetsuits are not legal due to this water temperature, at least for those under seventy years of age. When you hit three-score and ten, the risk of not floating for the 3.8km course outweighs the risk of getting hyperthermia. So athletes use these odd sleeveless, short-john skin suits to cover their race suits. A la the Sydney Olympics without the thorpedo bodies!

These make the skin less sticky in the water, allowing athletes to glide a little easier and minimise time in transition.

4.

Q: Should there be fifty pro women in Kona?

5.

Q: Should WTC pay to 20th in Kona?

6.

Q: Should WTC dump the current qualifying KPR system?

Aha! I’m not going to weigh in on this one - I have enough hate mail as it stands! But I would like to propose that this is the wrong question if we’re looking to promote depth of racing in Kona. Positive discrimination is rarely well-received nor successful, so could we ask another question?

A resounding yes! The depth is there in the top twenty men, which is borne out of the statistics from the recent championship. Less than 18 minutes separated second place to twentieth. In the female field, the same placing interval was over an hour. Increasing the payday will encourage more women to race (around 210 women participated in the KPR in 2015 compared to over 350 men).

Let’s reward all the professionals with a deeper pay cut, with a set amount of the race revenue provided for this purpose each year. More money should provide more incentive to increase depth in the women and then the conversation should turn to fifty women in Kona.

2.

2.

Q: Was ‘Dig me’ Beach the same zoo?

Yes indeed. It’s like a mating season of sub 20 BMI Caucasians with no body hair.

The Hawaiian locals seem horrified but unable to look away at the ever growing undie run too!

3.

Q: Did the Hawaiians kill Captain James Cook because they thought he was a god?

Strangely the answer seems both yes and no. I guess most accurately, probably maybe! The story goes that in 1789 Cook stopped over on the Big Island and was feted by the locals. A feast was held in his honour (as a god) and he and his crew left safely having had quite the Kona holiday.

Unfortunately, his ship was ravaged by a storm soon after and he limped back into Kealakekua Bay for assistance.

That’s when it is fabled that the locals decided that he either wasn’t a god, nor as omnipotent as they thought he may have been. And knocked him off with their spears.

A memorial marks the spot 1.6km across the bay, which you can only get to by boat/kayak (with a licence) or under your own swim steam.

The ambiguity starts because they did burn his flesh from his bones and these were distributed amongst the local hierarchy- something which would be done to a person held in high esteem. His

skeleton was mostly recovered by an emissary from his crew but the spine (where the ‘spirit power’ was meant to be predominantly found) was not returned.

Cook was buried at sea.

The bay is a sacred place and quite eerie at sunrise and set. The cliff has lava tubes where the bones of kings and royalty have been buried and sealed.

Unfortunate lower caste Hawaiians were lowered on ropes to perform this task, upon completion their ropes were cut and they fell to their honourable deaths, with the location of the burial only known to them. The Pacific Ocean floor drops away precipitously from the cliff into 200 feet of impenetrable blue water. The only relief is the odd school of spinner dolphin breaking the water on most days at these times (80% according to local dive instructors). It’s a highlight of any visit to Kona.

Another resounding yes!

Qualifying shouldn’t be about a business model - clearly the fiscal model is working out for WTC after it’s recent $600+ million sale. Let’s get all the athletes to the start line in top shape to make it a true level championship. Scrap allowing points contributions from half ironman distance, the Ironman is a separate entity. Rinny’s form for half compared with full is evidence enough.

7.

Q: Is Kona the best race on the planet?

It’s exciting, hard and hot. The best single day test of endurance on the planet? Arguably yes…but lets check in next year for #bestkonaever.

If you have a persistent problem- go and see your local GP. They’re a wealth of knowledge and can direct you to a specialist if required. Looking forward to hearing your questions for episode Six of QANDrA: @drmitcha (twitter/insta) and mitch@shinbonemedical.com

mitch@shinbonemedical.com @DrMitcha @Drmitcha @Drmitcha

www.shinbonemedical.com

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‘THE TAPeR’ Art or Science?

t e x t b y T im r e e d | p h o t o g r a p h y b y s h u tt e r s t o c k . c o m

What is tapering?

What does science say?

For the uninitiated, it’s the time leading into a race where you stop smashing your body day in day out and allow it to fully recuperate to race fatigue-free.

In an ideal scenario, tapering should increase red blood cell production and number, replenish or re-balance the body’s natural performance enhancing hormones, increase neuromuscular capability and even improve the strength of an athlete’s immune system and sleep quality.

The science seems to generally recommend the following principles:

The overall objective of a well-designed taper is the benefits of being really well rested without having lost fitness from over resting.

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-- The full range of training intensity should remain within sessions.

-- Training frequency should remain predominantly the same.

-- Training volume should be reduced approximately 40-60% from typical load.

-- 8 - 14 days of tapering seems to work best before fitness losses are observed.

-- There is a large individual variance on what taper style works best for different athletes.

To further touch on that last point. In other words, the above scientific principles might not work at all depending on the individual. A minor issue with the above recommendations is most of the research on tapering has been done on elite athletes with a relatively uninterrupted training build leading up to the taper. It’s also likely that as elites their external stress going into the race that family, travel, and work is probably less then the typical age group competitor. In my coaching experience, I’ll be first to admit that the one area of coaching that continually perplexes is what taper is suitable for an athlete at that given time.

A taper week that has worked previously might not work again as the athletes lead up to the race could be very different. Not only should the taper be personalised for the individual but also for the individual’s circumstances surrounding the race. I believe it’s hugely important that coach and athlete regularly discuss how the athlete is feeling leading into the race to try and get the correct balance of maintenance training and rest.

Some examples of taper weeks I’ve used or prescribed:

1

‘The Cliff Jump’ This taper involves pretty much keeping training as normal up until the Wednesday or Thursday before the race and then basically doing little training after that until race day.

Use: -- When athletes are using a race purely as part of their plan of building fitness towards a more important race we might use this to try not to detract from the overall plan while still allowing a very short period to freshen up a little so quality intensity can still be reached.

-- The athlete has quite a large aerobic history and for whatever reason, has only started serious training a few weeks prior and is still making large fitness gains with every week that passes. The chronic training load is low, the fitness gains in pushing the training quite late before a race are likely worth it as it might only take the athlete a few days to freshen up and shake the fatigue of their short training build.

2 A few of the many questions to ask -- How fit is the athlete? Generally the fitter the athlete or the longer the training prep has been, the longer the taper should be.

-- How anxious is the athlete? Some athletes simply can’t handle not doing much leading into a race and convince themselves they’re losing fitness, which negatively affects their race.

-- How much travel is involved?

-- What is the time zone difference?

How long will the athlete have to adapt to this?

-- What acclimatisation strategies are necessary for the environmental conditions of the race?

-- How restful will the time between training sessions be?

-- What type of athlete is the taper being designed for? A diesel engine or a high-octane thoroughbred?

‘The Sneak’ A longer taper period with a little more training than might be optimal in the final week.

Use:

-For those athletes who are incapable of resting without incurring detrimental anxiety. I’ve had athletes who go stir crazy with the required rest that would be optimal. The only way to keep them mentally in a good place to race is to keep giving them sessions that help them maintain confidence that they’re ready to rock n roll on race day. To ensure that these athletes are still well rested on race day I typically bring in easier days longer out from the race. For example, instead of dropping the volume by 30% 2 weeks out and 60% in race week, I might drop volume 20% 3 weeks out, 20% 2 weeks out, 30-40% during race week. It’s named ‘The Sneak Taper’ because the coach has to sneak in the extra recovery without them noticing.

3

‘Ole Faithful’ A simple but effective linear reduction in volume from 2 - 4 weeks out.

Use:

This should work for many athletes who’ve had a good preparation leading into the event. It’s important that the range of training intensity remains within the sessions. Volume is what should steadily dissipate.

Australian Triathlete |

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4

‘Double Edged Sword’

A widely used taper which involves giving the athlete 3 - 5 days of light training 2 - 3 weeks out from an event, before bringing back some volume and specific intensity before really backing off the load again from 4-5 days out.

Use: This is a great taper for athletes that have had a great preparation leading up to an event. It allows a freshening up from residual fatigue for 7 - 14 days out from a race before typically going back into some very high quality race specific training before freshening up once again leading into the race. I’m a huge fan of this taper because the initial resting up period allows some of the best quality session of the athlete’s training block immediately following, providing a real boost to the upper thresholds of an athlete’s fitness with the second lot of rest that comes much closer to race day

5

‘Overcooked’ No training whatsoever.

Use:

When an athlete presents in a completely overtrained state but really wants to go ahead with the race. The only real option to try and get the athlete healthy and firing again is to send them to bed to rest as much is possible. I’ve heard the tale of Simon Whitfield who couldn’t get out of his way leading up to the Hy Vee ITU race, previously one of the biggest pay days for pros in the sport. Simon got to Iowa and lay in bed for 4 days prior to the race and then came out on race day and won a handy $200K

6

When in doubt, less is more. Be a little more flexible with your training program than you would usually be. Only you can know whether you’re feeling a little tired in training and should take the easier option. In general, if you’re having a very relaxing taper where you can lie on the couch and cruise between every session then get out and keep the body moving. However if you’re travelling, dealing with other stressful factors then take the resting option. If you’re unsure, less is more! The hard work is done so especially from 3 - 4 days out, take it easy.

Eat when you’re actually hungry I often get reports of people feeling really sluggish from their taper time. Upon further questioning it’s normally coupled with people eating their typical diets but without the 2-5 hours of daily training they usually do. Be disciplined and eat when you’re actually hungry rather than grazing all day or you will start to feel sluggish and over a prolonged taper you can end up a few kilos heavier than ideal race weight.

Get your race set up sorted early

‘Family First’ and/or ‘The Traveller’ This taper involves a lot more rest and down time then a typical taper.

Use: This taper structure factors in how exhausted athletes might be from parenting or arduous travel leading up to a race. There is no point squeezing in training sessions if you’ve been on your feet running around chasing your kids or enjoying too little sleep due to travel or baby wake ups.

I generally prescribe an ‘Ole Faithful’ or ‘Double Edged’ sword to these athletes if their training prep has been adequate but make the majority of sessions optional with the recommendation that if they’re tired, sleep or rest will be more beneficial then the training.

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A few taper tips to leave you with:

| Australian Triathlete

The last thing you should be doing the day before the race is rushing around trying to get your race wheels tuned to your gears, new tires glued or testing out new running shoes. It sounds obvious but it’s a consistent mistake many of us a make.

Get everything sorted early and minimise the stress of the day before the race.

Maintain Perspective Yes you’ve put a lot of work into your race but in most situations your loved ones have also had to put up with a lot. It’s just a race, the sun will rise the next day so stay happy and remember it’s rare to have a dream taper. It’s more likely than not that stressful things will arise. Just like during the race, stay in the moment and do what you have to do right there and then rather than getting overwhelmed.

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Wasted Crunches text and photography by Kriss Hendy

W

hether you’ve just raced on the Big Island” or you are heading into the main part of your race season, considering your ‘core’ is a must for all triathletes. “Core” or “core strength” has become a term that is thrown around a lot in the fitness community, especially now with dozens of new machines and exercises appearing on the market that guarantee you that rock hard six-pack.

We must understand that having a strong core is much more than this ‘superficial physique’. Core work needs to be respected and performed to support your performance and prevent injury. What I often say to my athletes is to envisage their core as ‘a belt’ and not just as a ‘shiny belt buckle’ aka a six-pack’ Our aim is to train and strengthen our core belt as a whole and I consider the most effective way for triathletes to do this is training it through functional and whole body exercises.

What is your core?

The core refers to a number of muscles, which stabiliSe, move and protect the spine. Any muscle that helps the spine to maintain a neutral position can be considered a core muscle.

The musculature and function of the core is a complex topic of conversation, which could be discussed in length, however to keep things simple with regards to training, the muscle groups that are deep and close to the spine e.g. the deep cervical flexors, multifidi and transverse abdominus, are termed the ‘inner core’. These complex sounding muscles are generally the first to engage during movement or when breathing to protect the spine. The ‘Outer’ core muscles are made up of our more well-known muscle groups such as the erector spinae, quadratus lumborum (QL) and abdominus (transverse & rectus) as well as the glute complex, lats and hip flexors. These also support and protect the spine but they also have a bigger role to play in our exercise and movement patterns. The key thing to remember, the more efficient we become at engaging these muscle groups, the stronger and more stable we will become.

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What is core strength?

The core stabilises and protects the spine by creating stiffness that limits excessive movement in any direction, ultimately protecting the spinal cord from injury. The most common movement patterns we see in triathlon are flexion, extension and rotation, movements that require the spine to hold a rigid position so the hip and shoulder joints can move with force.

The strength and efficiency of your core muscles are what prevents this excessive movement from occurring within the hip complex and limits the occurrence of weaknesses such as hip drop in your running gait and a poor bike position.

However, training your core isn’t just about being stiff and stable: core training is also about being elastic and malleable.

Strong athletes all have the ability to be able to get into positions and then lock down into them to prevent injury.

Developing this strength will enable you to become resilient enough to move through the continuum whilst being able control your movements.

pull you out of the neutral spine position and which in turn forces you to prevent it.

If you’re seated or lying down, your body will use the surface underneath you to create stability and the exercise will be less effective.

However, we aren’t saying that core exercises performed on the floor aren’t worthwhile, it’s just that exercises performed with less stability require much more work and concentration to stop you from falling over! Imagine when we are performing the single leg deadlift, the weight we are holding will want to pull us down, opposing this force will be the muscles in our core, as well as in our legs and back, which are all working together to ensure we maintain a neutral spine and remain stable.

Single leg (unilateral) exercises are a great way to create instability and highlight imbalances in coordination, strength and stability. From experience most people naturally have a weaker side and so when working bilaterally, not only would these weaknesses not become

Start focusing on muscle activation and perfecting technique through the use of functional exercises.

What makes an effective core program?

An effective program will include a combination of exercises that will require your core to resist or oppose a force that is acting on your body. Being able to produce a force from lower body to upper body is dependent on the strength of your core.

You may have a strong lower body, but without a stable and strong centre, that force cannot be expressed in your upper body if your core gives out.

Standing exercises demand the most from your core musculature and are essential in your programming. The role of single-side or unilateral movement exercises is simple - they are designed to

apparent but the stronger side will generally always take precedence (do all the work). The inclusion of single-leg work will add variance to your programming and is great way to target supplementary and activate normally ‘dormant’ muscle groups. Over time this will lead to increases in your overall strength and support to your midline stability, ultimately resulting in injury prevention.

My message would be to stop complicating core stabilisation with repetitive crunches. Start focusing on muscle activation and perfecting technique through the use of functional exercises that will effectively build the foundation of strength needed for performance.

Strength and Conditioning

A few exercises that will start you on your way to achieving a strong and balanced core - give it a try!

Kettle bell Stiff Legged Deadlifts: A surprise addition to a core routine – but we want to reinforce the fact that functional exercises performed well will increase your core strength plus you will be surprised how much your core is engaged with this one!

(Ensure correct technique and prevent arching of the back) Can be performed with single leg variation too.

3 sets x 8/10 reps, 30sec rest

Isometric Holds: V-Sit/Front Plank/Side plank – add this assortment of isolation exercises into your program. All can be performed for time or breaths (see tip below) 3 sets x 30/45/60s efforts, 30sec rest

Swiss Ball Oblique Twists: A great exercise for adding rotational force in a controlled environment – add weight and adjust position of shoulders on ball for increased intensity 3 sets x 6/8 reps, complete twists (e.g. left & right), 30sec rest

Suspension Pikes: An exercise to challenge your balance and stability, focus on form by maintaining straight body lines, adjusting intensity by how big you make the movement.

This can be performed on the Swiss ball too.

3 sets x 8/10 reps, 30sec rest

Swiss Ball Bridge Roll Outs: Engages and strengthens the glutes and hamstrings at the same time, ensure to keep your hips high as they will tend to drop as you fatigue.

3 sets x 10/15 reps, 30sec rest

Kriss Hendy

Strength & Performance Coach

KH Strength & Performance Tip “The next time you are performing an isometric hold try training for breaths instead of time. For instance, during the front bridge, instead of holding the position for 30 seconds, try and hold the position for five full breaths.

This forces you to actually breathe since your focus is on getting five full breaths out as opposed to trying to survive for 30 seconds. It’s an instant shift to quality over quantity.”

Seeing the need for better athlete education and understanding with regards to Strength & Conditioning for the Endurance Athlete.

Kriss works with a variety of athletes from Age Groupers to Professionals developing specialized programs that support and heighten their endurance performance. Kriss is based in Byron Bay with his wife (professional triathlete) Polly Hendy.

He has large client base that use his distance (online) coaching.

For further details or to contact Kriss, visit: www.krisshendy.com Instagram: @ krisshendystrengthandperf Twitter: khendy3 YouTube: Kriss Hendy Strength and Performance

* For further instruction on these exercises go to Kriss Hendy Strength & Performance YouTube channel

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tips & tricks

Back to

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I

Basics

find myself as a coach regularly fielding questions from prospective triathletes looking to enter into the sport. The one thing which I always look to highlight right from the start when discussing how to go about tackling triathlon is that everyone is an individual and that nothing is ‘set in stone’ when it comes to training. What may work well for you, may not work for someone else. We all have different limiters in our lives, with time available to train around work, family and what your goals may be.

Now we are into the new season, it is never too late to return to basics no matter how experienced we are. It is easy to make things more difficult than they really need to be. So, adhering to the old saying of keeping it simple will go a long way to ensure your continued progression.

To progress from year to year, one must increase training stimulus over time

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otherwise you won’t keep improving.

Consistency, of course, is the key to whatever we do. Also knowing when to push and when to back off at the right time is not something that you can learn straight away. It takes time to learn about what your body can and can’t do, and sometimes learning the hard way is the best way to learn a lesson.

The human body is a unique piece of work and the body can adapt to most stresses placed upon it as long as it is done progressively. The problem with most of us is that we usually don’t want to wait to get the results. Many fortysomething former athletes in their youth look to resurrect their past sporting glory by taking up triathlon for a new challenge and may have experienced a few idle years on the physical training front while climbing the corporate ladder and raising a family.

You can’t make it happen overnight, but by having a goal and a plan to start makes the big picture so much easier to follow. Even though a busy age group athlete may only have from 6 to 10 hours per week to train that doesn’t mean they can’t progress. You do need to have the right combination of training, rest and focus more on what may have been once neglected areas (read training smart) within your own program. There is so much information available these days regarding training, racing and how to be a better athlete that it’s easy to become confused and frustrated. The one thing for certain though, is that if you stick to it, you will improve each season. It has been said that is takes up to seven years to reach your endurance potential – provided it is progressive, kept real and you allow some recovery and down time and the end of each season.

Nick Croft Nick Croft is a former professional triathlete, Australian Triathlete of the Year and two-time winner of the Noosa Triathlon.

With 19 years coaching experience under his belt, Croft provides online training programs for athletes of all ages and abilities through www.mscsport.com.au and runs Noosa Tri Camps in Noosa Heads, Australia.

The principles that I focus on as a coach work equally well for the beginners and the more elite age group athlete.

Many people I know decide their training plan only five minutes before they walk out the door. Each person has different goals and each person also only has ‘x’ amount of time to allocate to their training each week. You must be honest with yourself when it comes time to planning your training and race schedule for the upcoming season. There is no point in plotting your training program for 12 hours per week training, when you can only realistically train for seven hours due to work, family and a busy lifestyle.

Each and every session that we do should have a purpose. Some sessions are long, some are short, some fast, some slow. By dividing your training year and season into stages i.e., base, Intensity, peak, racing, rest or active recovery, you accomplish a number of different benefits over training in an ‘ad-hoc’ no direction kind of fashion.

Some things to consider for your planning are: • Identify weaknesses – with the help of a coach or by knowing what this may be yourself, emphasis should be allocated to your weakness, eg the one you may like the least!

• Keep a log book/training diary. Plotting your session content, how you felt and any other relevant information you feel important • Build up a support network of specialists such as a physiotherapist, massage therapist, sports doctor, nutritionist, bike shop. Shop around until you find a network that you’re happy with and one that you feel comfortable working together with.

• Purchase a heart rate monitor and learn how to get the most out of it.

• Test yourself in regular time trials in all disciplines during your build phase leading up to the season.

• Find your threshold heart rate by doing a 30 minute time trial in bike and run (done on separate days) to be able to train efficiently to Heart Rate and set your training zones.

• Get into a club training group or squad that has a coach involved or at least an experienced mentor. This will help in so many areas for progression and assist greatly in developing you to be faster and avoiding some of the pitfalls.

• When you get to the events this coming season, remember what your goals were at the start. Your original aim was to maybe just finish a triathlon and get some fitness in the process. Build on this and don’t forget to have some fun and enjoy the ride.

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Features

Š Daniel L Smith / Shutterstock.com

Key success

when racing a long course event t e x t b y J u l i e t e d d e | p h o t o g r a p h y b y s h u tt e r s t o c k . c o m

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ummer is nearly here and the great news is that you will have the opportunity to test out the training and fitness you have been hopefully building over winter.

Also warmer weather and more daylight hours mean you have some more decent weather to get that training happening.

For a beginner lining up for your first long course race, it can be quite daunting.

However, if you are able to understand how to go about the race and by this I mean pacing on the bike and run, your experience on the day will be very positive.

Using your training sessions to learn how to pace will be enormously beneficial.

There is no point in training, getting out there and going at a super high intensity when come race day, because of the time

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it takes to complete a long course triathlon the intensity cannot be sustained. Training days should often simulate the intensity of race day. So, here are some tips on what matters in your preparation and on race day.

GET FIT ON THE BIKE This is especially true for people new to triathlon or riding in general. The fitter you can get yourself on the bike, the greater the chance of you running to your ability.

There is no point focusing on running because you are good at it or are strong at it. Unless you can get to the run with the least amount of fatigue you won’t reap the rewards of being a good runner. How do you get strong on the bike? Well, there are no real short cuts as it’s about volume.

This is gained through frequency and

distance of riding, even if you can only ride twice a week. Make this a ride with some intensity or strength work mid-week and then a long ride that you build on the weekend. To have completed at least two 90km rides or distances close to the full distance of your rides will benefit you not only physically but mentally as well.

RUNNING OFF THE BIKE Every triathlon you do, you are required to run off the bike. So to prepare the body and the mind to how it feels to run off the bike, I believe completing shorter runs frequently (this means every week if not 2x per week) off the bike. If you can start to run strongly then this will continue throughout the run leg. It is important to get the feet moving quickly, to get the legs

Beginners Nutrition: Want to have a controlled run?

Then make sure you don’t over consume on the bike.

© Delly Carr

They hit the run with their stomach contents bouncing around and then feel nauseous and bloated. running at a cadence close to 180rpm straight away. To initially include 10 minutes as 30 seconds fast feet, 30 seconds easy and finish with 10 minutes at race pace, is a good a place to start.

You can add more time to this, as you get comfortable doing the above. 20 to 40 minute runs are suitable for this type of run. Putting in a longer run of around 10 km maybe be useful close to race day so you can learn about your likely pace come race day.

LONG RUNS – YES OR NO From a confidence point of view, yes it is important to try to run the distance before the day. You do not have to do it off the bike but you could complete a long the day after you have completed your long bike Including or building the distance every second week should be worked into your training. Obviously, you want to do at least two other runs a week.

HARD AND FAST RUNS – YES OR NO So, typically we include intervals every week and they are still important to improve your running efficiency and fitness.

However, given you have some harder bike sessions each week, the fatigue will accumulate and your performance during these harder workouts will be compromised.

You need to work out your limiter. For most beginners, it is their bike leg. To make and keep the intensity in that discipline makes more sense. You can still include fartlek, moderate or tempo paced runs, hill efforts and some threshold work (which can be done off the bike) in your run sessions.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FUELLING: Many races in triathlon long course events can be ruined through inadequate or incorrect fuelling. Many times athletes are consuming too much especially on the bike in order to try and make up for maybe not consuming much on the run. The problem arises in that they hit the run with their stomach contents bouncing around and then feel nauseous and bloated. This can result in a lot of discomfort and the need to try out the portaloos on course (note that this is not ideal). The most important thing is to practice what you plan in training. Being aware that you can get a fair bit of carbohydrate in your drinks or fluid, and being across the weather conditions you will race in will definitely affect how much fluid you will need.

julie tedde Julie Tedde is Head Coach of TRG Triathlon and Multisport and Race Director of ActiveTri Series.

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© Korupt Vision

HOW TO:

Beat the Post-Ironman Blues t e x t b y M a r g a r e t M i e l c z a r e k ( A P D , AN , A c c SD ) p h o t o g r a p h y b y K o r u pt v i s i o n a n d s h u tt e r s t o c k . c o m

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ou’ve just completed an Ironman. That’s right, 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run, possibly the biggest, most gruelling event of your life.

During the race you feel like a rock star.

You come out of the swim, people are cheering. You get on the bike, more people are cheering. You run down that finishing chute you feel like royalty. Family, friends and even strangers you have never met before are yelling your name, egging you to that finish line. This is your moment, your moment of glory.

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Then you cross that finishing line. “You are an Ironman”, yell the crowd, in unison with Mike Reilly. After 226km and spending the better part of your day in motion, battling the elements and your self, you collapse into the arms of your catcher, you’re wrapped in your race towel, and your race medal is hung around your neck.

Then, all of a sudden, it’s all over. You’re left stumbling around in the dark trying to find your loved ones, while (I’m my case) trying not to spew!

You have worked so hard for this one event, ‘the big dance’, and just like that, it’s

done. You’ve made sacrifices and missed special occasions and social events. Your non-triathlete friends, who do normal, non-triathlon things have stopped asking you to these normal things, because, well, you’re training.

“Do you want to get dinner?” “ I can’t, I have to get to sleep. I’m training for an Ironman. I have to go home, to go to sleep, so I can get up at 4am in the morning so I can train.”

The last six months has been training this and training that… training, training, more training…. Because TRAINING.

NUTRITION

© AT

Brought to you by:

CAPTION: Caption text to go here. Caption text to go here.

mino acids, a in h ic r s d oo f g in m Consu ntioxidants a d n a ls a r e in m s, in m vita ood. can help you to feel g

How to boost your mood So now what?

Your big day is over, the circus has rolled out of town, Elvis (or in this case Mike Riley) has left the building and reality starts to creep its way in. The endorphins, euphoria, the rush that comes with training and racing for an Ironman has worn off and the reality of normal life, responsibilities and work set in. It’s like coming down from a high. You start to feel sad, flat, apathetic, maybe even a bit depressed.

Welcome to the post-Ironman blues.

This happened to me after Ironman Melbourne in March this year. Leading in to the race the focus was fully on the Ironman.

My life, almost completely, revolved around training. It was all about swim, bike, run, eat, sleep and repeat, over and over again. So when the big dance was finally over, the post Ironman blues hit.

There are many things that may cause low mood. Some of the main players in mood regulation include hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone and the neurotransmitters or brain chemicals, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin.

Dopamine increases drive, focus and motivation. It increases feelings of pleasure and enjoyment. Serotonin, which is made from the amino acid tryptophan, is a mood stabiliser. It helps to boost your mood, increasing good emotions and enhancing your memory. Oxytocin is both a neurotransmitter and hormone and is often referred to as ‘the love hormone’.

When these brain chemicals are low, low mood may occur. But fret not. You can boost your levels of these happy hormones and brain chemicals by eating the right foods.

What are the mood boosting nutrients?

While there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a few favorites immediately after the big event is over, it’s important not to over indulge for too long in food and drink. It’s better to get back in to healthy eating habits sooner because eating healthily and nourishing your body can help to boost your mood.

A healthy, well balanced diet will help to make you feel good, both physically (it can aid recovery, prevent illness and infection and increase energy levels) and mentally (it can boost your happy hormones and brain chemicals). Key nutrients that are known to support the production of your happy hormones and brain chemicals and that can boost your mood include B-vitamins, particularly vitamins B6 and B12, the amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine, antioxidants, such as quercertin, natural probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids and let’s not forget chocolate (just stick to the good quality, 70 or 80% cacao).

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Eggs

Salmon

A good source of the amino acid tryptophan, which supports the production of serotonin

A good source of tryptophan, which helps to boost serotonin levels and omega-3 fatty acids, which help to improve mood

Turkey A good source of protein and the amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine, which help to boost serotonin and dopamine levels

What foods contain these mood-boosting nutrients?

Beets A good source of the amino acid betaine, which increases dopamine levels

Sour Cherries Contain the antioxidant quercertin, which triggers the production of dopamine

Buckwheat Rich in B-vitamins, such as vitamin B6, which boosts the synthesis of serotonin in the brain

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Dark chocolate Dark chocolate increases oxytocin levels and helps to release serotonin and dopamine, which explains why we feel so good when we eat chocolate

NUTRITION

Nuts and Seeds (almonds, flaxseeds, sesame and pumpkin seeds) Contain tryptophan and omega-3 fatty acids, which boost serotonin and dopamine

Brought to you by:

THE FINAL WORD While there are many causes of and contributors to a low mood, there are things you can do to boost your mood and feelings of happiness, such as eating right. Yes, there’s nothing wrong with the post Ironman indulgence. Let’s face it you’ve earned it. But it’s important to get back to healthy habits sooner rather than later.

Healthy eating, enjoying foods from each food group, consuming foods rich in amino acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants can help you to feel good, both physically and mentally, and may stave off the post Ironman blues.

Bananas Contain the amino acid tyrosine, which boosts dopamine levels

Kefir and Sauerkraut Foods high in natural probiotics increase dopamine production

If you are suffering from persistent low mood or if you are suffering from depression contact lifeline on 13 11 14 or see www.beyondblue.org.au for more information.

Nutrition can make or break your race

Don’t put your next race at risk!

Margaret Mielczarek, AccSD | margaret@fuelrightnutrition.com.au | www.fuelrightnutrition.com.au

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Spi n

h c a

The last couple of years have seen the rise of kale. Kale has been crowned king in the green vegetable world, being touted as a super food and added to almost every dish, from green smoothies to kale salad, to kale chips (which are actually really delicious, super easy to make and a much healthier alternative to regular chips). Is there anything kale can’t do?

What about other greens? They have been moved to the back of the shelf, left to live in the shadow of King Kale (all hail Kale). It’s time to bring them back!

© Shutterstock.com

Spinach is a green leafy vegetable rich in nutrients. Popeye loved the stuff for good reason! A good source of vitamins K, A and C and B vitamins, spinach is also a good source of the antioxidants lutein and beta-carotene,

soluble fibre (which helps to lower your cholesterol), potassium and magnesium.

One of the things I love about spinach, apart from its nutrient content, is that it’s versatile and tastes great. You can add it to just about any dish, from soups, to slices, to salads.

Personally, I love to add spinach to frittatas.

Frittatas are one of my favorite go-to posttraining meals. They are quick and easy to make and are full of nutrients (protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals), making them ideal for post training recovery. They also make a great alternative to post-training eggs on toast.

Here’s a frittata recipe I adapted from one of my favorite recipe websites, taste.com.au.

Margaret Mielczarek is the owner of Fuel Right Nutrition. She is a triathlete and has an APD, AN, and AccSD. www.fuelrightnutrition.com.au 78

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I’m bringing spinach back

Mini

SpiniFrcithtatas

Margaret

m ake s

6

Ingredients:

Method:

• 8 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a muffin tray

• 60g baby spinach, stalks removed, roughly chopped • 1 red or green capsicum, chopped • 200g sliced mushrooms • 1 zucchini, grated • ½ cup parmesan cheese, low fat (have extra Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on to the mini frittatas at the end)

• Remove stalks from spinach, rinse under cold water, squeeze out excess water and roughly chop the spinach • Whisk eggs in a mixing bowl and add turmeric, salt and pepper to taste • Add the spinach, mushrooms, capsicum, zucchini and cheese (tasty cheese and parmesan cheese) to the eggs • Stir until well combined

• 1 cup tasty cheese, reduced fat, grated

• Spoon the mixture in to the muffin tray

• 1 sprinkle salt and pepper

• Bake for about 30minutes or until firm to touch

• 1 teaspoon (2g) turmeric

• Allow mini frittatas to cool on a wire rack before serving • Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, serve and enjoy.

1 serve provides: 787kJ (188cal), 17.4g protein, 12.4g total fat, 6.3g saturated fat, 1.3g carbohydrates, 321mg sodium.

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Dealing with...

Race Day Disappointment

t e x t b y s a r a h g r o v e | p h o t o g r a p h y b y s h u tt e r s t o c k . c o m

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ou trained for months. You dedicated your ‘life’ to this race. You sacrificed birthday parties, nights out and sleep ins. Weeks went by and all you can remember doing is training, eating and sleeping – and trying to hold down your job and family in between! You trained so hard for this race. You had done everything possible for this to be the most amazing race ever. And you did it! You are an Ironman! Your friends and family think you are super human for achieving such a feat – something they would never think possible for themselves.

But they have now moved on, and you now have some time to reflect.

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Underneath the thrill of finishing, there’s a slight niggle of disappointment. You didn’t achieve the race time you had trained so hard for. Yes, you are proud that you got to the start line – a feat that so many never even get the chance to do. But there’s a part of you that feels that lingering disappointment. All your commitment, effort, and sacrifices and still you didn’t achieve your race time and your race goal.

And you just can’t get past it.

Most triathletes work in numbers; it’s just what we do. We log distances, paces, times, heart rate and effort. We compare PBs, we analyse results and are critical.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to achieve, that even when we do, this is

often still not enough. “I could have trained a little more, I could have pushed a little harder, and I could have eaten a little better”. Triathletes are perfectionists and we prepare so hard for our races. We pursue our goals so vigorously and hold onto them so tightly that when we don’t achieve them we feel disappointment that all our hard work was for nothing, as we didn’t get that goal, target, or position. And if we aren’t careful, that feeling of disappointment can linger.

Scenario: An athlete has a goal of sub 10 hours; their previous best is 10:45. On race day they achieved 10:00:07. But it isn’t enough. Those 7 seconds eats away at

Holistic Endurance

6

Tips for beating post-race disappointment

them. “What if I hadn’t stopped to tie my shoe lace, what if I didn’t slow down to high five my partner, what if….”

WHAT IF they actually appreciated what they had just accomplished? What if they looked for the positives first instead of the negatives? What if things could have actually gone the other way? What if what they achieved was the best they could do on that day? What if we didn’t have to search for excuses?

But all this athlete can think about is those 7 seconds. Seconds that they feel robbed them of their dream. Seconds that if they had their time again they would do differently. They allowed those 7 seconds to take away from their achievement – which if they look from a positive standpoint – is a 45 minute Personal Best!

We’ve all been there. Being over critical, over-thinking, over-analysing and simply being hard on ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I get disappointed too when a race doesn’t go to plan, and I feel for athletes when this happens to them. But the difference is, I not only have a race plan, but I have a post-race plan. Plans that can help me evaluate my race and my athletes’ races – whether good or bad, so we can learn from each race and become stronger and more resilient athletes, and more importantly, allows me to see the positives in every race, despite the race outcome.

1. Don’t be so hard on yourself What does it mean if you didn’t reach your goal? How does it make you feel? Do you consider yourself a failure for not achieving your goal? Do you feel like you have let others down?

Most athletes would be judgmental and hard on themselves because of their unrelenting standards. They feel like they let their Coach down, their friends down, themselves down. They set their standards

so high that they feel like a failure if they aren’t achieved. You need goals, as they drive you, but think about WHY you have the goal, not just the goal itself. If you know your WHY, you won’t be so judgmental if you do not reach the goal.

You won’t be so disappointed if your time wasn’t want you had planned, and you won’t feel guilty for letting others down.

You will simply find another way to continue to work to achieve it. So pursue your goals vigorously, but hold onto them lightly – chase your goals, but hold onto them lightly enough that if you don’t reach them this time, they won’t drag you down.

2. Find the positives in the negatives Ok, so your race didn’t go to plan. You didn’t have the race you wanted and you didn’t achieve the time you had dreamed of. But amongst all the negatives, search for the positives. What worked well? What would you replicate again? What made you feel good? What are you proud of?

Write them down, as you will want to use these again. It’s also a great way to remind yourself that even if your overall race didn’t go to plan, there were parts of your race that did.

3. Learn from each race ‘You cannot learn how to cook if someone always cooks for you’ - Same principle applies to athletes. So use each race as a learning experience. Whether you achieved your goal or not, as long as you are learning from each experience, you are on the track to success – a term I like to call ‘failing to succeed’. So don’t be afraid to fail, but also don’t accept it. And accepting means learning. Did you go out too hard? Did you stick to your nutrition/ hydration plan? Learn from each race and you will become a better athlete for it.

I could have trained a little more, I could have pushed a little harder, and I could have eaten a little better.

4. Don’t dwell on the what ifs or could haves Simply put, don’t dwell on the past. If you are dwelling on the past, your concentration is heading in the wrong direction. Yes it’s easy to focus on what could have been, and using statements such as ‘I lost the race here’. But reality is, you didn’t have it in the first place, so you didn’t lose anything. So don’t dwell on it, it serves no purpose at all apart from detracting you from forward progression. Use that energy and focus to move forward.

5. Look at how far you have come The longer we are in the sport, the harder it can become to remember where we started and why. What drove us to this sport in the first place? What continues to drive us today? So take the time to reflect on why it is you ‘do’ triathlon? What drives you? What motivates you? What inspires you? You will often find it’s not the race result that drives you, it’s something much deeper, and when you can determine WHY, you may just realise that you aren’t so disappointed after all.

6. Re-evaluate and Refocus Use your time post-race to re-evaluate and refocus. If your race didn’t go to plan, that’s OK. Simply re-evaluate and refocus to determine your plan for your next goal or race. Whether it’s to achieve a PB, podium, qualify for the world championship, or simply to love racing and enjoy the sport. Post-race is the perfect time to re-evaluate, check in and understand your goals and motivations.

And remember, people change and goals change. The goals you once had may not be the goals you have for your next race, or your next season. So don’t feel like you have to keep the same goal.

© MSJ/ITU

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And finally, is it possible to avoid disappointment in the first place? Or would that mean setting your goals so low that you always achieve them? And therefore not really reaching your full potential?

I ask athletes to ensure they are setting realistic goals and expectations of themselves. Yes, goals should scare you a little, but they have to be realistic and within achievable time frames. So, often coaches see athletes come into the sport and want to achieve huge goals in just 12 – 18 months. They compare themselves to others who have been in the sport for years, without knowing their history, journey, goals or motivations. So compare yourself to yourself, and not others. Set goals that are for you, not about anyone else. You don’t have to aim to be the best in your age group, or qualify for Kona, or PB every single race. Setting realistic goals means finding goals that drive you, motivate you, but most importantly excite you! Then be prepared to put in the hard work that is required to achieve those goals. And be ready with the points above if, for whatever reason, you don’t achieve them first time round.

6 1.

Tips for AVOIDING post-race disappointment

Set realistic goals (smart goals)

2. Don’t compare yourself to others 3. Don’t compare race times to other courses/events 4. Re-evaluate your goals/times based 5. Focus on the process, not the result

So next time you feel disappointment after a race, take the time to find the positives in the negatives, learn from the race, don’t dwell on what ifs, look back at how far you have come and re-evaluate and refocus.

6. ENJOY what you do!

Racing itself is amazing. The feelings and emotions running down the finishing shoot and crossing the line cannot be replaced or replicated in any way. It is truly an amazing experience. So don’t let your disappointment over shadow that experience. Your triathlon journey is not simply about crossing the finishing line, earning that medal or achieving a PB. Each race should allow you to become a stronger athlete and person, more resilient and resourceful. You will appreciate and respect some of the simple things in life because you had to sacrifice some of these to reach your goal.

Sarah Grove Sarah is a Triathlon Performance Coach with Holistic Endurance and competes competitively at all levels of triathlon. As a coach, Sarah works with athletes of all abilities from beginner to Ironman athletes, with a passion for developing, guiding and supporting athletes from the ground up to help them achieve their triathlon and lifestyle goals utilising holistic principles for optimal performance outcomes while maintaining a balanced, nourished and happy life. www.holisticendurance.com.au

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Youth and junior

Starting

Strong text and photography Michelle Hemley

W

elcome to the first edition of the new Junior/Youth triathlon coaching section of this magazine.

With more and more organisations and clubs around the country rolling out junior specific programs, I am really excited to be involved and hope I can offer you valuable insights and inspiration for your own initiatives.

Triathlon is a very unique sport in that it is so young. Most current coaches and competitors began their triathlon careers as adults and we are only now seeing the first wave of competitors come through the ranks who ‘grew up’ as triathletes. By this, I mean they participated in triathlon as young children rather than being recruited to the sport from a swimming, cycling or running background in their mid-late teens.

This offers coaches of junior programs the opportunity to create their own path, as many don’t have preconceived notions of what a junior triathlon program should look like. Therefore, once coaching they simply re-hash a variety of games and drills that they enjoyed and found useful as a kid. Easy! This concept is not so clear-cut in triathlon.

Before we get stuck into the main content of this first article, let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Michelle Hemley and I am absolutely passionate about triathlon and active lifestyles.

My professional background is in Physical Education Teaching, Exercise Physiology

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and Sport Development, I have been involved with Triathlon for 12 years, am a nine time Ironman finisher and I began my junior triathlon coaching career in my home state of WA working with the School Sport WA Team, Triathlon WA’s Triathlon Excellence Squad and various school and Tri-Star programs.

To cut a long story short, I now live in beautiful Torquay and run my own sport development and coaching company.

Three years ago, we ran our first Junior Triathlon program, an eight week introduction to the sport for primary school aged children in Geelong.

We had eight participants and one coach - me! Fast forward to today and we have put nearly 300 juniors through our triathlon specific programs and I’m proud to say, that many of the original participants are still hanging around in our squads. At the time of writing this article, our Term 4 ‘Swim, Ride, Run FUN - Junior Triathlon Programs’ are nearly sold out and we will have eight coaches involved in conducting our fun, safe and inclusive programs.

So how did we grow like this and what considerations need to be taken into account when setting up your own junior triathlon program?

Junior Specific Coaching Approaches As I mentioned in the introduction, a junior program should be specific to juniors, not simply a watered down version of what we

give adults. While as the children get older they can be integrated in with some of the adult sessions, I am a big believer that you can better cater for the needs of the junior/adolescent athlete with separate, skills based sessions aimed specifically to the age group. Another thing to note: twelve year olds will not benefit solely from being given a ‘program’ to follow in their own time like an adult triathlete (I see this all the time and cringe!), they need demonstration of skills, along with constant feedback and interaction to make it enjoyable and so they improve.

The main focus with juniors should be fun, games based sessions that have the kids falling in love with the sport. The following junior specific coaching approaches make for highly engaging sessions that keep the kids coming back for more week after week: High Participation – Plan for your sessions to be interactive, where more often than not the participants are MOVING! The more active you can make the session the more engaged the children are, the better they learn and you are minimising your chances of behaviour issues (I’m sure there is research that proves the longer kids stand in a line at sporting activities, the more likely they are to start whacking each other!). Be organised and have your session planned and equipment set up at the start of the session, so you can seamlessly move through the activities without any unnecessary delays.

Inclusive - Inclusive sessions simply mean you can cater and challenge all abilities within the one session. This goes hand in hand with high participation, as you don’t want the faster kids always waiting around or the less advanced kids feeling like they are holding everyone up. A simple way to do this is to use time rather than distance in your activities. For example, run a ten minute challenge and see how many loops the juniors can do of a marked cycle and run course. This is a challenge for everybody, they get to practice transition skills and mounts/dismounts, plus nobody is waiting around.

Skill development through games – Games are a fantastic way to practice skills, more highly engaging than drills and when structured correctly, can achieve the high participation you are after for a fun junior session. In a future article, I will details some of my favourite triathlon specific games for juniors.

Safe Practices – Children do not have the same self-awareness as adults, so you need to ensure that sessions are set up with the upmost care in an environment where potential accidents are minimal.

Develop a basic risk management template which foresees possible future mishaps and plan for how you are going to avoid them.

Choice of Coaches When we look at triathlon coaches, everyone has a specialty; some work with long course athletes, some are purely on-line while other run squads, while other coaches may be more beginner athlete orientated. So don’t presume that the awesome triathlon coach who had 10 Kona qualifiers last year can handle that group of 20 excited eight-year olds and get the most out of them! I would highly recommend sourcing coaches that are specific to the needs of your junior programs, so the athletes are able to have the highest quality session possible. Work with your coaches strengths and match accordingly. For example, in our programs I use qualified Physical Education teachers to conduct any program that have more than 10 participants, as these people are specifically trained in developing physical skills and group management. I also have a specialist cycling/draft legal coach who takes our teenage athletes for cycling skills sessions. By having everyone working in their special interests and areas of expertise, you are creating a better program for everyone.

Create a long-term pathway of involvement Remember, our aim for junior programs is to expose the kids to the sport so they want to keep competing. So when the junior program finishes, you need somewhere for them to go! Make sure there is a pathway for your juniors to stay involved and develop in sport.

My development pathway looks a little like this: Primary School Aged (Grassroots Engagement): The focus here is engagement, fun and skill development.

We want the kids to fall in love with the sport and utilise a lot of high participation games. As well as junior specific programs for this age group that run in Term 1 & 4, we offer year round swim squads and running groups that the children can attend casually.

Secondary School Aged (Development): The focus here is still on engagement, plus skill development becomes more progressed as they get older and start to use more advanced equipment. A major focus at this time is retention as the teenage drop-out rate from sport is high so the more social, challenging and fun you can make these sessions, the more likely the teenager is to stick around. Even though at this age it is easy to integrate teenagers into your adult program, I have found great success in keeping at least a few sessions a week separate and purely for this group. Think of this age group as a ‘transition’ with its own needs and entity.

Adult Streams: Adult triathlon participation can be broken down into three streams; 1) Participation 2) Performance (Age Group) and 3) Performance – Professional. A well rounded triathlon program will have a pathway for the athletes to continue to participate and compete in triathlon however they see fit. Be honest, if you don’t run these sorts of services yourself, make sure you know the local programs and coaches you can feed the athletes to once they are at a certain stage.

Relationships with other sports It is very unusual to see a junior triathlete patriciate in the sport as their sole activity, be prepared to have kids stepping in and out of your triathlon programs around other club and school sport commitments. Positive relationships with local sporting clubs will only benefit your junior triathlon programs, particularly when these sports start to understand you

are not trying to poach athletes and triathlon training enhances the child’s ability to run out a soccer game. Take the time to nurture these relationships.

Remember, at this age it is not about getting kids to commit to the sport full-on, it is to develop skills and expose them to positive triathlon experiences so they keep coming back. We have great relationships with many sporting clubs in Geelong and Torquay who promote our Junior Triathlon programs as a way to keep fit over summer. I have many junior athletes whom I see in Term 4 every year, once footy/netball/hockey/soccer is in the off-season.

I hope you found these tips useful.

Good luck with setting up your junior triathlon initiatives, it is so refreshing to see the youngsters enjoy the sport and the things they come out with will have you in stiches.

In conclusion, I believe triathlon is a fantastic sport to expose kids to as it offers high health benefits and social connections, can be done in their own time around other commitments as they get older, is focussed on individual challenges and most importantly, they can keep participating in triathlon right into their adult years.

If we can make our junior programs safe, inclusive, highly engaging and fun, then the future of our sport looks very bright indeed.

Australian Triathlete |

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速

14 week

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Training Program Half Iron-Distance (70.3) Race t e x t b y X a v i e r C o pp o c k

Y

ou’ve decided to do a 70.3 Distance Race. Here is a 14week program to help you on your way. The best advice I can give you before you start this program is to be honest with yourself. Follow the program from the first session until race day to give yourself the best chance of getting your best result.

Make sure you do your easy sessions EASY and always pace yourself on your speed and strength sessions so that your last effort is the same pace as your first.

Fading throughout the efforts does not help you get faster or stronger.

As the program progresses, there are a few ‘testers’ within so you can get a gauge of your improvements. Stick to these sessions to test yourself and be patient and consistent on the remainder.

The following program can be followed by a beginner right through to an experienced athlete. This generic style program gives you an indication of what is required to improve based around approximately 10 to 17 hours of training.

Of course like any training program, the best program is one that is tailored to suit your life, and many coaches can offer this solution for you.

The program structure is all based around perceived effort and is written as easy/medium/hard/max.

MAX is your maximum effort over the duration of the session. A max 1km run effort will be faster than a 5km MAX effort as you are able to hold a higher intensity over a shorter distance.

Hard is between 85-95% of your max effort, some like to call it Race Pace. So if your 5km run is 25min, hard would equate to 27min for the same distance.

Medium is a pace that you can maintain all day. A pace that enables you to talk, however after a while into the session, you do start to puff.

Easy has no speed, these sessions are there to help you get a base, aid with active recovery or simple keep the feel for the discipline you are completing that session in.

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The difference between undulations and hills is: Riding – Undulation between 15 to 30 seconds where you can stay strong through the duration Hill – takes longer then 1 minute to climb and usually you are in the small chain ring on the front.

Running – Undulation includes some ascents and descents where you get frequent/short recovery and the gradient is not overly steep Hill – A longer sustained effort over a harder gradient that you can run up the entire way.

One thing about training and racing is that you are never going to achieve your potential if you are continually getting injured. What I see as the highest cause of injury is athletes simply going too hard on their easy sessions.

Of course there are many different ways to train or coach with HR, Power etc.

However, at TEAM Tri Coaching, we get the athlete to learn his or her own body capabilities by working to the above effort terms.

Enjoy your day off training and use these to get your body treated or simply do some stretching or have a sleep in.

For the following program, we simply do three phases of training. One base phase, one strength and speed phase which combines hills and speed and then one speed phase as we head into your race.

Each of these phases is as important to each other, so don’t discount any of them.

There is a recovery week in week 5.

They way the program is built always starts off very easy and builds from there.

We then add some hills for strength and some pure speed sessions, before we purely just do speed heading into the race.

After that recovery week we build for the next 5 weeks and then taper into your race. This can be a little different to the stock standard 3-week build, 1-week recovery, however with this program is starting small and easy, and it is not always necessary for a recovery week after week 3.

Heading into your race, the volume greatly reduces and the intensity increases. This is often the danger period for athletes as the risk of injury can be higher due to being fresher and wanting to test out where the body is.

My advice on this is: save it for race day.

Once you get through all the training you can confidently get to race day ready to perform at your peak.

If you’d like any more information or a customised program, contact info@teamtricoaching.com

Australian Triathlete |

87

Monday Week 1

Week 2

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 15 x 100m easy 15 sec bt 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr easy bike ride/ 10min easy run off bike

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 4 x 50m HARD 15 sec b/t 200m easy paddles/bouy 1min rest repeat x 5 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM 30min easy run

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 15 x 100m as 1 easy/1 hard 15 sec b/t use your easy as an active recovery 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 10 x 1min hard/1min easy c/d to 1hr 15min easy run following bike session

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 1.5k easy continual 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM 35min easy run

Monday Week 3

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 10 x 2min hard/2min easy c/d to 1hr 20min easy run following bike session

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 16 x 50m as 3 easy/1hard 15 sec b/t 12 x 50m as 2 easy/1hard 15 sec b/t 8 x 50m as 1 easy/1hard 15 sec b/t 4 x 50m all hard 15 sec b/t 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

4 x 500m as 100m hard/400m easy 1min b/t 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

PM - Run Speed session 30min easy

Monday Week 4

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

5 x 1min hard 100rpm/1min easy

200m as 50m hard/150m easy 1min rest

5 x 5min hard normal cadence/5min easy b/t 25min easy run following bike

200m as 100m hard/100m easy 1min rest

1k Time trial 10 x 50m HARD 15 sec b/t 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

PM - Run Speed session 40min incl 6 x 500m all hard 1min stationary rest b/t 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday Week 5

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

8 x 5min hard/3min easy

5 x 100m all HARD with

c/d to 1hr 30min

1min rest, 45 sec rest, 30 sec rest, 15 sec rest

30min easy run following bike session

repeat x 3 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

6 x 400m all as 200m HARD/200m easy 1min b/t

Week 6

200m as 150m hard/50m easy 1min rest 200m hard 1min rest 500m easy continual 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

PM - Run Speed session 45min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) 5 x 1k all at 85% max effort - being consistent through all 1min stationary rest b/t 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Bike/Run

Swim

1hr easy/ 10min easy off bike

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

Swim 1k easy continual swim

Recovery Week

10 x 200m easy paddles/bouy 1min b/t PM 30min easy run

88

| Australian Triathlete

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

training program Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr easy bike ride/ 10min easy run off bike

2k easy continual

2 - 2.5hrs easy/10min easy run off bike

1hr easy

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 10 x 2min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm 2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100 c/d to 1hr 15min easy run following bike session

2k easy continual

2.5 - 3hrs easy 15min easy off bike

1hr 10min easy

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 10 x 3min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm 2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100 c/d to 1hr 20min easy run following bike session PM - Run Speed session 30min easy

2.5k easy continual

3hrs incl undualtion course just ride the undualtions no intensity 20min easy off bike

1hr 15min easy

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up

3 - 3.5hrs incl some hills

1hr 25min incl some hills

8 x 4min pushing your hardest gear

2.5k continual as 500m race pace start

work up and over the hills

just run them, no intensity here

cadence to be approx 65-70rpm

1500m easy

25min easy off bike

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up

2.5k continual as 800m race pace start 1700m easy continual

3.5 - 4hrs incl hills

1hr 35min incl some hills

stay seated on climbs

run up & over strong

push 1 gear harder than comfortable

easy on flats and downs

2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100 c/d to 1hr 25min easy run following bike PM - Run Speed session 40min easy

Thursday

6 x 5min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm 2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100 c/d to 1hr 30min easy run following bike session PM - Run Speed session

30min easy run following bike

45min easy

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1.5 - 2hrs easy 10min easy following ride

1hr 20min easy on flat

1hr easy/10min easy off bike

PM 30min easy

Australian Triathlete |

89

Monday Week 7

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 20 x 100m hard with descending recovery 1min, 45 sec, 30 sec, 15 sec - then back to 1min 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 5 x 5min hard efforts/5min easy spin b/t

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

15min easy run following bike

12 x 200m as odds paddles/bouy easy 30 sec rest evens HARD free 1min rest 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

PM - Run Speed session 45min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) 3 x 1k all at 85% max effort - being consistent through all 1min stationary rest b/t 5min easy c/d and stretch Compare times from week 4 for improvement

Monday Week 8

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up last 30min above race effort

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 400m easy paddles/bouy 30sec rest 200m race effort with paddles 30 sec rest 100m above race pace 1min rest repeat x 3 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

10 x 200m as 1 hard/ 1 easy 1min b/t 10 x 50m HARD 15 sec b/t

20min easy off bike

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 50min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) 3 x 2k both at 85% max effort being consistent through all 1min stationary rest b/t 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday Week 9

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 5 x 200m easy paddles/bouy 1min rest

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 10 x 1min HARD/1min easy

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

5 x 100m med effort 30 sec b/t

then last 30min at race effort

2 x 1k pull/paddles 1min b/t

10 x 50m as 1 MAX/1 easy 15 sec b/t

25min off bike as 15min as race pace/10min easy

400m race pace effort 6 x 50m hard 15 sec b/t

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 55min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) last 30min just above race pace 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday Week 10

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

500m easy continual 1min rest

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 5 x 3min hardest gear at 65-70rpm 3min easy 100rpm

3 x 200m race pace efforts 1min rest b/t

then last 30min as race effort

500m easy continual 1min rest

30min off bike as 20min at race pace/10min easy

4 x 100m above race pace efforts 30 sec b/t 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 1hr incl 4 x 2k above race pace efforts 1min stationary b/t 5min easy c/d and stretch

90

| Australian Triathlete

8 X 50m as 25m MAX/25m easy 15 sec b/t

100m paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 200M paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 300M paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 400M paddles/bouy 15 ssec rest 300M paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 200M paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 100m paddles/bouy 15 sec rest 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

training program

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Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 5 x 5min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm 2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100 c/d to 1hr 15min easy run following bike PM - Run Speed session 35min easy

1.5k easy continual

2 - 2.5hrs on flat incl 4 x 10min above race intensity 20min easy b/t 15min easy run off bike

1hr 30min incl hills run up & over easy on flats and downs

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

2.5 - 3hrs on flat incl 4 x 15min above race intensity 15min easy b/t 20min easy run off bike

1hr 40min incl hills run up & over easy on flats and downs

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 10 x 2min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm 2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100

2k easy continual

Optional 1hr easy bike post run for recovery 20min easy run following bike PM - Run Speed session 40min easy

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

3 - 3.5hrs on flat incl from 1 - 2hrs at race intensity

1hr 50min incl hills run up & over

then from 2.5 - end above race intensity

easy on flats and downs

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 4 x 8min pushing your hardest gear cadence to be approx 65-70rpm

2.5k incl 300m above race pace

2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100

500m race pace

c/d to 1hr 25min off bike at your ideal race pace

1700m easy

25min off bike as 10min at race pace 15min VERY easy

Optional 1hr easy bike post run for recovery

PM - Run Speed session 45min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) find a hill 200-300m long and do 4 repeats Work at 95% up hill, VERY easy on down Be consistent across all efforts

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

3.5 - 4hrs on flat incl

2hrs incl Hills

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 3 x 10min pushing your hardest gear

2.5k incl

from 1 - 1.5hrs at race intensity

run up & over

cadence to be approx 65-70rpm

500m above race pace

then from 3hrs til end above race intensity

easy on flats and downs

2min easy spin b/t cadence approx 95-100

500m race pace

c/d to 1hr 30min off bike at your ideal race pace

1500m easy

30min off bike as 15min at race pace 15min VERY easy

Optional 1hr easy bike post run for recovery

PM - Run Speed session 50min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) 10 x 500m above race pace 30 sec rest b/t each Be consistent across all efforts 5min easy c/d and stretch

Australian Triathlete |

91

Monday Week 11

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 12 x 100m as 2 easy/1hard 15 sec b/t 8 x 100m as 1 easy/1hard 15 sec b/t

1hr 30min bike incl 15min easy spin w/up last 45min at race effort

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 500m paddles/bouy/band 1min reat 500m paddles/bouy 1min rest

4 x 100m hard 15 sec b/t

30min off bike as 25min at race pace/5min easy

500m paddles only 1min rest 10 x 100m HARD bouy/band 30 sec b/t 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 1hr incl 8k at race pace effort 5min easy c/d and stretch Compare times from week 8 for improvement

Monday Week 12

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free 4 x 50m build to hard 30 sec b/t

1hr 30min bike incl last 1hr at race effort

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

500m as 150m above race pace/350m race pace 2min rest repeat 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

5 x 400m med effort paddles/bouy 1min b/t 30min off bike at your ideal race pace 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

PM - Run Speed session 1hr incl 10k above race pace effort 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday Week 13

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 5 x 3min Above race pace efforts - 2min easy spin b/t

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

5 x 200m all as 100m HARD/100m easy 1min b/t

20 x 100m HARD paddles/bouy 1min b/t 20min off bike at your ideal race pace

10 x 50m HARD 15 sec b/t

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 45min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) 5 x 1k efforts above your race pace effort 1min stationary b/t efforts 5min easy c/d and stretch

Monday Week 14

Tuesday

Wednesday

Swim

Bike/Run

Swim

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

1hr bike incl 15min easy spin w/up 5 x 3min Above race pace efforts - 2min easy spin b/t

300m w/up as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

20 x 50m as 3 easy/ 1mmax 15 sec b/t

10 x 50m HARD 1min b/t 20min off bike at your ideal race pace 300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free

300m c/d as 100m free/50m kick/50m back/100m free PM - Run Speed session 30min incl 3 x 1k efforts above your race pace effort 1min stationary b/t efforts 5min easy c/d and stretch

RACE DAY 92

| Australian Triathlete

Remember you’ve already done all the hard work, now it’s time to relax, get a good night sleep, eat up and most importantly enjoy it!

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training program

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

4hrs on similar terrain to race course incl last 1hr 30min at race pace

1hr 50min incl last 30min at your race pace

1hr bike incl 10min easy spin w/up 5 x 5min hard efforts/5min easy b/t c/d to 1hr

3k incl 1k Race pace effort 2k easy

30min off bike as 20min at race pace 10min very easy

Optional 1hr easy bike post run for recovery

30min off bike at your ideal race pace PM - Run Speed session 55min incl 10min warm up jog (easy) find a hill 200-300m long and do 5 repeats Work at 95% up hill, VERY easy on down Be consistent across all efforts 5min easy c/d and stretch

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

3hrs on similar terrain to race course incl last 2hr at race pace

1hr 40mn incl last 45min at race pace

45min bike incl 5 x 2min build to hard - 3min easy b/t

10min off bike as your race pace

3k continual incl 1.5k race pace effort 1.5k easy

30min off bike as 20min at race pace 10min very easy Optional 1hr easy bike post run for recovery

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Bike/Run

Swim

Bike/Run

Run Day

1hr 30min incl

1hr 20min incl last 1hr at race pace

45min bike incl 5 x 2min build to hard - 3min easy b/t

2.5k incl

3 x 20min above race pace efforts 10min easy b/t

10min off bike as your race pace

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Lost I

’ll be honest, my first thought was to turn to crime. It was the last refuge of a desperate man - I was hopelessly lost in the French wilderness, my last sighting of a road or building seemed like an age ago, and finding any sort of civilisation seemed well outside my navigational capabilities. By this stage I was severely fatigued, considerably dehydrated, and was trying hard to remember tips on lighting fires from Bear Grylls should I be required to spend the night in the wilderness. Thus, when two elderly mountain bikers crossed the path in front of me, I fleetingly thought about attempting grand theft velo. Thankfully, both the moral and logical parts of my brain kicked in, and I realised that a) stealing was wrong, and b) even if I were to gain possession of a bicycle, authorised or not, I was still very much lost. Given my command of French is about as good as my command of direction, I took a deep breath, yelled “excuse moi”, and prayed they spoke some English.

The nature of my navigational faux pas was ridiculous. It was a standard Saturday morning session in France, we’d done the same bike loop I had done a thousand times, followed by a ‘quick 3km’ run off the bike in the trails next to the road. The same 3km loop I’ve done almost every Saturday in France for the last eight years, but this time, feeling a bit maverick, I decided to run it in the opposite direction to usual. One thing led to another, I missed a turn, got discombobulated, and spent the next 14km traversing the French countryside, taking a course that when we later looked on the Garmin file, as if it were plotted by a drunk madman.

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| Australian Triathlete

The truth is, I’ve never been that great with directions. In one of my first European races in Kitzbuhel (Austria) I was having an absolute whale of a time running through the cross-country ski paths, until I pulled a U-turn and realised that there was a million different paths stemming off the one I had come from, and I had no-idea which one was mine. This promptly turned my 30 min pre-race jog into a 70-minute sound of music-esque pilgrimage through the Austrian ski-fields, gaining sore legs and severe sunburn in the process, leaving me looking distinctly lobster-like on race day.

My inner compass also went askew in Boulder, Colorado, on a ride with Brad ‘Sticksy’ Kahlefeldt. We’d been out for around 30 minutes, when the weather dropped from a pleasant 20 degrees Celsius, to a frigid four degrees Celsius. We soldiered on, but when I peeled off to head home and Sticksy kept going for an additional hour, the cold (or at least that’s what I’m blaming) had interfered with my navigation, and I spent an extra hour meandering around greater Colorado.

Eventually, I pulled into a service station to ask for directions, but by this stage my lips

were so cold I could do little more than slur. After a minute or two of rubbing my cheeks, I warmed up enough to articulate my inquiry, however the poor Hispanic attendant had just as much trouble understanding my Aussie accent as my frozen-lipped drivel. Eventually, she informed me I was “a long way from Boulder”, and it was another hour before I eventually arrived home to a warm, and slightly quizzical Sticksy.

Back to France, and it turned out my French mountain bikers possessed both impressive English, and senses of humour, as they joked about how far I had travelled off course. Unappreciative of their humour, but indebted for their directions, I left them to their un-stolen bikes and pushed on. By the time I arrived back to where the rest of the squad were waiting for a Wilson who was by now over an hour late - Drew Box and Pete Kerr had long since given up on more optimistic hypotheses, and were checking the ditches for my body.

I was dehydrated, fatigued and sunburnt, however my worst punishment was the weeks of ridicule and trying in vain to stop people referring to me as Burke and Wilson…

About Dan Biomechanically denied his dream of becoming an NBA superstar, Dan Wilson has been racing the ITU circuit for over seven years representing Australia at Junior, U/23 and Elite level. His results have ranged from winning a World Cup to finishing only with the aid of glow sticks. When not “at work” training three times a day, he incompetently plays the guitar, competently sips short blacks, and fervently studies the underground metal scene. http://www.danwilson.com.au/ and Twitter: @dan_wilson_

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