The Road to Kona: Weeks 4/5

So the past two weeks has seen me training very hard (http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/27/key-training-block/) , possibly a little too hard, or more likely it’s the accumulative fatigue of 4 weeks of training, but with Kona still 7 weeks away, hopefully I am building a strong foundation for the toughest Ironman on Planet Earth.

One thing that athletes pushing themselves at or close to their limit need to factor in, is ‘recovery’ and very often the questions are how much can my body take, how hard can I push? The key question though is how much recovery do I need, without being considered (by yourself) soft? I’ve often heard that you need to push yourself through immense fatigue to toughen up for an Ironman, but this level of fatigue can lead to overtraining, illness or injury, so one has to be very careful. (To read more on this see….. http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/27/overtraining-tough-it-out-or-recover/)

The undoubted highlight of my trip to date was being reunited with my family this past Saturday, after being apart for a month. One can never underestimate the importance of family, the unconditional love and support that we receive and I am already experiencing the benefits of their arrival, with a couple of nights of great sleep. Undisturbed sleep will certainly aid recovery, something I have been struggling with a little of late.

This past week we saw the USA Pro Cycle Tour meander through Colorado and one of the best days of racing happened right here in Boulder. We spent the afternoon in and out of a Pizza place on Broadway, near Lee Road where the race came past. It was great to see Jens Voigt leading the breakaway pack, which included eventual stage winner Rory Sutherland.

I was also fortunate to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, for the Gotye Concert, supported by Missy Higgins, which was quite a highlight.

The previous week I had a near miss, if you can call it that, when I was in the latter part of a tough bike workout and became a little dizzy and disorientated. I had stopped at the traffic lights and when they turned Green, must have been thinking I was back in South Africa, as thought I could just clip my cleats in and proceed left. Unfortunately I didn’t have right of way and found myself turning into oncoming traffic and luckily for me the oncoming driver was very alert and braked quite hard, slowing down sufficiently to avoid sending me careering over his bonnet. Fortunately I got up, dusted myself off and both my bike and I were fine, but quite shaken up and the irony was that the accident happened about a mile from where I had broken my collar bone in 2010.

Besides doing the Heart and Soul Half Marathon (a Boulder Running Company event with Mark Plaatjies and Johnny Halberstadt at the helm) as part of my long run, I also did the weekly stroke (1.5k swim) and stride (5k run) at the Boulder Reservoir this past Thursday.

So quite a full two weeks have just sped by, it’s a little more than a week till we leave for Las Vegas, which should provide me with quite a stern test being the World 70.3 Championships. One thing is for sure, I should have a good idea on my progress as I build towards Kona. To all my South African friends, Spring is just around the corner, so don’t forget to set some goals, develop some plans and chase them enabling you to enjoy summer (life) without regrets.

Thanks to everyone for their support, the words of encouragement are much appreciated and a big thanks to my sponsors too.

Key Training Block

The past two weeks (week 4 and 5) in Boulder have seen me put in some really hard work but the accumulative fatigue has definitely caught up with me, so needed a little backing off (http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/27/overtraining-tough-it-out-or-recover/).

Some key sessions and insights:

For my run training in Boulder, I train with the RRB club, under head coach Darren De Reuck and we normally do two quality sessions and one long run a week. As i’m eager to do well in Kona, I’m pushing my limits somewhat (fortunatly I recognise that) and my 4th week totalled 100km, but it was last weekend that probably knocked me back somewhat.

On the Saturday I did 22km, including a hard track workout (3 sets of 800/1600/800 with 2 min recovery and 3 min between sets) and when you are doing a mile sub 5:50 (or sub 3:40/km) the 2 minutes between intervals is barely enough recovery, so over the course of the whole session you accumulate a lot of fatigue and experience some serious Oxygen Debt. This was immediately followed by a hardish 3km swim workout.

Ideally I should have ensured I had a few days easy running to recover,  but when you are pushing boundaries you tend to push them till something gives. So the next morning I was doing the Heart and Sole Half Marathon, as part of a 34km long run and although I was awmazed out how comforatble I felt, running 21km in sub 1h40 and 2h 50min all in all (including stops), the accumulative fatigue would soon sneak up on me.

Bear in mind the previous weekend over 3 days I had done a 160km bike ride, 32 km of running and a quality session, which totalled 20km, plus 2 big swim sessions, so this wasn’t just a sudden ‘hit’. Anyway the Monday was an active recovery day and then Tuesday I did a 17km Fartlek session on tired legs (but was moving well), followedd by a swim and then a 50km bike pacing test. This started to show that there was too much fatigue in the legs, but still I was pushing on.

Wednesday I had an easy 1h40 min run on the trails, it was very hot and I think I was a little dehydrated, which wasn’t clever…. took the rest of the day off.

Thursday I needed to do 6 x 10 min hills on the bike, aiming for some decent Watts, but struggled to hold the Watts after the third one and although I completed the session, I knew my legs were shot. Ian Rodger, who has been helping me with my biking picked it up a lot earlier than I did and had been trying to cut my cycling back for a few days, but I had been compounding the problem by continuing to push hard on the run side.

Anyway, seems we are on the same wave length now and I’ve cut the running back a lot, which will freshen the legs up quite considerably and I could already feel less fatigue when I rode 160km yesterday, at about 34km/hr average for most of the ride, except the final 20km when I just spun easy.

So this week and next will be very low key runwise, while the bike (and the swim) requires another big week (for Kona) before I start a mini taper into Las Vegas.

Lessons Learnt:

1. Listen to your body.

2. Don’t think you are a young Pro, when you are almost 52.

3. Watch for any signs of over training.

4. You need more recovery than you think you need.

5. Running can hurt your body (more than biking and swimming).

6. Rather arrive at the race 100% helathy and 90% fit, than 90% healthy and 100% fit. You will have a far greater chance of doing well.

7. Where possible seek the input of an independant 3rd party or coach, as you are training in a cocoon and want to push hard, to prove you have what it takes.

8. Lots of Recovery required, massage and in my case, Compression Boots and/or Ice Baths, as have access to great facilities at All Sports Recovery.

Overtraining: Tough it out or Recover?

Another thing that athletes pushing themselves at or close to their limit need to factor in, is ‘recovery’ and very often the questions are how much can my body take, how hard can I push? The key question though is how much recovery do I need, without being considered (by yourself) soft? I’ve often heard that you need to push yourself through immense fatigue to toughen up for an Ironman, but this level of fatigue can lead to overtraining, illness or injury, so one has to be very careful.

Over the past two weeks I encountered one of those ‘slumps’ and very often you try to push through, thinking I need to tough this out. Fortunately, I’ve been training with Heart Rate, Power Meter (bike), Speed and Perceived Exertion all of which are indicators athletes use to look for progress in their training. However, we can also use these indicators to see if we have hit a Plateau or have stopped making progress and an old friend, Ian Rodger, who has been helping Conrad Stoltz has been giving me some training input on my cycling and made a few very interesting observations.

Although the indicators came through in a couple of cycle ‘test’ sessions, the extreme fatigue in my legs had been caused by running much harder and longer than I had been accustomed to. Add the altitude, heat and ‘struggling to sleep’ into the mix and you have a number of additional stressors that can impact your body, over and above the swim, run, biking.

So I was heading for a case of overtraining, something I would have struggled to pick up myself as being an athlete, you are very much in a cocoon and don’t see it coming, as you want to tough it out. It so often takes an independent 3^rd party to witness the signs and to recommend additional rest, so I was grateful not necessarily for the couple of rest days, but for the opportunity for the body to absorb what I had subjected it to, with the knowledge that I will rebound stronger, fitter and fresher.

Spotting the signs is one thing, doing something about it is another. People say we need courage to train hard, but I think the hard training is the easy part, as it goes with the turf ,if you have the time and especially the appropriate training environment like I’m currently experiencing. To me it takes far greater courage for an athlete to tone things down, to back off what they truly believe they need or to change their training programme.

Last year I noted that I had done an extremely good track session (super fast times for me at altitude) and fortunately Paul Wolf, a fellow triathlete and former Biokinetician, who knows sport very well, picked up on it and wrote me a reply warning me of over doing it. That was the perfect mail, with the perfect timing and I backed off, tapered well and ended up having a great race in Las Vegas, whereas I had planned to push for one more week… it could have been disastrous.

This year my main focus is Kona, although I am also racing Las Vegas 70.3, so I am doing a lot of extra training, longer runs, more weekly mileage, longer bike rides, swims, etc, etc. Once you add disturbed sleeping patterns, high altitude, heat and stronger training partners into the mix, you have training stresses that you are not accustomed to, you are highly motivated and have all the time in the world, so you are pushing as best you can.

So a week ago Sunday I had just concluded my best ever training week (see http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/27/key-training-block/), 100km of running including a super fast track session followed the next day by a long run, plus biking and swimming. I thought things were going great and was ready for the next week (just gone by). Then I did a light Fartlek session, followed by a swim on Tuesday and a tough bike workout in the late afternoon and sent the data back to Ian, who immediately recognised the HR was higher than expected for the session and the Watts I was pushing, so he had me back off on Wednesday.

Thursday was another test/tough bike session on Jamestown Hill. Once again the data was not what it should be so a total day off on Friday and must be honest was glad to say goodbye to that 120km ride, as my body was tired. Saturday was a relatively easier day, followed by a 160km ride yesterday at a very good average for me, so I think I’m getting back to full strength, I think I’ve absorbed the hard workloads, I think the recovery has kicked in and now we can look forward to the next 7 weeks of preparation for Kona.

I would recommend that you think of your body as you would a sponge used for washing cars, if you use the sponge regularly every day, day after day, it may lose it’s shape or elasticity and need to be replaced (in the body’s case it may need some rest and recovery or it gets ill/injured). If you use the sponge sparingly, it almost always returns to it’s normal shape and is ready for another session. The challenge is finding the balance.

As an experienced athlete and coach, you know that you will experience 2 or 3 slumps in a 12 week training period, especially when long distance travel (time zones), altitude and heat are added into the mix. I experienced a mini one in the first week of arriving, a full blown one this past week, now I need to keep an eye out for the next one, unless I keep the training nice and balanced.

The good news is that I had this ‘extreme fatigue’ in and out of my body a good fortnight before Las Vegas, so hopefully I may be on an upward curve going into Las Vegas, which is what we as athletes are always aiming for. Hold Thumbs!!

THE ILLUSION OF STUCKNESS

THE ILLUSION OF STUCKNESS

Paddy Cloete (Psychologist and Ironman) 

In the movie League of Their Own, that portrays a fictionalised account of the real life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, one of the players complains, “It just got too hard” to which the manager replies “It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it.  The hard is what makes it great”.  With Ironman South Africa only six weeks out, many of you may be able to identify with the player’s complaint that it is just too hard.

Ironman training is hard.  During the last six weeks there might be times when you find that the going is slow, when you are discouraged and frustrated by your apparent lack of progress.  You might feel stuck, and wonder if you will ever get unstuck.

It is important to remember that as we take the journey through life there is no such thing as being stuck.  It is an optical illusion.  This also true of Ironman training.  There is no more stuck in your training than there is stuck in the growth of a tree, which one can never see growing all the time that it is growing.  There is no more stuck in your training than there is stuck in the dry, grey field in winter, from which a lush carpet of grass and wildflowers will grow in spring.  There is no more stuck in your training than there is stuck in the growth of your child, whom you cannot see growing, yet s/he continues to outgrow their clothes.  Nothing is stuck in nature.  It is all motion, though sometimes very slow motion.

When you feel stuck and you feel like giving up and committing no more effort, know that it is a normal feeling when you have been working hard towards realising your goal.  The excitement of starting to work towards a new goal will eventually disappear and then the reality of the hard work required to reach your goal will appear.  Remember stuckness it is just your perception, an illusion, a feeling not reality.  You are feeling stuck because you are not seeing any evidence of movement and progress, but just like in nature, the absence of evidence of movement and progress does not equate to being stuck, there is movement, you just need to believe and keep going.  Athletes often need remind of this fact when doing a sea swim in tough conditions.  Those unfamiliar to sea swims will often remark that they are going nowhere, to which I usually reply just look behind you and your see how far you have travelled, so just keep going.

I frequently draw inspiration from children’s stories because they communicate valuable life lessons which we as adults tend to forget.  The children’s story of the two frogs in a pail of cream communicates the life lesson regarding the illusion of stuckness beautifully.

Once there were two frogs, a big frog and a little frog, who were hopping across a field on their way to a pond.  In the middle of the field, they came to a big pail and, being curious frogs, they jumped in to see what was inside.  There was cream inside!  The two frogs happened to love cream, so they stayed in the pail and drank their fill.  When they were done, they tried to jump out of the pail, but couldn’t because there was nothing solid in the pail for their back legs to jump from.

The big frog was one of those negative and depressive types, and immediately said, “Forget it!  We’ll never get out of here!  This is hopeless!  We’re stuck!”  But the little frog, who was more of the upbeat, positive, optimistic type, said “Well, it certainly looks like we are stuck, but while we are trying to think of something to do, why don’t we just swim around?  After all, we are frogs!  What else can we do but swim?”

So they started swimming around and around the pail of cream, trying to think of what to do, all the while the big frog complained that they’d never get out of there and they might as well quit.  “I’m so tired,” he said every few minutes.  “I can’t go on”.  “No, no, let’s keep swimming” said the little frog, who though tired himself, was not discouraged.  “I mean, what else is there to do?”

So they kept swimming.  They swam and swam, around and around, for hours, the big frog moaning and groaning about their plight every kick of the way.  Eventually he got so discouraged that he stopped kicking, took one last breath, and sank wearily to the bottom of the pail and died.  The little frog glanced down, felt sad for his friend, but just kept swimming, for many more hours, all through the night, he just kept going, until around dawn he noticed that something was happening … it was getting harder to swim through the cream … it was getting thicker and thicker!  All that swimming had churned the cream into butter!  After another few minutes, the little frog was able to get his back legs on top of the butter and with a great leap sprang out and was free!

The moral of the story is that when you think you are stuck, you never are; some important, though invisible, process is happening within you.  Next time you feel stuck, remember the two frogs and just keep swimming, cycling and running and you will make it to the start and the finish of Ironman South Africa.

Happy training, see you out there!

Recognition to Alter & Alter (2000)

The Road to Kona: Discipline or Regret: Your Choice?

Cresting the summit

‘The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret’  – Nido Qubein

With the Olympics having entertained the world for the past two weeks, we have witnessed the world’s best athletes in action and enthralling us with their amazing performances.

We saw the very best of those who were disciplined enough to try and maximise the talents that they were Blessed with, but for every Champion crowned and every Participant at the London Olympics one wonders how many sat at home wondering what if?

What if they had been prepared to put in the hours required, what if they had the necessary self-discipline to maximise their talent? The answer is simply this: They didn’t and they will forever live with asking themselves ‘what if’, alternatively they may live a life filled with regret.

Everything in Life starts with a Dream and while we all know where we are (start) and where we want to get to (finish), and while it is important to know what it will take to get there, the key question is are you prepared to pay the price? You see life is not always what we expect it to be and unlike the world of instant gratification that we live in, in sport there are no shortcuts, you have to make a concerted effort and you have to persevere on this journey and overcome the obstacles along the way, if you are to be successful.

It would have been easy for Oscar Pistorious to settle for a life of mediocrity or self-pity, but he didn’t, he challenged himself, he dreamt of bigger things and he was prepared to pay the price, by being disciplined. Oscar could have been satisfied with being an Paralympian Champion and World Record holder, but he wasn’t. In true Olympian fashion he fought for something bigger, something higher and something faster and I’m sure you will agree with me that he has inspired Millions, not only able bodied but those who face challenges that we cannot even try to comprehend.

While I dreamt of the Olympics as a young boy and while I too dreamt of representing my country, it wasn’t possible back then due to South Africa’s political regime. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, as I certainly don’t consider myself good enough to have been an Olympian, but I personally feel for the many great South Africans (too many to mention) who could have graced the Olympics.

However, thanks to our Rainbow Nation and the vision of Nelson Mandela sporting opportunities abound these days, for the young children who will have witnessed these Games and will be dreaming beyond Rio and for those on the verge of their sporting prime dreaming of Rio and even for those who may have missed the boat.

I am very passionate about Triathlon and Ironman competitions and am very Blessed to be able to compete in World Championship events, even though most 52 year olds are considered over the hill. You see sport has evolved and Ironman, as an example, allows people of all ages to compete in their respective age groups.

One thing that the Olympics has reminded me of, is the price of discipline and the price of pain. Both are far less than the pain of regret and that is what has enabled me to push through one of my toughest training weeks. There were times in the past week that my lungs were crying out for Oxygen, there were times that my legs were crying out for levity, but no matter what, the Olympics kept motivating me to try harder, to keep pushing as I’d hate to be left thinking ‘what if’, or living the next stage of my life with the pain of regret.

My goal is to prepare to the best of my ability in an attempt to post the best time that I’m capable of on the day of competition. If one is prepared to pay the price of discipline and prepare well, there should be no regrets no matter what transpires on the day as long as you can say I gave it everything I had.

Quite a number of people have asked what type of training I’m doing, how much, how long, etc. Well for those who may be interested in a peek inside a tough (but typical) week of training, you can follow this link

http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/13/the-road-to-kona-week-three-training/

 

The Road to Kona: Week Three (training)

My training week always starts on a Monday, so to do a Half Ironman at High Altitude on the Sunday before starting a new training week presents a few challenges of its own, none more so the fatigue that will build should the body not be presented with sufficient recovery time. (Half Ironman = 1.9km Swim/90km Cycle/21.1km Run)

Well I did give my body some recovery, as other than a short and easy 7km run I took Monday off, before testing and preparing myself physically and mentally the rest of the week for the challenges that loom in September and October.

Tuesday was swim and core in the morning, followed by a tough run session on legs which I expected to be fatigued but they surprisingly felt remarkably fresh in the afternoon. Session included a 30 minute warm up, 8 hills and 5 threshold intervals (4 x 2m:30 and 1 x 5 minutes) on the awesome Boulder trails.

Wednesday was another semi recovery day, with an easy swim, bike and run, totalling 3 hours.

Thursday required an 8km run, immediately followed a two and a half hour ride, which was to include a 30 minute Time Trial. Well this burnt all over, legs, lungs and mind and while the sun was hot it was a very different but pleasing burn, as I managed to go sub 30minutes for 20km, a first in my lifetime. Afternoon required another swim session before preparing myself mentally for a tough 100 mile (160km) ride the next day.

So Friday required a long ride up Big Thomson’s Pass (a 32km + climb), including some nasty switchbacks at Devil’s Gulch en route to Estes Park and back down Highway 36. I’m not sure if it’s my lack of fitness for such a long ride or the long climb, but this was one of the toughest training rides I’ve undertaken. Perhaps it was the altitude as I’m not sure we go that high in an Aeroplane? So I took the rest of the day off after 5 and a half hours on the bike.

Awesome scenery

Saturday dawned and this would test my legs, as the morning run session required 3 x 2 mile (3.2km) and 1 x 1 mile intervals on the trails at Coot Lake and with a good warm up/down I logged up 22km. Even though my body was tired from the previous days ride, my legs were still capable of some good splits within the intervals. A quick cup of coffee, a slice of banana loaf and a Muscle Milk and it was off to FAC swim pool for 3 odd kilometres of swim intervals.

And just when my legs were thinking they need some much needed rest, it was Long Run day at Teller Farm Trail. Quite an undulating course and I managed 26km in the 2 hrs 10 minutes at my disposal, which was less than I had hoped for, so did another 6km run in the afternoon after a quick swim session, to ensure I racked up 32km of running. This was a day of suffering, especially the morning run as I was forcing myself to hang on to the tail end of the running group almost the whole way and all I could think about was pay the price now, to avoid the pain of regret later.

Yes… tomorrow is a recovery Day!

Thanks again to my sponsors and in particular Isuzu SA for helping me live this Dream.

The Road to Kona Week Two (Olympic Theme)

Oscar Pistorious epitomises determination and perseverance

As I’m pretty sure Olympic fever abounds worldwide, I’m dedicating this week’s review to some Olympic thoughts, as some of the performances, some of the stories are helping to motivate me as I prepare for Kona…. Phelps, Le Clos x 2, an unheralded Rowing Quartet, Oscar Pistorious and the Oscar gesture of the Olympic Games by Kirani James after the 400m semi-finals!!

Michael Phelps has taken swimming to new heights and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him being interviewed on NBC, where he spoke about the challenges he faced after his 8 Gold Medals in Beijing. Part of him wanted to relax and for two years he struggled to get going, before trying to get into shape again in 2011. I think the general public have no idea how mentally tough it is to keep pushing yourself, as getting to the top is a lot easier than staying there. What struck me was Phelps’ honesty when asked if he could have, would have changed anything? His response went something like this…..No I got out what I put in and got what I deserved, I have no qualms as I did what I wanted to do after Beijing. He went on to say that he doesn’t want to live a life of ‘what ifs’ and that was why he was at the Olympics 2012.

Motivation to train or prepare is a challenge we all face, including Age Group competitors who also have to juggle family responsibilities and work commitments, which can lead to time restraints. I’m also trying to live a life without regrets and what ifs, hence my reason for chasing a Dream that almost died a chubby death when I fell asleep at the wheel of life. My extreme motivation is aided considerably by Reece Walton (my late stepson who passed tragically in 2004 and was the catalyst that got me going again) and my late Dad, Harry, who was my biggest inspiration.

Talking of Phelps, he certainly did SA Tourism a huge favour when he said in an interview after his record breaking haul of medals, that one of his priorities was to visit South Africa and go Shark Cage Diving (with Chad Le Clos). Talking about Chad, he and his Dad Bert also put South Africa firmly on the map and a lot of that credit goes to coach Graham Hill… well done guys.

From a South African perspective, one of the performances of the Games to date came from our 4 Rowers, moving from 5^th to Gold in the final 500m, wasn’t that brilliant? It just goes to show what happens when you have a crystal clear Dream, or Vision. Bill Hybels in his book Courageous Leadership defines Vision as “ a picture of the future that produces passion”. These four guys had a hunger, a passion and put in hundreds, if not thousands of hours of preparation to cause a huge upset.

Well I’ve left what I believe to be the best for last… the Oscar of the Olympics has to go to Kirani James (current World 400m Champion) for reaching out to our very own Oscar Pistorious. I’d hate to call Oscar disabled as he has illustrated that there are no limits physically or mentally and while he inspires us able-bodied athletes/people, can you imagine what he is doing for those who have any form of disabilities? They are surely starting to rethink POSSIBLE?

Back to Grenada’s James, who not only exchanged bib numbers with Pistorious immediately after the race (the mark of ultimate respect) but he went on to say the following:

“He’s an inspiration for all of us. What he does takes a lot of courage, just a lot of confidence. He’s very special to our sport. He’s a great individual and it’s time we see him like that and not anything else.”

Need one say more and as Marian Hinton said “Surely Pistorius’ story of perseverance, along with Kirani James’ inspirational gesture, are exactly what the Olympic Games are truly all about.” Couldn’t agree more!!

Pistorious said “It just felt really magical. If I could predict what it would feel like or imagine beyond my wildest dreams, this was probably 10 times that. To step out in front of a crowd this massive, it’s a mind-blowing experience. I’ve had support in the last couple of days like I have never felt before.

In terms of Gold Medals won, South Africa is currently lying 13^th on the Medal Standings and while this is turning into arguably our best Olympics yet in terms of Medals, it has also portrayed South Africa in such a positive light. Hopefully our Politicians will follow suit and start illustrating the determination, motivation, perseverance that is required to be world class, while also understanding the need to play the game according to the Olympic spirit!

Should this happen then Nelson Mandela’s vision for the future of the Rainbow Nation would be realized. Will they see the light and contribute to Madiba’s legacy?

PS: I felt like an ‘Olympian’ after my race yesterday (see Boulder 70.3 report http://ironmansa.com/2012/08/06/boulder-70-3-race-report/) as I had a massage, ice bath and compression boots at Allsports Recovery.

By Proudly South African Alec Riddle

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder 70.3 Race Report

Probably not much to report, other than this was a fun day in very warm weather and a great prep to see where I am with my fitness and my training. The only non-fun part was the Oxygen deprivation at this altitude!

I cycled down to the check in and transition at 05h30, to check in my bike and kit (transition closes 06h20 and the Pros start at 07h00) and then it was a long wait till my wave at 07h45. It was actually quite a surprise to be introduced by the announcer, along with cancer survivors and war veterans as we waited in the water (every age group has their own starting wave). I once again started too fast, probably because of the Altitude and I blew up horribly in the swim so that hurt, both physically and mentally.

Due to the poor swim I started the bike fairly conservatively because I was scared of the altitude, but felt so comfortable at the end of lap one (1h14), that I decided to push the second lap (1h08) and I was breathing heavily and my legs were screaming for levity, but I kept on pushing wanting to run on tired legs.

Into bike transition and I saw a bike or two in our racking area, so knew there was still a couple of guys in my age category ahead, but was determined not to punish my running legs. Even so I had trouble slowing down the first lap and it is amazing what a difference a week makes at altitude, as last Saturday I struggled to run 4:30’s for a 3 mile interval but this week I was comfortable at 4:30’s for the first few kilometres of the run off the bike, which was most pleasing.

Enjoyed some support from Conrad and Liesel Stoltz out on the run course and also at the Boulder Coaching Refreshment Station, which always helps. Ran fairly comfortably all the way and backed off even more on the second lap to finish in 4h 43 min, then had some pizza, a massage, packed my wetsuit and kit and cycled home. Tried to call the family, but they were sleeping already and then checked the results, to discover I had finished 3^rd to two very good age group racers Terry Nugent (4h30) and Dave Clark (4h34) and I will have to keep an eye out for them in Las Vegas.

Thanks once again to my sponsors, in particular Isuzu, to my supportive family, to my work colleagues and employers and to my hosts here in America.

Boulder 70.3