2016 S-Works Shiv

After two races and two wins on the board so far this year I have got to know my new ride for 2016 pretty well. With this said I wanted to give a detailed looked at Specialized S-Works Shiv which I am racing on this season. A big thank you as always to Specialized for their amazing support and Planet Cycles in Brisbane for building up this speed machine.

Specialized Fuel Cell locked into place. Inside I carry I spare tube, valve extender, Co2 canister, Co2 head along with 1 tyre lever. In the top of the Fuel Cell during races I carry anywhere from 2-5 energy gels. 

Shimano Di2 shifters with a bike computer mount in an easy to read position. 

An S-Works Quarq keeps me training and racing in the correct power zones. I also ride 172.5 length crank arms.

A bright red S-Works Rib cage is tucked up behind the Sitero saddle. With this bottle cage and the internal bladder in the frame my hydration needs are well taken care of.

 So aero from behind!

On race day I usually run a Shimano 11-23 cassette and an 11-25 for training rides. Tyres are S-Works Cottons front and rear. For many races I ride the Roval CLX60 wheel-set. However I will choose to ride with the Zipp disc on some flatter race courses.

QTS Triathlon Series Race 7 Raby Bay – 1st

The last few weeks of training have all been in preparation for Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay. With race day just 2 weeks away I thought that the QTS event at Raby Bay over the sprint distance would be the perfect opportunity to brush up on my speed. Even though I now focus on the longer race distances I think that it is still important to race a couple of sprint distance races every season in order to work on my top end race speed. The great thing about racing at home is that I can jump on my bike on race morning and use the 30min ride to the race venue as a good pre race warm up. I also had the opportunity to hand out the finishers’ medals to many of the kids competing in the ‘Kool Kids’ triathlon event which is always enjoyable.

Race Day:

I started the race hard and quickly went about trying to establish myself at the front of the race. I managed to get the lead quickly and pushed the pace to make it hard for the others behind to keep up. Even though it was only a 750 meter swim leg I still opted to wear my Orca RS1 swim skin for the time savings I find it provides me with. 

I exited the water in first with Kane Richards and Jack Hickey just behind. I exited transition a few seconds behind Kane & Jack after a slower than usual transition. In these shorter races there is no room for error and the few seconds I lost at this point of the race set me back before heading out onto the 20 kilometer bike leg.  

I was looking forward to getting onto the bike course which is quite technical with lots of corners and gradual ups and downs making it challenging to get into any kind of rhythm. The wind had also picked up which was just another added challenge to the bike leg. 

Kane and Jack rode the first 5km loop at a very solid tempo and it took me until the 6 kilometer mark to make my way back into the lead after my slow transition. Once I hit the lead I lifted the tempo with only Kane able to keep up. Overall I felt that the pace during the bike leg was solid but never out of my comfort zone. I kept a close eye on my Specialized Quarq power meter data and upon finishing the 20 kilometer cycle leg I had kept an average speed of 41kph and 357 watt average power (normalized power).

I had a great bike to run transition and immediately set out at a fast tempo keen to really push hard and see what kind of time I could run. 

I have really been working a lot on my running in training and wanted to use the 5 kilometre run leg as a test to see how fast I could go while still remaining under my red zone. I was surprised to feel as good as I did on the run and was able to extend my lead over the rest of the field. 

Coming across the finishing line in 1^st was a great feeling and a really good sign that things are well on track for my next big race at Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay in 2 weeks time.

Triathlon & Multi Sport & Multi Sport Magazine Covers

Just before Christmas I was told that I was going to be featured on the front cover of 'Triathlon & Multi Sport' magazine. Making it even more special was the fact that my partner Bec Ohlwein took this amazing photo which made it onto the cover.

Following my win at the 'Hell of the West Triathlon' I am also featured on the cover of 'Multi Sport Magazine' which was another great surprise for me.

Hell of the West Triathlon (2KM/80KM/20KM) – 1st

For the last 3 years I have begun my season with what is dubbed as one of the hardest long course triathlons in Australia, the ‘Hell of the West Triathlon’. The race is known as such a tough race due to the often extreme heat and outback roads which provide little relief from the often brutal winds and make riders feel like a jockey aboard a bull at a rodeo with the rough road surface during the bike leg. The 2km swim, 80km ride and 20km run is a good challenge and has seen Pete Jacobs and Luke McKenzie as previous winners with Luke McKenzie holding the course record.

I have really changed my training over the last few months with a more strategic approach designed to improve on my weaknesses with the aim of becoming a much stronger athlete. With this different approach came a nervousness to see how I would translate this new training into a race performance. With a 2^nd in 2015 & a 1^st in 2014 I had some good benchmarks to gauge a 2016 performance by.   

Race Day:

The down and back river swim provided a fast first stretch with the current and then a hard fought battle against the current on the return journey. In previous years I have been able to get a good gap over the rest of the field. However this year I was unable to establish a solo lead out of the water despite leading for the entire swim leg and reaching dry land first. In tow were 3 other of the pre race favorites which meant a good group went onto the bike leg together. 

With an early surge the group was quickly down to just three athletes which included Giles Clayton, Michael Fox and myself. The out and back cycle course, despite being flat is quite taxing over a rough road surface meaning that you really need to consistently keep the power down to maintain a high speed. On the outward trip the three of us shared the pace making. Giles was riding very strongly and Michael really put the hammer down particularly on the homeward journey. 

Photo: FinisherPix 

With around 10km left to ride I came to the front and put in a big surge to establish a gap which I committed to extending all the way back to transition. Going out onto the run I managed to build up a nice 1minute 45second lead which I planned to extend during the first run lap. I was able to settle into a good rhythm quite quickly holding a solid tempo. With the 3 lap run course I could see my lead extending over my competitors at each of the turn around points. After the second lap my lead had extended out to just over 5 minutes and I maintained a good tempo throughout the last lap of the run unaware that I was so close to the course record set by Luke McKenzie. It was a really great feeling to run down the finish shoot to win the 25^th anniversary of the ‘Hell of the West Triathlon’ and be just 36 seconds shy of the course record set by Luke McKenzie. One consolation was that I managed to break the bike course record also set by Luke McKenzie in 2010.

Photo: Wayne Pratt  

My performance was something that I was really proud of and I honestly felt solid all day out there racing. With this being the third time in as many years that I have kicked off my year with this event the times were the quickest I have ever produced on this course while still feeling like I was racing well in control and not having to go into the red zone. 

Hervey Bay 100 - 1st

Hervey Bay 100, as the name suggests is a long course triathlon held over a 2km swim, 80km ride & 18km run to make up the ‘100’ kilometer distance of the event. I have wanted to race this event for many years after first hearing about it. However every year the timing didn’t quite fit into my race calendar. So this year I was quite excited to line up on the start and try to add my name to the winners’ list. With 2 races in 2 weeks (1^st 5150 Bohol & 2^nd Challenge Shepparton) the HB100 would be my 3^rd race in as many weeks. In the days leading into the event I was feeling quite good in training and was looking forward to my last big race of the year in the beautiful coastal town of Hervey Bay.

Race Day:

The swim course start was a 2km walk up the beach from transition and hugged the shoreline of Hervey Bay. I used the beach start to my advantage and went about setting the pace up front before local, Tayte Dixon took up the lead. Tayte and I swapped the lead a few times with David Dellow (3^rd place at this year’s Challenge Roth) making up the lead group of 3. Tayte put in a late surge towards the shoreline to lead out of the water. The pancake flat water of Hervey Bay made for a stunning swim course and I really enjoyed every swim stroke in the bay.

After a short run into transition I hit the bike in 2^nd place and quickly started pushing hard to test the legs of Dellow and Dixon. It was evident early on that Dellow just didn’t have the legs on the day which left Tayte Dixon and myself in the lead.

I lead the first 30km or so before Tayte and I swapped the lead during the remainder of the 4 X 20km looped bike course. Unbeknown to me Tayte was given a drafting penalty in the later stages of the bike leg when meant that I automatically had a 5 minute gap once I started the 18km run course. 

 It took me a few kilometers to find my run legs and with temperatures rising I was very vigilant with my hydration as well as cooling myself down with ice at every aid station. During the first 6km lap I kept up a solid tempo before lifting the pace on both of the final 2 X 6km loops. I kept a close eye on my GPS run watch and tried to drop my time every kilometer, challenging myself to run faster and faster.

I crossed the finish line very happy with my performance taking a convincing win. Having done three races in three weeks with one 2^nd place and 2 wins it was a dream end to my 2015 race season. In the last month or two I have taken a different direction with my training and it seems to have really paid off with the results on race day. I will now have some downtime before ramping things back up again in preparation for next season.

Challenge Shepparton – 2nd

Coming off the back of a win the week prior in the Philippines at ‘SafeGuard Active 5150’ I was feeling good leading into Challenge Shepparton. However something that I wasn’t expecting was picking up a flu/cold on the flight home to Australia on the Monday prior to Challenge Shepparton. Truth be told I did no training on Tuesday, a very short swim on the Wednesday, before taking the next 2 days off completely to try and get well enough to race. I managed to sneak in a very easy 30min ride on the Saturday prior to race day to gauge how I was feeling and even after that was still unsure if I should even start the race. One thing that the sport of triathlon has taught me is that you never know what can happen once that gun goes off on race day and so I bit the bullet so to speak and was on the start line come race morning.

Race Day:

Once the gun fired to start the 1.9km swim I put in a big effort to try and get the lead early on. I enjoy leading the swim when I can and managed to hold the lead for the first few hundred meters before Nick Kastelein took up the pace-setting and I slipped in behind to hold down second. The M shape swim course made it easy to see where the rest of the pro men were at each of the 3 turn buoys and I noticed that there was a lead group of 5. The status quo stayed the same until we all hit dry land together on the run into transition.  

Heading out onto the bike course I was still really unsure of how I would go over the 90-kilometer bike leg. On the first lap I sat in 4^th place and watched Luke Bell put in a big surge, which got him off the front of the lead group where he remained until the finish line. I came to the front of the group twice early on where I really battled to hold my normal wattage numbers into the head wind. Mike Philipps and Nick Kastelein really pushed the pace up front and I had to really push myself just to keep up with the pace they were holding. After the first of two 45km bike laps I was forced to drop back to 5^th place after losing touch around the turn around point. The bike leg was just as much of a metal battle as a physical one for me and I just tried to focus on my eating, drinking and cadence. Normally I like to be one of the people up front pushing the pace and not being able to was probably one of the hardest things mentally about the bike leg for me during this race. 

Image credit: Getty Images/Challenge Shepparton

Coming into transition after having completed the 90-kilometer bike course I heard that the time gap to Luke Bell was now over 6 minutes which I knew, would be almost impossible for anyone to chase down.

Heading out onto the run I knew that the 21.1-kilometer run would really be a make or break affair for me. With the higher heart rate running requires, this would be the telling point. With a 3 lap run course I mentally and physically gave the first 7km lap what ever I could with the idea being to take the rest of the run, lap by lap. I really surprised myself and found my running rhythm quite quickly holding onto 3min40sec per km for the opening few kilometers. Nick and I ran together before he lifted the pace at the 4km mark and I was unable to keep up. The gap between Nick and I hovered at around 20 seconds or so until almost all the way to the finish line. With 1000 meters or so to the finish line I put in a big effort to try and close the gap and just managed to catch Nick within a hundred meters of the finish line to finish in 2^nd with quickest run split of the day (run time 1hour 14 minutes 54seconds).

Image credit: Getty Images/Challenge Shepparton

I was really shocked with the result and how I managed to somehow find something during the race to keep me in touch for the swim/bike then have one of my best runs I have had all year to finish in 2nd. After feeling like I wouldn’t even be able start the race to finishing 2^nd just shows me that sometimes the body can come good and you can still manage to have a great race. 

Image credit: Getty Images/Challenge Shepparton

Thanks to Challenge Shepparton for a great event and hopefully I will be back next year to try and go one position better on race day.