The day before.....

While in St George for the Ironman 70.3 US Pro Championships I had the opportunity to shoot 2 short videos of what my training involves the day before an event.

Hope you enjoy

Swim
Bike

Ironman 70.3 Florida - 7th

With 2 races done over 3 weeks in the USA I headed to Orlando Florida for Ironman 70.3 Florida. The race was made famous last year with Lance Armstrong winning the event during his quest for triathlon domination. I had been basing myself in LA post St George 70.3 and spend my time doing a lot of ‘recovery’ sessions in an attempt to freshen up for what would be my 2^nd 70.3 within 2 weeks. With the hot weather in LA I felt that I had got well acclimatized to the hot weather and was ready for Florida heat.

The crew in our house for the weekend

 Strangely all the men in the house rode Specialized bikes 

After a decent day of travel across the USA I arrived in Florida late Thursday afternoon ready to checkout the course the next day. After driving the course I quickly saw that this would not be an easy task on race day. The swim was held in Lake Eva was in what could be described as bath water (hot!), the cycle over some decent hills and the run consisted of 3 loops up hills and undoubtedly what would be very hot temperatures. Being that the lake also contained alligators (according to a few locals up to 14ft in size) I resisted the urge to do my usual swim over the course in the days before the race.

Race Day:

Sunday approached and after my usual breakfast and warm up I was on the start line ready to give my final USA race a solid crack. I positioned myself closest to the inside swim buoys and within the first few hundred meters took the lead. I kept the pace solid around the M shaped course being passed by a few keen athletes in the last 200meters before the run into transition. I kept me cool and emerged from the water right up with the front group. 

Heading out on the bike

Heading out of transition I saw that there was only about 8 of us in the lead pack with a decent gap to the chasers. The others must have seen the same thing because as soon as we hit the bike leg with pace was on like donkey kong! The first 10km’s was very fast and I was forced to spend some extra energy having to move past some of the pro men who were dropping off the group. Half way through the bike the pace lifted once again up one of the larger hills and myself along with a few others dropped off the main pack. I spent the remainder of the bike watching the leading 3 men ride up the road and disappear into the distance. I hit T2 in 5^th place and with the 4^th fastest bike time of the day. Interestingly I only rode 5minutes slower than Lance Armstrong did last year.

Onto the run I was quickly past by 2 other athletes before hitting the first hill. It was at this point where I really felt like I was in trouble. The legs felt cooked and with the Florida heat building I had serious doubts as to if I would even be able to make it to the finish. For the entire first lap all I was telling myself was to just make it past the first of 3 run laps. Surprisingly I actually started to feel better going onto the 2^nd lap and heard the announcer mention that I was in 7^th place at this point. The final lap were a true battle and I made the most of every aid station consuming large amounts of cola and pouring water and ice over my head and down my Scody tri singlet along with ice in my tri shorts (which at one point the entire crew at the aid station had a good laugh about).  

I crossed the line exhausted and was prompted escorted into the medical tent. The run was brutally hot and hats off to everyone, amateurs and pros alike who all made it round the course.

All in all I was pretty stoked with the result being that there was some really talented athletes racing. As always I put myself in the position to get on the podium. Being so young in comparison to the rest of the pro men racing meant that at this point in time I struggle to match their pace and endurance. It’s really interesting to see how much the level of racing had increased. Looking at last year’s results I saw that if I had recorded the same time at last years event I would have finished in 3^rd place.

With this result I have now moved into 17^th on the Ironman 70.3 professional men’s points rankings, which I am really happy about.

Next on my radar will be Coral Coast 5150 and Cairns 70.3 which I will be leaving for next Friday. I have heard nothing but good stories from those who raced last year and I can’t wait to test the mind and body once more against what is looking like a very solid field.

Oakley HQ Tour

I have been an Oakley athlete for right on 7 years now and in that time have always dreamed about seeing the company headquarters in the USA. Being that the drive to Oakley HQ from where I am currently staying in LA was only about an hour and I half I decided that this was as good a time as any to see where all the magic happens.

 The reception area and front office 

Waiting chairs (aeroplane ejector seats)

Upon arriving at 1 Icon, Foothill Ranch I was immediately faced with the HUGE Oakley main building (what I found out later was that this was just 1 of many on the site). The HQ is utterly huge and I can honest say that photos do not do it justice. 

I met with Greg Welsh and was given the full tour and run down on the history and development of Oakley products. Seeing the evolution of products from Oakley's inception right up to 2013 and beyond was a true treat.

I also was able to get a super sneak peak of some of the upcoming products for 2013 and beyond and meet some of the sports marketing team behind the scenes at Oakley international. There are some areas at Oakley HQ that are heavily restricted including the R&D eyewear devision. I would have loved to have seen what the masterminds at Oakley were working on back there!

Wall of Oakley products through time

My favourite Oakley glasses 'Oakley - Over the Top'

 Thanks again to Greg for his time and the grand tour

70.3 US Pro Champs St George - 19th

St George was going to be my biggest test thus far over the 70.3 distance. This was not just because of the 53 professional men racing and arguably the strongest field ever assembled outside of the 70.3 World Championships but also due to the fact that the course was quite possibly the toughest 70.3 course in the world. Looking at the start list it was clear to me that the race would be on from start to finish. Being so young in comparison to the other pro men racing (I was the 4th youngest in a field of 53) I was admittedly nervous but felt like I could consolidate a good result.

Race day quickly approached and I was greeted with the usually 4:30am alarm. I downed my usual banana and honey on toast, dextro sports drink and a dextro carbo bar and headed out the door. The course consisted of 2 different transitions, one at the swim exit of the lake and the other in town. This meant dropping off the saucony fastwitch shoes in town before heading out on the bus to the lake.

After setting up T2 and a small warm up I headed down to the lake for the race start. The water was freezing measuring just 15.5 degrees C (60F). I positioned myself at the start right next to gun swimmer Andy Potts and once the gun went off just tried to stay on his feet. I dropped back ever so slightly but didn't really face to many issues and exiting the water in 9th position. Due to the cold water I spent the extra time to put the socks on heading out onto the bike leg. Onto the bike I wanted to establish myself at the front of the group and thus moved up just behind Bevan Docherty to ensure that I wasn't stuck behind many of the 25-30 strong group which all seemed to head out together.

The first section of the ride wasn't that fast but as soon as we hit the hills a few miles later it was a different story all together. The group really splinted over the first few hills and I quickly found myself in the front group of 8 with just 3 other athletes up the road from us. The bike course was totally crazy with only the first 7km's being flat and the rest either up or down hills. It's by far the hardest course I have ever raced on. On the final long climb up snow canyon I ever so slightly lost touch with the group and spent the final stretch down the highway after the climb hitting 60-80kph+ chasing back up to group. I headed into T2 just 20 seconds down and despite the hard bike felt quite fresh in the legs.

The first 6kms of the run was straight up hill and hearing IM World Champion Craig Alexander cheering my name and offering some words of advice really helped spur me on. The entire run course was really relentless with zero flat sections. At the run turn I could see that I was headed for a top 15 finish if I held onto my current position. A few of the fast runners from the 2nd chase pack ran past me just after the turn around and despite trying my hardest to stay with them I just couldn't keep up with their pace.

Over the final 6kms down hill to the finish I was cramping worse than ever and found those final few miles the hardest of the entire race. I crossed the line totally stuffed! I don think that I've ever run that hard for 19th in my life but I can honestly say that this was the hardest race, over the hardest course against the fastest athletes that I have ever done. The results list showed the toll that this course took on the pro mens field with just 38 from 53 athletes even finishing the race.

Mid way through the bike & post race thoughts 

For me it's another great result and a step into the right direction.

Next up in Florida 70.3 in 2 weeks time.

Florida > LA > Vegas > Utah in 3 days

After making the long flight back to LA post St Anthony’s 5150 I was able to meet up with my good friend Wayne Jones and get in some good training from his home in LA. I’m still trying to find my way around and work out some good training locations but Wayne with all his contacts managed to somehow get me into a very exclusive gated community which also happened to have an amazing training pool for me to use while in LA.

LA Training Pool

 Post swim session checking out the view

With just a quick turn around we made the drive on Wednesday out of LA, through Vegas and into St George for the weekends 70.3 US Pro Championships. My home stay in St George was truly amazing and I have to give a huge thank you to Dave, Kim and their son Talon for making me feel at home.

Also thank you again to Dave for helping me get the Specialized S-Works Shiv immaculate for race day. The man spends 5 hours minimum detailing his Corvette and just like me is a perfectionist. 

With St George being a heavily religious area the race was held on a Saturday as apparently if it were to be held on Sunday then 90% of the volunteers would refuse to attend.

The day before I headed out for a swim, ride and run over the course and put together a small video of the ride I did.

Race day is Saturday and to say I am excited against racing the worlds best 70.3 athletes is an understatement.