Feedback to this page is welcome and comments on blog entries can be sent to triathlonshots@hotmail.com .
Booked myself an entry in the January 2008 'Challenge Wanaka', which is a big part of the inspiration for the entries. Update, am now booked for 'Challenge Wanaka' 2009.
The entries to this page should end up keeping pretty much to the basics, but there will be some more technical information.
At the present time it is a blog of what I find so don't really want people to take it as advice, but more some ideas to consider.
I certainly hope there is no truth in the above. It is depressing to me to be competing with an against people who use drugs banned by the sport or not passed as acceptable. Also this site is all about promoting all distances of triathlon as a healthy sport. taking banned drugs or using banned techniques is often unhealthy not to mention unfair('bad sportmanship).
Some thoughts on the upcoming 'Challenge Wanaka'.
January 2nd 2009
Have written a preview of the pro race and the image below is the link to it:
Preview of 'Challenge Wanaka 2009'
It is also good/interesting to see the race organisers are going to weigh us all before the race. Am guessing this will be useful if someone dehydrates themselves and needs to go on a drip. However overhydrating someone with IV electrolyte fluids is unlikely to cause serious complications. Well I can't think of any other reasons they are going to weigh us all pre-race.
My training and goals.
January 2nd 2009
Will be writing my sporting/health goals down on a wordpad file for my desktop. Don't think i will post them on here for the world to see though.
Did the sprint distance 'Lake Dunstan' triathlon today and it went well. Haven't been doing any speed work recently so wasn't speedy, but felt great for the 20km bike ride i did soon after the race with another guy. This guy also helped to do up my wetsuit zipper and i must thank him for pointing out the shop tags were still on it. Bought this wetsuit 2nd hand about 10 months ago on a NZ trading site and the previous seller hadn't used it. I was considering not using it as already have the same ORCA suit but with the legs cut short. So anyone who noticed probably thought this guy(me) is dopey. And well thats what i think also, but it comes back to doing too much in the last 6 weeks.
One thing that really had my head in a spin(over the past 6 weeks), was a laptop computer i bought of a guy in NZ on the online trading site for $420. Longish story so be warned.... maybe boring but maybe also a lesson in it..... It was sent from Auckland and i am 2 1/2 hours by plane from there. I never received it so after 8days contacted him and we both put in a request with NZ post to find it. About 3 weeks later it ended up back in his hands, so i repaid the postage and it was sent again. The above problem was my fault as the address said number 59 instead of 58 and there is no number 59. I am the last number on the street so they could have knocked on the door?!. The strange thing is I had other gear sent to the same address earlier in the year so they must have always double checked with me my address? This guy did double check also, but i didn't look close enough at it.
Also after the 3 weeks without knowing where the laptop was, had decided it was $420 lost and was over it. But then it turned up a day or so after accepting the loss, so stragely enough wasn't relieved when it turned up!?
Six days later I got the laptop and all that come on the screen was error #5.5 and such like.
Contacted him and he said that was how it was described. He had described it as having 'Windows XP professional C.O.E'. Had seen this before and understood it as being 'College of Education' software.
He replied that it had 'windows XP professional C.O.A', which stands for
'Certificate of Authenticity', and i had no key or software. Anyway checked into it and it was using alot of my brain power and it was going to cost me more time and money.
Told him he didn't describe it correctly and said i was a poor student recently and he paid me back on its return to him.
The main problem was the time and annoyance of it all when i had already pushed my schedule to full capacity. Am sure there are soome lessons to be learnt. The first would be to ask him to define what he is describing and the 2nd is to be cautious when buying certain items 2nd hand from individuals.
It wasted my time/energy just writing it but hopefully it will help someone else avoid a similiar scenario. One lesson is not to buy stuff online when you have already 'maxed out' your time as problems like this aren't uncommon.
It did teach me some relevant things though as am selling a few new triathlon clothes from this site myself.
Even though the above 'laptop story' was annoying, can honestly say I am relatively unscathed from all my buys online. The most expensive thing I bought was a $4500 NZD item purchased through ebay from a guy in the USA. It is the most expensive item I own and also my favourite. And here is one of the first photos taken with it :
The first laptop I bought 2nd hand of an online trading site started playing up straight away, but it lasted 2 years before the hard-drive gave up. It was great though as it had alot of software on it including 'DreamWeaver' which is in use at this instant.
So have forgotten what the moral of the story is...... will let you the reader decide that........ but the reality of it is the internet as a place to purchase things is pretty much here to stay.
A links page and my training .
January 1st 2009
Firstly have been planning to put a links page on this website for sometime. Might even replace the 'buy photos' page with the 'links page' .This website is all about using great photos to promote triathlon but it was never my goal to make money selling photos. Click the background link if you are confused about this website's goal. That is not to say it won't change in future though.
The guys who run sites like 'TriathlonPhotos.com' are already doing a great job of capturing every competitor in each discipline.
There are some other sites I will put on such a 'links page'. Some of the above sites I haven't looked at much but have wanted to. Am just busy enough so hopefully these links will speed things up.
My training is going o.k, better get out and do a run, more to come.......
Note to self is to write a preview for 'Challenge Wanaka'.
The 'Iron War' between Dave Scott and Mark Allen was a defining moment in the sport of long distance triathlon. And here are two links to short videos which may improve your history of the sport and inspire you:
The 'Iron War'.
Click on the central 'play button' to begin. You may want to adjust the sound first.
This one is better though.
Click on the central 'play button' to begin. You may want to adjust the sound first.
Merry Xmas and a happy and productive New Year to all the viewers of this site .
December 22nd 2008
Here is one of my favourite 'youtube' clips from Kona(we don't get it on TV in NZ):
Click on the central 'play button' to begin. You may want to adjust the sound first.
Have been keeping busy. Well running around 'flat out' but am checking myself a bit as to whether i am just flat out going around in circles.
Have just got back from a 2 hour ride and feel good enough. Haven't done much riding at all in the past month, but just a few runs and swims. My main excuse is that I am working to 1.30am in the morning(later after Xmas)and then drive home 45km, then try to get to sleep, which isn't always happening. Haven't given up the coffee yet which i still intend to do; or go for some decafinated brands.
Am trying to do a shift switch at work so i will be starting at 5.45am for the week beginning that 'Challenge Wanaka' is on, so my body clock resets. Last year before Xmas i was on dayshift before Xmas and that worked better for training.
A friend i visited in London last year was working through the night in a factory also to 7am in the morning which i thought was pretty hard going. Well being still awake lying in bed listening to the birds start chirping as the sun comes up seems pretty similiar.
Last year i felt really good all day on the course even though i was on night shift at work and my sleep before the event was 3 hours total(9pm-11pm and 4am-5am).
Know it sounds like an excuse , but am trying to do what i can. Some days this month i have stayed up right through the night and not slept for 48hrs and done right this can reset my 'biological clock'. Training has been tricky and some training sessions in the pool i am flat as. The best example recently was a good day where i had this fast dude swimming in my lane on 1min 10sec/100meters and i felt strong, holding around 1min 30sec(good for me for 2kms or so). A week later and quite tired and i could hardly swim 1min 30secs for a standing 100meters. My solution is just to HTFU(get tougher). It only happens very rarely that my body is flat from stuffing up my 'biological clock'(akin to jet-lag from crossing time zones). I will look at it like the military do some training, sleep deprivation and carrying on when the energy is gone. So that is what i have been doing pretty much and still swam non-stop for 40mins even though i was 'slow as'. I see it as good training for the end of the ironman. And the adrenalin will be pumping through my body from about a day out from the start gun, so that will have me right.
If anyone else is in a similiar situation, and that maybe caused by having a baby in the house or anything, then 'hang tough', but listen to your body very carefully. Note you have to be able to distinguish tiredness caused by the early stages of 'a bug' versus the stuffed up biological clock due to sleep disturbance. If you have a 'bug' coming on you need to hold back and cut the training back to a bare minumim.
The 'stuffed up' biological clock only happened to me once very noticeably last year when i went to go for a run one morning. Couldn't run any more than 50meters if that, but i did manage a nice easy one hour bike ride in the great conditions.
So how do the Olympic distance ITU guys do it? My understanding is that some of them struggle with travelling and producing top race results. I think the new format with less races to be overall 'World Champion' in the ITU olympic distance race will be an improvement. But they are still going to have to travel alot to get to all the races(just less races that count than the previous format).
And a big thanks to anyone who reads this who buys gear off this site. There are costs associated with getting all the photos together and it all helps for me to keep it going. It gives me a bit more energy everytime i sell clothing/gear and over the past year have sent items to pretty much every part of the world. After all it is free postage to anywhere in the world for all purchases over $38USD.
And in my spare time(?) I have been mowing lawns in a start-up business. Thanks in part to this website sales going well i am able to let the lawn mowing business idea subside to a minimum. Always wanted to have a go at this from when I was very young in the Queenstown Lakes district(fortunate my parents had a holiday home in Arrowtown from when i was 6 or so). It was a real struggle this year to make it work because it rained alot and my gear didn't work for wet conditions plus that restricted the times in my weekends i could do it. And as a result the lawns grew faster and i couldn't keep up. Anyway my good mate does this type of work full-time in the area so he has benefited in getting a few landscape and related work from it. It was and still is very complicated getting paid for some of this work and also they are tenanted properties so it is difficult to organise when to go on them. So at this moment in time it was a 'pain in the backside' and dropped to the bottom of my priority list.
So the 'good stuff' that has me still feeling great. Have been out fishing on Lake Wakitipu twice this month(caught a brown trout), on the old boat my mate and i bought and fixed up . Had a 10min water-ski on the old skis i bought 2nd hand. Had my German girlfriend to stay for a week(she is now back in Germany : ( , and we went to Stewart Island for a weekend. I went fishing for 4 hours with a ' work group of guys' on the sea and we caught plenty of Blue Cod and a few Trumpeter. I must have been pretty tired as snoozed for the last hour or so a bench seat. Think it is a cumulative thing though as some days that week i had slept even less than 4hours plus i was running or swimming everyday.
Well have 2 full weeks off from now and will be training hard and long based on how I feel. Did take the first day completely off though and glad I did as needed to recharge the batteries. Had a small hamorrhoid which come up late yesterday(glad I had some energy spare as this was irritating), and am right again now. Did don't mind mentioning it on here as it is not that uncommon of a problem, and not great to have when training.
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So here is my friend on Ulva Island Bird sanctury. Germany meets native N.Z!. We had only been on the Island 5 mins when this Kaka come up to us. A bit like the Kea, the Kaka is very inquistive.
A reason for my interest in the NZ native birds is that the only mammal in N.Z prior to the first polynesians 700years ago were two species of bats. Some species become extinct due to the polynesians such as the large Moa which died out 200-250 years ago. Many of the native birds become flightless as there were no ground dwelling predators. The European coloonisation begun 200years ago and with it come predators such as the rat , stoats etc which decimated the native birds to extinction in many cases.
And here is a view of the Coast of 'Stewart Island'. There is one small settlement of a few hundred people but otherwise it is untouched since time began National park. It is off the Southern Coast of N.Z and takes 2 separate boat trips to get Ulva Island where this photo was taken.
And here is one of the reasons i wanted to go back. That is the challenge to photograph this juvenile 'South Island Saddleback'. This was my best image after 3 hours of trying. I promise you they are not easy to photograph and this was taken with a 300mm fixed lens at f2.8.
These little birds are endangered of extinction and so this image is one of a few that exist. That is why everyone of them is banded.
2008 Update: Ulva Island is now home to 190 adult saddlebacks
which is an increase of 12% from the previous year
with an additional 47 juvenile saddlebacks banded.
41 Saddleback pairs nested producing a total of 47
fledglings.
So my take is that the conservation efforts are looking promising.
The adult 'South Island Saddleback has brighter colours than the juvenille.
And this is the best image of this native bird on 2 trips to Ulva island. It is a NZ native Kakariki(
Red-crowned parakeet), in flight.They don't sit still for long either and don't come all that close.
All the photos above were taken(handheld) with a nikon d200 and a nikon 300mm f2.8.
That is in contrast to the link below which were all taken(handheld) with a nikon d200 and a nikon 70-200mm f2.8
And here is a link to the first photos i took with digital camera gear 2 1/2 years ago: Ulva Island Birdlife.
I don't have NatureLive.net website name any longer but have plenty of nature photos at a link on the background page. Have put more time and energy into sports photography so the nature photos aren't spectacular. Nature photography is harder, especially to get rare photos from the wild. Humans in a triathlon are more predictable as to wher they will be going.
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This little fella is so unknown that he doesn't have a name in the text books. You could say a new species but i think that is wrong. It has been around for along time and will be pretty sure it is more abundant than my favourite little 'South Island Saddleback'. And yes the North Island saddleback is similiar and not so endangered but it is different.
We get some documentaries in this part of the world that are not shown else where. One morning 2 weeks at about 2am when i couldn't sleep there was an hour long documentary on what i think is this animal. Well they both looked the same/identical to me and the locals called it a 'Sibbit'. It is a carnivorous four legged animal from Bornea, Indonesia.
Anyway the Indonesian/Australian guy doing the documentary couldn't catch one but the local hunters catch and eat a few of them. One was too sick to eat so they kept it and he got to film it. Well it sounds like i had sleep deprivation, but the thing is this sort of stuff just doesn't get prime time viewing. There was also another documentary from Australia I saw a year ago with some guys in the water with big Bull Sharks and to be honest i was amazed that they were there with them swimming around there legs. They were big enough to eat you at 2meters long.
So why am i interested. As part of my Science degree i did a study i the NZ native Blue Duck when the chance come up and spoke at a wildlife confernce for veterinarians. Now as a veterinarian and with the photography bug i hope to link the two together and get some more rare images so people realise the beautiful biodiversity of the world before we lose it.
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Advertising what 'TriathlonShots.com' has for sale.
December 2nd 2008
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Well this is one of the most visited pages on this website so put this in. Buying off this website will help it continue.
There are also a whole lot of mens and womans 2 piece options available. And some winter training gear also.
I don't have any more of the tri-suits than you see here for sale and there are not many left so Xmas might be a good excuse to get one.
A message being forwarded to anyone interested in 'Challenge Wanaka' this year.
Hey everyone,
I have a friend who has entered Challenge Wanaka 2009, she was the swimmer in a team. Unfortunately last week her husband was diagnosed with leukaemia and is about to undergo treatment. She has had to pull out and needs someone to replace her in the team. The distance is 3.8km swim at Wanaka on the 17th January . If anyone is interested or who knows of anyone who may be interested please get in contact with me.
Michelle Harvey
Mosgiel Fire Station
Cell 027 4286161
And here is some latest 'TriathlonShots' website statistics:
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Site statistics from the 23rd January to the end of November. Starting to get some more consistent viewers.
Your viewing is welcomed as are any referrals/links.
Please note if you are particularly interested in these statistics that the pages on this site are very long. Reading this page would take many hours but it only results in one page hit(infact this page is about 60 screens long). Definitely need to start filing it so topics can be easilly searched and also for people with slow servers.)
The above statistics also correspond to 24 hour viewing of this site since November last year. Sometime there are only a few people on this site but it is all day long indicating an international audience.
Keeping the weight off.
November 26th 2008
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Here is a link to a useful Chrissie Wellington interview :
The above link makes for very interesting reading. The way it is written seems quite unusual to me. But I agree with alot of it. Keeping weight off and watching your diet is a big part of sucess in triathlon.
And here I am keeping busy at work with my pet Tapir. Well he inspires me to get out running as he is such an active/fit looking little fella:
Well there is a bit more to this Tapir fascination that I might go into later.
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Next topic/update will be on effective training, versus just mileage. Discuss recovery and not overdoing it..................................
November 26th 2008
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First up is the latest event page in photos. Click the photos below if you are interested in 'Ironman Arizona' or just want to see great photos:
mmmmmmmm
Am trying to listen to some of my own advice(this weeks heading not to over do it and train effectively). Well it was actually something I read that was written by Chris McCormack but it sounded 100% on the mark.
So I am off for a run.............................................
Gotta run.......... more to come........................
So
what have i been up to:
- run another 30km plus 2 weeks in one go 2 weeks after the marathon. It is not really the way to go but my time is limited and believe i am building more stamina with limited time this way. Well it took 3 hours but i would have to bike at least 6 hours for the same effect( which.i didn't feel i could make the time for).
- am doing my lawn mowing every 2nd weekend and this is tipping me over the balance of having no time and being too busy trying to organise myself.
- working 4-5 days a week in my fulltime job.
- and have been sending one or 2 'zoot' items to people all over the world most days. This creates a bit of extra work as there is a bit of customer communication required.
- made the page of 'Arizona ironman'
- running most days, and have managed two 10km runs while at work the last 2 days. running at your lunch break at work is very useful if you can wrangle it!
- and swimming but not much cycling considering January 17th is fast approaching.
- and more but have to get back to it...................
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So the heading this week. Don't just aim for a certain number of hours or mileage! Train according to how you feel. You won't get anything much out of a training session if your body is over-worked. And you could even injure yourself or catch soome dreaded 'bug' that always seems ready to infect us.
Want to say more on the above so note to self is to say more on it later.
A bit busy.
November 13th 2008
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Firstly it was great to see Tom Evans who is in his early 40's setiing a new fastest time over the ironman distance in Florida. Will be happy if there is always some man or woman a few years older than myself setting new highest standards; it is motivational and inspirational to me.
Have made my schedule so full that when something extra comes up, I am a bit stuck. Well the positive is that it is all extra paid work.
Had written a couple of entries but my main laptop kept crashing and eventually I lost everything on it. This computer is a Lenova I bought in the USA 16months ago and it is the 2nd time it crashed and lost everything. So bought another laptop(number 3), to ensure I keep all my data and this website going. Do have everything backed up on a separate hard drive and a 2nd computer already.
Managed to do a marathon last weekend and it went as I expected. The last 12kms weren't so good but fitness was as predicted. The airtemp was 7degrees so a bit cold compared to the last 2 events completed which were both over 30degrees.
Had a full health check(work paid) and got a basic VO2max results; 65.9ml/kg/min. Apparently Lance Armstrong was 85ml/kg/min or so.
She had the bike wound up to 250watts and my HR max was 130bpm over the 8mins or so. My resting HR was 52bpm so was happy with that for the middle of the day.
Will be interesting to do the same test again in a couple of years time to compare.
The above tests were done 3days after the marathon and I was still pretty stiff. Couldn't walk up and down stairs without the rail, so am not feeling so smart.
My blood pressure and Cholesterol were also in the best category, so am relieved.
Was happy to see I was 2cms taller than before(this was the only anomaly to me as was always 185cm in the past and now 187cm). But am weighing in at 91kgs which is about 10kgs more heavy that I want to be for the 'Challenge Wanaka' event in 9 weeks. Well it works out that my 'Body mass index'(BMI) is overweight but this isn't quite right. However, i want to lose some weight regarless of all this.
So my goal is to lose 1/2kg a week from now.
Am starting to think this blog is rambling on and all over the place. That is how my life is at present but plan to make some more time for a few decent cycle rides.
Plan to go back to more on triathlon training here(this blog). Will be re-writing my training section on this site and am looking at making a restricted/passwrod protected page on this site. Here is my preliminary/experimental page:
Photographing the 'Tour of Southland' was a bit extra and even though I have wanted to photograph it for a few years it was 'by chance' to do it this year. It was snowing and I was walking to the supermarket to buy some biscuits and milk to sit around the house, so it was great chance to see these world class cyclists just arriving into my home town. Went and got my camera then organised to be free the next 2 days it would be back..... lucky chance to catch it and feelin happy about it.........
Final day(stage 9) of the cycle 'Tour of Southland'
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Stage 5/day 3 of the cycle 'Tour of Southland'
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Update.
October 14th 2008
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Am always in a state of shock when hearing of passing of those I have met on my lifes journeys such as that of the awesome triathlete Chris Mcateer(left in photo below). My feelings go out to all those close to him. I spoke briefly with Chris on a couple of occasions and it was always an honour. He raced in the same age group as I often but was at a different(higher) level. He did compete in a couple of ITU races also as an elite.
And here is a link to his local tri club where you can read more:
The above is terrible, but now I will move on to the world according to 'ME'. I say that because it is only my view, so take it with a 'grain of salt'.
And me, well things are steady on along. I must say the financial crisis is a bit of a worry and to be honest no one is insulated from it. If it is as big of a problem as what is being portrayed by the media then the government action around the world is good. I just hope they take some control of the situation(finance personel) and put some more regulation in place.
I do believe it is human nature to cheat, well at least for a certain percentage of people. What are such people(cheats) after, is it recognition, wealth, power or something else? Certainly us humans are also prone to addictions. Combine cheating and addiction and you have a recipe for disaster. 'Balance in life' versus excesses is a good starting point.
To turn my thoughts above into something useful, I try to have sensible habits(as opposed to addictions) and of course I look for 'short cuts'(as opposed to cheating) or in other words 'easier more efficient ways to do things'. Taking advantage of laws/regulation put in place or bending them to ones own advantage is not something I would do either; straight away this is a grey area, but to me it is usually very clear what is right and wrong.
Most of us are selfish, with the exception of some people with children who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their children/family. True altruism is very rare indeed. Some very wealthy people are willing to give alot away but generally speaking they got ahead by making sure the 'ball was in their own court'.
I could go on forever and am really wondering if this blog goes with the rest of the site.
Surprising to 'ME' is being as fit now as ever at 38years old. Am not quite as quick as I was in my mid 20's but in endurance sport this is easilly made up for.
Yesterday did my favourite 4hr plus bike ride and am very happy with how I feel given only 2 rides since early June. Reminder to self is to have a larger meal/food intake before long rides like this, as I did run out of energy reserves. Have done alot more running/swimming in that time though and this is one reason why I persist with triathlon; it is an excuse to go for a run, bike or swim.
So I really agree strongly with 'triathlon N.Z's direction that they are trying to encourage the average person to participate in the sport and to focus on making it fun for all. 'Make triathlon inclusive rather than exclusive', is the best motto in my view.
How can this be done;
- keep race fees reasonable,
- remind or emphasise to the general public that it is about ones own personal challenge,
- maybe a bit less focus on the elites,
- encourage participation for general health/wellbeing rather than winning,
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The above may sound a bit odd. But I think the elite athletes will shine through without alot of focus on them. Triathlon is a pretty individual sport and the individual has to make alot of sacrifices. That is the individuals who have the physical and mental attributes will still shine through if they really want.
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And some mens talk(well from a guy anyway)...... Us guys get a bit carried away sometimes with having to be bigger, better stronger etc and this isn't going to change. It is a hormone thing and nature which drives us. Woman tend to be alot more sensible in this respect which I put done to less testosterone.
For me, it feels quite good to be getting away from some of the real macho sports although long distance triathlon could be termed macho. Some of these same attributes in males drive us to excesses in business and other work areas. It is useful to recognise it, because if we push too far, problems will likely occur. The better way is to slowly build up over time to where one wants to get. So time becomes important and it is the individuals perception of how fast this goes by. Some people want to get ahead too fast(an excessive short cut).
So all the above takes me back to sports and more specifically triathlon. After watching/following triathlon alot in recent years(especially), it dawns upon me that we can take it a bit too seriously. I made a conscious decision to put sport as number one back in 2002 when I was fortunate to get in my comfort zone financially. My financial goals weren't high so it didn't take much for me to be content. Well 6 years later I am happy, because that choice was made for a healthy body/lifestyle, but from after 'Challenge Wanaka' 2009, competing in sports events is not going to be the main factor in my decisions. I feel fitter and stronger than ever but don't have anything left that must be proven to myself. I really think it is a mistake to worry about trying to prove oneself to others, as there are too many variables. Basically don't try to control the uncontrollable.
If you make a mistake in life, then try to improve and not repeat it. So, you have to be able to forgive yourself(nobody is GOD). You will be better off for coming back stronger and I believe we will all make some mistakes in life. Realising that means we should all find ways to forgive those we meet on our lifes journey. It may take time(to forgive)and it is sensible to be a bit wary when doing so but apart from some very unfortunate situations(eg, where people loose their minds), 99.9% of people are decent.
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And something I found funny(which you may not), was a quote from the triathlon gold medalist representing Germany. It was "Sieg oder Siberian", which translates as "Victory or Siberia". It has a serious side but also looks to me like some people in Germany can still laugh at themselves. Life is serious but we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves.
One thing that I do and enjoy to stop being bored is to travel and it is the people on the journeys I come across that really make it. For instance one of the woman pictured below had both parents and grandparents as colonels for the communist Russian KGB. She was very nice and honest so asked her what happened to those said to be 'in the wrong', she replied as I thought "They got sent to Siberia". It is/sounds serious but really it was just 'the way it was'. This isn't so funny, but I like to think the world is improving.
Seriously though, I have done the same, thinking of some worse/harder situation to push on with a challenging situation. Which translates to, "the mind controls the body".
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North Island, N.Z.
29/ 09/ 2008
Headed over to Tauranga to check my investment out and it is looking good, so am happy enough with it.
Stayed in a great home in the Bay of Plenty with relatives looking over the sea. Went for a run along the most beautiful coastal track with a cousin who previously raced triathlon in the USA. Will be back there for sure. Am not putting the exact locations here so you will have to explore yourselves, but am sure there are plenty of spectacular beaches and coastal runs in this area. Life is good but am looking forward to getting in some more regular training. Have a friend(girl) coming to stay for the next week so hopefully will find some time for training, well don't start work for 2 weeks so should find time. The focus is training.......... I really want to finish this long distance triathlon with a flurry................. Must remind myself to do the local marathon coming up and some other events, but am waiting to see my work plan/roster.
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I am eagerly anticipating this years Ironman World Champs, so much so that I wrote a small article on it for this site:
Have heard a bit more about why some of the top athletes didn't perform last year in Kona, but it was pretty personal stuff, which is why it probably isn't in the public domain. Everybody has a life outside of triathlon and anything major, eg unexpected will certainly impact on performance. If anything in a partnership/relationship goes wrong for example it will drain your living energy, especially if the circumstances are unpleasant.
Long distance triathlon requires more energy and focused attention than any sport I can think of.
And some endurance sport inspiration here.....
The 35 year old Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie smashed the world marathon record at the Berlin Marathon in the weekend in a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 59 seconds. Despite an ailing calf he shattered the mark he set in Berlin last year.
And some other thoughts below:
Put the photo above on here for a couple of reasons. Number one being that it is quite a good action sports photo. Met up with this guy from the USA when I was last staying in downtown Auckland a few years ago. He was just on his way back to Baghdad after a short Stag hunting trip in the rugged West Coast of N.Z. Well it just so happened he had just been on a hunting trip and shot a large Red Deer Stag from the chopper.
Deer are a very big pest in N.Z so he was doing a good bit of conservation and admit this is something I have always had a dream of doing. Interesting to me was that he was an electrician for the army and had been getting shot at in a chopper while being flown between camps in Iraq at night(in the months prior). But having bullets hitting the steel girders around him while putting up antennas sounded a bit daunting to me also. Had sent an e-mail to him a while back and not heard back so was glad to get the e-mail(today) with the above photo in it. I seriously considered joining the armed forces a few times in my own life, the last time being in 2002 while in Britain and partly for the challenge/excitement. A lot of people have pretty boring lives by comparison to these people.......... sure many of us have big personal arguments and fights but much of this is created in our own minds.
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Anyway, if you are feeling a bit flat and need any inspiration then read or listen to what some of those guys in the armed forces go through. Also doing an iron-distance race is tough but some of the army training/battle front is alot tougher. It really is a shame that everyday of the 38 years of my life it feels as though there hasn't been a day when a war is not on. It is less costly to human life these days but still as costly as ever financially, and I think it is alot to do with/cause of the financial melt down in the West we are currently experiencing. Everyone pays for it in some way.
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Traveling.
19/ 09/ 2008
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Some images from my recent trip in Australia. Nimbin at left and myself on the beach at Surfers Paradise.
Well I haven't been doing that much training but my diet is improving. Well some small changes like drinking decafeinated tea at night and eating less biscuits/junk food at night. These changes were in part due to me travelling with a girlfriend and in so doing, changing my eating habits a bit.
Also this website is planned to take on a new look over the next month.
Dr John Hellemans retires from coaching.
09/ 09/ 2008
You can click here or on the photo to go to the article I wrote on Dr John Helleman's coaching contribution in triathlon.
This blog thing all feels a bit egocentric, but am keeping it going to try and maintain the interest in the 'TriathlonShots' website. Well at least you all have the choice to read it or not?
So what is it like for training/doing triathlon in England? Well that is a question I ask myself while contemplating going back to the U.K to take up some fulltime work there.
Here is part of the answer below in photos. I guess one could try and keep fit by going to gyms, using a wind trainer for cycling and competing in many events. Hmmmmm.... more on this later.
Will try and improve/re-write some of the topics in the training section of this website. Note to self is to include some more topics such as running, cycling etc.
And here is the latest event page posted on this site:
This crash certainly put and end to olympic medals for this group. Am pretty sure they were in the 2nd cycle chase group. I can make out Lisa Mensink(39) who finsihed but not in her recent top form. Lauren Groves usually places in the top 10, so it was disappointing to see her crash out also.
And here is the link to the photos on this website from the Olympics:
And what am I up to. Printed off the 'Coast to Coast' entry form but am now pretty set on entering the oneday race in 2010. Reconsidered because my body was fried for about 3 months after the 'Challenge Wanaka' event last year. Fried for going long anyway and also had tearing in a tendon behind the knee which took about 4 months to be resolved back to normal.
I would like to have done the triathlon(above) but don't have my bike with me in Cairns and also it was $120 AUD to enter. As it has worked out I could have brought a bike over with me from N.Z but not having been to Cairns before was unsure how it would be if I decided to travel away from Cairns.
There was a 1km swim at 8am then the triathlon at 9am and would like to have done the swim, but figured I needed the energy to photograph it well. There was a 10km fun run at 3pm that afternoon which I did and it went well. It wasn't too competitive so finished about 6th.
Fellow Kiwi Gina Ferguson also did the swim and run but not the triathlon as she was in Cairns doing some training with her partner. The cost versus the rewards didn't quite balance in her mind either from the discussion we had. She broke 9hrs for the ironman in Germany a few months back and is preparing well for the World Champs ironman at Kona in 6weeks or so.
We also discussed the 'Coast to Coast' held in Christchurch N.Z and it has renewed my interest to try an enter the 'longest day' event in February 2009. Maybe Gina will do the 'Coast to Coast' someday? Richard Usher is doing the 'Challenge Wanaka' event in January 2009 and I am picking he will be defending his title at the 'Coast to Coast' 4 weeks later so I wouldn't be the only person trying to do both.
The winner of the 2008 'Challenge Wanaka Marc Pschebizin did both the above events this year a month apart and placed 15th in the 'Coast to Coast'.
My training is still ticking over although I have had a few days off running after killing my big toe nail in the 10km fun run. I thought my toenails were cut short enough but will be making doubly sure in future. Also I haven't done any hard racing at all so maybe my feet need a bit of toughening up?
Oh, and it seems a blog is a good way to keep visitors interested in what is new on this website so am going to put a link to it from the training section of 'TriathlonShots' again. The other page on this site which is getting a real surge in visitors is the results page; am trying to source a couple of great images from all the big events to put with all the results on that page.
Well wishing everyone well, so take care out there especially when you are on the roads. I am thinking to write a page in the training section on cycling safety and also a page with some running training suggestions. NOTE: still to do this.
Can tell you though that the quickest way I am going to regain some speed is to loose some weight. More training and focusing on diet is going to be my approach to this.
Whats up?
29/ 08/ 2008
Well have just travelled up the Queensland coast from Rockhampton and back to Cairns. It was a nice trip but not having my 'own wheels'(car), resulted in it being a bit 'touristic'.
The best experience for me was staying on Magnetic Island for 3 nights just off the coast from Townsville. Seeing five Koala's in the wild was just great. Also a few weeks back I headed up to Cape Tribulation for a weekend and got to photograph Crocodiles in the wild. So intend to make up a page of Australian wildlife to go with the other wildlife photos here. Unlike those below most photos will be from the wild.
Here is a snippet to create some interest:
The image of the sleeping Koala's is from the wild.
A native Casowary at left and a friend from my travels getting to hold a Koala. Well have put a mixture of photos here to create some interest to check the pages out. Note to self is to put some music with it.
And my training, well managed a long(2 hrs?) run along the entire length and back of Mission Beach yesterday. Cycled and run around Magnetic Island. Ran along the water front of Airlie beach a couple of times. Did two 7km laps of the Capricorn 1/2 ironman just after it finished and would have done a third lap but had to get the hire car back in time. And more........ training is on schedule but it will need to pick up another gear.
First swim today and it took a bit of getting back into it, after a 2 week hiatus. Note to self about the swim is that my technique is changing when going from using 'no swim pads' to using 'swim pads'. Need to concentrate on using the large back muscles more when using no swim aids. Basically I go faster using swim pads and it feels quite a bit more easy, which I can only explain by a slight technique change occuring.
Plan to do the 1km swim and 10km run this Sunday at the Cairns festival. The triathlon was $110 +$10 license and don't have a bike so will try and photograph it. Apparently Brad Bevan('the croc'},comes back annually and takes it out most years.
Also was getting close to going to Papua New Guinea with another guy from France to explore, but was struggling to justify it. Wanted to get out in the wilderness and photograph the unique wildlife there, but that trip can wait. There are few logistics in doing the trip properly and can get to the border with the the Indonesian Papua, but crossing it could be tricky. Was given some information from a guy living near this border and more money(gear) and time(Visa's) sounded in order.
Latest event pages.
19/ 08/ 2008
Full photo coverage from the mens and womans Beijing Olympic games triathlons :
You can click on these images to go to the event pages.
There are not many of the cycle or run as was shooting for triathlonphotos.com which was pretty full on. Am still hoping he will send me some shots of the pros though for use on this site.
Completed the Capricorn 1/2 ironman myself back in 2005, so have made a few comments on how I see this event.
Dietery requirements for heavy training.
14/ 8/ 2008
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Like what these images are showing and my interpretation is "ecstasy of the result and the power that goes with years of dedicated training". It should be said that some of the emotion was due to the great competition with the French only a hands length behind in this the final of the mens '4 by 200m relay'.
About a months ago I stayed at a very nice hotel and since it was quite expensive for the night so made sure the splendid breakfast was 'put to good use '. So it was scrambled eggs and bacon, a big variety of fresh fruits, some fish and some very rich meusli mash in a smallish glass. For the rest of this day I felt stronger than usual and wasn't hungry until very late in the day. So my regular toast and weetbix is not really 'cutting it', when it comes to getting a good start to the day. Having a big meal at the end of the day is traditional for many in the 'western world', but I think it is not the way to go when doing a lot of physical activity.
So below is a typical days diet for Michael Phelps in heavy training/competition and I believe it is what is required for many ironman athletes:
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The 23-year-old is swimming his way into the record books fuelled by 12,000 calories a day.
Phelps starts the day at 5am with three fried egg sandwiches topped with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, and mayonnaise.
That's followed by a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits (porridge), three slices of French toast with powdered sugar, and three chocolate-chip pancakes, all washed down with two cups of coffee.
By lunchtime though Phelps, who is contesting eight events in Beijing, needs refuelling.
That comes in the form of half a kilo of enriched pasta, two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread with mayonnaise, and nearly 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.
After a hard day's slog at the pool Phelps ends his day with another round of calorie and carbohydrate loading.
Dinner consists of another half a kilo of pasta followed by an entire pizza and another 1,000 calories of energy drinks.
The massive menu is needed every day to fuel Phelps' five-hour long pool sessions six days a week.
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And to relate it back to my own diet, recall writing down everything I ate for a week for a 2nd year biochemistry paper(in 1990) called 'Human nutrition and dietetics'. I was following a 12 week running programme at the time which had me running 80+kms or so a week, plus I was biking everyday and doing other sports also. I weighed 72kgs and was consuming an average of 10,000 calories many days. One day even cut back the real number of sausages I ate from 6 to 1, because it made my cholesterol level rediculously high(my weeks intake was 5 sausages short). Since then I gringe everytime when eating sausages unless they are obviously high protein. Basically the cholesterol in them had me heading for a heart attack within years. Well excess cholesterol causing heart disease was the 'fad' of dieticians at the time. Anyway one point is that there were no weight gains during that time and I did get very fit. Another point is that you have to be very cautious and reduceyour calororic intake accordingly when coming off such a heavy training programme.
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Was driving a bus at a resort but they started getting rediculous asking me to vacuum and wash it at 10.30pm in the dark so let them know what I thought of that. It was great for a while but it was time to move on.
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Latest event page and more swimming.
27/ 07/ 2008
Click on the above link to see a great endurance event in New Zealand. It is the 'Peak 2 Peak '. This is high on my 'to do list'. Will I ever give up doing endurance sports?........can't see that happening.
My latest swim reminders:
- keep one eye in the water when breathing to the side,
- push the under water stroke right out, and brush the thumb against the thigh,
- remember the 's' shape under the water and try to keep the power on,
- don't be a wimp; use those big back/shoulder muscles to fill effect,
- started doing some kicking with the short fins, kick from the hip and do more kick reps,
- do keep doing 100's and even 50m's by the clock, building the speed as I go through the sets,
- continue to practise the 4 beat kick and the 2 beat kick with a wetsuit,
- don't start breathing for the first 5 strokes or so,
- do breath unilaterally during the race but swap sides every 200m's or so; sometimes skip a breath to ensure stroke technique is right.
The above is just some of what was going through my mind during todays swim. Note to self is to start timing how long I am in the pool.
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Thats all folks.....have a great day wherever you are.
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More swimming.
14/ 7/ 2008
Have been swimming 5 days a week for the past 3 weeks which is alot for me. Have plenty of time so am doing drills I enjoy and trying to modify my technique slightly.
Todays focus was using the palm as well as the forearm to get a hold of the water and this was acheived by keeping the elbow flush with the palm when it was at the midway point of the underwater stroke. Also pushing the stroke right out and brushing the thumb on the thigh at the end of the underwater phase. Just focusing on technique and not speed.
And here is my latest technique for learning; watching a clip of Michael Phelps swimming from multiple angles:
And below is a great link if you are passionate about ironman. Have met up with one of the guys who does the podcast a few times and he knows the sport as well as anyone.
Have listened to 2 of the podcasts. One was an interview with Chrissy Wellington and it was great. The only thing was they tend to have the interviews about 30mins or so into there broadcasts(fair enough i guess as they want to make it more than just an interview). Intend to put some links to the podcasts on certain event pages as it is good to listen to the podcast while looking at photos of the event. Well have done that twice but most of the time I just have some music in the background.
The latest interview is of Torbjorn Sinballe and Pete Jacobs but the previous podcast are also available.
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And here is a link to a very informative blogspot:
'Very informative' is a bit of an understatement. This guy coaches the great Canadian triathlon team and there is plenty of detail on his blog, that is useful for all levels of athletes.
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Cheers from Grant......do come back.....
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Life balance and physical well-being.
06/ 7/ 2008
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Firstly there are quite a few people looking at this page so here is a link to my latest event page; Ironman Germany. Many superb photos here.
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Here is a link to what I wrote on the above topic. Tried to write it for the 'TriathlonShots' website but decided it doesn't fit with it, so made the only copy of it here:
See there is one link to this blog via the clothing page. Will remove that link and any others I find still on 'TriathlonShots' when the clothing page re-opens.
Travelling and training continued.
29/ 6/ 2008
Travel companions and I visiting the beautiful 'Four Mile' beach at Port Douglas. Thankyou to my blonde Lithuanian/Italian freind for taking the next couple of photos of myself swim training in a great 50m pool in Cairns.
Not much can be seen of my swimming style in the above 2 shots, but it looks o.k to me. However I do have a whole series of them and my head looks to be moving a bit much from left to right, so that will be something new for myself to concentrate on. Would really like to see a video in slow motion of my own stroke...well maybe someday.
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Some notes to myself for swim technique:
- keep fingers pressed together,
- practise one arm strokes(and sometimes concentrate on timing of the kicks when doing it),
- Keep the head centred; no side to side movement
- am also swimming slightly faster with a 4 beat kick(2 kicks on each side/stroke), and when breathing to my offside; note to myelf is to practise one beat kick with wetsuit in open water.
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Timed myself for a few lengths and best was 35secs for 50m with pull buoy and hand pads.
1min 20secs for 100m.
Am holding about 1min 32sec/100m for 1km or so.
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And a wider angle of this great pool. Am swimming and running most days for 40-60mins in both. Swimming is going well and not pushing to hard but trying to concentrate on a nice steady style.
Might as well rub it in(good times) and say my running is benefiting in the heat also; that is putting in some fast reps and it feels great.
Well I feel like taking some real time out to relax, holiday and train so plan to update this page next in 4-6weeks. There is planned to be several more event pages up in that time period though.
Until next time, take care and enjoy......Grant.
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Travelling and training continued
23/ 6/ 2008
Have found the Cairns 50m outdoor pool and it is great, so my swimming should benefit from a bit of extra mileage. The fish market is opposite the pool entrance so I have bought fish each day after my swim for lunch......my favourite food.
So I decided to visit the great barrier reef, to check it out and do an introductory dive. Figured to give some underwater photography a go as a practise for getting some underwater and surface shots of triathlon.
And here are a couple of images from my first ever dive and my first go at underwater photography:
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Oneday this will hopefully be a shot of some triathletes swimming overhead.
Here is a link to some really great close-up images of the sea life on the Great Barrier Reef. Oh yeah, there is a great shop that rents cameras out and sells underwater camera housing in downtown Cairns called 'Wet Rez'.
Next time I will try to get back to some triathlon training! Promise to myself.
Also not planning any more trips in the short term, but rather to start looking for a bit of paid work.
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Travelling and training
19/ 6/ 2008
Above is a photo of where I am living for next couple of weeks in Cairns. So far have been here 4 days and managed a couple of 10km runs. Going running and swimming is the top of my list as seem to have a few extra kgs to shed. Was a bit outnumbered on the female to male ratio this day which is almost always preferable.
Got an e-mail from a mate today who said I was a lucky guy. I truly beleive we all create our own 'luck'. Prefer to use the word 'situation' rather than 'luck'. And will say I just try and make the most out of any situation. We all have a variety of opportunities that come up in our lives and it becomes a matter of which ones we choose. For me there has been 2 places/situations I would equally like to be in in the past few years. Maybe will be able to make it work now with a seasonal job I can go back to?
The major treat for me so far of this time out was flying business class for the 5+ hour flight from Auckland to Cairns. It was a complimentary upgrade due to all the flights I booked through the 'Star Alliance' last year. It also included a one-off complimentary pass to the Koru lounge in Auckland which was very grand. It just happened to be on my birthday so the extra comfort was very appreciated. It pays to treat yourself at least once a year or so, or at least that is one of my theories to keep a healthy body and mind.
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Update.
6/ 6/ 2008
Not up to much. Just started the 4 1/2 months off my seasonal job. So far have been helping my parents prune their vineyard for a week. Hope to be off to somewhere warmer in the next week or two.
Only 1 swim in the last week as am not used to a physical job at the moment. Have a few lawns to mow and some garden work in the next week for the little business I have set up to cover my travel costs and keep fit.
Will try and come up with something more interesting soon. It is a bit of a flat patch.
Am watching the ITU olympic distance world champs closely though with the Olympics coming up. So far it looks pretty cold from the photos I have seen of the juniors.
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Chrissie Wellington and Andrea Hewitt.
19/ 5/ 2008
What else do they have in common apart from the fact they are great swim/bike/run woman athletes??
Like many other triathlete/ironman athletes thay have a swim background, but that isn't the answer i am after.
Answer : They both competed and placed in a long endurance event before settling into the swim/bike/run format. And it was the 2 day 'Coast to Coast' multisport event held in the South Island of New Zealand.
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Richard Usher(photo below) should be added to the two athletes named above as he took the title of the 'one day event' this year and 6 weeks or so later placed 7th in ironman NZ with a fast time for the conditions.
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Mention the above because having done the same event back in 1992, believe it to be a great introduction to endurance events. Even said this to Andrea's coach a while back. He said that he advised Andrea not to do it, and this was before she started triathlon. Knew inside how fit I was back in 1992 after completing it and would have put it to good use if it was not for the professional degree being done at the same time. The fun aspect of it probably helped as well as the decent bike/run distances involved.
It is quite expensive to enter though so am not really trying to promote it (but rather promoting the idea of getting some decent endurance miles 'under the belt' early on). Note it ended up being a long duathlon in rugged conditions the year I did it due to river flooding. Just think that somehow it was a very good background as a starting point to do well in triathlon.
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Winter has arrived so it is time for training indoors for me.
My latest exercising is going well with a few wind trainer sessions and regular swimming. The glare is from the camera flash.
And you can't beat watching movies like this series from 'Fat Albert'. Think it was over 25 years ago when I last saw this. Note to myself is that I still want to see the 'Flintstones' movie from a couple of years back. Plenty of good morals in this including not to steal and how to make your own fun. 'Fat Albert' really is smart when it comes to keeping out of trouble.
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Habits and weight control/loss.
19/ 5/ 2008
The weight loss bit is at the bottom and the rest of it is not sports related, so skip over it if you want the sport stuff. It is my only gripe and advise caution if you read it.
A definition of ' habit' :
Habits are automatic routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, without thinking.
'Habit' is a word I often associate with negative conotations but it doesn't have to be that way. Am certain we all get into some habits as we go along in life, some of them useful and some not. Regular exercise has become a habit for me that I don't wish to give up. So I see exercising as a good habit, but it could also hinder oneself if we put it above all else(eg relationships).
A solution to the above could be to hang around people that also rate exercise similiar to yourself. Or to just execise when you have spare time; the problem is some relationships will entail spending your spare time very wisely(eg. planning ahead or doing things around the house to keep things in good order).
My own definition of a habit is:
If we get so habituated to doing the same thing on a regular basis that it is hard to stop, then I would call that a habit.
Another question could be, ' When does a habit become an addiction?' Being addicted to exercise can be seen as good thing but being addicted to alcohol obviously isn't.
So here is just one habit I would like to break to begin with and that is speeding while driving. Am glad I haven't developed an excessive alcohol drinking habit as well because speed and alcohol don't mix. It has taken a long time to happen but now whenever a person gets pulled over for speeding they get breath-tested for alcohol in New Zealand.
Can list the reasons why I speed but instead will list the reasons not to:
- dangerous if something happens on the road ahead(to myself and other people that maybe present).
- it costs me money in tickets and loss of license
- it uses more petrol in my car when I put the foot down
- it only gets me to a destination a few minutes faster and usually I end up wound up from driving fast.
Oone answer maybe to spend less time driving altogether and this is being considered. Cut out all the unnecessary trips to begin.
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And one other habit to change is to listen more and talk a bit less, so what can be done:
I do listen, but think the habit here is talking a bit much.
-' Listen more' is such a cliche in communication courses that it makes me want to ignore it. I have to listen to someone telling me to listen more. Like I want to listen to some old geezer telling me this, when I would rather be outside going for a run. You can't talk if you are running or racing hard and you don't have to listen to anyone else.
- However have a book which I bought and am willing to try and follow the advice in it. The book is titled 'How to win friends and influence people', first published in 1936. Think it is better and more original than all the previous talks on communication I have heard. So it also advises to talk less, which goes 'hand in hand' with listening more.
- I don't really like hearing it directly from a person on a boring communications course and surprising though it may seem sitting and listening to lecturers wasn't very enjoyable for me. Guess the problem on these courses is that they are very intent on saying this advice is correct and you must listen to me and then you will be more successful........
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Will put some feedback on here and on how I go with the above and also about weight control.
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Can't recall the exact words but an old friend who is medical doctor said to me that 'habits are very difficult to change/break out of '. I believe some habits get tied with the environment we live in, and some of these habits can be broken by moving yourself. That is a bit drastic for most people but is one to consider. Routines can become habits and could become problematic also if it is time to move on.
Habits can also be very easilly linked with the topic of weight control. Healthy eating habits is a good starting point, as are healthy drinking habits for that matter. Add more to this............ My good habits are eating a variety of many different fruits. Bad habbits include eating too many biscuits and cakes.
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This page or 'my training blog'.
12/ 5/ 2008
This page looks to be getting more people visiting it( from web statistics). But in the next few months I am looking to separate it from my site. This page('my blog') will still look the same with links to my site, but there won't be a link from the site to it.
Well that is my plan for a few months away. So if for some reason you are interested in the information/suggestions on it or are just interested in what I get up to, then you will need to add this page to your favourite(bookmark it). Basically the page will still have the same look, it will just be floating in cyberspace.
Blogs do seem a great way for old friends to check up and see how you are going. If any old friends out there have their own blog then feel free to e-mail me the link..
So my intention is to re-write the different sections so 'TriathlonShots' is not so personal(about myself). Well that is the plan.
Met up with a couple of fellow ironman people in the weekend just gone, and got some more inspiration. One of the guys was about 10 years older than myself and has completed 11 ironman events.The interesting thing was that he has got faster as the years rolled on and this years was his fastest time of something like 9hrs 40mins. Great stuff.
It does also remind me of John Hellemans who did his one and only ironman(Elmere) in just under 10hrs at age 52 or so. He is in the 55-60 age category now and still places in the top 20 or so of amateur triathletes in N.Z in standard distance triathlons. He has however slowed with time in his favoured olympic distance from low 1hr 50's to around 2hr 10mins today. There are a few other guys in N.Z and around the world that are similiar but not many(quite a few in the 40's category). I think the secret to it is consistency over many years. Am sure some of them do a few weights and stretches to keep the strength and flexibility up also.
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Time to be more concise.
1/ 5/ 2008
The plan is to have a different layout to this page in the next few days. There will be a link to this page in its original style but the entries will be shorter and only 1-2/month.
There will be links to separate pages with most of what is below categorised into specific topics.
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Below is one of the most famous images in the world of triathlon/ironman to date,
Mark Allen and Dave Scott going 'head to head' at the Hawai ironman. This was the most inspirational of images to me when it come out on the front of the triathlon magazines back in 1989. They look so fit/lean and were pushing themselves to the limit.
Their times would still win many ironman world championships in the most recent years. They were running faster to begin with.
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Time for a short ramble; will try and tie it in with endurance sports though.
23/04/2008
Have been making a few lists recently to try and stay on track with some goals. Things I am looking at are my financial and mental maturity. Both need a bit of reviewing. Both really stem from a lack of direction at times. Either that or the direction I have been following needs a bit of reviewing. Will leave out the personal details though as this can be read by anyone! You see many people who all of a sudden have children mature pretty quickly(especially since many of them have to).
And some of the above thoughts come from the recent surge in costs of alot of the basic items like food and petrol. We quickly get used to the new prices but I can remind you that they have almost doubled in the past year or two. Long term I believe energy costs will come down and with that the price of many things could come down. Not sure of the time frame for the energy costs coming down but have an understanding of more than a few energy alternatives.While it has been fun focusing alot of my personal energy and thoughts on endurance sports for the past couple of years, it does come with some sacrifice. Examples are not watching spending and not focusing on the investments I have or even making very average investments. Everyone who has a mortgage, free hold place, business, student loan or a few dollars in the bank has an investment they should utilise. It does require some concentrated thought for it to work the best for oneself / family. I think we all really have to make our own decisions to do well and it will work out better if we have a good understanding of the areas we invest in. Obvious but again it helps to remind ourselves.
Now to tie it in with endurance sports. Have committed alot of time to it over the years, but did have a break in between for a while. For many reasons am considering another break from it but will be back for sure. Don't intend to give up on keeping fit however, just less events on my race calendar and made up of mostly local ones.
Think some of the above stems from the time of year as much as anything as it has turned to Winter pretty quickly. I do have 4 1/2 months off my day job soon(by choice) and will find some paid work for a fair chunk of it. Am pretty set on going to Australia for most of the time as us Kiwi's can work there with no problems. Am thinking to go back to Europe for a month or so but I can't work there and will be scrutinising the costs versus benefits(it is looking unlikely).
Have started up a little lawn mowing business to fill in my time outside of work. Am looking at it as my exercise and the replacement for some runs. Ah yes there are other ways to keep in shape and this gear should be tax deductable, unlike my cycling/running gear. Have enough cool gear now to keep me going for a while. Funny how there is always something else I would like, and sure this is not an uncommon thing. Age group athletes are getting alot of products put in front of them, and many of these products are just making us lazy. It is not that hard to put a bit of malt in a tube dispenser and carry it on the bike for nutrition rather than buy the latest 'tri food' product.
Many of us have forgotten how to obtain or grow our own food. This stems from urbanisation, but also laziness I think.
Could go on about the above alot more but will move onto nutrition. Am revising my milk intake and will be opting for smoothies without the milk. Already I don't eat butter or cheese because these products are over 50% fat, but also because I am getting plenty of them in my bread, biscuits etc. Am also looking to cut back the amount of bread eaten and replace it with other sources of starch. I talk it up on here but really my diet needs as much of a 'shake up' as the items in the first paragraph of this post.
Hopefully it can all work in unison. Saving money by growing a vege garden and at the same time resulting in a healthier diet; a few chooks wouldn't go astray either. Which is all very serious and mature. Well it hasn't happened yet, so will put it in bold to remind myself. Now when does one plant the potatoes? hmmm it is time to get real about these basic things.
Am always keen on feedback via my e-mail links on this site.
Also want to remind myself to calculate how many visitors are visiting this page each day, to check if it is worth carrying on with. But don't worry I can't work out who is visiting here. Worked it roughly to 2400+ visits to this page in the past 4 months which would be about 20 visits a day. That would be about right and expect only a few would come back regularly, say once a month. Will have to try and post on it twice a month to keep in worth visiting I think.
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I do visit some other peoples blogs about twice a month myself and here are the links:
Will put a few more links together on a separate page someday.
Have alot more to do on this site at present but it is only a hobbie(little return), so it is moving down my priority list. For example I have great photos of the Oceania tri champs and Aussie Xterra to make up event pages, but struggling to make time for it.
Just read through some of my old posts and there seems to be some useful advice in amongst it for me(and others also I hope). There is so much already written below that it helps refresh my memory by reading it. Am starting to highlight some sentences which seem better advice than I can recall many days. That is part of the problem, sometimes when we are in a 'sticky'(tough) situation we need good advice, but when we are in a 'sticky' situation the answers/solutions don't come flooding back. So I think a diary with advice/ideas for yourself by yourself could and should be helpful. The list of alternative work you would do is a good example. When you are at your wits end at work, you won't be able to come up with this list very easilly (helps to have it written down anyway).
Here is one to to put on your list to start you off. Take a well deserved holiday, by yourself if required. Have heard some people go back to work to recover from the stress of the holiday(funny but not really smart).
Another solution to above is to train yourself to handle the toughest of situations. Training yourself to handle the toughest of situations is a good way to go. This can equally apply to everyday events in your life or a 8 hour plus endurance event.
Note to self: discuss inspiration from the SAS(u.k) man I worked with for a couple of part days back in 2001. This guy and his fellow soldier were captured by the enemy and only he survived. Will discuss it more later but it will focus on his mental and physical toughness and have nothing to do with who caught him.
Updated: Basically he wasn't all that happy with previous events but it didn't appear to hold him back working in the most demanding situations of the present day. Very loyal and dedicted, just a bit fitter, tougher and knowlegeable of the latest technology than anyone else,(I have met). Yes I truly believe the SAS(u.k) get to use the new technology first and this was backed up from another older SAS(u.k) soldier I worked with at a later date who said they used the facsimile first. Well maybe some other milatary/government or NASA employees use the technology early on also.
Related to the above is that my first approach to a job was with my countries airforce to be a pilot, but I don't have 20/20 vision in one of my eyes so knew it was pointless filling out the paperwork application.
I used this SAS guy as my my role model to get through my first ironman. Actually that is all I am going to say at this stage. With the preparation I had and this role model, completing the ironman was really a 'walk in the park'. It did keep me shuffling along in the run however when my legs said 'no more'.
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A list of healthy foods you like and a list of goals(eg sporting ones), are no doubt useful for the above reasons and it all helps to keep the focus.
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Goal setting.
23/04/2008
Below is a link to an online forum response by Chris McCormack(Macca) emphasising a goal list.
Reading this was one of the most inspirational stories/things to me in recent years. It will mean more to you if you are aware of this guys acheivements. He has pretty much ticked off everything on his sporting goal list(a piece of paper), that was made 15 years ago or so........ Wow........
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Physiology.
31/03/2008
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And below is a post I made recently on the 'Slow Twitch'(ST) forum:
Slowing the onset of ageing through exercise.
Read an article in a local magazine quoting 3 times olympic gold medalist Peter Snell regarding this topic. He is from N.Z but now based in the USA as a Doctor with specialist knowledge in exercise physiology and cardiology.
The article only touched on the subject above, but some ideas were:
- muscle size reduces with age, and exercise can help slow this,
- The hippocampus(part of the brain important for memory formation etc..) reduces in size more slowly in those who exercise regularly.
- exercise helps keep the heart healthy.
There was some more but much of the article involved motivational ideas for the elderly.
Do any of you ST's out there have knowledge related to the above? Am interested to hear what people think?
My first thought on the above is that a more healthy heart(cardiovascular system) as a result of exercise is pretty well known and even this alone is a large subject.
I do however think very strenuous exercise(over a long time) can start putting excess stress on the cardiovascular system which can be detrimental. And to get the heart 'fit' a gradual process over many years is a sensible approach.
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Time for some more training tips..
17/03/2008
Don't overtrain.
Good coaches will help to prevent this happening. However your coach is unlikely to be by your side all the time(only if you are married or live next door to them), so it helps to learn to listen to your body very carefully. And respond the right way(ahh?... a day off....... ahh?... revert that hard training session to something more easy). Really stating the obvious, but again it is a reminder.
So what does this entail. Firstly for example it entails oneself thinking consciously of what is happening when we are getting sick. Getting sick a few times in short succession is also pointing towards a weakened immune system, which is a bad sign.
Having the background medical knowledge helps alot, but it is not essential. Commonsense can prevail.
Don't race when you are sick.
Watched a guy doing an elite ITU race last year and noticed he was coughing during the bike. In the run he was at the very back and breathing really hard. Caught up with him after the race and found he came to a sticky end; fainting and being carted off by the ambulance. That is an extreme example, but I say under no circumstances should we race if sick. You can get away with it in non-elite races but it is just not worth it. Am sure the pros with any longevity in the sport know this. Here is a suggestion, wait until you feel back to full health, do a couple of normal days training, still feeling no ill effects, then do a sprint distance tri in your training. That should ensure you make up for the missed race. If the missed race was a half ironman or so, then do a quick olympic distance triathlon for your training day. There has to be a way around racing when you are ill.
And yes I have done two age group races while still under the cloud of inflenza, and no it wasn't worth it. One of them I was 100meters into the swim and all of a sudden my arms and the rest of my body just went flat.
If you are well enough to start you might try, but obviously it would make sense to pull out if you weren't feeling up to taking it out/getting the required placing. I don't recommend starting and pushing untill you drop under any circumstances though(when under a cloud of ill health).
So basically am not going to give a definition of what 'sick' entails on this site. I could try but it would take too long. Common an obvious reasons not to start are gastro-intestinal illnesses for example. Otherwise consult a doctor who understands what you are doing and use commonsense if you deteriorate.
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Use a heart rate monitor in training.
I refer you to Mark Allens home page for this. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage(markallenonline.com). His comments seem to be based around stopping yourself doing too much in the hard zone. This will be true and useful to some. It also gives a guide for calculating your HR zones, but I would highlight that it is only a guide.
Also like his article on speed training and the bit on listening to your body even more though and I will be trying his advice. After all he is one of the all time greats. I prefer to listen to someone who has been there, but that is just me. Not all of what the best athletes say will hold true for us all though as our physiological systems can respond differently. The most obvious being male versus female physiological differences.
The reasons I sayfor using a HR monitor is to start getting an idea of what is actually happening during your racing and training. It is another tool for reading your body.
Basically I have been doing too little in the hard zone in training. And my HR results on race day helped prove that to myself. Managed to hold a HR of close to 160bpm for 5 hrs 43mins on a tough cycle course. That was way higher than I thought possible for myself. So I should incorporate some interval training on the bike where my HR at least goes around 160bpm. Proper intervals of at least a few minutes duration that is!
Plan your triathlon and racing season.
Another heading from the same site refered to above, but can assure you the following are my own ideas.
Planning is required because of the difficulty for age groupers to even enter some races. Enter early. The further out you know the races you are doing the better you can prepare(obvious really). Achieving the goal of getting into your countries age group or elite team will be more easy if you plan it a year out. There is more to it such as the cost which can be prepared for also in advance. It just is better to plan ahead in most cases; that doesn't mean you can't leave some flexibility in your race calendar however. You want to win? Then make a miticulous plan; just don't forget to enjoy the process occasionally.
Ask someone if you are unsure.
No one can do it by themselves. Getting good advice early on can save alot of wasted time. Now I do have a couple of coaches in mind to contact. Certain coaches who have produced the very best results. How did they do it, I am not sure. The only way to find out might be to give him a go.
Like to think I know the answers to success. Really that is a bit arrogant, because no one knows all the answers. The best results of all the elites really come from a combination of coaches and motivational sources.
My excuse is that I can't get along to regular swim squads. A valid excuse because believe a swim coach( settiing up a good plan for your needs), and squad training to be essential. Making excuses is also a bad approach as there are usually ways to try and mitigate things. Have come up with some but will post about that later if I can prove it right.
Get your body to your correct body weight and proportions for your distance/sport.
Will let you work that one out yourselves. But can only say it is very important. Many will say it comes with the training, but for some it requires consciously working towards it.
This guy(me) weighed in at 85kgs on raceday, and looks like he needs to loose a few kilos of upper-body weight. Carrying extra weight on long runs just isn't working. Even on long training runs I was coming to a standstill at about 30kms. And from 30kms on raceday it was the ironman shuffle to the finish line.
Latest addition to this website.
15/03/2008
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Mens and Womans tri-suits are available for purchase on this site at the clothing link at the top of this page or by clicking on the images below.
