Winter Training Update

When my coach told me a few months ago that this winter would be physically and mentally challenging, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew it would be far from a walk in the park and just living away from home is hard enough at times. I have never trained this much or this hard before and as a result, never eaten so much or slept so well! 

 Lately most of my training has been focused on my swimming. As most people who know me will admit, I'm not the quickest fish in the ocean, however this little fish is slowly finding some speed. I’m currently swimming 40+ km per week and late last week I managed to punch out a 500m personal best after I'd already swum 9.5km that day, so I'm happy on how my swimming is improving. 

Even with the increased swimming load, my bike has far from slacked off. I’m still riding about 10hrs per week and I have a new best friend; hills. As with any friendship, we have the odd disagreement, but we are usually friends again at the end of a session.

My running is just in a maintenance mode so I’m only running about twice a week. This certainly doesn’t mean that it has dropped off at all, but it’s quality over quantity at the moment.  Just  yesterday I ran 9.15min for a 3km time trial.

I am enjoying living in Canberra, it's certainly a lot different to back home in Forster. The lifestyle here is almost the complete opposite. I miss the coast life from back home but I'll always still be a coast boy. The city lifestyle takes some adapting and unfortunately in Canberra I also have to fight with the single degree max temperatures and the fact that the closest beach is a good 2hr drive. However I've made some good friends here in Canberra, they keep my days busy and my addiction for coffee and sushi growing.

So what is coming up for me? Well I shall continue to swim up and down the black line until my arms fall off, I will be coming into Duathlon season soon and first triathlon race looks to be in September at Woolgoolga. Apart from that, I'll continue training hard in search for a big result at World Champs at Auckland in Late October. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Stay posted for more updates to come.

Champion System

Over the moon to be apart of the Champion System team for the upcoming season. Thanks to all the crew at Champion System and I look forward to a big season to come. 

http://www.champ-sys.com.au/

Break Time

Another season is done and what a great feeling it is. My last race of the season was the prestige NSW Club Champs and to be honest I didn't have the motivation I had 2 weeks ago for dextro (in terms of wanting to race). However, the race was at my home town of Forster and this would be the last opportunity I get to celebrate and spend some quality time with family and friends before my big winter block of training. As I talked amongst some of my closet friends from around NSW, many had the same feeling as I did. With club champs being my last race of the season it meant that as soon as I crossed that finish line I was officially on my break and god did it feel good. It was like an instant mental release. 

Over the weeks leading into this final race I found that I was mentally down and knew I was in need for a break, not so much physically but mentally. It would mean I could wake up in the morning and not have to think about training or how I would structure my busy and stressful day. It would mean I didn't have to set my alarm and could lay in bed for as long as I wished when I woke up. That feeling was one of relief. 

The first week I did absolutely nothing, I had no desire to train, I didn't even want to touch my bike. This was very strange, I thought I would feel like this for maybe 2 or 3 days then really want to get back into it, but nothing.  This all changed while I was having lunch on the 12th day of doing nothing that I found I had an urge to train. I don't know what sparked the feeling. Whether it was watching Timmy Berkel's spectacular run at port ironman, or hearing people criticise a close friend on their selection into a particular squad, or just helping train a good mate as he gets ready to head to Europe. Whatever it was, it got me fired up. 

This period has been the longest time I'd ever had off from training since I started 5 years ago. I was definitely due for a decent break and I now understand why people value their time off so much. I don't think I have ever felt so fresh and ready to train in my life. I can't wait to get back into it next week. It will be the hardest winter block I've ever done, it will charge at me like a bull but I can't wait to grab it by the horns and take it head on.

Sydney Dextro

Sydney Dextro was a great way to finish an unusual season and a great way to take out the 16-19 National Olympic Distance title. The 2011-12 season for me has been long and interrupted with HSC, then moving towns for university and also changing coaches, however I was lucky to have Mario (past coach) to forward me off to Canberra and set me up with my current coach, Corey Bacon who has taken me under his wing to guide me to big things already in 3 months.  

  Going into Dextro I was abit nervous as this was a high quality field and I was coming off a cracker race at Mooloobah. However I had a better preparation leading into Sydney and I had more self-belief then I’ve ever had before. As the hooter went for the start of the swim I found myself in good position reaching the first buoy in the first pack. A minor complication with my timing chip getting ripped off as we turned the buoy but flung that out of my mind, as I knew that it wasn't going to be a problem. Around the 800m mark I found myself leading second pack and found the pace was abit slow, so I decided to try something that I have never been capable of doing before and that is jumping from second to first pack. I took two big breaths then made the 150m journey across pack successfully, at this point I knew I was in for a good day.

  Out of the swim in a personal best time with then another successful wetsuit tactic, it put me in a great position for the bike. Riding the picturesque course in and around the city and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge was breath taking but I wasn't here to be a tourist, I was here to race and on the bike is where I was going to make some time. So I put my head down and left nothing in the bike legs pushing a little bit harder then first thought. Riding through the field I stepped off about 5th in 16-19's and knew it was all left for my strongest leg, the run.

 A perfect transition put me in the prime position to move into 4th early on. I found my run legs quickly and felt strong leading into the 3km mark. Hearing various screams from spectators I knew gave me that little bit more termination to push on even though my legs that were screaming at me to slow down I knew 3rd was only up the road. Hitting the 8km mark I could now see 3rd and at that stage knew I was running much faster then him. As I got within an arms length of him I took it wide and surged past, just to make sure he couldn't jump on my hip and run with me. As I hit final turn around I spotted 1st around 40 seconds ahead, so I dug deep, picked up the pace but unfortunately didn't have quite enough to take the win, however I come out with my first major podium of the season and the best race of my life. Finally some very hard work in Canberra had paid off.

 With two happy parents, a happy sister, a happy coach and a season best race, I couldn't ask for anymore at the time. It was a great way to end a long and interrupted season and I'm so happy and proud of the achievements I have made this year. So what’s next? Well I have my break during May, which I am looking forward to. During my break I will look into getting my level 1 coaching accreditation so I am able to help out my coach and hopefully take some junior triathletes under my wing, having lots of fun with them and guiding them to big and better things. I've also been giving the opportunity to manage and assist coach with a close friend and Sydney coach when we take 20+ athletes to Falls Creek for a week long training camp and also a Junior ITU race weekend in Runaway Bay, Qld, where over 130 of Australia’s best under 19’s Triathletes will fight it out. Apart from that ill be having a huge swim, bike, strength winter and hoping big things to come after a great winter block.

 Thanks to everyone who has supported me in the last 12 months, i wouldn't be where i am if it wasn't for your help.